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Mystery tour of Blogland

Yesterday afternoon being too cold and wet to go for a walk, I decided to go on a mystery tour around “blogland”. The navigation system used was Google Blog Search, and the initial direction was set by the first words I heard on the TV after deciding to go on the journey, they were “proves nothing“.

Google took me to my first stop at “Skeptico - Critical thinking for an irrational world”
http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2007/03/schrdingers_cat.html

Visit this blog if you want to perform some intellectual gymnastics, especially if like me you haven’t heard of Schrödinger‘s cat. I left the comment “The blog certainly gave me something to think about”.

For my onward journey I selected at random from the blog the word “irrational”.

My second stop was “Desperate Irrational Exuberance”

http://joshsaysdie.blogspot.com/2007/03/batman-strangelove.html

Don’t ask me what this blog was about, I left the comment “Let me know when you get around to writing the article”

I chose the keywords from the blog “Batman trades”

The third stop was “legionofdoom.cheeksofgod“.

http://legionofdoom.cheeksofgod.com/?p=486

Here I entered into comic book land, but this is a serious examination of the Sci-fi genre, with a review of Batman: Under the Hood. A great critique, so good in fact that there is no longer a need for me to read the book.

The keywords chosen for the next stage was “red hood”

The fourth stop was at “forevergeek”

http://forevergeek.com/comics/the_comic_rack_-_comic_book_reviews_for_march_15th_2007.php

I felt I had been trapped in a comic book vortex, for again I was confronted with reviews of comic books. I had fallen into a World I was previously unaware of.

The keyword that jumped at me from the blog was “bad week”.

The fifth stop was at “The Volokh Conspiracy”

http://volokh.com/posts/1174087343.shtml

The blog is dedicated to examining the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy applied by the American forces to homosexuality. It seems to be a hypocritical policy. “Don‘t Ask, Don‘t Tell“- see no evil speak no evil hear no evil - but it’s not that its: don‘t tell me, don‘t show me.

The key word for the onward journey was “significant and growing”

I remember hearing a couple of weeks ago the percentage of web sites dedicated one way or another to sex, I forget the exact number, but it was extremely high.

But it was not until I arrived at my sixth stop, that I had my first sex encounter at “Making Love Sustainable” http://goodcleanlove.com/blog/?p=124

On reflection “significant and growing” would be everyman’s dream! The blog page I read dealt with the topic “Sleep or Sex” (no question mark). Five ideas are given “to find a way to enjoy an intimate life given the general level of exhaustion that we live in. I thought it was worth pointing out “Sex can be a cure for insomnia”.

The next keyword chosen randomly from the blog was “prioritize”

The seventh stop was at “Kevin Marsh”

http://kevinmarsh.com/2007/3/19/when-to-say-yes-to-feature-requests

The blog page detailed a method devised by a web page developer to prioritizing work.

Many years ago I developed my own golden rule. I apply the rule of three: the first request I throw in the waste bin, the second request I put in my pending tray, the third request I respond to. A very affective self filtering method: 70% drop by the wayside at the first stage, 70% of the remaining drop by the wayside at the second stage, so only 9% of the original requests need be dealt with.

The keyword entered for the next step was “quick estimate”.

The eighth stop was at “nextthing.org”

http://www.nextthing.org/archives/2007/03/12/robotstxt-adventure

This was a very interesting blog about the spiders (robots) used by search engines. Unfortunately the content soon went straight over my head. To be honest I could only leave a token comment “I think most bloggers love to have spiders crawling all over their blog.”

The next keyword entered was “English factory”

The ninth stop was at “Aiden Brooks Trainee Chef”

http://aidanbrooks.blogspot.com/2007/03/end-of-era.html

This is a really well designed web page, looks good. Yesterday’s blog looked at the end of production of HP sauce in this country, the sale of the Patak’s food brand and the apparent incorrect entry in Wikipedia that Ovaltine is an American product.

The blog failed to point out, in Thailand Ovaltine is a breakfast drink, to give you energy for the day. While in this country it’s a bedtime drink to help you sleep. So why don’t the Thais fall asleep at 8.00 am?

This was an interesting blog, well worth visiting on a cold wet Monday afternoon. There was only one comment I could possibly leave ”How can HP sauce be produced in Holland - sacrilege.”

The next keyword was “classic piece”

The tenth and final stop was at “Hullabaloo”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/hey-joey-do-you-like-movies-about.html

The blog looks at the way Americans try to visualise themselves as modern day Spartans. My final comment of the tour was “Leave what was Sparta to the Spartans, be proud of your own culture.” A weak comment, but after such a long journey it was all I was capable of.

