Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

Yesterday while listening to radio 4, I heard an excerpt from a speech by J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series.

The piece I heard was part of her Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association.

Until now, I've never paid much attention to the writing of Ms Rowling, but the section I reproduce below must rank among the top 10 most poignant pieces I have ever read.



Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s minds, imagine themselves into other people’s places.

Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.

And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.

I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.

What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.


You can read or listen to the speech in full here.

http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html

[Rod Paradise]

That's a great quote Red. She's a clever woman.

I saw this pic today & thought of your birdcatching story:



Follow the links for some other amazing wildlife photos:

BBC Wildlife Photographer of the year 2008.

I loved this one - one of the winners:

[Colchester Kev]

LOL see that lump in the divers trousers ... that aint excitement !!

[RED-DOG]

Some good stuff there Rod.

[action man]

i prefer a shove preflop tom, but when u call i think u played it fine, u expect him to C-bet and your shove will get through, i imagine you bet the turn whatever so in effect it was a 5 outer you lost to, just so cruel the K popping up and him having a genuine hand. nice to see you briefly on saturday and we still need to go to hillsborough lol

[RED-DOG]

i prefer a shove preflop tom, but when u call i think u played it fine, u expect him to C-bet and your shove will get through, i imagine you bet the turn whatever so in effect it was a 5 outer you lost to, just so cruel the K popping up and him having a genuine hand. nice to see you briefly on saturday and we still need to go to hillsborough lol

[MANTIS01]

Tom

you said earlier that you were intending to push whatever, and then flat called when you had KQ off..presumably because its a "hand" of sorts? Ignoring the results orientated fact he did have a hand on the button, why didn't you just stick it in pre and save yourself shallow stack OOP difficulties? He'll pass a good number of times to your push compared to the times he'll call.

Yes, that would also have been a good play (Not knowing that he had AK of course) but when I saw the KQ it looked like a monster and I immediately wanted to play a check raise whatever the flop. I didn't expect him to check behind, and then suddenly theres a king on the board and I find myself firing at it.



"It didn't happen....it didn't happen....it didn't happen...."

The intention. I am going to raise pre-flop whatever my hole cards are. But wait, I have picked up K-Q. So I will now flat call, and then check-raise whatever the flop is. I don't get why you change your strategy to just calling because you pick up those 2 cards only to say that those 2 cards are irrelevant to how you intend to play the hand anyway. If your intention is to c-r the flop regardless then what does it matter what those 2 cards are? And as such how has the appearance of those 2 cards been significant enough to change your original strat in the first place?

If we have a plan to play the hand a certain way then why do we look at our cards at all?

[RED-DOG]

If we have a plan to play the hand a certain way then why do we look at our cards at all?

I agree with you. I should have followed my original plan, but for some reason I decided I wanted him to bet again before I pushed.



"It didn't happen....it didn't happen....it didn't happen...."

[RED-DOG]

Ralph and I flew the polar route to Vegas, the views were stunning. I could actually see a bloke pulling a sledge.

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

Would you walk around with a bloke who wears Jesus sandals and a Grouch-bag?

Click to see full-size image.

[Chili]

LOL great picture. Ralph spent a lot of time in 1970's San Francisco you know!!

[RED-DOG]

See that tooth? (The gold one bottom right) Well I had that inlay done ages ago by Mr B Hainsworth Tordoff, the best dentist in the world.

He told me it would be good for a few years, and then the whole tooth would come loose and have to be removed. It should have been an expensive job, but he knew I was struggling, so although he wasn't supposed to, he did it on the national health.

Well yesterday, after almost 30 years of faithful service, my gold tooth finally did come loose as predicted, I am having it taken out tomorrow.

Unfortunately, It outlasted Mr Tordoff. Someone else will be doing the job.

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

LOL great picture. Ralph spent a lot of time in 1970's San Francisco you know!!

Ask him to tell you about the time he left his harp in Sam Plank's disco.

[Kev B]

LOL great picture. Ralph spent a lot of time in 1970's San Francisco you know!!

Ask him to tell you about the time he left his harp in Sam Plank's disco.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Plank

[Redsgirl]

See that tooth? (The gold one bottom right) Well I had that inlay done ages ago by Mr B Hainsworth Tordoff, the best dentist in the world.

He told me it would be good for a few years, and then the whole tooth would come loose and have to be removed. It should have been an expensive job, but he knew I was struggling, so although he wasn't supposed to, he did it on the national health.

Well yesterday, after almost 30 years of faithful service, my gold tooth finally did come loose as predicted, I am having it taken out tomorrow.

Unfortunately, It outlasted Mr Tordoff. Someone else will be doing the job.

Click to see full-size image.

                                                                                                                                                            eughh! whats next dad? endoscope? stool samples? is there no limit?!!