Bits of life

http://www.russiatoday.com/About_Us/Blogs/orbital-log/

from the Guardian newspaper

Here's a passage from Book One, Chapter 5: "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away.

"A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself - anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face ... was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime ..."

Now here's a passage from the terms of service of the Amazon Kindle, the best-selling wireless eBook reader sold by Amazon.com in the US:

"The device software will provide Amazon with data about your device and its interaction with the service ... and information related to the content on your device and your use of it (such as automatic bookmarking of the last page read and content deletions from the device). Annotations, bookmarks, notes, highlights, or similar markings you make in your device are backed up through the service."

Source: The Original Big Brother is Watching you on Amazon Kindle

Well Paddy's day has been here and gone. And here is Patrick on Paddy's morning - with his viking Irish head attire.

I was in the city centre to today and passed American's still with painted shamrock's on their faces. It is nice to see them still enjoying themselves and being so unselfconscious (a great virtue of the Amrericans) - but feel like I have seen someone with their fly still open after they have left the toilets - I think somebody really should tell them.

But then so much of our culture is defined by the American's anyway, if they want to be still celebrating it two days later good for them. But I also feel as if Patrick's day has been taken away, slickly packaged and sold back to us. And we of course sell the package back to the tourists.

Hallow e'en is much the same. About 10 years ago in the matter to two to three Hallow e'en's the celebration changed. Front gardens are populated with American style decorations and every home now has its pumpkin(pumpkin's in Ireland?). Many of the kid's now thnk it is an American holiday and forget that their grand and great grand and great great grand parents tricked and treated. they simply do not believe it.

Ah well!

I mentioned this flower in one of my infrequent earlier posts.

I saw its colour in the middle of the decay of winter. I asked some one I know, a botanist, about it - was it the last flower of last year or the first of the coming year? She said it was a moot point. Earlier that day, while on a field outing, she had been discussing this with one of Ireland's most experienced field botanists in relation to another flower that they had come across. They had decided that there was no definite answer.

In the middle of life we cannot see how the jigsaw fits together and we are unsure whether we are experiencing the end or the beginning. More likely we are experiencing both at the same time, that all beginnings are endings and the opportunities presented by each new stage of life involves us in being ready to accept loss and grief until finally we are presented with the opportunities which we cannot avoid which are presented to us by death.

What a load of crap! These days I do not have anything to write about here so it is nice to bullshit about something.

This photo was taken on New Year's Eve 2007 (do not mind the EXIF data from my camera, it is stuck somewhere back in 2005, the photo really was taken on 31 Dec 2007).

The few bits of greenery that cling on through the winter seem to highlight the death that winter brings.

But it is bizarre to see anything clinging on like this. We even had fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden for Christmas day lunch. Half the tomato vines were rotting and the others bearing delicious fruit.