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Some times, just sometimes, an odd sort of thing seems to happen when I'm working out at the gym.
It's a bit like ... some kind of meditative trance, only it's physical. Suddenly I'm aware of everything just starting to work together effectively and efficiently when I'm working out. The strain of doing it is still there - I can feel the throb of my muscles, the ache of the lactic acid buildup, and the beating of my heart - but it just seems ... well, not quite fade away, as much as start to work in harmony. As if an orchestra has just finished tuning up, and is now getting started on the symphony.
It's an exhilarating feeling. Just for that while, you can feel yourself brimming with energy. You feel as if you want to run, or do something that uses this surge of power, just for the sheer joy of it.
It's moments like this that are what has driven me forward - one of the first times it happened, I decided sort of impromptu that I was going to swim a mile, non stop - well, as non stop as you get in a 25 meter swimming pool at least - keeping going, not touching the bottom or sides. And I did. 129 lengths, back and forth.
I was quite tired at the end, but also ... reveling in it.
And y'know what? I've actually finally bothered to count fingers on that, and have reached the conclusion that my mental arithmetic whilst working out is poor. Because that's not a mile, it's two miles.
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Every now and then, I am engaged in a discussion about the future of the world. Things like recycling and energy efficiency come up.
Things like the intrinsic cruelty implicit in industrialised agriculture, and how actually a cow is actually quite expensive in terms of the food it consumes over it's lifespan.
And then we often get onto energy security - rates of consumption of oil. And how we should all be moving over to wind power, because that's basically free, and how 'people' like the idea of more, cheap and plentiful power, but don't like the idea of living near a powerstation.
But here's the problem. All these things seem rather a lot like ... well, frankly treating the symptoms, not the disease. Rearranging deck chairs on the titanic if you will.
You see, even if we did really well, and halved our waste levels overnight... that gives us a little under 50 years before we're back to square one, at the current rate of population growth. The disease, if you will, is humanity - geometric population growth of a greedy self centered mammals.
I mean, we're already at a point where there is just not enough farm land on the earth to support everyone in a fashion comparable to the 'average western lifestyle'.
Am I being a pessimist, or is it really the case that we're playing a game of global "chicken" with 6 billion participants?
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OK, imagine this as a game concept:
In supreme commander, conceptually you're the 'commander' and you can build
stuff, and give it orders. You're gated in from a quantum gate, and have a
limited amount of portable mass and energy storage and generation.
You use an onboard 'build' capability to start production of power plants,
factories, mass extractors and so on and so forth, gradually amassing and
army to take over the world.
Now, what if that went 'live action', a bit more MMO style?
I'm thinking mobile phone, GPS, 'google maps' for route finding, and
something like wikipedia or wikimapia to control locations of stuff.
So you, as the commander, could be physically present outside e.g. Coventry
Cathedral, and 'build' some defenses, and capture it as a resource point.
And someone else coming along would be able to assault your defenses, but
might need to 'summon up' some tanks from their factory, or aircraft or
something, in order to do so.
Aircraft can, of course, fly direct and quite quickly, where tanks might have
to use some kind of route finder (google?) to get there, eventually.
I think we're getting there - I think this is right on the edge of being feasible. What do you think?
