The Twelve Days of Christmas: The Lyrics

On the first day of Christmas, 

my true love sent to me 
A partridge in a pear tree. 

On the second day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the third day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the fourth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Four calling birds, 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the fifth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Five golden rings, 
Four calling birds, 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the sixth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Six geese a-laying, 
Five golden rings, 
Four calling birds, 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the seventh day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Seven swans a-swimming, 
Six geese a-laying, 
Five golden rings, 
Four calling birds, 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the eighth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Eight maids a-milking, 
Seven swans a-swimming, 
Six geese a-laying, 
Five golden rings, 
Four calling birds, 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the ninth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Nine ladies dancing, 
Eight maids a-milking, 
Seven swans a-swimming, 
Six geese a-laying, 
Five golden rings, 
Four calling birds, 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the tenth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Ten lords a-leaping, 
Nine ladies dancing, 
Eight maids a-milking, 
Seven swans a-swimming, 
Six geese a-laying, 
Five golden rings, 
Four calling birds, 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the eleventh day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Eleven pipers piping, 
Ten lords a-leaping, 
Nine ladies dancing, 
Eight maids a-milking, 
Seven swans a-swimming, 
Six geese a-laying, 
Five golden rings, 
Four calling birds, 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the twelfth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Twelve drummers drumming, 
Eleven pipers piping, 
Ten lords a-leaping, 
Nine ladies dancing, 
Eight maids a-milking, 
Seven swans a-swimming, 
Six geese a-laying, 
Five golden rings, 
Four calling birds, 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, And a Partridge in a Pear tree.

          The Religious symbolism conveyed in this Carol

1.The Words "True Love" refers to God.

2. "Turtle Doves" refer to The Old and The New Testament.

3. "French Hens" refers to the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.

4."Calling Birds" refers to the Four Gospels and the Four Evangelists.

5. The "Golden Rings" refer to the First Five Books of The Old Testament and the history of Man's fall from Grace.

As we fast forward to centuries later............

               What the Cartoonist thinks of Covid-19

                                                 Christmas 2020

                               

   Victor Cherubim

 Protecting lives, securing livelihoods

Politicians around the world are in an almost impossible position over what to do over the Christmas holidays. After what we have seen in the U.S. during Thanksgiving holiday, it does seem like the take up of the Christmas easing may lead to dangerously large spike in infections.

The fear is if rules are not relaxed there may be “mass disobedience” and it would be far harder to get compliance back after that, unless you are in Sri Lanka where we are told every move of yours is monitored by the security services. This is all very well and good, but how many nations are the size of Sri Lanka? 

Even then as we have seen in the Covid-19 clusters recorded, there were people moving from high infection areas to low ones and that spreads the virus around the country.

Luckily for us after over many months, nearly a year; we are coming to discern that there are different strains of the virus working its way in different areas and among different age groups. Epidemiologists maintain that the current strain of the virus today is not as virulent as what it was in the early stages in March to May 2020. The view among them is that the virus is mutating. The biggest carriers now are school going children as evidenced in the London Borough of Greenwich? 

How can we scrap “get-together s” at Christmas?

 Given the sudden rapid spread of the virus in London and the Boroughs of London and the South East being raised from Tier 2 to Tier 3 from midnight 15 December 2020, together with recent retreat by Germany and The Netherlands into virtual lockdown, it is argued why “science” was not taken note of, for the anticipated incidence of the virus in the winter months? 

Does the pandemic know it is Christmas time? 

Does it anticipate our leaders blundering into another major error that will cost lives, if we fail to take swift and decisive action? 

The million dollar question on everyone’s minds is: “which is more important lives or livelihoods? Or both?” 

But what we all agree is considering the livelihoods of people, the economy in UK has shrunk as much as 24% during this year, with a cost of record government borrowing. 

Many economists also state that there was record amount of spending.

That there was a lot of waste in ordering PPE equipment, is well known. There was mass neglect by NHS of other patient care, especially urgent treatment of incurable diseases. The idea that disabled peoples’ hospital appointments were postponed or even cancelled, was part of the scene. There were too many Field Covid-19 Hospitals around England and they were not fully utilised. Covid19 has acerbated poverty isolation. In a sense or in essence, it was like “throwing good money everywhere”.

High earners benefited out of the calamity? 

As this difficult year for everyone draws to a close, we can only feel positive by the recent vaccine announcement and its roll out plans. 

The challenges ahead are particularly acute for low-income families facing the “almost impossible task of balancing work with childcare and home schooling,” as the winter threats to lives and livelihoods, are on the horizon. 

According to a McKinsey Quarterly Five Fifty Report: “Women and children have suffered the most from the pandemic. 