The keywords chosen randomly from the blog and to be entered on the next tour by YesBut of Blogland are: “defensive wall”.

Reaction and results

Last week I wrote about living in our self created world; where we place such importance on our own thoughts and ideas, where we feel emotions in response to other people’s actions.

In reality even in our “own world” very few things are important.

Do you believe me? Take a few minutes and make a list of all the truly important events in your life.

At the onset you might think it will take longer than a few minutes - but you will find the list will not be as long as you first thought. If you just examine this month - what have been the three most important events? How important do you consider them to be now compared to the time they occurred?

On Saturday, for two hours my attention was fully focused on one event. I recall during that time I experienced: anger, joy, frustration, exhilaration, anxiety, pride, indignation - you name it; I went through the full spectrum of feelings. The event? I was watching the Wales vs. England rugby international. That event has now past into history, probably by the end of the week I will have forgotten the score.

I have been told that we will not have heating for most of this week, resulting from the need to shutdown the system to repair a leak. If the weather forecasters are correct, by tomorrow night I’m going to feel mighty cold and probably very miserable. If the work drags on I’ll probably feel anger. But next month it will all be forgotten.

We respond to events, because that’s human nature. But most reactions to events are transient and very few will result in permanent effects. But there are events that have a long term residual influence. Someone - in your opinion - offends you, they do you an injustice. And the memory of that event gnaws and burrows into your soul. There it can fester and grow. It soon can dominate your life. But analyse what has happened. There is the event > the reaction to the event > reaction to the reaction. It’s like a family feud; the Jones’ hate the Williams’ yet the original cause will probably have been forgotten. It’s the same with our personal reactions: we nurture, we excuse our own behaviour and find plenty of reasons to damn the antagonist. We carry the reaction around with us. I’m reminded of the story of the two Buddhist monks. Buddhist monks are not allowed to touch females; even to take something directly handed by a woman is prohibited.

Two monks were walking from one monastery to another when they came to a river. An old woman was standing on the bank. One of the monks asked what was troubling her. She said she had to cross the river but was frightened she would be swept away. The monk told her to take his hand and he would guide her across. The other monk object, reminding him of the rule forbidding him to touch a woman. But the monk ignored the warning. The three crossed the river, when they got to the other bank the monks and old woman parted company. The two monks walked on in strained silence. Finally the monk who guided the woman across turned to his companion and asked what was troubling him. He chastised the monk for breaking the rules of conduct. The other monk smiled and said “I let go of the old woman’s hand when we reach the safety of the bank, why are you still clinging on to her?”.

But isn’t it human nature to react to events? Yes - but there is no need to continue to cling.

The secret is training oneself to realise the instant you react to an event. At that point rather than clinging or trying to subjugate / obliterate the memory, examine it. Look at how the reaction feels physically - is there tightening of the chest or stomach? What thoughts are being generated? Most occasions, you will soon realise it actually takes an effort to retain the reaction - step back and you can witness it fading and disappear.

Having said that, I recognise there some events which are so traumatic the individuals psyche is changed forever - but thank goodness those occur infrequently.

France 2007 RBS Six Nations Rugby Champions

Five weekends and fifteen games later, it’s all over and France is the 2007 RBS Six Nations Rugby Champions.

But what a final Super Saturday, with three teams fighting for the title. First into the ring was Ireland vs. Italy in Rome; they had to win by a large margin to put the championship out of French reach. With 80 minutes up, instead of being contented with the margin they had Ireland went for another try, only to fail and see Italy score a try, making the final score Italy 24 - 51 Ireland. The gauntlet had been thrown down; France would have to beat Scotland by 24 clear points to win the championship.

France looked to be cruising easily towards to a well deserved Championship. Then in the last few minutes of the game Scotland scored a try to reduce the margin to 20 points and give Ireland the Championship. We then saw a sustained French effort - with 80 minutes up, they had to ensure the ball remained in play and score a try. Under the pile of bodies on the right, is the French hero Elvis Vermeulen scoring the try which gave France the Championship.





All eyes then turned to Cardiff for the Wales vs. England match. England could still win the championship if they beat Wales by 54 clear points. Not a realistic possibility, and even less so when Wales went 15 to nil up.



In Wednesday’s blog I unfortunately said, Shane Williams had the opportunity to make himself Prince of Wales - I must have put a jinx on him. He did his normal electric runs, but instead of passing the ball for what would have been certain tries he held on hoping to score himself. As a result, at half time instead of being well out of reach Wales were only 3 points ahead.


But another Prince of Wales was crowned. With a contribution of 22 points James Hook was magnificent as indeed were the Welsh pack.










