The World According to Icbal

Well, I saw these on Chrissy's, so I decided to do a few.
I'm glad I did well on the 8th grade science one.
For some reason I needed to kick its arse.

62%
19% Geek

Today is about Noah.

I think its about time people had a fair idea about the truth about the man, instead of some magical, or mystical idea that he somehow managed to do some impossible things.

Extraordinary is one thing.
Impossible is quite another.

So we'll start off with a bit of his history, because all things start somewhere, and its important to put him in the right setting.

The Bible is not a book of all things.
It is not.
It does not contain all wisdoms, or every story, a big book though it may be.
The Bible is a book of the lineage of kings and righteous men in Gods sight. Running backward from Jesus to Adam. Somewhere along that line was a man named Noah, who was one of the five most important men in the whole of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Noah was born an albino, with the purest of white skin like snow and eyes of red, burning like fire. He was the son of Lamech, grandson of Methuselah (the oldest man who ever lived) and the great grandson of Enoch. Apon his birth he brought fear to the family because to Methuselah, he had the appearance of an angel. Methuselah went to the ends of the earth to find and consult his father, Enoch, who taught him that Noah - who Enoch named - had been blessed by God when given this appearance and would be a great man, but also predicted that it would be in the days of his great grandson Noah, the the days of the world would come to an end.

Now Noah grew old, and a time came when God just about looked at the people of the world as filth but for a few. He sent Noah to his local city to send warning of imminant danger if they did not change their ways, just as He always did.
And as usual, or at least for the most part, the people he warned shunned him. After three times of trying, God had enough, and told Noah to build the ark.

Now there are two accounts of Noah in religion, one from the book of Genesis and one from the book of recitation - otherwise known as the Qu'ran.
They both agree almost perfectly with eachother but for one point.
Genesis tells us the flood was world wide, while the Qu'ran tells us the event was for the people of Noah.

There is only one way in which both books are true.
Noah built the ark for the world wide event, but for the purposes of only his people and his region.

There is archeological evidence to support this idea.
There was a tablet found a few years ago in South America, telling of a story almost identical to Noah, except the name. India too has such a character in Hinduism named Manu, who was saved by Vishnu.

Now its not my idea that Noah went everywhere in the world collecting animals, a pair of each and 7 pairs of clean animals, and did that before the rains.

That just doesn't make sense.
It might have been possible to an extent if water was everywhere, but how would he have managed to pick up animals so far inland?

No, it didn't happen.
We all know it doesn't make sense whether we choose to defend it or not.

But, it is entirely possible, that since the Bible is a book of a line of Kings, a branch of the world family tree, that the Bible only tells of the man in that branch that dealt with their flood, while other places in the rest of the world dealt with their own respective parts of the great flood.

This idea is the only explaination that allows archeological, Biblical and Islamic views to all be true and correct.

Its then my view that this is the reality of Noah and the flood.

So even though we've now sorted what Noah did we should sort out what his boat could have done, and when we do, we can see it would take a miracle, or magic for a ship that, in modern day terms, was only 450 feet/135 meters long, 75 feet/22.5 meters wide, and 45 feet/13.5 meters high to carry such a vast number, and variety of animals from around the globe.

Big boat. But not anywhere big enough.

It is big enough though, to take a pair of every animal from Noahs region, instead of the world like I've already suggested.
Easily big enough.

But, and here's the thing, where did all the water come from?

Well, I have a theory.

And I dont think its a bad one, if I do say so myself.

See there are a few really weird things about the world pre 5000 years ago.
Which is strange really, because thats when the Bible tells us that Noahs flood was. There or there abouts. But I dont think that thats when the flood was.
I think that it happened before 5000 years ago.

I think that many things were forgotten, and destroyed. Great civilisations and knowledge all gone in the Great Flood. The best evidence we have for this is the Ancient Egyptians pre-history, and the age old city of Atlantis that is long long gone.
The fact is we dont know anything about any of it.
What we do know is that the pre-history Egyptians had electricity. We also know that it was them that built the pyramids and the sphynx, both dated by the stars at about 12,500 years ago.


