Stop and Stare

Amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life, how often does one have time to stop and stare at the world around us and notice the marvels and beauty that exists despite our constant attempts to create beauty and marvels?



This is a snapshot of a Greylag Goose in mid flight, doing what is known as "whiffling".

Merriam-Webster Dictionary explains:

Main Entry: whif·fle
Pronunciation: \ˈhwi-fəl, ˈwi-\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): whif·fled; whif·fling \-f(ə-)liŋ\
Etymology: probably frequentative of whiff
Date: 1568
intransitive verb
1 aof the wind : to blow unsteadily or in gusts b: vacillate
2: to emit or produce a light whistling or puffing sound
transitive verb
: to blow, disperse, emit, or expel with or as if with a whiff

Basically, when any bird whiffles, it is trying to disperse the air under it's wings to reduce the lift it has so that it can land.

From what I understand, there is no fixed whiffle pattern. This Greylag Goose is doing one of many variations.

SO, what makes this interesting/marvelous/etc.? It is probably the fact that the Greylag Goose is a large goose, 74–84 cm (29–33 in) long with a 149–168 cm (59–66 in) wingspan and a body weight of 2.3–5.5 kg (5–12 lbs).

To draw a crude comparison, it's like seeing Ruben Studdard (of American Idol) do a triple backflip! Please do not miscontrue this as a mockery of fat people. It is a realistic physical limitation and I would be very personally impressed and happy if a person of such significant heft is able to do so.

But all that political correct-ness aside, the aerobatics of birds occurs around us everyday but no one really stops to appreciate the world around us.

Time to Shift Your Paradigm

Fill 'er up

In the meantime, while I procrastinate to redesign my blog template, here's a lil comic on Mensa to fill up this lapse of time before I get into blogging proper.

Is there really a meaning?

Hello World,

Yes, I do realise that the title of this post seems a little bleak. Blame the economy or whatever.

Well, the question is, is there really a meaning/point to anything in life? or do we just try to put meaning into things so that they are worth doing/having/etc.?

I came across this comic strip while idly surfing around in semi-empty despair (I failed my driving test....bawl*) and it kind of jump started this topic in my head again.

Rather than going into my mindless-neurotic rambling and self reasoning, I'll just post the comic (giving due kudos to PHD comics as the source).

Just a short intro to the comic: it is a real-life experience in a comic-strip form redux.



I realised the embedded comic is real tiny; I'll sort that out once I find time to revamp the blog layout. For visual comfort, visit the actual comic site by copying and pasting the link below. (until I figure my way around the html coding...gotta re-associate myself with that again...grumble*)

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1162