THE MOTIVE IS MONEY
The commercial aspect of the sport is rampant and dominant. Every trick, and magic, psychological device is being manipulated to pull in profit. Be wise, be wary what you buy, behind the front and mask of shrewd and clever advertising. However, there are some pure, specialist fanciers that still live, yet are they becoming extinct? Nick Harvey and I test all the birds to the limit, yet others sell the impact of our racing prowess due to clever advertising. This is an active metaphor for the way contemporary society works. As a young man I sold pigeons, yet now it does not sit well with me. A good fancier can always swap his bloodlines as he will be in demand. The corollary is that part with your brass only when you need to.
Jim Emerton.
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MEMORY AS A TOOL OF CONSCIOUSNESS
It is nice to recall great detail in your specialist fields of interest. On deep reflection I can recall when I was a young child in a pram. This power and gift is useful when writing articles and books. Delicate emotions, feelings, sensations and little nuances may flow into the front of the mind, which are ideal to the creative writer and poet. Mindfulness, meditation and cold, deep focus serve you well in recall. I like a cool head, not one aroused by trivial emotions. In my books, I have created the atmosphere and feeling tone of an occasion, with some mystical insights and imagination. Poetic inspiration is a manifestation of refined and higher consciousness, and is electrifying to experience, when the brain is in high charge. Some people have a gift for this activity, yet not all in practice-I have written 8 books with it. Yes, the memory is a powerful, cerebral instrument.
Jim Emerton.
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INBREEDING TO PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS
This method has worked for me for 42 years in my strain of pigeons. You use inbred performance birds that are related, with all the progeny tested in races up to and over 700 miles. Not just a theory or idea in the head, the birds are all tested in race reality. Very few people have the patience, originality and system to practice this unconventional system and methodology. Our 5 times Barcelona International hen Musgrove Persistent is a striking example of this intuitive leap thinking. Dark Destiny my no 1 stock sire and his brother were key breeders and founded a dynasty of race performance birds-my birds in 2018 are all descendants of my unique strain of 71 to 879 mile birds. The development of them has been obsessive and motivated by a touch of genius. This type of thinking is the role of the singular and lone eccentric, yet is most rewarding. Wise to go your own way, be creative and press the boundaries of possibility. Every man is alone in his little, unique world, yet has a link with larger society. The essence then, with inbreeding is performance related results and values.
Jim Emerton.
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SETTING THE STANDARDS.
I feel that International racing raises the bar of excellence for all to aspire to. Some great fanciers adopt this practice. Intellectuals write about them, magazines publish them and the mainstreamers sell their bloodlines. They are the fuel of fame and the popular consciousness of the times. All grist to the mill, yet there is a final frontier within the world of pigeon racing! The man who times, in the race time of Barcelona International into Ireland, will be the most famous, and celebrated fancier in the modern history of pigeon racing. The bird will be a champ and worth big bucks on the open market. It could happen, with the sobering race reality that birds must be entered in the race i.e. under the jurisdiction of the BICC. I was offered a house to get up and do it, yet stopped where I was. It is on the far edge of possibility, yet within the ability of a great fancier and bird.
Jim Emerton.
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EYES WIDE OPEN.
Wise to be aware of the people in your competitive sphere of the sport and the risks to the birds and your reputation when you race them. There is no hiding place in the big races which are a great test of man and bird. I started as a naive, keen young man and learned the hard way. Top birds are rare along with racing prowess of the fancier. On liberation the birds are free in the natural elements and choose to home, race or not in variable weather conditions. After many years your performance maximum will be reached, when a plateau will stare you in the face. Time to take stock and refine the system to take it forward if you can. At this stage what you feed back into the game is more valuable than what you took out of it. Potentially all club members are competitive rivals and thats how the cookie crumbles-
Jim Emerton.
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