Three Quarters of a Kid

It seems Spring is making a proper appearance at last, albeit only for a few days perhaps. Anyway, I went out and took some photos in a nearby bluebell woods - you can see the pics via my Image London blog.

If you like animals, you might enjoy The Daily Coyote blog, by a woman who adopted an orphaned coyote. She takes great photos too.

On the other hand, if you are suffering from depression, you might like to try the BROH trick: it stands for Brain Running Old Habits - the article will explain in properly, but basically it is about remembering that you and your habits of thought are two separate entities. Learn to identify but don't identify with those depressing thoughts: don't believe them. They are just a habit.

If you are thinking of getting married... and your maths is up to it, why not try working out what your odds are? Geek Logic might do the trick. According to that I should get married but should only have three quarters of a kid...

Credit Crunch

The credit crunch is all very well - indeed, I've been having my very own credit crunch for most of my life it seems - but in some parts of the world things are, of course, much worse than here. According to Macrohistory, a very good history site, the news for April 9th is:

Apr 9 People around the world are rioting because of food prices or availability: in Egypt, Mexico, Haiti, Yemen, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Guinea, Mauritania. In South Korea there is panic buying. In the Philippines, officials are raiding warehouses looking for unscrupulous traders hoarding rice. The rising price of oil has made food production more expensive. Nations are cutting back on their exports of food in order to have enough for their own people. Egypt's reduction of rice exports is hurting Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. On April 3, world rice prices rose as much as 30 percent.

So... OK, the official inflation rate here is about 2.5%. In reality, food prices rose by 11% over the last 12 months here. Elsewhere, because of problems with wheat and rice crops this year plus increasing demand from rising populations, prices are rising much faster. And of course there's Zimbabwe with 116,000% inflation. That is, "hyperinflation".

Working Too Much?

I've hardly had time to do anything much lately - too much work! Plus watching the Great Depression unfold, if that is what it is doing (see previous post). But here are a few interesting web pages I've managed to dig up even so. You might want to calculate your global "footprint" at the Earthday Footprint Page. They try to calculate how many planet Earths would be needed if everybody lived like you do. My lifestyle adds up to 1.5 Earths; below average for a Westerner. But really I don't buy all this scaremongering. Yes people could take more care of the planet and I wish we would, but in the end, I believe we will sort the problems out and maintain or improve our lifestyles. Technology rules!

On another subject altogether (or is it?), did you know that Jesus had female apostles? Society up to 400AD and indeed much later couldn't really comprehend that, so the women were largely erased from the record - but not completely. I always thought that the idea that a priest had to have a willy just because Jesus (presumably) did was a bit weird anyway.

And now, even further off the limb: video lectures about really weird stuff - like flying saucers and so on. Enjoy it, but perhaps take it with a pinch of salt. Science requires scepticism of hearsay.

1929 Recapitulated?

Back in 2003 I wrote an article about the coming Great Depression. Well, the current "sub-prime" banking crisis certainly fits the pattern of a financial bubble finally bursting.

Basically, a wunch of bankers have been lending money to people such as myself who can't afford it, and now they're all surprised as it blows up in their faces. The boss of the Northern Rock bank, Britain's recent casualty, bleated before a parliamentary committee that "nobody could have foreseen this", as if people such as myself haven't been forecasting this outcome for, literally, decades.

I see that UBS in Switzerland has written down billions of dollars against bad debts. How can one choose a bank these days? Well, there can be no guarantees really, but probably it is necessary to do a load of homework first. For example, UBS's share price has fallen 83% over the last year in the lead-up to their crisis. Bear Stearns' share price had been sliding for some time before that crisis broke. It seems somebody had a clue. Probably, if you have any funds that you can't afford to lose, they should be spread between a number of UNRELATED institutions, and a number of currencies. In the UK, guarantees only cover up to around £30,000 on deposits (and the deposits must be in unrelated banks for them all to be protected). Check this article at http://www.moneysavingexpert.co.uk for advice.

Is the dollar a safe currency any more? Nobody knows. US interest rates are down, making it unattractive and raising inflation in countries whose currencies are pegged to the dollar. If too much money leaves the US to find better rates elsewhere, the US will find itself with the unenviable choice between a collapsing currency raising the prices of imports to unaffordable levels, or raising interest rates and crushing the economy that way instead. That is, slump1 or slump2.

Bankers around the world are afraid of inflation - and certainly, hyperinflation such as in Zimbabwe at the moment or Germany between the wars is worth avoiding at all costs - but generally, a great depression is much worse than normal inflation levels. Inflation, after all, allows people to pay off their debts with cheap money: the debt remains much the same but your wages tend to go up each year. Depression makes debts progressively harder and harder to pay off as money becomes more and more expensive (falling prices means your cash is more valuable (e.g., your wages may fall), which means it is harder to pay things off). The golden rule: cash is king. Hold on to it!

