Relative – Godinterest

June 24, 2019September 30, 2021

Real Talk: Postcode gangs

The notion of so-called postcode wars may have slipped from the headlines recently but the territorial divisions continue to exert a powerful influence on the lives of thousands of young Londoners.

This lady gives her thoughts on Knife Crime in the UK. We salute this woman for speaking out! The passion in her voice is intense.

Guns, Gangs and Postcode Wars

The youth culture seems to be falling apart at the moment. We’ve seen a real sea change over the past few years, with a significant increase in the number of people who have been injured, in the number of injuries sustained per person, and the severity of those injuries.

The more deprived the area, the more they try to assert control over the one thing they can lay claim to: the streets. Concepts such as hood passes and stripes may seem alien to anyone over 21 but are considered normal by an entire generation.

Politicians need to get their act together and pour money into this right now. Tomorrow is too late. Parents also need to take responsibility.

Gang-related organised crime in the United Kingdom is concentrated around the cities of London, Manchester and Liverpool and regionally across the West Midlands region, south coast and northern England, according to the Serious Organised Crime Agency. With regards to street gangs the cities identified as having the most serious gang problems, which also accounted for 65% of firearm homicides in England and Wales, were London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. Glasgow in Scotland also has a historical gang culture with the city having as many teenage gangs as London, which had six times the population, in 2008.

In the early part of the 20th century, the cities of Leeds, Bristol, Bradford (including Keighley) and Nottingham all commanded headlines pertaining to street gangs and suffered their share of high-profile firearms murders. Sheffield, which has a long history of gangs traced back to the 1920s in the book “The Sheffield Gang Wars”, along with Leicester is one of numerous urban centres seen to have an emerging or re-emerging gang problem.

On 28 November 2007, a major offensive against gun crime by gangs in Birmingham, Liverpool, London and Manchester led to 118 arrests. More than 1,000 police officers were involved in the raids. Not all of the 118 arrests were gun related; others were linked to drugs, prostitution and other crimes. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said it showed the police could “fight back against gangs”.

THE WORDS ON OUR STREETS
Irrespective of who uses it and for what purpose, street slang is constantly evolving. Words in common parlance five years ago like “buff” (good-looking) are now deemed antediluvian, replaced by newer terms such as “chug”, “peak” and “wavey”. “Skadoosh”, a personal favourite, is a relative newcomer.

Bang – punch
Bare – a lot
Bate – obvious
Blud – friend
Booky – suspicious
Butters – ugly
Chug – good-looking
Dutty – nasty
Fam – friends
Gallis – womaniser
Gased – talking nonsense
Gem – fool
Ghost – to be frequently absent
Greezy – bad
Junge – whore
Liccle – small
Marga – extremely skinny
Moist – no ratings, silly, naff
Murk – attack
Nang – good
Peak – used to highlight an eventful situation
Peng – good-looking
Shank – stab
Shower – cool, good
Skadoosh – goodbye
Skettel – loose woman
Slipping – to be caught off-guard
Swag – crap
Tekkers – technique
Wallad – idiot
Wavey – high or drunk

January 24, 2018February 24, 2018

Would You Kill A Child? The Folly and Hypocrisy of Subjective Truth

Something is either true or it isn’t. There is no third option.

This can get dicey and offend people very quickly, but that doesn’t change the truth. Subjective truth is a lie that people cling to, covering their eyes, declaring they are fine as they walk off a cliff.

How can I write something so bold? How can I tell you that any notion of “relative truth” is nonsense?

A simple thought experiment will help explain this. Let’s say that you are a believer in “subjective truth”, that something can be true for you, but not true for me. In essence, we make our truth. Truth can be this way one day, and change the next. What you believe is good for you, and what I believe is for me, and we should just let that be. These are your beliefs.

Let’s also say that I am not a believer in “subjective truth” and oppose you. I maintain that truth is consistent. That the truth is unchanging, regardless of time, space, cultural differences, and such things. What is true, is true.

To stir up trouble, a third individual enters and holds the same views as you. She is a believer in “subjective truth”. Then she says, “Killing children is okay.”

