Sunday - Thursday, April 1 - 5 2012 (diary)

For the Dutch April 1 is an historic day, which goes way back to our Spanish war in the 16th century (as I have related previously in my Blog), and even after more than 400 years some of us still think back and reflect upon that day which heralded the birth of the Dutch independent nation.

Perhaps the weirdest discovery Albert Einstein made was the interdependence of space and time, which forms an elastic membrane of spacetime wrapping itself around solid objects like stars and planets.
Also our individual movements affect the moment in time we live in with respect to others. If we move towards someone we are fractionally ahead of that person in time, if we move away from him/her we are behind in time. The amount being dependent on how fast we travel. When we walk the difference is minute, but traveling in a plane the difference is significant enough for the pilot to include in his navigation calculations.

When we travel we suddenly occupy a special world unique to our self. Of course in a moving car, train or plane, we still share this "time bubble" with the other occupants. But when moving on our own by foot or on a bicycle we are totally in our own unique universe. As a died in the wool introvert this concept appeals to me enormously.

Even here while sitting on my veranda with the dogs, I am in a slightly different time zone to them (and to anyone else in the world), because I am gently rocking backwards and forwards on my garden bench (how do you call such a thing, a "rocking bench" ?).

I wonder if JFK ever thought of that while sitting in his famous rocking chair in the White House. If he did, he may have felt momentarily being in a different world, relaxing in his own unique time zone, away from all his Presidential responsibilities and problems.

Friday - Tuesday, April 6 - 10 2012 (diary)

Especially over Easter I am always very (sadly and frustatingly) conscious of the fact that humanity is immersed an eternal dense fog of mediocrity.
Millions still adhere to 2,000 year old religions which have long surpassed their use-by date. Moralistic preachings still attempt to prolong the agony, but for how much longer ? Another 500 years perhaps ?
So much has been discovered and do we undestand now about life, evolution, our planet, the universe (especially during this past century), but it seems many people are just not listening and remain ignorant or indifferent.
Democracy too is increasingly revealing its oh so vulnerable Achilles heel : the power of the majority inevitably results in mediocre politics and progress at best resembles "two steps forward, one step back".

Even in the arts we are flooded with mediocre materials : music, visual arts, books. Look for example in the bookshops which (certainly in Australia) are brimming with rubbish : entertainment material, of which most of it will barely survive a couple of years.

But that in fact is the good news : history shows that rubbish does not survive. The true value of humanity (and of us as individuals) are those of our contributing works, deeds and influences we leave behind and survive over the long run.