Still Amazed, ...never grow up. Options

[Hobbes]

I can claim the benefits of education, partake in my own eagerness to learn independently about 'stuff', and have a seemingly-endless wealth of knowledge at my keyboard-tapping finger-tips...

BUT...

there are still some things that, despite a full (or at least, reasonably substantial) understanding of, continue to amaze me in a rather childish way; almost like I am still assuming magic must be involved as opposed to, say, physics.

For me, these things include:

~ Aeroplanes. Yes yes yes... I know how they manage to lift off into the sky, but when I'm walking along the street and look up to the clouds to see the winged tonnage soaring amongst them, the six-year-old within me expresses his disbelief: "They are HUGE! They don't seem to be flying THAT fast! Surely the only thing keeping it in the sky is sheer willpower?!"

~ Magnets. These things can move. They can MOVE without being actually TOUCHED. If that isn't magic, I don't know what is. And yep, even now, as I quickly approach my 28th ... 27th and 12 months ... next birthday, I can still occasionally be found running a magnet underneath a thin tabletop in order to make its partner appear to move on the surface: As.If.By.Thought.Alone! Or manipulating iron filings! Or seeing how strong a magnet is by creating strings of attracted paper clips to dangle from it. Or running a magnet over a CRT screen to make pretty colours, and then getting in a panic when the effect suddenly seems to have become permanent (and then remember the degauss button to make it all alright again).

~ Bubbles. Blah blah. Surface Tension. Blah blah. Surfactants. Blah blah. Elasticity. Pft, whatever. They are bubbbbbbles!! Having a niece means having an excuse to buy/make mixture and spend a summer's day blowing bubbles, catching them, attaching them to one another, enlarging them, popping them, getting mixture in your eye and blinding yourself briefly. Bubbles are great

So. What do you still marvel at, even though you really should know better?

[Hobbes]

Towards the end of a book I read recently (Robert Wiseman's 'Paranormality'), a rather good point was made concerning the desire of some individuals to find (i.e. invent) magical/spiritual/paranormal meaning in the world. I don't have the book to hand at the moment so I am forced to paraphrase, but it was something along the lines of:

"It is interesting to note how keen people are to create and believe in some pretend magic, in a world that is already full of natural wonder. Watch how excited people get at the idea of seeing something levitate; something floating up into the air. But why? Every day we live on a planet that is constantly doing something equally marvellous, that just happens to be the exact opposite. Gravity pulls us to earth, and yet rarely do we stop and marvel at it."

Wiseman went on to say something like: "We should start to appreciate all the amazing things that already happen around us every day, but we take for granted, rather than desperately search for meaning and magic in things that don't exist." (i.e. talking about ghost-hunting, seances, etc.)

I may edit later to use his actual words, and replace my poor version, but I really liked his point.

And equally: GRAVITY! OMG!

[Phantom]

Towards the end of a book I read recently (Robert Wiseman's 'Paranormality'), a rather good point was made concerning the desire of some individuals to find (i.e. invent) magical/spiritual/paranormal meaning in the world. I don't have the book to hand at the moment so I am forced to paraphrase, but it was something along the lines of:

"It is interesting to note how keen people are to create and believe in some pretend magic, in a world that is already full of natural wonder. Watch how excited people get at the idea of seeing something levitate; something floating up into the air. But why? Every day we live on a planet that is constantly doing something equally marvellous, that just happens to be the exact opposite. Gravity pulls us to earth, and yet rarely do we stop and marvel at it."

Wiseman went on to say something like: "We should start to appreciate all the amazing things that already happen around us every day, but we take for granted, rather than desperately search for meaning and magic in things that don't exist." (i.e. talking about ghost-hunting, seances, etc.)

I may edit later to use his actual words, and replace my poor version, but I really liked his point.

And equally: GRAVITY! OMG!

*presses like button*

[Hobbes]

*presses like button*

<spam>
Incidentally, I've often wondered whether it would be to the benefit or to the detriment of FaceBook communication to remove the "like" button from statuses and comments. Would it encourage people to write something? Or just to not bother at all? In other words, is the "like" button a way to express a positive opinion when you might not have made any effort to do so normally, or is it used as a lazy alternative to writing something? Increasing the chance of response, or reducing the quality of response?
</spam>

But thanks, though

[Phantom]

*presses like button*

<spam>
is the "like" button a way to express a positive opinion when you might not have made any effort to do so normally, or is it used as a lazy alternative to writing something? Increasing the chance of response, or reducing the quality of response?
</spam>

But thanks, though

For me it is the positive opinion, sometimes that is enough, I compare it to real life. Would I smile at that moment, so would I 'like' it?
That's is probably why I spam with the 'like' button on FB so much. People often say: you really like a lot of stuff don't you?

I always try to make an effort of writing something but that little button sometimes says more, or it says it in a better way


(I am also pretty amazed by the like button effect, to make this comment less spam)