Money makes the world go round (part 2)
"I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart".
If you haven’t read my first article about money you really should do so. It’s the starting point for this posting. In it I posed the question why I (you?) always want to buy new gadgets, a new hifi, a new laptop, …..new things. The answer was people tend to peer over the fence too much, and then seeing what others have, want to have that too.That’s probably how it works in my case as well. Now what is the deciding factor for me personally whether I will buy something or not? Necessity is important. I will buy food, it’s necessary if I want to maintain this Blog. I don’t even have to think about it, I just know that I need to eat and drink. But what about all the other stuff? From past experience I know that I’m always deliberating, weighing for a long time. I’m debating with myself, considering arguments in favour and against. Is it a necessary article for our household? Naturally the price is a restricting factor. The biggest hurdle though is my wife. It all boils down to whether I can “sell” my desired purchase to her. Where I’m like a child in a toyshop, I can't do without her much needed restraint. A reassuring thought.

Books
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint". (Mark Twain)
"Read not to contradict and confute, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider". (Sir Francis Bacon)

I blog, therefore I am
"When he who hears does not know what he who speaks means, and when he who speaks does not know what he himself means, that is philosophy". (Voltaire)
Descartes wrote: I think, therefore I am (cogito ergo sum). Descartes was a philosopher, and I'm not. All philosophers are rational thinkers. I'm not. What could he have meant by that statement? Could he have meant to say that only the fact you are a thinking being means that you "are"? And, that by that reasoning, all creatures that aren't thinking , "are" not? Then, what are they? Your cat, your dog, the flowers in your garden, the trees in the forest? I don't know about you, but I'm not underestimating philosophers, they're just too smart. And surely Descartes, he was a bright guy. Do you think that he could have meant that "thinking" is the essence of human beings, the soul, the thing that makes them stand out, the one thing where they fundamentally differ from other living creatures? OK, let me know what you think. The title of this posting was just an excuse to tackle Descartes. Don't think for one minute that my being depends on this blog, or that the only difference between my cat and me is this blog. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Quote
"Forty is the old age of youth; fifty is the youth of old age". (Victor Hugo)

Money makes the world go round
Is that so? Maybe on a purely material level, yes. I was just thinking the other day about writing a post about money when I read this article about happiness. Coincidence. Statistical data show that the amount of money or goods you have is irrelevant to how happy you are. You can even state the opposite: the more you desire goods (money), often the unhappier you are. Then why do I (you?) always want to have new gadgets, a new laptop, a new hifi, a new.......? That's a good question. In itself, having money (or not) doesn't make you happy or unhappy. It's when you look over the fence (figuratively speaking) and see what your neighbour has where the desires crop up, and you get unhappy. So, a sure way to happiness should be: don't look over the fence again, don't relate what you (ought to) have to somebody else. Another thing I picked up from the article is that happiness is a byproduct. You can't just say: And now I'm going to strive to get me some happiness. Happiness comes to you when for instance you've completed a job satisfactorily, when you've seen a beautiful piece of art, or read a moving book. The bottomline is: look at yourself, do the right thing, and it will bring you happiness. Question still remains: How come there are so many unhappy people? Think about it!

Paint Shop Pro
"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done".
PSP is such a wonderful program. It's so versatile and compared to it's big brother Photoshop, it's really doing well in the equation. PSP is not a necessity (see the quote). You can make things from scratch like the bike you see here. Just use your imagination and creativity. You can also use one or more of the many features and tools PSP is offering you. Tubes, brushes, textures, or one of the loads of effects the program comes with. Or you can use plugins like Chaospro, KPT, Dragonfly, BladePro or EyeCandy. The options are manifold, as are the results. I don't reckon myself to be a pro, far from that, I just like to play with the program and see what comes out. The possibilities are endless. I think I have to make a confession here, I'm probably hooked. Last but not least, the price of PSP is right. For the price you are paying you get a lot of performance. Just see for yourself. Happy creating.

Vacation
"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils."
Just been vacationing in England with my family. Two weeks away from work. It was just terrific. The weather was perfect, scorching at times. But, it's way better that way than rain, which is not unusual in England. Anyway, everything worked out great. First week we stayed in a cottage near Minehead, which is situated in Somerset, located on Bristol Channel. The scenery was just awesome, rolling country dotted with small villages, medieval at times. The National Trust does a good job over there. Highest point in Exmoor National Park, which makes up a large part of Somerset, is Dunkery Hill at 519 m which gives you an estimate of what the country looks like. Our routine was sleeping in, swimming, and then do some sightseeing. Which actually suited us very well, what with the heat and so on. Second week we stayed in a cottage not too far from London, near Dorking. One of the highlights was a visit to London, of course, we couldn't leave that out. Did the London Eye, the big wheel which presents you with a great view of the city. Actually, we also walked quite a lot, Whitehall, Oxford Street and from there on to Hyde Park. Back with the bus to Piccadilly, on the way we visited a few CD stores, which turned out to be huge, but not cheap. Anyway, as we noticed, time flies, so the day ended soon enough. Another highlight was visiting a good friend of us. Margot, my wife , met Chris, some 30 years ago when she worked in Dorking for half a year. They kept in touch, and a couple of months ago we received an invitiation to attend her marriage. Which happened to take place at the day we were supposed to leave for home again. Which raises the question: Is that coincidence or was it meant to be? After the service we headed back to Dover. And then it was over again. We'd seen a lot, done a lot, and been to places. As far as we're concerned England is one of our favorite countries to go to. Besides vacationing one of the things I like to do is take pictures. The shots you see here aren't straight shots as you can maybe guess. They're "blended" pictures. The bottom one is Dunster Castle, the top one Cleeve Abbey. The one of Cleeve Abbey has a bit of a surrealistic quality I think. Please bear with me in the future when I keep posting stuff like you see here. TIA.