At the end, but to the relief of the Welsh Nation and particularly the Welsh Coach Gareth Jenkins, Wales won 27 - 18, avoiding the Wooden Spoon.









The Welsh fans were overjoyed, you would have thought they had won the championship, not narrowly missed finishing up with the wooden spoon






At the end of the day, in an empty stadium the French team was presented with the trophy.











Now we look forward to September & October and the World Cup.

Sod's Law

March has felt more like May. Last Sunday people in swimming suits were sunbathing on Hampstead Heath. Mind, only the English would think 16°C was a heat wave.

But since mid February its been great to walk through the parks. The flowers have been out a month earlier than last year. People have been pursuing outdoor activities. The couple on the right were not contented with a mere sand castle. And it brought such joy to passers by. By the following day the River Thames had reclaimed its own and there was no indication the dragon had ever existed.

But all good things come to an end; the weather forecast from tomorrow is winds coming down from the Artic, resulting plummeting temperature and snow. Great we can play snow balls. Now you might detect YesBut isn’t his normal Grumpy and Farting self. True its an exercise in positive thinking. Though I don’t think its going to last long - in fact I know it isn’t going to last. Yesterday afternoon, the hot water/ central heating system sprung a leak.

A clear case of Sod’s Law: the weather has been abnormally warm for nearly two months, and when the temperature drops the central heating system breaks down. And no it cannot be a simple easy to repair leak, it’s not only under a concrete floor but also under a wall. It’s going to take two days, of pneumatic tools hammering at the floor and wall before they can even get to the pipe. We’ve been warned that we will be without heating and hot water till Thursday - something has got to go wrong, so I’m not anticipating we will be back to normal next week.

If I haven’t died of hypothermia by Wednesday, YesBut will be in a very bad mood, which might not be a bad thing - all that indignation is bound to generate internal heat.

Every picture tells a story.

The last couple of days the blogs have been far too serious. Especially as it’s Red Nose Day, let’s lighten-up a bit.








The Metropolitan police demonstrate its new “Hands-off” approach to policing.



















Following a number of incidents which have resulted in the Police incurring bad publicity, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Ian Blair, has order his officers to exhibit more of their feminine side.

This picture deserves a caption but I can’t think of one.
Click on comments and post your suggestions.

Why Trident is not required.

Yesterday with the assistance of the Opposition, the Government won the House of Commons vote to commence the design of a replacement Trident missile system. Ninety-five Labour members joined with the Liberal Party to vote against the motion.

I wish to thank Dowelld for the thoughtful and well presented comment posted on the “Greenpeace demonstrate against Trident renewal” blog. It has stimulated me to give more thought to the Trident missile system replacement argument.

Trident supports argue that the choice is: either replace the existing Trident system in 17 years time, or leave the UK vulnerable to nuclear attack by a rogue or unstable State. In the debate, other options have been ignored.

Why Trident? Trident was the replacement for the Polaris missile submarine-launched system. Why Polaris? At the height (or should it be depth) of the Cold War, both sides had over kill. Russia had sufficient intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to wipe out the UK. Great Britain had its own missile system, however if Russia set off a pre-emptive strike it could wipe out all the British and USA missiles before they could be launched. So the West didn’t have an effective deterrent system - but neither did Russia.

It was thought, peace could only be maintained if the West had a deterrent - hence the development of a submarine launched system. The theory being, Russia wouldn’t set off a pre-emptive attack on the West, if it knew even if both the UK & USA were obliterated, a retaliatory attack would be launched from a fleet of nuclear submarines patrolling the World’s oceans.

The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties (SALT 1&2) and the subsequent Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) resulted in the cap being placed on the number of warheads and ICBMs the signatories could deploy.

The case for upgrading the Trident system is said to be the need to main a nuclear capability as a deterrent against a yet to be identified rogue State(s). While the USA, Russia and China might not take steps to prevent a country developing a nuclear capability, it is virtually certain they would not allow any country to build up sufficient stocks that it would constitute a threat. Consequently the UK does not require a submarine based system, a land based deterrent system would be sufficient.

By far the largest proportion of the Trident system cost is required to build and maintain the submarine fleet. A land based system could be built and maintained for a fraction of the cost. The UK could have a truly independent nuclear deterrent system, to counter any threat from a rogue State. And the money saved could be used to update conventional weaponry and equipment.

Because a land based system could readily be designed and built using tried and tested technology, the decision to commence designing a system could be delayed until at least 2015, without compromising the safety of the UK.

Yet again the Ministry of Defence mandarins are planning to equip the British forces to fight the previous war, while leaving it ill-equipped to counter the present and future threats.