Much Ado About Nothing

AN EXERCISE IN INTUITION
Suppose we have two physical vessels of varying size, U and u, and suppose further that they're both empty (in the usual sense - we've run out of wine). Should we consider the degree of their emptiness as the same (i.e. even talk of such degrees is nonsense!), or can we say in a meaningful way that their degrees of emptiness differ?

AN ARGUMENT
Consider two urns in a marble shop. The shopkeeper labelled them in the following way - urn 1 holds only (and can only hold) white marbles, whereas urn 2 can hold both white and black marbles.

Now consider a new assistant that has just been offered an apprenticeship in the shop of his dreams (he loves playing marbles), and is not as yet familiar with the arcana of the labeling system, i.e. he hasn't as yet been told by the shopkeeper what the restrictions on the contents of the urns are.

Now consider the statements 'urn 1 contains no white marbles' and 'urn 2 contains no white marbles' - they entail different things, depending who is exposed to that information - the shopkeeper or the assistant. In particular, to the shopkeeper it means that 'urn 1 is empty'.

On a more technical side, we can substitute the terms 'has no white marbles' and 'is empty' interchangeably salva veritate in the context of urn 1 (charity permitted, for naturally one could generate oddly sounding sentences). This cannot however be done in the context of urn 2.

The above argument, and exercise in intuition do not exactly express the same ideas, but overlap on what is essentially the general idea.

A Sneeze

"It might be an interesting literary exercise to try to describe a sneeze. And all the feelings that precede it." - Oliver Sacks.

Challenge accepted. 

With a latent and barely perceptible tickle of the sinus, comes the announcement of this explosive fanfare of the face. As this initially innocent phantom tingling spreads and overwhelms us with its intensity, pushing tears aside in its tyrannical claim to our nasal cavity, an inner revolt brews.  This somatic protest elevates rapidly, as we tense up and inhale spasmodically liters of air, only to expel them all again, extraditing the unbearable intruder in a convulsive wave of euphoria.

What is your calling?

We make shit up. That's all we ever do, at best. At worst we just repeat the shit made up by others. We need the shit others made up, mind you, in order to make up our own. This is not to be confused with stirring shit up - that's an altogether distinct, and somewhat conditional activity - for in order to do any shit stirring, there already needs to be some shit around - shit that has already been made up, naturally. There are ways out of ever having to do anything with making shit up, or shit stirring. Those who have adopted the two most common evasive strategies, either don't do shit, or don't give a shit.

Breeding Unicorns

It is illegal to breed unicorns - illogical even, or ill founded according to some. It's safe to conclude that breeding unicorns is an ill activity.

Epidiosyncragyrology

Epidiosyncragyrology - the science dealing with stirring patterns resulting from human activity intended to dissolve sugar in tea or coffee, by stirring with a teaspoon. Most epidiosyncragyrologists consider the recent emergence of this interdisciplinary field as nothing short of a revolution in the study of the human mind.

Gecko commotion!

Two gecko's are either fighting, playing or mating outside my window - hmm, can't tell. There's plenty of commotion and a cacophony of gecko-squeaks. Oh wait! - I can see one has got hold of the other's tail with it's jaws. Whoa! - the gecko binary system has just swung haphazardly, pivoted on the hind legs of the biter, coming close to dropping off the window altogether. Nope - I still don't know what to make of it.

Friends

My flatmate's dog Russell, came to greet me last night when I got back from a tutorial. After trotting giddily downstairs he paused politely at the threshold, looking up at me, until I said - hello there, come in! After I turned the TV on and sat down, he sat next to me. A minute or two later, while we were sitting there, watching the tube, he glanced over, and looked into my eyes - it was then, that I had a thought which put that moment in perspective - "so, my friend - here we are, two living beings sharing a moment in eternity."