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OK, so today's experiment was Masala Tofu with fried rice. I even have pics, but am not that great at making them work, especially in bad light. So bear with me, and if they're too horrible for your eyes, ignore the pictures entirely. For masala tofu you'll need yoghurt (natural, set) (a 500ml pot), garam masala spice, coriander, ginger, 2 onions, a bunch of spring onions, some chilli, some tofu. And for the rice, an assortment of vegetables, some basmati rice, and some egg. So, first step requires a bit of prep to marinade the tofu - ideally overnight in the fridge. Chopped up some ingredients for the masala yoghurt - in this case half a red onion, half a green onion, 2 spring onions, half a chilli. Shallow fried that in some rapeseed oil.  Then mixed that in, along with some ginger (a stump, grated) with the yoghurt in a mixing dish.  Take a lump of tofu, and cube it - cubes work, but they could do with being fairly small cubes - just about big enough to hold together, but with as much surface area as possible for the sauce to stick to. About the size of a fingertip I reckon. For anyone who's not seen/used tofu before, it looks a bit like:  Mix in with the masala yoghurt gets you something like:  Leave that in the fridge overnight. And whilst you're at it, boil up some rice and leave it to cool - drain it off so it's not starchy, and it won't stick as much. Next day, you come back to it - actually, you could probably do this same day, but I figure you need at least some time to dunk the tofu in the 'marinade'. And the rice should apparently ideally be 'cool'. Anyway, with two frying pans on the go at once (which was fun I must say) you need to dump the yoghurty tofu into the pan, and fry it until it's 'dry'. The yoghurt mix will solidify and dry out, and coat the tofu as it does. From:  To:  To do the rice, you need to start off by again, lightly frying the vegetables that are going in it. I used pepper, peas, chopped onion (red/green/spring) the other half a chilli. I was going to do some beansprouts and maybe some carrot too, but misjudged the available space.  Whilst that's starting, crack some eggs into a jug, pick out the stringy bits, and then beat them with a fork, until you have an even consistency of 'yellow goo'. Leave that to fry until it starts to soften, but not until it's mush. Then pour in some rice - I used a '4 spoons from the pan' approach, to get about the right amount - and stir the rice in with the vegetables. After about 3-5 minutes, and the rice starting to brown, add in the egg - I used 3 eggs, but that was probably a little too much for the quantity of rice - well, it made it more eggy that I'd imagined, but ... I didn't mind that overly.  Anyway, when deploying the egg, try pouring it 'apart' from the rice/vegetables, so it gets a chance to cook a bit first - depends what consistency of egg lump you want, but if you 'pre cook' and break it up, you get lumps, where if you stir it in direct you get ... well, more of a rice/omelet cross. Anyway, it ends up looking a bit like:  I quite liked it, because I got to cook the vegetables lightly so they kept some flavour and texture to them. The original plan was to feed this all to a guest, but illness meant that didn't work out. Which was a little disappointing, but hey, at least I have some spare rice to have another try tomorrow.
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OK, so the first pass was a yoghurt, with some chopped stuff in it, and some garam masala powder. Where stuff is some chilli, spring onion and some coriander. Haven't had a go at rice, because I've run out of time. But anyway, yoghurt was poured over sliced tofu, and left to marinade for a an hour or so. then it was all dumped in a frying pan, with a measure of oil, and left to sizzle away until the gooey yogurty ness stopped being gooey and started being more like a batter like coating on the tofu. I'm broadly quite pleased with how it's turned out. Could probably use a bit more ginger, and maybe a bit less chilli - it's 'warm' by my standards, so a bit too strong for some tastes. A pack of tofu was used, and that's actually a useful amount. I'm just eating this, but I think it'd serve 2-4 with accompaniments. Oh, and the yoghurt - I used basically all of a pot of greek style natural yoghurt. It was a bit on the thick side, and wasn't what I'd intended to buy, but I think it actually worked - the recipe also recommended draining off the 'marinade' before cooking it, but I quickly noticed that draining the tofu actually ended up leaving it looking rather white and ... tofu looking - the sauce didn't adhere very well. So I ended up actually frying up the whole lot in the pan, until the sauce had reduced down. Oh, and also I should cube rather than slice the tofu - slices worked well to pick up the flavour, but were too thin really, and fell apart a bit. Slightly thicker cubes would have done better I think. Still not sure if a thinner yoghurt would have worked better though. Tags: cookery
