Grandad's quote of the week

‘Experience is a very good school, but the fees are too high’
- Jim Beardsmore

I think that this saying has within it volumes of wisdom. It is very sophisticated indeed, even though it is apparently so simple.

The whole success of the human race versus other creatures on earth is related to our ability to learn from the knowledge and experiences of others. Learning just from your own experience can be like accepting data as valid although it has come from a statistical sample of one.

A related saying is my own; ‘Do not allow yourself to learn too much from your own experiences, they may be giving you very misleading information’, this is the reciprocal of the same idea.

Grandad's quote of the week

“Imagine that what you are doing is, next week, to be published on the front page of newspapers, If you do not want this to happen then don’t do it!"

The nature of truth

‘The Nature of Truth’: The word ‘Truth’ is used to cover quite a lot of different meanings. these separate into two broad areas; one is the actual truth of things and events unrelated to human opinion or observation. All events, (These words meaning every thing that happens however large or however small, for example a single electron and everything that it does over all time and everything all humans have ever done individually or collectively), possess their own truth. Humans can only hope to glimpse at a tiny fraction of these truths although it is possible to learn something of the general physical and mathematical rules by which such things as atoms and humans behave. It should not be necessary to understand the mathematics of Alan Turing and Kurt Godel to accept that full knowledge of all events is unknowable, no matter how powerful our Gods, this does not mean that we are prevented from looking upon God as the sum of all altruistic thoughts and behaviours through all universes and all times by all sentient beings and the virtual (and thus indestructible) force for good across all times and all universes.

The second broad area of ‘truth’ is the various sets of beliefs, experiences and assumptions which settle into the brains of humanity from time to time under the influence of multiple forces, practical and psychological.

With regard to this second area it is troubling to note that there seems to be a disparity between the intensity of belief and the probability that this belief will turn out to be true. I have performed no valid statistical tests on this problem but my impression is that the two are negatively correlated but with a low degree of certainty with regard to individual samples.
One can meditate upon one’s own beliefs over time and discover that unless one is of a singularly rigid temperament then one’s beliefs change with time and fresh experiences. It would be very sad if they did not. Now there is a problem here; How can one predict which of one’s beliefs one should ditch today on the chance that this belief will change next year? It is plainly impossible and probably harmful to try with excessive zeal. This suggests that the only reasonable option is not to suddenly stop believing everything we believe but to hold these beliefs more lightly, with true intellectual humility. I do not think that this idea is truly original, several ancient philosophers from Lao Tse to Jesus Christ had the same idea. The pity is that we do not apply it often enough.

Grandad's quote of the week

"Never depend on a man for your living"

Grandad's quote of the week

"True love should not be looked upon as merely an emotional sensation in the mind. Real true love is found in behaviour, in actions and faithfulness. It is discovered as time goes by.
It is not what you think it is what you do."

Grannie’s Mildly Spicy Soup

You never know in life when you may be penniless and need to make a living somehow, you could always make a living out of this recipe!
 
 
Ingredients;
1 medium sized sweet potato
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 small carrots
1 ‘long thin mild sweet red pepper’ [I will let you know the proper name when I can remember it, they are nearly 12 inches long]
1 tablesp tomato ketchup[high quality]
1 tablesp worcester sauce
1 teasp horseradish sauce
some fresh thyme
chicken stock[about 700 mls]
 
 
Peel and dice the onion, sweet potato and carrot, finely dice the sweet pepper, strip the small leaves off a few sprigs of thyme.
Fry the onion, garlic, sweet pepper and thyme together with a little olive oil until soft,add a little ground black pepper and a little sea salt, then add the ketchup and worcester sauce.
 
put the vegetables into a pot with the chicken stock and bring to the boil, add the contents of the frying pan and  simmer till tender then give them a quick whizz in a blender, return to pot and bring to desired heat, serve into pre warmed soup bowls with a side plate of best ciabbata bread and very best butter.
 
 
[Armed with that one recipe, a few crocks and a rented shack with a flashing red neon above the door and you will be in business, you need fear unemployment and the dole no more!]

Grandad's quote of the week

"Beware of achieving that which wish, ask yourself if your desires are worthwhile, honourable and suited to your real abilities and nature."