The hypothetical person

A hypothetical... a reasonable person. Someone that would perform only the rational in any given situation, kind of like a test dummy, FYI is the examination in common law for negligence: a duty of care and breach of that duty. The reasonable person if he/she did exist, flawless in all forms of thought, perfect and complete, accurate and error-less would be...One. Dull. Person.

Rationality, is the sensible action or way of thinking that would be applied in good judgment...within reason. I would say logical, but that cuts it onto a different plane. Logical is...robotic and emotionless. No conscience defining right and wrong in confinement to humane. Only the definition for success. Take a game of chess. The highly abstracted form: simple and fun of the otherwise bloody, battered and brutal reality of war. The one motive and objective is to succeed, and by all means ruthlessly cut your way to the finish. Logic is mechanical. To cherish is illogical in a game of life and death but it is rational to care. Real setting: to cherish life... Why are you battling in the first place? Your sinning! ...you lose the war, the kingdom and the crown; you may even die because your too weak to not strike the last blow to the enemy king at you feet. Game setting: what life? It's just plastic pieces. No harm at all except you may want to spare your friends' feelings because they suck! (I'm a beginner myself I suck too.)

Logic is correctness in its most basic function. Rationality adds colour to correctness.

A hypothetical scenario: a naive, innocent three year old; no knowledge of the effects of extreme heat on human flesh, places hand on burning hot stove. How did he reach the height of the stove? Climbed an ever so conveniently placed chair. Why was stove burning hot? Hypothetical parent just finished cooking and had conveniently just left the kitchen leaving hypothetical son alone, conveniently too, in kitchen. The following reaction: instantaneously withdraws hand and is washed with an overwhelming need and does cry, scream...possible momentary loss of balance...Pause. Is it rationality or instinct? What? Is it rationality or instinct that he never touches the stove again? The reaction and the sobbing and tantrum that follows is instinct from the searing of the second degree burn. It would be easy to say instinct warns him of the potential of high temperatures for life. That ingrained feeling of fear/doubt/flashing caution sign from somewhere inside. Well it can be confused with that. But doesn't rationality fit better? It is he's discretion, sensible judgment to 'never do that again'. ...It's strange to say a three year old uses discretion.

Rationality grows. It is the ability to learn from mistakes, to learn in general. All the reasoning that puts one and one together to give the outcome of two. The building blocks...Lego being put together as a child concentrates with deep expression on whatever it is that his building.

So the reasonable person...maybe he/she is not dull. But always right. How annoying! He/she is logical, sees the black and white but is also rational, sees also grey. Does not follow a manual set in stone, adapts. The same but fifteen year old hypothetical boy won't sob from the same offence for the sake of his dignity...or so I hope. What man would he grow up to be if he did?

Myths or magic, anyone?

Myths and legends...why the obsession? From the mythological creatures of dragons, griffins, giant sea serpents to the human formed like sorcerers, angels, demons, dwarfs, mermaids et cetera, et cetera. Why, I seem to have always been so drawn to such ancient tall tales myself. Rather intriguing yet repulsive at times. Ugh! with some monstrous descriptions. So the magical scene has been re-alighted in pop culture with Harry Potter...Lord of the Rings...Merlin, the movie and the more current BBC series...and more, moving into the gaming world for example World of Warcraft commonly known as WOW, Diablo I, II and coming soon III!!!...and a lot more!

So...the fanciful world, so adoring I could go on about each creature that I've ever heard about maybe for a short while. Shall I begin then?

No, actually can't be bother. Maybe some other time or maybe not at all. If magic and mythology is what floats your boat then Wikipedia is all you need! Not the ideal resource and definitely shouldn't be encouraged coming from a uni student but eh, what can you do? In my first ever semester of uni even a lecture once said,

"...strange, how you can replace your entire six years of high school education with Wikipedia."

What's there to talk about then?

...Right, the "obsession". I seem to have realised I pose too many questions in my posts and never answer them but that really is because all my rambling is solely opinion.

"Without data you're just another person with an opinion." famous statistician, W. Edwards Deming.

For all I know, I may know nothing.

So back to the "obsession." So why the myths? and why the legends? Hm... I suppose the answer is it is a way to escape. To go away to somewhere different, unbelievable, fanciful...adventurous and daring! To be someone we're not.

The devil wears Prada

Brain dead rant.