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OK, so I'm thinking about more cooking experiments. I'm aiming for somewhere shy of actually killing the person I'm cooking for, and I'll count that as a victory. But y'know, a bonus if they're actually enjoying it. I'm thinking that I'd try an adapt a masala fish recipe, to do 'masala spice tofu', with a fried rice of some kind. Pilfering from: http://www.grouprecipes.com/35472/masala-fish.html or something similar, to mix up a 'masala sauce' to marinade some tofu in, then pan fry it. And then use something like: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/ricefried/r/basicfriedrice.htmMaybe adapting to include some other vegetables. Peas, Carrot, pepper, maybe some red onion. There seems to be a bit of debate as to which bit you cook first though: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/eggfriedrice_67782.shtmlE.g. do you fry the egg and stir in the rice, or fry the rice and stir in the egg. I suspect I'll go with the latter, as I think that'll make the egg more subtle. Anyway, was wondering if anyone had experience of doing something like this, and had any useful suggestions? (This one, unfortunately, violates my 'simple cooking' rule of - 'can be prepared in an hour or less' since you need to prepare/marinade beforehand.) Specifically, can you just 'lightly fry' tofu for ~10 minutes and have it cook, or are you better off cooking it before hand? Fish cooks quick, and that's what I'm trying to adapt. Edit: And actually this looks rather promising: http://www.bookofyum.com/blog/gluten-free-menu-swap-garam-masala-indian-tofu-scramble-recipe-3905.htmlTags: cookery
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Whilst at Whitby, I had an occasion to try and put together a 'dish' rather than a more conventional 'some stuff cooked together'. On this occasion, it was a risotto. Went something like (and please bear in mind that this is 'from memory' so treat accordingly). Serves two but probably four if you just want a 'side portion': most of a bag of risotto rice (around 400g I think) Half a red pepper half an orange pepper Half an onion A nice fat carrot. A chunk of mild-ish cheddar. (Depends on taste and strength of cheese. Assume about the amount you might put in a sandwich. I happen to like cheese quite a lot. I think the actual recipe I was actually using for guidelines suggested a fairly hard cheese, Parmesan style. ) A chunk of mild-ish goats cheese. 2 vegetable stock cubes dissolved in about a pint of hot water. Some cashew nuts (couple of handfuls) Enough oil to lightly cover the base of the pan. And some wine (white, a Chablis). I say 'some wine' because some was used in cooking, and the rest was used in drinking. Chop peppers, onion, carrot, mushroom quite fine (matter of taste, but I get along much better with mushroom if I can't identify it's existence) small ish cubes, but it doesn't matter too much. You can probably include meat if you're so inclined - you'll need to chop that too into fairly small pieces (bear in mind this is going to be a somewhat sticky rice dish) Heat the oil (you can tell it's hot, it starts to smoke) Fry the vegetables (if you're doing meat, do that first, as it's important to cook that through properly) in the oil. (Careful though, if your oil is to hot it'll sizzle, as the vegetables contain quite a bit of water) lightly - enough the the onion starts to go transparent. Stir in the rice, and get it nicely mixed in with the oil and vegetables, and let that sizzle a bit - about 3-5 minutes. Then stir in the vegetable stock (if feeding meat eaters, you can use a meat stock should you wish, but I think this actually worked out better). It'll be juicy and wet, but adjust the temperature so it simmers, rather than boils. You want the water to 'reduce down' to leave you with something that's moist but not runny. And leave it for a bit - probably about 15-20 minutes, or until it seems to be getting a bit dry. Pour in a slosh of wine (yes, that's the technical term. All in I think I used about a pint, in about 3 doses) and stir it in. Check and stir every few minutes, and add more wine as you feel the need. (e.g. when it goes dryish - you can tell by the sound it makes when it's cooking). And carry on until it's about 40-45 minutes total cooking time. When you're nearly ready to dish up, stir in the cheese and the cashews, and leave them on the heat just long enough to stir them in. Then serve, along with a glass of that white wine you were using to cook with... Could pretty easily use different vegetables, were you so inclined. Or possibly meat - well chopped beef or bacon, perhaps some prawn might work well. I'm currently thinking of two upcoming experiments - first is in the form of goats cheese and onion 'something' I'm thinking a savory tart of some kind. Second in the nearer future is 'something' with tofu. Thinking seasoned/pan-fried tofu, served with a fried rice of some kind. Tags: cookery
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OK, so in the news today, we have protesters outside BBC HQ, where question time is being recorded.
