The only thing we ever do.

 "The only way we can begin to try to understand anything better is by asking+checking." If that statement is true, then you might think that it might be widely accepted, that, say, asking+checking practice for stidents might be eagerly accepted with open arms.  You would be wrong. Traditionally, no culture, no education system, makes any formal effort to encouage, practice, test, or grade asking+checking. The reason for this is very simple: any unjust power structure must inhibit communication, to a lesser or greater extent, in order to protect itself. Consequently, what we end up accepting is a world where understanding things better has no common currency, so that questions people should naturally have been asking in their schooldays bubble up years later. And because we lack practice with questions, just asking one and getting an explanation that is novel can be a profoundly moving experience : "What if the moon landing was a hoax?" The following is my answer to

      I exhibited Martian elephants, at the pleasure grounds        where the bands and circus played.       No clowning for us, but a great feat of science,       from dream to plan, with tool and appliance,       some 25 years of traveling in place,       then a carbon-based Elevator to take us to space.       Geodesic dome-home and dust-devil friends,       six-eighty days (or a year) (it depends).       Then found them! and quickly discussed guest disgust:       No hunting, no chains; their family united,       no cages at all, for they were invited.       Between worlds we flew, and, taking our cue,       planetary break, from red on to blue        Greatest Show on Earth! The posters went up.       One time only! A mile from this station!       Free parking, free programmes, three groats a head,       fifty pence extra to see them all fed!       St John, Old Bill, and The Queen's PCA,       Sol with his hat on, to brighten the day.        Pleasure to share miracle existence!  

col·lage   (kō-läzh′, kə-) n. 1. a. An artistic composition of materials and objects pasted over a surface, often with unifying lines and color. b. A work, such as a literary piece, composed of both borrowed and original material      What?                                                                                                     Which.....?                                             What kind of....?                        Who?               Where? Whose?     How?   Why ?            To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour                                                                                    - William Blake               The astonishing worlds and heavens and infinities of human  la

“We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers Deny us for our good; so find we profit By losing of our prayers.”                 “Finish, good lady; the bright day is done, And we are for the Dark. ” ― William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra   Cleopatra, a cowboy, then....screaming!       Presented with this information, how does the brain deal with it? Necessarily, the brain must deal with it as it does with all information:                                 Information -------------> Idea        Consequently, you might sort it out like this:                        Cleopatra   --------------> Queen Of Egypt                        A cowboy   --------------> Tom Mix                       Screaming! --------------> Expressing a strong emotional state         And then, in an example of the fundamentally creative aspect of basic communication, our brains start to fill in the blanks, to describe and e

        "Not everything that is more difficult is more meritorious"                                                                                          Thomas Aquinas        Michael Jackson's mortal remains are reportedly buried in an unmarked grave at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood. Probably. Because there were other reports that he had been cremated.        Perhaps surprisingly and certainly disappointingly, there were no reports that he had worked his way out of his tomb to perform formation dancing along with other residents of the cemetery.        Otherwise, and somewhat inevitably, there are people who insist that Mr Jackson isn't dead at all.        In fact, I do not wish to argue over the final resting place of one famous person's bones, nor do I intend to offer evidence to prove that the singing star faked his own death and now lives out his days happily under an alias. What I would actually like to do is to exhume the skel