Liquid Red

MKW Publishing Books

Something that we all should be familiar with, red liquid. Our veins are filled with it, and it circulates throughout our system, dealing with pressure, cleaning, carrying instructions and a range of other functions to maximise our ability to not just live or survive, but to thrive. But there is another red liquid that seems to be mentioned now and again, and is they say completely mythical. I just presumed it was because of thermometers. That little blob of red mercury that sits there, being the gauge for you. Expanding as the temperature rises, increasing its height to reach its marker, and contracting again as it gets colder. But it turns out that is just dye added to the mixture to make it appear red, so it is possible that there is something you can mix with mercury to create that legendary red mercury, I wonder.

I have already done a couple of articles along the lines of the colour red being fairly important in certain areas, Seeing Red and A Trail of Blood. But the idea that there is something quite extraordinary yet natural, is an intriguing idea.

Teeth Mercury – we all know they put mercury in teeth (not the red liquid kind), and that at some point it was decided it wasn’t a good thing after all, and we changed to another substance for dentistry. But there are a few ways of looking at it from my view, firstly, that it was a simple project to slowly poison people or dull them enough so that they wouldn’t ‘act out’ as it seems fluoride is used for today. Secondly, it actually did improve capability and mental function in very small low doses, not enough to make you a genius, but enough to ‘bring you up to standard’ maybe in the overview – or that was a consequence that was not foreseen perhaps. Or thirdly, by having some kind of metal within the teeth, made it easier to ‘connect’ to people or control certain ones maybe as industrialisation swept through. I think of the bit on 12 Monkeys, where it is through the fillings in the teeth that messages are getting through. Just a thought.

Mummies – They say the myth of red mercury existing persists around mummies, as it’s known that cinnabar was used as colour for clothing and textiles, which contains mercury and therefore you would sometimes have a red liquid, or red still showing on clothing from it. And because it had mercury in it, it was still highly toxic after being sealed in a contained sarcophagus or box. I guess you can see where the stories and myths came about, but sometimes I wonder if they have a small shred of truth to them, and that we have just diluted and horrified the stories to deceive and distract. You never know.

Blade 2 – although in the movie it is blood shown as the red liquid needed to pour into the labyrinth to activate it, that could just be the inverted bit, and because we are so taken with the idea of vampires, we choose to think it’s blood that’s needed for something like that.

Star Trek (2009) – that red liquid featured in the storyline being called Red Matter, and had the capacity to create black holes.

The Philosopher’s Stone – that sought after piece from the very first Harry Potter series, the red gem stone, the elixir of life, looking very much a solid version of liquid red mercury, as do rubies and garnets and other red gemstones. But many have sought it over the centuries it appears, the first ancient Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first to rule over a unified China, and the first it seems to be noted as possibly dying from mercury poisoning. Believing that if you ingested it, it would give you immortality. Maybe that was because he only drank normal liquid mercury, and was not in possession of the ‘good stuff’ kept and hidden away by the alchemists of the time. Or, if it’s as easy as just adding red dye to fabricate the appearance of it, well, some opportunists might just do that. If their head was on the line perhaps.

But either way, flowing red liquid seems to be a feature of what keeps it all going. Within us, and inside the planet with flowing lava and molten rock, almost as if that is the blood of the planet while we have a more refined, and cooler version. And just like our own biological form appears to have an end, and we chase the mythical red liquid to extend our own personal existence, maybe there is an elixir for Earth as well, something that can renew and revive it to give it what we might call ‘a new lease of life’. And I guess that because the myth remains of there being such a substance, maybe the search continues…

If you like dark short stories

If you are the type of person who enjoyed watching Tales of the Unexpected and finds they enjoy a tale with a sinister twist, then you might enjoy my short stories. Here is what a few Amazon reviews had to say –

“Thoroughly enjoyed these short stories reminiscent of Roald Dahl’s ‘Tales of the unexpected’. Particular praise for ‘Clocking Off’”

“All the stories here have their own flavour. Another review mentioned Tales of the Unexpected and I’d say that’s on the money. Imaginative, well-written, I’m looking forward to more from this author.”

“Six creepy stories that are guaranteed to lodge themselves firmly under the skin. Each story invites the reader into a world where you are certain that from the very first word, things are not going to end with a cheery musical number. They are ‘dark’ stories for a reason. A quick read for those looking for a chilling end to the evening, each tale comes with its own twist. Personal favourites include ‘Doctors Visit’ and ‘Clocking Off’.”

And if you would like to read the story mentioned a couple of times there, you can find it here – Clocking Off

(c) K Wicks

Not Worth What It Was

Prices, of goods and services and what they call ‘the value of money’. Across the board, finances and currencies are being screwed around with and used as a weapon of control, and seems they always were, just as with Words and Meaning, money plays a very pivotal role in shaping society and our mindset towards it, and to be able to function within that.

There have been various articles about money and cash which you can find in my Cash Compilation, and I have tried to explain further in Apples and Pears, and On The Glad and Sorry, of how money has captured and captivated us, but is not as simple as just being money anymore. Because a pound isn’t worth a pound, and when they say ‘it won’t buy you what it used to’ we all just nod and in a nostalgic way just agree and think back to a time when our pounds really did buy more. Because more was available it seems, there were more people competing for business, customers, profits and market share. But as the decades have worn on, that market share has been well and truly sewn up, by conglomerates, corporations and consuming business empires that don’t seem to want any wealth in the hands of what they deem ‘ordinary people’. And if they are allowed some kind of wealth for a time, it’s because they have a plan to strip it back off you at a later date, a temporary freedom for some, keeping you in the game and playing for them.

We are the mercy of people who are throwing around money like it is sand and they a child in the sandpit. If we were to change the rules and make them personally liable for any deals they make, or any loses they incur, we would see a rather quick change in attitudes and actions, I’m sure. But we don’t have that, or any kind of accountability for anyone who plays their part in the disaster being created around us. We just have a crushingly soulless and numb rhetoric being repeated, but it isn’t enough anymore, people can see and feel the real effects of what they are doing. Like the saying goes, trust what they do and not what they say – and in this case, there is an awful lot to see, and when you understand it is not in their best interest to admit anything or fix anything, you can see why they just keep going through with insane ideas, and lying through their teeth about everything. Because if they did own up, confess and actually do what was right, it would end the whole gravy train for all of them, and when it comes to politicians, Self-Preservation really does seem to be something they are good at focusing on. For themselves and the system that protects them, but not so much for the bigger picture and the ‘job’ they are meant to do, you know, the one they actively signed up for, looking after the country, the people and leading it to prosperity. Or at least that’s the line we’ve been fed, while they steadily reap the resources and wealth from a country and people’s, saying the right thing at the right time, trying to be ‘seen to do it’ rather than actually do it. It’s embarrassing, maddening and now we can see, is having a very real detrimental effect on society and life as we know it.

The worth of many things is being redefined and reevaluated, people included, covered in my articles What Are We Worth?, The Bottom Line and A Commodity – where how much you can make for them, and how much they can take from you is reaching new heights. Borrowing, lending, benefits, inflation, interest, debt and more, to commandeer the present and future with numbers, stats, and unattainable targets. To keep people beholden to that system of Ownership we find ourselves embroiled in and that mentality they need us to have, so we keep playing their game of Monopoly and they can keep being the banker. But it really is starting to feel like that game has long run its course and has gone on for so long, they don’t know how to play any other game, we shall see. Because it would be nice to think there is something else, and another way of doing things, but we just haven’t got there yet…

(c) K Wicks