Small Bites: 200 - 299

200. Mathematics like statistics can tell many stories, yet all can be distortions of truth. The concept of past, present and future is fundamental to human thinking and demonstrates its limitation. Mathematicians can 'play' with numbers to produce sophisticated arguments that are meaningless. Except to other mathematicians. It's then simple to accuse anybody challenging a new theorem of ignorance because they don't understand the 'logic' used. It's like talking Martian. It can't be tested unless you understand Martian. But it doesn't exist and so is just pure nonsense.

201. The Mona Lisa: da Vinci 'masterpiece? Based on what? It's OK, but nothing special. Why is it regarded as special. What's really so good about it or is this simply that nobody dares to state the obvious? All kinds of observations are made that justify the description: that smile. Looking up at the eyes enhances the smile in the peripheral vision that looking directly at the mouth cannot be detected. This is proposed to be deliberate. Maybe. 

202. Everything must have purpose. This is a similar viewpoint to that which defines the present somehow needing a future and so a past. Rather than just accepting that there just... is. Not everything needs an obvious purpose. Even life. Ecosystems have adapted (not evolved) to a symbiotic support function. Parasites can maintain the cleanliness of a host thereby supporting the continued existence of each other. Did the parasite already exist, but just adapted to become the parasite or did a new species ‘evolve’ as a necessity? Such a system may be complete, yet serve no obvious purpose. The outer gas giants in the solar system exist. Is there purpose for them being there? Man is a parasite on Earth by consuming all and returning only a body when used up. What function does the human have that the solar system should exist?


203. The application of intelligence: use it or lose it. A lack of intellectual thought will eventually return it to a more crude state that doesn't involve thinking, just 'doing' and will often manifest in violence as crime. The type of crime will be petty as this doesn't need much cerebral input. Similar to a computer that has no application to run or a car without a driver. All potential, though no real capability.


204. Self-awareness and ego are entwined. An animal cannot appreciate its own size and its absence of ego prevents it becoming a bully. That is the preserve of conscious will.


205. The brain is the hottest region within the body because of the amount of 'work' that it does, being involved with every body function all of the time during the entire life span. The body serves to ensure the survival of the brain. The brain is the parasite. The body is the exploited host.


206. Ambition illustrates self-interest. Achievement of personal goals at any cost, but does a lack of ambition manifest itself with depressed confidence? Does a predisposition to alcohol addiction interfere? Which is the driver - alcohol addiction being the result of a lack of confidence or poor confidence giving rise to a susceptibility to alcohol addiction? In any event, is there a genetic flaw and is this actually a flaw or a strength? As a strength it allows the characteristics of compassion and empathy to develop. The route through life is affected and the learning as a result is significant and these are far in excess of pure self-driven ambition. Confidence grows and it is the things we learn in our past and present that shapes the future that we can create.

A lack of ambition does not suggest a lack of success. It defines a different and innovative pathway. This also defines the ambitious individual as being incapable of empathy and compassion, whatever may be claimed. The empathic and compassionate individual is more likely to selflessly care about others rather than self and those apparently lacking ambition do not crave unattained achievements. They aspire to higher ideals. Offspring may appear physically similar with other similar characteristics, but each human is very unique and has its own spiritual being.

All human life is totally unique. Every composite being (physical with spiritual) has purpose and exists at a different part of the development cycle. It is not a requirement that a child is connected with the parent, this is just the mechanism for existence and provides influence. But influence doesn't need to come from the biological parent. Separation and new alliances can produce better development. The influence source is only changed. Intervention may seem desirable, but this could, in fact, manifest as interference. A learning can go both ways and the one who feels  the compulsion to help may be the one actually receiving a benefit. Is the dopamine reward system linked to ambition, perceived success and well-being, essentially "addicted to ambition"?


207. Antidepressants (if they work at all) may lift the psychological effect of depression which may be a biological protection mechanism. Once this protection is removed, the 'depressed'  individual is then exposed to the cause of the depression and it could be this that then leads to suicidal tendency.


