h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sure...but I'm *imagining* you naked.

And very immodest it is of you too. You hussy.

When golfers get MRIed, what is seen is that the part of the brain used to ruin a good walk gets smaller and smaller with practice. The same behaviour holds across all kinds of skills I think. Practice makes perfect, but it also means you're actually using fewer neurons to actually perform whatever it is you're doing.

Everyone is aware of getting 'in the zone'. If that's chi, well it's there, but I can't help but think brain activity is a better bet to explain the feeling than some kinda 'world force'.

Yes Pedro I agree there's some kinda rational brain thing going on...but, as this thread is as much about language, isn't it so much more poetical to say, 'the chi is there' or even 'the tide is high'

Sure, sure...but what it *means* is...

And I thought you were all for precision in language.

not when I'm having fun.

Hang loose mother goose... and I bet jwf knows that phrase

Indeed. We can provoke one another into a froth.

So returning to modesty...

Apart from revealing our genitalia...there's various other things we don't like to be seen doing in public. Defecation, for example. (although the Graeco-Romans were happy to defecate communaly - it was quite a social event, in fact. I've seen their communal bogs in Ephesus. They even shared a communal bum-wiping sponge.) Micturation, on the other hand...men seem happy to do it side by side...but not women. (Is this true? I've not been in many women's toilets. Would you feel comfortable leaving the door open?)

And I forget which culture I read about the other day which feels uneasy about eating in public.

Comments?








(Eek! I hope I don't come over as someone with an interest in skat. Nothing could be further than the truth!)

'In days of old/ When knights were bold/ And toilets weren't invented,/ They did their widdle in the middle of the road/ And walked off quite contented.'

Buy George!

I've been trying to think of a way to compliment kea on her postings over the past few days. Then I saw this which is exactly the opposite of what I was trying say about kea.

"...you maybe have understandings beyond the rational, but you are being very imprecise about it."

In the presence of such a goddess my tongue is tied but just so y'all won't have to work out the corollary of that statement to get my meaning let me just say she does have understanding beyond the rational and has the skills to make it meaningful to others. She will never know how much I have appreciated her ideas and the gentle way in which she has opened a lot of eyes to knew (sic) ways of knowing.
I shall await her blessing yon.


~jwf~

>> ...while a personal experience is a real phenomenon, the object of that real experience is not necessarily real. <<

Some people poo-poo The Twilight Zone, others merely enjoy the scripts and the fine acting, and some, some lucky few actually get to live there. And the very Special Ones get to do it on their own terms.

>> ...my personal 'spiritual' experiences because, frankly, they are effectively empty of meaning in any useful sense. <<

Except, as you may now be realizing, the act of communicating that thought changes the value of the experiences simply because the merest fact that they happened is now better known to a wider consciousness. At this point someone should say, "Tell us more." Or say, "Go on."

But we don't wanna rush you. Take a while to explore the grounds. Oh, and watch out for that cliff, eh. How many million buffalo gone off there? Six million was it?


~jwf~

>> Ah. I see what you've done here. You've gone and done and conflated Materialism with materialism. <<

'At's right Jethro. Y'think them young-uns will fall for it?

~jwf~

>> ...stretchy muscles and concentrating on which way I'm meant to be facing next. <<

Well just remember ancestors go before you and children follow after while our ancestors are behind us and children get in the way.
Perhaps economics plays a role in our perception of time.
Is it well spent for example?
Your posting was. Thanks.


~jwf~

TRiG offered us this from the Preface to The Picture of Dorian Grey:

>> From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician.
From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type. <<

Bloody Wilde could never resist a punishing pun.
I'm personally not very font of his type.
Oh he's right of course all actors think they can write.
Some even think they can sing.
I blame Shakespeare. And booze.


~jwf~

concerning your comments on Wilde, ~jwf~:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxXW6tfl2Y0





You, ~jwf~ are like a stream of bat's piss.

>> I am fully dressed.
Just in case you wanted to know. <<

I did.
It is comforting to know.

Oh and, so am I.
I would hope to think we all are.
And if not, then I suggest nudity or semi-nudity online
is relevant to the original topic. Thank you Stanley,
blessings be upon you. May your burka never bunch.


~jwf~

>> ...brain activity is a better bet to explain the feeling than some kinda 'world force'. <<


Yes.
But let's consider that as the brain concentrates and focuses, it is also instinctively monitoring the external whirled (sic). This is at the most instinctive, reflexive level, basic survival traits.

Then as we gain expertise through experience and experiment, the new activity requires fewer conscious mental resources, and we are again freed to experience that outside whirled more directly.

So it is possible that once we've heard the 'click' (as anahaga described the onset of unicycling ability) we can again tune into the outside forces to empower and refine our new skillsets.

Or not.
~jwf~

>> Hang loose mother goose... <<

And a one-hander for the gander?
The sound of one goose loosing
is all a little too zen for me.


~jwf~

Hang on...that had more than seventeen syllables!

To con-vey one's mood
In sev-en-teen syll-a-bles
Is ve-ry diff-ic...

I seem to have log-jammed the thread with last night's output but I just gotta tell anhaga how much I appreciated his link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxXW6tfl2Y0

I hadn't had a genuine laff-out-loud in several days and I surprised myself with several huge guffaws and a series of hearty chuckles. It is amazing how much good a burst real physical laughter can bring to the mind, body and spirit.

Thing is, I'd seen it before of course, maybe a couple of times, but always in the context of watching a whole show. To see it again, unexpected, in isolation, but in context of this discussion, brings a whole new perspective and appreciation. I was entirely focused and had none of my Python defenses primed or ready. I truly lost it. Thanks.


~jwf~