The only thing we ever do.

I bet they wished they hadn't bothered.       Hitler, like you or me, had a brain that operated in the same basic way as any ; that is to say, on the most basic principle of: Information -------------------> Idea. For example, presented with the information of the movie poster above, you would probably envisage Nazi scientists gathered around a tank* of fluid, in which is kept alive the titular thinking organ. You would, however, be wrong:                                                                    They saved Hitler's head and shoulders.              ...

       “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...