Inflection Point?

Have you and I reached a turning point in our lives, but for different reasons? You because of your single-parent status and me because ... well, I'm not exactly sure why the steam is out of my pipes.

One of the scenes from the movie "Breach" showed the character Eric O'Neill (played by Ryan Phillipe) rather down in the mouth and seeking advice from his father, who, presumably, was career Navy. The father, played by Bruce Davison, recounted what his father had told him when he, Eric's father, was a young man and frightened about going out to sea for the first time:

"Just get on the boat and do your job. The rest will follow."

I'm wondering if deep within that is what we need to realize. Perhaps we are coming to realize that the dream of our work being of any real significance is vaporizing before our eyes. Perhaps we need to realize that, truly, it's just a job.

That's easier said than done for me. I define myself entirely by my occupation. Sad, but true.

I don't think the same is true of you.

Here's something my lovely bride tells me whenever I'm feeling low about not contributing what I think I should: "Your half-speed is equal to everyone else's best effort." She's a manager ... she has some insight into these things. You are the same way ... you produce more in an "off" day than most do when they're actually trying.

Do enough to stay employed. Focus on your daughter. She will be grown up and married before you know it.

Foundational Cracks

It's coincidental that you should publish a post on realizing ones limits - I am going through such a stage at the moment. I used to have what seemed to be limitless enthusiasm for any challenge I would set myself - but now that all seems to be gone. The only thing I can use to even semi-motivate myself is fear .. but even that is not really working any more for some reason. The best I can do is "fear of being unable to provide" .. but it's a mere sham. I'm just lazy and I don't know what to do it about it!

I think I have got myself into a cycle of being a single parent (almost) and have neglected to balance this new activity with what I "used" to do. I guess it's coupled to the fact that I think what I do for a living is worthless in the grand scheme of things - so how can I get motivated about it? What happened to that desire to do a good job that I used to have? The desire to help people, it all seems to have evaporated as I just look after me and mine (and me and mine exclusively it would seem) the best I can.

Does a poor farmboy like you have any advice for moi?? :)

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I will catch the movie you suggest - into The Breach!

Realization of Limitations

There's a blog I read hosted by a conservative university here in the United States. They allow comments, and on occasion I've been known to weigh in one some issue.

The other day one of the primary posters to the blog commented on something said (or written ... I don't recall) by The Pope. I interpreted it as a rather simple reference to prayer, but based on subsequent commentary by others, including faculty at that university, the Pope's reference was more to some deep and arcane theological concept that's been brewing since the days of Augustine.

I was embarrassed to have misinterpreted it so badly. It displayed my lack of intellectual depth.

Compared to some folks, I am not that well-read a man. I do not possess a keen grasp on philosophical concepts. I can't speak to Hobbes or Locke or whomever.

I am but a simple farm boy, after all. :-)

Movie Recommendation: Breach

Title: Breach
Year: 2007
Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillipe, Laura Linney

Synopsis: A film about the investigation into and ultimate apprehension of Robert Hanssen, an employee of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who sold state secrets to the Soviets and later the Russians from 1985 until his arrest in 2001. The film is told from the perspective of Eric O'Neill, a young FBI operative who was assigned as a clerk to Hanssen as part of the investigation.

What's Different: It is an almost unsettlingly quiet film. The suspense is not contrived, but rather a natural result of the gentle unfolding of the story. In addition, the details of the film are wonderfully aligned with the sense of personal tragedy -- dull, overcast skies; dull, drab government office buildings.

Will Kids Like It?: Probably not ... the film is too slow. But if you have a slow, quiet evening by yourself, and you're looking for a quiet, mostly intelligent film that unfolds somewhat like a chess game, then you may enjoy this.

What I Liked About It: First, it was filmed in and around where I used to live, so it brought back memories. The quiet nature of it allowed me to relax into the story line. Loud, aggressive action films unsettle me too much. But most of all I liked the portrayal given by Chris Cooper as Robert Hanssen. He projected the subtle sense of a man deeply ensnared, but fueled by some deep resentment towards ... what? ... insufficient recognition of his qualities and contributions? That was never explicitly stated, but rather the viewer was left to piece together the psychology for themselves.

Believability Factor: It's based on a true story, so to that extent it's believable. The film itself does little that requires suspension of belief. It is mostly very plausible, with little to no continuity or logical breakdowns.