My theory is that somewhere between 5000 and 12,500 years ago, the world was flooded for a short period.
It just so happens that about 10,000 years ago the world came quite suddenly out of an Ice Age.
The ice from this Ice Age had reached around about the 40th parallel, both north and south.
Right now, its sitting about the 70th parallel noroth and south.

Hell of a lot of ice turned to water in that time.
Hell of a lot of water that's got to go somewhere.
Hell of a rise in the sea levels, and a hell of a lot of river-side and coastal towns and cities that just got flooded.
Considering the proximity of the pyramids and the sphynx to the nile, its quite likely that the sphynx was in the river itself after it burst its banks.

Here's a picture of the sphynx:


Here's a picture of a rock outcrop eroded by water.


Seems obvious enough.
And like I said, many people would have died.
Virtually everyone in those times lived on rivers or coasts, in fact thats pretty much the same today, except today we have means of fleeing.

So Noah took the animals. A pair of each, with 7 pairs of clean animals.
His ark was big enough for his local job.
Everyone in his city would have died.
And so the story of the Bible and Qu'ran is explained.

All except his ship.

Where is it?

Well...

Lets have a look at what Genesis says.

"But God remembered Noah, the waters receded, and the Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat."

Noahs ark is on the mountains of Ararat.

Thats a mountain range.
Not a mountain.

In the whole of Genesis chapters 5-9 where Noahs story is told, at no point does it say that Noahs ark landed on the top of a mountain.

It says the ark landed nn a mountain range.

A valley is part of a mountain range.
And the impossible amount of water that would have had to seeped out of the earth to put the ark on top of mount ararat would have placed it on a spot where there are only 47 higher places.
Whereas if the ark had landed in the valley of the Ararat mountain range, the ark would have landed on a spot 3,600m, or more than 2 miles closer to sea-level, on the edge of a flat plane, near the flooded river Morat in Turkey.

The enormous flat plain around the mountains would have ensured that before the water totally disappeared, there would have been a very far view from Noahs ark, of nothing but water.




Maybe I'm wrong.
But I really dont think I am.

Today we're going to talk about prisons.

I think we can probably say across the board that prisons dont work.
They dont. We know they dont.
I can't think of the number of times I've heard that they're over crouded, and lets face it, they're over crowded because no-ones afraid of going to prison. No-one cares. In the UK, the justice system is now on the verge of releasing prisoners early for the lack of room, and to me, that is just senseless.
Senseless.

Why should a criminal be released early from prison? Good behaviour? Well I'll talk about that later, but definately not because there's no room for him/her.

Now I believe that as someone who broke the law, you deserve to pay the price, and that price should not be financial. No no no.
If the cost of a crime was finacial, you would ruin the family of the criminal and that wouldn't be fair, since why should one pay for another mans sins? No, a criminal should be given a sentence. Beit community service or prison, they should get something non-financial.
And the point is that a rich man, or even a reasonably well-off man who is given a fine is punished much less than a man who can't afford a fine.
You need a level playing field where every man is equal. Finance isn't a level playing field.
Prison is.

Or should be.

Cannabis possession or use is a perfect example. £20 here or there for being stopped and found with it in your pocket. It used to be a short term in at Her Majesty's pleasure.
But they stopped that because prisons were too full.

Well it obviously wasn't thought through well enough, because the problem has become worse.

So I have a superb solution to the whole problem, and I believe the majority of everyone would agree with me.

First off, I dont think it helps anyone to be let out of prison early due to good behaviour. I believe sentences should be either made longer or harder for bad behaviour. Good behaviour should be the norm and expected, just as it is in society. Anything outside of that should be punished, just as it is in society.
That just needs to be settled, because the idea came about, again, because prisons are too full, so the officials had to bring down the prison population somehow, and it came about at a time when positive reinforcement became the buzz words of the time.

The basis of the justice system is the courts.
And the courts are initially where things need to change.

I believe it be would infinitely beneficial to have static sentences for people who break the law. And there should be an equation used to determine standard terms based on the severity of the crime and the culpability of the person who committed it.
That way, everyone knows what they will get, and you WILL get it.
For instance, murder isn't just murder.
Someone who poisons her husband over a long period is far more culpable for their actions than someone who shoots their husband in bed with her best friend, who is more culpable than the wife who stabs her husband after years of beatings and abuse.

