It’s brilliant strategy of producing an iPod, iPad and iPhone all sharing the same technology (read economy of scale) has earned it billions. Many of the people I know have either two or more of the above trio … and there are zillions of people I don’t know. Many of those zillions would also have one or more Apple product.

Then there is iTunes … selling billions of dollars worth of songs, podcasts etc every year.

Apple has a surplus of money it doesn’t know what to do with … half their luck I hear you mumble, so they are sure to do something innovative and different with that money soon.

As a watch lover, my guess is that Apple will go into electronic watches, possibly in company with an existing watch manufacturer and produce a watch that downloads timing signals from satellites. It will no doubt bave a degree of linkage with the other products and may even be sophisticated enough to detect one’s time zone and correct the time when you move from one zone to another.

I think there’s a lot more to come from Apple yet. What do you think?

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During my lifetime I can recall at least a few occasions during which Jesus was said to be returning to earth to take over and a few more wherein we would all be incinerated or blown apart by this or that natural or man-made event. People’s ability to believe almost anything never ceases to amaze me.

If the earth is to be struck by another planet or the magnetic poles are to reverse, there’s nothing we can do about it. In the same way that when the next ice age appears, we may not be able to cope with it. I say may, because we may have become underground dwellers by then and living underground might protect us from the immense cold of an ice age.

The universe plods along totally indifferent to what we or any other living creatures do. In the scheme of things, we simply do not matter, any more than an HIV virus matters. Life and death ebbs and flows. The idea that we are all guided by angels or some other supernatural being is flawed, just take a look around at the vast variety of circumstances in which human inhabitants live.

I deny absolutely any of the supernatural religious events and know that when natural disasters or circumstances work against us, there’s little we can do. Therefore, we have to live our lives the best we can and not dwell on the terrible things that may or may not happen.

I hope 2012 is good to you and yours and will do all I can to make sure it is a good year for me too.

Dark Horse

When a regional police officer “found” a horse that had to be housed for several months while the owner was located, he restrained it in the backyard of his police station and fed it at great expense to the police department. When someone in the Commissioner’s Office saw the bills for feeding the horse, I was asked to write a directive that stipulated how much forage a horse needed per month to survive and other things related to maintenance and disposal of the animal. It seems the horse was being over fed.

The first thing that went through my mind was, “What the hell is forage?” Having been brought up in mining communities, I knew nothing about horses or other farm animals other than some produced milk and others were good to eat.

After I had accessed a dictionary to find out what forage really meant, I had a vague idea, I then needed to find out how much of the stuff a horse needed to survive. A colleague suggested that I talk to the staff at the local university veterinary faculty, so off I trotted in my handsome police uniform in my shiny police car, to find out.

After a discussion with a vet officer, I came back with a description of forage per day, per kilogram of horse. Much to my surprise I wrote an administrative instruction to cover it and everyone said it was an excellent job. It even required recoupment of the expended money from the owner once located.

It’s astonishing how the many and varied experiences we have in life stick with us and make us the people we turn out to be. Now, how much forage does a horse need?

Dark Horse

I told him that it was now my gardening and golfing watch and that the trouble with good quality, expensive watches like Tag Heuer is that they last so long, you get sick of seeing them. Even Tag Heuer admits that you buy one of their watches to leave for your grandchildren.

The jeweller said that research had shown that most people who buy a watch of any kind get sick of it after about six years. He said then they buy another. But because the old ones still work, they don’t throw them out, so they end up with a collection of working watches they hardly ever wear.

I decided that for the rest of the years I need a wrist watch, I will buy good, but inexpensive watches, although I had intended buying a replacement Tag Heuer (in photo), well within my budget, to last me until I meet my fiery end. For the price of the new Tag Heuer I want, I could probably buy 10 other good Seiko watches and wouldn’t feel unhappy paying $150-$300 for a year or two of wear. I could also then have different watches for different occasions. You know, a Monday watch and a pub watch … or something like that.

While my Tag Heuer lasted 20 years with a couple of battery changes and clean outs, my Citizen solar lasted three years before shitting itself completely and needing replacement parts.

