a bloody long way

a swim lots and have been kept track of the combined distance since july 06 and i found a site recently which has, as the crow flies, distances between cities

so far the distance i've swum is 9km short of the distance between Leicester and Amsterdam 246 miles

dreams

i woke up suddenly, quite early for me, from a dream

there was a riddle, it was all -- Left or Right?

But the underlying riddle was:--

What is the ultimate goal of any quest or adventure?

the answer in the dream was HOME and therefore right

it may seem a little trite but I still like it as apart from anything else it reminds me of The Odyssey - Ithaca - or win the girl, the gold, slay Grendel et al and go home -- maybe the quest is for a better home like pioneers - in Lord of the Rings Frodo leaves as the hero but it is really Sam who left as a comic fool who changes, returns home a hero, and finds home

Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship,
My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip,
My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels
To be wanderin'.
I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go under it.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Though you might hear laughin', spinnin', swingin' madly across the sun,
It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facin'.
And if you hear vague traces of skippin' reels of rhyme
To your tambourine in time, it's just a ragged clown behind,
I wouldn't pay it any mind, it's just a shadow you're
Seein' that he's chasing.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind,
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

copyleft

i've just downloaded the potentially free new Radiohead album In Rainbows and paid 8.99 plus 45p for the card transaction

an economist would call that irrational

to me i call it honour and giving something back to artists who have given me work -- art -- over the years which has meant a tremendous amount to me

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood."

T.Roosevelt

Beauty Addicts : How toxic are you

i'm watching a completely ludicrious program which keeps talking about chemicals versus plant extracts as if plant extracts weren't made of chemicals; as if man made chemicals means toxin; as if plant extract means safe ( obviously "natural" means safe which is complete non-sense)

it would be good if people used less chemicals on their skin; some chemicals are harmful; some aren't -- a man made chemical that has been used for 20 years is likely to be safer than some hardly tested plant extract

bio-degradable is good -- having a smaller enviromental footprint is good

but stop with this chemicals= man made = bad

plant extracts are natural and somehow aren't made if chemicals (what exactly are they made of "floaty fluffy things" = good

i feel like i'm watching anti-science propaganda

Nobel

Nobel prize for Doris Lessing

huzzah

i enjoy swimming and my times are improving and my technique has improved but it set a certain perspective when yesterday Ruth who is 9 months pregnant and due next week was still faster than me ( she was always much faster than me and she was taking rests but then she would soon catch me up and i would stop at one end to let her overtake) *amused*

Ghost in the Shell * * *

Ghost in the Shell by Shirow Masamune

the first graphic novel i've ever read

rather good and some lovely artwork but rather tortuous plotting
SPOILERS AFTER CUT

First Among Sequels * * * *

First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

excellent -- whilst the Nursery Crime novels are good this is a return to form
SPOILERS AFTER CUT

Sputnik

Happy Birthday to the Space Age which is 50 today