Second chances

A quick session with google teaches me that "Instant success" provides me with 8,240,000 results while as "Instant failure" gives me 6,370,000 results. That must by logic mean that instant success is more common that instant failure. Not really. It doesn't give away how many times something else has been tried without the wanted result. Simple example. Ads for any kind of weightloss related item such as drugs, diets or excerise. We're often fed the line of "I had tried every diet, from eating cardboard to drinking gasoline, but with this I have insant results". I wouldn't call it instant if you had tried something similar, but it's the idea of succeeding at something right away that holds a certain lure. The fact that there is an answer out there that will take the worry out, and sometimes even the hard work. But the question remains, can we have success without failing?

Yes, of course we can, but they're not failures until after the fact. Before you start the game you're still winning, it's not until it's over that you have lost. But then you can play again, and maybe that time you will win. For myself I can't say I've done anything that didn't take a few attempts. Sure, I've had success in details, but in the bigger picture I've always failed. I choose not to see them as failures, but only finding a way that didn't work. A trail and error kind of thing. It's how I generally get by. Like the one in a relationship is successful at it, but not counting the amount of exes, they just didn't work out. Simple.

There's really nothing in life that doesn't offer second chances. Only death. You can't change the way you die, because you are after all dead and then you don't have anything to do with life anyway. This also goes with making mistakes, obviously. They're never mistakes until after the fact, when you have to face the consequences (59,400,000 results), the fallout of what you've done. But they're fixable too, everything's fixable. When it comes to people that's only half true, you can't go back in time and start things over, same with job interviews, if you didn't get the job you just didn't get it. Does it mean it's a waste of time to try and risk failure, risk making a mistake? No. Everything you do builds on to who you are, it makes you even greater than you were before. So the bigger mistake would have been to not try at all.

At times it's as easy as deciding between fixing your make up because you smudge the eyeliner, or wash it all off and start over? Depends on the error. Some people you let go of, some jobs you let go of, some ideals you let go of but there'll always be something to fill the void, it can be hard to see, but not impossible. Sometimes you just say "I'm sorry" and mean it, sometimes you work a bit harder to get to where you want to be, sometimes you find that maybe something else suited you better, something else was more convincing and true. When you've been in those situations a couple of times you know what to do. Ha! Making the same so called mistakes over and over is good for you!

Habits change over time with the smallest quakes, it occasionally rumbles and storms when it all falls apart for you to build anew, either way you come out the other side. And if you don't, you're dead, and if you're dead you can't read this, so you know I'm right.

So, to sum it up, you'll always get a second chance in life, one way or the other. Everything will be just fine. I promise. And honestly, has anything ever turned out exactly the way you planned?

(You can only change what you do to yourself and others, you can't change what others have done to you, only make sure it doesn't happen again)

Colouring books

One morning I stood by
your bed and saw
how you stabbed my
face in the pillow

There's a reason why I say my cats are my babies...

Cats use special purr to manipulate humans

Cat owners who think their cats control them now have some scientific confirmation: Animal vocalization experts have just identified a special manipulative purr that felines have evolved, in part, to get what they want from people.

The newly identified vocalization, called "solicitation purring," has never been acknowledged or studied before, although cat fanciers, such as the study's lead author Karen McComb, are quite familiar with it.

"In the case of my cat, if he sees you stirring from sleep at all in the early morning he will immediately switch into giving this solicitation purring and position himself next to your head so you get the full impact," McComb, a reader in Behavioral Ecology at the University of Sussex, told Discovery News.

She added, "Asking around, I find I'm not the only one who, if I wake up early, often lie pretending to still be asleep so my cat doesn't start this!"

McComb, who has analyzed communication and cognition of elephants, lions and many other mammals, decided to investigate what could be behind her cat's early morning purring.

She and colleagues Anna Taylor, Christian Wilson and Benjamin Charlton examined the acoustic structure of recorded cat purrs. The team determined purrs are not all the same, since one contains an embedded, high-pitched cry. This resulting combination makes up solicitation purring.

McComb explained that what cats seem to be doing for the special purr "is producing the low fundamental frequency and its harmonics by muscular activation" -- what has been associated with typical purring -- "but also voicing a cry, probably with the inner edges of the vocal folds, which is then superimposed on the sound's frequency spectrum."