Image London

I have started a new blog: http://imagelondon.blogspot.com. I have noticed various blogs showing photos of various cities around the world on a daily basis, and getting lots of visitors, so I thought why don't I do the same (although probably not daily, knowing me)? There are London blogs already but each has its own style. There is room for one more: the things I like will be the things some other people like, after all.

It is also a get-rich-quick scheme of sorts, since I am putting Google ads on it - just in case zillions of visitors click on them and pay me a penny each or something. Well, you never know.

Forms

Apart from making the occasional entry in this blog, I also make the occasional web site, such as http://www.britishunitedartists.com/ , http://www.cwfstudio.com/ , http://www.actingcourses.net/ (at which I also maintain the blog)... I mention this because web sites require e-mail links or forms of some sort, and this presents a problem: spammers. Spammers fill in the forms, usually automatically, or they harvest the e-mail addresses for later use by a zillion zombies.

I have tried various php solutions but they basically don't work because server administrators change their settings seemingly every week and whatever automated form-to-mail solution I try stops working within days unless I can host the site on my own server, which I cannot. I have better things to do than keep changing the code on numerous web sites.

I have tried obfuscating the e-mail address; this works to some extent, but as spammers' robots get more sophisticated, this solution will not work forever.

Then I found formsmarts.com. They provide a number of simple solutions from a challenge-response web page to a hosted html form which should be compatible with all systems. Fingers crossed, but it seems to be working smoothly enough at the moment!

The Meaning Of Life

Well, I suppose one can't talk about the meaning of life without thinking of Douglas Adams, for whom the answer appeared to have been "42" (in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"), and indeed, this web site does just that. But he also indirectly makes an important point about the alternative philosophy of nihilism, which states that life, and indeed everything, is meaningless: if everything is meaningless, then so is the idea that everything is meaningless... In other words, the idea that life is worthless is a worthless idea. To me, that means it is false, or might as well be. So nihilism is imploded by its own definition: if true, it must be false.

I expect that is arguable, but it seems close enough for practical purposes. And the purpose of life - its meaning? Altruism. So there.

Here is a recent photo of Douglas Adams, taken at Highgate Cemetry in London.


And here is a quote from him:

"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened."

On another subject, I rather liked this rather well-travelled photographer's travel photos. And the latest Batman movie trailer.

Democracy and Stuff

Here is a nice 90-second overview of the progress of "democracy" (of sorts) down through the ages, assuming that no tribal systems were democratic, I suppose. And assuming that the modern system of "representative democracy" actually counts given that most such governments seem to claim to listen then do what they like anyway (and then claim to wonder why voter turnout is so low).

The above flash movie comes from Maps Of War and there are several others to enjoy there. If history isn't your bucket of cheese, maybe you need 32 Keys to Life instead. Or maybe watch a movie trailer (one of them mentions cheese, by the way)? Finally a great photo of a forest fire.

What About...

...the woman whose boyfriend thought she was too drunk to drive, so she called the police. While drunk. And driving. Or the desperado who broke into parking meters, but plugged his drill into the local police station ("Capitol guardhouse" in US English, AIUI).

On the plus side, if you like sculptures and statues, maybe you'll appreciate these unusual ones. Or a fancy planetarium. Next a useful reference guide to which foods are supposed to help with what diseases. Finally... the kind of house I might like to live in when I'm rich.

Christmas and All That

After many years of not being rich yet (in Western terms anyway), I have discovered the joys of cheap shopping on the Internet. Now, I have shopped online before, but this Christmas I specifically wanted to buy cheaply... and as I like to give books and movies, I was pleased to explore Amazon's second-hand options. And sure enough, the bulk of books and DVDs that I bought for people second-hand were just fine. In near perfect condition, indeed. One or two were a bit off, but overall, I managed to handle Christmas for about £70 instead of the usual £200. With a DVD movie costing about £2.37 including delivery instead of £10-£30, the savings can be immense. OK, the risk of a problem with the product is slightly higher, but at that kind of price I can just buy another one from another supplier.

Funny news stories... How about the latest pyramid selling scam in China? Over a million people have been persuaded to spend some £1300 on ant farms. Then there's the latest teenage-wild-party-while-the-parents-are-away event. I like the fact that the naughty fellow has his story well thought-out. His video chit-chat is a bit hard to follow but the article spells it out.

Now here is a photo showing the Moon over the 'top' of the Earth's atmosphere, taken from the Space Shuttle Discovery in July 2007. "Image ISS013-E-54329.JPG courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center."

