Christmas present list

CD's: These should be available for 2nd hand CD exchange or trademe for good bargins:

REM including: best of, automatic for the people, out of time

Pearl Jam: Greatest hits

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Best off, or greatest hits

Enya (any album)

Máire / Moya Brennan anything except: Whisper To The Wild Water,

Bon Jovi any compilation or Blaze of Glory (soundtrack), slippery when wet, Keep the faith,

Creed (any)

Metallica & San Francisco Symphony Orchestra-Nothing Else Matters (DVD or CD single)

Midnight oil, diesel and dust



Other things:
Can of red spray paint from Chartwell panel and paint (in frankton) colour red like my mr2 (need code)

Most excellent training on presentations

breast is best

Doing a talk for local post grad lactation team. So my antnee is up for interesting research.

This is fascinating -iron supplements for prem' s mess up the milk. See

Impact of iron and vitamin C-containing supplements on preterm human milk: In vitro


In summary it stats that iron oxidizes the milk components and basically you shouldn't give it with breast milk. The question I have is why all the stress about giving kids iron supplements anyway - surely breast milk has all you need for at least 6 months..... Sure supplement the mother - so that she has all the bio chemical things that need to be put into the milk, but not the child!

opposites attract

My wonderful wife has just done the nerdy test she is totaly not nerdy dude :

99% scored higher (more nerdy),
0% scored the same, and
1% scored lower (less nerdy).

What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:

Definitely not nerdy, you are probably cool.

there my wife is "cool" - could have told you that myself

Not stupid either

Your Score Summary

Overall, you scored as follows:

97% scored higher (more stupid),
1% scored the same, and
2% scored lower (less stupid).

You are 2% stupid. This means...

You are our next Einstein. Wow! Keep up the great thinking.

Mega Nerd

Well what can I say

7% scored higher (more nerdy),
1% scored the same, and
92% scored lower (less nerdy).

What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:

Supreme Nerd. Apply for a professorship at MIT now!!!

What type of intelligence

Your Dominant Intelligence is Spatial Intelligence

You've got a good sense of space and how the world around you looks. You can close your eyes and "see" images. You have innate artistic talent. An eye for color and shapes, you're also a natural designer. Since you think in pictures, visual aids and demonstartions help you learn best. You would make a good navigator, sculptor, visual artist, inventor, architect, interior designer, or engineer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

redunacy

I have had a very exciting and tiring Feb. Hence the lack of posting.

The cliff note version - I have taken voluntary redundancy from my work. I no longer work for Sensortec. That chapter of life is over after 12 years!. It has been a long and emotional few weeks, with all sorts of stuff that I can't blog about. So apologies, hopefully I will be back to posting more regularly.

Magic Mushroom

Check out the hidden forest web site. It is where these pictures should link to.

fungi are really cool !

It is one of the pleasures of nurturing the environment that we have been living in for the last 7 years - is to see the development of diversity of fungi that was not here at all when we moved in.

When we moved in it was a dry and cracked wind swept plan. Now we get a bunch of fungi species. The Ink cap or shaggy ink cap (see pic above) appeared under some agapanthus the other day. The change so quick from day to day.

We have had common basket fungi develop out by the trampoline much to the delight of the children.


Also puff balls close to the drive way



And we have fungi growing of the untreated wood around the front. Like these types but smaller in size and not so nice colored







There was some big ones out the front that were about the size of small tea dishes kind of like these ones, however they were different!









I think it is due to the diversity of plants and trees we have planted, and likely due to the sawdust that we have also used a lot of in the last few years. We have seen a lot more fungi and mushrooms since we have put this sawdust down. It comes from untreated private mill and is a mixture of all sorts of trees, jobs and locations. Therefore it is likely to contain a bunch of spores. Or maybe they have come on the wind or via the birds. Anyway however they get here they are a welcome addition to our home.

BTW: Do check out Hidden Forest cause the guy is a great guy, and has heaps of really neat photos (no doubt I have broken a bunch of copyright law by using via a link to his photos, via this blog, but I am sure that it will be OK)

Fixed the washing machine

Happy day - fixed something, no blood, no sweating, no pain - not repeat trips to the store, no extra screws left over - and it works !!!