So there should be a standard listings of say 1-10 for the severity of the crime, and definitions of what count as those different levels of severity. And a listing of 1-3 for the resposibility a person would be judged to have for the crime.
Then you multiply one by the other to get a total number of years.

Now I know thats not fullproof, because courts need bargaining chips, and I fully understand that the reason courts allow time off the sentence for admitting a crime is that otherwise no-one would plead guilty at all and would insist they had done no wrong.
But I would give no more than 20% off the sentence to shorten it.

And that might not sound so substancial, and maybe not substancial enough to persuade people to admit to their crimes, but then I also believe that the prison life should change, and it should change to the extent that people just DO NOT EVER want to go back.

I think both the guards and the prisoners should be rotated in groups to prevent farmiliarisation between inmates, and between inmates and guards.
Guards duties should be rotated after a set period.
For instance, a set of guards for a time, should be in charge of the inmates excercise, which should be an all day affair.
Inmates should be split into 10 blocks, and let out for exercise and hour for each block, and as one hour finishes, another begins.
This would give guards more control of the prisoners at this time of day and would allow a closer eye to be kept on the inmates.

While we're on the issue of exercise, all weightlifting equipment should be removed from prisons.
I dont know why its there, and I dont think it is reasonable for a single second that prisoners should easily be able to overpower guards because of physical size gained while in prison. Its a rediculous situation.
There should be no TVs, stereos, VCRs, Games consoles allowed in Cells.
Its not a holiday camp. Its prison.
It should feel like it.

Rotation of the inmates in their duties and grouped blocks will stop prisoners from conspiring and from being given the feeling of institutionalisation, because how they live is always changing.

Prisions should work on a 10 month year.
Every month, the prisoners have a different duty. All day, everyday.
And they are in the same block out of 10 for that duty. When the duty changes, so does the block an inmate is in with.

Not only does the inmate not get used to their environment, they also dont get used to the people they are in that environment with.
They dont have entertainment in their cells, they get TV one hour a week, they help make the food they eat, they learn things up to a high school level and not above.
Cigarettes are forbidden. They are used as currency in prison, and should be taken away in totality, with the added benefit of prisoners coming out of prison without an addiction to smoking.
Drug use will increase length of sentence, along with violence and theft, by the amounts that would be given in a court, and as such will be judged to have done so by a Judge or a Jury in the occasion calls for it.

As a final note, I believe that the death sentence is a necessity, but ONLY for those that have commited such dispicable crimes they will never be committed again.
Such as the killing of children, or multiple murders.

And I'm not a fool, these crimes should only be punished in such a way that a 12 person jury has ZERO doubt as to the guilt of the criminal, and that the case against the said person is absolute.

And in such a case, the sentence should be carried out within a short period of time such as 60 days, after a single appeal. Not dragged on for years and years.

Anyone who falls within this catagory, but not given the death sentnce due to a doubt of even one member of the jury, then the said prisoner should spend the appropriate term in solitary comfinment away from the general prison population, and their life be taken in another way, contemplating what they have done.

Prisons should be tough old places that you will cry from relief from when you are released.
Not places that you'll kill to get back into because you're not used to the outside world.
And the only way thats possible is to make it impossible to get used to in prison.

If the justice system was worked in a way similar to this, just like this, the prison population, over given time to adjust and allow sentences to take effect, would decrease by a great amount.

Well incase any of you are wondering, DBZNemesis Forums isn't down because I'm crap.
That doesn't stop me being crap, it just means its not broken because of it.

Its not working because the IPowerWeb SQL management is buggered for the moment, and I dont have an clue when its going to be fixed. But trust me, it will be alright in the end.


I've decided to change this LJ from the purpose for which it was initially intended, since no matter how many I try I just dont do Journals.

So every so often i will write a surmon on life the universe and everything.

Ok?

Chao

Bought baby stuff the other day.
Saturday I believe.
£400 in one day, on a little thing weighing less than my foot thats not techinically a person yet isn't bad. LOL

I'd already been taking the soon-to-be baby's room apart, digging a channel through the plaster board for the light cable to run through, rewiring, refilling, retouching, sanding, cleaning, recleaning and cleaning again.
Then we spent the rest of sunday and half of monday wallpapering, up and down the stairs constantly. And then I worked til pretty much 9pm finishing it off.
Tuesday morning came and I needed another 12 days off. LOL.
First time for a long time I've gone to bed before 11pm.