208. Sharks can detect blood from a large distance. But how quickly does the detection system work and does this involve the recognition of iron or other components and does this ‘travel’ through the water? The specific molecules would need to move faster than the water in which it exists or a great deal of time would pass before any animal capable of detecting blood were to encounter it. This would suggest that some other ‘non-physical’ mechanism exists. A wave motion faster than waves?

209. The 'hidden' subliminal message in New Year celebrations is out with the old and in with the new. This encourages forgetting the gloom of failed projects and looking forward to better times. This promotes acceptance of undesirable actions to be replaced by a 'hope' for an upturn. Mistakes get forgotten to end up being repeated. Good Riddance Day works using the same crude psychology. But it's effective. This may provide a temporary boost to spirits, though it can be short-lived 'until the next time' projects again begin to fail. Like most New Year Resolutions.

210. The growth in population and growth in technology move in opposite directions. The consequence is more people and less work for this growing potential work force. Computerised and mechanised processes require an ever smaller work force.

211. The journey through life meets many X-roads. There exists a conscious choice of taking control of the direction against just being carried along to where the path leads. A destiny pathway. A destiny approach invokes the possibility of a higher spirit and may even come from within or it may exist with a different spiritual source. Taking control or being guided?

212. When an abortion takes place the mother deliberately murders her own child. The father may knowingly (and therefore actively) conspire to aid and abet in the death.

213. Looking nice or not is a perception of self by self or comment by somone else. Same as body shape: figure. Fat or thin.

214. Leads to many pharmaceutical entities are 'discovered' from naturally ocurring products. These are modified to become more aggressive, but arguably not as efficient as the natural product. More selective and potent, but less safe. The human (and other animal) population thought to have existed for thousands of millennia and without 'modern' treatments. The success rate of treatment without pills or surgery can never be accurately assessed (even if any attempt has ever been made) as the ever-growing population would skew any possible result. Symptoms are focused upon, yet underlying disease remains healthy. The paradox here is that the supposed advancement in more sophisticated chemical treatments is waging a losing battle by more victims of disease not surviving. The disease survives as only symptoms continue to be attacked. Are natural remedies safer and more efficient than modern unnatural products? The animal evolutionary process (assuming that 'accepted' premise) has managed for all those millennia and non-domesticated creatures still manage without human interference. Any financial target is notably absent in the wild and survival is very apparent notwithstanding any global cull of animals simply for the exclusive survival of the human. The drug-dependent human population is failing to survive as disease is rampant and continues to increase its stranglehold. What purpose is there for a human population? Just the growing number of a major parasite that is harvested by a sub species of that parasite for its own survival.

215. What is the purpose of life? How is success measured? What does one need to do in order to be 'successful', but whose definition: rich man or poor man? What is wealth: money in the bank or novel ideas in the mind? It is only the exploitation of an idea that can make money. It may be a physical or intellectual idea, but is still just an idea or concept. Without an idea nothing can happen. A man who has a financial fortune (from where?) may be absolutely devoid of ideas. A man rich with ideas may develop financial wealth from ideas, but the creation of the idea of an individual can never be bought by that individual as it doesn't exist until it's created in the mind. It's the (huge) difference between an Einstein and a Rockerfeller (Wealth And Power). Like the Sun and the Moon.

216. If someone was discovered to be cheating in a card game, it is unlikely they'd be invited to play again. In a marriage it is not any different. Walking away is a non-violent solution, but violence is not uncommon in these types of situation.

217. The size of the space within the imagination is infinite. The 'visible' universe is an apparition. An illusion. It's as big as the imagination can conceive it to be. No more and no less. The consequence is a completely misunderstood phenomenon.

