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Comment by Idaho Spud on March 9, 2013 at 1:29pm

Comment by Patricia on March 9, 2013 at 12:43pm

I don't need explanations Ian, magicians bore the crap out of me so seldom watch unless my husband wants to. Even then, I'll usually find something else to do.

Thanks for the Beauty of Science Joan.....enjoyed it & makes complete sense to me.

Comment by Joan Denoo on March 9, 2013 at 12:42pm

Ian, are you familiar with The Amazing Randi? He is a skeptic, challenger of paranormal science and pseudoscience. He is known as a debunker and he says "there is a lot of bunk".

http://www.randi.org/site/

Comment by Ian Mason on March 9, 2013 at 6:21am

Great post, Joan. There are always more questions than answers - that's one of the things that make life exciting. If that wasn't the case we would stagnate and decay.

There's one exception for me. I can't watch magicians. I'm impressed by the trick but always want to know how it's done. If there's no explanation to be had, I don't want to see the trick.

Comment by Joan Denoo on March 9, 2013 at 2:37am

Chris, your story, so descriptive, tells of the very hard work of doing the laundry and that stirred memories of the smell of Purex! Thanks for your memories and reminders of dry skin and the smell of perspiration. Also, the once a week shampoo. Oh dear!

Comment by Joan Denoo on March 9, 2013 at 2:10am

The Beauty of Science (Richard Feynman)

"People say to me, are you looking for the ultimate laws of physics? No I’m not. I’m just looking to find out more about the world and if it turns out­ there is a simple law that explains everything, so be it. If it turns out it's like an onion with millions of layers and we just get sick and tired of looking at the layers, and that's the way it is; but whatever it comes out, it's nature and she's going to come out the way she is and therefore when we go to investigate it we shouldn't pre-decide what it is we're trying to do except to find out more about it. You see, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong.

 

"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things but not truly sure of anything and many things I don't know anything about. I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose; which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell. It doesn't frighten me."

Comment by Chris Breman on March 9, 2013 at 2:06am

Congrats with the results of your check up, Joan!

Ian, Grinning Cat and you woke a lot of memories of washing. One day in the week my mother was behind her ´tub´washing machine with a wringer. Heavy work to get all the wet things a few times through the wringer - her hands were damaged by soap, hot water and work - and then the drying began, with washinglines in the whole house and afterwards the ironing. Everyone was slightly smelly, because with the wash being such a hard job you had to use towels and clothes much longer. I remember the smell of a class full of children who lived the same way - nobody cared about a stain or two and you could still see the stains a week later. What changes!

Comment by Ian Mason on March 9, 2013 at 1:53am

Thank you, Joan. Your contributions are always clear-sighted and inspiring. I'm with you on working for the common good and the best possible world for each generation.

Comment by Joan Denoo on March 9, 2013 at 12:04am

Ian, I love your memories! So human, and real. I can see your wash boiling on the stove and the zinc bath hanging, and the other memories .. oh yes, the vaccinations. Being close to Germany during that era and all that followed ... your memories hold value and need to be told.

So, the next generation don't want to hear about the old days, but if they do not realize times are not always good, they may be caught off guard if the economy goes bad, or if people war over land and property, or people with narrow minds get control over weapons creating chaos beyond our imagining.

Clean water, blue skies, fertile fields, and people working together for a common good is worth the effort. 

Thanks, dear friend. 

Comment by Ian Mason on March 8, 2013 at 10:49pm

Joan, it's nice to hear that your motor is still running.

I can just about remember having chickens, Mum boiling the washing in the "copper", the zinc bath hanging in the shed outside, lighting fires in the morning. I also thought that vaccinations, with a needle the size if an eight-inch nail, were torture but I'm alive to tell the tale.

I remember that our first TV was a big event (one of the places my Mum cleaned were getting a new one and gave us their old one). Telephone meant walking to a phone box, dialling and putting in coins. And there were two Germanies where people were killed for trying to move from one to the other.

I agree, not the "good old days". I raise my morning-coffe-cup in a toast to progress.

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