The black arts

Sometimes in life it is what you don't properly see, what you cannot properly hear or that you cannot fathom that disturbs or actually frightens you the most. We get half a story, a whisper or a fleeting glimpse and our mind will fill in the blanks, envisioning to "us" what "it" want's. Indeed, without such a facility to fashion images to our consciousness, human sight would be very stressful indeed, as scientific investigation and those unfortunate to suffering anomalies of the mind have testified. Take theses few images as vey simple examples.

We know this is a motionless picture, but you try telling that to your mind. It's trying to deliver a sensible picture to "you", based in its life of experiences, but it can't decide, so you may be seeing the beads move, but even using one eye alone, many people will perceive two central troughs in what you know is just a flat picture.

This picture is flat but your brain has probably decide you are looking at a distant, probably moving, circular pattern through a patterned card with a hole in it. The change in the scale of the outer patterns suggest depth, the fuzz circles imply great distance, so your brain falls back on its rules of sight and gives you the impression you are no doubt experiencing now. Intriguingly I tried this on a friend and their experience was different to mine; that the card held a magnifying lens held over a spotty background. 

Here's a good one of the nurse Florence Nightingale,

 best revealed by moving the image around with your eyes fixed in a stare.

Wiggle image to see Vincent Van Gough

Watch this YouTube video and be amazed at how your brain messes with what you see, as does this one

Anyway, I think we are at a point of attention when I can tell you of my personal interest. I asked myself the question , "If your mind fills in bits, how will a picture change if you slowly remove or alter bits of it, thereby forcing your mind to add its bits to give it's meaning of what your eye is seeing?" 

After fiddling about with images I realised your mind is pretty quick at spotting what is missing and doesn't seem to make up anything of its own, but that if you darken an image, or bits of it to a point of abstraction, you brain starts to add or interpret until it is satisfied the "message" to you makes sense.

Try these 

Old man or chimpanzee? (Zoom in in for clarification)

Facing you (left knee higher than the other) or not? - Zoom in.

Hard - A doll, a ghost or a child? - Zoom in (in a dark room)

Word of the day - SMUG

The word today is Smug

Smug is an adjective and from my research means the following:

- To be too pleased or satisfied about your knowledge or achievements

- To attempt to belittle others by your dress or demeaner

- To be scrupulously clean, neat, or overly correct in chosen attire

Smug by nature and attire?

Smug is a word with dual uses, regarding personal behaviour or attire

If someone says you are smug, or being smug it is not a compliment

To act smugly or exhibit smugness is not generally a desirable trait

Smugness and gloating are interchangeable in use.

Your appearance may be smug (overly smart) but you may not be smug

If you need more start here or here.

There is an index of words of the day.

If you are brave or foolish enough to dig into the different types of words in English, try this.

Word of the day - MORES

The word today is Mores

Mores a collective plural noun and means the following:

- The accepted or traditionally held belief(s) of a country or population

- The traditional ways of behaving, typical of a society or parts thereof 

- The manners, ways and moral attitudes most common in a population

Collective sets of characteristics, actions or beliefs identify social mores of a group. E.G. Americans are loud and proud, Canadians not so.

Mores may be nothing other than a mutual understanding that moderates behaviour of individuals and countries. E.G. In the UK we queue respectfully, in Japan they bow a lot.

Think of mores as "this is the way we do things".

If you need more start here or here or here.

There is an index of words of the day.

If you are brave or foolish enough to dig into the different types of words in English, try this.

Dump Trump 'cos he's a chump (with Bohemian Trumpsody)

Let me say this please, Trump's desire to make America great again is akin to masturbation: It feels great for a while but ultimately you are left on your own. He is still hands-on the phallus of the USA but it is slowly going down. 

The rest of the world, much to his apparent surprise and eventual recognition, are preparing to also play hardball and basically give him the finger. Sure, his trade is good to have but his hubris is proving unacceptably hard to swallow. As the rest of the world adjusts, the USA might just need new friends, whilst Trump's actions at home, with removal of food aid, health assistance and heavy handed homeland actions and directives may lead to intolerance by the masses, making me think he wants to actually break the USA; indeed, many ask when does friendship become a traitor's action.

TRUMP WON, ALLOWED TO DO SO BY A JUDICIAL SYSTEM THAT IS NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE AND AN AMERICAN VOTING POPULATION THAT DEFIES (my) UNDERSTANDING. GOOD LUCK USA!

TRUMP LOVES TRUMP and his ego knows no bounds - he and his coterie will ruin America, your reputation, your economy and your former friends' desire to care about you. Why did you do this to yourselves America?

Just weeks into the job the despotic bullying began.

Trump is open about his America comes first policy and his nationalistic desires are well documented. 

Trump's desire is to interfere in the social rights (and wrongs) he perceives in American society and those of other countries.

Trump is open about protecting American jobs, thereby portraying his party as a party for "legal" workers, whilst those he deems to be "illegals" are identified and arrested or camped.

Trump is using populist actions to thereby build-up his party and his base of avid supporters who swear by him. Their allegiance seems absolute.

To any reader with an understanding of recent (1930s) history you may be aware of what I am alluding to. Trump's party trust their leader implicitly to make their nation great again and the rest of the world must just hope things don't get out of hand, again. Trump will make America great again in their eyes, in their terms, but will undermine global goodwill toward them. The bias Trump exhibits toward the  Russians gives rise to a question: Is Trump a soviet agent and does his willingness to use the forces of the state against his own citizens suggest is he not a patriot, but an aspiring dictator (to the world)?

