Quick checkin to say that I really am doing fine. These things may come and go. And that’s fine. I can at times observe them as a spectator, try to work through it, or get devoured by it completely. None of them dangerous. I know that. So don’t worry! When I write about these things it’s mostly because I’m tired of it, saddened, but not afraid. But you’re sweet for saying. Sweet for asking.
Working on a project with the first and the little one at the moment, which makes me happier than most things in life. Work and purpose.. Never underestimate. I do however spend a lot of time here.
Which body part do you think that sinking whole in the middle made though? My ass? I’m not that short. Elbow whilst wobbling out of there? Discuss.
Other than that I had a great weekend free of discomfort. Now looking forward to easter. I predict lots of lamb meat (yes I am one of those not ashamed to say I still eat and love meat. (I only eat it a couple of times a week though -hold your vegan alternative horses.!!)) and bubbles. Because bubbles goes with everything and don’t you let anyone tell you otherwise.
Well that’s good then Viktoria, thanks for letting us know.
The hollow?
1.Maybe it’s the Mohorivicic (Mohorovikik) Discontinuity? You don’t want one of those under your bed (well, it is really and under everything else as well)!
2. Tea Pot Stand?
3. Foot impressions from jumping trampoline style on the bed?
It’s good to be busy with a project whilst we are all trying to dodge ‘The little man from the village’…..(I do hope it was not Norwegian canned/tinned salmon)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoBTsMJ4jNk
I don’t know if you saw the UK (& Commonwealth of course) Queen’s speech the other day….funny how she mentioned the words of a song from 80 years ago that hits the spot in our current crisis. Don’t suppose ‘The Little One’ would entertain singing Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll Meet Again’…..Oh well……..
Peter (‘Keep smiling through’). 🙂
“Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?..” (Pink Floyd) 🙁
Well done Vladimir. Takes me back to a mad dash in a Land Rover with some friends after work in 1980 to see Pink Floyd in London. They built….then demolished a huge wall in front of us! What a show (guess it was probably Earls Court).
R.I.P. Vera Lynn.
Best regards, Peter.
(I think I will have to be careful what I write here in future as it seems to ‘prompt’ things to happen)!
Well done Vladimir. Takes me back to a mad dash in a Land Rover with some friends after work in 1980 to see Pink Floyd in London. They built….then demolished a huge wall in front of us! What a show (guess it was probably Earls Court).
R.I.P. Vera Lynn.
Best regards, Peter.
(I think I will have to be careful what I write here in future as it seems to ‘prompt’ things to happen)!
To my shame I listened to ‘We’ll meet again’ only after she passed away. I heard the news about Vera Lynn and recalled the Pink Floyd song. In early 90ies, when Soviet Iron Curtain fell down, CDs became available, and VCRs also. So, my computer science teacher introduced me Pink Floyd. In CD quality! Wow! And then we watched “The Wall” movie on a VCR. Wow! 🙂 Nostalgia. Post-soviet 90ies were interesting times. But… not everybody did survive. 🙂
And in 1980 it was deep soviet reality. (They say. I was just 2 years old). 🙂 But… underground soviet rock-n-roll began to appear already in those times. DDT, Kino, Aquarium, Alisa, etc. And some smart american woman Joanna Stingray began to supply soviet rock underground with musical instruments and sound devices. Illegally. And then she smuggled illegal soviet rock recordings back to USA and published them there. 🙂 And she sent a copy to M.Gorbachov and R.Reagan (USSR and USA presidents). 🙂 Pink Floyd was also illegal in those times. But… still people found ways to listen to it. 🙂 On illegal copies, in bad quality, but still. 🙂
How sad that despite our personal efforts, the ‘powers that be’ in the world, even now, have not learned the BBC Motto ‘Let Nation Speak Peace Unto Nation’.
Sadly I am not aware of any Russian bands, we do get a slight flavour in Eurovision perhaps.
The wonderful thing about Pink Floyd is that they are great to lie in a darkened room listening to.
I am very privileged to live close to Cambridge and last year cycled through ‘Grantchester Meadows’ where Byron went swimming in his pool and Rupert Brooke asked ‘-and is there honey still for tea’? The streets where Newton could be seen floating along until he discovered gravity and Rutherford spent many a long hour with his friends, a magnifying glass and very sharp knife trying to slice an atom in half.
Where Wordsworth learned to ‘float like a cloud’ and Darwin showed his sympathy and appreciation of Mother Nature by ‘blasting ‘ every living creature he could find with a shot-gun before riding around the world on a Beagle.
