...they put a Man on the Moon

Neil Armstrong on the Moon

With the release of his latest Oscar contender, director Damien Chazelle  of La La Land fame, gives us a visceral yet birds-eye view of the First Man (on the Moon), largely taken from Neil Armstrong's biography of the same name.

After seeing what I thought was supposed to be humanity's greatest achievement, brought to life on the big screen, I found myself questioning why it was such a depressingly sad and moody insight into the life of one of our great heroes.

What is the point of creating such an authentic piece of nostalgia for a mainstream audience, and strip away everything that was amazing about it? If you believe they put a man on the moon, you have to believe that the reason Armstrong was so miserable all the time, even shouting at reporters at press conferences, was because of the death of his two-year-old daughter seven years earlier.

From personal experience, losing someone you love and are close to is not something you just 'get over'. You learn to live with their death. So Armstrong does exactly this, he copes with the deaths of his colleagues, and even pays homage to his child while walking on the moon. All of the 'death' evident in First Man overshadows any great joy or excitement that reaching the moon would have, or so the film reveals to us. In this respect, the achievement of reaching the Moon is treated as meaningless.

Perhaps there is more than meets the eye here, as synchronicity strikes the man on the moon...

Jim Carrey staring at the Moon in the TheTruman Show (1998)

Carrey was born in the Toronto suburb of Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, to Kathleen (née Oram), a homemaker, and Percy Carrey, a musician and accountant. He was raised a Roman Catholic and has three older siblings: John, Patricia, and Rita. His mother was of French, Irish, and Scottish descent and his father was of French-Canadian ancestry (the family's original surname was Carré).

At age 10, Carrey wrote a letter to Carol Burnett of the Carol Burnett Show pointing out that he was already a master of impressions and should be considered for a role on the show; he was overjoyed when he received a form letter reply. Carrey lived in Burlington, Ontario, for eight years.

Ryan Gosling (as Neil Armstrong) with Jimmy Kimmel all one big joke!

Ryan Thomas Gosling was born in London, Ontario, the son of Thomas Ray Gosling, a travelling salesman for a paper mill, and Donna, a secretary. Both of his parents are of part French-Canadian descent, along with some English, Scottish, and Irish decent. Because of his father's work, the family "moved around a lot" and Gosling lived in both Cornwall, Ontario, and Burlington, Ontario. His parents divorced when he was 13, and he and his older sister Mandi lived with their mother.

Gosling was educated at Gladstone Public School, Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School and Lester B. Pearson High School. As a child, he watched Dick Tracy and was inspired to become an actor…. Gosling performed in front of audiences from an early age, encouraged by his sister being a performer. He and his sister sang together at weddings; he performed with Elvis Perry, his uncle's Elvis Presley tribute act.

From a recent article in The Metro -  "Of his current situation, Carrey told the website: ‘I have gone through some really tough times in the last few years and I would not wish them on anybody, but my God, my understanding of life and what is real and what is not real has expanded exponentially because of that. ‘And my ability to understand suffering, which is a valuable thing. It’s the way to salvation because once you understand it, you have compassion, and the next thing you know, you are free."

Carrey pulling the Moon down to Earth in Bruce Almighty (2003)

The Daily Telegraph reported that Gosling said the moon landing “transcended countries and borders” and was “widely regarded in the end as a human achievement [and] that’s how we chose to view it”.

He also said he did not think Armstrong “viewed himself as an American hero” and added: “From my interviews with his family and people that knew him, it was quite the opposite. And we wanted the film to reflect Neil. I’m Canadian,” Gosling added, “so [I] might have cognitive bias.”

Carrey as Andy Kaufman (Man on the Moon)
or is it Endless Sunshine in John Malkovich's mind?

Carrey loves Emma Stone apparently!

The Baby Blues

Old news...

This is not the first time we hear that the Duchess of Suspect is pregnant... or not...

The above (2014) photo could allegedly be the  result of some other gossip circulating on the Net about the Duchess already having a baby,  or having to abort a baby by second husband Trevor Engelson. It was used by the media in a story 8 months before the marriage to Prince Harry.

...By Shari Weiss of Gossipcop.com - October 25th 2017- Meghan Markle is not pregnant with Prince Harry’s baby, despite a new tabloid cover story. Contrary to the report, the couple is not expecting a child at this time. Gossip Cop can exclusively bust the allegation, which was seemingly manufactured. “Meghan is not pregnant,” her spokesperson tell us.

