This and that.

[lederhosen]

Arising from a recent mailing list discussion...

(1) People who denigrate other people's beliefs/way of life without understanding the basis for those beliefs:

"The vegan point of veiw that all life is sacred so we should only eat vegetables is silly. I thought plants we alive too."

(2) People who base their own way of life on beliefs that happen to lead to convenient conclusions for them (e.g. "It's OK for me to eat this endangered species, because there's no higher purpose for an animal than to be eaten by another animal"), but shy away from the inconvenient consequences of those same beliefs ("If you saw a lion trying to eat somebody, would you try to rescue them?")

(3) The assumption that "It Happens In Nature" is some kind of a moral argument. (Although when used to argue sexual morals, this goes out the other side of peevedom and into the realms of amusement. Just about every 'immoral' behaviour one might care to name, and a few that one wouldn't, can be found in the animal kingdom.)



Thesis update: my third examiner has accepted. So, only four months after thesis submission, and six months after examiners should have been appointed, this necessary part of the process is under way.

Work update: Chugging away on patent stuff. Provisional app. is in, now have all the examples I need for the final patent, plus some others for claims that weren't in the provisional - talking to IP lawyer tomorrow about whether we want to broaden the claims. Cannot give details, alas, but at very least this satisfies the Looking Busy criterion. At best, who knows, I might get some money out of this, which would be gratifying.



Every so often, on my way into work, I run into a guy I slightly know from the aikido classes I used to attend a couple of years ago. Friendly enough guy, very talkative - it's rare that I get past him without getting dragged into a long conversation.

And I say 'dragged', because although he's an amiable sort... well, let me tell you what we talked about today. I'd mentioned that I'm in eye research, and he wanted to ask me some questions about whether effects on the visual cortex can influence the brain.

Because when he sleeps, people use microwaves to change the shape of his glasses. He's done some yoga exercises that are supposed to enhance memory by focusing the eyes in a particular way, and he thinks maybe these people are trying to alter his mind that way. And he wanted to know whether this could be harmful to him, or damage his eyesight, although he thinks these people are friendly. (Oh, and something in there about the monolith in 2001 enhancing the apes' brains through the visual cortex.) I didn't catch all the details - he has a strong European accent, and I'm not terribly good with accents.

One of the other aikido students had told me a couple of years back that this guy was a little peculiar that way, and I'd picked up hints of it before - nothing specific, but he has that slightly over-the-top conversational style that people sometimes get in a manic phase. I really wasn't sure how to answer him.

In the end I agreed with him that nothing people could do to his glasses was likely to harm him, and pleaded going-to-be-late-for-work, but I wonder whether I should start taking a different path from bus stop to office. As far as I can tell he's harmless, but I really don't know how to deal with the guy and this sort of conversation is... unsettling.



Meditations:

Every so often I look back on my LJ and notice that a lot of my posts are negative in nature. Peeves, angsting, that sort of thing.

Truth is, the good far outweighs the bad. Everybody has their bad days, and I tend to use LJ as one way of coping with frustrations etc, but altogether my complaints are pretty minor. When the good things happen, I'm often too busy enjoying them to post about it here.

In particular, there are some days when I stop and think about how lucky I am to have such generous, lovable, eccentric friends :-)

Comments

[drzero.livejournal.com]

I think I speak for many of us when I say that we know the feeling, good sir. ;)

[turnberryknkn.livejournal.com]

Ditto. :-)

Hey, if we weren't interested in the bad and good alike, we wouldn't be here. :-)

[scascot.livejournal.com]

...when he sleeps, people use microwaves to change the shape of his glasses...he thinks maybe these people are trying to alter his mind that way...something...about the monolith in 2001 enhancing the apes' brains through the visual cortex...

Why do I hear an old grandfather clock, chiming the hour?

"Bong!" "Cuckoo!"
"Bong!" "Cuckoo!"
"Bong!" "Cuckoo!"

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

While I wouldn't presume to call myself your friend after such a short time interval, I know the sentiment well...*smile*

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Standard reply about diary usage methods: It's your diary. Your words. Your choice. We're here to lend an open ear, if we weren't willing, we wouldn't be reading :-).

Skillful handling of the microwave guy.