Philosophy; Spiritual; Life, the universe & beyond
1980s
- The cosmic manifestation is created maintained and annihilated in infinite cycles within the intermediate causal oceans.
- Self-annihilating transcendental hallucinogenic apoplectic europhia, man.
- Normality is the brainchild of convention (thanks to an old friend, Stephen Perry)
1990s
- The leopard has got to want to change its spots.
- How can you truly know anyone else if you don't even know your own self first?
- I've never known someone so self-centred and self-obsessed but with zero self-awareness.
- It's not healthy to fanatically believe or follow anything, but it's healthy to keep an open mind.
- Going to hell? How do you know we're not already there? If they truly exist, the spiritual realms would be the heavenly realms and the material physical realm would surely be hell. Sure, there's possibly even worst places... or forms, e.g. if karma and reincarnation are a thing, then imagine life as an insect... or being a giant turtle for two hundred years...
- If it exists, Hell must surely be empty right now, because all the demons are here on Earth.
2000s
- Being in a majority might work in a democratic vote but doesn't necessarily mean you are always in the right. Bear in mind that, once upon a time, Noah and Abraham were both minorities...
- Hate is an airborne disease broadcast in the airwaves. Block & cancel it out with the powerful antidote of positivity, compassion & love. (Twitter, 2011)
- There's no love in war, no lowliness in pride, for all of them who claimed to have God on their side. (Twitter 2011, orig. from "No Love, A War", poem/song, 1983)
- Self-realization is the first step to enlightenment. You can never truly know anyone else without first knowing yourself. (Twitter, 2011)
2020s
- Here's to a Happy New Year with less over-dominant disjointed erratic synthetic kick drums and farty bass sounds - and more focus on the truly excellent music instead.
More misc ditties
- 15 minutes on Twitter is all you need to realise the human race is doomed to fail.
- Patriotism may well be the last refuge of a scoundrel, but trigger-baiting (aka torrancing) is the last refuge of a right-wing troll on Twitter.
- To say I'm a cynic would be an understatement. Never trust anyone!
- Is it really too much to ask for a society and world where characteristics such as truth, honesty, integrity, empathy & compassion take precedence and are seen as essential strongpoints, not weaknesses?
- I've blocked hundreds of right-wing trolls on Twitter. Where do they all come from? A troll bot farm, a hellhole in the fabric of time and space? Do they really exist?
Are people really that gullible, pliable, dim-witted and brainwashed? If you're not capable of telling the truth about anything, then get off my timeline !
From Tories to MAGA, to fanatical right-wing UltraZionists & Ultra-Evangelicals, to reactionary disingenuous deceitful hacks, to covidiot-conspiracy-theorists (you really think thousands of doctors and nurses would lie to us on behalf of the government?), to Brexit-flagshaggers with "anti-woke" in their bios (which is effectively the equivalent of admitting that you're a racist ignoramus)
to right-wing Labour clowns including the current racist (and, unlike Corbyn, properly antisemitic) leader (we've got a word for erroneously claiming that all or a majority of Jews should believe the same political view - I can assure you, we don't - and apparently claiming that you're not a proper Jew if you don't subscribe to the right-wing Ultra-Zionist political viewpoint and should therefore be expelled from the party), the bigoted hateful Rosie Duffield, the utterly appalling Wes Streeting and Luke Akehurst, and many more (I'm sure you all know exactly who).
It's a truly tragic situation. I don't know whether to laugh or cry half the time.
- We're well through the looking glass now. 1984 was an understatement, an under-prophecy. The reality is much much worse.
- Watch for the signs of the end times. I'm not religious or anything, but it's quite clearly apocalyptic.
- "The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it." (Hmm, ok, that was Buffy, not me)
- I used to be The Egg, once upon a time, you know :-)
UK Politics: Democratic Socialism / Anti-Tory / Anti-Brexit / Pro-EU & CU-SM / etc.
Judaism vs Zionism
- Ahh, the irony of non-Jewish extremists in CAA, who've been indoctrinated by ultra-nationalists, accusing a few million left-wing / reform / ultra-orthodox Haredi / secular Jews of being antisemites because they apparently don't fit in with some sterotypical view of what they deem Jewish people should think and believe...
Firstly, do not take seriously anyone who claims 90% of Jews support Zionism. This is not true at all.
It would be extremely antisemitic to claim all or a majority of Jews share anything whatsoever. Whether views, features, characteristics, or anything else.
So (and this was once the majority view, pre-1917-48) we've got a couple of million ultra-orthodox anti-Zionist Haredi/Hassidic/Satmar Jews (in USA, Israel, UK, etc.) claiming the Torah states we are explicitly in exile for a reason, we were punished for a reason by God when the temple in Jerusalem was sacked in 70AD, and we cannot establish our own state in the holy land until the Messiah comes.