Until recently Stephen Hawking could be seen trundling about in his electric wheelchair surrounded by a merry band of students and where Crick & Watson discovered that DNA was just AND spelt backwards (I think it is the case in places other than Cambridge as well).
Where Monty Python were illuminated by ‘The Foot Lights’ and Jecelyn Bell Burnell fell in love with some ‘Little Green Men’.
Yes, all these places were familiar to Pink Floyd (and the old Vicarage at Therfield where we used to cycle to as teenagers in the hope of seeing them come or go)…..
🙂
The dimple in the bed? I guess you sleep alone, so I can’t give you an answer …. I don’t know …… in the picture you are really nice, it will be thanks to the lamb ….
sounds good ! if you give the the self-relaxing method next time a try, tell me whats happening…i mean not the literally picture-story of it, but i think it is the most neuronal active thing we can do, so my hypothesis is that it has the potential to interrupt vortexes… like pardox intervention in kommunikationvortexes… whatever 😀
i think i have an idea whats happen in the bed 😉
https://images.app.goo.gl/icYw6iTJnWXZQpGV7
greetings to the coppola gang ! 😉
cheers mark
I am really curious if there will be a book? I really enjoy your choice of words…
Hi, I have been reading your blog (at least the lattest entries) and was wondering to myself how much we can/cannot know someone just by what they write (about themselves or other topics). I quite like the idea of a blog, it’s not very common these days of fast picture or tweet communication. I like it as it allows more freedom for one to express themselves by writing.
What I am left wondering is what and who we are actually? Are we the moment we describe in perfection even if in a long blog entry? Or is that only a really big Macro photograph, and when we zoom out we get to realize that it has nothing to do with the bigger Picture of what we are? Maybe we never really get to know ourselves… Maybe I am not what I think I am, I most definitelly am not only what others think I am, but maybe both? Or maybe none of that…
But actually, what I wanted to say, is that I liked reading (some part of?) you here. Despite the fact that reading this from a perfect stranger might be weird. But oh well, there are multiple ways of connection I guess, so on my part, thank you for the sharing 🙂
I hope you will forgive me Margarida for commenting but I too have been wondering just how well we can know somebody else or indeed ourselves.
That is what I like about Viktoria’s blogs; she ‘throws stones in ponds’ and we can perhaps all be ‘bobbed’ by the ripples and maybe throw stones of our own (just little ones).
I view it that as we are told that the Universe is infinite, how can we know how we would behave encountering anything or every situation in it?
Add to that, Mr Einstein who told us that not only have I not been born but that I am also already dead; Isaac Newton who (with the inappropriate use of a bodkin) deduced that all the people and things I love are illuminated by rainbow light (as well as spoiling all our fun by inventing gravity), all the discoveries that Mr Darwin made partly with his musical worms and the strange paradoxes that would result from Erwin Shrodinger’s magical cat box (and you certainly wouldn’t entrust your marmalade cat Sherekhan to him whilst you went on holiday (though I have had well meaning neighbours do worse without a magical cat box, in the past)).
So no, I do not think we can fully know ourselves, we cannot fully know others and we cannot fully know our surroundings or even the nature of the physical existence we ‘occupy’ (in whatever capacity ????).
Just goes to show that it is not only music that ‘pings’ the tines of the ‘tuning fork’ and engender resonances (oh, that sounds a bit ‘grand’ doesn’t it?) !
Kindest regards,
The Late Peter (in arriving or going)? 🙂
Hi Peter! 🙂
I do not mind your reply at all! On the contrary, I appreciate it very much 🙂
It is interesting that you have been thinking about the same thing. It has definitely been on my mind lately. I found specially interesting your remark about how we cannot know our behaviour in any situation that can come our way, as we for sure will never experience all the possible situations that can happen…
I like how Viktoria wonders about so many things and is able to express herself here freely 🙂
At the same time, we ourselves have kind of an idea of who we are really, and usually go and act according to that. But what if we act differently this one time? Who are we then? Can it be that we truly can be or become something else entirely? Or are we already “something else” and we just don’t know it?
It has been on my mind. Still trying to figure it out…
Nice to “meet” you Peter 🙂
Hello Margarida !! 🙂
Thank you in turn for your reply; very nice to hear from you.
(I remember a time when such things were discussed in hushed, relaxed tones by the side of a crackling camp fire or committed to crisp white sheets of writing paper, folded into an envelope, foreign stamped and eagerly awaited…….).
I don’t like to know of anybody ‘burdened’ by the weight of Wordsworth’s ‘mystery of the world’ and it seems a good idea to try and share the burden…..
In one of my earlier comments to one of Viktoria’s pieces, I was writing about our Environmental impact and how it possibly all started to go wrong from when the first flint was knapped. Given that if we were to re-run history from that point, would the conclusion be any different? Would we still find ourselves in the current ‘Climate Change (etc)’ situation.
