---------- Forwarded message ----------It seems that this week I'm going a bit soft at the edges, but that I'd like to feel more wonderful that usual. I'm not sure exactly what that's all about, because I make a point of being happy in my skin - and not to spend too much time regretting things I can't change. That being the case, though, I am obviously willing to better myself - q.v. recent completion of one MBA.
Date: 7 May 2006 21:26:44 -0700
Subject: Weekly Horoscope
To: butercup
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This week May 8 through May 14
Aquarius
Mars continues to move through your health zone and is spurring you on to greater things. You want more for yourself, and you also want to look better and feel more wonderful than you have in some time. The Sun squares Neptune on Wednesday which may blur the edges of reality and make it more difficult to find out what is fact and what is fiction. You could also be the one blurring the edges of reality because you aren't prepared to take a stand - so check out your attitude if you have a problem with someone.
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The thing about horrorscopes, is that I firmly (or blurrily) believe that we make our own come true. If you read one of these things, and that changes your outlook so that you (for example) take a stand where you have a problem with someone, then you can either say "wow, my horoscope came true!" or you can get real, and understand that all it's doing is reminding you to look at everything you encounter and maybe squeeze some opportunities from that.
So this week, I guess I should sharpen up. Time to focus those blurry edges and become even more wonderful than I have been to date.
... oh wait, maybe that's because I haven't put in my contact lenses today.
The last man on earth walks into a bar.
What does he say?
Drink, I'd like another bartender.
I'm reading a book called The Rule of Four, which has been described as "The Da Vinci Code for people with brains" ... which in itself was enough of a recommendation for me to read it. It's about some Princeton students delving into a 15th Century mystery hidden within the Hypnerotomachia Poliphilii. Dare ya to say *that* 10-times-fast.
(deep breath) that that that that that that that that that that
Although I'm not going to devolve into a book review here, you should know that this book is truly astounding. It covers Renaissance theories of art, philosophy, music, mathematics, and religion, all while preparing a final graduate thesis at Princeton. But even apart from that, it surprises me with genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, like the joke above. If I haven't convinced you to check it out, then I give up.
If you'd done as I asked, and calibrated yourself according to my sci-fi top 10 books, then you still won't know why I liked this book so much.
So here, for your literary amusement and edification (edifiction?), is my mostly-not-sci-fi top 10 book list. To make it on the list, the book must be well written, thought provoking, and above all, readable more than once. Depending on my mood, the order of books in the list will change, but this is the order in which they sprang to mind... (tonight ...)
- The Secret History (Donna Tartt)
- Anything in the Sherlock Holmes Canon (Arthur Conan Doyle)
- The Return of the King (JRR Tolkein) - yes, the third book. I know what I'm talking about.
- the Mordant's Need duo (Stephen Donaldson)
- The Number of the Beast (Robert Heinlein)
- Kafka On The Shore (Haruki Murakami)
- Quicksilver (Neal Stephenson)
- His Dark Materials trilogy (Philip Pullman)
- Persuasion (Jane Austen)
- The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
Oh and it makes for a nice glitch in the matrix when you come across that Middle Page later on.
I recently became the proud owner of a dinosaur. A bright blue, shiny four-wheeled dinosaur. It's a mode of transport that unashamedly uses non-renewable resources and contributes to greenhouse gases, blah blah blah, but it's also cute and enables me to get to and from work, appointments, or shopping centres fairly consistently. If I was to rely on public transport (another dinosaur, only slower) then I'd either never get anywhere, or if I did go places, I wouldn't carry anything. But the fact of the matter is, it's time for the internal combustion engine to evolve. Into something that's more efficient at converting even deader dinosaurs into propulsion. Or something that converts a less non-renewable resource. Or whatever.
Seeing as about 10 million* of the 4 million people who live in Sydney** own at least 1 car*** and drive it to work every day, it's not surprising that almost everyone you talk to about driving, complains about the high fuel prices at the moment. Something like $1.40/L is about the average this week. There are ads for those current affairs shows where they promise to "find Sydney's cheapest fuel" or "expose politicians worsening Sydney's fuel crisis" or whatever. But the fact of the matter is - oil is a global commodity. Developing nations rely on oil for all that development they are doing. Developed nations - which should know better - consistently don't bother to research alternative fuel sources, because as soon as prices drop, public awareness drops, and governments divert funds to whatever is higher on the political impact scale. A columnist recently said that higher prices at the petrol pump are actually a good thing - because they spur research into alternatives, for one thing. Why is this the first column saying "hey guys, think about the environment! If petrol's too expensive for you, catch the train!".
I don't get why people complain about petrol prices, and why do people expect the government to "fix it", and by "fixing it" do things like lowering fuel taxes, lowering or at least not raising, interest rates, lowering personal taxes, blah blah. Why not "fix it" by researching alternatives. Or making roads more suitable for public transport and much less suitable for personal cars. Or offering more alternatives to being "at work" (maybe improve broadband infrastructure so more people can telecompute for more time). Think outside the box? Or car?
I'd like to add more content here, but time's a wasting, so go read that column from SMH. Meanwhile, I'm a normal person. So until it's more uncomfortable for me to sit in my cosy blue dinosaur than not to, I'm going to carpark my way to work, shops and other places. With the other 9,999,999 car drivers in Sydney. Hang the expense.
* Didn't you read my post on statistics before?
** See note 1.
*** See note 2.