Whispers from a different now.

Every now and then, something happens. Out of the ordinary comes the extraordinary-out of the mundane, the awesome. It happened just the other night. Lack of sleep is never good, add that to a stressful day and a heap of work waiting to be done two days ago and you have what makes potentially for a difficult day. You may think these are pretty minor problems, but the magnitude of a problem is often only measured by the amount of coverage it gets in your head, so who can judge the size of problems?

Anyway i digress. I was busy scurrying along at night muttering to myself about the cold and the fact that i had to walk so far, when all of a sudden i glanced up at the sky, and there was the most awesome sight ever. The dark night sky with the looming dimly lit cathedral in the foreground. Lights flickered off the river to my left, and way up high, hundreds and thousands of stars twinkled brightly. Then along came a Grey Bar crawl...singing 'skies are grey, skies a grey' in an eerily high tone considering the number of 'guys' in tow. And that was it-my moment gone.

But just for that moment. I saw a different now. I don't know quite how to describe it, but it was as though for a few seconds, every problem had gone away and i was left with a peace that made me want to smile. Not a crappy little sense of good-nature, a deep sense of contentment. It's not always obviously there. There are times when the world gets to noisy, and troubles shut it out. But if you stop for a while, even in the loudest place the whisper can still be heard. I hope you have the privelege of hearing that same whisper.

Thought for the Day:
Frodo: "I wish The Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had ever happened."
Gandalf: "So do all who live to face such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

CLII

I think sometimes in life things just have to be. There is a time for thinking, a time for pondering, but in the end sometimes we just have to get on with it. This may seem strange written on a blog that is sometimes far too philosophical, but the truth is i do like thinking. Thinking is abstract, beautiful and complex. Yet the complexity is a puzzle, which is enjoyed. It's nice to think about deep philosophical matters.

The problem is that life isn't the fun puzzle...its the jigsaw puzzle's evil twin. The one with pieces that bite as you put them in, or fit and then just when you are about to finish, you take a closer look and notice that the pieces don't quite fit. That's why i think sometimes you just have to stop thinking, and get on with it. Life cannot always be reasoned, or explained away. There are some things we will never know or understand, so there is no point trying to, or getting down about it. Just gotta keep going!

Go Live!

151

" You will accomplish whatever you sincerely believe you will accomplish. And you can believe whatever you choose to believe "

I read that today in a website, and felt compelled to remark at its absurdity. Firstly, as much as i may believe it will, my belief will not help fly me to the moon using only matchsticks, nor get me into the Manchester United first team. No alas, what we achieve has very little to do with how sincerely we believe it.

Secondly, how can we believe in what we choose to believe in? Belief is a deep-set strong conviction regarding a certain matter. To choose belief is an insane paradox. For our choices our governed by what we believe, but what we believe is supposedly up to us. Therefore what basis at all would we have for making any decision. I may choose to believe that I am superman, but no matter how much i choose to believe it, it is still in essence untrue. This is not contradicting an earlier blog, where i stated that truth is subjective. I am rather stressing that truth is undeniable and leads to belief. Unfortunately the truth we have in our heads is sometimes distorted by ourselves.

The other thing i noticed is that it mentions the word 'you' five times. So here is where the foundations begin to crumble. What if...we dare to assume that there is a world other than ourselves? That belief and accomplishment may not only be related to ourselves! That there may be issues of truth that extend beyond our mind.

Thought for the Day: If someone tells you 'There is no such thing as Truth', they are asking you not to believe them

Students Work ethic

You have probably heard of tennis elbow etc, but i doubt you have heard of students work ethic. The general attitude towards all things work related that comes from being a student. Oxymoronic you may think, but it is true! Since becoming a student i have become far more lazy and even sitting down to one maths homework can be a real challenge. Indeed it is unfortunately the case that as i write i should be doing some enthralling numerical analysis homework!

I realise it is a week since i last posted and would like to inform all my valuable readers that from now on i shall try to blog at least every other day! The problem is, i have nothing to say. There is no drama, no news, not really much to say at all! Like a postcard from the Western Front, i simply have nothing to say!

Life is good. This last week has been good. Back to school was amazing last wednesday, Halloween party was really cool too-so thanks no.1! So yeah pretty much all i can remember has been fantastic-though i did get a letter from the opticians today-have to go for another appointment! Grrr ok i maybe a little blind (don't even wear my glasses) but i am happy blind! Don't wanna go and stare at letters and numbers and have it sorted out at my expense!

Anyways, that'll be all!

