Saturday, April 23, 2005
Criticism

What is it about us that often makes criticism so hard to take? Are we bred believing we are always right or is that a function of our environment? And why do we always need to be right - is it a sign of superiority or weakness? I ask because I'm not someone who takes well to criticism most of the time, I like to convince myself I have a fairly rational, analytical mind yet at the same time I know I have argued dozens of time where I was definitely wrong and knew it. I think we all have the ability to delude ourselves into taking a position that is both untenable and at times ludicrous. Mankind is a combative creature, we seek to convince others of our 'truth' whether it be politics, religion or even sport.We want our thoughts, our ideas to be given credence, to be right. But why? What is it about being right that is so powerful? Truth may have something to do with it, we have gained a truth that others haven't and in exposing that truth we have achieved a form of control over others. But down that road leads domination and evenif you go far enough totalitarianism (slight exaggeration maybe) So are we creatures that need power, that need control over others and if so it might be worth admitting to being wrong once in a while ...

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-04-23 18:34:47

Friday, April 22, 2005
The Internet

What an invention, albeit accidental one. I was thinking about this today as I used a search engine for the eighth time - imagine if you didn't have a search engine close ta hand. The amount of information on the net is staggering, today I searched for a whole variety of things that would have meant trips to the library, buyingmagazine, using Britanica :( and so forth. The effect that computersand more specifically the Internet has had on our lives is staggering and easilythe greatest invention, imo, of the last century.The forums and communities that have gathered, the freedom of information exchange, although not always legal - ask Charlotte Church :), the simple ability to communicate with a person on the other side of the world almost instantaneously at a tiny percent of the cost of a phone call. It has made the world a much smaller place.More than that though it has opened up a whole newgroup of industries, creating jobs and education possibilities that only twenty years ago were a pipedream. I was watchingEnterprise the other night and although its a bit crap one thing stuck from the show, a Vulcan ambassador was discussing the human race and he said something like 'The distance you have come in the last 100 years isamazing and frightening' something I can only echo. Can we even imagine what the world will be like in another 100 years?

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-04-22 19:10:54

Thursday, April 21, 2005
Once more unto the blog

What a stinker of a day I couldn't do anything right from splashing milk all over the breakfast bar to messingup a thread merger (if only you membersknew how bad a moderator I am :) and I even managed to puncture my almost brand new Lions officialrugby ball. Man that sucked, my pump gave out on me as the ball was almost fully pumped and the damn needle got stuck inside the ball and ruptured the sack (sounds more like a medical cock-up doesn't it :) So in a temper I broke the pump and have to get a new one on Saturday. To top it all off I went round my mate's to ask if I could borrow his rugby ball and he told me he's taking his missus to Florida in a week, am quite envious as I absolutely love Miami and his missus isn't bad either ;) Still tomorrow'sFriday and nothing ever seems quite so bad on Friday.

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-04-21 18:59:46

Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Sffworld is great

I have come to this conclusion from the following; I get to read lots of prose and poems by highly talented people who for whatever stupid reason can't get published. I get a blog to say pretty much what I want - which is a lot, and people even respond, this doesn't happen in real life :) I can talk about many ;) of the hobbies I have withloads of like-minded people ... from all over the world. And I also get to show the world (possible exaggeration) mydodgy writing skills. Best of all - its free !!!! Sorry if this sounds like some terrible commercial but hey you gotta admit, we have it good :)

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-04-20 19:50:04

Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Sleeping Problems

Following on from my dreams blog I have now hit what I can only describe as a bad patch. My sleeping habits aren't normal, I don't normally go tobed before 1-2am and get up at 8.45am, but for the last week or so I've been going to sleep and then waking up at around 3.30am every morning and not managing to go back to sleep until I've been and got a drink or watched some TV. Itskinda annoying and freaky at the same time,I wake up like clockwork and have this inescapable sense of needingtomove about. I haven't had a full nights sleep in ages and short of taking some sort of sleeping aid, something I'm loathe to do, I have no clue what to do. Anyone experienced elsethis before?

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-04-19 18:59:50