Miscellaneous Commentary: There is always talk in the gossip rags about how Hollywood actresses that are over 30 face increasingly few roles, and over 40 actresses are essentially cast aside. Demi Moore of late has been complaining rather loudly. But Laura Linney in this film shows that there can be roles for older women, provided the role doesn't call for them to be sexy sirens. (An older woman can't plausibly play the role of a 20-something siren. Then again, a 20-something actress can't plausibly play the part of a powerful female executive or detective or whatever ... in the real world such power is not possessed by people so young ... but Hollywood overlooks that.) British films are much better at employing older, less glamorous women in satisfying roles. Hollywood is too beholden to the cult of youth.

Circle of Life

Interesting "World Clock." I was heartened to see that the rate of bicycle production outpaced computer production. There is hope. :-)

* * *
I received a phone call from my sister yesterday. She is closest in proximity to my parents, and she ends up taking care of them more directly than me. I provide financial assistance, but not direct assistance. I am grateful for her presence. I truly am.

Two points:

1. I learned that my father's "good" eye is now developing macular degeneration and he now can't drive. This is a significant development because up to this point I was counting on his good health to provide the general care for my mother. My mother, my sister reports, has degraded to a point where a nursing home is probably indicated. So there's been a bit of an "inflection point" in the health and well being of my parents.
   
2. My family is somewhat dysfunctional. We all endured various emotional trauma during our upbringing. What this latest development is serving to do is flush some of that to the surface. Being called upon to care for a parent is difficult when the child feels the parent failed the child earlier in life. Up to this point I was only really aware of my own issues. But on the call with my sister yesterday, she expressed, in stronger terms than I've ever heard her express, that she has some significant issues with my parents and she's struggling to get past those. My other sister practically refuses to have anything to do with my parents. So there was some seriously bad things that happened back in the early 70's and the full extent of it is a mystery to me. I see my slice, but not the whole pie.

This turn of events has me somewhat unsettled. There are many variables in play right now. I am not sure how things will develop. I find myself wishing for "certain events" so that I no longer need to deal with this. Isn't that awful?

World Clock

Interesting to note the growth areas?

I suggest pressing the "now" button and watching for a few minutes and reflecting.

:)

Some Like It Hot & The Apartment

Twice now in as many weeks people from outside the U.S. have made commitments to hold our technical workshops without first consulting with us

Did you notice that sometime towards the back end of the 80's that "Personnel" departments started to be renamed to "Human Resources" departments? I'm not entirely sure where this change came from, perhaps from Japan along with some misguided search for "super efficient" "top performing" organizations.

It's still alien to me to think of "human resources", it's too easy to think of them along with their oppsoite - "non-huhman resources" (ie. computers). But it's far easier to work a resource to death and to send a resource to far flung countries at the drop of a hat than it is to do with a person isn't it? Somewhere along the way we have lost a little of our humanity since we started work. Cry for the children.

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Are you guys following the Madeleine McCann circus? If it transpires that the parents are culpable then what does this mean for all parents who might really face this situation? A possible "Boy Who Cried Wolf" story could give paedophiles a field day. What would it mean if humans really could lie like that? Who knows. The only think I know is that the whole thing is just too sad beyond words.

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Movies! I love 'em.

You have seen the following movie that I have not: Ratatouille, plus my red match many of your red, typically the "foreign" movies.

I have seen a bunch more than your good self from this list, but that's only because I have a DVD collection that's not far short of 700 movies now.

I remember telling K only a week or so ago that she had so many classic movies to look forwards to, she of course asked why she couldn't see them now! I mentioned that some were not suitable, but more importantly she would not understand those movies fully yet. For some odd reason I was thinking of "American Graffiti" at the time as an example of a wonderful movie that she has yet to enjoy.

Oh man I can really recommend the following, your colours except two films which are both in my top 10, my life would be less without them :)

North by Northwest (1959)
American Beauty (1999) - you will love this!
Vertigo (1958)
Se7en (1995)
Léon (1994)
The Third Man (1949)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Alien (1979)
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Metropolis (1927)
Aliens (1986)
Raging Bull (1980)
Sin City (2005)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Apartment (1960)
The Big Sleep (1946)

Looking at the list they all feel like old friends, nice memories.

