Why is this so, I begin to wonder. It would obviously sound mathematically incorrect to save x amount of time by doing y, yet still have less net time left, than when previously conducting the same task.

Upon giving the subject thought, and exploring the concept analytically, I will pose some reasons that may explain this bizarre trend. One possible explanation is that our desire to speed things up preoccupies our mind with this constant noise shouting ‘You’re losing time. Do something’, and so our instant solution to this problem is to keep stressing on speeding it up, while in the process, compounded with stress and panic, the act takes longer than it would have without any added stress or panic.

Another reason could be that we try and pack more activity into our lives, which is essentially a positive thing, as we’re increasing our productivity! However, are we filling in time because the activity actually needs to be done, or are we filling in the ‘vacuum’ because free-time appears daunting to our overly preoccupied mind, which attains comfort when it’s obliterated with noise.

Although there is no specific reason as to why this trend is becoming increasingly prevalent, these two reasons are potential reasons for some individuals. It is worth reflecting on ones individual lifestyle, and how the desire to keep our mind preoccupied begins to govern us, and if it is true for any of us, perhaps we should give our mind a breather and let it find comfort in being and full consciousness.

Perhaps try conducting an act without worrying or stressing too much over the connotations, while at the same time being fully productive. It may substantially increase efficiency in a subliminal way – one thing’s for certain; it’s definitely worth a try.

This article does not aim to say that working hard, and living a preoccupied lifestyle is necessarily a bad thing, but merely states that there is a distinction between preoccupying the mind with constructive activity compared with noise. A lifestyle which incorporates the first, and limits the latter may actually prove to be a more efficient one…

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What is it that i’m getting at? Look around you, look at the people you know so well yet feel like you don’t know enough. Why is that? You might wonder where I am whilst writing this, but that will remain a mystery for the majority of the readers. For the rest, well done for guessing right.

If you still don’t get where I’m coming from, think about how people act different around each and every audience, perhaps it would be reasonable if this was something natural, but sympathy strikes when you realize that this has become an act which is natural after trying so hard.

Keep thinking. The different scenarios seem to be flashing back, is man afraid of being rejected? Is their natural state feared to be unbearable? What happened to being a diverse world? Where each and every individual should appreciate the elements that distinguish them from another, not aim to be like the one who is…[now I could just write the word, but each person in this world will have a different word to put here, some might just be in a different language].

If I have been able to lift even a grain of sand from the ocean floor in this article, then that blank word will get you thinking, appreciating the diversity you were created to accept. Be a part off.

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Lil Wayne is not the name that appears on his birth certificate, he is in fact known as Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.  He insisted on disowning his birth name in sheer malevolence against his father.  He started off in the music industry aged 9 signing on to Cash Money Labels.  He released his first song at 15 and went solo at 17.  Since then, he has released eight albums, the most successful entitled Tha Carter III, the highest selling album of 2008. He is well known for never writing down any of his lyrics, rolling them off the tongue from memory.  He also confesses to being a sports enthusiast, having made an appearance on ESPN to add to his already impressive CV.  Philanthropic ventures have included donating $200,000 in the re-building of a local park in New Orleans, where Lil Wayne grew up, after the Hurricane Katrina disaster and setting up his own Non-Profit Organisation called One Family Foundation.  According to its website, it is designed “to empower urban youth by engaging them in opportunities to cultivate their talents and skills”.

There is more to Lil Wayne that meets the eye and his personal life is certainly very colourful.  He is well renowned for his recreational use of prescription cough medicine, otherwise known as Purple Drank, alongside marijuana.  He has been busted several times on possession of dangerous drugs including one incident where his tour bus was packed with 105g worth of Marijuana, 29g of cocaine, 41g of Ecstasy, and a further $22,000 in cash.  Not to mention being caught on many occasions with illegally possessing a firearm which managed to get him sentenced for a year in March 2010 only to be released four months early in November of last year.

I’m not sure whether to laugh at the illogicality of it all or to cry in sheer despair but Lil Wayne also admitted on the Jimmy Kimmel Show that he managed to lose his virginity at 11!  Quite how he did that would baffle most of us I’m sure.  He replaced his natural teeth with diamond plated teeth worth a staggering $150,000.  Lil Wayne managed to give his dentist more reasons to laugh all the way to the bank when he had to get eight root canals done, replace many tooth implants, along with more work on his natural teeth.  He professes to be a committed Christian having read the bible regularly during jail time and yet raps about “the almighty power of Allah” in his first original release of A Millie.  He has a huge variety of tattoos all over his body from Fear God written on each eyelid, to the Rolls Royce symbol on his left bicep, to Cash Money Records on his chest.