Back Again

Well, I know I've been off-air for a bit now, but I'm back today, as I slowly get over the flipping flu. My latest money-making scheme, i.e., the domain names thing, isn't producing any results, so it is suitably abandoned unless something comes of it before they expire. Probably I need to be more persistent with schemes, but they are boring when they don't work. My next plan is to try doing some paintings and selling them (online, ideally). The first one is here:



Those wavy Moire fringes you may see running from right to left in this rendering do not exist on the original. They are an artefact caused by the texture of the canvas mixing with the pixel system that computers use. Possibly I need to upload a lower-resolution photo or something; I'll have to experiment. You can click here to see a larger, relatively fringe-free version. The colours are reasonably accurate in the photo, except I would say that the blue is a noticeably darker shade on the actual painting. Anyway, the painting is acrylic on mounted canvas, 406x305mm (16x12 inches), 38mm deep. Looking around online and in shops, things like this go for around £150 which seems about right to me.

Now for something more serious. These people are letting themselves be beaten at Wii tennis... by their dog (video). The poor animal will never learn to respect them! I don't really 'get' tatoos and piercings. They just seem bizarre to me. So this blog has the top 10 of them. Prepare to be grossed out. Or bizarred out, I suppose. Well, I guess that's enough Western culture for the moment. Now for a bit of culture from the East: the Thousand Hands Goddess Dance. We may not know what it means, but we know quality when we see it, I think. Finally, for those people who are savvy enough to use 'hijack this' to clean the junk programs and spyware from their computers every now and then, a log auto-analyser to suggest to you which of your start-up items may be worth eliminating. Just paste the saved log into the box, press the button and hey presto! No guarantees or warranties, E&OE, yabba dabba doo.

Money-Making Scheme No. 3,612

One of these days I really am going to Get Rich Quick (TM). My latest scheme is to dream up three really good-sounding domain names, which I hope to eventually sell. I have added links to them in the side bar:

• www.yourstarsdaily.com
• www.howtochatupgirls.com
• www.worstchatuplines.com

Now aren't those great names? My plan originally was just to put them straight up for sale, maybe on Ebay or somewhere, but then I thought: perhaps I should monetize them first. That is, a) get some money from them somehow, and b) demonstrate to potential buyers how valuable they might be, before selling them. So I have put some content in them and will add them to various search engines...

Of course, if they make enough money I won't want to sell them, I suppose. But, at least for the last two, I doubt that they will make much for me directly as I have no plans to sell related products. I shall probably just put Google AdSense on them. I can do tarot readings for the first one though.

Arrandene, Mill Hill, London

I went for a long walk around the Arrandene nature reserve the other day. Originally I had a little slideshow going on in this blog entry, but I have decided to remove it as it uses up a lot of bandwidth - not a problem for those of us with unmetered broadband or better, but too slow or costly for some viewers. So, instead, if you would like to see the pictures, you can go to my Web Album.

How's the Writing Going?

Actually, quite well. The question is, though, how do I figure out how much is still to be done? Today I reached 30,000 words, i.e., 50% of my original estimate of 60,000 words.

However, I am certainly more than halfway through the story. Counting scenes in the script, I am up to scene 86 of 116. That's 74%. That seems more like it! I think I had better count it that way in future. So, I am almost three-quarters of the way through the first draft. Excellent!

Big Brother 8

This year's Big Brother 8 (UK) has begun so my annual addiction to this programme has begun too. I even auditioned for it last year! Sadly, I didn't make it through to the programme, but maybe I have been saved for something better. ;-) But... why do I like this detestable programme, you might ask? Isn't it voyeuristic, moronic, and salacious? Well, yes.

In fact, I think the series suffers from one rather strange paradox: the more detested the programme is, the more it is worth showing. My position on it is a bit like Oscar Wilde's when he said, "An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all." Big Brother certainly causes controversy, and flushes out the usual rent-a-quote MP's. But controversy is not a bad thing: it allows society to evolve peacefully, after all. It is one of the bases of our much-neglected democracy. And with the average viewer having between 30 and 400 channels to choose from on the TV, plus much more on the Internet, they really don't have to watch it if they don't want to.

There is another aspect to the series as well. Unlike other programmes, you actually get to know the characters of real people. What happens in the house is not scripted or limited by the imaginations of scriptwriters and producers. You have to use your social skills to get the best out of this programme, unlike any other (except perhaps some of its imitators). This is what is truly novel about it: it requires a different kind of intelligence to watch: social intelligence and emotional intelligence. With ordinary programmes, if you can stay awake long enough to watch them, there is little requirement for intelligence on the part of the viewer: we are spoon-fed the 'entertainment' or 'information' and that is all that is expected of us (other than to watch the spam - sorry, adverts). But if you watch Big Brother passively, you will miss out on exercising your brain. The housemates are constantly jockeying for position, changing tactics, lying, being friendly (genuinely and not so genuinely sometimes), and so on. Are you able, after years of watching passive TV, even capable of keeping track of their relationships? Can you figure out who will win?