IMDB Top 100

Key:

black -- seen
red -- have not seen
bold blue -- I can't believe I've never seen this

Listing:
The Godfather (1972)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Schindler's List (1993)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Casablanca (1942)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Shichinin no samurai (1954)
Star Wars (1977)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Rear Window (1954)
Goodfellas (1990)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Cidade de Deus (2002)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
C'era una volta il West (1968)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Psycho (1960)
North by Northwest (1959)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Memento (2000)
Fight Club (1999)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Matrix (1999)
American Beauty (1999)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001)
Vertigo (1958)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Se7en (1995)
The Departed (2006)
Léon (1994)
American History X (1998)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Chinatown (1974)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Laberinto del fauno, El (2006)
M (1931)
The Third Man (1949)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Alien (1979)
The Pianist (2002)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
The Shining (1980)
Untergang, Der (2004)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Boot, Das (1981)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Metropolis (1927)
Aliens (1986)
Raging Bull (1980)
Leben der Anderen, Das (2006)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Sin City (2005)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Rashômon (1950)
Rebecca (1940)
Modern Times (1936)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Great Escape (1963)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
All About Eve (1950)
Ratatouille (2007)
Amadeus (1984)
Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957)
Touch of Evil (1958)
On the Waterfront (1954)
The Prestige (2006)
Jaws (1975)
The Elephant Man (1980)
Vita è bella, La (1997)
The Sting (1973)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Batman Begins (2005)
The Apartment (1960)
Braveheart (1995)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1988)

Comment:
The IMDB movie ratings tend to skew towards recent movies.

Graduated Assisted Living

The concept of "assisted living" has been around in the States for about 20 years; but it's received a lot of attention in about the last 10 years. The leading edge of the "baby boomers" -- those born starting in 1946 through, I think, 1966 -- are starting to retire. Lots have vast quantities of financial reserves, and they're starting to make plans for elderly living. The Marriott Corporation is deep into assisted living facilities, as are other large corporate concerns. And one concept that's developed is the graduated assisted living -- a community where the degree of care you receive is graduated based on your need. From virtually no assistance all the way up to full nursing care, all based on a fee schedule, of course.

They're expensive. I have no idea how people afford them.

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Pictures! I'm hampered by the fact all your pictures are man-made, and I find man-made things far less compelling than natural things. Still, I'll try to convey what goes through my mind and and heart as I review the pictures.

#1 Chichén Itzá, Mexico

Mexico has never been alluring to me. So I do not find this compelling. All I can think as I look at that picture is hot, sweltering humid heat.

#2 Christ the Redeemer, Brazil

I've been to Rio, and I saw this off in the distance, but I didn't go visit it. It's a remarkable piece of construction. But beyond that, it doesn't move me much. I suppose it should since it's Jesus, but I can't get past the Catholicism of it -- the focus on imagery rather than the underlying substance. I hope that doesn't sound too judgmental. It is clearly somewhat judgmental. :-(

#3 The Great Wall, China

Prior to going to China last year I would have found this more alluring. My experience in Beijing was not entirely pleasant -- okay, but not great -- and so now the thought of going back over there dampens my enthusiasm.

But, that aside, there are few man-made things in this world that elicit the same wonder and awe as the Great Wall ... more so than the pyramids, but a wide margin. The vastness of this undertaking is inconceivable to me.

#4 Machu Picchu, Peru

I'm not familiar with this ... but I suspect it's one of those things where the ancient city is at 14,000 feet or something like that. I very much like the remoteness of this picture. And if all issues of safety and secure travel could be set aside, I would love to visit this.

#5 Petra, Jordan

Oh, goodness. Hot, dry, dusty, desolate, hot, hot, hot. No thanks.

Plus, it's in the middle-east. And I want nothing to do with that region of the world. Jordan is relatively moderate. But still ...

#6 The Roman Colosseum, Italy

We drove by that when my lovely bride and I were on a cruise back in -- how long has it been? -- 2000? The concept of living the life of leisure as a rich Roman is appealing. (No surprise there, huh?). The achievement of that building for that time is impressive.

#7 Taj Mahal

You know, I have never, ever had an interest in going to India. I just can't past the notion of oppressive heat, dusty conditions, and overcrowded and obscene poverty.

Have you been to the Taj Mahal? Is it one of those things where the picture makes it look massive but in reality it is somewhat small? (Thomas Jefferson's house at Monticello, Virginia is that way ... the pictures make it look fairly large ... but when you walk inside you get a real sense of being cramped. You'd bump your head into door lintels. Ceilings are at 7' or something like that.

Again ... all man-made things, and my heart just doesn't stir for that. I can be suitably impressed with human engineering achievements. But to my eye, a building or a bridge or whatever can't compare to a gorge or mountain or waterfall.

