The war is over.

Turns out it was a good thing.
The victor gets to write the history books.
I really thought the yanks were on a hiding to nothing with this one...
even if they "won" they would be the bad guys,
but so far it doesn't look like it.
Didn't kill as many innocent civilians as everone predicted either.

now the big thing is SARS

The latest virus sweeping town. I can't remember sickness getting this much
press since AIDS hit town back in the (80's)?
Funny, it has only killed 350 people so far, which is tiny compared to the number
of people murdered over in Africa in various massacres.
Don't see that getting as much press as it should.
Maybe we think it doesn't concern us....
Love the way the press decides what we will be interested in.

We are going to War!!

(though no-one is that keen)
Today - March 18 2003...
we are going to support the US and their war.
How do I feel about this as an Australian?
as a person?
as a Catholic?

The Most Important thing in the World?

Okay, so what am I talking about?
The most important thing in the world is... Empathy!

Okay, I haven't really thought about this much and I like to make
simple yet sweeping statements. I like things to be neat, so I
try to make generalisations.
Anyway, I think it's a very important thing, and maybe I will think about it
and get back to you about whether it is THE most important thing.
Get back to you after this life... :-)

Empathy - understanding and entering into anothers feelings.
See the important point is that you not only understand how they feel
but you actually feel - to an extent - how they feel.
I mean *really* feel. You experience the emotions / sensations.
That's real empathy.


aravinda de silva getting out - i felt sad for him

mirror neurons - http://www.wired.com/2013/12/a-calm-look-at-the-most-hyped-concept-in-neuroscience-mirror-neurons/

aliens and the normal people (psychopaths / sociopaths)

the mind

Well, I'm back and blogging tired again.
I think it's ok to sleep-blog. Maybe the hind-brain will pop out some
interesting stuff. I came down here to blog about 2.5 hours ago
and have only just started. Don't know where the time went...


I've always been very interested in how the brain works.
At uni I did an I.T. degree - majoring in Artificial Intelligence.
I loved the A.I. side of the degree - it is fascinating.
Unfortunately not a lot of jobs in that area. Maybe I could have pursued it
further if I had achieved as good results in other areas of my degree. ;-)
Anyway, I'm always interested when something happens that gives an
insight into how the brain works - the mechanics of it if you like...
So - here is what inspired this blog. The tip of the tongue...
What on earth is going on when you are trying to recall something and
it is "on the tip of your tongue??"
You know that you know the answer. Not only that, but know you have almost
accessed the information. How do you know that you have 'almost' retrieved the
answer when you don't actually have the answer? get back to you on that when I'm a bit more awake...
g'night. ;-0

Hurro there.
Ummm, second post
It was our first wedding anniversary on Sunday. Love and I that is.
Of course we've been together for much longer than that!
More than 10 years!! (little break in the middle there)
For our anniversary we stayed up the coast for a night. We had a nice walk on the
beach at sundown. Gee it would be nice to live right on the beach and be able to walk
on it every day! I reckon it would certainly make you want to walk more - encourage exercise
having a nice walking environment.
Ok - as usual I am tired - so I'd best get to the thing that inspired me to come down and type...

---

The movie "The Hours".
First movie that has made me think for a while after watching it.
I thought that was worth a blog.
When I say think, I mean think "what was that all about?".
So what was it about? The story is about people killing themselves. Hee hee. That is pretty simplistic,
but that's what I first asked myself. Is it about mental illness? Is it about death?
Is it about life? Is about women?

I think in the end I decided that it's about life. The meaning of life? What is dying? What is living.
I'm not going to explain the movie. You go and watch it and see what I mean.
I'm sure that people who make films must have some meaning in mind when they make them.
So I tried to figure out what the maker of this film wanted me to think about.
A review that I read suggested that it was about women being squashed by society,
but that wasn't the main point to my way of thinking.

I kinda agree with these quotes
"Telling "a woman's whole life in a single day," as Virginia Woolf set out to do in her novel "Mrs. Dalloway," "The Hours" focuses on crucial moments in three lives, gradually revealing the connections among them"
"the film contemplates creativity and madness, the deadening conformity of suburbia, the roles imposed upon women and the consequences of rejecting them"



Interesting that the other film I've seen recently that made me stop and think ("what the heck was that all about?") :-)
"Donnie Darko" - was also about mental health. Donnie Darko made me wonder about madness.
Maybe they aren't subnormal, but supernormal. Maybe they can just see more than us, but of course
struggle to deal with it because there is no terminology to describe it and
no framework to place it in.
Reminds me of something that I saw on the Real Ultimate Power site.
(see the ghost stories) It was said in jest, but many insightful things are said in jest.

By not defining what happened that day (or even themselves--their relation to it),
they never limited their understanding and they never limited themselves.

Well, it's 12:30 and I'll be tired tomorrow no doubt. X-)
g'night all

Sunday night.
Watching the cricket world cup over in South Africa.
It's about midnight and I really should go to bed, since I have work tomorrow.
Love has been asleep since about 9:30-10.
Good thing is that I have flexible working hours.

I have been meaning to keep a blog for a while.
We'll see how it goes.
Maybe I should just have a paper diary. More portable...

For those who came in late - Love is my wife of 1 year (anniversary next week)
and she's 6 months pregnant with our first bub.
Exciting times. We'll see how it goes.
Not to be cocky, but I think we will be good parents. :-D
We are both pretty average people with pretty sensible heads on our shoulders.
Anyway, on Friday night, I felt the bub kick for the first time.
Sounds simple, but it was a sweet moment for Love and I to share.
The first time I saw the bub on an ultrasound scan was a real spinout -
suddenly it was all a bit more real for me.
We found out the sex of bub at the ultrasound, but we're trying to keep
it a surprise for everyone until bub is born. I have semi-spilled the beans,
- let the cat outta the bag - a couple of times, but nobody knows for sure yet.

I'm a bit tired. better blog off.
:-)
byee
-ami.