My Life on this planet.

Interesting article to read about the direct African-American slave trade that was approved just over 500 years ago by emperor Charles V and lasted for about 350 years although we still experience the consequences. Consequences today: wars in Africa as leaders and their people were captured and leaderless societies became unstable while descendants of these black slaves are all over the continent America with the positive result of many different types of music such as rap, blues, R&B, samba and many more. Some white people remain racist who think white people are superior whereby they harm white people's reputation while many black people are angry for what happened to their ancestors but also because many still experience hostility and thus are not at the same level as white people in the country were both are born. Indeed, they are called African-Americans while white people are simply Americans as they are born in America and don't need to be reminded that their ...

In the  Intelligencer , a NY magazine, an article describes how climate change may be much worse than until now anticipated although I remember scientists discussing many of these topics before. But yes, troubles may happen much earlier than anticipated, even during the lifespan of those responsible. A few months ago on the Flemish radio, a book about the consequences of climate change and what will happen if we don't act was discussed. Part of the discussion was that the book is too extreme and thus people will not act when they think climate change can't be stopped. But the counter-argument was that talk about it in moderate wording and people will think we don't need to act while actions are needed to prevent the worse case scenario becomes reality. Whatever, too little is done at present to prevent the predicted climate change. The book discusses what can happen if the temperature increases at a maximum of 8°C. One person thinks the authors exaggerate. Indeed, it...

When a hurricane was approaching the Bahamas and now the US east coast, people were saying to pray that the hurricane will not be too devastated. If God exists, why should He help when humans continue to destroy the planet and refuse to spend sufficient money to reverse this? We will learn that repairing damage costs more in money but likely also lives and this is likely to change our behaviour. Reward and humans do not change and want more, punish or the threat of its existence and most people will change. President Trump said to pray for the Bahamas. Indeed, we can pray for island countries that have little contributed to climate change but does it changes much  as the damage is big? And now the storm is on its way to the East coast of the USA . Still, some people still don't recognise the urgency. However, for those who believe in a deity and certainly the powerful who talk about a God who may punish but refuse to accept responsibility for what is happening in the wo...

As all children are equal, no child was allowed to wear something that covered their hair (i.e. headgear) at a Flemish chain of schools. Now, a Belgian judge decided in favour of a girl who wants to wear a headscarf at school (or may be forced to do so by her parents). If this judgment is upheld by a higher court, than all children should be able to wear something on their head. This is known as the " principle of equality " to prevent discrimination , just as this principle was used to justify the prohibition of wearing headgear or more general any religious symbol by all children. Indeed, a society should not allow that only a section of society (such as a religious group) is not allowed to do something as that is discrimination. But equally, when a section of society is allowed to do something than the whole society should be able to do so or the " principle of equality " is not respected. Thus, either  the rule is that no-one is allowed to cover th...

President Trump is ridiculed for using the words " I hereby order "; indeed, it sounds strange. But, his following sentences do make sentence. Why should for instance cars that are sold in America be produced in China? It increases pollution  due to transport over long distances, results in unemployment  in the USA and thus angry people not only for people who are less educated but also for engineers as today's cars are complex machines to build while it increases the cost  for everyone except for investment and hedge fund managers. Indeed, these managers encourage companies to move away to countries with less environmental and workers protections so production costs are lower while products are transported by big boat, plane and truck companies (an extra cost) and mainly sold in shops that are part of chains because these managers via their funds have many shares in those companies and thus decision powers without owning the companies and thus little responsibly for...

Someone from an American intelligence agency says these organisations are partly to blame for the rise in white supremacy , i.e. the conviction that your skin colour makes you better than others, because they allowed it to grow into what it became today. Indeed, even ordinary people such as me who did a short investigation understood that certain posts were too extreme to allow in a healthy democracy although these posts allows you to understand people's concerns and who thinks in a certain way. As a messenger, he was fired for exposing this. Anyone who follows the news understood the rise of white supremacy, of thinking one's own race is superior to others. The Tea Party in the USA are powerful and mainly religious (evangelical as they oppose the religion of the Pope) white people who were embraced by Republican presidential candidate McCain, opponent of later President Obama, so it became acceptable to speak like these persons with power. Yes, it was white supremacy prop...

How do banks come up with it? Now Danish bank decided to pay negative interests on mortgages , meaning they agree to give you money to buy a house and you pay back less than what they gave you. Sounds logic for companies that must make profits? I don't think so. Indeed, the article mentions that "In reality, the Jyske mortgage borrower in Denmark is likely to end up paying back a little more than they borrowed, as there are still fees and charges to pay to compensate the bank for arranging the deal, even when the nominal rate is negative." Thus, although they say you pay back less, costs to belong to the bank increase and likely for everyone. In addition, while today people can get a tax reductions when they buy a house/flat, as now banks pay some of the mortgage, this may be seen as an additional income and thus I question whether people will have to pay more taxes and this way reduce countries deficits? Costs at banks Banks claim they need to take such...