Flight MH17 and who may have shot it down

My thoughts and prayers go out to those who died on MH17.  As can be expected, no one wants to get the blame for this.

What is interesting though is that ITAR-TASS has reported that Ukrainian rebels took credit for shooting down an An-26 transport plane near Torez earlier today.  ITAR-TASS is a Russian news site, unlike another site that has posted a similar story.

It looks from this that the destruction of MH17 appears to have been a case of mistaken identity and that the rebels in Ukraine took credit when they thought that this was a military plane.

Here is hoping that despite this, peace comes to the region as a result.  That and the hope that no one hacks my blog!

50% voting thresholds

So, David Cameron was considering that strikers should get 50% of the vote of those who are able to vote before a strike is legal.  This from the man who worked against the reforms to have voters to be elected by 50% of those who turned up to vote.

Does not make sense to me.  Unless he thinks that democracy is selective.  Well, let us face it, based on his views, MP's are less important than strikes.

I was thinking about how much money I've wasted on drugs over the years and it really got me thinking. Imagine all the drugs I could buy with that.

Well, drugs have been in the news again. There has been a call to legalise Cannabis, a drug which those who called for it to be legalised are aware that it ruins lives.  It is safer than drugs like cocaine, but it still ruins lives. But the issue that I, like others have, is that the war on drugs is not working. Drugs ruin the lives of those who use them, those who care for the users and also in many cases those who are in nations where drugs are grown. Mexico is affected by drug related gang violence and this is an issue that seems to be getting worse. Since I was a child, drugs have spread and the use of drugs has increased. Which is why I think that the time has come to legalise and regulate the sale of them. Make drugs legal and you take the profit motive out of selling them when it comes to drug dealers. Costs of drugs drop which means that crime and prostitution are no longer an issue in obtaining drugs. And you can educate people more just how much they screw up people.

Creationism: Billions of Years of Natural selection and Evolution - impossible. However, 6 days plus an old magic man with a beard... Yeah that works.

Last week Creationism was in the news.

Now let me state, I think that there is a God and that God created the universe.  I do not however wish my children to be taught that evolution is wrong.  The thing is, while I do think that God created the universe, that is a belief.  While I think that God created the human race, again, that is my view.  All the evidence that exists, states that I am wrong and that evolution is right.

What I do not understand is the view of those who think that God created the universe to only teach one view on this and to justify this using 'scientific' arguments.

In the debate above Alice Roberts forgets, like many who are against the teaching of creationism in school, that there are many creation theories.  If creationism is to be taught as a valid alternative to the creation of the human race and the formation of the universe, then people need to be taught more than one creation theory, or if you would prefer to call it thus, a creation myth. 

So in summary, if someone states that only one form of a creation myth/theory is to be taught (other than evolution), ask them why other forms of teaching are not taught?

World Cup: Don't despair, England! That was only the first game and, if we're lucky, there's every chance that Phil Neville will get fired before the next one.

Well, I had a good Fathers day.  Ignoring the fact that technically it started with England losing in Brazil.  Still, things could have been worse and we are still in the competition and technically are faring better than the World and European Champions who also lost the first game that they played in the tournament!

I was taken out to The Black Buoy in Wivenhoe where I was given beer and great food.  It was a good day, and now I have to prepare for teaching tomorrow.  The kids had made me cards for the morning, and chosen a t-shirt for me to wear and also had bought me presents!  Moments like these are moments to treasure and while the kids drive me mad at times, they are good children and I am grateful that I have them.

Anyway, time to watch the World Cup...


 

David Cameron has said that the public have become frustrated with the status quo. It's about time. They've been playing the same three chords for over forty years now.

Today was a very enjoyable day.  In the morning, the kids seemed to actually enjoy the topics I got them to read about from the internet, this included a series of pictures from Yahoo! as well as (without the rude jokes,) one of my old blog posts.  And in addition to this, we watched the Lego movie, had some friends round and got the barbecue gas canister ready for our gas barbecue.  The kids got on well with Dylan who came over as well as Lynn and Steve (whom they have seen on many an occasion) and all in all, it was a great start to the bank holiday weekend which even the weather could not cause an issue with!

Vladimir Putin "I want you to move your border away from my troops"

Five day weather forecast for Ukraine . . .

Monday: 22 degrees Celsius with a slight chance for rain.

Tuesday: 26 degrees Celsius sunny with clear skies and light wind.

Wednesday: 27 degrees Celsius and sunny and partly cloudy.

Thursday: 30 degrees Celsius, clear skies, and sunny.

Friday: 10,000,000 degrees Kelvin. Bring sunscreen.

Russia wants to join Europe.

Whether we like it or not. 


When I have made this post, Europe is not a glowing green crater, and the Ukraine still exists.  At the moment, I am hoping that Ukraine is able to retain is territorial integrity, something that Russia had made a promise to respect when Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons.  I do hope that the people of Ukraine work to make their country a better place and not give into hatred.  At present, they live in a democracy...

I see the Kremlin ordered a fireworks display to celebrate Crimea joining Russia.

Either that or one of Putin's rivals tried to start his car.