(originally written in response to a post by my cousin on facebook.)
this is dedicated to my cousin - who, like me enjoys solipsistic analysis - & any others who enjoy peeling back to reveal the layers beneath ...
* my worldview is naturalistic. i arrived at it initially through curiosity, appreciation of aesthetic beauty & the fresh air on offer. since i acquired the skill, bookishness supplied & verified the evidence & answers i crave. it consistently throws up more questions which prick my curiosity further. consequently i have a reasonable understanding of the natural world, accept the physical & don't seek the meaning of life in the conventional sense or "believe" in a supernatural realm. i think humans can learn much from observing the natural world. (the jury's still out on the metaphysical; the early evidence for discoveries at nano- & sub-particle levels are quite compelling.) i think the notion of "mystery" is simply the unexplained we don't yet have sufficient knowledge of to understand. in my view the scientific method is the most reliable system we have to develop beyond the mysterious & natural selection the most plausible explanation yet for the origins of life. its encouraging that science is an ideology which encourages freethought, criticism, review & admits its shortcomings. there is a lot of bad science out there too. i am dismayed that many humans wilfully squander their intellect to ignorance & remain entranced by superstition. do you think its incuriosity?
* which gets me exercised about ... god/s. i think he, she, it &/or they are products of human imagination. the redundant slur of the religious believer - atheism - applies universally; with the exception of the one god (or more, if you're a multitheist) that believers make concessions for they're as atheistic about all the others they don't "believe in". the notion of worship is too darn grovellingly dehumanising for my taste. it wastes precious time which may be more productively spent understanding onesself & the world around one. so to worship something which may or may not exist is absurd. i think pascal's wager is the grudging surrender of a terrorised absolutist.
* moving swiftly onto religious faith & religion ... faith arguments are pithy to the point of implausibility. for example, the claims made by the so-called holy texts (of abrahamic religions) are unconvincing & to me patently the work of human ingenuity. it is a reasonably small minority who share this opinion, but its not unique. i don't accept that faith is the superior third way that believers' piously claim it to be. nor do i think religion should continue to enjoy the disproportionate privilege or authority in society it has for millenia. i do acknowledge that it has some benefits; fellowship & charitable works just two of them. there are more. for those, no god is required. i think that on balance its divisiveness & absolutism make it a malign force in contemporary society. as a political tool for order & control it once served a purpose, at the cost of development & progress. i'll settle on secularism, which tolerates personal belief. & disbelief. (& if you're interested in debating religious faith's contamination of morals & ethics - particularly relating to gender & sexuality - i'd be happy to oblige.)
* on my skepticism. this is a consequence of a contemplative nature (what i call i-thunking). i don't think my agnostic, freethinking father realised the profound effect his encouragement to "question EVERYTHING" had on his curious youngest daughter. on occasion my conservative mother - suspicious of modernity despite enjoying its comforts & uncomfortable with the spectrum of grey that is human complexity - still implores me to "stop thinking so much". she refers to my failure to arrive at definitive or absolute conclusions as fence sitting. i see it as consideration of various perspectives & openness to new evidence. (this is a significant threat if one buys the marketing shpiel on some fundie church billboards). skepticism can be exhausting, challenging & annoying. to the skeptic too. its not everyone's teabag.
* which leads to ... conversation. i think its an artform not valued highly enough for its merits. there is an overabundance of superficial babble & sadly, opinion is all too often a whinge about the media's current subject matter. it is rare to encounter original thought. rarer the opportunity engage or delve in considerable depth into a subject. i find it refreshing to encounter opposing opinions, ideas or dissent & energetically spar with debate, criticism, disagreement, pursuasion or negotiation. especially fuelled by some or other form of refreshment.
* which gets me in mind of ... wine. despite concerted effort over the years i have never developed a palate for the grape. or the hops, for that matter. to me they smell too much like vinegar & vomit respectively. (i hope that doesn't influence your preference for tipple.) i find the aroma & taste of alcohol in general repulsive. if its disguised by fruit juice or some soda mixer its sufficiently palatable & i tolerate its effects in moderation. i enjoyed them in considerable abundance in my 20s. very occasionally - out of politeness - i will quaff a quarter glass of wine over a meal. i have found that my distaste for it has revealed a suspicion of teetotallism. when pushed to explain this the offerer can be left feeling awkward or unsatisfied by what he or she possibly deems my uncharitability & this can be tiresome. i empathise with dry alcoholics who must also sometimes find it so. in my 20's i experimented with the softer of recreational drugs & for a period enjoyed their largely soporific effects. my drugs of choice nowadays are sugar & tea. in moderation.