His attitude in life generally is one of sheer defiance.  In an intimate interview with Katie Couric he mentions that “I am a gangster…I do what I wanna do”.  That is also backed up by his constant law-breaking antics including possessing narcotics for sale, misconduct involving weapons, possession of dangerous drugs, and possession of drug paraphernalia.  His suggestive lyrics are not exactly morally sound and his use of autotune is not sweet to every ear.

It is quite clear that with all this mounting evidence, Lil Wayne is not exactly a very stable human being with any long term aims or moral code.  He lives for carnal pleasure and nothing more, and it is blindingly obvious to see how his attitude is replicated in his music for all to see.

“Hip-hop has no requirements, you deal with people that have the least intelligence on the planet”- 50 Cent.

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More often than not, individuals have this innate desire to be recognised. Sometimes it is part of the reason to perform an action, and other times it is the sole reason for action.

Individuals cling onto the idea of a long life. Science continues to develop new life-saving techniques to ensure the lengthening of lives, and to ensure happier lives. From a theistic perspective, life is a great gift, and it should be taken care of, and used correctly in all circumstances. Furthermore, theology poses the idea of being mortal, and an afterlife.

It is often found that the reason for this desire to save lives doesn’t reside within the concept of theology, however within the idea that people are attached to this life and fear the unknown. It’s this fear that makes people want to live on.

Taking a different stance on this idea, people don’t only try avoid the physical passing, which is inevitable, but also avoid the extermination of their ‘selves’ through promoting legacies and theories which they can associate to themselves. For instance, people believe it is great to die a hero, because it would enable the hero’s recognition to be promoted. But how does this recognition affect an individual if they’re not alive to receive the well-deserved credit? Do we feel our recognition or praise is sufficient to keep us alive? Does the idea of us on the earth, after our passing ensure our immortality? Is it the mortality of our physical life that worries us, or just the concept of our existence eradicating?

Throughout history, it is evident that the people who are remembered through centuries are the ones who either promoted good, by inventing things or posing reasonable ideas, or in a negative light, tyrants are condemned for their tyranny. We use historical concepts as our guide through life. However, once again, does this enable continuous immortality?

From a theistic perspective, it becomes clearer, because a reward is promised in the afterlife for the good performed. Hence, your actions are essentially immortal, because they benefit you in the afterlife.

This notion of living a long life in order to live a good life, and promote good values forms the basis of many religious schools of thought. It also forms the basis for moral guidelines and the concept of good in society, especially for individuals who associate to a religion. Sometimes living by good values promotes good values in the future, as people learn from legacies and role models.

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Charles Krauthammer, writing for the Washington Post on the 3rd December last year writes “Think creatively. The WikiLeaks document dump is sabotage, however quaint that term may seem…. Franklin Roosevelt had German saboteurs tried by military tribunal and shot. Assange has done more damage to the United States than all six of those Germans combined.”  “Want to prevent this from happening again? Let the world see a man who can’t sleep in the same bed on consecutive nights, who fears the long arm of American justice. I’m not advocating that we bring out of retirement the KGB proxy who, on a London street, killed a Bulgarian dissident with a poisoned umbrella tip. But it would be nice if people like Assange were made to worry every time they go out in the rain.”  Apologies for the long quote but it was needed.  Describing the WikiLeaks document dump as “sabotage” is opinion, not fact.  The word sabotage is used to make it sound illegal which it certainly wasn’t.  The next line, Krauthammer equates Assange to the Nazi regime and then goes on to suggest threatening Mr. Assange?  He doesn’t explicit advocate threatening the WikiLeaks founder but it is heavily insinuated.

Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist writes, “Israel’s counterstrategy was to use its air force to pummel Hezbollah and, while not directly targeting the Lebanese civilians with whom Hezbollah was intertwined, to inflict substantial property damage and collateral casualties on Lebanon at large. It was not pretty, but it was logical. Israel basically said that when dealing with a non state actor, Hezbollah, nested among civilians, the only long-term source of deterrence was to exact enough pain on the civilians–the families and employers of the militants–to restrain Hezbollah in the future.”  Killing civilians as a military tactic is the work of dictators, human rights abusers, and democracy deniers.  Mr. Friedman is blatantly calling for the killing of Lebanese civilians.  To call Hezbollah a non state actor when it single handedly caused the collapse of the government in Lebanon when ten of its ministers resigned from the government, is rather crass.

Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly recommended strikes on targets inside Afghanistan a week after 9/11 including “bomb the Afghan infrastructure to rubble–the airport, the power plants, their water facilities, and the roads”.  He later went on to say that:  “This is a very primitive country. And taking out their ability to exist day to day will not be hard. Remember, the people of any country are ultimately responsible for the government they have. The Germans were responsible for Hitler. The Afghans are responsible for the Taliban. We should not target civilians. But if they don’t rise up against this criminal government, they starve, period.”  This is so wrong on so many levels.  By encouraging the destruction of vital facilities like airports, power plants, and roads, you are destroying civilian life and providing pages and pages of material for the Taliban to use to brainwash the people.  On top of which, you don’t expect every person to be responsible for electing an awful leader.  I certainly don’t blame Americans for the actions of George W. Bush.

The moral of the story here is quite simple.  Don’t take anything the media says at face value.  Do your own research, filter out fact from fiction, and get to the root of the story.

“The media is the most powerful entity on earth.  They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power.  Because they control the minds of the masses.”

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Congestion across the world is a problem and no one seems to have found a solution but I think it will only ease than become worse. A key feature to electric cars is their size and this will be inherent as the lower the mass of the car the smaller power is required and since battery technology is not as advanced as originally speculated, electric power from a car is not easy to come by. As a result, cars will become smaller and without the need for a large front bonnet to encapsulate an ancient engine which is surely due to retire soon.

So how does this reduce congestion? Walking through London between the hours of five to seven in the evening one notices a few eyesores. Not only the never ending line of cars that reduce air quality lower than the EU allowable threshold as Marlyebone Road did last year resulting in a fine to the council but in the cars themselves I have certainly noticed nothing. Exactly – nothing. The majority of cars stuck in rush hour jams have one person in them – the driver, with the remaining volume of the car having no use at all with most infuriating empty seven seated cars for only the driver!

Public transport has failed to convince these people that they are more comfortable than sitting in a jam nor are buses anymore persuasive and so assuming the Mayor of London will continue his sabbatical, cars are here to stay. Did you say Boris Bikes or bicycle lanes? Well, in fear of London turning into down town Bombay with cyclist sporting lycra with waxed legs elbowing each other out of the way at traffic lights and shouting at buses for turning left – what happens when it rains?

Cars that are small and quiet will ease congestion taking up a smaller volume on the road causing a more pleasant journey for pedestrians and tourists alike. The Government have realized this and encourage consumers to buy electric with a £5000 subsidy for a selected fleet of cars that are due to come out. In addition, with densely populated reserved parking in prime locations attached with electric charging pods with an oyster card “tap in – tap out” system adopted, it all seems very simple. So when you slide into whatever “banger” you have the keys to at the moment, strongly consider an electric car. It will be cheaper to buy than expected, cheaper to run and tax-free.

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Lying in the back of the cupboard or in the bottom of your drawer are your t-shirts, in hibernation waiting to be worn for those lovely summer days.  The vast majority of the t-shirts you buy are likely to be made in the U.S.A.  The main reason being that the U.S. government vastly subsidises the cotton industry.  Of course, this is not the only country to subsidise vital commodities, Iran being a great example.  The Iranian Government heavily subsidises yeast and flour so the price of a naan bread is enough so every man in Iran never goes hungry.  The U.S. in fact spends $3 billion on its cotton industry to effectively make the price of cotton artificially cheap.  Since the major market player and largest exporter of cotton is America, the price of cotton falls everywhere.  All good right?  Well, for the American cotton farmers it certainly is but for other cotton producers, this isn’t great as they are simply priced out of the market.  At the same time, those Americans who aren’t cotton farmers aren’t having the sweet end of the deal either.  For $3 billion worth of taxes paid for this, all they get is slightly cheaper t-shirts.