It reminded me a bit of being married. Some people get sick of being married to the same spouse year in and year out. For example, that sexy piece of crumpet Kim Kardashian only lasted 72 days and she got sick and tired of being married to the ridiculously tall, dawkish fellow whose name escapes me. Unlike me, she gave her spouse the flick. But I said I’d stay until one of us dies and I meant it, so I’m still married after 38 years, longer than most sentences for murder.

Every so often the idea of having a change crosses my mind, I see images of beautiful Asian  and Ebony ladies. Then I think of the prospect of having a collection of ladies stacked in my cupboard that are still in good working condition, but not really wanted and I wake up and get on with whatever it is I was doing. I ask myself if it’s better to have an old, reliable watch that has lasted many years, or a slick, shiny new model that might toss it in in a year or two.

How many watches have you got? What are they and how long does it take for you to become sick of them?

Dark Horse

As I get older, that truth becomes as obvious as the nose on my face; no gods and man-made religion.

When I was about 13 or 15 I found a copy of Lobsang Rampa’s “Doctor from Lhasa” which was then an enthralling read about Buddhism and it’s practice in Tibet. By then I had had a dose of protestant Christianity and had heard and read about the miracles said to have been performed by Jesus and all the other trials and tribulations outlined in the Holy Bible, said to be the divine word of God. The birth of Jesus, the son of God, his death by resurrection and rising from the dead. I could never accept that I was a sinner and that Jesus had died for my sins. My view was that I was a good person. How could I be a sinner? It was this concept of rewards and punishments that first helped me decide against Christianity as having anything to do with a loving God.

Within a year or two I had read all of the Lobsang Rampa books that were available and was greatly impressed with the mysterious nature of Buddhism as practised in Tibet. After a few more years I began reading everything and anything I could find about mysticism and religion. I read about most of the main religions and found that while there were some considerable differences, there were also a lot of similarities. One that stood out was the importance of men at the expense of women who seemed to be simply an add-on for the convenience of men. “Would a loving and just God treat men differently from women?” I thought. “Definitely not.”

While greatly impressed with Buddhism, because it is more a philosophy of life than a religion and doesn’t believe that Buddha was anything more than a human being, I also found the Hare Krishna religion interesting. At least the followers of Hare Krishna had the fortitude to state that Krishna was God incarnate who returned every so many thousands of years to help us on our way. Their key text, the Baghavad Gita is both ancient and interesting.

The prolific writer on mythology, the late Joseph Campbell took my interest when I read first his title, “Hero with a thousand faces”. It’s a title that shows how the Christian myth is identical to dozens of similar myths that extend throughout the history of mankind; the fall of humankind, the arrival of a saviour, the saving and return to God.

After years of searching for the truth I found that I had had the same experience that Donald Broadribb described as follows:

Only through years of attempting to find a solution to the meaning and purpose of life can you truly experience the fact that no solution exists. And only when you truly experience the fact that no solution exists can you find the solution.
Donald Broadribb (1995), The Mystical Chorus: Jung and the Religious Dimensions

If you are a person who has been inculcated with religious dogma by your parents or others, I encourage you to read widely about all of the religions and critically analyze what you believe, usually without any supporting evidence. You owe it to yourself to either prove that your beliefs are well founded or that you have been misled be people who are simply following what has been followed by their forebears for hundreds of years.

Remember that because a large number of people believe something doesn’t make it true. At one time most people believed the world was flat.

Stay well and good searching.

Dark Horse

PS: Your task is so much easier now because you have the Internet. I didn’t.

Anyone who has lived in, or who lives in a democracy, knows that it is far from perfect. In a universe where perfection is scarce, where people aren’t inherently perfect, it should be no surprise, since it is a man-made system.

One definition of democracy is: Form of government, where a constitution guarantees basic personal and political rights, fair and free elections, and independent courts of law.

Democracy is also largely free from direct religious influence ie, democracies are secular states. As soon as a religion becomes part of the function in government, democracy decreases or disappears.

As I write, the once secular state of Turkey is increasingly becoming Islamized.  Ataturk, the father of Turkey had the amazingly good sense to keep religion and politics at arms length, despite the fact that a large majority of Turks is Muslim. In Turkey you see a progressive country that works well because people are free to attain their greatest strengths.