They're protesting about the BNP, and how they object to Nick Griffin 'getting a spot' because it legitimizes him.
Here's the thing though. Isn't the point of democracy, that you listen to everyone's viewpoint, and the cast a vote? I mean, you don't get to veto political representation just because you don't like what someone has to say - that way likes badness.
Like or not, the BNP has council seats and MEP seats. If you don't like that, the correct response is to vote for someone else. To _stand_ yourself. And if what the country really, honestly wants, is the BNP to take power... then that's just democracy at work. Your opinion is a minority in that situation.
By all means object to what they stand for - I mostly think I do, although I haven't actually read much of their manifesto or anything. But don't try and deny their legitimacy - they _are_ a legitimate political party. There's no two ways about it - if there were a general election next week, BNP members could and probably would be standing. That gives them as much right to be on Question time as ... any of the other minority parties.
The solution? If you don't want the BNP to manage that? Wake the hell up - voter turnout the last elections has been atrocious. It's much easier to get elected as a minority party if everyone else can't be bothered to take part in the political system...
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So, tonight I cooked something in that kitchen for the first time ... well, in quite some time. Unless you count toasties as 'cooking', which is a bit of a stretch. Vegetarian sausage and mash: A handful of desiree potatos, some butter, some cream. A bit of cheese. And some chopped up slices of veggie bacon. Sausages were some cumberland, and also some cheese and tomato. Was topped off with some sauce stuff that came in a packet, for sausage casserole. (But not the other sausage casserole sauce, which whilst it looked nice, also included worcestershire sauce, which is not vegetarian). Veggie bacon is bacon flavour soy protein stuff. It's ok, but ... wasn't overly enthused - mostly because unlike 'real' bacon, it didn't have any juice to flavour mashed potato with. So anyway. It's like fake bacon, therefore I figure I'll refer to it henceforth as 'facon'. Anyway, the cheese ... don't think I used enough. Or maybe I just shouldn't have bothered, and gone with garlic or chives or something. Sausage wise... I have to say I find the 'not even trying to pretend to be meat' sausages more satisfactory - maybe it's just my perspective is odd, but ... I found the cheese and tomato sausages to be 'better' than the 'almost cumberland sausages, but vegetarian'. Anyway, figure it mostly worked. Sausages were a bit overcooked (protip - meat sausages are much juicier, and much more important to 'cook through'. Vegetarian sausages are pretty much cooked already.). And finished it off with a sainsburies new york vanilla cheesecake, which was just too sweet. I have to say, you can do a decent dish that's vegetarian, it's just ... almost no where seems to bother. Speaking for myself, I find a dish that's made with meat as a central concept just doesn't work as well if you take the meat out and put in a vegetarian replacement. But I don't actually have a huge problem with stuff that ... well, does it from the ground up as it were. If you've ever been to Habibi you'll know what I mean, as there it's quite possible to eat a full meal of vegetarian dishes, and you won't even realise. Pretty much everywhere else seems to have started from 'well, I suppose we'd better cobble something together that's vaguely edible'. I've got a vague notion of a goats cheese and caramelized onion tart that I figure would work, but might need a bit of practice - with onion you need to be fairly careful that it doesn't end up too sweet. And already did a risotto sort of thing, which... took the basic recipe, swapped the beef stock for vegetable stock, and used stuff like peppers and onions as the primary flavour focus. Am also thinking about stir fry type stuff, perhaps with some decent tofu - as far as I can tell, tofu is one of these substances that is shockingly bland, which means it takes flavours quite well, if you bother to flavour it, and otherwise it's just some bland in your food. Which again, just seems a bit of a waste of time. Tags: cookery
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Ok, so I've kind a been pondering a bit recently, what my 'ideal' job would be.
