August 13th

Recently we were in a group and a friend of mine received a silver old fashion fountain pen for his birthday from his wife. Without giving a second thought I blurted out "that wouldn't be an appropriate gift for a left-hander". They all looked at me with blank stares and I immediately knew that I was in a right handed world, as no one understood what was said on what seemed out from left field. Compounding the original statement, a hard time was had explaining that the ball point pen, with fast drying ink, was the world's greatest invention.

It takes a another Leftie to appreciate the accommodations required of them to fit into the "normal world". Throughout the world there are many things and sayings that try and belittle those who are oriented in using their left hand, but none so much as trying to write.

"The hook" is the common way of explaining how Lefties write in most languages. This required in order to try and pull the pen, instead of pushing it. However, depending on the speed in which the ink dries, the result is almost always a smudged paper and ink stains on the writer's hand.

I hope my friend enjoys his new fountain pen.

The colour of the wind

It's much easier to say I suffer from Daltonism instead of saying "I'm sorry, I'm colour blind". With the latter, almost immediately one is subject to a barrage of test questions, Starting off with "what colour is this?". At least when you say Daltonism you receive some form of pity; because they usually don't know what the malady is. Mention that one has colour blindess and the questions start flying.

The Ishihara test, although not completly accurate, is a good indicator of the degree of colour deficiency. However, many times you won't believed when you say that all you see is a bunch of dots.

Well, Clarice - have the lambs stopped screaming?

When informed by a francophone friend that there was no common French word for "procrastination", I immediately said "There has to be!, what about cunctation?".

The great Carthaginian general Hannibal managed to keep the Romans, during the Second Punic War, at bay in modern day Italy for at least seventeen years. After crossing the Alps, his troops and allies fought and won a number of battles. The Romans confronted him many times, under many generals, without success until the arrival of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus. Fabius was aware of the military superiority of the Carthaginians, and so when Hannibal invaded Italy, Fabius refused to meet him in a pitched battle. Instead he kept his troops close to Hannibal, hoping to exhaust him in a long war of attrition. Fabius was able to harass the Carthaginians, limiting Hannibal's ability to wreak destruction while conserving his own military force. At the beginning, the Roman populace was not impressed and gave Fabius the epithet, "Cunctator" (the delayer), as an insult. However, when this stratagem proved worthwhile, the title was then evolved to become an honorific one.

Procrastination may not exist, but I'm pretty sure cunctation does.

Parting is such sweet sorrow. ...

A nice thing about orderly succession in a democracy is that violence is kept to a minimum. The incoming administration tries to keep a civil tongue on the faults those who previously led. One of the few recourses that waning leaders have is their Parthian shot.

I was duly surprized that "W" didn't say anything sardonic at his last press conference of his successor. I guess he was too busy trying to explain his mistakes.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

The crowns of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were united, by the marriage of Ysabel (Isabel is the modern spelling) and Ferdinando II, they eventually "captured" Granada. When he surrendered Muhammad XII, better known as Boabdil, ended the last remnant of a 781-year presence of Islamic rule in Iberia, thus terminating the Reconquista

One condition of the treaty of Granada was the guaranteed religious tolerance toward Moors (Muslims). History shows that this particular facet of the treaty did not last too long.

In 1492, Spain's Jews were ordered to convert to Catholicism or face expulsion from Spanish territories during the Spanish Inquisition. Not long after (1526), Muslims were also expelled under the same conditions.

All this flashed through my mind as I watched a national leader state that his underlings "don't torture".

Go South young man ...

Although Genoese, Colombo (Columbus is an English name) sailed for Spain at the end of the 15th century (In 1492, he sailed the ocean blue ..) On his fourth voyage to the Americas he, and his crew, sailed a little further and encountered the Cuna Indians. Most of the Cunas live on a narrow strip of land on the San Blas Archipelago, a group of 365 small islands on the northeastern Atlantic coast of the modern Republic of Panama. Nowadays they are known for their reverse appliqué, called Molas, but in those times the Spanish were looking for gold and Silver and were desperate to obtain it. Some of the Cuna women wore gold amulets and when asked, they would point to the South and indicate that's where obtained it.

The Spanish later went South spreading their language and with the Treaty of Tordesillas, Portuguese became the second major spoken language of South America.

I wonder how history would have evolved if instead the Cunas pointed North.

Hole in the head.

Today's word is "Endoscopic third ventriculostomy". A fancy name for ramming a tube through your brain to punch a hole.

Granted it's in a hospital operating room, immobilized and you're under anesthesia. The operation takes about 90 minutes to perform, but the recovery is much longer than that, maybe 18 months.

I'm always reminded of Woody Allen saying "the brain! my second favourite organ". That little statement best describes the insidiousness of the oncoming symptoms of hydrocephalus. I'm just am glad that I live in a country that has socialized medicine.

Man, that was fast!

I wish Barack Obama good fortune his first 100 days in office. The real test of his character will be his first 1,000 days without his Blackberry.

What makes a man (or a woman) remembered? The hype of the day will only prove itself in history. Is it the impact that one makes on human society or is it the affect that an individual has on every day lives? There are many individuals who are remembered, but I feel that many are lost in the clutter that goes into our brain.

Most individuals can place the originator of E=mc² ( Albert Einstein - just in case you didn't know), but who first accurately determined the "c" part? Galileo proposed an experiment with lanterns but it (the speed of light) was a little too fast to be observed. The first re-creatable estimate of the speed of light was made in 1676 by Ole Christensen Rømer.

This Dane was perceptive enough "to think outside the box" (In this case, Earth) and thus allowed people subsequently discover other facets that affect our everyday lives and the lives of leaders.

Nowadays, the speed of light can be determined by lasers and/or microwaves.

The logo I use

As soon as they see anything with a prism an a white light diffracting into composites the thought of Pink Floyd ("Oh by the way, which one's Pink?"- Have a Cigar) immediately crosses their minds. The next thing that comes out of their mouths is "what is that album, again?" and then they consecutively blurt out "Dark Side of the moon".

In actuality, I was thinking of Sir Issac Newton's book "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" where he discusses his proof that white light was a combination of primary colours. I nod my head as I realize that I can't change a successful marketing campaign.

Bear with me as I collect my thoughts

I have been one that "lurks" the WEB and just keeps quiet and comments to myself, at least in Sotto voce.

Speaking of this (softly, of course), I was rather moved when I found out that Galileo's tale was Apocryphal.