218. Extending theories to fit in with what has become accepted will fail to find the truth. Distorted concepts will ruin logical thought. It is absolutely necessary to ignore dogma and start again with a self-consistent idea that answers questions logically and importantly without any 'fixing solutions' that do not require force or retro fit. Answers to further quesions that arise follow-on naturally without any distortion of what has gone before.

219. Can an ambition trait be genetically inherited? This is a psychological quality and are such characteristics capable of being 'passed on'?

220. The death of an individual can result in amassed wealth being passed on as an inheritance to a future generation. Since wealth cannot be created, but only redistributed as a perceived worth and value, this is simply 'theft' by legal appropriation. The legacy itself is nothing new. The sum universal wealth is a consant. The only creation, something that is uniquely original, is thought and ideas. These lead to inventions, but the financial wealth from these inventions is not newly created and is simply redistributed as the inventions 'make' money. The ideas and creations themselves are the only true legacy.

221. A completely confused attitude exists concerning speculation about aliens (extra-terrestrial beings).  The idea of alien involvement in human and Earthly affairs is ridiculed, yet scientific (costly) exploits look for an alien presence. This can be construed as a justification for continued funding, but not with 'new' money. Actually search for evidence of aliens. Primitive life is interesting if found as it provides evidence of the possibilities, but an alien of superior intelligence to human would be better (assuming a non-hostile life-form). The problem arises in finding life that is more intelligent than human and the denial of a higher intelligence. Peculiar.

222. Memory involves registration of notable occurrences. Visualisation is critical.

223. The filming of an event should be complete and re-running the sequence in its entirety should be a perfect reminder of that event. If, however, at part of the proceedings a distraction hijacks attention elsewhere, the play back will have a part of the intended event coverage missing. The distraction. So it can appear with memory. 'Forgetting' where keys or spectacles have been put gives the appearance that these items have been 'lost'. Their whereabouts may be unknown, but the location can never be known as it was never consciously noted. The registration of the act of putting them down was never made. It's not possible to remember something that is never known. Or it's not possible to forget something that never happened and so cannot be remembered.

224. Religion is universal. The origins are alien 'worship'.

225. Distinction between hypothesis and theory. Using string theory as an example: esoteric and plausible, though does not predict anything and is non-verifiable, therefore not science?

226. Everybody dies. The afterlife will include the legacy that lives on in death. It's what we do and how we behave during life that really matters. It's what counts. Not wealth  or possessions. These are transient, short-lived and quickly forgotten. The legacy of knowledge and wisdom will live-on forever.

227. Death of an individual can result in amassed wealth being passed on as an inheritance to a future generation. Since wealth cannot be created, but only redistributed as a perceived worth and value, this is simply 'accidental' theft by involuntary appropriation. The legacy is nothing. For something truly new to be created, unique and original thoughts and ideas must be involved. These are the true legacy.

228. A completely confused attitude exists concerning speculation about aliens (extra-terrestrial beings).  The idea of alien involvement in human and Earthly affairs is ridiculed, yet scientific (costly) exploits look for an alien presence. Actually search for evidence of aliens. Primitive life is interesting if found as it provides evidence of the possibilities, but an alien of superior intelligence to human would be better. The problem arises in finding life that is more intelligent than human and the denial of a higher intelligence. Peculiar.

229. Memory involves registration of notable occurrences. Visualisation is critical.

230. The filming of an event should be complete and rerunning the sequence in its entirety should be a perfect reminder of that event. If, however, at part of the precedings a distraction hijacked attention elsewhere, the play back will have a part of the intended event coverage missing. The distraction. So it can appear with memory. 'Forgetting' where keys or spectacles have been put appears that these items have been 'lost'. Their whereabouts may be unknown, but the location can never be known as it was never consciously noted. The registration of the act of putting them down was never made. It's not possible to remember something that is never known. Or it's not possible to forget something that never happened and so cannot be remembered.

231. Religion appears to be universal and the origins may reside in alien 'worship'.

232. Distinction between hypothesis and theory. Using string theory as an example: it is esoteric and plausible, but does not predict anything and is non-verifiable, therefore not science. A philosophical argument.

