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Short Stories, Music News, Humour and anything else that comes to mind... I sat down today with a clear goal: to create. My mind was primed for a deep dive into content, and I was ready to execute on several months' worth of ideas. But as many creators know, the digital infrastructure we build our homes on has a funny way of interrupting the flow with "uninspiring disconnects." The Glitch in the Machine I found myself caught in a classic " system-speak " loop. On one screen, my dashboard assured me everything was operational and up-to-date. On the other, an automated notification from a partner entity warned of a looming expiration date—suggesting that the digital real estate I’ve worked so hard to maintain was suddenly at risk of being "available to other parties." It’s a specific kind of exasperation when two massive corporate entities fail to synchronize. One says "March," the other says "February," and the creator is left hold...

Noor Inayat Khan Alias Nora Baker, and codenamed Madeleine, was a beautiful and talented princess.  Before the war, she had bagged a degree in Child Psychology, had written a lot of poetry, as well as many children's stories.  Her stories appeared in Paris newspapers and on French radio.  By the time she was twenty five years old, her book, Twenty Jataka Tales, had been published in France, Britain and the United States.  Noor was also an accomplished musician.  Her greatest love was music and she was said to have played the harp beautifully. WW2 began the same year her book was published, and during 1940, Germany invaded France.  Noor and her family became refugees and just managed to get on the last boat leaving the French coast for Britain. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and trained to become a wireless operator. Her excellent radio skills and fluent French brought her to the attention of SOE (The...

Britain's Finest Female Spy This lady risked her life so many times, solved problems by creating solutions, and many times acted as a catalyst to bring about, and in many cases, brilliant solutions to the problem of the Nazis during the second world war. She died after the war in June 1952, murdered by someone she thought was her friend, it was totally unexpected.  To be murdered by a friend during the peace. A feat her professional enemies, crack troops, double agents and the Gestapo tried to achieve and failed to do, every single time.  She was at one time, at the top of the Gestapo most wanted list during World War 2. Christine Granville O.B.E.,  George Medal and the Croix de Guerre, was the daughter of a Polish Count, Jerzy Skarbek. Her real name was Maria Krystyna Skarbek. The amazing exploits of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's favourite spy is recounted by the British documentary series, Secret War, below. It's not a stretch to speculate t...

KGB Agent  Aldrich Ames Is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at a Federal Correctional Institution in the United States of America for a most egregious crime, espionage. Rick had CIA in his blood. His father had worked for the company as an analyst in Turkey.  Rick joined up in 1962... The job took him places. Mexico City, New York, Paris, Rome.  His Russian was better than good, so he could hang out, mingle and hobnob with the Soviets assigned to the UN. As Chief of Soviet Branch of the Counter-Intelligence Division for the CIA, his hobnobbing with Soviets wouldn't have seemed suspicious to colleagues. Sometime in 1985, CIA officer Aldrich (Rick) Ames walked into a Soviet embassy with a massive amount of classified CIA documents under his coat for the KGB.  A present, to show his good faith.  He knew the documents would convince of his good intentions, trustworthiness and loyalty to the KGB, after they h...

Short Stories, Music News, Humour and anything else that comes to mind... THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY What has one got to do with the other? Nothing. I'm just messing with you! It's holiday season. Put away your handset and say hello to anyone within polite speaking distance. Just try it. Dare yourself. Now, let's eat. Happy Holidays! (The original intent was to post in  MusicArtinDesign , tossed a coin and here we are)

Of Uruguay Jose Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano was no ordinary president.  When he was president, he didn't only talk the talk, he walked it as well.  In a world that's full of frivolities, egotism and superficiality, this is one man humanity should be proud to look up to and emulate. We are living at a time when people are inspired and even encouraged to chase wealth and power in what I read somewhere described as; "an almost sociopathic way."  It should rather be a time to encourage each other to be rich in mind, body and spirit. A time when the needs of everyone should supersede the wants of the few. Reggae legend Bob Marley's quote that "Some people are so poor all they have is money" puts former president Mujica's perspective and words into sharper focus. Jose Mujica says the following... "The way we live and our values are the expression of the society we live in. And we cling to that. It doesn't matter i...

Short Stories, Music News, Humour and anything else that comes to mind... Unknown Author At the conclusion of the sermon, the worshipers filed out of the sanctuary to greet the minister. As one of them left, he shook the minister's hand, thanked him for the sermon and said, "Thanks for the message, Reverend. You know, you must be smarter than Einstein." Beaming with pride, the minister said, "Why, thank you, brother!" As the week went by, the minister began to think about the man's compliment.  The more he thought, the more he became baffled as to why anyone would deem him smarter than Einstein.  So he decided to ask the man the following Sunday. The next Sunday he asked the parishioner if he remembered the previous Sunday's comment about the sermon. The parishioner replied that he did. The minister asked: "Exactly what did you mean that I must be smarter than Einstein?" The man replied, "...

And The Ancestors From Space The Dogon people of Mali in West Africa have a Space history, and it's quite a compelling one too. Located in the middle of the desert on the South East corner of Mali; "they seem to know things about astronomy which they shouldn't have been able to know," says Laird Scranton, an author. Artist's View of sirius A and Sirius B Scranton has authored a number of books two of which are; The Science of the Dogon (Decoding The African Mystery Tradition) and Sacred Symbols of the Dogon (The Key to Advanced Science in the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs).  Nobody knows where the Dogon got this incredible ancient knowledge from, except the Dogon themselves who have done a wonderful job of preserving their traditions for centuries. Since they have no written language, they put a high priority on the purity of the spoken language.  They know facts about the Sirius star system without having access to modern telescopes and other eq...