Personally I think we would because the same Natural things would happen at the same times and humans would react to them in the same way based on the same methodologies.
There is no truly random decision making going on. The human race has an ‘idea of ‘who’ it is.
Well, that is all very well when looked at in a logical way but I think this turns out to be a bit of ‘a two pipe problem’ and perhaps we should ask Viktoria to get out her scissors and sewing equipment because we need her to fashion some ideas from the fabric of spacetime.
We are told that if we think we understand Quantum Theory then we really don’t.
Shrodinger’s magic cat box and the famous ‘Double Slit Experiment’ and Einstein’s ideas of time (Causality Loops) hint that when it comes to decisions, we are all probably a bit like Byron (‘Mad, bad and dangerous to know’)….not our fault; look (go to 9.57 please).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ztlIAYTCU
Very strange if our future can also influence our past…
Does that help you or should I put another log on the camp fire (I have some Marshmallows somewhere)?
What do you think Margarida?
Kindest regards,
Peter.
(It’s the ‘wondering’ that makes it so much fun)! 🙂
I think we will need a lot of logs in the camp fire for this conversation 😅
Just to focus in one small part of it, do you think that we really do not have a choice in our behaviour? From your worlds relating to the way that Humanity would not be able to sheer away from provoking climate change, it seems like you do not believe in our ability to choose, o did I understand this incorrectly? That is very depressing for me. I always believed (or wanted to believe) that we can choose our own way and that decisions are not only dependent on what has happened to us in the past (not going into that “future affects our past” idea now as it is still too confusing for me…)
If we cannot choose, what is thr point of it all?
😐
I think we will need a lot of logs in the camp fire for this conversation 😅
Just to focus in one small part of it, do you think that we really do not have a choice in our behaviour? From your worlds relating to the way that Humanity would not be able to sheer away from provoking climate change, it seems like you do not believe in our ability to choose, o did I understand this incorrectly? That is very depressing for me. I always believed (or wanted to believe) that we can choose our own way and that decisions are not only dependent on what has happened to us in the past (not going into that “future affects our past” idea now as it is still too confusing for me…)
If we cannot choose, what is thr point of it all?
😐
Hello Margarida.
Yes, we would need a lot of logs I think (and if we are very quiet though, Viktoria won’t know we are here) look, there is a whole forest though.
Yes, I am prepared to accept that what happens at the theoretical atomic level may be different to what we actually experience….there are a lot of theories out there at the moment. (We do know that time is dilated though (Look up the effects of General Relativity on the G.P.S. system for example).
We can of course make up our minds about how we live our lives and the decisions we make (though obviously this is limited by what is actually possible, our rulers and public conventions, etc.), but in the case of Climate Change for example; the reasons we got to the point we are now at, were dictated by what was desirable, what was government and business policy and what was physically possible in the past.
For example, in daily life, do I first feed the cat or make myself a cup of tea in the morning? Do I go to work or stay at home etc., etc.
Various factors will dictate which of those things I do (me not having a cat might be a problem 🙁 ) and if I were to re-run the same day many times, the same reasons would exist for doing the same things over and over again in the same order, so every day would be exactly the same as the previous day.
A ‘new’ ‘fresh’ day would have fresh reasons for doing these things, different choices and possibly yet more choices, so that would be, or could be conducted very differently.
I think that with regard to everything that is in the news at the moment, the lack of economic growth, Climate Change, Environmental Degradation of the seas/planet and even space and the current health issues etc.; the governments of the World are all (as we say in England) ‘flogging a dead horse’ (*) not only are they doing that because it is all they know how to do, but the ‘horse and cart’ are pointing in the wrong direction anyway. (* I cannot condone being cruel to similes or metaphors in any way for the record).
Our big problem is in knowing which direction to head, what is physically possible and persuading people that the future direction is the right way to go (ideally without finding there is another unintended consequence further down the line (sadly that’s what usually happens)).
As for ‘what is the point of it all’, well that’s where we touch upon such things as the ‘Strong’ and ‘Weak’ (a bit like tea and coffee, I imagine) Anthropic Principles and much, much more….
Peter 🙂
Hi Peter! 🙂
To continue this very pleasant campfire conversation, and specifically refering to the environmental issues that we are dealing with, I understand what you are saying. And that brings me to the dicotomy between the individual action, the sum of individual actions and the “community” action (I am using community here in a broader sense).
