the village idiot

I'd just like to straighten out a few points. I don't have 'some weird fetish' I don't believe all races/cultures are equal. I am not offended by the statement "Europeans are the best at science" I don't wish to live in a child like world where people lie to me to make me feel better. Other than that your mind reading machine is perfectly calibrated.

The mistake you make is to judge all people of a certain race/culture based on the actions of a subset of that race/culture. You are happy to apply the 'not all people are the same' principal to white british people, but not to other groups. This is what makes you a racist. People need to be treated as individuals

There's a fair amount of truth to this. There may not be a racist bone in your body, but there are almost certainly racist pathways in your brain. We have evolved to be wary of people who look different. Our brains are still working to keep us safe despite the fact that global society has moved on in the last few thousand years. It's what you do with this information that marks out the real 'functional' racists from the average Joe who knows better.

Hi Rob, Great to hear that you have been experimenting with meditation, and sorry to hear that you are finding it tough. It certainly is very simple in theory but frustratingly difficult in practice. Might I be so bold as to suggest a slight change in emphasis. It is not really possible to do much about what the brain does, the key is to change your relationship with/reaction to its outputs. You have already noticed that the brain churns out twaddle most of the time. This is a key insight that most people are not particularly aware of. The brain 'thinks' all the time and our default is to get carried along with this thinking as if we created it, so therefore it must be meaningful. Your brain will carry on doing this whatever you do, but you can get much better at simply recognising it as thinking and get on with your day. It breaks the link between thought and mood/action. Quite a good strategy is to have a really good think about the 5 or 6 things that you really value in life, the things that would make you into the person you want to be. Keep meditating and get better at recognising the nature of thoughts as they pop into your head. This will give you the necessary distance to be able to 'hold up' the thought against your values and choose to run with it or let it go. Thoughts that don't get a hold of you very quickly fade to nothing. The more you ruminate on unproductive thoughts the more often they will appear. You can't stop thinking, but you can learn to accept whatever comes up and only act on the good bits. People's natural assumption is that they are their thinking. This is not the case. In my view it is more accurate to say that you are the conciousness into which thoughts appear. This is a neutral, observing space into which all thoughts and perceptions make themselves known. It is the rarely visited space between thoughts. It is where Wes D and Bolam go when they are snowboarding. Breaking the stranglehold of your thoughts (lessening their duration) trains your brain to spend more time in this marvelous space between thoughts. The clouds of your thinking drift on by and the world starts to look like a very different and much more interesting place. Good luck with it all, and keep us posted on how you get on.

Everyone's heads are full of thoughts all of the time. Most of it is nonsense, and a good percentage of it is harmful. Meditation trains you to observe the thoughts (which materialise automatically) dispassionately, giving you the space needed to let them dissolve away quickly if you want them to, rather than getting carried along by them. Particularly useful if your thinking is causing you problems.

Sounds good and well thought out to me. Quote seems about right. Would be great to see some pictures.

Yeah, I did hear an angle grinder on the night in question but figured it was probably just Stubby doing his toenails.

I probably ought to think about getting a different van.

You'd have to be some kind of idiot to make the same mistake twice.

Yup, you're absolutely right. Usually the saws are locked in a container, but we have been working a totally different area of the Wood (It's a big place) and I got lazy. Definitely a lesson learned.

Thanks guys, Very touched by the offers of loans. Had to buy replacements straight away in order to work so am sorted. Saws were Husky's: 550xpg 560xp 346xp

Hi all, Three saws stolen out of my van last night or the night before. Just outside Ipswich. Tuck your kit away nice and safe.

Happy Birthday Silky!!

Thanks for all the back up guys. Very much appreciated!

My sister is an eye clinician in the NHS. The amount of sick leave taken in her department is staggering, as is the level of staff turnover. This is all at the 'low stress' end of the system. I don't know whether this is people taking the michael or a symptom of a poisonous working environment, but something is clearly wrong.

Yes, I am far too stuck up. Remind me to howl in merriment at your next mass slaughter rib tickler.

Classy.

He discovered he was wrong about something. This ran counter to the natural laws of his universe, and he popped out of existence.

nope

Maybe they plan to break the sign up and use the individual letters in a different order? All the best, Evil Haga III.

Does that type of grab need to be welded to the boom Richy?

Free books! How wonderful. Many thanks sandspider.

Yup, not proud of this one. It's a re-hash of a meme I saw a while back. Wasn't going to post it, but then thought what the heck, you guys will take it in the spirit in which it was meant.

Four years ago the wife and I had a ginger son. I am over the shock now, and life has pretty much returned to normal. I am a 'make the best of a bad situation' kind of guy. Before we knew it was time for Angus' first day at big school. My wife was running late that morning and asked if I could get Angus ready. So I punched him the face and took away his dinner money.