The Five Seasons of New England (USA): Ski, Sugar, Mud, Bug and Foliage.
The Four Seasons of California (USA): Fire, Flood, Earthquake and Drought.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
The Secret Lives of Cats
English cats are said to have nine lives, whereas Italian cats have only seven.
What happened to the other two?
What happened to the other two?
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Best music album title?
The best ever music album title I can think of also happens to be from one of my favourite artists:
'Pandemonium Shadow Show'
(Harry Nilsson, 1967 - in reference to an element of a story by Ray Bradbury)
Yes, even better than 'Surrealistic Pillow' (Jefferson Airplane, 1967)
Perhaps interestingly, both those records were produced by the same person.
'Pandemonium Shadow Show'
(Harry Nilsson, 1967 - in reference to an element of a story by Ray Bradbury)
Yes, even better than 'Surrealistic Pillow' (Jefferson Airplane, 1967)
Perhaps interestingly, both those records were produced by the same person.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Three Questions
1. For you, what has this life been about, in a word (or two)?
2. At what point did you realise that?
3. In retrospect, when might you have known sooner?
My answers?
1. Friendship, Influence.
2. Friendship; about the third time I became infatuated with a straight guy. Influence; when I recognised my latent parenting skills?
3. Frienship; age 10, when my best friend's family moved far away and we fell out of touch. Influence; around the same time or shortly thereafter (age 11), when I began child-minding (babysitting).
2. At what point did you realise that?
3. In retrospect, when might you have known sooner?
My answers?
1. Friendship, Influence.
2. Friendship; about the third time I became infatuated with a straight guy. Influence; when I recognised my latent parenting skills?
3. Frienship; age 10, when my best friend's family moved far away and we fell out of touch. Influence; around the same time or shortly thereafter (age 11), when I began child-minding (babysitting).
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The Secret of Life
...it occurs to me now (well, one of them anyway) may just be to Ask the Right Questions. Or none at all? Ignorance may be bliss, but it does not constitute a legal defense. All things being equal, I'd sooner have my eyes open. I say this also because I find it helpful when people ask me the right questions.
And the flip side of and compliment to 'Asking the Right Question' must surely be making sure you extract a complete and satisfactory answer - easily overlooked, especially when seeking knowledge or guidance in a complex or unfamiliar field.
However, one of my favourite axioms is, 'Always answer a question with a question.' I find this a good policy as well, falling as it does more or less under the heading of 'Always Present a Moving Target.
And the flip side of and compliment to 'Asking the Right Question' must surely be making sure you extract a complete and satisfactory answer - easily overlooked, especially when seeking knowledge or guidance in a complex or unfamiliar field.
However, one of my favourite axioms is, 'Always answer a question with a question.' I find this a good policy as well, falling as it does more or less under the heading of 'Always Present a Moving Target.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Super Heroes
Got to thinking about some of the difficulties of being a super hero in this day and age...
Take Superman for instance; he can fly, has x-ray vision, is massively strong and fast and has built-in body armour. Aside from the odd lead-lined box or extraterrestrial green crystal, there would appear to be few drawbacks or vulnerabilities to his powers - but let's look again.
So there Superman is, flying along minding his own business when along comes a supersonic jet fighter and signals him to follow. When they land, he's booked for speeding, having no registration, violating restricted airspace, going the wrong way in a one-way flight path, not carrying a radio, proper instrumentation or displaying warning lights, failure to file a flight plan and generally posing a hazard to navigation.
So then he's walking home, doing a bit of window shopping on the way but of course he can see through walls and stuff so things are happening all over on account of that - he's fogging all the film at the chemist, freaking out all sorts of sensitive equipment and exposing bunches of people and animals and everything to high doses of potentially harmful radiation, none of which sets too well with anyone. So now he's in even more hot water. I mean, that's a bad day in anybody's book.
And Superman is not alone. You can imagine pretty much all the super heroes running afoul of the law or society simply by exercising their super powers. 'So I guess we don't need you anymore. Sorry.' 'Don't call us - we'll call you.' and stuff. Who wants to hear that after all they've done? Bitter pill or what? Wow.
I guess what I'm saying is that it wouldn't be so easy being a super hero nowadays - there would be a lot more paperwork for one thing, and a load of restrictions - small wonder you hardly see them around anymore.
Sheesh!
Take Superman for instance; he can fly, has x-ray vision, is massively strong and fast and has built-in body armour. Aside from the odd lead-lined box or extraterrestrial green crystal, there would appear to be few drawbacks or vulnerabilities to his powers - but let's look again.
So there Superman is, flying along minding his own business when along comes a supersonic jet fighter and signals him to follow. When they land, he's booked for speeding, having no registration, violating restricted airspace, going the wrong way in a one-way flight path, not carrying a radio, proper instrumentation or displaying warning lights, failure to file a flight plan and generally posing a hazard to navigation.
So then he's walking home, doing a bit of window shopping on the way but of course he can see through walls and stuff so things are happening all over on account of that - he's fogging all the film at the chemist, freaking out all sorts of sensitive equipment and exposing bunches of people and animals and everything to high doses of potentially harmful radiation, none of which sets too well with anyone. So now he's in even more hot water. I mean, that's a bad day in anybody's book.
And Superman is not alone. You can imagine pretty much all the super heroes running afoul of the law or society simply by exercising their super powers. 'So I guess we don't need you anymore. Sorry.' 'Don't call us - we'll call you.' and stuff. Who wants to hear that after all they've done? Bitter pill or what? Wow.
I guess what I'm saying is that it wouldn't be so easy being a super hero nowadays - there would be a lot more paperwork for one thing, and a load of restrictions - small wonder you hardly see them around anymore.
Sheesh!
Thursday, April 09, 2009
The Flip Side
In Tom Robbins' novel, 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blies', we are told that opposing sides of the guru's cave bear the complementary slogans: 'I believe in nothing, everything is sacred', and 'I believe in everything, nothing is sacred.'
Any superficial contradiction being left to the reader to resolve, I have a not dissimilar couplet. To whit; 'I may be cheap, bit I'm not easy', versus 'I may be easy, but I'm not cheap.'
Any superficial contradiction being left to the reader to resolve, I have a not dissimilar couplet. To whit; 'I may be cheap, bit I'm not easy', versus 'I may be easy, but I'm not cheap.'
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