I think mostly the problem might be that we think in small scale. It is very difficult to be able to think in things when they are in a really big scale. This happens with space, money or really big measures, so it might be difficult to think in a “world” scale for instance…
At the same time, for this and other subjects of “improvement” for us humans, the idea of an energy network of humans, where we are actually all conected may help. A thinking of true unity, not only amongst ourselves but also with the Earth, Nature, beings, not beings, whatever you would like to call it 🙂
This is something that we may aspire to, and although maybe we cannot change our actions if we were to repeat the exact same situation when it happened, we can definitelly change the future ahead of us 🙂
I am curious about “strong” and “weak” notions that you mention at the end of your post 🙂
Margarida
Hello Margarida.
Yes this is very pleasant….also a bit like coming through the door and thumping something down on the table and saying ‘look what I found on my walk this morning’ and then discussing all the ‘whys and wherefores’ of the curious, mystery object.
Starting at the end (which is always the best way to proceed (?)); my understanding of the ‘Weak’ and ‘Strong’ Anthropic Principle(s) is/are as follows.
The ‘weak’ theory is the reason why we (self regarded) intelligent beings are here in this Universe is just a fluke. 🙁
The ‘strong’ theory is the reason why we (self regarded) intelligent beings are here in the Universe is so (perhaps as it’s culmination, who knows what comes next), it can ‘know’ ITSELF. 🙂
Bertrand Russell, in an essay entitled ‘In Praise of Idleness’ discussed the human dream of automation. The possibility of giving all the tiresome work to the machines whilst that left the money earned by the machines labours to be divided equally between us humans to enhance all our lives.
Very sadly though, he pointed out that what actually happens is that the machines are used to force the earning capacity of the remaining workers down, leading to poverty whilst concentrating wealth in the hands of the already powerful by increasing productivity.
And with the machines that organise and message us, that has (current conversation excluded) presented us with what is known as ‘Future Shock’ (Alvin Toffler).
Stress and tiredness trying to keep up with all the information streams flowing in our direction (You know, esnails, Faceboot, TokTik, Instagran, Titter and the like).
Yes, as you observe; I think our salvation lies in the ‘Strong’ Anthropic’ direction; indeed, we are discovering that there is a massive environmental cost, a huge physical and mental health cost in carrying on as we have in the past, and if I were honest (that’s debatable), I think I start to detect in the human psyche, the inkling of a slight suspicion in always acquiring things will bring us true happiness and fulfilment.
Maybe one day humanity might be content and fulfilled in realising that we are the way in which the Universe can know itself.
Perhaps (getting all ‘Hippy’) the word we use a lot, ‘Love’ is the key. We use it a lot but do we know what it really means? Do we take it to mean understanding and accepting others by understanding and accepting ourselves? If we achieve all this ‘understanding and accepting’, do we then stand a chance of fully understanding ‘The Universe’ and accepting our place in it?
Perhaps my little piece should be rounded off with the words of Teilhard de Chardin (‘God’ can mean whatever you want it to mean).
‘The day will come when, after harnessing the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of Love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire’.
Peter 🙂
Hi Peter! 🙂
I have to say, I really like the way you write and your ideas and knowledge 🙂 To be honest I have never read any of the authors that you mention, but you are doing a great job in conveying their messages 😉
I have been feeling a lot of that “too much information” stress lately. Not only that, but also a kind of disapointment in Humanity as well. Well, my “natural” state is however more related to the Strong theory that you presented, and still is 🙂 Just sometimes we really need to make a pause from all this crazy digital information I guess, and focus more in “the simple things” (I am using a lot of brackets, I am hoping you can understand what I mean behind it :P).
There, you did it 🙂 The L word (no pun intended), you use it 🙂 I also meant that, or at least it is a word I use when referring to the subject that I refered in my post above 🙂 Love, Good, whatever you would like to call it, it is really what I believe should be, and is “the way” 🙂
Margarida
That’s very kind of you to say such nice things Margarida about my writing…I am pleased we are on the same wavelength and our words seem to compliment each others quite nicely.
Although I have now reached the age where ‘things start dropping off’, it is an interesting and rewarding time; for I find myself in my metaphorical attic, surrounded by heaps of memories, books and treasured objects (a bit ‘Miss Havisham’ like) illuminated by a yellowed electric, flex dangled filament light and the beauty of this time in my life is that I can see how something in that pile over there relates to something in the heap over here.
If the delicate hot wire does not fail, I realise that one day all these heaps of memories might be viewed by me with the same puzzled bemusement as a little woodworm that pokes it’s head out of one of the shadow-wreathed rafters.
Perhaps a little later the bulb will finally blow, crackle and cool, the ladder will be folded back up and the access hatch pushed closed with an gentle click……and all will be darkness.