The new cover of OK! is falsely announcing, “Harry & Meghan: New Royal Baby!” The front of the issue even touts “First Bump Photos,” but Markle most certainly does not have a growing baby belly. In fact, the publication is trying to deceive readers by using a photo of Markle that was taken in 2014. Still, the tabloid contends in its article that though the couple “seem primed to make an official engagement announcement any day,” there’s “more than a wedding in their future,” because “palace sources are buzzing that the pair may be expecting their first child.”

A so-called “insider” is quoted as saying, “There are whispers that Meghan is as far as three months along! It’s unexpected, to say the least. To have a baby out of wedlock would risk creating quite a scandal for the royal family. But Harry and Meghan are eager to build a family together, and the sooner the better.” And with Markle allegedly recently meeting with Queen Elizabeth, the gossip magazine’s source claims, “The whole palace was buzzing that they had told the queen of Meghan’s state. Supposedly, she didn’t mince words and told them it was ‘a most unfortunate situation.'”

From the book 'Abuse of Men by Women', by Ann Silvers M.A.  There are 8 Red Flags to trapping a man into marriage using a real (or fake pregnancy)...

"Trap Red Flag No. 3. She has something to gain from being your baby momma.

If she will benefit in some way from the pregnancy—the pregnancy might be a trap.

A woman who has decided on her own that having your baby has some payoff for her and that that payoff trumps your desire to not have children right now is ripe for becoming your baby momma whether you’re up for it or not.

There are many potential pregnancy benefits that might motivate a woman to get pregnant accidentally-on-purpose. She may want to:

Red Flag No.3 - Seal the deal on your relationship to get you to support her directly or through child support qualify for benefits, or secure immigration status."

Of course, the British Public, as the British Media would have it, love a bit of Royal Baby News. So today's announcement of a pregnancy is greeted with top headlines and quotes from the Prime Minister.

Now the speculation will begin surrounding the golden child to be born, seventh in line to the throne.

Here's a fun article to raise an eyebrow or two...

"Black Mother Gives Birth to White Baby",  by Alison Smith-Squire, Mailonline.com - December 22 2017
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5203685/Black-mother-asks-midwife-mine.html

"I asked the midwife if she was mine': Black mother gives birth to one in a million WHITE daughter with blue eyes - and reveals strangers question whether they're related!"

Sophia Blake with daughter Tiara
(nice Royalt-Synchromystic names don't you think?)

Extraordinary Rendering... 100% organic

While you and I have been diligently putting our daily waste items into the coloured recycle bins (of course) provided by our local government. We've been shamed into not using them at our peril, the powers-that-be have been stockpiling clinical waste for strange reasons. Nefarious reasons might be going a little too far, but reasons given seem highly suspect none-the-less.

In my very brief, but rather shocking experience, of time spent working at a clinical waste rendering company, (see my blog post) I can assure you that there are no fridge-freezers running for months holding body parts awaiting disposal!

Is this latest incident a money-saving operation, or something more sinister?

My latest source of news again today is The Guardian.online...

Shadow health secretary says public should have been told earlier that NHS waste firm was amassing human remains.

The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, has said “serious questions remain” about how hundreds of tonnes of hospital waste, including human body parts, were allowed to accumulate by the disposal firm Healthcare Environment Services (HES), which has now been stripped of its NHS contracts.

The health minister, Stephen Barclay, announced on Tuesday that HES’s contracts had been terminated on Sunday, after it allowed a backlog of waste to pile up at its facilities.
In a written statement to parliament, Barclay said the watchdog NHS Improvement (NHSI) concluded that HES “had failed to demonstrate that they were operating within their contractual limits. Consequently, 15 NHS trusts served termination notices to HES formally to terminate their contracts at 4pm on Sunday,” he said.

He said the government had first been informed about the problem by the Environment Agency watchdog, on 31 July.

Ashworth, who will question the minister in the Commons on Wednesday, said the government should have informed the public and MPs earlier about the “horrific scandal”.

“Serious questions remain,” he said. “Why was this backlog allowed to build up, why didn’t the NHS intervene earlier – and we still don’t have any credible reassurances that contracts with private operators will be monitored thoroughly in future so something like this never happens again.”

“We are ensuring that there are contingency plans in place in case of any disruption, and that there is absolutely no risk to the health of patients or the wider public,” he added.

“In this instance, the primary concern was that too much waste was being held in a number of waste storage and treatment sites by a contractor, Healthcare Environment Services. While the waste was stored securely, it was not being processed and disposed of within the correct regulatory timescales. At no point has there been an impact on public health or any delay to the ability of the NHS to carry out operations.”

He said after the Environment Agency ordered the partial closure of HES’s Normanton site in West Yorkshire, NHSI issued a letter to HES and gave the firm 48 hours to provide evidence that it was operating within legal and contractual parameters and set out a number of threshold levels.