Thought for the Day: A little less conversation, a little more action

A gap in space-time, a house monster or just incompetence?

So here is my quandry. I'm not even sure if i used that word correctly but i like it so i don't care! There have been many strange happenings in our house of late...It all happened roughly 4 weeks ago when following a houseparty one AA rechargable battery went missing. I hunted high and low but still ahve not managed to find it...Then two days ago our bin bags disappeared!?! Could it be coincidence? Is there a highly charged monster running round disguised as a bin bag? Or is there some strange time warp which means we will rediscover our bin bags in twenty years time hiding underneath an inconspicuous leaf? Who knows...or perhaps more importantly what is next?!? A banana, that wouldn't be so bad or maybe...a bed!?!

Or perhaps both will turn up tomorrow and all will be blamed on my incompetence!

Thought for the Day: Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired
Jules Renard

Burning like a flame inside of you

Is this just desire or the truth? Extra 'Chomp' bar for anyone who manages to work out which song that line is from...If indeed anyone does ever read this.

I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What a stupid statement to make. I mean who knows the truth? Is there any such thing as objective truth? And shouldn't objective truth require objective proof? Well as you all know from my incessant mutterings 'the only true proof is mathematical proof' which is undeniably proved given certain axioms. Interesting that even this most solid proof requires in its initial state, assumptions to be made.

So i suppose we resort to conviction-the idea that if we are convinced enough this in some way is proof. A kind of personal truth, that comes from belief in something that is so strong it is considered as fact. Now this comes in many types:It occurs within religion and faith, but also on a much smaller scale...opinion.

I have begun to realise recently that very little within our everyday lives actually revolves around the truth, around right and wrong. Rather it is all about perspective. We all have perspectives, if you like, our own truth, based upon who we are and what we feel. The problem is that often we all have very different 'truths' about what happens...The solution? I guess it revolves around a realisation that different people may have a very different opinion on something, and yet be equally convicted about it. Which can be hard when we 'know' we are right!

Thought for the Day: Philosophy is a game with objectives and no rules. Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives.

Zoom zoom zoom

I know that was a very very annoying advert, but i couldn't be bothered to think of a better title! Before i begin, may i first hand the worlds largest slice of humble pie to our dear friend Oli, who yesterday wrote his first blog-type thing on facebook! Something i thought i would never live to read!

Anyhow, term is well and truly underway, and although i have only had a little under 2 weeks of lectures, it feels as though term started ages ago! I will never quite get used to this time thing. The way 2 minutes ago i was 13 and in another 2 I shall probably be 40!!! No matter how good things are right now, I am faced with the simple truth that i do not want to grow up. I don't want my parents to get old. I don't want to be an adult with a job and responsibility. I don't like the fact that i can fast see my teenage years disappearing and with them, a simplicity that comes with being dependent. But then again, i love being independent, i want my own life, and having a job would be quite exciting....I guess what i really want is for me to change but everyone else to stay the same! Lol.

So i converge to this...'Carpe Momento'. For as it has been said, a day is simply too long a time period to seize. Can't stop life so just make the most of it while it is here!

Thought for the Day: Is mathematics the model applied to the world, or the law by which the world abides?

Of Early Mornings and Messed up rooms

Why oh why would anyone ever decide to hold a lecture at 9:00am? And why would anyone inflict 2 9ams in a row on me! This is the question i am left facing. I have spent the whole day practically on the science site, having woken up at a somewhat ridiculous hour, in order to get to a lecture, which it turns out confused me. This only improved with the later lecture which may as well have been in Ancient Greek, because i did not understand a single word of it. The saving grace-two hours of easy peasy maths inbetween. And while i while away the hours in Chem. Cafe, my room proceeded to messy itself.

Or maybe this is merely a distortion within my head of the fact that i myself have through negligence and pure apathy let my room get into a state whereby i would find it difficult to tell if i had been burgled! Actually thatb is unfair. I just have a lot of random half dried objects floating round mixed with various shoes, money keys etc etc.

So this is life for me at the moment. I must away now to my bed, in order to restart the cycle at 7.15 tomorrow morning. So Long!

Thought for the Day: Isn't it ironic...I just love irony, especially that song!

Parties and all that jazz

Last night was Party Night at No.5 We piled into the living room with drink and food and drink and lots and lots of people, and listened to lots of super cool music and even danced a little! Twas a good night, and a bad morning/afternoon followed-the house is a tip!

Time to go and hoover!

