Isn’t the brain a fascinating organ? Its an electro-chemical device with what appears to be millions of junctions that acts as a processing centre and storage unit. And like a computer it seems to have Random Access Memory and Read Only Memory.
That is what we know so far, but medical science still has a very long way to go and it does beg the question - are we advanced enough yet to actually understand what we might discover?
Some scientists say that dreaming is a way our sub-conscious brain is trying to make sense of data acquired during the day and store it away.
If that’s the case, why did I wake up this morning with ”Betcha didn’t know that” by KC rattling around in my bloody head? Kc and the sunshine band - I betcha didn't know that
I do have one recurring dream that I can only imagine is guilt related in some way, I think I need to have a serious word with myself though cos I don’t really think I have much to be guilty about.
So what could my addled brain be trying to tell me? Apart from it might just prove I’m fecking nuts.
Freud said you could control your dreams by visualising a scene, and just as you are dropping off to sleep step into it. Dunno about you but that sounds like some scary shit to me. What if you stepped in and couldn’t step back out?
That’s why you love my blog isn’t it. Where else would you get that?
Changing tack slightly, I have spent quite a lot of time in Wales over the last few years and must say that in the Hills and Valleys, Wales is still very beautiful and has really grown on me. Although I don’t think much of urban Wales like Cardiff etc.
But when you’re travelling through the valleys with a mist hanging over forests and valleys occasionally revealing castles and crumbling towers, its not difficult to imagine a dragon sleeping in there somewhere.
And don’t you love a good mystery? We’ve had all the common ones like the Bermuda Triangle that are usually easily explainable. There are many other mysteries that aren’t really mysteries at all. What has usually happened is that journalists on slow news days have dredged them out and embellished them. Stories in the American press circa 1800s were often just completely made up anyway.
If you look at news reports nowadays they aren’t much different. Without an ounce of common sense between hardly any of the broadcasters. They are all desperately seeking material for articles or reports so long as they all spout the same mantra.
What does interest me is the 1% of all mysteries that do really appear to be inexplicable. Although largely a sceptic, I remain open to the idea that there might be forces we have very little appreciation of.
One of my more earth-bound favourite mysteries is that found at Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire. In the gardens is a monument with a marble carving of an original painting by Poussin “Et in Arcadia Ego” which translates into “Even in Arcadia, there am I”.
Poussin was a fascinating man. A truly gifted painter and embroiled in a few mysteries of his own. Nonetheless, there is this copy of his painting in marble, at Shugborough Hall with what appears to be a message in code that nobody has (as yet, sensibly) appeared to have really cracked.
The message is a series of letters as follows: O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V framed by a “D” and “M” on a line below.
Some people think that Poussin knew who the “Man in the Iron mask” really was and secured favour with the French Royal Court by that knowledge, but that would be a bit far-fetched wouldn’t it …
I would imagine that Arcadia refers to Heaven, and DM (the Shades) the Underworld. So the text does seem to confirm Arcadia above the Underworld. Apart from that, those letters don’t mean the slightest thing to me. I wish I was clever enough to crack it, it must have meant something once to somebody.
Perhaps its where the bodies, or treasure is hidden… Have a look online and see what you think: Shugborough inscription - Wikipedia
I heard an interesting idea the other day, that if time travel was possible you could only go about 200 years either way before you encounter serious language problems That’s sounds quite sensible actually, imagine somebody trying to explain what a “Trans” person is to a 17th century gentleman? I think a smack in the chops or a visit to the exorcist would be the expected response.
Let’s see where has Teddy Barrett been engaged in electrical training or consultancy this month:
Worthing – Optical Lens Manufacturer.
Dorking – Vehicle Manufacturer
Maldon – Boat/Shipping Manufacturer
Bedford – Industrial Robotics
Chelmsford – DPD Sorting Office
Ashford (Kent) – Security Access Systems
One thing that I always enjoyed about the training business was the fact that generally (and I do stress “generally”) your days are of your own making. You have the syllabus, you know what details and points that have to be covered so most teachers are then left to devise their own lesson plans and presentations.
So if you have a crap lesson who’s fault is it?
When I was a student at Blackbird Leys College, I remember one of our lecturers would breeze into class, give out questionnaires to work through and piss off to the staff room for 20 minutes. He would then return, go through the answers, hand out fresh questionnaires and go back to the staff room. Then repeat for the rest of the lesson.
This was “Clever Trevor” (sandals and roll-ups) the kind of bloke that would be on every demonstration going, from Ban the Bomb to Save the Gay Wales.
If somebody had said to me back then “you’ll have a place in that Staff Room one day” I’d have said you must be nuts.
But lo and behold, one day I got the key to the door! But I wouldn’t dream of doing lessons like that.
When I was teaching full time, I once organised a lesson where students played the roles of Defence, Prosecution, Judge and Jury in a breech of H&S trial. They loved it and it got the learning objectives covered. How cool is that?
When I was teaching at Oxpens, a teacher from another class on another floor came to complain about the noise in my classroom. That was one of my proudest moments, the students were having a great time and enthusiastically engaged in a learning game.
So August has now sailed off into the sunset and we have now embarked on our next tour of duty through September.
What lies ahead for us? Thinking back to time travel, Doc Brown said “the future hasn’t yet been written”.
So who knows what’s ahead? The future is yours to write and we can only deal with the cards as they have been dealt.
One thing I do know is that the world will not beat a path to your door, unless you ask it to.
Happy trails folks and remember, “A cowboy never says goodbye, it’s just not in his nature.”