Steven Johnson explains these ideas in more detail in his book, Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Popular Culture Is Making Us Smarter. I don't recommend betting if you're prone to addiction, but whether you bet or not, you can get a good idea of what the public thinks of the housemates by looking at their odds of winning at oddschecker.com. Betting odds are likely to be a better guide to what is really going to happen than what the pundits say: after all people are putting their money on it!

No Topic

I've called this entry 'No Topic' as I don't have any particular topic to write about: I'm in a non-write-about-it frame of mind lately - hence the lack of entries for the last few days. Nevertheless, some more writing has been accomplished.

And some surfing... Did you know some people are trying to build a time machine? And not using a black hole - that method is old hat:



On a totally different slant, have you ever tried hurling yourself down a 1:1 slope (that's 45 degrees - I don't know what it is in percentage units: 50% of vertical, I suppose)? Well, at Cooper's Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, people do it every year in a stupid old festival that allows grazing rights on common land or some such. It is a race in which the contestants chase after... a piece of cheese. Yes. Cheese. Double Gloucester, to be exact. I was actually present one year. A woman was knocked unconscious by the aforementioned cheese as it bounced into the crowd. This video shows the 2007 event:


Coopers Hill Cheese Rolling - Watch more free videos

After all that excitement, how about a bit of cyberwar? It seems somebody is attacking the government of Estonia - they suspect the Kremlin. Alternatively, how about a bit of art? It takes a few moments to load (it is a flash drawing), but it is worth the wait. Click and drag up or down with your mouse to move in or out.

Katherine of Alexandria

Well, I wrote another 1% of the book today... things are moving on quite rapidly really, on those days when I get some writing done! I still rather feel, though, that things are moving rather more rapidly than I thought originally and I may well be finished a long way before the 60,000 word estimate I started with. Well, we will see.

I have of course been surfing the good old Internet the rest of the time. I was very interested in The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do about It, which says what I have thought for many years (since my school days, indeed): homework is of little benefit, and of much harm to people's social lives. OK, yes, that is a link to Amazon, but I thought I'd try once again - we'll see how long it is before Amazon break the link like they usually do. Anyway, I haven't read that book, but it looks like a good idea to me. I see that there are others making the same point too. Meanwhile, have you wondered what those brighter than normal stars are in the sky? Well, at the moment, it could be the planets Mercury, Venus or Saturn, for example. See which one you're seeing at Planetfinder. For a bit of fun, here's how to deal with unwanted telesales calls... (video). Alternatively, see if you can spot the difference between a computer geek and a serial killer. I got 8/10. Ain't no-one going to serialize me! ;-)

Hotmail Problems

I have discovered that for the last few days, none of my e-mails are reaching any hotmail.com addresses (and I have tried a few). Something is wrong, but e-mail to elsewhere seems to be OK. I will reply if and when the problem is fixed. Although I can receive e-mail from hotmail addresses, if you want a reply, e-mail me from a non-hotmail address. Thanks.

Meanwhile, how about some links? Does biblical law apply today? If so, why can't I own a Canadian? Next: how annoying is it when someone answers their phone during a meeting? Darth Vader has the solution (video). Now I know you regret not paying attention in physics classes at school, but here's your chance to catch up: flash animations of a large number of physics experiments for your entertainment and edification. I don't need to watch them 'cos I already have a physics degree, but you should. ;-) Finally, something to try when you're locked out of your car (video).

New Look Blog

I felt like a change, so, since I like blue, I now have a blue blog. I have also got up to 42% of my projected 60,000 words in the Katherine of Alexandria book, and have added a couple of links to the new 'Links' bar to the right... Specifically, Calorie Connect, which gives you the calories in various food items on request with a simple but nifty form (with a few curious omissions, such as toast), and Diego Goldberg's Arrow of Time page - a look at his family down through the years: what a good idea. I've no idea who these people are, but it almost makes me want to find out...

Links of the day

...not that I have links here every day, but I plan to do so fairly often.

Whilst searching for historical info relating to the Katherine of Alexandria book I am busy writing, I found Eye Witness to History - a site that concentrates on reports from people who were actually present at historical events as they happened, so you get a personal view. This is much more engaging than a more dry and scholarly approach.

I take a few photographs myself from time-to-time, so I was interested to see the Young Gallery. Unfortunately, the pictures are mostly rather 'arty-farty' for my taste - you know the kind of thing: if it is in black-and-white and shows some silky-looking skin, or if it shows some abstract colour, somehow that makes it 'art'. I don't buy it: it is too intellectual for me. Surely 'art' is supposed to generate some reaction other than boredom? There doesn't seem to be anything new in that sort of stuff: it has been done over and over again for a good century now. There are some nice time-exposures of cities in one gallery though, and some nice wildlife pictures too. You might also be interested in Richard Gere's (black & white) photos taken in Mongolia.