233. Everybody dies. The afterlife will include the legacy that lives on in death. It's what we do and how we behave during life that really matters. It's what counts. Not wealth  or possessions. These are transient, short-lived and quickly forgotten. The legacy of knowledge and wisdom will live on forever. The accumulated wisdom of humankind. The wisdom comes from the 'learnings' derived from actions.

234. However hard the struggle in life may be, it is only tough when it cannot be managed. But how is management so defined? Responsibility to and for self.

235. Mental threats encourage the tougher fight. Subconsciously, the brain protects itself by showing greater strength.

236. Looking specifically for some kind of evidence that supports a hypothesis is a flawed approach. An observation does not provide any confirmation of supposition. It can only be an observation of an event. The expectation of the encounter and the danger is that observations that fail to provide supportive evidence are ignored.

237. Blue-Sky Thinking is patronising arrogance. The term has been introduced in an attempt to raise the profile of 'thinkers'. It is essentially brainstorming. No preconceptions and, in the first instance, anything goes. Later examination can then rule out the less likely possibilities or the (accepted) impossibilities. Within the parameters of 'known' concepts, the acceptability, some ideas are rejected as being 'outside the box'. The paradox here is the assumed clarity of Blue-Sky Thinking can actually be closed-minded 'inside the box' thinking.

238. Experimentation using animals often raises the emotions. Some people have a too-limited thinking to even care. Others are moved into supportive (of animals) action. Most probably do care, but never really examine their position on the issue. Some animals are raised and killed simply as a food resource. It's an obnoxious thought, but illustrates the self-importance of the Human over everything else. Man has dominion over the animals. Their natural products created during life (milk) are taken and then the animal itself when its usefulness to the people it has involuntarily served has expired, is summarily killed for its meat. Experimentation of drugs and products for self-adornment with a view to safety and effectiveness focuses on animals. Any activity other than survival is quite repulsive. Cannibalism is the consumption of the human species by the human species. This is regarded as taboo, yet it is acceptable to consume anything else. The idea of horse meat is not acceptable by some, possibly since horses are kept for other purposes. The 'Sport of Kings' (racing) removes horses from the feedstock in some cultures.

239. The cull of the Human as a species continues. Non-nutritional 'food' (fat) easily finds its way into the diet of many as it's very cheap: a waste product being ever-greened to yield a profit. And at the expense of those being 'fed'. The ever-growing population is consuming this non-food in its attempt at survival. The paradox is that this attempt to survive is actually the route to its demise. The human condition is drowning in the man-made concepts of money and profit. Human development is in decline even though it appears to grow. Another paradox. The human species is a paradox and an enigma at the same time. There is no purpose for the species other than to provide a base to be exploited. The parasitic human species feeds off itself in the most grotesque and cannibalistic fashion.

240. How are religion and belief defined? In order to describe an atheist, it is necessary to address this question...

241. Positive (upbeat) thinking vs delusion?

242. Every time a cat surveys its territory it sniffs many places it has been before. Does this create an updated overall mental image of the area to be melded with the (earlier) observed detail?

243. If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it enough: Albert Einstein.

244. Science supplies the key to unlock the prison than religion provides. The box that confines thinking. Galileo was placed under house arrest for opposing the Catholic Church with the contentious idea of a Sun-centred Universe (heliocentrism) system. Religion can never answer real issues that require science-based logic. The oppressive effect on the advancements of thinking has been incalculable. The inspired intellectual must never be constrained by nothing more than a belief that itself can never be explained.

245. Evolution in action? The growing population is self-controlling.  Procreation of two defective genomes will ultimately result in a mutant: a hybrid genome or a single new (altered) genome. Statistically, this should increase resulting in a very long-term decline of the human population, but could result in an increase in the numbers of a different species. Mutation only implies change. The theory of evolution implies mutation.