The twisted and tangled knot of life spins on

hello hello from sunny durham, where the sun is shining and the sky is blue, and where life continues much as it has done for the last age. I have now been here nearly two weeks, though it seems a lot longer. the year is properly underway now and i feel settled into my house.

It's a strange thing life. the other day i happened to be watching the Jeremy Kyle show, and there was a guy who had become a woman on, who was in a lesbian relationship with a younger woman. The problem wasthat the younger woman wanted to become a guy...The older woman had a friend who's husband had decided to become a woman a few years ago ad was advising them both. The problem was that the older woman wanted the younger to have 'their' baby before she became a man. The really weird thing is that if she did go through with the operation, they would be a hetrosexual couple!! very weird and strange stuff.

Everyday i realise more and more that we are all part of a complex web of friendships and relationships, of situations and events, and no matter how hard we try we can't escape. In fact often the harder we try the more stuck we become. Like thrashing around in sinking sand and slowly drowning. So why am i saying this.? Well i have decided that there is no point trying to remove yourself from the web-all you can do is try and stay untangled as possible!

Thought for the Day: This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Hooray for student life!

Bonjour bon soir and all that lies between. It has been a very strange and busy few days hence very few posts. I am now back in Durham, in my very own house (well i own part of it!) cooking eating and sleeping in varying amounts. All is going well and the terrace is starting to feel like home.

Yesterday we bought a TV which was very exciting, and we played various card games today, as well as rubbish computer games such as Ski Free and rodent's revenge! (and vickys favourite, rattler race!)

I really am not selling this very well...ok, so its hard to describe days in which getting up to make a cup of tea counts as exercise, but the truth is-I'm loving every minute! Long may it last

Thought for the Day: People shouldn't be scared of the government, the government should be scared of the people. (V For Vendetta again...)

142...hrmmm

There is something special about that number-i just can't recall what...any suggestions welcome. But no linguists suggesting that it is prime, the answer to life the universe and everything or the first three Fibonacci numbers will be tolerated! I mean there's ignorance and then there's linguists. I don't quite know why the attack on linguists by the way, and i do apologise to all linguists who may be offended. I dunno, this is the way society has gone, that as soon as i insult a certain group i feel i have to immediately apologise. Just like old popey...

Popey is hardly my best friend (And i would like to take this opportunity to point out that he is NOT a representative of Christianity, merely Catholicism), anyway, there are plenty of reasons i could dislike him. Reasons too numerous to mention in fact. However give the poor guy a rest over the whole remarks thing. He quoted a very old person (not actually still alive, what i mean is he lived a long time ago) in what appeared to be a context which was misunderstood. Very few people even heard his speech, and yet after the media latched on, are now burning figures of the pope!?!

Has everyone gone insane? Can no one voice what they think these days? So second challenge of the blog...insult me!! Leave a comment insulting me. Don't worry i wont burn effigies of you, because i am an ADULT, i can cope with people disagreeing with me. Unlike the rest of the world it appears. We could even start something where you insult the person who left a comment before you...a kind of chain insult-revelling in our free speech-go on give it a click!

Right few explanations to finish. Firstly this is the 142nd blog, hence the number which i still haven't figured out...and also i did very little today, but i did watch V for Vendetta which is a very good film!

Thought for the Day: A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having!

schllluurrrp

That is the noise of me licking an envelope. For today i have 'licked and sticked or 'luck and stuck' roughly 200 envelopes. Unfortunately for you this does not mean lots of letters to my lovely friends. Instead it was merely some admin work for my dad. It was two hours work sorting named letters into named envelopes, which as you can probably guess was greeaaaat fun, and landed a £10 in my back pocket which is always good.

So the tidying went ok today. The packing i'm afraid hasn't really started. But...i still have at least 48hrs so i am absolutely fine! No need to panic at all! I also now have a scanner which is highly useful as well as being very entertaining, scanning all kinds of things-just because i can!

Hi Griff! Just wanted to say a quick hi to my newest reader! That's all i have to say for today.

Thought for the Day: Today is a new Day... (chicken little)

You've seen the film, now read the facts!

Ok, firstly i apologise because these last two blogs have been a bit serious. This is not intentional, merely happened that these thoughts entered my head these last few days.

So firstly in response to a certain comment from Tajudin Abdullahi-named and shamed! lol. No, i think he makes a good point. It's very easy to say we should change, and to even want to change. However to actually go ahead and change is something very different. BUT, it is something we really must consider even if it means giving up one or two of our home comforts. So, just thought i'd say what i aim to do: avoid using air travel, buy local produce where possible, cut down on the amount of meat/eggs/dairy i eat (not massively, just making sure i don't eat too much), try to walk where possible, and try to stick an extra jumper on rather than use extra fuel heating the house. There you go, a few of the things i am going to try and do...