Over 41%

Hmm... getting plenty of writing done. Good! More than 1% of my total done today, anyway - can't be bad!

I had kind of hoped to do more, but I got tired - in fact I got downright sleepy, and a "few minutes" of rest turned into a few hours. Ho hum. Still, if I need the rest, then it is best that I take it.

Later on I did a bit of web surfing. I've not been exercising enough lately - it has been slipping gradually for a long time, so I'm back to working on my motivation and thinking, and this time, ways of integrating the exercise into my normal daily routine: I think a "workout" is just rather dull, basically. I have tried a bit of self-hypnosis for it as well, with a free session from mindmedia.com, - Find Your Inner Athlete. There are also free sessions from the author of that session at mindchanginghypnosis.com. Hypnosis? Yes, and I know people have this impression that it is something weird and dangerous, but, basically, it isn't. It is simply a way of learning something more quickly than you might otherwise. Think of it as the same sort of thing as a guided visualization: it is not much different from using your imagination, basically, while your verbal mind is resting (ideally). Anyway, since trying the session a couple of weeks ago, I have indeed been doing a little more exercise - not full-on major sessions, but nevertheless, there has been some improvement.

I have also looked at a couple of web sites that talk about the thinking you need to get in place - similar to my own diet and exercise page actually! But it is good to see other people's way of putting it too - and I obviously need a bit of extra input from somewhere. The Hussman Fitness site was very interesting and talks about the mindset, and has a good section on what a fitness/weight-loss programme needs to involve (rather a lot of exercise - Hmm...).

The Secret Law of Attraction

Yes, it's get-rich-quick time again. I have been looking at the so-called "Secret Law of Attraction" as pushed on the Internet in books, programmes and videos, and thinking to myself... Hmm... it is a sales pitch. Here is an example (video).

You see, on the one hand, the authors have a point - the idea of it is true as far as it goes, I believe: that you attract to you what you think about, so think rich, think happy, etc., and you will become rich, happy, etc. But my problem with it is that they are mystifying the subject rather than clarifying it, in my opinion, to get you to purchase products from them - that is, to attract money from you to them.

I think it can be explained more clearly and will write a little about it today. But first... a word of warning. I am not rich yet. At least, not in Western terms. OK, I have a roof over my head, a nice bed, food in the 'fridge, clothes in the cupboard, and so on, so that makes me one of the richest 20% or so of the people in the world. But as a Westerner, seeing all those TV programmes and movies showing much better lifestyles than mine in material terms, I do not feel materially rich yet. Besides, I still have plenty of debts to pay off. If I measure my net worth the way accountants do, it is negative - so actually a person starving in the Third World somewhere with a net worth of about one penny is technically better off than me, financially - but that just shows what can be done with statistics! :-)

Anyway, in short, I am not rich in my terms: no country mansion, lots of travel, life of leisure, etc. So, who am I to suggest the so-called Secret Law of Attraction could be explained better if I haven't made it work for myself yet?

Well, I think I am making it work, but it is something that is taking time. The "Secret" is plain and simple. Implementing it is hard. It is hard because you have to work on yourself. But first, a little about this mystification of the idea that I mentioned earlier.

In a way, the problem is with the name. Firstly, it is no secret. These ideas have been around for literally centuries. There have always been successful people who have figured it out for themselves, or who have had fortunate upbringings, or who simply, naturally, think the right way, and who have the energy and courage to take action to get things done. If you want a non-sales version of the secret, try getting a book on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy from your local bookshop (for example, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Dummies is very good).

Secondly, by using a passive word like "attraction" these authors are making it look like you just have to sit there and riches will fall in your lap. This is a mouth-watering proposition to the get-rich-quickers like me who, in reality, don't really want to actually do anything much to make their fortunes. These hucksters make it look like they can explain how you can become some kind of natural magnet for wealth (or whatever it is you are after). But they don't explain it, as far as I can tell, anyway. They talk all around it, make it sound good, then sell you product after product (because the previous one hasn't worked yet, you buy another, then another - like diet plans: it is the same marketing idea to sell you plan after plan, tip after tip - this one really works! Except it doesn't because you have to do something).