Society is so caught up in its little world. All it does is focus on the insignificant crap. Creating unnecessary junk, dressing up 'wants' into 'needs'. It has become so magnified that it will catch fire because it's so phony. The science of marketing, although retains some dignity in it's behavioral/psychological analysis in selling but its end purpose is just some fake "mumbo jumbo". The promotional campaigns are so saturated in the mind set of "Look at me! Look at me! Don't look at them! Look at me! Buy me! Buy me! Buy me!!!" It's insane to have to believe this is what the end has come to. Must we live in such a shallow, aesthetic obsessed world. The way of selling has become filled with fake sincerity, fake smiles and all. The angel faced sales assistant with the ninety watt beam is really just the gloating devil wearing his flashy Prada gear. Why all this fakeness? What happened to the honesty? The big conspicuous agenda of profits, profits and more profits cannot be disguised by any sweet, charming voice.

Life as a blur

Why is it that when one is mentally exhausted time seems to move a lot quicker? A friend tells me she saw me walking through the quad fifteen minutes earlier. I pause...and think, Was that really fifteen minutes ago? I have no clue. To me, it felt like less than that. Could it really have taken me that long to walk across the quad, through a court yard, up three flights of stairs, take a detour to the ladies room and possibly stand at the class door for two minutes before my friend tapped me on the shoulder. Was I moving that slow?

Could it be that one can be moving at a pace indifferent to the world around he/she? Well obviously that's not impossible. Let me rephrase my train of thought. Ahem, could it be that one's mind be in slow motion, distorting awareness of passing time while the world assumes normal pace? Actually that's also possible. One could be mentally thick or just slow in registering the world around them. I'm not making much sense. Could be because I'm still mentally exhausted from the long day. Yes! being tired can make the world seem so much slower, making your head feel lighter, no heavier...lighter? What ever it is.

So when one is so tired, all concentration and focus goes out the window and you find yourself zoning in and out of a conversation like a wavering magnifying glass on an object. Uncertain about what was said one should stay silent right? No, but that's exactly what my tired mind believed at the time was the correct option. Reflecting now still a bit light headed, something tells me silence probably set off a vibe of being discourteous. Could that be worse than confessing the tiredness which ultimately leads to "what your saying is not interesting enough"..."your boring me", even though that isn't the case at all. One is just brain dead, a dying battery.

The feeling of displacement and being totally out-of-it is not unpleasant, nor is it great but some how very usually intriguing. I guess it is because everything I do is so controlled. Letting go is a nice change. Tiredness makes eye lids heavy and vision a bit hazy. Everything seems blurry from a distance, insignificant, unimportant... Like being in your own little bubble world that is dreamy, hazy and carefree.

The technicalities of time

The technicalities of time...what am I on about? I'm not even sure if "technicality" is even the right word for this. Well this is probably going to be the most random post to date. What comes to mind this time round is...well, time. Just a batch of mixed, quirky thoughts relating to the element of time.

If you were a superhero...no, no, no. If you had a super power, what would the one be? Well this has got to be a stupid topic, but in the purpose of I am bored! ...As to say before, me, the indecisive, clueless robot, would not be able to make up my mind. I would be greedy or would juggle between two, no three, or maybe...four. So that was before or maybe still is, but that's not the point, the point is for me time travel/time control has always held a fond spot in my heart, right next to speed, telekinesis and flight! So time travel, the ability to bend time and space per say, just like Hiro Nakamura from Heroes. That power just sounds so appealing, the ability to go to what ever time period you want, or stop time for a break as frequently as needed. And just the sophisticated nature of this power, not ostentatious like super strength. Who wouldn't just love to have this ability?

Well, there is a down side. I wasn't going to elaborate, but... Well, if one could freeze time making the world around one's self motionless, stop growing, living for instance, then what about one's self then? Wouldn't he/she still be breathing, growing...ageing? And there we go. As a time traveler one would age just a little longer every time, time travel is used. Your moving through time but your body is still ticking to it's own biological time clock. What disastrous consequences could occur if the power were not used sensibly. Not only does one risk changing history and all subsequent future but if your lucky enough not destroy your own existence alone, you could end up horribly older in the time period that you do belong to. I guess that's the flaw to such a terrific power to possess.

Time...it's one of those things that sets humans apart from animals, I guess. A quote by someone I know, who probably heard it from somewhere else...

"Humans are the only species on this planet to be obsessed with time."

Wise words coming from a person I would prefer not to consider as wise. But, yes, I totally agree with those words. We are obsessed. Just look at the busy, bustling world we live in. All those workaholics out there! We live by time. It gives us purpose.

Time is quite fascinating, how every fraction of a second transforms from future to present to past in a flash. That sequence occurs perpetually. Something so simple, that everyday thing we trace by a clock, yet so complex in its workings, without it we don't exist. Time, the forth dimension.

Another quote by the unwise person, shall call him Mr. Unwise for pace, once uttered the line

"The yesterday's me [Mr. Unwise] is dead."

