Add a Comment   Up to OJB's Blog List

Another Year Gone

Entry 2311, on 2023-12-31 at 20:50:30 (Rating 4, Comments)

Well, that's another year gone, I guess, so what's happened? Well, what you might remember depends on what is important to you, but let me very briefly (because this is my new compact blog format, right) list a few highlights for me.

First, we seem to have lost interest in COVID. I mean, it's still here, and we have many people dying from it every week, but no one cares any more, except for maybe good ol' Bad News Baker himself, AKA Doctor Doom. I guess COVID just doesn't have any political purpose any more, and it's no longer useful for scaring people.

So climate change has been brought back to fullfil that role. Of course, it was always there, and I have to emphasise that I think it is a real thing. I just think the popular political portrayal of it is utterly ridiculous, and the solutions are even worse.

We have the war in Ukraine to continue to be outraged about, but that has been upstaged a bit by the conflict in Gaza. That has certainly produced some of the most absurd nonsense I have ever seen, including the so stupid it's funny phenomenon of "LGBTs for Gaza". Do these clowns really not know what happens to sexually diverse people in countries with Islamic law? I can send them some videos of people being thrown off buildings and stoned if that might help, but I suspect it wouldn't.

I am fairly firmy on the side of Israel in this conflict, in case you were wondering. I'm not saying Israel is without blame, and that the people of Gaza have always been treated fairly, but even if there are no absolute goods and bads in this, or any other conflict, I think there is one side which is far more moral than the other.

I think the most disturbing and dangerous trend of recent decades has peaked and is on the way out. That, of course, is woke-ism, and it really does seem to have lost its appeal to many. Of course, there are still those who will cling to it until the bitter end, but global trends cannot be resisted.

Related to that subject, the last vestiges of "Ardernism" are being eradicated here in New Zealand. We now have a center-right government, and the two smaller parties will make sure that the vacuous National party is forced to eliminate most of the woke garbage Ardern introduced.

In a slightly less controversial area, let's look at technology. This really is a continuation of the dominance of artificial intelligence, and maybe the start of the popular acceptance of virtual and augmented reality.

The rise of AI seems obvious: it's everywhere now. It's writing news and other material, creating music and art, and being used as an additional element in many other technologies. And Apple have released a virtual and augmented reality headset. Sure, it's too expensive right now, but those who have used it love it, and when Apple join a technology market that usually means that is about to go mainstream (in the past, this happened with computers, laptops, MP3 players, smartphones, tablets, and smart watches).

Now, I could go on, but I must remember my promise for shorter blog posts. So let's just leave it there. No doubt I will be commenting in detail on these subjects in the new year.

Comment 1 (7603) by Its Me on 2024-03-08 at 15:21:41:

I don't understand how you can believe climate change is real but not want to fix it. Are you just going to let global disaster happen?

Comment 2 (7604) by OJB on 2024-03-09 at 11:05:06:

I think it would be great if we could fix climate change, but we can't. at least not while China builds a new coal fired power plant every week. The money would be better spent on systems to reduce the effect of climate change. Anything else seems to be wasteful virtue signalling.

You can leave comments about this entry using this form.

Enter your name (optional):
Enter your email address (optional):
Enter the number shown here:
Enter the comment:

To add a comment: enter a name and email (optional), type the number shown, enter a comment, click Add.
Note that you can leave the name blank if you want to remain anonymous.
Enter your email address to receive notifications of replies and updates to this entry.
The comment should appear immediately because the authorisation system is currently inactive.