Yes, I accept that might never happen, and the Holocaust obviously changed everything - I never said I was anti-Zionist, just non-Zionist and anti-ultra-zionist-fanaticism.
Alongside numerous Jewish celebrities and academics (e.g. Alexei Sayle, Miriam Margolyes, Ed Asner RIP, Danny DeVito(?), Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, David Graeber RIP, etc.),
there's also a growing number of liberal/reform/secular/left-wing/socialist anti/non-Zionist Jews in USA, UK, Europe, etc.
(see: JVP, JVL, Na'amod, JFJFP, IfNotNow, JFREJNYC, NeverAgainActn, etc.) who are very active and vocal in their support for the plight of the Palestinian people (note that this does not mean they support Hamas in any way, shape or form) and/or for their criticism of the policies and actions of the heavily right-wing-leaning Israeli state/government.
Then we've got a few million Zionist (some who are ultra-zionist ultra-nationalist) Jews who support Israel no matter what...
Secondly, let's not lose sight of the fact that many of these views are based on scriptures from a few thousand years ago...
No-one can prove these events ever really happened, or if they did, just how accurate they are.
It's all based on faith. Yes, pretty crazy, I know...
But even if Zionism actually goes against the religion of Judaism, let's also be realistic here and realise/accept that the modern state of Israel isn't going away anytime soon, but nor are the Palestinians.
So if you really believe in the two-state solution then isn't it time you actually did something to try bring it around instead of just saying it? (me in a now deleted conversation on Twitter with JLM activists)
- The biblical northern Kingdom of Israel wasn't actually Jewish though. Only the southern kingdom of Judea/Judah with its capital in Jerusalem was Jewish and practised Judaism.
The southern kingdom was chiefly comprised of the tribes (descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel) of Judah (father of the Jews), Benjamin & Levi (great-grandfather of Moses).
The northern kingdom of Israel (aka Samaria) didn't follow the commandments and was punished by God. They were scattered to the 4 corners of the world and lost their name & identities (becoming known as the 10 lost tribes).
They were Hebrews and Israelites (as in: descendents of Jacob), but they were never Jewish and neither were those lands.
If they had actually been Jewish then they wouldn't have become known as the 10 lost tribes...
Additionally, I'm 99% certain that no-one alive today can trace their ancestry back to those lost tribes!
- You keep quoting the original promise given to Abraham, so if you really believe in the bible (Old Testament / Torah) then you must also believe in the Birthright and Sceptre promises given to Abraham by God and handed down to Isaac, then Jacob (who God renamed Israel), and then split between Judah (sceptre) and Joseph=>Ephraim & Manasseh (birthright).
So where is the sceptre today? The promise there will always be a king on the throne/line of Judah.
Where is the monarch/throne in modern day Israel? How does modern day Israel fit the birthright promise?
Simply, it doesn't! Where are the two nations of Ephraim & Manasseh today, the former which rules/ruled half the world and possessed the gates (ports) of its enemies,
with its multitudes of descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky?
If the promises hold true then, even if they lost their original identity as prophecised, those descendants must surely exist somewhere.
They (Ephraim & Manasseh, sons of Joseph, he of the coat of many colors) were Hebrews & Israelites, but not Jewish. Their uncle, Judah, was the first actual Jew.
You do actually know about the birthright and sceptre promise, right?
- Well... legend has it that the sceptre promise revolves around the so-called pillow/pillar Stone of Jacob (yes, that Jacob), aka the Lia Fáil (Ireland), aka the Stone of Scone (Scotland) aka the Stone of Destiny (Westminster Abbey)... from the Holy Land - where it was uprooted 3 times (as prophecised in the Old Testament) to Ireland to Scotland to England... you know, that stone and sceptre... ooh, the plot thickens!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_of_Scone
- The point being that you can't just selectively quote the prophecies which help further your cause whilst ignoring the ones which don't.
- So "Zionists" is just a replacement word for "Jews", is it?
This is an incredibly disingenuous and inaccurate claim to make.
There's around 13 million Jews in the world, approximately half who aren't Zionists - whether strictly orthodox Haredi who follow the Torah, or whether reform or secular Jews, etc.
There's over 30 million Christian Zionists in the USA alone. These evangelicals hold some pretty strong fundamental views.
They believe the rapture can't happen until all Jewish people "return" to Israel (even though more than half have never been there and, for those who are descendents of converts, neither have any of their ancestors), where they will either be converted to Christianity or be damned to hell eternally.
You can't get much more antisemitic than that.