Even through I am a engineer by professional I am not really a techy person or naturally gifted in fixing things with my hands. I am much more like my maternal grandfather - he loved to attempt to fix stuff by really wasn't any good at it. Same here - I enjoy doing stuff with my hands but really not a natural. This is because being a dreamer I am not really aware of cause/effect relationships that come naturally to a more mechanically gifted person (like me wife). I think is due to being "not with it" to see the cause and effect (aka being disorientated)

So this morning when Tiffany said the washing machine isn't working - can you take a look at it, my heart sank. With no enough $$ to get a call out man, and just enough ability to know that I should see if I can fix it

Well anyway I found two truths that have helped (1) the internet (2) taking time.

So I searched the net (my strength) can came across a similar error - a suggestion of what it most likely was, and where to find it.

So I got the part out, phoned Tiffany who was already in town. Gave her enough part numbers that she picked up the right part on the way home.

Then I continued to take the washing machine apart to get it out and replace it (the reed switch on the sensor for lid open/close was bung). The fisher and pycal (or however you spell it) brand of washing machines is really nice to work on. Everything is clear and well layout out. Anyway this is were (2) comes it - taking time. I read in Scott Peck's book The Road Rest Traveled and interesting story about how mechanical ability is often just taken more time. So I have taken this to heart. Taking more time to look at the problem, more time to trace the wires, more time to organize the screws better, more time to fiddle with things. It has made a huge difference!

2 good points from a bad moive

Watch the movie code46 A complete waste of time, the summary below sums it up:

"The plot is almost secondary for such a great deal of the film and you can't really get a feel for what it is actually about until very close to the end, and that is what made it so refreshing for me. It was more about the feel of the places, the emotions of the two characters (Robbins and Morton) and their developing relationship. You really don't know much about this futuristic society that people are now living in, or why it came to be like that."

Well NOT my type of movie, slow, bad ending, no information etc etc etc. What a waste of time !

So take my advice - don't watch it. There were two quotes that are interesting as I look for the silver lining of a lost night!

1) Talking about his kid "He's a real character." "They all are.... I wonder where all the boring adults come from" she replied. Makes you think, we all start off as kids that are real characters - yet tend to turn up as boring adults. Should do something today that shows my real character.

2) "If you knew what your actions would eventually lead to would you do it?" This is an interesting question. We only have very limited understanding of the consequence of our actions. If we could see clearly what the ultimate consequences of our actions I bet you we would do things differently. We would probably stop doing some things that we think are good, and start doing some things that we are to afraid of doing.

1st life

Just found another blog that I will follow for a time, Subversive Influence - what a good name for a spiritual blog !

He links to this site on his blog:

This looks like a very cool game !

You should check it out, even if you are not much of a gamer :)

the bread of life ! - The best true story in a long time

Be inspired

check this story out - it is about bread !

But not just any bread, or any business.

A business that has ethics, heart and spirit

Another book permission just came through

Have permission to use illustrations from Dr Mark F. Boyd's Preventive Medicine

A very generous Mark Boyd Krause graciously gave me permission after I sent him an email, of which a section is below:

A section of this books talks about the development and achievements of the germ theory. There are a number of illustrations in Dr Mark F. Boyd's fascinating book called Preventive Medicine 6th ed, 1942 that would be very helpful to illustrate these points.

Now hopefully Mark you are the person to talk to about this permission! I contacted the publisher (was then W. B. Saunders, and this has now morphed into Elsevier) they have said that the copyright was given back to Dr Boyd in the 1950's and that the next of kin/descendants would hold the copyright.

The story as to how your email address came to me is quite a long and involved story. Firstly as mentioned above Elsevier doesn't hold the copyright so I searched the web for some place to start. After spending some time searching the web I discovered that a work of Dr Boyd had been re published (showing how timeless this must have been). So the publishers must have obtain permission from someone to re publish, so I faxed them and they supplied the name and address of the daughter, Pat, of one of the other authors. Mistakingly believing that this was the daughter of Dr Boyd.

Again consulting the web it became clear that Pat had been very productive with the St Augustine Historical Society and the St Augustine Archaeological Society, hence I contacted them and they on forwarded Pat email address. Conversing with Pat the mistake was clarified, that Pat was not able to grant permission. However with Pat being a lot closer to these events than me in New Zealand she was able to ask around her network and found a lady who was good family friends with Boyd's - so could supply your details. It has been quite and adventure!

The power of silence and questions

One of the key frustrations and annoyances of being a picture thinker is that my thinking goes to pot under pressure. Or more accurately I cannot articulate thoughts because the emotion overwhelms the ability to engage in good verbal discussion.

So as a result I avoid conflict or any situation were I will be under emotional pressure and expected to react to it.

