The story of the hummingbird

One day the great forest began to burn. All the animals fled in terror before the great fire. They ran to the edge of the water and cowered in fear. The tiny humming bird looked about and went to the water and sucked up as much as he could and flew to the fire and spit the water out onto the flames.

Back and forth he flew all day carrying drops of water while the other animals watched. Finally one of the animals said, “What are you doing tiny hummingbird? You are too small to make a difference.”

And the hummingbird replied, “I’m doing what I can. What are you doing?”

5 books that have influenced my world view

By no means is this list exhaustive or even definitive and are listed in no particular order:

• Stolen Continents, by Ronald Wright - For me, this is the Rashomon of Books but better, because it’s not an imagined story, it’s a bunch of real events. What this book taught me is that perspective is everything. Everything. You always have to consider the source of information - and the potential motive - if you want to have any chance at getting to your truth. That is, the truth from your perspective. There is no "the truth" except for the driest of dry facts.

• A Short history of Progress, also by Ronald Wright - Yeah this guy has had some influence on me. This book told me two things. First, that there is no such thing as progress without a clearly defined objective or end point. Everything else is merely change. The second thing that it told me is that I live in a global society that is on the downside. It consumes more resources than it produces with ever more of those resources concentrated among the elite. In the past, over and over again, these have been two sure signs of imminent collapse. Imminent on a different scale than a mere lifetime. Will collapse come my lifetime? No one knows the future.

• Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley - Scariest book I’ve ever read. Most people think of fascism as the “hard coercion” exemplified by Orwell’s 1984 but I see the “soft coercion” of the BNW every day. For a book written in the 1930’s there are just too many elements that are too similar to the modern world for me. I’m not saying that we are living in the BNW today but based on the time line of the book we’re on track to get there. It only got worse when I listened to a lecture by Huxley from the 1970's about how the science of psychology had determined that "soft coercion" was quantifiably much more effective than "hard coercion". More flies with honey...

• The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff - I’ve read more than a few books on religion and philosophy but this one is by far the most brilliant. The characters of the hundred acre wood were well known to me and to see Taoist philosophy explained through their actions from the original stories was great. It made me a fan of the adventure that is the river of life. Which is to say this book gave me my framework for interpreting the universe I live in. (The key is to not get bogged down in the details.)

• Hearts of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad - This is a different kind of river, the book being better than any of the movie adaptations of the theme. I would have to say that this work of fiction more than any other resonates with what I have seen as human nature. Social distance matters more than anyone wants to admit.

Depressed?

Are you depressed? Mildly dissatisfied? If so, I'd like to ask you to participate in a non-scientific study in 2012 and grow a garden. Vegetables are preferable but flowers will do and for apartment dwellers even some window boxes would help.

I was recently reading through some back issues of Psychology Today magazine (seriously) and I came across an article about the magic of soil. But it wasn't very magical since it was all science stuff. The article was talking in mostly layman's terms (which is why its a good magazine) about some studies done on the effect of gardening on mood. Everyone already knows gardening makes people happy so they were asking the why/how?

In a nutshell, soil that is rich in organic matter is also rich in mycobacterium and these mycobacterium have the same effect on the human brain as prozac type drugs. So when you work in garden soil you end up inhaling these mycobacterium and it makes you feel better. And all along I thought it was just the moral satisfaction of honest work but no, it’s actually just chemistry.

So anyway, plant a garden or expand your current one and let me know if you feel any better at the end of the season. Pictures of your garden and harvest (if applicable) would also be appreciated.

Smart or not so smart?

In preparation for my new year of restraint I waited three weeks before indulging in my Fuller's 2011 Vintage Ale. I don't know if it was my extended wait time (I normally wait three days) increasing the anticipation but this year's brew was definitely the best since I've been sampling them. that would be 2005. Now I wish I'd bought another :(

The first serious mistake of the new year came yesterday. Me and the Boss took a Smart fourtwo pure for a test drive. I've been ogling these tiny little cars since I first saw them in Spain in 2002 but they seem like a second car for someone like myself. I really can't see hauling the Tigress up to Algonquin or Killarney on top of one of them. Though it would force me to pack light.... But with the Boss and I having a pick-up truck a second car is what it would be. While I still love my Sugar the Boss is not so keen as she doesn't like the manual transmission. Or the broken AC in the summer months.

So we are considering changing up the car part of our two car household for something she can drive that's easy on the gas. We were considering the diesel model of the Smart but they apparently don't sell them anymore as people found them underpowered at 46 HP. Which is bout the HP of Beatrice but then, she never goes on the 401.

Anyway the Smart Car is awesome and now I want one more than ever. At the price range for an off lease model the other cars we are looking to test drive will have to be pretty super to have a shot.

2019 already?

204 pounds, 23% body fat adds up to a metabolic age of 46. Starting 2012 I’m cheating myself out of a potential 7 years of life.

So while I don’t make new years resolutions I am going to have to do something about this in 2012. I’ve got lots of ideas - a return to hot yoga, running, weights etc. combined with a ketogenic diet transitioning into modified paleo but the real new weapon against obesity is my new paper notebook.

The 2012 plan is to record every penny that slips through my grubby paws. One of the negative aspects of modern urban living is that money seems to evaporate. I suspect that far too much of it goes to connivence food and i want to find out.

The factors in favour are that I (hopefully) get to kill two birds with one stone - get healthier and save more escape money. And for me focussing on my inner miser should be easier than my inner health nut.