There are 40 majority muslim countries with a variety of different styles of government from secular to theocracy. The degree of freedom people have within these countries varies. While we have heard people in Middle Eastern muslim countries calling for democracy during the so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings, I wonder how many of those people really know what democracy means.

The political and legal aspect of Islam is not democratic. If those people demonstrating think they will achieve a high degree of democracy by getting rid of the dictators who were running their countries and installing such organisations as the Muslim Brotherhood, they are greatly deluded.

Review the table at left and you’ll see a comparison between Communism, Islam and Naziism as totalitarian regimes.  By far the most limiting of individual rights is Islam. It is true that Islamic doctrine and Sharia are enforced to differing degrees around the world and in the same way that Christians have chosen to turn a blind eye to the horrors of the Old Testament, not everyone who commits adultery in more advanced muslim countries is murdered. However, the potential is there and there are still cases reported weekly of violent acts against people directly because of Islamic doctrine.

There are some aspects of Islamic countries I like eg, the lack of or reduction in lewdity and absence of alcohol-related stupidity and crime etc are something we could all benefit from. However, when you give someone true freedom, you also have to accept that they will not use their freedom of choice wisely. Better that than being under the thumb of an oppressive regime like Islam.

Dark Horse

An excellent post, which should be read by all Australian politicians and anyone else making decisions about immigration of muslims into their country. It appears in a blog called Political Islam and an excerpt is below:

By the time Mohammed died in 632 AD, Islam had used persuasion and jihad to subjugate Arabia. The annihilation of native Arabic culture is Sunna, the perfect example for all times and all Muslims. Said another way, the political theory of Islam is annihilation of Kafir civilization. How well did this political theory work out in history? Is this theory of annihilation at work today?

We have records of Mohammed’s last jihad against the Christians north of Arabia. After he died, Umar, the second caliph, took Mohammed’s jihad against the Christians and developed it into a war that conquered half of the Christian world. But this conquest was only the beginning of the political transformation. Sharia law was put into place and the Christian Kafirs became dhimmis. But Umar was not able to conquer Anatolia, the site known today as Turkey. For centuries, Islam attacked Anatolia and finally took Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, Turkey.

Read the full, interesting story at Political Islam.

If you aren’t concerned about the Islamisation of Australia, you need to do some serious research. Start with the Heroes Against Islam links in the column to the right.

Dark Horse

While I can understand a person with a terminal illness wishing to end the pain and suffering, the three people I knew showed no outward signs of being unhappy, depressed, or indeed suicidal. But deep inside their psyche, something convinced them that the idea of death was more appealing than continuing to live.

In two of these cases, the first thing that passed my mind was the thought that if only I had known they had a problem, perhaps I may have been able to help them get through it. The first was a colleague police officer working with me at a small police station in the outskirts of a major Australian city. We had only worked together for a few weeks and I had began to like working with him and enjoyed his company, although we had not met outside the workplace. I knew that he was a good football player, married with two children and had a nice house at a coastal resort.

We worked together Friday evening on the 4 pm to 12 pm shift which had been busy. As we departed at the end of shift, I wished him a good night and told him I’d see him tomorrow in time for our Saturday 4 pm shift. He never turned up. By mid-day Saturday he was dead, having shot himself in the head with his service revolver.

Unknown to me, he had been having domestic problems and his wife had threatened to leave him with the children. He must have asked her if she would stay and, when she said no, put the revolver to his head and pulled the trigger. I recall being deeply saddened to know that my new friend was gone. We were both in our early thirties. We both had young children. It was totally unexpected.

Now once again, I’m sorry that my friend never confided in me and let me help him through his crisis. I wonder whether I may have been able to help him believe that living was better than dying. Obviously, I will never know.

As Shakespeare said, “The friends thou has and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.”

Dark Horse

Throughout the past 200 odd years, we have modified it to suit our culture, geography and the way we view ourselves within the human group of nations. It’s served us well and will continue to do so, but lately there has been a huge assault on our democratic way of life by left-wing, social engineers and tree-hugging loonies whose world is a make believe world where everything is perfect, everyone is like them and everyone is happy. Unfortunately, that’s nothing like the world the rest of us live in. In that world, there are increasing assaults on our democracy.