* callan is the (sole) unplanned & very wanted work-in-progress of my considered nurturing & a whole lot of input from many, many others who have touched her life. her upbringing has been intuitively experimental inasmuch as i felt it necessary to facilitate her exposure to as many experiences as i was able. it has been variously exciting, interesting & terrifying. our relationship is not a traditional one. my role as parent is not one journeyed superficially or without intent & i have on occasion been accused of irresponsibility. that she is healthy, happy, sociable, independent, articulate, opinionated, fiercely intelligent & reasonably fearless reinforces my confidence in my abilities thusfar. family values - or any other limiting labels beloved of party politics, had nothing to do with it. enlighten me as to their merits anyway. why limit a child's development to the cloyingly narrow confines of the family unit? how much more is there out there to learn from the wider world? beware though, a taste for knowledge early on can wear a parent down. or out.
* i am inspired by many great people whose solitary obsessions made significant contributions to humanity's advancement. my mental wellbeing is nourished by stillness & order in my life, which gives me space to cogitate. i strive for an ideal balance of empathy for others with a strong sense of self. despite intense sociability - on my terms - i value self sufficiency & independence highly. i am sometimes perceived by others as detached, or mistaken as cynical or hard hearted. my material needs are few & with the exception of books, stuff is burdensome. i suppose that's trite when one's gathered 40+ years of possessions. by today's consumerist standards many would judge me disadvantaged due to a dearth of electronic gadgetry. discussion about aspiring to ownership of status symbols is the one subject i find awfully boring & which you'll find me woefully ignorant about. i happily admit to intellectual neediness.
* my interests in history, culture, politics & life in general have been significantly enriched since i moved to scotland. its very different from my interests while living in south africa. some of that is probably down to maturity. i imagine the same applies to immigrants from other new world countries, but i think a some of it has to do with having lived in south africa during a particularly inhumane & unjust period of its history. i am still working through some saffy baggage, which is sufficiently processed to consider myself liberated from the issues to focus my energy on feeding my need to keep learning. on the history front i have a bit of a passion for the enlightenment & the victorian era. i am very fortunate to have edinburgh, whose charm never ceases to captivate me, close by. the rest of the british isles are abundant with sufficient to keep me enthralled for a long, long time. i am thankful for having chosen to relocate to such an interesting place, populated by interesting people & with the freedom to participate more fully in a civil society. there's a whole world out there, though & i wouldn't rule out living elsewhere in future if the notion took me.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
the stow life - april 2009
despite having lived with dogs most of my life, this has been my first spring as a professional dog groomer. its been memorable. i was looking forward to a sharp increase in bookings after a slow winter. its the norm for the profession. i was also prepared for doggy coat changes, shedding in particular. the surprise has been just how profoundly the change of season affects some dogs.
some dog owners - in the northern hemisphere anyway - stop grooming their dogs over winter. there are common misconceptions about the protection a dog's coat offers against the cold. many mistakenly believe or assume its the length of the coat. come spring many mutt coats are a matted, stinky mess. this coincides with the "great shed" as warmer weather & lighter days arrive. my time & effort the past 6 weeks has literally been consumed with dog hair. there are some captioned mutt shots of a few de-shedded victims i remembered to snap post-groom. see the set called furrynuff mutts.
the spangly fangly custom built grooming table the masterfully resourceful tom made for me at the beginning of the year has been invaluable, as i'm getting requests to groom large and giant breeds (which the other groomers won't accept). its an ideal size & height for the big 'uns, who won't tolerate the larger & higher regular grooming table. i feel rather like a dog mechanic when grooming their underbellies, as i can literally work underneath the dogs. they can probably lay claim to some of the most thoroughly groomed undercarriages in the scottish borders. very handily designed, it collapses too. so added to my portfolio of services now are home visits, which have proven popular with vehicle-free & older clients.
the upside of all this dog hair is that my small but carefully selected stash of good quality dog undercoat is growing, if only in volume. i've put out feelers to have it spun into cheingora, which i intend to knit into an article of some sort or another. a hair shirt it may not make, but a wee novelty it will.