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Year 6, huh? You, good sir, are the papa of a little girl who is growing up. Brace yourself. :-)

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I just finished an SOA workshop in Detroit. It went well enough, I suppose. I could definitely detect a sudden loss of energy in the attendees about mid-morning second day. Too much information, or something.

Still, several commented that I seem to have a natural affinity for instruction. I do enjoy it ... but only when I know the material and the audience is interested.

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Twice now in as many weeks people from outside the U.S. have made commitments to hold our technical workshops without first consulting with us. They somehow got the impression our workshops are "cookie cutter" operations where they can bring workstation, host and all supporting material into their locations on their schedule without any consultation. So now I'm furiously trying to contain the breakage of our saying "no." I find it astonishing that someone would think they could lay out a 10-week, back-to-back-to-back schedule across different cities in AP and just drop that in our laps and say, "Come do this."

Assisted Living

.. an interesting term which we saw on The Simpons today re: Grandpa and the old persons care home, it's not a term I had heard before. We all need assistance to live now and again I would say.

You know, I have heard that Linux is making a big impression in some of these homes as an internet browsing appliance to enable granpa and granma can see their kidz on YouTube no doubt. It's funny though, Bill Gates envisioned Windows as just that, but it's so trojan bound, patch ridden and poor peforming after a while (the famed Windows "half life") that savvy IT providers are realising that Linux with a read-only file system is pretty bullet and (more importantly) fool proof - not Windows. Interesting how things turn out.

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Onto those interesting pics:

#1 Temperate woods .. midly appealing, reminds me of the UK about 20 to 50 miles due South of London, many a happy Sunday walk.

#2 Tundra .. nice colour of sky, a little less appealing than #1 but ok, perhaps a little boring

#3 Steppe - still very nice but a little snoozy again

#4 Industrial - I like the flame, the light in the dark, but this has to be the worst of them (to me) because of what is being depicted

#5 Rain Forest - looks warm and cozy but I can't shake the Mel Gibson movie imagery, hmm the film must have made more of an impact on me than I thought

#6 Plains / Wheat Field - I am singing Sting's "Fields of Gold". I like this photo a lot

#7 Coastal Lighthouse - ok but a little scary/lonely (your 2nd fave but not mine!)

#8 Mountains - breath taking, love it (your biggest draw too) I think the colours and form are very easy on the eye

#9 Desert - Is that your backyard? Looks a little too hot !

#10 Rolling Countryside - Not a lot happening

#11 Cityscape - Yes I like it, lights again, life, human life

#12 Tropical Beach - I would be bored, where is the internet connection?? I was never really a beach person

#13 Arctic - ok, a feeling of newness ensues within me

#14 Farm Country - looks like the back of the office I work in! Too mundane

#15 Waterfall - ok but in this picture it doesn't pass the "so what?" question, whereas in real life it would be awesome

Not a lot missing, you could have had a Grand Canyon I guess, or some deep ocean trench/undersea pics?

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In return please answer the same question for the new seven wonders of the world:

#1 Chichén Itzá, Mexico

#2 Christ the Redeemer, Brazil



#3 The Great Wall, China



#4 Machu Picchu, Peru



#5 Petra, Jordan



#6 The Roman Colosseum, Italy



#7 Taj Mahal



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My daughter returns to school tomorrow into "year 6" !

Visceral Scenery

Here's a series of photos, all taken from the web, all of different types of sceneries and landscapes. Take a quick scan of these ... then explain which ones evoke the strongest draw to you and which ones the least. Why?

(Try not to allow considerations such as survivability or the time it would take to travel to the locale to factor into your response. This is really a test of what image evokes the strongest visceral response -- positive and negative.)

#1 - Temperate Woods


#2 - Tundra


#3 - Steppe


#4 - Industrial


#5 - Rain Forest


#6 - Plains / Wheat Field


#7 - Coastal Lighthouse


#8 - Mountains


#9 - Desert


#10 - Rolling Countryside


#11 - Cityscape


#12 - Tropical Beach


#13 - Arctic


#14 - Farm Country


#15 - Waterfall



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I am most drawn to #8 (mountains) the strongest, with #7 (coastal lighthouse) a close second.

I find #2 (tundra) and #13 (arctic) compelling.

I am least drawn by #12 (tropical beach). Yes, that's right. I find such things utterly uncompelling. I am more drawn to the "industrial" picture than the tropical beach scene.

I like cool, and I like remote.

Note: in looking back, I see that my selection of pictures betrays my bias. I have only two "hot and sunny" pictures -- the beach scene and the desert scene.