But the baby's room's finished and it looks good.

Just needs a baby now.

I also had the pleasure today of being shaken by the hand and congratulated at work by the station manager for making a little booklet for everyone on my watch that contains directions to 292 streets in my stations area.
I originally did it just for me, but because I was doing it on the computer I figured i could make one for everyone.

I finished it ages ago, but its just now gotten round to the station manager and he wanted to thank me for it and said it was brilliant. I didn't do it for recognition but I got plenty of it. He said he'd pass it on to his boss.
Thats Group Manager Paul Austin.
It took a month or so for the Station Manager to get round to seeing me apparently, so I'll not expent Mr Austin to be any quicker. LOL

Well its been a pretty eventful month or so.

Old news to a lot of people but, Tasha's pregnant with my baby.
She's just now into her 12th week, and while she's not officially into her 2nd trimester, all the signs say she is. The baby is now roughly two inches from head to rump.
LOL it was weird finding out about it. All the info says the babies eyes are moving to the front of the head.

I'm picturing a baby with eyes like a kameleon.

It was funny in the 10th/11th week when Tasha had a scan, we could see on the monitor the little thing waving its arms and legs about.
Made me happy.

So she's "up the duff" as she blames me with. She does like pretending its all my fault. As if.

----------------

I'm also closer to completing the design of my world changing invention. I would love to spout on about it but, no offence to anyone, its such a big thing that if it works how I'm sure it will, it'll be worth a fortune. But if the wrong people found out about it, or it was handled the wrong way, nothing would come of it.

And I say that because, and without saying what it is, or how it works, it would put an awful lot of infuencial people, companies and even some countries main resources out of business.
It is literally that big.
Big enough that it would power any vehicle or home.
So I got to thinking, providing it works exactly how I think it will, that I'm in a little bit of a dilema.

I'm in a position where I have something that could power villages for a one-off fee all over the world independant of anything else and other resources.
This means that I will put all electrical, oil and gas companies and their dependants out of business.
The other thing too is, this thing, for the reasons I have explained, will be worth an absolute fortune.
What I mean is, think of the money these multibillion dollar organisations would pay to keep it off the market. And so now I have another dilemma.

Would it be wrong to take a massive sum of money, knowing the product would never do what I intended it to do? Knowing that the world would never be saved, as it were.
The sortof money this sort of thing is worth would be very difficult to pass up. But at the same time, I dont know if I could live with myself knowing what I'm selling out.

And its not just a moral issue. This is a kind of dream, you know?
Something that I can say, I truely did the best I could to make the world a better place. And something that I can die knowing I left my mark and i will be remembered for years to come.
And its easy to say, just go with it but, if someone comes up to me and says "Here's £500million to buy your rights to the product" its a lot of money to turn down, because you're talking about the future of your family and friends for generations to come.

Right now, I'm sitting in the camp of "living the dream" and I'm quit happy there.
I hope I dont change my mind when the time comes.
I need to seriously sit down and thoroughly think through the process of what I need to do to ensure I can do what I want to do.

BAH!

-------------------

Anyway, I'm in a hole for time management right now. I have so many things to do and so many things running through my head I dont know what to do first. So I'm ending up doing a bit of everything a little at a time.

I've got everything going on with Christmas and the New Year and all the furor that comes with it. I've got work on my mind, with all the training I'm having to do and all the things I have to learn AND remember. Normally, things I HAVE to learn are things I discard shortly afterward, but all these things are things I HAVE to remember for the rest of my days as a firefighter. And there is a lot of it.
On top of that. There's all the things about what I said above, and I've been thinking for AGES about writing a book about God and everything.

Which you would think is easy, but IS IT FUCK!

As a fair number of people know, I have my own ideas about God and religion and stuff, and I think I have some pretty solid reasons for why I believe what I do. And I want to get that written down in a nice concise way.