between dog hair episodes we've been enjoying more outdoors time at kid's club. the few hours a week that i work at after school club are an enjoyable way of passing time. the school playground overlooks the southern end of the village. it has idyllic views of st mary's church, gala water, excellent birdlife, fields of sheep (& lambs gambolling in spring) & woodland hillsides across the valley. with some sunshine, a gentle breeze & the sound of children expending energy i find it most agreeable.
the kid's club has successfully applied for funding and change of use to start a holiday club. the 7+ week summer holiday is invariably an expensive, trying time for both working parents & children. its just too darn long for little ones, whose boredom thresholds kick in once the novelty of non-routine wears or the fortnight's holiday away is over. when callan was younger we very gratefully availed ourselves on a few occasions of part-subsidised holiday childcare clubs which my public sector employer had arranged. she loved the sociable interaction & the novel activities on offer while i enjoyed peace of mind. now that she is a young adult eager to earn an honest living this summer she herself will be working as a holiday club playworker. she is keen to notch up as much & as varied working experience as she can fit in to her schedule.
i had the opportunity a few weekends ago to do a play training course with a colleague from kid's club. the course instructor was a superbly demanding, very experienced physical education teacher. amongst other she taught us how to play "beans": baked, string, broad, jumping & a variety of other forms all of which required our enthusiastic participation. it was held in the gym hall at melrose primary school, where she had also laid out a vast selection of equipment to use as aids for encouraging movement & physical activity in babies & young children. not only was it a good laugh to play the role of the child again, we also acquired a few subtly persuasive techniques to coax more retiring or shyer young bodies out of inactivity through humour and fun.
along with the demise of winter, edinburgh's festival season is blooming again. phil & i enjoyed a fascinating day at a full day international science festival event. held in the exquisitely historical anatomy lecture theatre of edinburgh uni's medical school, and titled hauntings: the science of ghosts. (more info here if you're interested - http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/Events/Preview-events/Hauntings-The-science-of-ghosts.) there are also a few photos of the atmospheric venue on flickr in the set called supernaturally skeptical.
as reported last month we were looking forward to the first edinburgh skeptics in the pub. what a pleasantly stimulating evening we passed in nicol edwards bar (which lays claim to being haunted). about 20 of us gathered in a small vaulted bar to hear chris french speak about the psychology of anomalous experiences. the audience participated in a variety of predictive techniques commonly used by psychics, astrology, religion & branches of pseudoscience which make extraordinary claims. the pt barnum effect was used for a cold reading. also discussed were alien abduction & apophenia, at which point chris showed some amusing photographs to illustrate pareidolia. his enthusiasm for this field of academic research was supported by statistically compelling data about belief in the supernatural. & just how many believe what they believe! its a scientifically controversial field of study, but given the sheer numbers the academic snobbery is somewhat surprising.
i haven't any fantastical comments about the alleged supernatural phenomena in the venue. the larger than lifesize full body dorian gray-like painting watching over us was disconcerting enough though. all the more so when some behind it poked their fingers through the vandalised mouth of the subject. the q & a session was lively but devoid of dissent. i found that a little odd, but i'd been hoping for some debate. nevertheless, an interesting discussion emerged about critical thinking in the education system, but was unfortunately swiftly brought to a halt as we'd overrun on time. we'll go to simon singh's session in may, about alternative medicine.
btw, for jo'burgh based readers interested in skepticism, there's a similar event started up. see http://acinonyxscepticus.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/first-johannesburg-sceptics-in-the-pub/ for more info.
earlier this month phil & i had a long weekend with the morgan side of the family in bolton. phil's nephew arthur was on leave after a tour of duty in the middle east with the parachute regiment. on the friday evening a condensed family group did jeff 'n pickles regular farnworth pub crawl. i wussed out quite early on, my karaoke threshold exhausted. phil stayed a while longer before retiring to the antelope - his "local" many years ago. he was delighted to find some of his old mates there & they reminisced about the lost years over a few more pints. the extended family get together was on saturday night at smithill's hall coaching house, a dickensian style eatery, where we simultaneously gabbed & gorged ourselves.
later that evening the party reconvened at ken & nadiya's, whose house we stayed at. despite protestations to the contrary jeff & sharon's cunning strategy over a few hands of cards relieved everyone else's wallets & pockets of change. the simplest of games disarmed the simplest, i'm afraid. (come to think of it the disproportionate size:content ratio of their coin bags when they arrived may be a clue.)