246. The complexity and variety of life on Earth and the conviction and 'belief' of many that this planet is the only one in the Universe that houses any life (either less or more advanced) is non-sensical. That nowhere else has any life. There are literally countless billions of suns, but no extraterrestrial (not of this Earth) life. Statistically, this is absolutely illogical and does not stand-up to reason. The exclusivity to Earth is significant. Life may flourish on 'Goldilocks' Earth, but it didn't start here. That predefines its beginnings elsewhere in the past. This also suggests absolutely an older, and as a consequence potentially more advanced, origin. Some find that very disquieting and so religion flourishes. The belief in an unknown entity is less worrying than accepting an alternative, and possibly the same, explanation. Any 'God' (extraterrestrial) could be benign or hostile. The assumption is that the belief in God is of a benign entity and it's the denial of 'God' by those who believe in 'God'. Very paradoxical and exquisitely bizarre.

247. Have children early if life expectancy is short or because there is a common reason why a large number of offspring will be advantageous for survival? Two sides of the same coin.

248. Knowledge advances, but this simply illustrates current understanding of events that have been happening for eons. Quantum theory is very esoteric and sophisticated, yet the system is not new. If it is correct, it only defines something that has existed forever, but has only just been discovered. Everything has always existed from the predefined beginning. Human thinking must have a beginning.

249. Evolution theory requires a long time and the Big Bang started the Universe 13.7bn years ago. These two 'facts' conspire to produce an illusion. Neither 'fact' can be verified, but only believed and accepted. Modern belief systems are no different to centuries-old dogma.

250. The Universe is relative like the understanding  of light. The speed of light is thought to be constant, but relative to wherever the observer may be. Untestable theory. If travel at light speed were possible, a change in direction would effect no change in the direction or speed of light. Red- and blue-shift (only observable at considerable distance) is simply an explanation using untestable theory. Such shifts are observable and are explained by a different velocity of light to where the observer examines. But light is proposed to be travelling at constant speed relative to the observer.

251. The electromagnetic spectrum encompasses the range of energies of different wavelengths. Awareness of visible light is enabled by seeing. X-rays are not visible, yet their effect is observable. They don't have to be seen to be present. A similar scenario can be argued for Dark Matter. Effects can be felt, but are only suggestive.

252. The deliberate destruction of knowledge (Pol Pot) creates the illusion of ignorance through the paucity of evidence that demonstrates learning and intelligence. A denial of intellect. Some egos are threatened by intelligence (superior or different) of others and so destroy the threat.

253. Human vision has a small window of perception. Visible light has a very narrow band of frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum. Infra-red is not seen, but felt. Sound is the result of disturbance of a medium that can oscillate: air, water and produces a very limited range of detection. Light is a wave of photon particles that don't require a medium and light can travel in a vacuum where sound cannot: there is nothing to be disturbed in a vacuum. Any aberration in a medium will cause distortion of a sound, but in a vacuum there is nothing to impede or affect photon movement.

254. Instinct and behaviours must be genetically inherited. There is the basic general pattern common to (nearly) all and a more individual set of traits.  All, however, are genetically transferred and is defined by DNA chemistry.

255. War is a the perfect diversion tactic. It misdirects attention away from important issues, the paradox being that war is not the most pressing of issues.

256. Is instinctive behaviour genetically controlled?

257. Water is the ultimately recyclable product. It has been moving around the globe in the seas and atmosphere since it first ever appeared. It's fascinating to mentally follow a small volume (cupful) of water and imagine the journey. In the sea it will be taken all over the globe in the oceans. As it evaporates, the vapour can form clouds that ultimately precipitate their contents to regions possibly very distant from their origin (as clouds). The constituent water whatever its form (gas, liquid, solid) goes on forever. The combustion of oil and petroleum products regenerates water that originally was consumed in their formation. Water goes on forever in one form or another. Until it is locked up in concrete or cement.