Note 2: I tried to represent different major geographical categories. What am I missing here?

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The next two don't count. They're here just because they're cute!





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Yes, the universe is strikingly vast and strikingly remote. I was thinking about that the other night as I went for a walk after dark. It was clear and the stars were out.

The Enormity of it all

The Voyager 1 probe is about a billion miles away from the Earth, having been travelling for 30 years now. This equates to the distance light travels in slightly under two hours. Yet, the nearest star is 4 light years away. To explore this Universe we are going to have to accelerate. The Voyager probe is travelling very quickly, but it's not accelerating. I showed in a previous post that if we were to travel away from the Earth on a ship accelerating at a mere 1g, so Earth's gravity (it would be nice and comfortable for us) then we'd get to the edge of the observable universe, 14 billion light years away, in just 25 years of ship time. This would be 14 billion years or so of Earth time of course.

Oh it's all relative :)

My kingdom for a void

I am delayed in life somewhat as I am building two new quad core computers, one water cooled and one air cooled. I tell you I am getting too old for this. Soon, I will retire to a lake and fish.

Ah but I can see your frustration over the left brigade taking your liberties away, making up facts and producing false conclusions to support their positions. Sounds like human beings to me -- perhaps that is the one thing I have learned, we all do this -- in all walks of life. Perhaps it is a case of trying to bend what comes into our eyes into the a priori shape that we have for it in our heads? This is what humans do.
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I had to laugh at your BBC mole poster to the wikipedia .. I have a feeling I know who it might be! George Bush is a wanker no doubt, I think that's something most humans have done. But he is a rich wanker, perhaps the most famous man in the world, and in a position to help or make worse the position that humanity finds itself in.

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Hmm this void sounds very interesting doesn't it? What could be the reason behind it's existence? In Star Trek a ship was crossing a void at one point wasn't it? This baby is a bit bigger. Reminds that we are pretty clueless of how the observable part of The Universe (also known as "the universe" to some folk) got to be in the state it appears to be in now.

Huge Hole Found in the Universe

Here's the story.

The hole is nearly a billion light-years across. It is not a black hole, which is a small sphere of densely packed matter. Rather, this one is mostly devoid of stars, gas and other normal matter, and it's also strangely empty of the mysterious "dark matter" that permeates the cosmos. Other space voids have been found before, but nothing on this scale.

The mysteries never cease, do they? :-)

The BBC and Wikipedia

Apparently some edits to Wikipedia articles have been traced back to IP addresses owned by the BBC. Here's an analysis of some of the changes. It's not surprising. Apparently the same thing has been done from the New York Times.

In this age of satellite TV, satellite radio, and internet streaming ... what is the view of the BBC of late?

Norwegian Moose

No, not "Norwegian Wood". This:

The poor old Scandinavian moose is now being blamed for climate change, with researchers in Norway claiming that a grown moose can produce 2,100 kilos of methane a year -- equivalent to the CO2 output resulting from a 13,000 kilometer car journey.

On the one hand I have to laugh at this. But on the other, there's a more ominous problem. As the article states, domesticated cows produce the same methane gas, and in far greater quantities. It's only a matter of time before the other pet lifestyle of the left will be forced down our throats -- vegetarianism (or worse, veganism).

The delicious irony in this is that one of the left's favorite poster children is Ben and Jerry, of the ice cream fame. Guess how many cows labor in support of the milk that's used for their supposedly "eco-friendly" product?

I can give up ice cream fairly easily. But I do enjoy a good burger on occasion.

Holidays are over for now!

We had a nice time - got to see a number of places in the UK

Went to a real chocolate factory
Made some pottery
Stayed in two hotels
Went to a butterfly park
Went to an open animal farm
Visit two theme parks
Visited an "Eco" park
Went to a Roald Dahl Museum
Went to a telephone and transport musuem
Saw five movies at the cinema!

It was really nice not to be on the internet at times pal :) I am pretty tired from all the travelling so now need a holiday!

One thing, my daughter and I are (I think) now officially "natural" in our behaviours towards eachother. We're not forced into those "unnatural" modes of behaviour you get into when the time you have to see eachother is short, and you are forced to part. It's great :)

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Is Global Warming a reality? Forget the politics and the unscrupulous so-called "scientists" vying for research money, but do you think that Global Warming is happening due to human output of Co2?

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I was speaking to one of my chess genius buddies and he says the words "Why?" and "Because" should be struck off the vocabularly list as they don't mean anything.