The researchers recorded 10 cats purring. Some of the sounds contained the cry, while others didn't or were processed to have the cry component taken out. Fifty human participants then listened to the sounds, described in the latest issue of Current Biology.

Virtually all listeners, whether or not they owned a cat themselves, identified the solicitation purring sounds as being more urgent than others. Sensitivity to this type of purring may even be innate in humans, drawing from a primal drive to respond to crying babies.

"Cats have about the right size of vocal folds to produce a cry that is similar to a baby's, so there is a coincidental element," explained McComb. "In fact, the meow can sound remarkably like a crying child, which will be particularly effective with humans."

Cats purr to each other, but the scientists found felines really exaggerate their solicitation purring when communicating with humans, making felines near impossible to ignore.

Georgia Mason, a professor and Canada Research Chair in Animal Welfare at the University of Guelph, told Discovery News she was pleased to see that "this careful work shows there are at least two types of purring: the shrill ones cats wake you up with, and the relaxing one they do at other times."

"It makes me wonder whether dogs and cats learn to make sounds we find particularly hard to ignore, or whether we have selected for animals whose signals we find naturally recognizable and comprehensible," Mason added.

Both she and McComb hope future studies will continue to unravel the mysteries of cat vocalizations, since they believe purring alone may be much more complex than previously thought, with various types of purrs, such as those emitted when cats are in pain, conveying different information.

From here

A contemperary angle of historical substance

You know exactly how they go, those employment ads. First it's a bunch of things that you're supposed to be that you're not, then things they offer than you don't really want, but they're masked for appeal and you think "Hm, that sounds fun", and then after you apply and wait, and try to imagine a life having that job, getting used to the idea you get a letter of refusal and you get a bit upset, but keep in mind what they're really asking for. Either way, I read the most darling article in the latest edition of Världens Historia. addressing the Middle Ages from this angle. I will let you non Swedish speakers enjoy part of it.

Want to experiance the world? Lego soldier

We offer: A varied job with lots of travels and excitement every day. Your pay is based on your results with a possibility of great bonuses during intense periods.

We demand that you

- can work independently and in groups

- that you're in good physical shape and that you're not afraid of chipping in

- that you bring your own shoes, spear and shield.

Then there's a little text informing you of what life was supposedly like for these soildiers. See, anything can be sold with the right PR agency.

Are you outdoorsy? Farmer (not fully true, but I don't want to use the politically incorrect term)

We offer a routine imprinted 96 hours working week with a lot of fresh air, flogging and abuse.

We demand that you

- bring your family

- are honest and duteous

- are ambitious and sustainable

Again, a text about the lives of those who were far down on the social latter. I'm probably a horrible person but the "we offer" part really made me laugh. Not even for that part could they find good selling points, but then again we all have our preferences of how we should be treated.

Tired of working 9-5? Nightman (honestly, I don't know what the correct English term is.)

We offer an exciting job from midnight to early morning. You'll get your own horse and carrige with barrel and plenty of exercise. You will also be living with your colleagues.

We demand that you

- bring your own shovel and bucket

- that you're not afraid to get dirty

- that you have good nightvision

So what did they do? They emptied the latrines. Both public and private during the night by candle light. They made twice as much money as a journeyman, but they stunk so badly they couldn't live among others. Talk about a crap job. But like my late father used to say "People will do just about anything for money, some even work".

Naturally there were other jobs as well, but knowing my luck I'd end up as one of those three. Luckily for me times have changed a bit. Here at least.

Unfortunatly, I choke on my own giggles at the nightman employment ad when I remember the caste system, and how by default this profession still exists, while the Portugese were the ones that introduced a caste system, it still lives on. I hope it isn't news to you that toilets aren't a common man possession in India and they still have human beings collecting human feces. As European countries withdrew, moved on and hopefully moved on some of the bad ideas live on.

Feudalism was from a humanitarian point of view a disaster from beginning to end. Too bad we haven't fully reached the end of it. The idea that one person can be worth more than another based on their heritage physically disgusts me. We're all worthy of the same respect no matter who or what you are. Even if you're stupid I'll respect you based on being human, but that doesn't mean I don't get a laugh or two out of the things you say. No offense.