The only thing we ever do.

       “he met with the Devill, and cheated him of his Booke, wherein were written all the Witches names in England, and if he looks on any Witch, he can tell by her countenance what she is .” ― Matthew Hopkins, The Discovery of Witches and Witchcraft: The Writings of the Witchfinders          The Whichfinder specific: MACA*             Matthew Hopkins  the famous hunter of witches in 17th century England was, like all of his kind, very sure of his own ideas. He knew what he was looking for and had the necessary methods to achieve his goal. In his own specific way, he was doing what any of us do generally. For, at the most basic level, we must all deal with information to arrive at our ideas.     The most basic way our brains organise  information  is like this**  (Whether ye be Matthew ...

Is that a hat?                                                 I teach English at various schools and colleges in Japan. In one of these places, there is a text-book for beginners that offers the following example:                   Ken: Is that a hat?                   Mary:  No, it isn't. It is a scarf.     My question is: How useful is this example? Does any normal human being often use this question? Or is it the kind of question that is only used in very rare circumstances- maybe if you are The Earl of Carnarvon  exploring Tutenkhamen's tomb, or pos...

When I was young enough to be sat in school within glancing distance of a small library space that was dominated by a Miffy Wendy house# and contained, in my opinion, far too many Miffy books, yet just old enough to be offended that people would think that I would want to read about Miffy; the cover of one book spoke louder than all of those that surrounded it and thoroughly intrigued me.     The title of this book was: Jonah and the Whale.     Of course, this title referred to the famous Bible story, but at that age (maybe I was five or six) I don't think I knew of it. What I did know was what a whale was: a massive fish*, and that Jonah was someone's name, probably because of Ken Reid's comic character: Jonah . Jonah- not the Biblical one     So, the book's cover was something that drew my interest because, I wondered, why did the cover show an illustration of a man sitting under a tree? It was similar to this: Jonah...and... somet...

Something from Nothing            The 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke tells the story of a man sent to prison for drunkenly decapitating parking meters. The main character, played by Paul Newman, is a decorated military veteran who, much to the amazement of the prison Captain, came out of the army the same rank he went in as: buck private.              The governer, this man in authority and pillar of society, wonders what to make of this cheek to the natural order, this flagrant...   The natural order , like any information, can be connected to any number of ideas. If you have done well in one particular system it is only natural for your internal dialogue to result in the scaffolding of one's ego: I have earned my place rightfully and truly, I deserve my rewards.   The uncomfortable nature of an alternative reality where men might follow other gods must be...