Unfortunately, most of my list at the moment is a negative one. Not so great really.
Anyway, on the off chance of that someone can think of something my ideal job would be:
Something that involved problem solving - probably in an IT sense, as that's where my technical expertise lies.
Has some kind of 'solution development' too - I rather like taking a problem, figuring out the quick, the cheap and the good way of dealing with it, and approximately costing it up.
I also like 'R&D' type stuff, that involves taking a new tech, and figuring out if/how we can make use of it.
Something that's vaguely flexible about when I do this. (I'm really good on my 'good' days, and a bit crap - in a 'not very productive' sense on my 'bad' days)
And ideally:
Not requiring being on call (Getting phoned up in an emergency I mind less than 'having to remain in a place and state that I can respond to an emergency' if you appreciate the distinction)
Doesn't have repetitive boring, but not quite boring enough to pass off tasks. (Restoring backups for example)
Doesn't require oodles of traveling around the country on my own time. (I don't mind being paid to drive to London and back, I do mind having to get to London for 9am work a full day, and then get back again under my own steam)
So, anyone know what this dream job of mine is called? :)
And on an unrelated note, went back to the doctor regarding a checkup for water and stuff. Am mostly not having any problems, and managed to shock them with the amount of weight I've lost. Since January I've gone from 133kg to 116kg. (With clothes on, but I figure that's the same error margin both times). 17kg, or for the imperially inclined 37.4 lb or 2.7 stones. (I trust their scales more than I trust mine)
I'm actually fairly pleased with that. I've still got a way to go before I reach my objective, but progress is nice. (And hey, you don't lose that kind of weight overnight without an amputation). Even if my week has otherwise been a bit 'bleugh' in a 'nothing really got done' sort of sense, and I'm still extremely weary today.
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So, the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is due for release on compassionate grounds - he's dying of cancer. So he's due to be sent home to Libya, rather than serve out the rest of his life in prison.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8211003.stm This, has caused some anger and outrage - the White House has been calling Scotland to protest, and families of those that died in the Lockerbie bombing are similarly upset. "Mr MacAskill has been under intense pressure from the US government to keep Megrahi behind bars, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying his release would be "absolutely wrong". " Now here's the problem - I think all the people who are getting upset are all missing the important of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a wonderful thing, but contrary to popular belief, it's not for the sake of the person being forgiven. It's for the person doing the forgiving. Hate, anger, spite - these are all poisonous emotions. They colour our thoughts, distort our world view, and ... make our lives miserable, because they can never be truely satiated. Forgiveness is important, because it's the act of letting go of those emotions. Putting them aside, and letting yourself be free to live, love, laugh and be happy. It can be very hard to forgive someone - fully and honestly, knowing that someone has wronged you SO MUCH. But that's what makes it all the more important. Because you're carrying with you a poisonous burden, that'll be with you until you let it go. This release is really nothing to do with the prisoner - I'm sure he's pleased to be able to go home and spend his final days with loved ones - but ... it's much more to do with us. It's not his compassion, it's ours. What higher compassion is there to forgive someone who has hurt you? And what better way of letting go that burden of poisonous hate? Prison serves three purposes - to remove a threat to society, to rehabilitate and to punish. None of those are relevant to a man dying of cancer. So I say just let him go. Even in the knowledge that his sentence was to live out his life in a scottish prison. Even knowing he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people - loved ones and family members alike. Even if that had included some of my loved ones. I'd still say, that we are better for forgiving him, than maintaining our hate until the day he dies. As difficult as that is to do, and as much as that might hurt. (His case was due to be contested at appeal, and there was evidence to be presented to support his innocence. This appeal has been deferred - and more likely cancelled - because he's dying.)