I think he wants to replace "Why?" with "For what reason...?" and "Because" with "As a result of .." This seems just like semantics to me and I really am not sure where he is coming from. Is there something in his suggestions here that I have missed that you can see?

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How's things?

Warmest Year for United States

Interesting article. A quick background:

• Using NASA surface temperature numbers, a team at NASA concluded that 1998 was the warmest year on record for the lower 48 United States.
• However, Steve McIntyre of climateaudit.org noticed some rather odd "discontinuities" in the graphic data, all around January 2000.
  
• The team at NASA apparently refused to release their algorithm to McIntyre, so he reverse engineered the algorithm and discovered the problem. He notified the team at NASA of the error.
  

Now this:

NASA has now silently released corrected figures, and the changes are truly astounding. The warmest year on record is now 1934. 1998 (long trumpeted by the media as record-breaking) moves to second place. 1921 takes third. In fact, 5 of the 10 warmest years on record now all occur before World War II.

I find the phrase "silently released" interesting. This is very common. Findings that support the proper "narrative" are loudly trumpeted; findings or corrections that run counter are quietly handled. A true scientist would be disinterested in outcome. I suspect these folks at NASA were fairly invested in the "global warming" narrative and this set of corrections are rather embarrassing.

Letting Go

Now, if on the other hand we are fashioned by God, then I have no idea why we are imbued with this competitive desire to win, what good can it do us?

Perhaps this is a vestige of our broken nature? Perhaps this aspect of our being is not what God wants for us, but nevertheless something he has permitted us to take on as so important a part of our being.

There really is a strong thread that runs through the Bible about letting go of such stuff. I have heard and read that the passage in Matthew 11:29 -- "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." -- is alluding to precisely that: letting go. One commentator suggested that if one had to come up with a single word to describe Jesus as portrayed in the Bible, that one world might be "relaxed." Jesus had the "letting go" part down perfectly. He rested in perfect assurance of God's role in his life.

There are, of course, enormous challenges to really believing that and really living that.

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I went for my first night-time ride on the motorcycle last night. Not long ... 10 miles at most. But it was a new experience, and not a very comfortable one. The lack of visibility and awareness of my surroundings was disconcerting. I don't plan on doing that often, but it is good to know that I can do it if I need to.

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I hope you're doing well on your holiday with K. I hope to hear your report upon your return!

House Elves

Ahhh it's a gloriously sunny Sunday morning here, the skies are sharp and blue and with some regret I've just finished the latest and last installment of the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling. I've been reading those books for the last ten years so will kind of miss them as they are now familiar, and I assert that having a preference for the familiar is a fundamental part of the human condition. Still, there are two more films to look forwards to :)

House Elves were "slaves" to wizards throughout the Potter series, working for little or no pay but glad to do so usually, for love.

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You wrote recently:

There's a powerful driver within our souls to prove ourselves right ... even when it doesn't really matter if we do. Pride? Stubbornness? Fear?

I agree this seems to be a fundamental urge, I see it in my daughter. It must be connected to fear I believe. I don't know if I told you before, but in the last year some time a smart Mensa fellow told me about two people in a heated debate, or just having a chat:

• The smart fellow thinks "I wonder what this person thinks about my arguments?"
• The really smart fellow thinks "I wonder what this person thinks I think about his arguments or what I think about my arguments?"

I think it is all connected to the desire to win, that imposter again. But what else could you expect from an organism that has developed through natural selection, survial of the fittest, winning the race?

Now, if on the other hand we are fashioned by God, then I have no idea why we are imbued with this competitive desire to win, what good can it do us? Think of how many wars have been caused by it. Heck, even the original sin was caused by the desire to win something, knowledge in that case.

If you don't fight (like Ghandi) do you win? Will passive resistance always eventually prove itself to be unstoppable? If we are verbally attacked, we defend ourselves don't we? Why do we bother? Why don't we just say "Ok, bye"? It's a shame that we have to waste precious moments of our lives dealing with those that would attack us, so that they themselves can assuage some sort of desire within themselves, or mitigate their own pain, isn't it?

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Two weeks vacation time for us now. I am not sure where we will get to, I will probably take the girls to a Pottery Musuem and visit a bunch of theme parks in the UK. We were going to pop over to Eurodisney Paris but oops K's passport has expired (10 years) so we'll make that trip during half term (semester).

Wherever we get to, the hotel must have a swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room/sauna, this they demand of me!