1) What if it doesn’t work? If re-animation following cryonic suspension fails, then I’ll be dead and therefore oblivious to the inevitable process of decomposition - just as is any other corpse. 2) What if your body is re-animated but meanwhile you’ve reincarnated into another body? I always was good at multi-tasking. Seriously, why assume that Mind (or Higher Consciousness if you prefer that term) is restricted to one location? Or that Mind cannot flit instantly from one location to another - time and space being relative to Mind. Observe your own behaviour for proof of how little time you spend being truly conscious of your own body and your immediate surroundings. Most people run on auto-pilot most of the time. Maybe one body could run on auto-pilot while the Mind was in the other body doing something more interesting. Besides, I don't have a fixed belief in reincarnation.  It's an interesting possibility and an engaging philosophy, but there is no evidence to pro...

My latest batch of homemade jam - apple and cherry, in this instance - straight from the pan and waiting for wax-paper seals.  The apples were from our garden; the first time we've had a decent crop from this young tree.  There is still some fruit on the branches, as yet unripened. I make my own jams so they're totally free of synthetic colours and other additives.  Made properly, unopened preserves can be safely stored for years.  It's a pleasant feeling to know the household cupboards are well-stocked. I also enjoy maintaining old traditions.  Preserving foods for the coming winter months is a task which has been observed for millennia.  These-days we're so used to simply popping out to the shops 24/7 that on the rare occasions that there's been some kind of hold-up in the supply chain, people started panicking within only a few days.  Maybe we should think about becoming a little more self-reliant?  We've become so d...

Why settle for some vile excuse of a burger which tastes like a fried carpet tile when for minimal effort you can enjoy homemade burgers? Easy Meals - Homemade Burgers

Rosa gallica, also known as the apothecary's rose or Rosa mundi, is in full bloom right now in my garden. It was one of the most-painted roses in Renaissance art, and was cultivated by Romans then later by monks for its alleged medicinal values. I grow it simply because its fragrance is divine.  Surely that is reason enough, hmm?

http://www.learn4good.com/games/kids/ufo.htm 'Tis silly, but deliciously so.

Conversation between a door-to-door schoolleaver salesman and me:- Me: Can I help you? Salesman: Don't worry, I'm not a salesman. This is free. Me: Oh? Salesman: All it is, is that we're doing roofing.... Me: Free roofing? Salesman: Erm, no. I mean the quote's free. Someone will come out to you to give you a free quote. Me (with evil grin): Ah, so you're the sales guy to has sell me a sales guy! Salesman: Erm, well, erm, yes, I mean no, I mean... Me (putting the poor kid out of his misery): No thanks! But thanks anyway. Salesman (smiling with relief): Oh, ok then.

I’ve always been fascinated by underground homes, and by grottoes natural or man-made. The attraction is not simply that of the ecologist - some contemporary eco-homes are built partially underground for insulation and to enable the new-build to blend in more readily with its environment. This plays a role for me, but is not the whole story. An aura of secrecy and mystery surround underground homes, and the child in me revels in such atmospheres. Imagine, then, an entire city underground. We tend to think of such places as backdrops for Fantasy and Science-Fiction stories, but there are historical precedents. Edinburgh had an underground city; so did Liverpool. Tourists can visit the remains of these places. Picture an entire community of 20,000 people or more, living together beneath the Earth’s crust. Fresh air is carried down via long vents. Water is conducted by underground streams, wells and cisterns. The temperature stays around a comfortable 63 degrees. Flights of carved s...

"There are knitters, and then there is the mighty Kate Jenkins. You won't find woolly mittens or granny blankets in her craft room. No, her needles whip up something much more interesting...." http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2010/jul/02/knitting-exhibition-come-dine-with-kate#/?picture=364479419&index=1

The mysteries of Ancient Egypt were not part of the conversation over the last two days, but the mysteries of life and death certainly were. While pharaohs built pyramids to ensure the preservation of their physical remains, Mum’s had a ground-floor bathroom and bedroom built to ensure that she will be able to remain in her own house should ill-health strike. She’s 81 and increasingly frail, and worried about any challenges which her future may hold. During the building process, the entire house had swiftly disappeared under a thick veil of gritty grey dust. Mum had already cleaned some of it but was nervous of lifting things off high shelves as she has vertigo. So yesterday my sister Evelyn and I shoed her off to her beloved Ladies Club (so she couldn’t keep “helping”!!) while we blitzed the kitchen. Every single item of kitchenware - plates, cups, casserole dishes, pans, glassware etc. - needed lifting off shelves and out of cupboards, washing, drying - and also the shelf or cu...

An interesting comparison between British life forty years ago and now:- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/1970-vs-2010-40-years-when-we-got-older-richer-and-fatter-2017240.html The key to change... is to let go of fear. - Rosanne Cash This entire globe, this star, not being subject to death, and dissolution and annihilation being impossible anywhere in Nature, from time to time renews itself by changing and altering all its parts. There is no absolute up or down, as Aristotle taught; no absolute position in space; but the position of a body is relative to that of other bodies. Everywhere there is incessant relative change in position throughout the universe, and the observer is always at the center of things. - Giordano Bruno

"An academic at the University of Manchester claims to have cracked a mathematical and musical code in the works of Plato. Jay Kennedy, a historian and philosopher of science, described his findings as 'like opening a tomb and discovering new works by Plato.' Plato is revealed to be a Pythagorean who understood the basic structure of the universe to be mathematical, anticipating the scientific revolution of Galileo and Newton by 2,000 years." Read the rest:- http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/29/plato-mathematical-musical-code