But when I noted down what I want to say, there's just so bloody much. And its a bit daunting thinking about all the notes and research I need to do in various fields to back myself up.

It gives me a new respect for people who write these kinds of books. It takes a lot of organising and time and effort to get these books off the ground. I also have more respect for those who write several books like that.

LOL, my future is planned out for years to come.

Your Seduction Style: Ideal Lover

You seduce people by tapping into their dreams and desires. And because of this sensitivity, you can be the ideal lover for anyone you seek. You are a shapeshifter - bringing romance, adventure, spirituality to relationships. It all depends on who your with, and what their vision of a perfect relationship is.

There are more, but I only did this one...



Tasha didn't have a chance. LOL

I was on TV last night. LOL

When I was training to be a firefighter, we had camera crews wondering around, interviewing people who gave permission. I didn't.

But, that didn't stop them picking me up every so often. The past few weeks, the series, aptly named "Firefighters" on BBC Scotland, has been following the recruits and Maryhill Stations Red and Blue watches.

I was in the first episode, but you only saw the back of my head. LOL With "BROOKS" written across my helmet.
And I was in last nights, the 4th episode.
This time I was laughing at other trainees trying to walk in a straight line blindfolded. For the record, when I did it, I got to where I was supposed to be going. Unlike 90% of the others who ended up walking into walls and parked cars.
I'm so cool.

LOL!

Well, I'm now famous. My face has been broadcast across Scotland.


LOVE ME!

Well, everyone else has done it!

1. Who are you?:
2. Are we friends?:
3. Why are you my friend?
4. When and how did we meet?:
5. How have I affected you in any way?:
6. What do you think of me sexually?:
7. What's the fondest memory you have of me?:
8. How long do you think we will be friends?:
9. Do you love me?:
10. Do you have a crush on me?:
11. Would you kiss me?:
12. Would you hug me?:
13. Physically, what stands out?:
14. Emotionally, what stands out?:
15. Do you wish I was cooler?:
16. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it:
17. Am I loveable?:
18. How long have you known me?:
19. Describe me in one word:
20. What was your first impression?:
21. Do you still think that way about me now?:
22. What do you think my weakness is?:
23. Do you think I'll get married?:
24. What makes me happy?:
25. What makes me sad?:
26. What reminds you of me?:
27. If you could give me anything what would it be?:
28. How well do you know me?:
29. When's the last time you saw me?:
30. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?:
31. Do you think I could kill someone?:
32. Are you going to put this on your xanga and see what I say about you?

I have an incredible ability to forget the things that actually matter when I’m telling people things. It’s really something to behold. If you knew me in real life you’d think I’m quite difficult to get to know.
Not to get along with, but to find things out about.

Tasha and I have been trying for a baby for nearly a year, and things haven’t happened yet, but I’m sure they will.
We went to the hospital last week to get some tests done. Chromosome tests and thyroid tests and what not.

Tasha didn’t faint. LOL

Monday we got the results back on the thyroid tests and she’s all clear, but her hormones aren’t balanced.
I remembered I bought oil capsules a few months back that specifically help balance hormone levels. So I’m making sure she remembers to take them, and she’s doing well remembering by herself.
That might sound patronising, but she does forget to take them, the little bugger.

I think I’m more confident than she is about having a kid together. She’s always asking me what I’ll do if we don’t manage to have a kid. I think she thinks I’m gonna run away with some bint off the street, cos apparently I’m a babe magnet now I’m a firefighter.

Who’s she kidding?

I’m a babe magnet anyway. LOL

Tasha, there’s nothing to worry about.
If – and I think it’s a big if – we don’t manage to have a baby, I’m going nowhere.

Mwah!

Well, things have been happening.

"OOOOOooOOOoooohh" you may think, but its really not that great. LOL.
I just like getting you going.

So, where to begin...

I think I'll start with whats been pissing me off recently. That way I get to end on a high. God forbid I forget anything important in this.

So my printer is pissing me off.
A couple of months it must have been now, I bought one of those ink refills for the cartridge just the cyan, magenta and yellow ones. I bought it cos it costs a hell of a lot less to refill an ink cartridge than it does to replace one.

So I got it all done. Drill the hole in the top in each coloured section, and filled it with ink.
The rules say "don't fill it with more that 6ml of ink". So I dont. I put bang on 6ml in.