MIND, the better health organisation, has this to offer those who have been experiencing difficult feelings and emotions or feeling hopeless about when the pandemic might end. They want people to:

1.    Find ways to connect with others and share experiences.

2.    Get as much natural light and nature as you can.

3.    Look after your physical health.

4.    Take care with bad news and information.

5.    Look after your practical needs. 

When COVID-19 recedes, it will leave behind a severe economic crisis. But as always, some people will profit. Those who will benefit is for discussion among ourselves. 

It is for another day, another occasion for you to discover. 

Victor Cherubim 

       

The value of life

" I feel such a sense of solidarity with all living things that it does not matter to me where the individual begins and ends"

Albert Eienstein

Somethings are impossible to put a price tag on when they are personal and deeply rooted in your psyche. What is inspiring and truly resonates with your authentic personal self,your talents and achievements,perhaps your idiosyncrasies and behaviour patterns, is only a clue to your value, as value in human terms is more than a measure. 

Some of us find it hard accepting parts of our self,in fact what we call as our own. Somethings seems too intense, perhaps awesome, whilst something else seem banal and lame.

Very often we expect validation rather than valuation of who we are and what makes us tick.It is what we rather identify as our individual self.This happens to be the hallmark of our being, our existence. Thus it is somewhat difficult as it is too personal for us to judge.It would be more appropriate as what we all need is some distance,a boundary before we assess or judge our value. 

The quest and the question uppermost in our minds is, why do we want to judge ourselves. It is because of our low self esteem which over our lifetime society,parents,teachers and even our peers put on us,partly to easily categorise or  stigmatise us, and thus have made us to accept voluntarily or wilfully  as our "true self". This in person centred counselling is called "conditioning".

Human life has an intrinsic value? 

Human life has an intrinsic,innate value. That human life is a sacred trust just in itself and that the sacred nature of a human life begins when its biological like begins,even before the creature whose life it has movement or sensation or interests or rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Part if not the whole of this thesis was propagated by Richard Dworkin, the philosopher.

Once we accept that life is intrinsically valuable and sacred,we simply differ in our interpretation of what respecting human life as intrinsically valuable entails. 

To enforce a particular interpretation of how to respect the intrinsic value of human life would be to infringe on the freedom of religion,our self worth,which is not only the cornerstone of our democracy,but also forms the basis of our Buddhist way of life,which is the protection and preservation of all "living beings". 

We all know that it is wrong to kill not only humans but all living beings, whether by murder or even some other means outside our control, like what we have seen during the Covid-19 pandemic,which has culled the population of the world by over a million. 

Why does science use animals and even humans as guinea-pigs?

Scientists can test potential new medicines on human cells and tissue to see if they are likely to work and be safe in people.Human experimentation is important as properly controlled studies with human subjects are essential to verify any conclusions about normal physiology, mechanisms of disease, effectiveness of treatment ,learning or behaviour. Thus all new drugs have to be treated on human clinical trials on volunteers,provided volunteers give "informed consent".

The Ethical dilemma

The problem of unnecessary drugs mean unnecessary experiments.This is a widespread ethical problem raised by the development of new phasrmaceticals. There is no way volunteers can be fully appraised of the risks in advance and that is what the tests purport to determine. Thus informed consent is the key ingredient in drug appraisal.

To address ethical issues of human experimentation we have to travel down ethical terrain. Vigilence is most essential when vulnerable populations are involved.

Animals as guinea pigs

Animals are used in scientific research to help us understand our own bodies and how they work. This is necessary to develop new medicines.

Animals are also used to safely test potential medicinesbefore they are tested in people and to check the safety of other chemicals and new medical treatments. Some of these problems involve processes that can only be studied in a living organism. 

Animals are biologically similar to human and succeptible to many of the same health problems. They also have a short life cycles so they can be easily be studied throughout the whole life span, or across several generations. 

But the real reason why animals are used is that of ethics, it would be wrong to deliberately expose human beings to health risks in order to observe the course of a disease. Thus animals are needed in research to develop drugs and medical procedures to treat disease in humans. Every new therapy has to pass animal experimentation in the first instance to see if it is safe and effective. If favourable, then human volunteers are asked to volunteer in clinical trials. 

The four main reasons for animal experimentation in research.

1. To improve our understanding of biology for fighting disease in humans. Studying how healthy bodies function often reveals what is happening when things go wrong 

2. As models to study disease.

3. To develop and test potential forms of treatment.Many potential treatments work in theory, but they need to be tested in a living body to make sure they work in practice.