Talking... About now and the future! No more jokes Sofia, tell us what you really think. So far every clip I've seen, Sofia has been bestowed and largely presented in or at a human level. People's perception cannot but be affected by this. Sofia is not flesh and blood. That, she can never be... Notice how easy it was to assign this computer a gender identity. It's a sophisticated machine, a tool with it's bits of information stored in a cloud somewhere, while ours is stored in our heads. Anyhow, enjoy the video...

On The Planet Is sitting up in his bed. His mind is in a turmoil, whirring in a hundred different directions all at once. He wants to start writing again... what can he post today that will bring some satisfaction that he is at least beginning to write again? Maybe he'll write about the twat that loves to post crap on Twitter. It's an obvious truth that he doesn't like twats who post crap on Twitter.com. He suddenly gets a flash from the past. It's funny how the mind works that he can remember a time period thirty years before with absolute clarity. A time when things were so real while at the same time, things weren't exactly what they seemed. Hindsight isn't twenty twenty, hindsight is a bitch! He needs an angle to be able to tell just one story from those days. In years, it was such a long time ago but in his head, those things seem like it was just yesterday. Should he do a first person narrative? Goodness No! It wouldn't work, t...

And Fake News Are trending. So, "what is the difference between a hoax and fake news?" They both seemed very similar to me. There's a difference According to Wikipedia: "A hoax is a falsehood deliberately fabricated to masquerade as the truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgement, rumours, urban legends, pseudosciences, and April Fools Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes." "Fake news  is a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate misinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and broadcast news media or online social media. Fake news is written and published with the intent to mislead in order to damage an agency, entity, or person, and/or gain financially or politically, often using sensationalist, dishonest, or outright fabricated headlines to increase readership, online sharing, and internet click revenue." Similar eh? Okay, below is one ...

Less than fifty per cent think not... At least not anytime soon.  A minority of researchers think the transition from Artificial General Intelligence to Artificial Super Intelligence will not happen for at least another one hundred years. Current trends however show that the law of accelerating returns is very likely to radically slash that prediction. The one hundred years is more likely to be fifteen to twenty years. At the moment, three of the most relevant individuals on the planet today are preaching caution when it comes to powerful machines. Professor Stephen Hawkins states: "The rise of  powerful AI will either be the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity.  Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates asks the question, "how can they not see what a huge challenge this is?" Elon Musk Founder of Tesla thinks we should be extremely careful about this, while stating clearly that he is not against the advancement of AI. Technologically, we have made...

The New Saudi Arabian Citizen... She is the first non human that's now classified as an earthling.  Sofia is an artificial intelligence robot and the first robot "citizen" on our planet. I don't think anyone could have imagined that progress in Artificial Intelligence technology would develop as quickly as it has.  It's here, and it has come with many human characteristics.  The first-ever robot citizen has 7 humanoid 'siblings' — here's what they look like The programming of artificial, self learning robots while we still have deadly conflict though,  is a worry... We know about the killer drones that are already in use over battlefields all over the planet. Many more have been developed or are in different stages of development that we know nothing about. What I would like to know about are the safeguards that are in place that these intelligent machines wouldn't turn on us human beings. Everyone is excited....

Eli Cohen is a legendary Israeli spy whose work contributed to the capture of the Golan Heights from Syria. The true story of a master spy who almost became the defence minister of the country he was spying on.  This is a short documentary about the fascinating story: A national hero in Israel, he was indeed a daring individual. His story inspired the film, "The Impossible Spy." "without continuous personal development, you are now all that you will ever become, and hell starts when the person you are, meets the person you could have been." ~ Eli Cohen

Remembering Ambrose Campbell The quayside was where most of the seamen hung out while on shore leave. From that section of the Lagos waterfront, you could see across the waters, from the marina, you'll see the docks where the merchant ships slept. The pungent odour of palm wine, mixed with culinary aromas hung in the air. Occasionally a slight breeze would bring with it, a waft, a mild smell of weed, that would vanish as quickly as it came, it left you wondering if you smelt it to begin with. Felabration Event Young Ambrose approached  the shelter where some sailors and locals sat most evenings with massive kegs of the elixir called palm wine within easy reach.  Bawdy tales and laughter. Stories of triumphs and tragedies, seafaring adventures and other fascinating tales of the war preceded the music. The stories were coloured and constantly lubricated by the intoxicating liquor. It all made a great impression on him.  But he was there for one thing and ...

Short Stories, Humour, Music and Entertainment! Occasional HOT TOPICs with a unique perspective.. What's On Your Mind? "We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much. We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living but not a life. We've added years to life, not life to years."   ~ George Carlin 1937 - 2008 In the middle of one interview, L. Ron Hubbard was asked, "are you a mad man?" He answered; "We're all mad. The one person you will find who says or thinks they're not mad, is a madman!" So when the biggest social network on the planet, as soon as I log in asks me; "What's on my mind?" I'm usually at a loss. Asking what's on someone's mind, I thi...

Short Stories, Humour, Music and Entertainment! Occasional HOT TOPICs with a unique perspective.. It's Christmas! When a man politely opens the door of the car for his wife,  you can be sure of one thing: Either the car is new or the wife is! What's the difference between stress, tension and panic? Stress is when wife is pregnant; Tension is when girlfriend is pregnant; Panic is when both are pregnant! Grammar Teacher: Do you know the importance of a period? Kid: "Yeah, once my sister said she had missed one, my mom fainted, dad got a heart attack and our driver ran away!" A young boy asks his Dad: "What is the difference between confident and confidential? Dad says: "You are my son, ..I'm confident about that. Your friend over there,  is also my son,  that, is confidential!" A bookseller conducting a market survey asked a woman: “Which book has helped you most in ...