Competitiveness and detachment
A few thoughts on the competitive spirit and the philosophy of detachment. In Sri Chinmoy's book on Emil Zatopek, he mentions an anecdote. "Zatopek is sincerity incarnate. He has always…
Belphegor’s prime
Belphegor's prime is 1,000,000,000,000,066,600,000,000,000,001: a palindromic prime number with 666 in the middle and 13 0s on either side. It is named after Belphegor, one of the seven princes of…
Mid Autumn Oxford Botanic Gardens
This is Magdalen Bridge over the River Cherwell. It looks like the ducks are going to go for a punt!
Magdalen Tower. The pink Nerines offer a dash of un-autumnal colour. (more…)
Trick or Treat – no thanks!
When I was a child I used to enjoy the annual ‘trick or treat’. Our friendly neighbours would give us sweats, chocolate and, best of all, money. As a child, I thought this was great!
Now, 30 years later, and I’m on the other side of the door – and I have to admit I’m very bad. On trick or treat night, I turn out the lights and pretend to be out! I feel like a modern day scrooge, because I don’t want to answer the door and give away my Kit-Kats or money.
One of the laws of the universe is – “as you give so shall your receive”. (more…)