Finally finished watching The Social Network and am still reeling from wonder at the superlative intellect of the guy - and the sheer madness of what he did.
Amazing. And so I have had an evening of social networking - Facebook, twitter, now blogging. I have surfed and browsed and found some really cool stuff. I had my smile traced by my web cam and it will go down the line to some guy (or girl) at MIT to be analysed. The result of the smile test- I smile apparently.
I gave my husband an iPad (old one) for his birthday and he's already addicted. All night the two of us have been on our respective machines doing whatever.
This is becoming the world we live in - not the real world. What will happen and where will it all end? I'm having a Matrix moment....
What can the next 'big thing' possibly be? Connected tv is supposed to be - but that's been coming for years so it's not exactly a new thought.
When I spoke to some students the other day, I joked that the next big thing was reality - really meeting people, really talking to people and really living.
Is that a possibility or just a pipe dream?
BTW why is it that people who tweet and blog in particular have to describe themselves as something really pretentious? Usually involving words like zeitgeist - what's that all about? Pretentious? Moi? Mais non!
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Muddled words
Today I confused two perfectly innocent words: 'novellist' and 'novice'. They are similar. They even share 5 of their letters. And they do sound quite similar.
However their meanings are quite different. Quite dissimilar in fact. They are really not to be confused at all.
And yet I confused them. I didn't actually confuse them in print or while talking to someone. I was just trying to use 'novice' and I couldn't for the life of me recall the word - 'novellist' was stuck in my brain and no amount of shoving could move it.
I had to ask for help and it was immediately to hand - thankfully - so I didn't have to puzzle over something I knew that I knew - but yet didn't know, or at least not for long.
This whole episode got me worrying and wondering. Worrying that I might be going senile and wondering about the linkages in my brain that seemingly do still work perfectly well, to a greater degree.
Senility does scare me. I have nursed the senile demented while working at Cornhill Hospital and, in the lowly position I occupied, the indignity and horror of losing one's mind was all too unpleasantly apparent. I loved working there. But it was not rewarding in the sense of making a difference. The basic work that I did, as the lowest level on the Nursing rung, kept the patients clean and fed and that's about it. Interaction was minimal, attempted though it was. The horror for me now, remembering those days, is in the sheer number of people afflicted and so disabled. The mind is not just the body's soul but the body's engine too. By losing it you lose who and what you are.
Research into this frightful disease is finding new causes and treatments all the time and there is hope for the near miss baby boomers like me. In another decade or two there might be real progress, just in the nick of time for yours truly.
Meantime, I'll have to practice my words. Maybe I should do some homework on a number of words a night - like they do (or did) in primary school to broaden vocabulary, or in my case, to attempt to preserve it.
I do hope I am not going senile. Although really to be pragmatic - I probably will. Meantime I'll keep taking the Ginko Biloba and Omega 3 and hope to keep it at bay until they discover how to prevent it for good!
However their meanings are quite different. Quite dissimilar in fact. They are really not to be confused at all.
And yet I confused them. I didn't actually confuse them in print or while talking to someone. I was just trying to use 'novice' and I couldn't for the life of me recall the word - 'novellist' was stuck in my brain and no amount of shoving could move it.
I had to ask for help and it was immediately to hand - thankfully - so I didn't have to puzzle over something I knew that I knew - but yet didn't know, or at least not for long.
This whole episode got me worrying and wondering. Worrying that I might be going senile and wondering about the linkages in my brain that seemingly do still work perfectly well, to a greater degree.
Senility does scare me. I have nursed the senile demented while working at Cornhill Hospital and, in the lowly position I occupied, the indignity and horror of losing one's mind was all too unpleasantly apparent. I loved working there. But it was not rewarding in the sense of making a difference. The basic work that I did, as the lowest level on the Nursing rung, kept the patients clean and fed and that's about it. Interaction was minimal, attempted though it was. The horror for me now, remembering those days, is in the sheer number of people afflicted and so disabled. The mind is not just the body's soul but the body's engine too. By losing it you lose who and what you are.
Research into this frightful disease is finding new causes and treatments all the time and there is hope for the near miss baby boomers like me. In another decade or two there might be real progress, just in the nick of time for yours truly.
Meantime, I'll have to practice my words. Maybe I should do some homework on a number of words a night - like they do (or did) in primary school to broaden vocabulary, or in my case, to attempt to preserve it.
I do hope I am not going senile. Although really to be pragmatic - I probably will. Meantime I'll keep taking the Ginko Biloba and Omega 3 and hope to keep it at bay until they discover how to prevent it for good!
Sunday, 20 March 2011
The cats are happy
The cats are happy because the sun is out and when the sun is out I go out too and when I go out they come with me and that makes them happy!
I have been pottering in the garden with two of the boys for company. The third is on the bed cuddled up in the cushions in the sun. Barney is bonkers. He seems to have had a surge of hormones lately - a 14 year-old cat with a bit of a mission....but no anatomy with which to perform the deed. What's that all about?
Clouseau is a human in a cat's body, I'm convinced. His meows and purrs are so expressive and he is so chatty, I think his conversations are pretty grown up for a two year old. I have lovely long chats with him and he seems to agree with everything I say, just about.
Kato is the gentle one, silent and cuddly with soft and fluffy fur. You would hardly know he was there.
I should really go back out to tidy up and take in the washing. The husband (MLC or mid life crisis) is off out on his motor bike.
I don't get motor bikes really....I think it is a man thing - although there are plenty biker chicks out there. I don't even think I would have been bothered 30 years ago. But I am happy that he has a hobby - expensive and life threatening though it is!
Next week will be pretty busy at work - lots to do and less people to do it. I'm just grateful that I do have a job right now. Soon time for a holiday and a bit of r and r in Miami.
I've booked gig tickets for a couple of concerts coming up - British Pink Floyd tour in May and Greg Alman in July. Made me think of gigs I have been to in my life. I don't think I could even remember them all. One in particular that is annoying the hell out of me is a trip to Max's Kansas City in 'the village' in NYC in either 72 or 73 - more likely 73. I remember being there, but can't for the life of me remember who I went to see. It might have been someone really famous - but nope, not a memory.
Ah well, that's the 70s for you.
 |
| Kato and Clouseau |
 |
| Kato and Clouseau |
 |
| Barney |
Kato is the gentle one, silent and cuddly with soft and fluffy fur. You would hardly know he was there.
 |
| All three boys! |
I don't get motor bikes really....I think it is a man thing - although there are plenty biker chicks out there. I don't even think I would have been bothered 30 years ago. But I am happy that he has a hobby - expensive and life threatening though it is!
Next week will be pretty busy at work - lots to do and less people to do it. I'm just grateful that I do have a job right now. Soon time for a holiday and a bit of r and r in Miami.
I've booked gig tickets for a couple of concerts coming up - British Pink Floyd tour in May and Greg Alman in July. Made me think of gigs I have been to in my life. I don't think I could even remember them all. One in particular that is annoying the hell out of me is a trip to Max's Kansas City in 'the village' in NYC in either 72 or 73 - more likely 73. I remember being there, but can't for the life of me remember who I went to see. It might have been someone really famous - but nope, not a memory.
Ah well, that's the 70s for you.
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