Under certain international agreements, some agricultural subsidies are legal but a nation cannot artificially lower the price of the product.  So, enter Brazil.  In 2002, Brazil filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisation about the U.S. doing exactly what they’re not allowed to do.  The price of cotton is so ridiculously cheap, that Brazilians are even struggling to sell cotton to other brazilians!  Brazil eventually won the case and in 2004, the WTO made it illegal for the Americans to subsidise cotton farms.  The Americans aren’t happy about this and so use inevitable appeal delay tactics, and by the time they lose their last appeal in 2008, they decided not to comply anyway!  Turns out, there isn’t even a penalty to pay if the rule isn’t abided by.

The brazilians now decide to retaliate.  If a small economy decided to retaliate by taxing all American imports, it isn’t a problem as it is just loose change in the back of the proverbial American sofa.  This would have been the case ten years ago, but now Brazil’s economy has done incredibly well for itself.  Of course, it can’t compete with the gargantuan proportions of the U.S.A. but at least it has an audible voice.  Threatening to tax U.S. imports like cosmetics and pharmaceuticals caused panic in these corporations.  Phone calls were made to the U.S. government by pharmaceutical companies and cosmetic industry giants putting pressure on the government to do something.

At long last, the U.S. finally gave in and in April 2010, the U.S. agreed to pay out $147 million a year to Brazilian cotton farmers in order to illegally subsdise their own farmers to the comparably astronomical tune of $3 billion.  If the Americans were to play fair, they should really be subsidising every other cotton industry in the developing world, however Brazil was the only country big enough to scare them and smart enough to sue them.

“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.”- James A. Garfield

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Money can build houses
Money can break houses

Money can build futures
Money can break futures

Money can build nations
Money can break nations

Money can build healthcare systems…

Money CAN’T buy a longer life…

Be careful with what you earn, for its only a means to live, not life itself.

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The French have had a great impact on the way the world has been shaped today.  Heavy influence in many parts of Northern and Western African as well as parts of the Caribbean, have caused great resentment in these Francophone nations, none more so than the Ivory Coast.  A country once heralded as the model French colony, is sliding towards civil war.  President Laurent Gbagbo decided not to follow the result of the election which didn’t turn out in his favour and has been kept in power by force.  The stand-off now between the Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. Alassane Ouattara, the election winner, has been typical of the split between north and south.  With ethnic and racial tensions, youth unemployment, and a slump in cocoa prices thrown into the already bubbling cauldron, you have a recipe for violence and bloodshed in true African-style (do I smell a coup?).

Cynicism aside, French colonisation and its effects are also to be blamed for this.  Over the past 50 years, the British have come to terms with their dwindling influence and have shed their colonial skin, in a way that the French continue to cling to.  Ivory Coast was once seen as France’s “window to West Africa”.  Under the dictatorship of Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the richest Ivorians sent their children to French educational establishments.  Mr. Gbagbo himself is a graduate of Sorbonne University.  With French money constantly being pumped in and invested, this was easy proof that the French system worked off maintaining profits and power while paying lip-service to independence seekers.

Known as the “Francafrique” policy, it kept up relations between France and Francophone africa through personal favours showing so-called close cultural ties.  However, the fact of the matter is, all this meant economic leverage, military and political interference, and under-the-table trading monopolies for Cote d’Ivoire.  For over 40 years, french presidents have propped up tyrant after tyrant in Africa to maintain French credibility as an international power to be reckoned with, while providing African dictators with bank accounts and shopping trips to Paris.  Of course, a safe-haven was provided too when the all-too-familiar coup d’etat turns up on the doorstep.

France has taken 19 military actions in Africa over a three decade period including destroying Ivory Coast’s entire air force when civil war broke out in 2002.  Typically, Mr. Sarkozy has been firing pro-African rhetoric saying that with Africa changing, France must change too, and yet on his first visit to Africa, Mr. Sarkozy makes a point to stop off in Gabon and meet President Omar Bongo (Ah yes, oil interests of course!).  Mr. Bongo put it eloquently, “Gabon without France is like a car without a driver; France without Gabon is like a car without gas”.  This reliance on each other has left France in the rather precarious position of protecting its 600 companies and 13,000 citizens residing in Ivory Coast without physically intervening.  Instead, France is backing sanctions and is pushing the EU in ousting Mr. Gbagbo.

If Mr. Gbagbo can be made to resign through diplomatic methods, then perhaps it would spell a new triumph for the Ivory Coast and a new way for France to handle Africa.  Colonialism is a sad part of both British and French history but for France to exorcise their demons in the way that the British have done, neo-colonialism must be accepted as a big mistake on France’s part and be abandoned altogether.

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