258. The religious belief and scientific fact debate produces a most peculiar combination of concepts. Unverifiable belief in a God that ticks all the boxes regarding alien beings is denied existance by those who believe in a god. The increasing knowledge of the 'local' Universe even renders the description of a single space obsolete. It's understandable that a 'spiritual' connection can be made about something that isn't itself understood, but maintaining firm beliefs against this knowledge is the classic definition of a denier. Logically, the believer should become the skeptic.

259. The population is allowed to grow so that it can be divided into top (intelligent masters) and bottom (dim-witted subordinates).

260 . The hypothesis is developed from an inflexible starting point towards a conclusion that requires supportive evidence that can then be viewed as substantiating the hypothesis.

261. The speed that the human (organic) brain processes information is relatively slow when compared to digital (computer) based systems. Reaction times are not good and the faster the human desires to travel, the digital crutch is an increasingly necessary requirement. This results in the organic relying on the  digital for its survival.

262. 'Shaping' the world implies massaging, sculpting and manipulation of will. In other words: control.

263. Remaining on neutral ground and not directing or interfering, but only supporting when needed, does not define a 'directive' involvement. Such leading can only skew 'destiny' towards another's beliefs. That is not the right of another. Mistakes develop wisdom by understanding the nature of failure and failure is only something that did not result in the expectation of an achievemnt that may possibly have been unrealistic. Wisdom and experience are inseparable like the brain and the body that it controls. Conscious control of self is not the same as a non-aware (involuntary) controlling influence. The body manages its own survival and in many cases in spite of conscious control that promotes harm.

264. Playing at religion is something like still examining the abacus when supercomputers have been developed. Time does not stand still. Religion remains in the past.

265. Any logic that appears to connect greater numbers of consumers and profit is terriby flawed. Obviously, the larger the consumer base the more the perceived spread of wealth. There are growing numbers with something. Something that can be taken away. The law of conservation defines the Winners And Losers scenario. Every 'Winner' must have a consquential 'Loser'. Nothing in terms of real value can be created. In figures the cost may increase, but this causes the problem of inflation. Growth requires inflation to happen. It simply masks the parasite activity. The situation where inflation outstrips pay increases illustrates the entire issue. The majority (consumer) must gradually lose as what they have decreases in value and any loss is then gained elsewhere. The real issue should focus on identifying the 'Winner' (the one who gains). The flaw is that the growth in the number of consumers is an ever-decreasing downward spiral and every 'Winner' gains consistently less and less. It may be a very gradual process, but it has a well-defined direction. The increase in the numbers of the eventual 'Loser' inexorably feeds the downward spiral. The gains continue to become less until the tipping point is reached. The maintenance of the consumer base outweighs any potential gain. It costs more to keep it all alive while the parasite continues to feed. Eventually, the food source disappears and the parasite will realise that it has nothing of real value. Nothing is left. Or what does remain is decimated and growth is backwards. The ridiculous negative inflation concept: falling upwards.

266. Fitness and fatness. Aerobic 'fitness' has to be compromised by being overweight. Fitness is the capacity for the body to deal with physical stress. Being fat imposes great stresses on the body to remain functionally inefficient and is in direct opposition to an ability to do physical work. With this attitude or belief, exercise in itself has little point unless it's purely psychological. In fact, it can be harmful. There must be a goal. A reason. Fitness happens and training in any physical discipline will result in fitness. Non-specific training will not last. There must be a reason to undergo training that results in an associated fitness. Performing 'exercise' must never be the justication for poor diet and lifestyle. This results in only one step forward for more than one concomitant step backward. Diet and lifestyle are the key factors in becoming and staying healthy. To pander to harmful beliefs is a total betrayal of any ethics.