So the title of todays blog refers to The Constant Gardener. I don't have much to say about it. Except if you have not seen it-see it, and if you have seen it check out some of these-scarily similar facts. (I mention this because i watched it again a few days ago).
What the movie missed
Drugs testing

Ok, serious stuff over, jus a quick note to say Happy Birthday to Katherine, 21 today, and in a retirement home tomorrow. Tehehe. I promise the blog will have a lighter topic tomorrow!

Thought for the Day: As the film says...'Big pharmaceuticals are right up there with the arms dealers. It's how the world f***s Africa.

A comment on Sustainability and Global Warming

You’ve heard it all before: Ice caps are melting, the oceans are heating up and within the next few decades many animals will become extinct. All in all, a big bunch of bad news. Of course we are fully to blame, with all our nasty fossil fuel burning power stations, which in the end will be responsible for the extinction of the human race…or is that really true?

In Al Gore’s recent film, An Inconvenient Truth, we see pictures of glaciers and ice sheets 30 years ago and then today. Audiences gasp as they see just how much ice has disappeared. But is this really due to us? The problem is that if you’re going to understand anthropological climate change (caused by humans), you first have to understand natural climate change. The fact is that over the last 60 billion years the Earth has been heating up and cooling considerably. If we take the last 2 million years (known as the Quaternary) we can see that the Earth has been alternating between glacial and interglacial periods (lots of ice and then very little ice). No prizes for guessing then that we are in the middle of an interglacial. These are periods of time characterised by melting ice, and guess what…global warming!

It is this global warming over the last 20 000 years since the last ice age (glacial) that has enabled the Earth to sustain human life. So, given the temperature graphs for the last few thousand years, how can we begin to analyse the extent to which global warming is natural, and the extent to which we are causing it. The truth is that it isn’t really of much relevance.

You see, the main problem is with our perspective. Humans have never been good news for the Earth. In the short time humans have been around, they have had a massive effect on the Earth. We do not fit into a natural food chain; we do not live within a natural ecosystem and therefore we are the equivalent of a virus/cancer on the Earth (very similar to what Agent Smith says in the Matrix). That’s not true I hear you cry, but look around you-our idea of nature is an area of cultivated land, covered with one species of cow, with fences and walls, and perhaps the odd windy road. When was the last time you saw ‘real unadulterated nature’? (Probably on 'Walking with dinosaurs'). Now of course this all sounds very depressing, but it is the necessary background on which to base our thinking.

Living in perfect harmony with the environment may be impossible, but achieving the best balance possible should be our aim. In other words, minimising the impact we have on the Earth. This way, we are managing cause rather than effect. This is where our current approach goes wrong-we look at the effect we are having and then decide what to do. There are two main flaws with this approach. Firstly, as I have mentioned, it may be the case that some of the effects we are seeing are natural and not a result of human activity, and secondly there may be problems which are equally as important but less evident currently, which are paid no attention.

The solution? Global footprints. This is no new idea of mine; it is a widely known but not largely recognised method. Basically it involves considering the effect we have on the Earth by measuring it as a footprint, left on the Earth. For example a carbon footprint is often measured as the amount of trees that it would take to absorb the CO2 released by us. The focus is therefore on limiting the overall effect you have on the Earth. There are various ways of calculating such footprints, and the results are often very scary

So how is this approach different? Well it calls for an understanding that global warming, ecosystem management, water management, agriculture, pollution, waste, deforestation, land use, development, diversity, food production, energy sources etc all require consideration..

For example, current thinking is that burning fossil fuels = bad, hydroelectricity = good, because there are no emissions. But few people stop to consider the negative effects of building a dam, on habitats, local climate, water distribution, etc. This doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea-but it is important to take every impact into consideration.

The Keyword here is sustainability. Sustainable development is defined as ‘Development that meets the needs and aspirations of the current generation without compromising the ability to meet those of future generations.’ This definition is as old as me, so how comes in 19 years it has not been implemented on a macro scale? Sustainability is about limiting our effect on the environment, and managing social footprints too (the effect we are having on peoples lives i.e. Exploitation of 3^rd world).

So forget the hype and drama. What we need to do is change our lifestyles to minimise our global footprint, and then leave the Earth to do what it will.

Spot the Difference (and no it's not the clothes!!!)