All right. Let's get to the point. What is the "Secret"? It is this: the way you think about things, about life in general, affects how life turns out for you. There is nothing mysterious in this. If you think miserable thoughts, if you feel inferior, if you are afraid to put yourself out there and meet people, then how are you going to get anything much done? How can you make your life better when you cut yourself off from your own enthusiasm and energy (by thinking badly of yourself) and from other people who could help you? If someone speaks to you, maybe they say, "Hi, that's a nice pair of shoes!" you could take that as a compliment or as an implied insult. It is up to you. What they actually mean matters much less than what you think of it. So, the point is, getting your thinking in order is the difficult part. Your inner thoughts can very easily sabotage your plans in so many ways and at the same time you can be completely unaware that it is happening. Get a Cognitive Behavoural Therapy book and see how to sort your thinking out. Take control of your own verbal mind (you could also look at my enlightenment page for much more on this general idea and a selection of books that could help you). Only by sorting out your own thinking can you get anywhere. To see how not to think about life, well, just watch East Enders or any other soap opera. They are full of characters ruining their lives through bad thinking skills: people driven by greed, fear, and the convenience of the moment.

Then, having got your thinking straight... you need to do what Tony Robbins always advises: take action. Yes, you have to get out of your comfort zone and do something. You have to meet people. You have to start a business or whatever. You have to find something you like to do and do it. You also have to be realistic and start from where you are: little baby steps are best because trying to do too much before you are ready can undermine your confidence. But do get things moving, within the limits of how far you are capable at the time. And don't punish yourself for being less than perfect or for being incompetent. That is human nature. What is good is that we can achieve things despite our general uselessness. In fact, that is what is great about us. As the Buddhists say, we are perfect in our imperfection. That is, like a dog or a cat or a child, none of which can do anything particularly useful except be a perfect dog, cat or child respectively, we, as adults are also perfect adult humans. Accept that as applied to yourself, and you have understood Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and you are on your way.

Linking

Well, I haven't done any writing today... it is the weekend and I feel like a bit of a rest. For today, anyway. However, that doesn't mean I have been doing nothing. I have been thinking that maybe I might add more links to my blog... links to things of interest to me, and maybe to you too... After all, I surf the Internet a lot, and I read a lot, so why not do something with all that 'activity' (for want of a better word)?

So... First up... how observant are you? Try watching the colour-changing card trick... (video) - tip: watch it to the end!

Next, I have been thinking about economics and all that lately. Currently I am reading Hernando De Soto's "The Mystery of Capital" in which he reckons he may have hit upon the reason why capitalism works so well in the West and so badly for the other 80% of the world. His answer, in a nutshell, is property rights - people who can't obtain proper legal title to their home can't get loans or investment to start businesses. Plus, of course, bureaucracy in much of the world is ridiculously cumbersome, slow and expensive. He has set up the Institute of Liberty and Democracy to assist governments in implementing the political and legal reforms necessary to get things moving.

Finally for today - I have been thinking about how I might make my fitness regime a little more interesting. But I don't think I'm going to try this: free running or parkour (video).

Brain Enhancement

I am nearly up to 40% of the projected word total in my Katherine of Alexandria book now! It has crept up on me without my noticing. I have noticed, however, a slight change in my method of writing. On those days when my brain is a little less inclined to create new stuff, I instead revise the last section or so that I wrote. Revision is always necessary anyway, so the project moves forwards either way.

Maybe if I went to http://www.smart-kit.com/ more often, my enhanced brain would go even faster! The site has puzzles and potted summaries of interesting research such as that learning to play a musical instrument makes you more intelligent, and being obese makes you less intelligent - according to some studies anyway. It is always worth pointing out, though, I think, that 'studies' are never totally fool-proof. It is necessary always to use common-sense when evaluating the results quoted. Often, the quotes are simply wrong, or the study itself was misconceived or badly executed, or, commonly, involves far too few subjects for the results to be considered reliable. Still, the ideas cannot be simply dismissed either...

Harbin and Blogs

Well, nothing in particular to write about today, really... except whatever I've been thinking about over the last couple of days I suppose. Firstly, I saw some photos of fantastic snow and ice sculptures in china at the Harbin Snow & Ice Festival, taken by R Todd King (the link is to his web site).

Secondly - blogging... I suppose if anybody was actually reading this blog, I might be tempted to think about it more! Darned if I can find it anywhere on the Internet and I know it's here! But anyway, I have been looking at The Cluetrain Manifesto which you can read online for free or purchase in book form from you know where (I'm no longer going to link to books on Amazon since the links always break down before long - you can find it yourself I'm sure). It is about how companies should stop trying to huckster their customers and prospects and start having real life conversations with them - using blogs. It explains why it will work, too, of course. Basically, human beings expect to be spoken with as human beings - not with sterile corporate-speak. Well, it sounds sensible to me. Companies who feel that their staff are too stupid to speak freely for them, I suppose, must think those same staff are too stupid to hold a normal conversation in their non-working lives too... And I imagine they think that their customers are too stupid to notice the plastic tone of authorized statements (which are also one-way communications and which are therefore largely ignored). Think about it. The solution is to allow the staff to blog freely...

