Vonnegut on creativity and purpose

There’s a great post across in four hour week – a precis of Kurt Vonnegut’s last interview – it’s worth a read in full but these two answers really grabbed me -
Tell me the reasons you’ve been attracted to a life of creation, whether as a writer or an artist.
I’ve been drawing all my [...]

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The influences on attractiveness

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder it’s said, but maybe it’s not just in the eye? This study asked people to rate the attractiveness of others from photos along with short personality descriptions. They found that
individuals – both men and women – who exhibit positive traits, such as honesty and helpfulness, are perceived [...]

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Tv or not tv?

I like your tv, originally uploaded by bobsee.
Some people think TV is a bad thing. They ban it in their homes. I knew some families who had this approach and one day their kids didn’t appear back home from school at the usual time. When they set out to search for them they [...]

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Once upon a tree

As I walked into the Place de l’Hotel de Ville, in Aix-en-Provence, last night, I could hear somebody speaking very loudly. Well, these days, there are always people around you using mobile phones. Mobile phone users fall into one of two camps. There are those who try to speak very quietly, maybe even holding a [...]

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Water colours

Aix en Provence is famous for its fountains, and at this time of year they add coloured lights to some of them. One of my favourites is this one where the colours are constantly changing.

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Aix snowflake

Aix snowflake, originally uploaded by bobsee.
I find something totally engaging about snowflakes. Not least because true snowflakes all have such different patterned structures despite being “only water”!
But mostly cos they’re just beautiful and endlessly varied

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Cours Mirabeau

Cours Mirabeau, originally uploaded by bobsee.
Christmas lights strung out over the Cours Mirabeau in Aix en Provence.
I love the perspective in this photo and the headlights emerging from the vanishing point.
Along the right hand side of the street you can see the row of little log cabins selling crafts and sweets and local [...]

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Drug companies and the threat to Evidence Based Medicine

Evidence Based Medicine has three principles – consider the evidence for an intervention; consider the relevance of this evidence for this particular patient based on clinical experience and; thirdly, in consultation with the patient respecting their values and perspectives – to draw up a therapeutic plan. That first part about the evidence base is weakened [...]

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Music and the geography of the spirit

I’m enjoying a series on BBC Scotland just now. It’s called Scotland’s Music with Phil Cunningham. Phil’s an amazing contemporary Scottish traditional musician and each part of this short series examines the relationship between some aspect of Scotland and Scottish music. This week’s episode (Part 4) was entitled ‘Heaven and Earth’ and explored what Phil [...]

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The Water Experience

A big part of the debate about homeopathy centres on the issue of ultra-high dilutions of medicines. One of the explanations wheeled out is something called ‘the memory of water’ – it’s a catchy phrase but very problematic. Does water have a memory and if so, how does that work? The anti-homeopathy campaigners say it [...]

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