However the last week has been very interesting. I have learned the power of silence, pauses and questions. Without saying to much the last week has had a lot of pressured meeting with various people in my employment. And have learnt some interesting things. However more on that later when it can be talked about more freely

Anyway at the doctors today - have a viral infection going down the nerves in my back. And like I always do I have left it so late to see a doctor that I have basically gone past the peak and are self healing. Anyway it was the first time I had visited this doctor, as I have not gone in over 2 years, and Tiffany who goes more regular especially with the kids had changed family doctors. Nice guy, genuinely cares, all the right reasons to be a doctor and serve - highly recommend him. Well anyway he had a go at me about St John's Wort - how it doesn't work, has side effects etc etc etc.

Well in the end I said "Is there anything that I can say that would change your mind?" Cause the conversion was going nowhere. I wasn't going to change, and he wasn't going to listen - so what was the point! Anyway a power question, because the answer is "No there is nothing you can say that would change my mind" however to say that would to be admit that he was being closed minded! So at this stage he talked about diversity and respect for others opinions. Even though he still thinks I am mad, wrong and stupid, at least he has affirmed my position and I can walk out without feeling put down.

And that is important - not to have my self esteem bashed because of someone who doesn't have all the facts, and is not prepared to listen!

Therefore I must be quite more and practice asking questions.....

Where out thou

Blogger, where our thou blogger?

Sorry for no blog, BIG things are underfoot at work. Things that it would not be wise to comment on now. And these things pretty much have consumed my emotional tank and my time......

Will be back hopefully later in the week when the dust has settled

The moving rocks in death valley

There are rocks that move mysteriously in the night. These have fascinated me for a very long time. Check out a good introductary video here:



Now the video makes it look simple. However if you check out other places on the web such as this thesis. You can load up sections and the literature review shows photos and examples of studies that question the ice theory. For example they placed rocks inside corrals of iron stakes in the ground. Some of these rocks moved through the stakes leaving the stakes in tacked and the other rocks behind. If it was ice then other rocks should have moved and the stakes damaged by the ice movement. Furthermore rocks that are together and move together then diverage, again showing that ice movement would not do this.

And is not just in death valley as this link shows

Anyway I enjoy questions such as these. I think that dreamers like things that make them wonder. I am not sure if it is nature inquisitiveness - they want to know why in the areas they enjoy (for me science and nature, for others it may be arts) or if it reminds us that even the most knowledgeable can't explain some things. Thus we can rest that people haven't got it figured out like they say :)

Camera. comets and skill

The best shot of the night:

Wow - what a night. Lots of photos and a few good ones. Figured out how to use the timer function on my camera to get still shots at long exposures. And got really comfortable using the camera in manual mode. My only frustration as it got dark and the comet really bright the camera stopped auto focusing properly (as they do). So when back inside in the light and warm figured it out. Now I should be able to use the camera fully manual.




















And shots of Tiffany and I with the comet in the background. The brown smokey look in the sky is the smoke from the Australia forest fires. Makes for pretty sun sets and grubby looking photos!

New album on the web

Lastest family photos are up on the web Got to love the bubble machine

Comet photo part 1

Took the camera out the other night to try and record the comet. This was my best shot. It was a fun and challenge to try to capture it as it disappeared. Only had a very small window between the sun being to bright and the comet disappearing into the clouds.


Will try again tonight as I have got a bit more prepared tonight. It is marked as dyslexia because photography is a visual thing, and dyslexic's and visual. Hence they I like photography....

Book permission adventure

As you know that I am writing a book and seeking permission to publish illustrations in my book. As they are nearly all very old tracking down the owner of the copyright is a interesting and challenging adventure. Nearly all the book authors are dead and most of the publishing houses have changed hands multiple times. Very greatful for the internet and nearly every history and business change in out there.

Managed to track a book through multiple publishing sales to find that the good people at Whitcoulls have given me the permission. Good people.

Anyway another book by Karl Schutte (the U should have the '' above them) who wrote in 1964 The Biology of the Trace Elements. Anyway the publishing house after multiple changes stopped trading in 1993. Karl has passed away. What to do? I found out via the book that he worked for the department of Biology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. So I emailed them, they were great a wonderful lady called Sandy tracked down the surviving family, who happened to be his widow! Anyway called up the Mrs Schutte on evening while it was early morning in South Africa. She was a delight to talk to, Sandy had prepped her, and she was excited that I would call about her late husband and the work that he had done. It would have been neat to get a phone call out of the blue basically saying that the work that your husband poured his life into 50 years ago was still relevant and very useful. Think I made her day, which of course made mine.

