On work

A rather thought provoking talk on various aspects of work - type, meaning, motivation, end - by Alain de Botton. at the RSA (Royal Society for encouragement of Arts etc)

[The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work]

I have eaten seeds..

..and have passed days in mild terror that any day I could sprout a creeper through my ears. How this idea was planted in my head I am slightly hazy; it could have been an exasperated grandparent or a righteous, god-fearing, finger-wagging child of our neighbours, or well, my mother even, just for laughs; but most certainly watermelon seeds have slid in with the sweet red juice down the throat during the summer holidays. I am sure pomegranate seeds have. In the days of seed-ful grapes and oranges, those too have immigrated successfully. As I grew I up, I took much trouble to reassure myself - it could not possibly happen. The seed would be disposed of sensibly by the body, I have told myself.

Now several years later, I come across this in the Guardian.

The diagnosis? Fir on the lung

16 Apr 2009:

Ian Sample: Medics in the Urals have removed a tiny tree from a man's lung after he complained of chest pains

Food as happiness

Weekend dinner was re-creating dinner at a friend's. South African salad made from spinach, watermelon, feta cheese and onion and pasta noodles sautéed in olive oil.

The story of the office plant

Imagine for a while, I could be an office plant.  I could sit on a pedestal - look pretty - be tended to - watered - pruned - left in the sunshine from time to time - admired - part of a corporate  -- peep at who is using facebook during meetings - overhear talk of who gets that position -  the next kill-the-competition plan <mm!>,  who has favours with who, hear what they really thought at the meeting <tsk tsk> - watch success parties of all sorts <uh oh> - watch who falls asleep at their desk  - myself nod off in the soft tap-tap of keyboards - avoid fake conversation with people <cackle!>  - not have to nod my head to unacceptableness <yeah>. Sigh. 

Future Proof

Do software applications that perform forecasting and projections remind you of  crystal ball gazing?  

There are a number of consultants who use technology and sit down with their clients and can help them make decisions about current situations or problems. There are various methods to do make projections. There are a few objectives to be achieved. A few parameters are input and collective lives churned and analysed. Pictures emerge, and with them, ways to give meaningful interpretations. Above all there is the simple faith driving the interaction. 

Whether appeasing divinity or wallets, whatever the means,  the outcomes are always subject to aberrations in the behaviour of gods and humans and perhaps the rains. But not to worry, there is software to cope with even the weather!

Toot and Otto

With scholarly intentions, I entered Barnes and Noble and emerged chuckling with this extra purchase. A game very much like Plot Four I played as a child.  You create a pattern horizontal, vertical or diagonal with your colour; only you make the word Toot if you are the purple canine or Otto if you are the scooby dog look alike. The results of when I attempted it at home, I am unwilling to reveal which name I assumed in each try.

Rosanna

Today at work when I passed the tables in the cafeteria I remembered the girl that helped me find little packets of salt hidden amongst the sugar and I had forgotten to salt my lunch.

Poem on the Underground

Poem on the Underground