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I'm feeling oddly weary and grumpy today. I mention this, as ... 6 months ago, that wouldn't be out of the ordinary, and today it is. It's that 'everything is hard' feeling, where even moving is ... too much effort, and I just don't feel like interacting with anyone. Generally just exhausted.
The reason it's out of the ordinary now though, is ... in hindsight, the last few months have been absolutely superb and wonderful. That's primarily down to one person, and their impact on my life.
Anyway, I've figured out why I think. Somehow yesterday I managed to not eat properly, and ended up on a net calorie deficit of 1500 calories. Which is ... quite a lot really. Well, Fitbug is doing me wonders still - I'm still somewhat amused by the fact that it's got me eating 2800 calories a day, which is 300 above the 'average male daily metabolic rate'. Reason being, that an hour a day at the gym, and an hour walking at lunchtime adds up.
But it's becoming clear quite what was going wrong the last few times I tried to lose weight - I upped my workload, dropped my calories and essentially ended up absolutely knackered, because I was on too much of a calorific shortfall. Biology thing - under eat by more than about 500kcal per day, and your body starts to cut back on what it's doing, and reducing available energy, so you have enough to keep living, and be able to run away from lions in an emergency. Net result is that you're weary, tired, but burning way less calories as a result and so despite being hungry all the time, you're not actually losing any weight, and making yourself unwell at the same time.
So it goes. I get to eat a bit more than 'average' this way (which still seems a bit of a bizarre way to lose weight) and get fitter at the same time. Rowing speeds are gradually improving - currently am on about 2m 12s/500m, on a sustained 40-60m row. Can 'sprint' for about 5 minutes at 1m40/500m. Which ... is getting better. Aiming for a sustained 2m/500m, and a sprint of 1m30/500, so I'm getting there. I'm also noticing my heart rate post exercise is dropping much faster than once upon a time, which is another sign of improving fitness. Not quite ready to run a marathon yet, but y'know, maybe...
Thankfully this time around, it's proving easier to persevere with the gym-going for an hour a day. That's for mostly the same reason I've been generally happy for the last few months.
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There's an idea I'm trying to get a handle on, and put into words.
I'm note quite sure how, as we don't really have the language to describe it.
But bear with me.
We're used to thinking of past, present and future.
As we go through life, we're ... a bit like a candle burning down - consuming our future one second at a time, until there is none left, barring a few fragments of wax scattered around the table.
What is past is over. Lost. When you die, that's the end.
But what if you were to look at it the other way around - not that time is 'gone' but that each moment of our lives is forever. 'now' ... isn't our march into the future, it's just one more moment in our lives to ... make of what we will. We're used to stringing together those 'nows' and putting them in to a sequence, but .. sequencing something doesn't end it - every now is a fragment of forever. A little bit of space and time - no more, no less.
There's nothing to regret, because nothing is ever over. Just focus on that moment and learn as much as you can from it, and let it enrich you.
I'm not sure quite where I'm going with this, beyond trying to put forward the notion that life isn't so much like a candle burning down, as a painting of who you are - you're exploring it, and appreciating it, and if you're lucky maybe others will see it, appreciate it, learn from it too. But it hasn't really a beginning, nor an end. It just is.
Does that make sense?