Doesn't work.
Wasted a shite load of black ink printing out pictures trying to get it going.
No joy. Except that a timy bit of red was coming out.

So I put the printer on a cleaning cycle.
Still didn't work. Just a touch of patchy red.

Then I cleaned it myself.
This time yellow comes out.
But no red.

So I clean it again.
The yellow starts only coming out in drabs.

So i think fuck it! I spent so long on it, I got pissed and left it.

A few days later I came back to it and decided to fill the thing to the brim, and when I did?
NO ink was coming at all.
Bitch!
I mean its not as if the damn thing is empty of fucking ink.

So i cleaned it again, hoping to unblock something.
Then all it printed was orange. Go figure.

I'd accepted the crappiness of it long ago and got on with my life, meaning to buy another cartridge that someone I know can get for me for just a little more than the refills.
Only for some reason its stoped printing orange and now all it prints is turquoise.
I mean, I'm mystified. I didn't even touch it this time. Just a few days ago started doing it.

Now that doesn't bother me, it just adds to its weirdness.
What annoys me is that, without using any - and I really do mean fuck all cos I've been getting it to print black and white - its now telling me the colour cartridges are near empty.

I'm gonna burn it.
I'm gonna take it to work, leave it in my pocket and wait for a bin fire and throw it in before i put it out.

Last night i was putting a few songs on my MP3 player, one of them being Elvis vs JXL.
I noticed at the end of the song title in the file name, it said "[Remix for radio]". So I right-click, rename, and delete the part that says "[Remix for radio]".
Only, when i do so, every damn, fucking, wanking song title changes to "Elvis vs JXL".

I'm now slowly in the process of renaming them all again.

Arse!

I realise that posting in this journal once a month doesn't give me the right to make you read War and Peace, but, meh.... read it.

On to the good stuff.

A couple of weeks ago, as you probably know, tasha and I went to see The Rocky Horror Show.
Tasha had prepared me for it, which made me really not want to go. She told me all about the extents of the audience participation, and I was not happy.
Then I watched the movie.
I was bewildered.
I have to say at this point I was not looking forward to it, but I didn't let tasha know.

It was fucking brilliant.
Apparently i was lucky it was a subdued night.
I dont care, it was great. Funny was hell. I'd easily go watch it again. But I told Tasha she has to watch Phantom of the opera. So that'll be watched next.

My only complaint (which is a common complaint for me at musicals) is that the speakers were too loud. But hey, thats life. They always are.

Still a good show.

Recently, I was at RTC (Road Traffic Collision - I'm gonna get you all knowing the terms) training today.
My gaffa, Watch Manager Robert Smith (Rab) is doing a course on it tomorrow, and wanted to run through what was going to happen.
Quickly some basics for those that dont know.
A cars posts are named.
The A post is the column of the car that corners between the windscreen and the front door.
THe B post is the column that the back door hinges on.
The C post is the post the backdoor locks on.
On some cars, like estates (station wagon), there is a D post, which is just the post that corners between the boot (trunk) and the sides of the car.

We trained today on a B post rip on an upsidedown car.
That consists of using the spreaders,

crimping the lip of the backdoor and bending it outward to make a gap, putting the tip of the spreaders in and spreading til the lock busts. Then swinging the back door open, you use the cutters,

to cut top the B post through, and then cut half way through at the bottom. Then use the speaders to tear the metal so the whole side of the car swings on the front door hinges.

After that we had to turn the car on its side, and remove the roof.
Anyway, when we got back to station, I was pulled into the office and Rab had a grim look on his face, and said,
"Ian, when we were at training, when we were finished pulled me to the side at the end and spoke to me about your efforts."

I thought "fuck!"
Just like that.

He said "He said you had very... good tool handling and used the equipment very well."

LOL, I had to stop myself from calling him a wanker.
Not a big thing, but it gave me a bit of a confidence booster knowing that I was pointed out specifically in amongst far more experienced Firefighters.

Gave me a grin anyway.


Ok, thats me, see you next month. LOL

Friggin Nemesis has gone down.

Again.

Damn fecking session files have wanked it up again.