267. A 'new' concept of action that does not involve money? A bartering trade in goodwill? Assisting someone like in the 'communal' environment (Kibbutz). No profit. No growth, but progress. Selling 'services' has created the downfall by promoting consumer (population) growth. Requirements are one thing, but creating the need for a service is artificial and usually based on profit and not need. Quite different: create the problem and provide the solution. Often that solution involves a financial angle. That is definitely not a new concept.

268. Dieters who smoke are a particular breed of peculiar individuals. All of them in denial. What's the point of desiring a healthy 'optimum weight-body' composition if continuing to smoke or using (too much) alcohol. The smoker who eats too much low quality 'food' and drinks any alcohol will enjoy a (poor) short life. Even a wealthy (in terms only of finance) individual who can 'afford' a very poor lifestyle, can never afford to live in denial. Good health cannot be bought. Only the gullible in denial could imagine such a 'dream'. Good health is relatively free. Exercise is certainly free and paying for a 'personal trainer' demands extreme caution. The mindset (psychological state) of the troubled and vulnerable individual speaks volumes.

269. It's very simple to trick the individual into perceiving somthing edible as safe by affecting the taste.

270. Focusing on the detail of the specific loses the bigger picture. The dangers of specialisation can then promote the appearance of apparent naivety, whether it's present or not.

271. It's a humbling thought that the 'burning' heat of a summer's day is the radiation that originated 93million miles away.

272. As progress and advances take place, the general population becomes more (unwittingly) reliant on 'science'. The exploitation of this single fact renders this population more likely be duped by pseudo-science. The inaccurate and deliberate misinterpretation is less easy to detect for the unaware. The climate change and global warming issue is an example and the entire set of arguments produced (by only one following the next) at first appears plausible, until a more rational and challenging view is taken. The 'science' becomes highly suspect as much is shown to be specious. Pandering to ignorance (lack of knowledge) and twisting facts takes science into a very political arena.

273. It's so peculiar that the easily altered traits of appearance far outweigh the non-visible true character.

274. You could never be aware that you have forgotten something until after you had realised you do not remember it. But firstly the awareness and then the realisation. Memory is about a conscious awareness.

275. Optimism is not the same thing as realism.

276. Extension of old ideas by fitting in new ideas can only work if the original concept is correct. Review of accepted theories does not happen as the 'established facts’ are never questioned.

277. Any injury acquired over time involved hard work and so work must be equally hard to effect the cure.

278. The difference in just taking part and playing an instrument with emotional involvement is enormous.

279. Slowing down to catch you up.

280. It's easy to scare people when they do not understand something. The method involves convincing the people that they are overwhelmed with information and will never be able understand. The implication is that everyone is too stupid. It's a nauseating concept.

281. Too many 'film star' celebrities would reduce the available work, but enough must be on the books to fill the rôles when commitments allow/disallow. This represents a controlled population in a world of the uncontrollable.

282. The description of odds can be very misleading: if the chances of an event happening are estimated at 1 in 200, then the next occurrence may be the very next event. That instantly changes the probabilities to 2 in 201. The statistic then becomes about 1 in 100. Twice as likely.

283. Mathematics and Numbers involves human invention that describes the environment and its apparent physical characteristics. The fact that most things appear to work and some predictive occurrences also seem to be correct supports the concept of mathematics being an absolute and 'written in stone'. There are, however, some anomalies that have no known solution. The unit square has a corner-to-corner diagonal of root 2. The irrational number has no solution and theoretically has an infinite number of decimal places that progressively makes the non-solution a smaller and smaller number. The paradox is that the problem can be visualised and drawn, yet the numerical answer can never be calculated. It's a philosophical issue concerning a virtual world that has no real meaning. The question raised is "What else fails by using the accepted principles of all mathematics?" Some solutions cannot be found in the local environment so what confidence can there be in places that can only be assumed to exist?