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Er. I think I made a post here, but as I can't remember, here it is again. Mad Hatters swing dance will be re-starting 'absolute beginner' classes, on September the 9th. Venue is Trent Valley House WMC, Bedworth 20:00 (lessons usually start a little later). Entry is a fiver, there's usually a raffle for some stuff, and a bar which is quite cheap. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=226972245590No partner necessary, clothing is in varying degree from smart casual to smart to period. (You won't look out of place in jeans and a T-shirt, but some prefer to 'suit up'). Neither is experience - no experience is expected no presumed. There's also a 'not so beginners' class later in the evening, and usually some dance floor time to practice what you've just learned. And some times opportunities to try other stuff. All very relaxed and friendly though - the 'regulars' I've found are very supportive of helping people learn, and will quite happily (provided they know) help out with getting something right/better/fancier. Can probably offer lifts from Coventry, at least for the first couple (can't necessarily do so in an ongoing fashion though, as my working pattern sometimes makes it difficult to get in, get changed, get out and get there)
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Tomorrow I will mostly: Get up when I stop being asleep. ((Get breakfast depending on time)) ((Maybe go to gym)) Pack car Fetch people in Tile Hill + whatever of their stuff. Go to Newlands for a 'last meal' (as in, not cooked at a campsite) ((Go to Go Outdoors)) Go to Maelstrom Unload stuff/people Go shopping. Open beer and socialize with all the lovely people who are there early and feel like doing so. Doubly so for the people I might not get to interact with during time in. (And probably miss ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) broom_stick)
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Following on from a previous post about the nature of God being an unprovable one, I've sort of remembered where I was going with it. If you accept that by definition you cannot prove or disprove the existence of God, then the next questions is "How much does that matter?" I mean, if we accept the notion that you cannot prove the existence (or lack) of God, because that's part of the definition (Even the rather famous Dawkins 'side of bus' includes the word 'probably') - then... surely all the things in the name of God as similarly built on the same foundation - a notion that you cannot ever entirely prove or disprove, and have to take as faith. So when you have assorted holy books - lets take the Ten Commandments - are the Ten Commandments increased or decreased in value, if God does or doesn't exist? I mean, is it the 'Because God Says So' that makes those useful rules to live by? What about some of the more esoteric doctrines that have been incorporated into religion? Contentious ones perhaps being rejection of pork for health reasons, or condemnation of homosexuality. I'm afraid I'm not well enough read to be able to argue the strength of these assertions, so I'll just dig up Leviticus 18:22 "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." (King James version) I'm not going to argue it overly, but I hope you can see where I'm coming from? Mostly that the rules laid out in various religious books can and should stand or fall by their own merits - in many ways treating them as literally 'the word of God' is ... actually worse than being agnostic about the possiblity, because it leads to the danger that you're being mislead. I mean - there was no chapter 'Jesus' in the Bible, and everything written about him was from different perspectives, and incorporating different human biases. So... well, I guess my question is this - if you assume that the question of 'Is there a God' is fundamentally impossible to prove, how can you use that notion as a basis for a set of doctrines and dogmas that we call a 'religion'? I mean, surely you have to treat holy books the same as all the rest - read them, apply your critical faculties, and pick and choose the wisdom that seems to fit best. The fact that it was Bill and Ted that said "Be excellent to each other" doesn't really devalue it. So... basically I'd put it to you that it doesn't actually matter what your feelings about the question of 'Does God Exist?' question is - regardless of what you believe about it, you can't then use that as a foundation to build a teetering edifice, without... essentially disregarding it in the first place, and starting over anyway - there's wisdom in the Bible, sure enough. Same too the other holy books of other faiths, and ... hell, there's wisdom in Pirates of the Carribean, Bill and Ted's Excellent adventure, and Dune. And none of it can be directly ascribed to God, any more than were I to make the assertion now - don't trust a book, just because it's old. Test every edict in there for rationality and sanity, and see if you don't end up in the same place - believers and disbelievers alike.
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Dried nettles
Having been under tarp for a week, the nettles are dry -ish. I say 'ish' because it's been raining and thus somewhat muggy. |
So the nettles are now vaguely dry. I say vaguely, as they've been under a tarp, but it's been raining. However they are, at least, not particularly stingy any more. Their hairs a little irritating still, so gloves remain a good idea. This batch have had roots snipped, and leaves stripped (Picture to follow) by running the stalk through a closed fist. They've then been put in the "retting tank" which the observant amongst you will realise is commonly known as a 'tidy box'.  I'll have to drain/refill the 'tank' in a few hours, because then it'll be 'clean' water I'm retting in. Unfortunately due to the size of it, I've had to bend the stalks. Hopefully this hasn't broken the fibers inside, but it may have. We'll see I guess. This batch remains 'experimental' so if that has happened, a Wilkinsons £10 water butt will be used for the next attempt. Oh, and note to self. Bucket or hosepipe makes filling tidyboxes with water _much_ easier. Tags: nettlecloth
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Sometimes there are theological discussions down the pub.