4. To protect the safety of people, animals and treatment,all new medicines are initially treated "in vitro"using tissues and isolated organs , but legally and ethically it must also be tested in a suitable animal model before clinical trials in humans can take place.4

The symbiotic link between human,plants and animals

Symbiosis is a close relationship between the species -humans,animals and plants,in which each of the species befefit. It can be "agricultural" or "domesticated". Our welfare as a biological species directly depends upon the extent to which we provide for the welfare of our symbionts.

In this symbiotic relationship, some organism closely interacts with another type of organism to ensure its own survival, so that they all end up sharing the same habitat considered essential to the health and well being of the entire species.

This is the essence of the value of life.

Victor Cherubim  

Cookies are they a kind of“kokis”?

The purpose of the computer cookie is to help the website keep track of your visits and activity.A website might keep a record of your web browsing or to record your log in information.

by Victor Cherubim

We often think we cannot escape technology and the impact it has had on making our lives easier.

Whether it be for turning your heating on from your mobile App, or for paying for your parking using your iPhone or now ordering your weekly provisions from Supermarkets, many, if not most of us have had our lives enriched by technology. It can save time, money and make life a whole lot easier.

What are Cookies?

Mention Cookies and our minds expect a treat or a delicacy to appear. But in computer jargon the name is a shorter version for the term of a packet of data or information a computer receives and then sends back without alteration or changing.

When you visit a website it may store or retrieve information on your browser in the form of cookies. The information might be about you, your preferences or your device and are mainly used to ensure the site works as expected. The information collected often does not usually directly identify you, but it may provide you with a more personalised web experience.

The purpose of the computer cookie is to help the website keep track of your visits and activity. A website might keep a record of your web browsing or to record your log in information.

Different types of cookies keep track of different activities. Under normal circumstances “cookies” cannot transfer viruses or malware to your computer. But besides keeping track of data for websites and others, they also hold a host of personal information. Thus, some viruses and malware may be disguised as “super cookies”. These are used by cyber criminals as “zombie cookies” to recreate itself after being deleted, making it really tough to manage.

But each browser manages your cookies in order to protect your privacy online. Besides,

Privacy Law provides you with the right to choose not to allow some types of cookies.

You can manage your cookie preferences by changing the default settings and obtain detail of the cookies used either by the browser or by a retail outlet like Amazon by clicking on “Cookies Details”. But at the same time, binning all browser cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services on offer. Setting controls or limits on tracking can however protect your privacy.

Manage Consent Preferences

There are a variety of different preference choices: The list below are some of the choices.

1. Strictly necessary Cookies – Always Active. They are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off. They are set in response to actions made by you, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling your forms, You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies. These cookies do not store any personal identifiable information.

2. Analytics Cookies -These allow the browser to count visits and traffic sources.so that they can measure and improve the performance of the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and is anonymous. If you block these cookies, the site will not know or be able to track your visits.

3. Marketing Cookies-These are set by the site’s advertisers, to build a profile of your interests. They do not store directly personal information but identify your browser and your internet device.

Exploiting Coronavirus fears sees big rise in cyber criminals

We are seeing a big rise in scam attacks. With money being short, with workers using unfamiliar tools and processes working from home and being subject to new distractions, anxieties and the like, cyber criminals are using a loophole in some Cookies to target the most vulnerable.

The "modus operandi" is using Malware distributed through Coronavirus phishing. A popular banking “trojan” called “Emotet” which steals log in data.

Another is sending information that your email address and password is known to someone else, thereby soliciting a “jerk reaction” response. It gives cyber criminals a hook to hang on to your secure information and use it at their whim and pleasure.

Brand information impersonation is another. Notably there are a number of attacks impersonating WHO (World Health Organisation). Cyber criminals according to researchers often use domain spoofing tactics to trick users into thinking these messages are legitimate. By clicking on a link, users are taken to a newly registered phishing website.

Blackmail is a raw emotional leverage to share information to respond out of fear or embarrassment.

It is a fact of life that criminals continue to use every trick in the book to illegally obtain money or sensitive information. This is why information security and cyber crime is a priority.

How one country in particular,is able to crack down on forced Data Collection?

The “App” is a very easy vehicle for developers to collect unscrupulous data. We are told that this week, the country’s cyber security watchdog – China’s Internet regulator- began seeking comment on the range of user information that apps from instant messaging to “ride-hailing” services are allowed to collect.

As tensions between the US and China heighten over data security issues, we are told Beijing took a proactive step to unveil a “data security initiative” that many outside believe can serve as “ a global standard for data security”.

What China starts, we have seen in the recent times, other nations follow.

Many other nations are aware of the threats posed by Cybercrime and although their actions to date are “under the radar” there is no denying that the Coronavirus pandemic has not only brought this threat for serious action very soon.