BTW : You can purchase a copy here if you want (notice it is worth 28 pound!)

Under pressure

Interesting observation -

Last night I took a phone call, however my youngest was trying to ride here trike down up the steps with much noise, complaining, grunting and cuffule. I was totally overwhelmed and as a result agreed to a non optimal outcome just to get the person of the phone, to reduce the pressure. The poor lady on the other end must have been put a bit off - it was the first time we had talked, and I hope the relationship will be beneficial for both of us.

It is interesting that I can't hold a real conversation (one that requires thought or effort) with music in the background. And I and overwhelmed if I try and have a serious conversation with loud noises. No wonder I hate going to crowded places (plus I hate people in my personal space).
I took some Internet test once - the hight of truth NOT - well I came high on introvert scale. I think that this is not true, I just hate pressure, noise and people in my space. This makes for a very sedate social life.

Application : I must pause and correct noise or stresses before I try and hold a discussion. Need to practice saying "just a minute I need to get away from distractions" or something.

I think this is all to do with pressure causing disorientations.

Thoughts of the dead

It is nice to know that others think the same questions.

Hamo is contemplating mediums bringing up the dead

Sorry lots to say, but issues with the "A" makes life very difficult

No Fringen "A"

Hve IT issues - the a on the keybord is very sticky. This mkes writting remrkbley difficult.

It is mzing how mny times you use "a" in ny given sentence.

Therefore posting will be somewht interuptted till I get new keybord

Dvid

Correct way to handle disapointments

A question - what is a mature way to cope with disappointments (and frustrations). In the past I may have swept them under the carpet and pretended like they didn't exist. This not a good long term solution - you end up with bigger issues like the black dog!

So how to we acknowledge these disappointments and move on in a well and healthy way?

Maybe the best solution has to be talking it through with someone who will not dis you for having these emotions. And in dialogging healing can come, and peace can be made. - I guess part of this is figuring out when one is disappointed, if you gone through life ignoring it, sometimes it is hard to work out what the emotion is.

This also ties in to the strong intense emotions that picture thinkers can often feel. The emotion is so strong and overwhelming that we don't know what to do with it. I guess I learned to suppress them cause I don't want to acknowledge them.

Seeing the answer

Visual thinking takes time to get into words.

Was in a meeting the other day - had some problems to find solutions for. I could see the solution in my mind. But couldn't explain it, fortuitously that meeting was stopped and re convined later. Therefore I had time to think through the solution and write it down.

Ironically how writing stuff down has been a major help in getting things out of my mind - as I was previously a dyslexic.

In the Latest Blog
Regarding Dilbert

The writer Scott Adams the creator of Dilbert makes an interesting comment regarding his blog. In a Q & A session he stated that the blog gives him a creative outlet to express himself that he does have. And that he enjoys that.

Interesting - I am much the same (though need to spend more time here)

Out of bounds church

I have been reading parts of the Out of Bounds Church blog by Steve (who blogs here)

I contacted Steve to pay for his book today these are the 2 key points that I mentioned to him:

A) Feminine side of Christ. I was struck by the image of Christ breastfeeding. Through a series of advents I am the only NZ lactation consultant - from a biochemistry/physiology perspective rather than any practical help! I would love to have an image of this to put up as a filler on some of the presentations that I do, however I couldn't find on the web - do you have a soft copy of these images that you could send down?.

B) Liked the idea of pegging and deep community. This explains a lot... it is nice to belong to both types of community, and it helped me see the advantages of both

It is well worth a read

Emotions of pictures

Found via wiki and youtube a music video that I saw once a kid.

We didn't have a TV as a kid so it must have been on a off chance (we had a video but the TV wasn't tuned in). It made a big impact on me. The combination of powerful emotion driven music, coupled with a dramatic and artistic video deeply embedded itself into my circuits. I found it, and a walk down memory lane, it is still powerful and coupled with the glass of wine brought tears to my eyes.



I have seen this love of music and video in many other picture thinkers. I wonder if the moving pictures with some sounds couple directly into our souls.

Bricks in their head (regarding dyslexia)

Some people must have bricks in their head regarding dyslexia.

My mum works at a fairly exclusive private school (read lots of $$$ to send you child their). Anyway she was relating a story that she was privy to regarding a particular conversation. This student had been sent to this school as they were having some educational issues. Well apparently after a short time (a term or two) the parent got upset because the private school had not fixed their child's dyslexia.

