Constitution

What is a constitution and can it be changed?

I’m not going to mention current politics in America, as I’m not an American I don’t have enough knowledge of how it works. But I am going to question whether something has to stay the same in perpituity (forever).

There are some commandments in the bible that are no longer followed, for instance two thousand years ago people were told not to eat shellfish. This was probably sensible then, but as time has gone by and hygiene has improved, this command is no longer relevant.

When some constitutions were written many things were not possible, or not invented – space flight, open heart surgery, flight, trains, etc. So if you follow a constitution set in stone you might not be allowed to use some of these things. Flight being only allowed for birds and bat’s for example.

But if a law is wrong, why not change it? Why not modernise? Why then go back to old fashioned ideas? If you go back where do you stop? Do you take away the vote for everyone but the rich? Do you stop women going out to work? Bring back slavery? There are places in the world where a woman may not drive a car unless accompanied by a man.

Then when you do have rules they get broken, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad. Humans are not perfect. They can make bad decisions, act illegally, cause trouble.

So what can we do? Try and act fairly, act with consideration for others, be polite, try not to overreact to others, but have an opinion, and try to care. That’s all I can come up with.

Earth rise?

I made this image using a blow up globe and a bath towel..

Trying to replicate the globe rising over the limb of the moon. But obviously our world doesn’t have latitude or longitude printed on it! And we don’t have different countries coloured in to indicate where there bordered are. I wonder how flat earth believers react to the real image. Do they think the other half of the world is on the back? If it was flat the sun wouldn’t rise slowly but it would illuminate half of the world straight away (unless you are behind a mountain) then after twelve hours set immediately. One side of the world would be in daytime at the same time, the other night time. Get rid of most time zones! Only two needed, twelve hours separating them. Plus you’d notice crossing the edge! And no seasons, so no equatorial heat or Arctic and antarctic regions! And where does the edge fall and wouldn’t the international space station notice?

Thinking… Its good to try it out!

Green world

Imagine a green world, floating through space. Surrounded by a spherical forcefield that holds air and water in and keeps damaging radiation out. It can only survive where there is bright enough sunlight to allow the vegetation to survive unless it is equipped with power to keep it warm enough and keep artificial lights working for photosynthesis to happen. But plants have a limited lifespan, then they die and with the right biology break down and turn into compost. So the sphere needs to have enough space to keep growing, and enough resources to maintain a steady environment. Maybe there are large bodies of water to supply the plants.

I could be describing little spacecraft that could travel across space and seed new worlds? Or maybe it’s our planet. In either case, the environment needs protecting so that it can survive and thrive. If we imagine earth to be just a small spacecraft, where an imbalance could end its life, then perhaps we might take more care of it. X

Getting up late

I am what they call a night owl. One of those people that stays up too late, can’t sleep and then get up too late. Half the day has gone before I see daylight.

Sometimes I don’t start painting till the afternoon. Then it means that I end up painting under artificial light. That’s OK but it affects he colours that I paint with. The light does make everything look more yellow and you cannot really see blues properly. I will wait till daytime to check the real colour (we live on a planet with blue skies and everything has a blue cast to it, but we don’t see it because our eyesight adjusts to it).

What shall I paint next?

I don’t know what to paint next, I have so many paintings, maybe too many? If anything ever happens to me will they end up in a charity shop? Should I donate some to my local museum? I’m responsible for a lot of acrylic on canvas! The thing is I love painting and drawing so much. I hope I bring as much enjoyment to other peoples lives as possible. Art makes me feel better, more relaxed, happy, or sometimes sad, contemplative, thoughtful, or just calm.

Not over yet

Slowly, quietly, Covid numbers are starting to rise again. Last week in the UK one in seventy people were being infected with Covid, including new Omicron variants. This week its gone up to one in sixty five. Life seems to just go on. No one seems very concerned anymore. I keep wearing masks. I can’t see any point in stopping. I need to buy some more lateral flow tests. The government stopped giving them out for free a few months ago. It’s got to end one day, but when? Who knows.

Universes…?

I was just reading a discussion on Instagram (a mistake) which said that if gravity was a bit stronger the universe would collapse (yes) or a bit weaker it would expand and fly apart forever (again yes). It then goes on to say, since gravity is so precise God MUST exist! I took umbridge at this I said :

Huh? There were possibly other universes that collapsed or expanded.. We are just lucky to be in this one. Its not precision its just that we are able to observe it. Its like saying I’m five foot three tall, therefore my short trousers fit!

In any case the Universe IS expanding, There is a considerable red shift and we can see Galaxies are moving apart. There is no sign that its slowing down… Has God forgotten and left the Universe on too low a gravity? I know – I’m cynical.

Facebook WTH!

What the heck is happening. Facebook keeps changing without any explanation or reasoning. Like the road you are driving on being moved to a different destination underneath you, and with no road signs to explain where you are going or why!

For instance, the menu at the top of the page has changed. The icon for groups has gone and instead there is marketplace. I have never and will never buy anything through that. However I am in lots of groups. I want to see the cloud appreciation society Facebook page or art groups I’m in… I’m having a moan here because I can’t actually see where to complain on my Facebook page!

Tree feet?

A rim of moss a foot up the trunk of the tree from its roots. Must be where the rain splashes up. But to me it looked like feet or hands reaching down into the soil. If the roots grasped the soil would squidge up like mud. Spurting up because of the force and strength of the tree. What would happen if trees had muscles. If a simple ivy can twist and squeeze a stem perhaps a tree could tighten round a car or a building. Seeds get into cracks and grow and break stone. Time allows them to do this. The growth is slow. But it can change the landscape.