Thoughts

Apples and Pears

~ MKW Publishing ~ 2 Comments

You may be forgiven for thinking this article will be about fruit given the title. But that is just where the thought started, of an interaction, between two people who each have something the other would like which would appear to be deemed of around equal value. A trade is to occur, a swap of the apple for the pear (or whatever item you have agreed upon), but for this I’m using fruit. And the point isn’t the item, or the people trading, it’s about the complicated system that has grown around that simple transaction and trade.

This article is about middlemen. Because when I gave it thought – and have done before in such articles as Opposition and Who’s that trip trapping on my bridge? it struck me as ridiculous that there are so many middlemen that have inserted themselves in between the transaction. Firstly, noted when the parking apps came in, I found it odd that there was a real need for an extra ten to twenty pence to be added to each transaction by the app provider, on top of the extra added by the car park owner or council, added to the percentage taken by the card provider. When you could (and did), just have a simple system of paying cash, parking and then leaving when you wanted, and were able to pass your ticket to someone else to use. They don’t want that, so are making sure even with cash tickets you have to put in your license plate. Greed really has taken over and it seems that many not only want a piece of the pie, but either want the same pie over and over, or once it has run out, they create a new pie that everyone is then forced to ‘eat’. So they can continue to get involved, interfere and find a way to bleed it dry, taint it and make sure it doesn’t change.

And that’s where it is now appearing to have slipped into extreme madness, where the desperation to have everything digital and monitored and bringing in pennies and pounds in a continuous stream of never-ending revenue. All so multiple businesses can get their hit from someone else’s hard work, time, effort, skill and customer base. And it must be addictive I don’t deny, making money while you sleep as they say, where you make money because someone else got off their arse and got to it. Same goes for governments, why would they ever want to stop the constant, never-ending flow of money being handed to them constantly with no accountability. Only a weak expectation of them to ‘do the right thing’ or do what they said they would with it. Like a gambler perhaps being given the weekly allowance, and told to go and get groceries despite the fact the previous times they were given that task, they went to the betting shop and spent it. Yet for some odd reason, the money keeps being handed over, and we are surprised when there are no groceries, and no money. That’s ok, we’ll just motivate ourselves to spend our time making more money for them, missing out on life, family, experiences and freedom, because they need some more. And the cycle continues.

Back to the apple, imagine you have it and the other person wants it – but there are three or four people who want to ‘take a bite’ before it gets to the purchaser. It would get less as it goes through each person, devaluing the product, and shifting the value of the product, to the process. So, the product becoming almost worthless, but the process of taking a bit, becomes very lucrative. And if you try to eliminate them in the equation, they come up with elaborate ways to get involved. Telling you the apple is poisoned and you can’t sell it, or ruining your crop so you don’t have any apples anymore, or starting rumours about your apples so that no-one wants to buy them anymore. How they get rid of competition, or tie people into their way and processes so that they are no longer able to cut out the middlemen.

And if you want to scale up the food analogy, just look at how farmers and the agriculture sector has had that happen, through rules, regulations and intricate processes, it’s almost not worth it anymore they say. But they still grow it, and people still need and want to buy it – yet aren’t allowed to, or can’t afford the twenty extra people wanting a bite of your dinner before it even gets to your table. If you ordered a meal, and the chef had a mouthful before he gave it to the waiter, and then the waiter has a mouthful before he put it down, you wouldn’t want it anymore, would you? And you had to leave some at the end for the pot washer so you aren’t even allowed to eat all of what is yours. Seems like madness doesn’t it? Reminds me of money now, you earn it and someone takes their bit, you spend it and someone else takes their bit, and before you know it, there are multiple obstacles, gatekeepers and middlemen between you and what should be just a normal everyday transaction…

Spiral (M.C. Escher)

(c) MKW Publishing

Domed or Doomed?

~ MKW Publishing ~ 3 Comments

It’s a strange argument and discussion which has gathered pace in the last few years. Is the earth flat or round? Seems it’s an old discussion that has been resurrected, but with new ideas, information and perspectives. And within that there is further thought occurring towards what it is that may encase or surround the perimeter of our land, sea mass and visible skies.