From a personal point of view, I don't think we're safer today in a tiny stretch of land thousands of miles away surrounded by all our enemies than we are in the likes of UK, USA, Canada, Australia, EU, etc.
Of course, it's a marriage of convenience where the Jewish pro-Israel Ultra-Zonists are concerned, because they believe this rapture thing is obviously never going to happen, so they'll just continue to use the Christian Zionists to help further their cause...
What a truly crazy world we live in!
- It's very true about the Christian Zionists. It's not a conspiracy theory. Here's the factsheet:
https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/factsheets/factsheet-christian-zionism/
Republican Senator for Arkansas, Bart Hester - Christian Zionist (Quote: “Anybody, Jewish or not Jewish, that doesn’t accept Christ, in my opinion, will end up going to hell.”)
https://www.nnaweb.org/arkansas-times-publisher-explains-stance-on-israel-boycott-law-to-readers-of-new-york-times
- I don't do conspiracy theories. I'm only concerned with the factual truth.
- We were lied to when we were children. The desert was already fertile.
- There's a right way and a wrong way to do things - and the Nakba was definitely the wrong way.
Non-Zionist vs Anti-Zionist
- You should be very careful when using these terms.
Anti-Zionist means you not only don't support the state of Israel but also do not agree it has the right to exist.
There are potentially a few million (including around 2m strictly orthodox Haredi Jews) who describe themselves as anti-Zionist due to religious beliefs as stated in the scriptures.
There's also many Jews who describe themselves as non-Zionist.
This essentially means they're not pro-zionist but also don't necessarily hold any view on the subject.
For non-Jews to describe themselves as anti-Zionist though could certainly be construed as antisemitism because, ostensibly, the ultimate aim of anti-Zionism is for the destruction of the state of Israel.
This would imperil a few million Jewish people who currently live there, thus giving Zionists every reason to make their claims.
Be careful when labelling people like Jeremy Corbyn, Roger Waters, Brian Eno, etc. as anti-Zionist.
Afaik, nowhere have any of those people called for the destruction of the state of Israel.
When Labour leader, Corbyn supported the two-state solution. A true anti-Zionist would not support any solution where the modern state of Israel exists.
Corbyn, Waters, Eno & co are critical of the policies and actions of the state of Israel and afaik also support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, where Israelis and Palestinians live in peace.
None of them have expressed any support for terrorist/extremist groups, including when Corbyn regrettably said "our friends from Hamas" as inclusive speech to welcome two representatives who'd travelled to the UK to partake in the peace talks.
You must surely question the narrative and agenda when all of a sudden, the likes of Roger Waters, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Ken Loach, Annie Lennox, Massive Attack, Primal Scream, Gary Lineker, Benedict Cumberbatch, Maxine Peake, Charlotte Church, Dua Lipa, Emma Watson, Danny Boyle, Tilda Swinton, Lena Headey, Ms. Rachel, Robert Lindsay, Mark Ruffalo and more,
are all being accused of antisemitism mainly just for being critical of the government/policies/actions of Israel or for also supporting what basically amounts to equal rights for Palestinians.
None of those people are antisemites. Just stop it with these absurd accusations. Stop it now!
Stop using our religion as a political football. It's embarrassing and utterly shameful.
Equally absurd accusations of antisemitism (or self-hating) are also made against many predominantly left-wing and prominent Jewish people such as:
Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Michael Rosen, Miriam Margolyes, Danny DeVito, Bernie Sanders, David Graeber (RIP), Alexei Sale, Mike Leigh, Eli Valley, Ronnie Kasrils, Miko Peled, Tony Lerman, Andrew Feinstein and many many more,
including worldwide members of JVP, JFREJNYC, Na'amod, JFJFP... and also dozens of JVL members who've been thrown out of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer.
Meanwhile, the right-wing friends of the (mostly right-wing) people making these accusations are often ignored, be it Trump, Johnson, Orban, Farage, etc... many of whom have actually made real antisemitic statements in the past.
As I already said, I don't know whether to laugh or cry...
- In addition to the obvious jihadist/militant extremists, who effectively hate everything and everyone else,
the major antisemites will always be on the far right. These are the ones who actually hate Jews.
The ones who march through the streets in USA chanting "Jews will not replace us".
The NF/BNP who marched through the streets in the UK during the 1970s and 80s and who attacked my synagogue when I was a 10-12 yr old.
An extremely worrying element though is those on the far right who support Israel and Zionism.
Zionism's ultimate aim is to get all Jews out of the UK, USA, Europe etc. and relocate them to the modern-day state of Israel,
so it's hardly surprising that the far right who used to shout "Get back to Israel" (even though the vast majority of us were born in UK/USA/Europe and had never even been to Israel) would support such a thing...