OK, OK...

I know I haven't made a blog entry for a while now... but the writing is continuing, albeit slowly. I am up to about 21,500 words now anyway. So that is about 4,000 words in the last month. I would prefer it to be more, but life has to be dealt with too, sometimes (nothing too bad concerning me directly, fortunately).


As well as that, I have been enjoying the early Spring weather and taking photos, some of which can be seen at my Picasaweb Gallery, particularly in the Hampstead Heath and Flora and Fauna galleries. I have also begun attempting to upload photos to some commercial photography web sites to see if I can make a bit of money from my hobby. I might as well get some free money if I can, I suppose!

Katherine of Alexandria

Well, I had been thinking that I haven't been getting much writing done, but in fact, it is progressing at a reasonable pace overall - about 17,500 words done now. Maybe I could have done more by now, but I doubt it. Creativity cannot be forced without becoming mediocre, I think. To do my best, I must a) keep at it; and at the same time, b) not over-do it.

Like much of life, the trick is finding the right balance... the middle way.

Have I done more than I think?

I have done some 16,000 words or so now - in other words, about a quarter of my projected (guessed at) 60,000 word total. However, when I look at the script, it looks more like I'm nearer halfway through the story... or at least a third of the way through. Maybe it will be a novella rather than a novel. Anyway, there could be more room than I thought available for the non-fiction parts (movie trivia, historical notes and so on).

On another subject (slightly), I often listen to music when I am writing, unless I feel that it is distracting me or messing up the mood. According to this article, some scientists think music makes you smarter!

Well, that explains a lot... ;-)

Update

Have I really not written a blog entry since the beginning of the month? It seems like only a week or two. Hmm... well, I suppose it is only two weeks and a few days anyway.

Nevertheless, the writing continues. I have found that I have had more fly swatting to do and less time for writing, but that in fact it has not slowed me down by much. I am managing to do at least one scene a week as before, but in less time. I think that my system of trying to imagine the scenes in my head first - as movie scenes - simplifies the writing process for me. I get to sort out many of the details before I sit at the computer. I can go to a cafe somewhere and stare into space, and imagine my way through the scene.

This is similar to the way computer programs are to be written, some say. You only sit at the computer when you have already planned what you are going to write. If you try to write as you plan, you are likely to end up with chaos, or at least less efficient programs.

Fly Swatting

Sometimes it is just not possible to get on with what you want to do because dealing with life's distractions gets in the way. For example, this week I have done no writing on the book so far because, among other things, I have been figuring out how to approach literary agents. It is important in one sense, but it gets in the way of my current goal of writing too.

I call this kind of thing 'fly swatting.' Survival has to be dealt with, but it is in a sense an unimportant side-issue. What counts is not what we do to survive so much as what we can do that 'adds value' to life: the real business of life. All animals survive for their allotted span if all is reasonably well. Humans have the chance to do a little bit more. That little bit more is what makes a difference in the world.

Sometimes, some of the 'flies' can be more like hornets, but still they need to be swatted or, at worst, endured. And, like buses, they are perfectly capable of coming in threes! C'est la vie!

Thinking about getting an agent again

OK. I have written more, now up to an estimated 19.9%, at just under 12,000 words written. Agents seem to want around 20,000 to look at, but we need to get moving - plus, if I can get an advance from a publisher that would help production of the book considerably. And, agents all claim to be really choosy, going by the web sites I have seen - but then, if most applicants are rubbish, they would claim that, wouldn't they? Here we have a decent product and commercial prospect for them.

I doubt that I can write the book any faster, but I could do with an income... this year (and thereafter)! :-)

Another new scene?

Well, I am up to 11,000 words. The question is, do I need to create another new scene? I don't know. And, having done over 18% of my estimated total, all of a sudden the rest looks daunting! Sigh. At least it is Friday. I can spend the next couple of days considering the next scene. Back to the script, or is there something else that could be said?

17.2% and Counting

Well, even though I haven't written anything for the last few days (I have been planning and... er... procrastinating (a little)), today, the plans having been made, I wrote a whole load and have now done 17.2% of my estimated 60,000 words.

We shall see what tomorrow brings. I still have to complete this planned scene. I am not sure what will follow. The current scene is one that doesn't appear in the current version of the script and I have not decided whether I need to add another, or maybe even more, at this point. Such extras are tougher to plan than the normal ones of course since the script has been worked on for years already, whereas my extra bits are completely new. But in the book I can include extra detail and characterization that there isn't necessarily time for in a movie.

Another Scene Bites The Dust

Well, I didn't procrastinate again... or whatever it was. I wrote another thousand words or so and completed another scene. So it was worth the wait.

