Small minds

There is a world peopled solely by dwarfs. We can call it Dwarfworld. The strange thing is they don’t call it that. On our world of average-sized humans, those of shorter stature and different appearance (e.g. large heads and small arms) are named dwarves and those whose arms and so forth are in proportion are called midgets. On this other planet there are individuals smaller than the average. What the humanoids on that planet call these smaller ones, I don’t know? In our Universe, it can be readily seen that stars and other cosmic bodies differ in size; so it is with sentient beings. Perhaps only on Earth are the smaller things deemed lesser; although it is a most ugly untruth.

Definitions (Earth Dictionary):

dwarf: an abnormally undersized person; pl. dwarfs or dwarves

midget: a dwarf whose skeleton and features are of normal proportions

Heaven from now on

Heaven can mean many things to many people. Heaven can be viewed as the ultimate in Happiness, Joy, Peace, Love, Understanding, Goodness, Kindness, Patience, Humility. Heaven is usually regarded as eternal. A kind of heaven to me is this: you get to do it all over again somehow, like going back in time; only this time whatever you did wrong, you do right. For example, the time you cowered and did not stand up for or comfort the taunted one – this time you do! The time you did some good – this time you do it to the nth degree, not a nova, supernova but a hypernova! Every mistake, omission – all the regrets undone. This time you do everything right – that would be heaven. Since this kind of do-over is probably never going to happen, at least in this dimension, we should learn from that chequered past and resolve to do our utmost to get it right from now on! Since we are fallible, we will not be 100% successful but by Gum, that shouldn’t stop us from trying our darndest!

The Electric President

Prologue:

The first woman president of the United States had ended her term of office in the year 2876. Having failed to deliver on her election promises a robot president was elected to office for the first time in history.

A red light blinked and the electric president spoke:

‘My fellow Americans, I said I would put an end to global conflicts and the destruction of the environment and it will be accomplished. The billion-strong Robot Protection Force, the greatest army the world has ever seen, was deployed the instant I took office. Projections have determined that resistance by die-hards will be eliminated within a period of two weeks. As always we prefer cooperation to annihilation and the surrender of opposers to the UN Global Peace Resolution will always be welcomed.

As I speak all offending entities to the UN resolution to halt the further despoiling of Earth are being brought into submission. Projections indicate that within a month planetary recovery by Nano’s and other robots will be finished. We can all look forward to a much brighter future from now on.

My thanks to our allies for their contributions.

End Speech.’

This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

What's the points?

When it comes to loyalty cards and credit cards: use the card, don't let it use you!
I have found that I spend more money in the attempt to garner points, and so defeat the object of saving money.

TV Trancing

Sitting in front of a TV or computer screen for hours and hours can eat up a lot of the time you could spend doing other things, like reading, for example.

When you watch program after program on the boob toob (or as we say in German Das Booben Tooben), and stop being selective about your viewing you have fallen into a state I like to call 'TV Trancing'. The sooner you stop the sooner time slows down and you can start doing other stuff.

Do aliens love?

It is my contention that all sentient beings know about connection or relationship. Connection naturally follows from reproduction and cooperation to ensure survival. An alien being would have had its origins just as we did: it's solar system would have collapsed out of a giant cloud of gas and the chain of events that followed (this doesn't mean that life or intelligent life will inevitably spring up every time a solar system, is formed; just that if a particular system is going to produce life we can expect evolution to take place). The result is a sentient being that, if it's not a mono-entity capable of surviving millions of years unchanged growing ever more complex perhaps and without the need to reproduce or make copies of itself to continue through the ravages of time, will require the cooperation of others of its kind to survive. Mankind would not have survived without this cooperation or teamwork. Example: It's easier to kill  a mammoth if you are hunting in a pack.

So, while it may be a stretch to say all aliens love; all aliens relate to one another; bonds that are of great significance to each individual exist. What about a collective mind? Perhaps every mind has its own personality as well as being part of a greater entity? There might have been a time when the minds were separate entities.What about Artificial Intelligences? Perhaps they are still aware of connection; either between AIs or as something within one AI (complex processes that are semi-autonomous but that work together to produce a whole greater than the sum of its parts).

Am I making sense or is this all gobbledygook?

Making assumptions

You enter a room and see before you a still body on the floor, apparently dead, bullet-ridden it would appear. Close by, smoking gun in hand, there is another person looking at the body. The building is probably empty. You heard gunshots and ran in, up the stairs to the room whose door was slightly ajar. The person with the gun lets it hang loosely at his side. You are in no immediate danger, you sense. What has transpired? Let us name the person on the floor, B; and the person holding the gun, A. Did A shoot B?

Many would probably say this is the most likely, most probable explanation of what's been observed. But have we not made a few assumptions? First of all, is B really dead? Did B really die from gunshot wounds?
Things may not be what they appear to be. Perhaps B was stabbed to death and A was shooting at the person/s who did it trying to save B's life but was too late. Perhaps B is unconscious, gravely wounded but still alive - you should call an ambulance immediately. Did A kill B? Perhaps B tried to commit suicide and A arrived on the scene, and picked up the gun for whatever reason. You don't know exactly what happened. You can't just go and shoot A; especially since you have established your life is not in any immediate danger. The situation may change suddenly. A may have been the perpetrator of the crime. Call the police, take evasive action.

The point I'm trying to make is that jumping to conclusions can land one in hot water. Making assumptions can lead to very negative outcomes, especially if acted upon.