I was reminded a couple of weeks ago that perhaps the darkness should not be feared too much, when I thought it would be helpful to try and console my neighbour’s young daughter after her beloved cat died when hit by a car.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/12/28/einstein-believed-in-a-theory-of-spacetime-that-can-help-people-cope-with-loss/#2a96dc0d55d2
I think this might be something that I should include in my ‘parachute notes’, you know, when you feel you are ‘falling’ and you reach for the ripcord, pull it and a wadge of useful notes springs from your pocket with words to ease your perilous fall.
I do feel a little uneasy that we are filling up the ‘Comments’ section of Viktoria’s web blog but who knows, if they are appreciated, maybe they will be anonymously published under a title of something like ‘Musings From Northern Climes’ or ‘Beating The Norwegian Blues’ (A play on ‘The Dead Parrot Sketch’ of Monty Python)!
Peter 😉
I really do appreciate how you are able to paint a clear image in my mind with your descriptions 🙂 That would be an interesting attic to visit for sure!
Yes, I am also worried that Viktoria may not like that we are writing so much here :/ Of course I would love to invite her to our campfire if she would like, but if not I understand maybe it is not so pleasant for her to have us marching here and monopolize the place… 😛
It has been quite nice to find her blog, filled with interesting reflections and also through it finding you Peter 🙂 It has been a quite nice conversation 🙂
Margarida
Hello Margarida.
Yes, it has been very nice finding you too Margarida….it proves we are not isolated in our thought’s….how wonderful to think that somebody else is thinking many of the same things, somewhere on the surface of this beautiful mottled orb hurtling through space a 67,000 miles per hour.
That it is not ‘money that makes the World go around’ (but inertia (or possibly clockwork or vectored flatulence))? 😉 (Sorry…my humour again).
There is luckily a lot more that could be said, a lot more that could be investigated, but maybe we should leave it for the future. To see if one of Viktoria’s ‘thrown stones’ splashes into a local pond and ‘bobs’ us into action once more.
Of course Viktoria is more than welcome to join the fireside conversation (but only if she brings some marshmallows)! 😉
Until next time then.
Peter <3
(A thought….Einstein did do very well with his highly complex calculations considering he only started out with a single stone). 🙂
hey vik,
i have to say i miss you(r) writings somehow, but i think, so far i can anticipate it, i like to see the implications of your non-writing, as an potential evidence of growth by yourself… so, i like to miss you in a way of dialektic perspektivism… i intented to miss you here for your greater good… if that makes sense… you know my narcism approach..
…but you have to clear up the bed-situation… somewhere in the future ! 😉
all the best !
cheers mark
Supose we all lose people one way or another and my uncle rote this for us when we lost somebody we loved so I am going too share it with all of you in case it helps.
Lost at See.
Kicking through brown, toe-deep leaves. Cracking, cold dry twigs; disturbing the peace of the Autumnal wood. Snapping and rustling, we force our way onward.
Brushing harsh-sprung twigs clear of delicate eyes and soft cheeks whilst they fight the passage of rain shedding nylon with the sound of gale excited whistles.
Without realising it, we find ourselves in the temporary quiet of a blackbird fled clearing.
We stand and cast our eyes slowly around; studying carefully the starkly bare, leaf fallen glade.
The little compacted paths that lead to the places that nurtured:- a source of firewood, water, wild food and life’s experiences.
An earth-dished hearth with long quenched ash and bough-close cut branches forming little hanging hooks for clothes to be aired and dried, food to be elevated out of predatory reach, a water bottle to be close at hand or a crude lantern to light away the privations of night.
A measured rectangle of compressed leaves marks the place of canvas domicile, a place of peaceful, rudimentary sleep and spiritual replenishment.
The little one turned to me and looked up to my gaze with a quizzical brow and said. “Has she gone? Have we lost her for good”?
“We will have to see.” I said reflectively. “There is so much to see and there are so many to be seen. So much to know and so many who want to be known. There are so many who love and so many who also need loving”.
At that, we knew it was time to leave this now-desolate refuge and return back to our homely company.
We drew closer as once more we brushed past those obstinate, impeding twigs.
My arm stretched out to reach around an elbow level neck to show sympathy and again we both looked at each other with gentle smiles to confirm our empathy.
We calmly realised that there are times when ‘not knowing’ provides a greater solace to the soul than the finality of certainty.
Of one thing we were sure; beyond the boot strewn porch, flicker-flame warmed cosiness with it’s slices of cake and warming mugs of tea and the interested and loving company of more, awaited us.
And yes, no matter what, we are all the better for having known ‘her’ wherever she is now.
By my uncle Digby Trenchard