The next scene or two, I have decided, are going to be added onto this scene, continuing it for a while longer though. I have not written anything for the last two days since then though. I have been... er, procrastinating I suppose, or 'resting' anyway, and also reading some of the philosophers that Katherine would have known about - Marcus Aurelius and Seneca in particular. Socrates I already know about.

Procrastination?

Well... no writing so far. It is not that I have not felt like writing: instead, it is that I have felt like not writing. Is that the same thing? Normally, not feeling like writing I see as a non-feeling, so I just sit down and write. Today, I positively did not want to write. So, I suppose it is different.

However, maybe it is not so simple. I am aware - or I believe - that sometimes things need to be left alone for a time to allow the subconscious mind to do a bit of long-term processing on the data, separate from the conscious mind. Well, maybe that is it.

However... I notice a feeling too. A slightly daunted feeling. Now that feeling has 'procrastination' written all over it.

You see, I have planned out the next scene, playing the people's actions and the main protagonist's thoughts out in my head like I'm there, but instead of wanting to write it out quickly like last time to see it working, this time there's a feeling of, "let's not bother," or "it seems like so much to do," or something along these lines: I already know it will work. So now the idea is that since I know how it goes, why go to all the effort of writing it? These ideas look to me like my verbal mind playing tricks on me. The old inner demon working against me instead of for me, as per Don Miguel Ruiz's book, The Voice Of Knowledge.

Old habits die hard, don't they? :-)

OK, I will allow it to pass today. But two days in a row would definitely be procrastination, and that is not going to happen. The inner voice will need to find another excuse for tomorrow. I know from experience that that feeling - being rather daunted, tired, not wanting to bother - has been behind much procrastination in the past; but I am more alert to it these days.

The answer? Don't think. Sit down and write.

However, today I will rest. I will procrastinate a little. All things have their place. A little leeway, a little sympathy with myself, a gentle pat on the head and a rest can go further than forcing myself against those impulses too strongly. To push too hard would be to invite a counter-reaction. I must enjoy what I am doing. Force is the opposite of that. So I will give myself a break today.

Planning

I think the reason I was able to write the last scene so quickly was because I had planned it out in my head beforehand.

Normally, I just sit down and begin writing, but I find that it can be slow going because I get stuck at various points where things don't work out so well. But with that scene, I had gone over it many times in my imagination, running the scene many times like a movie and imagining the action and the dialogue, and even the thoughts. In that way, I had ironed out many of the wrinkles before I started - things like, who was to be the main protagonist (whose point of view would it be told from), what things were worth showing and what could be skipped, and so on.

So... I have been doing the same thing with the next scene. I only wrote a few words today. I have spent a lot of time, on and off during the day, imagining the scene and the things that are to be said and done. And whose point of view is to be primary. One point of view does help things to hang together, I think. In terms of the action, much of it stays the same, but the one point of view allows me to explore the thoughts and the character of this individual. As well as describing the action, the scene suddenly becomes a scene about that character. The reader learns more about this person than they would otherwise.

Katherine of Alexandria

Well, I got a fair bit of writing done this week. I am estimating the length of the completed novelization to be around 60,000 words, so I have done about 13% of it so far at 7,800 words (first draft only).

I don't think I will get very far with finding an agent until I have written more. I get the impression they will need around 20,000 words to read and assess before considering me seriously as a client. I guess they are busy people and get a lot of time-wasters contacting them.

I have been thinking about Katherine's philosophy somewhat this week. In a film, it is hard to show, except in short sound-byte style, but in a book it ought to be possible to expand on that considerably. However, at this stage I am not clear about how exactly I am going to do that. Instead, I am just continuing to write. I am not making a plan as such (given that I have the script, after all). But I may need to take a little time out to plan that aspect more carefully.

Revision

Yesterday rather than writing more, I went back over some of what I had already written to see what might need a bit of clarification, and to decide on some names for certain hitherto unnamed characters. Nevertheless it ended up with a couple more hundred words somehow, taking it over the 6000 words mark. I imagine therefore that I may have written some 10% of the novelization by now in that case, as 60,000 words is OK for a novel, just about. My feeling is that working to a script will tend to make the novelization short, since the plot of a movie cannot be too complicated. I am pondering this in the background: how much can I add? How much will characters' thoughts change things? I don't know. For now, I am inclined to just plough ahead, and maybe I will have to do some heavy revision later. Getting something down is, I think, the most important thing for now.

Today, I did no writing or anything, really, except watch all four episodes of Terry Jones' Barbarians, which is relevant to certain parts of the story. A friend read my coffee grounds (like reading tea leaves, but using Greek coffee) and told me I would reach my goals with slow and steady steps, or something along those lines, and that I was admired and trusted by many people and I deserved to be too. So there. ;-)