the weekend wasn't all refreshment & robbery ... we managed two great rambles. the first led gamely by spike, ken & nadiya's muscular staffordshire bull terrier. he may walk less frequently than others, but his great enthusiasm more than compensates for the infrequency. phil experienced its powerful abundance for 2 hours over 3 miles. ken - a reluctant pedestrian & nadiya also fairly enjoyed the outing.
on the sunday, sharon collected us to visit lottie, the irish thoroughbred mare she recently adopted. after a few months of loving attention she's recovered very well from her previously neglected state. she's developed rather a pesky addiction for the carrots through jeff, who'd wanted nothing to do with horses pre-adoption. after visiting with a variety of 4-leggeds at the yard (including a prodigiously shedding alaskan malamute & an akita), phil & i walked back 5 or so miles back across the valley. following a brief replenishment at a small local inn we came upon one of phil's primary school pals, out walking with his family & dog, so we all walked 'n talked before going our separate ways.
samuel beckett's waiting for godot has a very short season in edinburgh. the line up includes ian mckellen, patrick stewart & simon callow. how can one not? so we are. friday night, kings theatre. not knowing much about the play beyond its reputation, i've done a little background research, in the hope i find it as profound as its reputed to be.
now, if you can't get enought of scenery, there are more recently uploaded captioned photos of the scottish countryside on flickr. check out the sets titled lost in dalgety bay, up north berwick law, a picnic in peebles.
lastly, apologies if we're mid-correspondence or if you're due a reply on facebook or email. i'm getting to it. meantime, what's your news?
xx
some dog owners - in the northern hemisphere anyway - stop grooming their dogs over winter. there are common misconceptions about the protection a dog's coat offers against the cold. many mistakenly believe or assume its the length of the coat. come spring many mutt coats are a matted, stinky mess. this coincides with the "great shed" as warmer weather & lighter days arrive. my time & effort the past 6 weeks has literally been consumed with dog hair. there are some captioned mutt shots of a few de-shedded victims i remembered to snap post-groom. see the set called furrynuff mutts.
the spangly fangly custom built grooming table the masterfully resourceful tom made for me at the beginning of the year has been invaluable, as i'm getting requests to groom large and giant breeds (which the other groomers won't accept). its an ideal size & height for the big 'uns, who won't tolerate the larger & higher regular grooming table. i feel rather like a dog mechanic when grooming their underbellies, as i can literally work underneath the dogs. they can probably lay claim to some of the most thoroughly groomed undercarriages in the scottish borders. very handily designed, it collapses too. so added to my portfolio of services now are home visits, which have proven popular with vehicle-free & older clients.
the upside of all this dog hair is that my small but carefully selected stash of good quality dog undercoat is growing, if only in volume. i've put out feelers to have it spun into cheingora, which i intend to knit into an article of some sort or another. a hair shirt it may not make, but a wee novelty it will.
between dog hair episodes we've been enjoying more outdoors time at kid's club. the few hours a week that i work at after school club are an enjoyable way of passing time. the school playground overlooks the southern end of the village. it has idyllic views of st mary's church, gala water, excellent birdlife, fields of sheep (& lambs gambolling in spring) & woodland hillsides across the valley. with some sunshine, a gentle breeze & the sound of children expending energy i find it most agreeable.
the kid's club has successfully applied for funding and change of use to start a holiday club. the 7+ week summer holiday is invariably an expensive, trying time for both working parents & children. its just too darn long for little ones, whose boredom thresholds kick in once the novelty of non-routine wears or the fortnight's holiday away is over. when callan was younger we very gratefully availed ourselves on a few occasions of part-subsidised holiday childcare clubs which my public sector employer had arranged. she loved the sociable interaction & the novel activities on offer while i enjoyed peace of mind. now that she is a young adult eager to earn an honest living this summer she herself will be working as a holiday club playworker. she is keen to notch up as much & as varied working experience as she can fit in to her schedule.
i had the opportunity a few weekends ago to do a play training course with a colleague from kid's club. the course instructor was a superbly demanding, very experienced physical education teacher. amongst other she taught us how to play "beans": baked, string, broad, jumping & a variety of other forms all of which required our enthusiastic participation. it was held in the gym hall at melrose primary school, where she had also laid out a vast selection of equipment to use as aids for encouraging movement & physical activity in babies & young children. not only was it a good laugh to play the role of the child again, we also acquired a few subtly persuasive techniques to coax more retiring or shyer young bodies out of inactivity through humour and fun.
