Photography, Aurora Battleship St Petersburg Russia

The ship that signaled the start of the Russian Revolution in 1917, on display in St Petersburg. This was one of the main things I wanted to see while in Russia and I am glad that I did. I do like a nice old battleship and this one comes with some interesting history.

Classic 1980's Gaming Chuckie Egg!

I moved at from my parents over 10 years ago now and I now live a good distance away a few counties south. So I don't get home all to often, but on a recent visit I found myself in the loft digging through boxes of my youthful belongings. Its amazing what you find and forget what you owned. So under my extensive stamp collection and next to a box of early nineties cassette tapes I found Chuckie Egg an old game for my Atari. 

I spent a huge amount of time playing this as a young man! The cover makes it look better graphically than it was. It took about 10 minutes to load, so you really had to want to play it if you invested your time in loading the damn thing. 

Photography, Kalipedia Lithuania, Structures around the Dock

Kalipedia is the main port of Lithuania and as such it is quite industrial, but does possess a small but nice old town. Nothing that compares really to Tallinn or even Riga on the Baltic. But charming none the less. I have to say I liked the old soviet structures more and the concrete news plinths!

Photography Derelict Linnehall Tallinn Estonia

On the edge of Tallinn's old town sits a derelict concrete building almost abandoned, Linnahall was built for the 1980 Moscow Olympics and was originally called the Lenin Palace of Sports and Culture. Though the building is out of use the exterior is still frequented by people who wander over the mossy crumbling boulevards that run over the roof of the structure towards the sea. I found this as interesting as Tallinn's old town, a relic of communism and its ultimate decline. 

We Didn't Start the Fire!

I don't usually look to Billy Joel to reinforce my own perceptions of the world, but when listening to We Didn't Start the Fire and the references of major headlines from his life time its not hard to think t he was right........The world has been burning, since the world has been turning.

When I scroll through my news feed and see all the horror and misery that goes on in the world it makes me feel utterly depressed and any attempt to make a better world the most futile of acts! Well that's how i feel sometimes. In other moments I feel far more positive. 

One of humanities most interesting traits is its diversity, whether that be culture, race or history etc. The very things that make us take pride in our species are the things that cause the misery and horror in our news feeds. I don't know why we humans are built this way? I am sure there is some evolutionary reason for it, after all we are still animals like everything else on this planet. All be it with a brain that can make art and language, break down and understand how are world is constructed and even leave our little oasis Earth and enter the desert of Space. We are animals still. 

What depresses me more than anything is that if we ever (and its a big if) achieve and end to the daily shit and murder, it will mostly come from one homogenizing force! Where we all think and do the same..... Or evolution hurries the hell up and changes us for the better. 

Photography, Broughton Church near Preston Lancashire

Found a stash of old photo's on my old hard drive taken back in Preston where I used to live. This is Broughton Church taken in the early hours! The earliest part of the Church dates back to 1533 but records show the site was used as a church/chapel as far back as the 12th century. 

UKIP Summed Up By Stewart Lee

I think I have spoken about UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) before, their central reason for existing is to withdraw the UK from the European Union. this is something which I am totally against. However over recent years UKIP have gained considerably in popularity, but along with thier valid political position there is a horrid underbelly which is 'nasty'. The party has become (I don't think it started off like this) a group of racist, homophobic bigots! This is generally found in the lower ranks rather than with the likes of Nigel Farage, but their politics is certainly directed and forged with these ideals in mind.

On one of my feeds somewhere I came across this by Stewart Lee (one of my favourite Stand Ups) summing up UKIP.

 

Nothing I have seen reflects my own thoughts better than this......