What he actually meant was that time changes everything and we change with it, constantly, continuously. So by saying the people we were yesterday or by a matter of fact a minute ago, a second ago are dead is to say we are different people as time passes. Every second our minds process more information and we change, in thought, emotions and experiences. We grow. We are therefore a different person to the person we were yesterday, though it may sound very silly, that person no longer exists and hence is dead.

That about wraps up the quirky items.

Greener grass

Indifferent to the title it may seem but, no, this is not a post about tips to make that dry, dead, lawn of yours more lush and green. Green thumbs are the last thing that I will have so any plantation should stay clear from these fingers of mine!

Photography of Thomas Parkes. Link.

The saying goes "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" which is true, perceptually. As people we can't but ponder the 'what if' question, always want what others have and never be fulfilled with what is possessed. Maybe it's a deficiency that comes with being human.

Maybe it's the inability to appreciate the short term. The idea that we never seem to appreciate someone/something until they are/it is lost and gone forever.

Or could it be that we just have a low tolerance for boredom? I don't know about you, but when I say I want something I long for it, when I have it I find joy for like...a few days, a month, a few months at most, not long after it's just as lack lustered as the next pile of junk. I suppose it's just the obsession with the new, the different, we want something vibrant and not dull...boring. It's kind of childish and it just may well be! But it is the pursuit and not the destination that piques our interest.

Then there is the green eye that manifests inside us all. We see the child next to us with the shiny new toy and our mines fill with the diabolical to...screw him over and retrieve our prize! (lol) Jealousy, such an ugly trait, yet I can live with being a hypocrite by saying that.

Oh, and yes, what if it were all so different? If it were different my lawn would be as green as that guy's in the photo. Well here's an explanation, the clouds are darker on the greener side. Either his side just gets more rain or the owner sold his soul to the devil. Whatever it may be nothing is what it appears to be at first sight. There's no point in pondering and there's no point in envying, things are what they are, change it if you think you can.

Fractured fairytale?

Taking flight from my previous post, I mentioned the well known fairytale 'Sleeping Beauty', in particular Charles Perrault's version. So what can I say, my brief reference of this fairytale sparked a flame of interest and there I was reading about many other classic ones on Wikipedia soon after (lol), realising, though they may be classics, and heard them many times, I don't know them as well as I thought I did.

We have all heard of the term 'fractured' being put in front of the word 'fairytale', giving the description 'fractured fairytale,' to contemporary interpretations/retellings/alterations etc... A popular one is Shrek the DreamWorks animation film and subsequent sequals. So with all these new retellings, how many of us actually know the originals and there underlying morals? To be fair it's hard to pin point which are the originals since like 'fractured fairytales' there were many variants of even the earliest versions, the more well known being Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.

Modern interpretations, retelling after retelling have no doubt lead to a "chinese whispers" effect, though not to a large extent but through subtle omissions, altering details and perhaps a simplifying or dilution of meaning. Cinderella, possibly the most adored fairytale of them all, with many differring orgines, from version to version, the most popular one that of Perrault's with his inclusion of the fairy-godmother and the glass slippers, but... Who remember's how many times Cinderella attended the ball? Once? Yes, once? Well it was actually twice, she got to wear two different gowns; losing her slipper on the second night. I may in my faintest of all memories recall being told that version only once in my childhood. For all I know she attended it just the once in my memory of all sequent retellings I have heard since.

Aside from the culling of these seemingly insignificant details it's probably more insightful and possibly a bit shocking that some of these other classic fairy tales whose prime audience today are young children have had more gruesome versions and moral interpretation of more sensitive matters. The meaning of fairy tales today have been dulled down and sugar coated with simplistic morals and 'happily ever afters' to protect the innocence of our minds. First editions of Grimm's fairy tales have shockingly, a pregnant Rapunzel ignorant of her condition; in Cinderella, the stepsister's gruesomely cut off parts of their feet and are blinded by pigeons; has Rumpelstiltskin tear his body into two; the stepmother in Snow White being her jealous real mother instead. Sleeping Beauty too, having variations of being a two part story predating the Grimm's, told by Perrault whose has an even earlier variant by Giambattista Basile, whose tale Sun, Moon and Talia had Talia as she is known as, giving birth to twins after being impregnated by the prince all while being asleep! Gruesome I do say, not even going into the underlying morals of the innocent Little Red Riding Hood.

So here I am to say starting this post on a platform of delight and innocence, and ending it with gratitude to the storytellers of my childhood for their sugar coating of 'happily ever afters' all the while wanting to re-coat these 'fractured' fairy tales that are all what they are to me now.