Gardening Goings On: The Vege Patch Extension Project

Stage 2 of the vege patch has now entered the formal planning stage. To the left are some photos of the existing gardens with the new ones in sight and for those not suffering from any eye issues, the string for the new fence is vaguely visible around the edges.

We currently have 21m² of vege garden space. This doesn't take into account the sandy loam garden at the end of the chicken coop as it is only really suitable for watermelons at the moment.

We are adding an additional 12m² of gardens in. We are also putting rabbit/hare/fox/overly diggy chocolate labrador proof fencing around the whole area and river pebbling the areas between the gardens to try to get on top of the grass which incessently marches, leaps and underscores the gardens themselves.

We are going to put thin gardens in around the fencing itself which will add an additional 5m² of vege space bringing our grand total to 38m² of deliciously abundant soil. This is a little over 409 sq ft for you imperials out there. In “How To Grow More Vegetables”, intensive gardening guru, John Jeavons, says you’ll need about 100 sq ft. per person, to grow enough vegetables to feed them for the whole year. With a family of five we need 500 sq ft, but as the boys are all under 8 I think we have time to add that critical 91sq ft or 8.5m² at a later stage.

FYI - The bottom picture shows our Asian vegetables coming through - there are a couple of Bok Choys, a couple of asian lettuces and an as yet unidentified one (Im hoping not some form of triffid).

People Ponderings: Arthur Schopenhauer

From Wikipedia (I know I've blown any academic cred utilising the great plebian knowledge cave but hey - therein lies revolution itself!)

Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788–September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher known for his atheistic pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the fundamental question of whether reason alone can unlock answers about the world. Schopenhauer's most influential work, The World as Will and Representation, emphasized the role of man's basic motivation, which Schopenhauer called will. His analysis of will led him to the conclusion that emotional, physical, and sexual desires can never be fulfilled. Consequently, he favored a lifestyle of negating human desires, similar to the teachings of Buddhism and Vedanta.

I recently revisited the works and ideas of Schopenhauer on one of the various audios provided by various friends. In this case it is Will Durant's "The Story of Philosophy". What I loved about Schopenhauer was his focus on the individual will as opposed to the collective will or more the subjugation of individual will to the will of the whole. His philosophies are inherently pessimistic as is anyone's that focus on the basic desires as the root motivater for human action. It can only be depressing to consider ourselves simple monkey's that react to basic, organic stimulus both internal and external. We want to be bigger than that, made in the image of gods, the highest form of evolved sentience, capable of great and noble things of universal significance. But what if anything outside of ourselves is simple illusion. The creation of willful monkeys, hell bent on not being simple willful monkeys. Schopenhauer's response was a withdrawal of sorts from earthly pleasures to a fairly austere existence. The theory being that to not partake in the pleasure/pain existence would free the mind to perhaps be more than simply will or desire.

He also had a combative discourse with Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and any robust debate is a good thing I think... as long the competition is in the joy of discourse and not the eventual conquest and destruction of an opponent. An example verbiage from Schop - "If I were to say that the so-called philosophy of this fellow Hegel is a colossal piece of mystification which will yet provide posterity with an inexhaustible theme for laughter at our times, that it is a pseudo-philosophy paralyzing all mental powers, stifling all real thinking, and, by the most outrageous misuse of language, putting in its place the hollowest, most senseless, thoughtless, and, as is confirmed by its success, most stupefying verbiage, I should be quite right. ". Got to love it.

In a realm where death is a choice and to not die is a force of will I think Schopenhauer reigns supreme though he would not perhaps have accepted the hat.

Family Fathomings: How to Kick a Football

My eldest boy has joined AusKick, an National Australia Bank sponsored kids footy course that runs over 10 weeks. Their website is http://www2.aflauskick.com.au/.

Now I never played AFL myself on any club or school level so my delight in his joining AusKick is twofold as I get the chance to understand why I was always picked last at lunchtime AFL games.

Steps to kick a Drop Punt

1. Hold the ball with your hands on either side of it. (Seems easy enough!)

2. Begin kicking your chosen leg forward (Who chooses? Me? Do I wait for guidance from the captain/coach...?)

2. Guide or drop the football down onto your footy boot laces. (Seems easy enough!)

3. The ball should meet your boot on the upswing of your kick (Ahhh....the heart of the skill!)

4. You follow through with your boot and launch the ball spinning backwards. (Who spins? Me or the ball...?)

Bonus Tips

1. Walking as you kick brings momentum and makes the kick have more depth (go further). (Ok that must be a week 10 thing!)