For me, hearing “killing children is okay” immediately strikes me as wrong. Jesus taught that all killing was wrong, even going so far as to say that hatred of a brother was sin (Matthew 5). The very idea that killing kids would ever be okay is such a bad, wrong, evil idea, that it is just a lie to suggest otherwise.

But now, you, as the believer in subjective truth, must decide. Is killing children okay?

Is that a truth that can exist alongside other truths like, killing children is always wrong?

Would you allow such an idea, something that churns and turns your stomach, something you know to be wrong, to be called truth?

It would take a very sick individual to say that it is subjectively true that killing children is okay. We would call them a monster, a person that is in need of serious help. We all know that killing children is wrong. We know it in our gut. Some things are wrong. Some things are the truth, regardless.

If you believe in subjective truth, try telling yourself that it is fine if someone in the world thinks that killing kids is okay. And then sit comfortably with that idea, that someone is out there, killing kids, believing that they are doing nothing wrong.

You can’t, can you?

This is where subjective truth falls apart. This is where the hypocrisy lies. Because no one in their right mind would be okay with the killing of children. No one would say that is acceptable to anyone. Subjective truth cannot bear the weight of such an idea.

The truth is that no one should ever kill children. It is wrong. Across time, space, cultural differences. It is wrong, evil, satanic, whatever other words you would use. Killing kids is absolutely wrong. And that is an absolute, unchangeable truth.

That is the folly of subjective truth. Here comes the hypocrisy.

As you think about how to decide about this third individual claim that killing children is okay, you actually are facing a much bigger dilemma.

Because if you say that their subjective truth is wrong, you are saying that all subjective truth is wrong. You are asserting that they are wrong in their notion of a truth that is only applicable to them. You are asserting that there may be rules that are true no matter what.

But, if you say that some subjective truths are wrong…could yours be wrong too?

Asserting that any subjective truth is wrong puts your own ideas of truth under the microscope. Suddenly all the ideas of truth that you were holding onto start crumbling. The whole notion that you can believe something and someone else believe something different and be equally right suddenly doesn’t hold.

Will you assert the absolute truth that killing kids is wrong? Or go against what you say you believe. Can it be okay for some people and wrong for others?

Consider these things, and consider this the end of the thought experiment.

The Bible tells us that God has written his Law in our hearts. Even people that have never read the words of Jesus still have an understanding because God hasn’t hidden this away from them. God has inscribed it on their hearts; some things are wrong, some things are right, some are true, and some are lies.

“For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles (non-Jews), who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)” – Romans 2:13-15

There are absolute truths that do not change, regardless of time and space or cultural differences. There are some truths that are bigger than you and me and our opinion of things. To say that all truth is subjective is to stand on the very shaky ground. The hypocrisy, the inability to hold it’s self up to a simple test, shows just how weak and feeble this idea is.

We shouldn’t settle for a truth that changes with the wind. We shouldn’t be okay with a truth that is relative to who we are, where we are, or when we are. We should build our lives on nothing than absolute truth. We should anchor our lives to the truth that doesn’t depend on us. The best place to start doing that is found in the person of Jesus.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6

Cling to Him, the unchanging Truth, and abandon the hypocrisy of subjective truth.

This blog first appeared on Christian Thought Sandbox.

February 8, 2016July 1, 2022

How To Deliver On The Promise of MegaProjects

Due to the large scale and outlook attached to them, mega-projects have a large opportunity for failure. Typically, the failure begins at the outset of the project, whether that be due to poor justification for the project, misalignment among stakeholders, insufficient planning, or inability to find and use appropriate capabilities.

Underestimated costs and overestimated benefits often offset the baseline for assessing overall project performance. This is why it is important for organizations to first establish social and economic priorities before even considering what projects will answer their needs. Once social and economic priorities are established, only then can a project be considered. Selecting projects must be fact-based and transparent in order to ensure accountability with stakeholders and the public.

Successful Megaprojects Must Have Robust Risk-analysis or Risk-management Protocols

It’s also important to maintain adequate controls. Successful megaprojects must have robust risk-analysis or risk-management protocols and provide timely reports on progress relative to budgets and deadlines. Typically, progress is measured on the basis of cash flow, which is less than ideal as data could be out of date and payments to contractors do not correlate construction progress. Instead, project managers should deliver real-time data to measure activity in the field. For example, cubic meters of concrete poured relative to work plans and budgets.