With the company unable to demonstrate it was complying with the terms of its contracts, these were simultaneously terminated at 4pm on Sunday.

HES sparked a national incident by allowing large quantities of hazardous and non-hazardous waste from hospitals to build up at three of its five disposal sites across England – in Yorkshire, Newcastle and Nottingham. That included infectious waste, dangerous medicines used in cancer treatment, needles and “anatomical waste”, which includes body parts.

Could be anything inside but it's not dangerous!

The Environment Agency said HES had breached its permits at five sites in England. “We are taking enforcement action against the operator, which includes clearance of the excess waste, and have launched a criminal investigation,” it said.

HES managing director, Garry Pettigrew, said: “There is a proven lack of incineration capacity within the UK, which is affecting all operators ... The irony is that today’s decision means that other operators will be given relaxed dispensations to dispose of hazardous waste and that hospitals will also be forced to store waste on site, potentially risking public health.

“If we’d been granted dispensation, as we requested, this incident would never have arisen.”

The company said body parts constituted less than 1% of the overall waste collected and was disposed of as a priority, with the majority of waste being plastic. “We have a great team of people and we are dismayed that their livelihoods are being put at risk by today’s decision,” Pettigrew added.

Pret étrange Historie

Pret Recently sold for big bucks!

Could the 'Pret a Manger' allergy scandals be the result of some-kind of industrial espionage, or intentional market manipulation and share price meddling? Is there a behind-the-scenes double-dealing executive out to destroy the lucrative brand? Perhaps, the surface story is true and it's simply a case of inadequate food labelling? 

What do you think?


From The Guardian.online - May 2018

Every one of Pret a Manger’s 12,000 employees is to be gifted a £1,000 payout to thank them for their hard work as the popular sandwich shop chain is sold to a family of secretive German billionaires for £1.5bn.

Pret’s chief executive Clive Schlee revealed the windfall. Schlee had tweeted that Pret had been sold by its British private equity owners Bridgepoint to JAB Holdings, a Luxembourg-based investment fund belonging to Germany’s hugely wealthy Reimann family. Brothers Wolfgang, Stefan, Renate and Matthias, descendants of the founder of what would become consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser, are estimated by Forbes magazine to be worth just over $4bn (£3bn) each.

“Today is a big day for @Pret,” Schlee said. 
“As we welcome JAB, we’ll be thanking the people who really matter by giving each of our 
12,000 employees £1,000 when the deal completes.”

Natasha Ednan Laperouse family

Schlee later expanded on his tweet to confirm that the £1,000 bonus would be paid to all employees who are on the payroll during the week the deal completes, adding: “It’s serendipity for those who have just joined.”

Even employees joining Pret between now and when the deal is official late in the summer will collect the £1,000. It should help with recruitment, which Schlee has complained has become tough since Brexit. The chain, which draws a large proportion of staff from the European Union, told parliament last year that just one in 50 job applicants were British because Britons did not view its shops as a “desirable place to work”.

The sale will also mark a lucrative payday for Bridgepoint, which bought the chain for £364m in 2008. William Jackson, chairman of Pret and managing director of Bridgepoint , said the chain “has a unique culture and is a great British success story”. Jackson said he would continue to pick up Pret’s porridge pots for breakfast and his favourite hoisin duck wraps for lunch.

The chain opened with a single shop, near Victoria station, in central London in July 1986. It was started by entrepreneur Julian Metcalfe and his university friend Sinclair Beecham. They bought the brand out of the liquidation of Pret’s first incarnation in Hampstead a few years earlier.

Pret a Manger sandwich and crisps!

There are now 530 Pret shops in the UK, 92 in the US, 26 in Hong Kong, 24 in France, two in Dubai and Denmark, and one in each Singapore and the Netherlands.

Metcalfe shared in a £50m payday when a third of the business was sold to McDonald’s in 2001. It is thought that Metcalfe sold almost all his remaining stake in Pret in 2008 when it was bought by Bridgepoint. The company declined to comment on Metcalfe’s current involvement.

Metcalfe went on to create Metcalfe’s skinny popcorn, which was sold to crisps giant Kettle Foods in 2016, and Asian-inspired restaurant chain Itsu, in which Pret’s boss Schlee is a big private investor.

The Reimann’s JAB has been on a global acquisition spree, buying up coffee, tea and snacks brands including Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Douwe Egberts and Tassimo coffee, American bakery giant Panera Bread and Dr Pepper Snapple. It also owns speciality brands including San Francisco’s Peet’s Coffee and Might Leaf Tea, Chicago’s Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea and Oregon’s Stumptown Coffee.