A few things that linked together for me about this, a mix of information, media and what is currently presented as fiction.

Under the Dome – a TV series based on a Stephen King book about a mysterious invisible dome that gets dropped on a town. Haven’t seen it although have watched a few shorts conveying the plot, characters and issues that ensue. But I have seen The Simpsons movie, where a glass dome is placed over the town. Could just be a storyline from nowhere, or somewhere, or is just a standard model now that will be repeated and reused as needed.

Chernobyl – covered in a concrete dome, as well as many grand buildings. Symbolising resurrection they say and developed from religious architecture. But as they adorn quite spectacular buildings, there may indeed be more to it.

Logans Run – a domed city of people who were not allowed to leave, mostly not aware of the outside or the bigger landscape. Happily going about their controlled ‘life’ until such time as no longer required. At the age of 21.

Weather – I’ll put Rainbows forward to start, as it is theorised that the arch we see from ground-level is a reflection of our domed perimeter. There also other ideas which tie into that as well, probably already touched upon in my articles Structures in the Sky, Breaking the Ice, Flat or Round? and So Big They Didn’t Notice.

Cerebro – a spherical cavernous room for amplifying thoughts and telepathic energy. Similar in its panelled appearance to the next item of interest.

Las Vegas sphere – a new arena location has opened. A mostly spherical shape, with panelling to show the imagery in a surround 3D arrangement. With stunning visuals and quite the experience they say. Of course, could have nothing to do with the idea of Cerebro and is just of similar appearance.

I wonder if maybe we are both, domed and doomed…

(c) K Wicks

How Much Will You Entertain?

~ MKW Publishing ~ 1 Comment

We entertain the fact we are being entertained. But it is no longer a relaxing jaunt, it’s become a full-on roller coaster of drama, horror and shock. Demonic, inhumane and relentless.

So how much is too much? Some of my other articles have touched on their methods and understanding of saturating our senses. Overloading us and trying to dismantle what is, and replace it with whatever that have deemed ‘better’. And using screens and technology has only made the reach bigger, but it seems that it almost can’t keep up with itself now. As if the script isn’t authorised entirely, not all the actors are holding the attention anymore, or aren’t good enough to carry on convincing people as they once did.

We are capable of filtering the mindless and endless stream of doom, if we choose. But many are so used to something else thinking for them, maybe they have forgotten how to? Or are lazy and don’t want to. And deciding what you take in takes effort and means being aware of what you are exposing yourself to. Not everyone appears to want or like that level of active participation in your own life and decisions. Instead preferring the idea that someone else has a manual for your feeling and experiences, and you should go to them for help, guidance and assistance in all life related matters. Just so you know, they don’t have that manual, because there isn’t one. But it makes for a ‘safe feeling’ to think there is one. Because it can honestly be quite scary for a moment, when you realise everyone else is making it up, or bumbling through as best they can.

So, all these tricks and traps of society, and having to navigate and factor in procedures, systems and other people fantasies, feelings and wants for the future gets a bit much. Seemingly just here to fulfil rich people’s ideas and ideals, pawns and cannon fodder for a rather elaborate cyclical game. Rinse and repeat, depress and dictate. It’s a strange bind we are in now though, where you want to ignore them and their grandiose plans, but as you are being factored into those plans, notice must be taken. But is it your attention that is required first, followed by thoughts, then feelings ending up nicely with a reaction. Which is what they want. Looking for somewhere to direct the frustration, or fear, or anger, they know it won’t get to go where it is needed. So it stays, unresolved and misdirected in the daily routine of just trying to live and get by. And perhaps they have come to rely on our instinctual responses, while simultaneously trying to quash and remould them, while we also upgrade or revisit them as needed. Working on old, outdated models of our behaviour too, trying to keep up with analysing what they are trying to influence, but it does feel as though it has taken a different turn, and one perhaps that was not foreseen or predicted. We shall see…

(c) K Wicks