---- Original Article ----

Attention USA! Wake up for God's sake and get your leaders in order, or better still retire some of them, especially Trump AND Biden, who are too old for office and have had their time. Why not even elect a woman because what you are offered is seriously flawed?

We Europeans, for the most part, regard Donald Trump to be a dangerously smug narcissistic idiot criminal (along with other traits!), whose diktats to "make America great again" (to how it was up to the 70's), will probably precipitate some sort of social implosion there; you have enough explosive factions, such as Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, Illegals and of course, good old Whitey: all chomping at their bits to aggravate each other, but "you", sane electorate, must sort out this mess.

Start by retiring Biden (just about dead) and dump Trump because he's a chump-tyrant (growing a little moustache?). Of those two, Trump will screw you because Trump loves Trump alone and his history is nothing to be proud about, so pleaseUSA , US ,, Donald Trump , Trump , Biden , Biden and Trump , Trump and Biden

Dump Trump 'cos he's a chump maniac

(Pass it on!)

Here's a thought about old leaders

Bohemian Trumpsody

When Brits put their minds to anything they can produce brilliance combined with wit and erudition, such as this withering condemnation of Donald Trump, by the Marsh Family; but when Brits are belittled and undermined and publicly attacked (Mr. President), they will often fight back, sometimes illogically, because they collectively think, "that's not right". We do not have to host your military stations in the UK nor respect former agreements if the USA (Trump) shows us little to no respect.

---- Later Additions To This Article ----

Trump has around him his "yes men" (and women) who gain empowerment solely by his patronage, without which many would be socially and politically irrelevant and truly respected by few. Their decisions and actions, however bizarre or spiteful go unquestioned only because of Trump, but to start firing members of their military, merely because of a feeling of being undermined is bullying of the highest order. A good example of this came as fall-out following Vice-President JD Vance's visit to Greenland. 

Trump wanted Greenland! - an independent sovereign state who do not want, nor need him, but  Greenland falls into the USA's stated geographic "sphere of influence", so Trump thinks he can have it; but Alaska? is it in another "sphere of influence", that of Russia (its closest neighbour) and might they think Trump's rhetoric is good and then want Alaska for themselves?

Trump loves pulling the gear levers of state but God help us all. "Peacekeeper Trump" can't have Greenland (yet?) so he had a go at Venezuela.

Update January 3rd 2026: What is happening between Venezuela and the USA?

Update February 4th 2026: Though my thoughts about Trump remain conflicted, there may be a logic unknown, that only he and a few know. What altered my mind-state was an insightful YouTube video I happened upon. It opened my eyes to the dire state the USA seems have got itself into and the impetus for the impetuous actions Trump pulls out of his hat. May I recommend you watch this long video for it is globally alarming

Final thought: Trump's partial demolition of the White House, a federal building he does not own, nor has permission to alter, and the replacement of former president Joe Biden's portrait in the White House, shows gross disrespect for his own office of state and how his petty childish mind is prone to work. Let us hope Trump's portrait is quickly replaced with that of a horse's butt (That's my childish mind!)

Truism (to preserve a perspective on race)

Racism and tribalism are both faces of the same coin.

Imagine a world without this tribe

Personal thought - I prefer the term tribalism to racism as the "natural" response to each other is recognition and respect until incursion of tribal lands and mores occurs. Imagine there were no white people at all in the world, racism would still exist: Blacks vs Asians, Tutsi vs Hutus - you get my drift.

Remove racism from our language to substitute tribalism and we all get closer to the historical root of hatred of some by others?

Truism (or may be not)

 RULE: "I before E, except after C" - Tell that to a scientist!

Personal thought - Rules cover most situations but there are always exceptions to what was conceived.

Clickbait

This is clickbait: an image (or text) intended to deceive you into supposing a specific story or topic is behind it, when in reality it turns out not to be so. In the most banal pieces the content is rubbish, deceiving or insulting (to you) and should be called out as such if you are invited to comment. 

Clickbait is becoming a scourge of social media and I am fed up of it, especially so on Racebook where opportunistic click-chasers will post up very contentious statements (Rage-baiting) or open ended questions, then sit back as people argue about it, or comment endlessly about its stupidity; whether it be bootube, racebook, blugger, ticcock, smelegraph, shyspace, pastagram, breaditt, bumsnet, or any other dumping ground for some duckwitt's ego (such as mine in this I imagine you saying), I am sick of wasting my life being enticed and then shafted by the greed for click payments by people not deserving of their algorithm-driven (supposed) popularity. If you agree pass this crap on.

Rant over; now enlarge the picture to reveal this persons breasts. Told you - clickbait!

More learned pieces on clickbait below. Click on each of them - you know you want to ......

Click 1

Click 2

Click 3

Click 4

Final thought: Online newspapers are surely becoming the worst global perpetrators of clickbait and even the BBC is not immune from a desperate desire to have their output read. This item from them is NOT about the hottest (single) day ever recorded. 

See subtle BBC clickbait here ... and the BBC being not so subtle.

Another BBC clickbait conspiring to publicise a new film, on the back of a baby birth.

The BBC being good here ...

FINALLY - Don't get me started on Rage Bait.