moon phases

Started this before change to "New Blogger", as backup in case of trouble with digiphoto blog "In a Small Dark Room", or rants & links blog "Hello Cruel World" . Useful - at one stage Dark Room was there, but like the astrophysical Dark Matter, we could't see it ... better now, but kept Just In Case.

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There is nothing. There is no God and no universe, there is only empty space, and in it a lost and homeless and wandering and companionless and indestructible Thought. And I am that thought. And God, and the Universe, and Time, and Life, and Death, and Joy and Sorrow and Pain only a grotesque and brutal dream, evolved from the frantic imagination of that same Thought.
Mark Twain (letter to Joseph Twichell after his wife's death)
[me, on a bad day]

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(and my Wish List)

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On Certainty, Fallibility, etc.  
The problem has been noted, sadly, for some time

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. — Bertrand Russell

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
     WB Yeats, The Second Coming

It is also put clearly, passionately, and with references to its possible effects in the 'Knowledge and Certainty' episode of The Ascent of Man, by Jacob Bronowski; quoted in The Danger of Knowing for Sure, and here, as well as part of discussing 'Science', mostly under the heading "science as a candle in the dark".

There's even scientific studies of a related phenomenon. My link to this has gone dead, so here's info to track it down with.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology - December 1999 Vol. 77, No. 6, 1121-1134
Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments
Justin Kruger and David Dunning, Department of Psychology, Cornell University

Labels: bronowski, certainty, poetry

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 1:26 pm

 
Takin' a Trip  
My friends are looking out for me. They took me for a couple of days to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales — see Flickr set "Southern Highlands Visit, May 2008"

Panorama

(large image)

Labels: Australia, panoramas, people, pix, travel

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 2:31 am

 
Milky Way panorama (APOD May 3rd)  
APOD: 2008 May 3 - Alborz Mountain Milky Way: Snow-capped stratovolcano Mt. Damavand climbs to 5,670 meters (18,598 feet) near the left edge in this panoramic view above the Alborz Mountain Range bordering the Caspian Sea.

Labels: astronomy, panoramas, pix

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 2:48 pm

 
May Day plus One  
Mother's Birthday.
Anniversary at work. Went into work after doctor's appointment at lunchtime, where I felt sick and weak and had to lie down. Still didn't feel that good, but plugged on with a bit of trying to set up changed stuff following merger of company. My immediate boss had taken the day off for a long weekend, so I couldn't talk about leave & such. I guess they weren't expecting me — I said I'd try to get in, but couldn't say for sure, and had missed Special Merger Event recently with similar message — so there was no particular celebration for the anniversary.

Decided that sickness & such was probably due to lack of proper food combining badly with chemotherapy drugs, so ate food I'd planned on saving for dinner. Also bought ‘karmically correct’ chicken dinner with roast veggies from Roaming Bird near Coles in Pyrmont. Then friends invited me to their place for dinner, so although I was still shaky, ended up well-nourished and watched good Fellini film called “Intervista”.

Labels: anniversaries, memories, mourning

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 10:55 pm