First of all, take the Federal Government’s move to force legitimate businesses who have invested millions to establish brand names and brand images, to package their legal products in plain paper. As if it wasn’t bad enough to require them to display photos of people suffering from illnesses, some of which are said to have been caused or exacerbated by the use of the products consumed.  Now they are supposed to pack their products in plain packaging.

Under successive Labor Governments, and with the help of some weaker Liberal/Coalition Governments, we now find ourselves in a position where everyone else is responsible for what people do, but the people who do it.  Everyone who is old enough to read and write knows that cigarettes are unhealthy. People who choose to smoke know the risks and make an informed decision to accept them.

There is currently discussion in Victoria (and probably elsewhere) about introducing a Gambling Card to control the excessive gambling of the few people in our society who are addicted to gambling. We already provide advice, counselling and other support.  But now, even those people who can put $10 through a poker machine and go home will also be caught up in this bullshit, bureaucratic system, if it goes ahead.

In the Northern Territory we have the “Intervention” so that predominately indigenous benefactors of government welfare will have difficulty spending their money on booze and still have a few bucks left for food each pay day. Because they aren’t intelligent enough themselves to manage their affairs, the government has to do it for them.

In Alice Springs (NT) tomorrow a floor price will be placed on all alcoholic drinks sold in the town so that those low income pensioners and others who were buying cheap alcohol will now have to fork out more. Why? Because a handfull of people can’t manage their drinking habit. That’s right. Everyone who buys alcohol will now pay more because some people can’t control their drinking. Once again the burden is placed on the wrong people. What will the drunks do for themselves … nothing, zip, zilch, zero. Fuck all!

We have a government that is pushing a massive new Carbon Tax to make it look like Australia is leading the field in climate management even though scientists can’t agree whether we can do anything or even if there is a climate crisis. However, on closer analysis, it is nothing but a cynical way to screw the so-called wealthy and give the money back to the low-income earners. The government has said low income earners (mainly Labor voters) will get back more than they paid out in carbon tax.

When I was at university studying accounting, I’m sure one of my lectures was about taxation and how it had to be efficient, effective, fair, ethical and so on. If a tax is implemented that adversely affects people, how can that be a good tax? A good tax should not adversely affect anyone.

The government did not have a democratically given right to implement this tax. Out goes a bit more democracy.

Now, the greatest threat to our democracy comes from our unbridled immigration of muslims who follow an ideology, the prime intent of which is to take over every nation on the planet and Islamize it. There is no democracy in Islam. Worse still, there is no freedom. You either shape up or get killed. It’s that serious about it’s aims.

While we can probably suffer a little loss of democracy as the government tries to socially engineer the masses, we cannot afford to lose our democratic way of life to Islam. Islam will not only snuff out our way of life, it will snuff out our freedom, some of our lives, and if it succeeds, a wonderful country like Australia will become an Islamic country with all the poverty, lack of intellect, stupidity, superstition, anger, and tribal squabbling that has held muslim countries back in the dark ages for 1400 years.

Unfortunately, Islam has not done one scrap of good for anyone anywhere with the sole exception of Mohammed, it’s pedophile, warlord founder who was able to enlist his warriors and slaves at the end of a sword. One benefactor in 1400 years isn’t much to crow about now is it?

If you don’t want to become  a Jihad statistic or live under Islam, do some research, write to your local Member of Parliament , form a local action group, join other groups and never, ever surrender.

Dark Horse

This will last five months (actually five months and one day!) until the end of the world. Psshhht, blam! It’s all gone, billions of years of development and growth. All your iPods, laptops, Swiss watches, booze collections, mansions, motor vehicles, luxury yachts, and friends will be gone too.

Why it would make sense to create something so grand as a universe with beautiful landscapes, lovely living beings and then to destroy it all defies my limited intelligence. Maybe it makes sense to someone whose intellect is much greater than mine. I’m not sure.

Anyway, if you read this before Saturday or after Saturday and you are lining up to be judged, thank you for being one of my readers. I have really appreciated you visiting my blog. If this turns out to be the usual lot of bullshit from the intellectually challenged religious nutters, I hope you will continue participating in my blog for as long as I can muster up the strength to write it.

Happy days and naughty nights.

Dark Horse

PS: You can read the full, informative tract here.

PPS: If you think you’ll have some time to read, try an ebook.