On Sunday we are going to see Tim Minchin who is here for the Auckland Festival 09. We managed to get the last couple of seats available for the night but I understand there may still be some left for Saturday.
[update] And very good it was too!
Let me know when 3 News gets rid of their intensely annoying and distracting touch-screen graphic system and I’ll switch back again. There’s just no need for it.
Here’s an excellent review of that over-read sack of cack, The Secret that I found on Amazon by user Ari Brouillette.
Please allow me to share with you how “The Secret” changed my life and in a very real and substantive way allowed me to overcome a severe crisis in my personal life. It is well known that the premise of “The Secret” is the science of attracting the things in life that you desire and need and in removing from your life those things that you don’t want. Before finding this book, I knew nothing of these principles, the process of positive visualization, and had actually engaged in reckless behaviors to the point of endangering my own life and wellbeing.
At age 36, I found myself in a medium security prison serving 3-5 years for destruction of government property and public intoxication. This was stiff punishment for drunkenly defecating in a mailbox but as the judge pointed out, this was my third conviction for the exact same crime. I obviously had an alcohol problem and a deep and intense disrespect for the postal system, but even more importantly I was ignoring the very fabric of our metaphysical reality and inviting destructive influences into my life.
My fourth day in prison was the first day that I was allowed in general population and while in the recreation yard I was approached by a prisoner named Marcus who calmly informed me that as a new prisoner I had been purchased by him for three packs of Winston cigarettes and 8 ounces of Pruno (prison wine). Marcus elaborated further that I could expect to be [...] raped by him on a daily basis and that I had pretty eyes.
Needless to say, I was deeply shocked that my life had sunk to this level. Although I’ve never been homophobic I was discovering that I was very rape phobic and dismayed by my overall personal street value of roughly $15. I returned to my cell and sat very quietly, searching myself for answers on how I could improve my life and distance myself from harmful outside influences. At that point, in what I consider to be a miraculous moment, my cell mate Jim Norton informed me that he knew about the Marcus situation and that he had something that could solve my problems. He handed me a copy of “The Secret”. Normally I wouldn’t have turned to a self help book to resolve such a severe and immediate threat but I literally didn’t have any other available alternatives. I immediately opened the book and began to read.
The first few chapters deal with the essence of something called the “Law of Attraction” in which a primal universal force is available to us and can be harnessed for the betterment of our lives. The theoretical nature of the first few chapters wasn’t exactly putting me at peace. In fact, I had never meditated and had great difficulty with closing out the chaotic noises of the prison and visualizing the positive changes that I so dearly needed. It was when I reached Chapter 6 “The Secret to Relationships” that I realized how this book could help me distance myself from Marcus and his negative intentions. Starting with chapter six there was a cavity carved into the book and in that cavity was a prison shiv. This particular shiv was a toothbrush with a handle that had been repeatedly melted and ground into a razor sharp point.
The next day in the exercise yard I carried “The Secret” with me and when Marcus approached me I opened the book and stabbed him in the neck. The next eight weeks in solitary confinement provided ample time to practice positive visualization and the 16 hours per day of absolute darkness actually made visualization about the only thing that I actually could do. I’m not sure that everybody’s life will be changed in such a dramatic way by this book but I’m very thankful to have found it and will continue to recommend it heartily.
Two of my favourite people talking on some of my favourite topics. This is unaired footage from Dawkins’ The Enemies of Reason series.
Teller, the silent half of Penn & Teller, has created a couple of short films. They’re wonderfully wistful and about zombies taking over Las Vegas (double-meaning, anyone?).
A few months ago I did a bit of a write-up about Vitamin C and for some reason it must be popular with Google because I’ve had an insane amount of search engine hits this month on the topic. Here are the search phrases my analytics software detected were recently used by people who ended up on the site:
what happens if we don’t get enough vitamin c
why do we need vitamin c
why do we need vitamin c?
can chimps produce vitamin c
does too much vitamin c make your nose turn orange?
three reasons we need vitamin c
too much vitamin c lunch
vitamin c in sea water
what did sailors get when they didn’t have fruits and vegetables
what happen if we didn’t have vitamin c
what happen if we do not go enough of vitamin c
what happen if you have to must vitamin c
what happens if we don’t have enough vitamin c
what happens if we dont have vitamin c?
what happens if we get to much vitamin c in our body?
what happens when we don’t get vitamin c
what things have vitamin c
what will happen if we don’t have enough vitamin c
what would happen if we didn’t have enough vitamin c
what would happen if we didn’t have vitamin c
what would happen if you didn’t eat vitamin c
what would happen if you didn’t have enough vitamin c
when do we get scurvy?
when you don’t have enough vitamin a and c
which common fruit has the most vitamin c
why can sailors go to the shop to get fruit and veg so they don,t get scurvy
why can’t we make our own vitamin c
why do we have vitamins
why do we need vitamin c and where do we get it from
why do we need vitamin c in our bodies?
why do we need vitamon c
why we need vitamin c
Hey kids, don’t trust everything you read on the Internet! I’m just a web developer. If you want dietary advice or are worried about your nose turning orange please go see a doctor.
Dwan Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore throughout the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.
He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete the contact when he threw it. The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe — ninety-six billion planets — into the supercircuit that would connect them all into one supercalculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.
Dwar Reyn spoke briefly to the watching and listening trillions. Then after a moment’s silence he said, “Now, Dwar Ev.”
Dwar Ev threw the switch. There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.
Dwar Ev stepped back and drew a deep breath. “The honor of asking the first question is yours, Dwar Reyn.”
“Thank you,” said Dwar Reyn. “It shall be a question which no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer.”
He turned to face the machine. “Is there a God?”
The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of a single relay.
“Yes, now there is a God.”
Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.
A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut.
In 1973 the BBC released a TV documentary series in 13 episodes by mathematician Jacob Bronowski called The Ascent Of Man. 35 years later I purchased it as a DVD box set on the recommendation of a fellow science documentary aficionado.
It’s extremely good! And I’m not just saying that in the context of the era in which it was produced. Sure, some of the music grates on the nerves and some of the graphics don’t compare to what we are capable of these days but overall it’s got a depth that is often missing from the kind of documentaries found on the Discovery Channel. Actually, I take back my comment about the music; it features music from Meddle – my second-favourite Pink Floyd album – which, for me, redeems a multitude of musical sins.
Bronowski is thoughtful, poetic and very deliberate in every sentence. He gives you the feeling that he is treating you, the viewer, as an equal throughout and he conveys a sense of awe that is impossible to resist.
Most moving for me was a scene where Bronowski is visiting a Nazi concentration camp where many of his relatives were murdered. According to the interview with Attenborough in the bonus material the entire scene was spontaneous and filmed in a single take:
Bronowski died a year later of a heart attack at the age of 66.