Good logic - child has dyslexia, so send child to school with good ____ you fill in the blank with what ever magic wand you want. A school with good teacher to child ratio, a school with lots of IT, A school with lots tutors. WHATEVER like that makes any difference to dyslexia. Yes a good school can help a child get through without being labeled "thick" and assigned to the dredges of society but "fix" dyslexia, I don't think so. Dyslexia is product of different thinking, its hardwired in. Further more it is a gift and a curse. It has both sides of the coin. It really makes me mad that parents expect there dyslexic children to be "fixed" like they had some kind of disease.

Yeah OK - I am aware of Davis method and the most excellent cookie time trust. So yes dyslexia can be corrected with the gift remaining. But it is not some kind of disease to be cleansed from my soul.

House and Book (sneak look at rat growth with vit B)

Were have I been?

Not bean hiding from the cabbages

Have been working very hard on two very important projects - the house and the book. Thus I have been to exhausted to post, or all worded out to post.

So here is the house - it looks almost as good at the photo now, less rot, been scraped and sanded with coat of under paint around the window.

Here is a sneak preview of some things that may be in my book:
A rat that has enough nutrients to grow normally, and a rat that didn't get enough vitamin B. Guess what - you RDI is pretty much set around making sure you don't turn out like the second rat. It's not about keeping you in optimal health.

LarkNews.com

LarkNews.com

New edition out today - if you are a evangelical and love to laugh at yourself then you will love this site. Warning - not for the faint hearted!

Unbelievably bad portrail of dyslexia

Been watching Inspector Morse on the TV lately

Why - cause it is cheap and vaguely enjoyable

My Mum loves the who do it and as we are putting all $$ into the house at the moment, any free entertainment is good entertainment.

I feel kind of embarrassed to admit watching this "old timers" stuff but I do kind of enjoy the intrigue and trying to figure it out first.

Anyway saw an episode last night that had a dyslexic guy in it. It was a most terrible portrayal of dyslexia !

This guy was thick, more or a retard than a dreamer. He was mothered badly buy his mum. He looked slow, and acted stupid, and of course he was the murder. They did have a one things right - he could draw.

Anyway what an atrocious portrayal of a dyslexic/dreamer. No wonder people think dyslexics are thick! And these were made between 1987-2000, that is when people should know better!

blimey no wonder people have the complete wrong idea!

RANT OVER !

7 wonders prt 3 - My favourates

I finished last week the BBC (true link) 7 wonders of the Industrial age. (Wiki) Totally recommend it .

The two that I enjoyed the most were:

1) The making of the Bell Rock lighthouse by Robert Stevenson

2) Making of London Sewers by engineer Joseph Baxalgette

Why were these my favorites?

For the following reasons:

1. The engineers who built these structures cared for there men. Some of the other projects many men dies. However both these projects the leader felt personally responsible for everyone on the project. Robert (lighthouse) pulled strings so the man who crushed his legs on the project was the first lighthouse keeper. And the boy (who was 16) that died, he employed his brother cause the family's dad was a POW so no source of income. The sewer man wrote individual letters of condolences to those wifes/family's of those killed on his project (even though technically it wasn't his fault)
2. They were dreamers, and ahead of their time. They both could see that it could be done, when others couldn't. The lighthouse man had plans and propses drawn up and it took at least 5 years before any work started. Mr sewerage spent 7 years in presenting and redrawing plans before any work was started. It was crises that caused the others to give the OK (and the crises would have been averted if they had been given the go ahead the first time)
   
3. They had a higher calling. The lighthouse man believed that he was doing God's work, hence he asked for the team to work on Sunday's. He believed that building lighthouses that saved peoples lives was a good and righteous callings. Mr sewage was doing this for the greater good and saving many peoples lives from the dreaded cholera
   
4. Saved peoples lives. Directly related to (3) they were working to make others lives better in the area that they were good at. Over 500 men dead on the reef the lighthouse was built on - and that was just one storm. Cholera killed 10 000's!
5. They did little things. I liked the fact that they were doing things that were not glamorous, nor dramatic. They were not making some massive public work, nor some edifying in the public eye monument. They were doing boring and mundane things, sewage and lighting, yet they managed to make it a divine and holy calling.
   
6. Still impacts people today. The lighthouse is still standing, and it is still working today. London's sewage still uses the old tunnels, though due to population increase it is now only a small % that flows through these older tunnels.
   

So in summary
These are all traits that I would love to apply to my work
Some of them I already do
And the others I will do with my book writing

For those with an engineering bent and are dreamers, these video's should be recommended viewing.