Bus Man - 2

I am the man on the Clapham Omnibus.
Today, on the bus, I am …
    A poet.
Tomorrow, on the bus, I shall be …
    A hermit.
In the company of others,
I always travel alone.

 

(See: Bus Man.)

An interesting idea …

… but what happens when he grows up?

(Found at: Design Territory May 2010)

In praise of being left-handed

"Studies show that lefties are less locked-in to one way of doing things, their options are more open, and adjustments to the environment are often less problematic for them than for right-handers." (Unattributed.)

"Left-handers have a higher 'fluid' intelligence and better vocabulary than the majority of the population. This is perhaps why there are more of them in creative professions, such as music, art, and writing." Dr Alan Searleman, St. Lawrence University, New York.

"Lefties are superior in creativity, tonal memory, spatial ability, originality, and elaboration of thinking. Social differentiation is of evolutionary benefit to any social group." Dr Lauren Harris, child psychologist.

"Left-handers: You favour intuitive thinking and tend to be more creative, imaginative, and original. You often act on hunches and are not afraid of failure or temporary setback because you know these experiences can help you sharpen your abilities. The worst thing you can do is lose faith in your ability to realize your goals and objectives." Dennis Fairchild, Palm Reading: A Little Guide to Life's Secrets.

 

(From an old (2010) Left-Hander's Diary.)

The Man Machine – 1

The body as a machine. A common notion but is it an accurate one?

Why are laptops usually so plain? (On the outside at least.)

Unlike things like guitar and other musical instrument cases – and even briefcases – I rarely see laptops that are decorated with stickers. I found the following image via the iGoogle gadget 'Notebook Photos'. That gadget puts a picture of a different notebook onto your iGoogle home page at regular intervals. One day this appeared. It is by Karin Lizana and originally comes from Flickr where the Laptop Stickers group can also be found. It appealed to my sense of geekie-ness. It seems that there are people out there who like to decorate their laptops, after all.

 

The Bookworm (Der Bücherwurm)

I came across this picture mainly years ago and immediately felt an affinity with the subject. It was only some years later that, quite by chance, I learned the title of the picture while on holiday in Shrewsbury – where a copy was hanging in the guesthouse in which we stayed. It is called The Bookworm – or perhaps more accurately 'Der Bücherwurm' since it was painted by the German artist Carl Spitzweg (1808-1885) in 1850.

I think it was the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) who is reputed to have said something to the effect that, as a biologist he was more of a bookworm than an earthworm. By this, he appears to have meant that he was not one involved in the hand-dirtying aspects of experimentation but was instead one who was more interested in reading and thinking about the subject.