Category Archives: memes

Reflection of a Window


Reflection of a Window, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s self-portrait: 52 Weeks 20/52 (2008 week 28).

I think it is also time that I did another 13 things list, mainly for the Flickr “Thirteen Things” group, so here are …

13 Thinks I Believe

  1. There is no supernatural deity.
  2. All Christians (indeed all theists) are actually Devil-worshippers.
  3. Evolution is the only testable explanation we have for life as we know it.
  4. There is life elsewhere in the cosmos; but we’d better not assume what it looks like.
  5. All life does not have to be based on water and/or carbon.
  6. The scientific method works well until scientists get preconceived ideas or stop testing their (all too frequent) assumptions.
  7. Time, like space, progresses at a variable rate.
  8. Religion has done more harm than good in the world, however religion has also been responsible for much of the great art in the world.
  9. We should all be taught much more about sex and our bodies and this should be discussed openly; this would make us a lot more relaxed and able to talk about such things with each other, our children and medics – which has to be good for everyone’s health.
  10. Freedom of speech is sacrosanct. You are entitled to believe, and say, anything you wish. But I do not have to listen to or agree with you.
  11. Nudity and sex are both natural but do not necessarily go hand-in-hand.
  12. There are more things in heaven and earth than we understand.
  13. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Friday Five: Drink

We’ve not done a Friday Five for a long time, so here’s this week’s …

1. What drink wakes you up best in the morning?
Tea. It just has to be a pint mug of tea. Strong tea, with very little milk — you have to be able to trot a mouse on it! 🙂

2. During the day, what do you drink to keep going?
Mostly tea and Diet Coke. Sometimes fruit juice.

3. Do you drink the recommended 8 glasses of water per day? Why/why not?
No. Why not? ‘Cos I drink plenty of other liquid (usually at least 4 pints of tea a day, without anything else) and I don’t like plain water — well neither would you if you had to suffer London’s recycled liquid concrete.

4. What are the ingredients of your favorite mixed drink? (Doesn’t have to be alcoholic!)
It has to be Gin and Tonic!

5. Are you a coffee drinker? How do you take your coffee, if so?
I hardly ever drink coffee these days, and haven’t for 6 or 7 years. I used to like on coffee in the office, but a dowser & healer I knew worked out that coffee wasn’t good for me (except possibly in homeopathic quantities) so I stopped drinking it. (And no he wasn’t anti-coffee as many of these people are; asked him and he actually dowsed it there and then.) These days I drink coffee probably about once a month — occasionally I fancy a coffee (has to be strong, like the tea) and I’m almost always left disappointed.

[Brought to you courtesy of Friday Five.]

Full Frontal Mirror Tiles


Full Frontal Mirror Tiles, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s self-portrait: 52 Weeks 16/52 (2008 week 24).

Yes it’s horrible, and I’m seriously over-weight … but not as much as I was; I’ve lost 28kg (almost 4.5 stone) since October. That’s not fast, but it is fast enough considering I am diabetic and while controlling calories also have to be careful to keep my blood glucose stable. Actually losing the weight has helped a lot with my blood sugar levels and my blood pressure, so although it isn’t easy it is worth doing; I do feel lots better for it. But I really need to get rid of at least that much again if I possibly can.

Oh and yes, the tile effect is a shameless abuse of Photoshop – just to save the worst of the blushes of the innocent. Being nude, anywhere, anytime, bothers me not at all ‘cos I was brought up as a nudist! But I know it does bother others, so out of respect for them there is nothing here that you wouldn’t see in a swimming pool.

Book Meme

OK just for something a bit different, here’s a book meme I came across the other day …

One book that changed your life:
Anthony Powell; A Dance to the Music of Time

One book that you have read more than once:
Martin Gardner; The Annotated Alice

One book that you would want on a desert island:
Latham & Matthews; Diaries of Samuel Pepys. That’s apart from Dance!

One book that made you laugh:
Douglas Adams; Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy

One book that made you cry:
Mervyn Peake; Gormenghast

One book you can’t read:
Amongst a number of others: Salman Rushdie; Satanic Verses

One book you wish you’d written:
Almost anything really; I just wish I had the skill and imagination to write a book.

One book you wish had never been written:
Not sure I think any book shouldn’t exist (that’s a variant of free speech), but if I really had to choose I’d pick two books: the Bible and the Koran; they’ve done more damage in the world than possibly all other books put together.

One book you’re reading:
Jennifer Ouellette; Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales of Pure Genius and Mad Science

One book you’re going to read:
John Aubrey; Brief Lives

The usual rules apply: tag a few friends (say 3 or 5), leave then a comment to tell them they’ve been tagged, and leave a comment for the person who tagged you.

I’ll tag Jilly at jillysheep, Noreen at Norn’s Notebook, Jamie at Duward Discussion.