Provoked by that we sometimes come to the question:
Does lack of proof, imply proof of lack.
Sometimes the discussion will stray onto whether you can prove unicorns don't exist.
That always seemed somehow unsatisfactory, and I think I've managed to piece together why.
The problem is with the definition of God. Put simply, if you could prove, definitively that God did or did not exist, then it wouldn't be God.
It's like asking if you can see something invisible - the answer is clearly 'no' because if you could, it wouldn't be invisible.
So you end up with a circular argument of belief - both on the parts of the theists, and the atheists alike, as they make their assertion about something that is by it's very nature impossible to prove - if you could prove, one way or another, that God exists, then you'd be the God.
But that leads on to an interesting train of thought - if you cannot prove it one way or another, it's a matter of faith. But ... it's largely an irrelevant question - debate all you like, but the point is none the less moot.
But from there... well, what then? If you can't prove it, then you have to accept someone elses assertion. Someone who ... we have no way of knowing whether they're telling the truth or not - all the tales in holy books are from people reporting their account of what happened. Why is that intrinsically more credible than any other written source?
To accept the assertion that 'There is a God' is one thing. You choose to, or not. Problem is in what daisy-chains off that assertion - I mean if you accept the notion that there _is_ a God, then you also accept the definition - which is that God is powerful enough that he could completely deceive you, if he so chose. I mean, that's why it's impossible to prove (true or false) in the first place, right?
That's where I start to get to a point of picking at the question - given that, how do we connect the spiritual teachings of a religion, to it's source? I mean, there's been all sorts of well meaning spiritual people over time. Some of them have even had some really neat and/or radical ideas about how people could live together. I don't see how it follows that that's any more the will of God than the idea I had the other day, of 'going down the Pub' - because without the possibility of proof, we lack the ability to differentiate the ideas that someone had - I can make an assertion, and say 'because God Said So', but why would you believe me, any more than ... well, the Pope say? Barring the education that the Pope has had, perhaps? I'd assume he's better read in scriptures than I am. But I bet I've read more Sci-Fi than he has.
Whatever. I'm not quite sure where this train of thought was going any more. Perhaps I'll complete it once I finish my musings.
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Well, it still seems to be working - this working out thing. The scales ticks gradually lower each day (on average :/)
Getting gradually better on the nutrition balance, although my food intake does seem to end up a bit odd (quite a lot of fruit, some nuts, and a sandwich in the evening sort of way).
Don't end up feeling hungry though, so that's good.
Been going to the Gym mornings this week - getting up in the mornings gets easier I've found, and I'm now at a point where I managed (just) to row 9km in 40 minutes this morning. Which I'm quite pleased with. Even if that did mean my heart rate was a bit above the 70-80% max heart rate range that I've been trying to sustain. (11m at 90%+ MHR, which is ... erm. I'm not sure that's good or bad actually. It's quite a lot though)
And been going for a walk at lunchtime, and so have managed to be well above my 'daily steps' targets for the last few days.
Well, anyway. I'm generally noticing energy levels being better (getting to the gym basically every work day for the last month is something of a minor miracle) and I'm sleeping better. I think I'm also snoring less. (which would presumably be why).
All to the good. But never the less, despite all the scales information, the one thing that keeps the enthusiasm going is people noticing. And they have been, which is good. I'm coming up on the point where my rate of weight loss is starting to plateau I think, which is going to be the next challenge.
But we'll see if the enthusiasm persists.
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