284. A condescending view on the non-competitive approach is simple arrogance.

285. "We have the text, but not the context." Unknown source, but not original

286. Memory: even actively noting something mentally isn't always enough to remember specifics. Only that there is something to be remembered, but not what it was. It is lost. Gone, unless actually written down. Or there is another trigger. A thought that activates another. A diversion can push it all away even though there may have been active attempts made to 'remember'. It's very frustrating. The memory is still there, but keeps slipping away just out of reach. 'Forgetting' is not losing completely, but only temporarily. Until a possibly different trigger sets off the same thought. Actively searching mentally for that something just out of reach generally fails. When thinking about something else, the 'lost' thought can suddenly invade consciousness. It seems to re-appear from nowhere. Background 'invisible' thinking is implicated. Double-tasking. Conscious thoughts are one-at-a-time, but unconscious thinking in multiples does seem to occur.

287. The choice is between following someone else's goals or leading with your own.

288. "Can you keep a secret... because I can't."

289. To go where the brave will not go? Bravery is not a calculated action. Considered and evaluated. It is unconsidered, spontaneous and reckless. It has to be. Even for a trained individual some of these elements are doubtless present. No-one can be trained 'to be brave'. Just be better able to deal with circumstances.

290. Cynicism is the interpretation by the 'closed-box' majority of views and opinions of the 'free thinker'  minority.

291. Progress is made through innovation and not exploitation.

292. Knowing about your own future and very premature death enables an awareness of time to flow. Sudden and unexpected death does not allow this. Such knowledge can be beneficial by enabling a possible better use of the time available.

293. Removal of earlier thoughts that are causing difficulties can be 'switched off' in principle. Usually this is at best very difficult or seemingly impossible. Time heals, but this only implies 'distance' from a thought. The thought's still present and can resurface in an instant. This suggests how effective can be the supression of conscious thought. Time facilitates it, but can immediate relief be forthcoming by the use of conscious thought? Time can be afforded immediacy and create distance from the present.

294. The communication of learning speeds up the transfer of informtion to others, but selfishness by failing to do this confers advantage to the selfish. Selflessness begets loss of potential advantage and selishness promotes it. Keep quiet about new knowledge to stay ahead. Talk about it and become a loser?

295. Various quotes:

• There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line. 

Oscar Levant

• I accept chaos. I'm not sure whether it accepts me.

Bob Dylan

• Dread of disaster makes everybody act in the very way that increases the disaster.

Bertrand Russell

• Leadership has been defined as the ability to hide your panic from others.

Anonymous

• Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

• Make somebody happy today. Mind your own business.

Ann Landers

• Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

Aldous Huxley

• If things go wrong, don't go with them.

Roger Babson

• Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.

John Lennon

• Don't look where fall, but where you slipped.

African proverb

• I've got to follow them; I am their leader.

Alexandre Ledru-Rollin

• We must believe in free will - we have no choice.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

• If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.

George Bernard Shaw

• Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.

Robert Frost

• I don't think you ever know in yourself whether you have gone mad.

Chris Lowe

• Science in the modern world has many uses; its chief use, however, is to provide long words to cover the errors of the rich.

G. K. Chesterton

• Life is very interesting if you make mistakes.

Georges Carpentier

• And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Abraham Lincoln

• Real life seems to have no plots.

Ivy Compton-Burnett

296. WW3 won't happen. The 'conflict' has been ongoing for a very long time. The new method of control is not by an involuntary oppression. More subtle by a 'sting'. When people are conquered in war then they know it. When not in a 'war' many people are not even aware of the battle for supremacy. The war of economics. They are so busy doing it themselves to their fellow man that they don't notice what's happening. Submission and slavery are never recognised. WW3 is easily completed and is certainly quite advanced already.

297. Speed of thought can be very laboured or so fast it may even approach that of light. The linear thought 'trail' as opposed to the virtually instant 'jump'.

298. Maturity and wisdom grow like a tree by branching out. However, if stuck within one concept it is more linear.

299. The overwhelming desire to find open space for the sufferer of claustrophobia can result in the attempts to open the doors on a plane. Sedation would benefit more than 'securing' and would make matters much worse.