Overall, improving project performance requires better planning and preparation in three areas: doing engineering and risk analysis before construction, streamlining permitting and land acquisition, and building a project team with the appropriate mix of abilities.

Project developers and sponsors should put more focus into pre-planning such as engineering and risk analysis before the construction phase. Unfortunately, most organizations and sponsors are reluctant to spend a significant amount of money on early-stage planning because they often lack the necessary funds, they are eager to break ground and they worry the design will be modified after construction is underway, making up-front designs pointless.

However, it’s proven that if developers spend three to five percent of capital cost on early-stage engineering and design, results are far better in terms of delivering the project on-time and on-budget. This is because through the design process, challenges will be addressed and resolved before they occur during the construction phase, saving both time and money.

It’s not unusual for permits and approvals to take longer than the building of a megaproject. However, if developers look to streamline permitting and land acquisition, that would significantly improve project performance. Best practices in issuing permits involve prioritizing projects, defining clear roles and responsibilities and establishing deadlines.

In England and Wales, developers applied these approaches to cut the time needed to approve power-industry infrastructure from 12 months to only nine months. On average, timelines for approval spanned four years throughout the rest of Europe. Likewise, the state of Virginia’s plan to widen Interstate 495 in 2012 was able to cut costs and save hundreds of homes thanks to land acquisition planning by a private design company.

Investors and Owners Must Take an Active Role in Creating the Project Team

When it’s all said and done, projects cannot deliver the best possible return on investment without a well-resourced and qualified network of project managers, advisers and controllers. Investors and owners must take an active role in creating the project team.

It’s not enough to have a vague overview of what the project might look like in the end. Instead, it’s necessary to review risks and costs and draft a detailed, practical approach to tackle various issues. An experienced project manager cannot do it all alone. The project team must include individuals with the appropriate skills, such as legal and technical expertise, contract management, project reporting, stakeholder management, and government and community relations among others.

Failure to Properly Plan for These Projects Could Have a Negative Impact on Society

While mega-projects are important in filling economic and social needs, failure to properly plan for these projects could have a negative impact on society. Take Centro Financiero Confinanzas (Venezuela), the eighth tallest building in Latin America at 45 stories, located in the financial district of Venezuela’s capital, Caracas for example.

To those unaware of its history, the Centro Financiero Confinanzas is actually home to over 700 families, a “vertical slum” that is a truly fascinating example of reappropriation of space in an urban environment. An ironic symbol of financial failure that was intended to represent the unstoppable march of Venezuela’s booming economy.

It’s much more than an unbuilt building, bridge or tunnel, failed mega-projects are a blow to the economic growth and social improvements of communities around the world.

August 25, 2015July 1, 2022

Momo Apartments

Zero defects are the primary battleground between traditional and modern construction methods. A relative concept, zero defects is, however, a target that the construction industry has set for itself. Primary considerations are structural stability and keeping the water out. Proper functioning of services, components, fixtures, and fittings are essential.

Energy and sound performance are also vital, as well as issues of safety, access, and security. This is a campaign which will be fought in years to come… and in the meantime here is another prefab scheme which feature’s in these skirmishes.

Mobile Modular (MoMo) is a research development project for a relocatable system of mass housing constructed from specially fabricated shipping containers. This type of system allows flats to be erected speedily on short-life sites and to be demounted and re-assembled in different configurations on other sites in the future.

The key objectives:

Remove MoMo apartments from a site where housing has been provided for 5 years.

Refurbish Each module at the supplier’s yard or an alternative temporary site.

Re-locate The apartments in any new configuration to provide decanting, short-term housing, permanent apartments. This type of system can also become a permanent housing solution.

Originally commissioned by the Peabody Trust, after feasibility stage, the team was invited to take the project forward with their own initiative. The team formed a consortium with the aim of developing a prototype to demonstrate the principles, and to market the MoMo scheme as a one-stop shop package to interested parties.