2. Learn to kick using both feet. (At once...Ok I'm outta here)

Here's a good Youtube clip to demonstrate the technique.

Well, my 7 year old can now kick an AFL ball better than me....wait til we get home...Arm Wrestling time!!

Reality Ruminations: The Manacles are Mind Forg'd

"Live Merrily, oh my friends, free from cares, perplexity, anguish, grief of mind, live merrily" - Marsilius Ficinus

For what purpose do we freely and seemingly without question submit ourselves to lives of anxiety and stress. There are no Sabre-Tooth Tigers waiting to leap on us in the night, or Wooly Mammoths that can squash us underfoot in mindless stampedes, yet our media, conversations and general tribal consciousness seems determined to find new things to fear and be upset about. Is this simply the way our minds are or is there something more sinister at play...?

The question I believe we should all ask before we simply accept anything we are told as the truth is "Who benefits?". Who could possibly benefit from me being anxious about money, health, terrorists, swine flu, career, peak oil, assets, economy and why the guy down the road smiled at me a little too long today?

I believe that the goal of life is simple - to live well! That of course is a massively subjective statement and well it should be. There are 6 billion people on the planet with 6 billion world views - sure there are cultural and social views groups have in common but every man, woman and child holds secret, personal and often unshared views of what the world means to them. Why are these rarely expressed? Certain people seem to and we either venerate them or tear them down depending on the global mood but in general people seem willing to accept that the world is a frightening place and we need xxxx to protect us. Aha! Who is this xxxx that we all look to then to protect us from this frightening world...?

Government? Those who are doing well with the Status Quo? Big Business? Anxious people make good consumers and obedient workers. Anxiety pushes us towards means and ways to create safety and comfort. Roll out the TV Set and credit cards and forget about revolutions and reformations. Those things are dangerous and if we remove those who are protecting us from the terrorists we'll be naked and alone. Won't we? Like George Orwell's "1984" we are told that we are in a perpetual state of war - the enemy changes here and there but they are always out there. Heck the enemy is even next door - If I don't keep up with the Jones I won't look good and then I will feel stressed and anxious when they invite me to their place for a "let's admire ourselves" party. None of this stimulating company, good cheer, merriment, feasting and fun - this is combat!

Can we escape these mind forg'd tyrannies and create a better world? Only by acknowledging the fear that we are being fed. Until we recognise the trap, we will never escape it.

Book Botherings: "The Book of Lost Tales 2" - JRR Tolkien

Finally it has arrived - 14 weeks by boat (or I suspect Albatross) from the UK and I finally have the second to last book for my collection of Unwin Unicorn paperbacks of Tolkien's works. I continue my search for "The Hobbit" but I suspect they may not have actually published it in that series...but hope springs eternal.

Here are the chapters:

1. "The Tale of Tinúviel" — first version of the tale of Beren and Lúthien

2. "Turambar and the Foalókë" — first version of the Túrin saga

3. "The Fall of Gondolin" — the only full narrative of the Fall of Gondolin

4. "The Nauglafring" — a story which was "lost", in that it never was rewritten in full, and was mostly left out of the later Silmarillion.

5. "The Tale of Eärendel" — the only full narrative of Eärendil's travels

6. "The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales" — an essay about the changes in the framework, and the "unwritten" tales.

It takes work to read these books. They are not your usual fantasy mind candy requiring little thought. These books need you to be almost academic in your digestion of them. As they are pieced together from various Tolkien scribbles there are often changes in certain names including actual usage or application of those names. I thoroughly enjoy them for the depth and meatiness they provide however and Christopher Tolkien deserves a hearty slap on the back and a mug of ale for bringing them to an eager world.

Coding Cogitations: Principles behind the Agile Manifesto

From the heroes at www.manifesto.org - you can't sum it up better than this

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer
through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.

Welcome changing requirements, even late in
development. Agile processes harness change for
the customer's competitive advantage.

Deliver working software frequently, from a
couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to the shorter timescale.

Business people and developers must work
together daily throughout the project.

Build projects around motivated individuals.
Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.

The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a development
team is face-to-face conversation.

Working software is the primary measure of progress.

Agile processes promote sustainable development.
The sponsors, developers, and users should be able
to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

Continuous attention to technical excellence
and good design enhances agility.

Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount
of work not done--is essential.

The best architectures, requirements, and designs
emerge from self-organizing teams.

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how
to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts
its behavior accordingly.