- The state of Israel is also believed by them to be a model country when it comes to treating Muslims as 2nd/3rd class citizens.
So, alas, it's also no surprise that the far right who see muslims/Islam as a major threat to the west would support such a thing...
- It must also be pointed out that there are obviously also cases of real antisemitism in areas other than from militant Jihadis and the hard/far-right. This includes centrist, left and apolitical areas.
I say "real" here to make the distinction between true and fabricated/weaponised cases.
The point being that we should not concentrate solely on sources from particular sections, such as from political opponents, whilst disingenuously overlooking the cases closer to home!
- Just like with right-wing vs left-wing politics, UltraZionism vs AntiZionism, and everything else that's hugely complex and/or wrong in the world,
sadly, it's all got way out of hand and, although I'd love to be more optimistic, but apart from some kind of miraculous divine intervention, I don't think there's any possible solution any more.
Depression
Depression is something I've suffered with since my early teens.
It's a feeling of pointlessness, of not belonging, not fitting in,
a feeling of utter helplessness, hopelessness, uselessness, despair.
It's the feeling of never asking to be here in the first place
and then wondering why, what's it really all about?
It's hating the human condition. Having to act a part in order to fit in
and then seeing that ultimately you're hurting people in the process.
Wishing you could undo and change it all, but not being able to do anything about it.
Wishing you could say sorry, but never having that opportunity.
It's knowing full well that it's all bound to go wrong anyway.
It's stupidly saying or doing things totally out of character
in situations you never wanted to be in the first place...
Then adding the inevitable sadness and heartbreak of real life events into the mix, such as:
Losing your loved ones, ill-health, heart attacks, endless breakdowns,
ventures failing, hopes and dreams being crushed, always failing at everything,
all the trouble in the world, war, disease, suffering, neverending strife,
seeing people vote for the same old right-wing parties over and over again,
never learning from those mistakes, with life just getting worse each time...
Depression is a horrible experience. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Unfortunately though, me and depression... we're joined at the hip.
Winamp
- It was me who literally begged Justin & team to include JTFE in Winamp back in 2003.
It was me who proposed DrO for the official Winamp Dev team in 2006, and iirc he was reluctant at first and took quite a bit of convincing.
- Three or more former Winamp managers under AOL (David Biderman, Ben London, Geno Yoham & others) told me that Winamp would've died in 2004, 2007 & 2012 if it hadn't been for me.
Additionally, there never would've been a Winamp 5.8 or 5.9 release either without me. The new devs for 5.9 were literally clueless about the structure and makeup and needed full guidance
and nobody else knew how to package the installer. I never blew my own trumpet at the time, but yeah, I'm blowing it now :-)
- It was a real pleasure and honour to work alongside Justin Frankel, Peter Pawlowski, Christophe, Francis, Benski, DrO and co between 1999-2018.
The last few years though have been a chore, a pain, not really enjoyable at all...
- The last few years have been especially tough.
From Brexit and the ensuing uncertainties (Winamp & Shoutcast are owned by an EU/Brussels-based company), to covid and lockdown (like many, I've still not re-adapted), to losing my beautiful sister to covid, and then both my parents passing...
I was suffering from grief-stricken anxiety and it was certainly affecting my work :-(
- I'd put my heart & soul into Winamp for more than 20 years.
It hurt even more to be casually dismissed as an afterthought by a couple of junior middle managers who'd been with Winamp for a few months and contributed virtually nothing other than overseeing its final demise.
- I told them NFTs, Fanzone, charging fees for publishers when Bandcamp is free, the Android app (which was a joke in comparison to the old WAFA app) were all bad ideas and nothing good will come of them.
It hurts even more to see the people who came up with those terrible ideas still being employed by the company whilst decent developers left (or were laid off) and weren't properly replaced.
- My vision was to modernise Winamp, fix all known bugs, reimplement broken features (CD Ripper, CDDB, Art Retrieval, etc.), and implement support for newer popular audio & video formats and newer technology.
A stable full-featured product should be the key, and with the Winamp name alone, should be enough to keep and build on the already-existing solid userbase.
Their vision was for marketing. How could they use Winamp to make money. And what for? So they can employ a whole heap of people who were never really needed in the first place?
- My final advice to them would be... good luck. You're gonna need it. But before you do any more irreversible damage to the brand, please sell Winamp cheaply to someone who actually cares.
- I'm too emotionally drained to discuss anything else about Winamp right now, but woe betide them if I ever publish my memoirs...
- Bitter, much, me?
Well, Winamp was a big part of my life for more than 20 years, so yeah, just a bit.
It really hurts to see all the damage done.
- But all of that is over now.
I'm no longer answerable to anyone and now The Egg is back!
So be careful what you wish for ;)