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Well, gone today actually, thnaks to a very traumatic hair cutting experience. My hair is now officially short once more! Oh yes, no more curls verging on mullet it's back to spiky short hair. Although this change is good, it still seems sad to part with my hair, which officially was left uncut for a massive 23 weeks and one day. So i didn't quite make half a year, but wasn't far off!

I will post another spot the difference tomorrow so you can all marvel at the change-or just scream as once again you are forced to see my face! And ears, which strangely enough have been covered for a good few months now. I may also post some Svedish piccies too.

Today i successfully went present shopping. This is a rare occurance for me. I tend to be the one who spends hours choosing what turns out to be the wrong present, which is followed by that really awkward silence post-giving. Still, i find a quick humming rendition of 'Raindrops keep falling on my head' goes a long way to solving the uneasiness, and quickly diverts attention away from the pile of rubbish i have just given someone on the most important day of the year! Is it just me that has that problem?

Anyway, i feel i am in need of a more thoughtful blog, hrmmm perhaps i will do one tomorrow, when i have a bowl of ice cold water to dunk my head in afterwards to let my brain cool down. Oh and by the way, 'ice cold'-what's that mean?? Soft drinks bottles often claim they are best enjoyed ice cold. Well unless you have added substantial amounts of salt to the drink (hence lowering the freezing point), your drink will be frozen in the bottle if served ice cold, and personally i find this quite a difficulty when trying to drink.

Thought for the Day: Why do we never say 'Best served steam hot'

Passing time

Operation Durham has begun! I am now back from my travels, after a lovely trip to Sweden. The boat was great, and though our cabin was small, and i mean the size of a shoebox! (well obviously i don't because that would be verging on the ridiculous) but it was very small! Lots of nice photos of sea, sky and gothenberg.

So now i am back, with just over one week until i return to Durham and i have a fair amount of ends to tie up before then. Tidying my room, buying stuff for this year, chatting to those friendly guys at npower, buying presents, getting my eyes tested, getting in touch with college daughters, course reading as well as sleeping eating and all the formalities. I appreciate this may not sound busy to you, but to a guy used to doing virtually nothing it seems like a lot!

Thought for the Day: Humility is like underwear. It should always be worn but never be seen.

We are sailing...

Tomorrow i set sail! I'm off to Sweden-yay! Me and Katherine are going on a lastminute.com cheapo trip to Sweden for 4 days. Now when i say Sweden, we only actually spend roughly 4 hours in Sweden. The boat sets off tomorrow afternoon, and arrives in Sweden at 5pm the next day. We then spend Tuesday evening in Gothenberg, before returning to the ship to sleep. Then wednesday morning we set off again and arrive back in Newcastle Thursday morning. All in all, a big bundle of excitement, at mithes prithes! (esure mouse advert)

So, that is where i will be for the next few days. Now just a brief update of the last few days...Last night i went to see Paddy McGuinness live, which was fantastic and really funny! This weekend a family friend from London was up for the weekend which was also cool. So yeah, a good, pretty uneventful few days. Hope all is well elsewhere in Blogland where the updates are less frequent!

Adios!

I need trance!

So here i am, sat in my room on a Friday evening, checking my imaginary cricket team online...Something is seriously wrong. Then as if from nowhere, hidden deep within the endless playlist of cheese, rubbish and pop...i hear the all too familiar intro...in disbelief i look around me-the pens don't respond, in desperation i search for some response, alas not even the bedside light flickers....now the lyrics come in...'Coming out of my cage, and I've been doing just fine'...and all of a sudden i get a flashback, no wait hundreds of flashbacks, to pubs, clubs, corridors!?! Cd players with 16 speakers...and Planet of sound! Ooooh yes i have many memories of dancing around stupidly (i find it difficult to dance sensibly) to Mr Brightside in the cheese room at Planet of Sound.

Ahhh now there's a way to spend a Friday night...locked in the ecstacy of trance and cheese, with sweat dripping from the walls, and girls dripping over Ditt...Well allegedly...that's me covered! There really is nothing quite like a good student night out in Durham-Especially if it has Mr Brightside AND trance! Now at this point the readers will be split into two groups-the group who are staring quizzically at the screen wondering quite what i am talking about, and the other group staring absent mindedly at the wall, druelling slightly! Well the good news my friends...is that in 3 weeks time-that's where I will be! Dancing my shoes socks and every-other piece-of-clothing-that-does-not-threaten-my-decency off and revelling in the madness! Join Me!

But for now, i will just have to sit here and dream!

Thought for the Day: If life is a highway, then i must be stuck in a traffic jam