www.richardhagen.org

Never get into a bullshitting contest with one of these guys.

When psychiatrists (and I guess other mental health professionals) wish to enquire if a patient has felt in danger of self harm or felt suicidal, they ask if the patient has felt safe.

This term not only avoids prompting the ideas of self harm or suicide, it also provides a positive way of asking.

Subtle, cunning, gentle.

From the Peter Carey short story He Found Her in Late Summer:

He did not doubt that she was a vampire, but he had seen something that A.A. Dickson with his marble tombs and wooden stakes had never seen: that a vampire feels pain, loneliness and love. If vampires fed on other people, he reflected, that was the nature of life: that one creature drew nourishment and strength from another.

If you haven’t read Carey’s short stories, please do. I generally prefer them to his novels.

Another quote that has been with me today:

You see, I know that although the Daleks will create havoc and destruction for millions of years, I know also that out of their evil must come something good…

It’s from the Doctor Who story Genesis of the Daleks.

Can you think of other common idiomatic disparities?

A lot of people on Flickr have worked on a 365 or 366 project, where they take a picture of themselves every day for a year. This is a very special, very personal project, and the participants tend to be quite dedicated.

I’m going to try something a little more ambitious.

Starting on the leap day in 2008 (2008-02-29), I’ll take a photo of myself each day until the leap day in 2012 (2012-02-29). That’s a total of 1462 photos.

I’ve started a new Flickr group called 1462 to see if anyone else wants to join in. Maybe you’d like to join in yourself!

Update: I’ve made a page for the 1462 project under my Experiments.

The attached clipping is from Brisbane’s Sunday Mail newspaper.

The challenge is to submit an escalating series of purchases with the same punchline as the first item (Do Not Eat Potting Mix).

Suggestions welcome!

Update:

Dear Good Mail,

I ordered a Collins class submarine, and the label on the Collins class submarine said Do not eat potting mix.

Yours, etc.

Carnage Nun Migumi (at about 1:00).

Almost as good as a laser screwdriver.

I seem to be getting a lot of hits from Amazon Web Services addresses. I must point out that this is relative, as my site doesn’t attract much traffic. However, it is a mystery. My logs aren’t giving much away yet.

Does anyone have any ideas about why this might be? I have a weak hypothesis that it’s Facebook-related, but I’d like to be educated.

Read about fictionalism. It can be applied to thinking about fiction (where stories are treated as being literally false, just somehow useful) and other things. Some people have advanced a fictionalist account of mathematics.

I’m beginning to move towards a fictionalist view of consciousness. I’m sure that this isn’t a new idea, but it’s been a disorienting and rewarding shift in perspective for me.

Tonight! Oh golly! Tonight!

I’ve had a lifebreaking revolution! Both devastating and emancipating.

I hope I can stay out of the cage.

(If you’d like to know, drop me a line or call me!)

Update: There is still an annoying stone in one hoof. I’ll see if the therapist and I can winkle it out.