along with the demise of winter, edinburgh's festival season is blooming again. phil & i enjoyed a fascinating day at a full day international science festival event. held in the exquisitely historical anatomy lecture theatre of edinburgh uni's medical school, and titled hauntings: the science of ghosts. (more info here if you're interested - http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/Events/Preview-events/Hauntings-The-science-of-ghosts.) there are also a few photos of the atmospheric venue on flickr in the set called supernaturally skeptical.
as reported last month we were looking forward to the first edinburgh skeptics in the pub. what a pleasantly stimulating evening we passed in nicol edwards bar (which lays claim to being haunted). about 20 of us gathered in a small vaulted bar to hear chris french speak about the psychology of anomalous experiences. the audience participated in a variety of predictive techniques commonly used by psychics, astrology, religion & branches of pseudoscience which make extraordinary claims. the pt barnum effect was used for a cold reading. also discussed were alien abduction & apophenia, at which point chris showed some amusing photographs to illustrate pareidolia. his enthusiasm for this field of academic research was supported by statistically compelling data about belief in the supernatural. & just how many believe what they believe! its a scientifically controversial field of study, but given the sheer numbers the academic snobbery is somewhat surprising.
i haven't any fantastical comments about the alleged supernatural phenomena in the venue. the larger than lifesize full body dorian gray-like painting watching over us was disconcerting enough though. all the more so when some behind it poked their fingers through the vandalised mouth of the subject. the q & a session was lively but devoid of dissent. i found that a little odd, but i'd been hoping for some debate. nevertheless, an interesting discussion emerged about critical thinking in the education system, but was unfortunately swiftly brought to a halt as we'd overrun on time. we'll go to simon singh's session in may, about alternative medicine.
btw, for jo'burgh based readers interested in skepticism, there's a similar event started up. see http://acinonyxscepticus.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/first-johannesburg-sceptics-in-the-pub/ for more info.
earlier this month phil & i had a long weekend with the morgan side of the family in bolton. phil's nephew arthur was on leave after a tour of duty in the middle east with the parachute regiment. on the friday evening a condensed family group did jeff 'n pickles regular farnworth pub crawl. i wussed out quite early on, my karaoke threshold exhausted. phil stayed a while longer before retiring to the antelope - his "local" many years ago. he was delighted to find some of his old mates there & they reminisced about the lost years over a few more pints. the extended family get together was on saturday night at smithill's hall coaching house, a dickensian style eatery, where we simultaneously gabbed & gorged ourselves.
later that evening the party reconvened at ken & nadiya's, whose house we stayed at. despite protestations to the contrary jeff & sharon's cunning strategy over a few hands of cards relieved everyone else's wallets & pockets of change. the simplest of games disarmed the simplest, i'm afraid. (come to think of it the disproportionate size:content ratio of their coin bags when they arrived may be a clue.)
the weekend wasn't all refreshment & robbery ... we managed two great rambles. the first led gamely by spike, ken & nadiya's muscular staffordshire bull terrier. he may walk less frequently than others, but his great enthusiasm more than compensates for the infrequency. phil experienced its powerful abundance for 2 hours over 3 miles. ken - a reluctant pedestrian & nadiya also fairly enjoyed the outing.
on the sunday, sharon collected us to visit lottie, the irish thoroughbred mare she recently adopted. after a few months of loving attention she's recovered very well from her previously neglected state. she's developed rather a pesky addiction for the carrots through jeff, who'd wanted nothing to do with horses pre-adoption. after visiting with a variety of 4-leggeds at the yard (including a prodigiously shedding alaskan malamute & an akita), phil & i walked back 5 or so miles back across the valley. following a brief replenishment at a small local inn we came upon one of phil's primary school pals, out walking with his family & dog, so we all walked 'n talked before going our separate ways.
samuel beckett's waiting for godot has a very short season in edinburgh. the line up includes ian mckellen, patrick stewart & simon callow. how can one not? so we are. friday night, kings theatre. not knowing much about the play beyond its reputation, i've done a little background research, in the hope i find it as profound as its reputed to be.
now, if you can't get enought of scenery, there are more recently uploaded captioned photos of the scottish countryside on flickr. check out the sets titled lost in dalgety bay, up north berwick law, a picnic in peebles.
lastly, apologies if we're mid-correspondence or if you're due a reply on facebook or email. i'm getting to it. meantime, what's your news?
xx
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