2008 — 26 July: Saturday
Just finished catching up with Junior, who arrived about an hour ago. Suddenly it's after midnight. Still, I have a companion to see "Wall-E" with sometime later today. Excellent (mind you, I had to steer him away from the new Batman movie — I suspect one Joker is enough for one lifetime). Time for tonight's picture of Christa. This was one of her favourites — kept in a photocube on her desk for many years.
I did the cutout you can just see part of, growing out of Christa's head... it's a blue car in silhouette. G'night at 00:24 or thereabouts.
Mirror, mirror... dept.
I mentioned a "mirror" test here. Today, I've just read a fascinating comparative review of several quite heavyweight tomes on "how the mind works" by the likes of Jean-Pierre Changeux. I was taken by the elegantly simple "trick" for the alleviation of phantom limb pain outlined by Ramachandran (a recent Reith lecturer). Seeing, it seems, is indeed believing. (Certainly, seeing pictures like the one above of Christa [which always makes me smile1] helps ease the pain of her death.) Such strange stuff goes on inside our heads, doesn't it?
Meanwhile (at 09:20) said bundle snoozes on (even while Charlie Drake is complaining about his boomerang that won't come back) as the cold glass of OJ I've placed at his bedside gradually assumes ambient temperature. He was telling me last night about his lust for an iPhone. He'd probably better not click here!
I always used to associate osmium with the nibs of the fountain pens I was forced to use at school ("Platignum" ring any bells?). Finally, I've encountered the element again in a vastly different context. Mass extinctions! (Source.) It seems "isotope levels of the element osmium, [are] a telltale clue of volcanism in seawater".
One for tall Thomas... dept.
I've long been a keen fan of Maurits Escher's art. Tiling, tesselation, and the like. But I never knew the name the "Droste" effect. (An image that contains itself on a smaller scale.) I obviously don't drink enough, or enough Dutch cocoa...
(Source.)
What to think?
When Christa's (second) cancer recurred a year ago we talked it over (we knew it was terminal) and agreed there was literally no point in doing anything other than maximising the quality of her remaining life. She was very well-informed on the pros and cons of chemo having worked on easily a dozen or more patent translations in that very specific area. I knew less though, obviously, I was aware of the basic principle. When I read articles like this I do wonder, however.
In Christa's case, shrinking the main tumour certainly clobbered the pain that was by far the major symptom. But I'm sure2 both the chemo- and radio-therapy had been very toxic and I guess they significantly shortened her life. It was all rather a grim balancing act. Neither Christa nor I had any complaints with the quality and compassion demonstrated during her treatment, as this extract from her hospice journal clearly shows:
Yesterday's dopamine boost
I'm sure you recall these bird-brains?
A great deal funnier (and pleasingly shorter) than that 1990 bit of nonsense "Bird on a wire" even if it does have Goldie Hawn in it. I do like the Neville Brothers musical variant, though.
That was fun
We set off in good time to watch "Wall-E" in the converted BT warehouse, after a brief browse in Borders first, of course. Can't think where Junior gets this habit from. It's now 19:18 and I've cooked and he's wolfed down his evening meal. Naturally, I can hardly face the thought of food for myself but I shall doubtless stuff my face with something and then we'll watch the Jerome Bixby film again. I'll be interested in his reaction. Then he's back off up to the Smoke sometime tomorrow morning (costs me a fortune in pocket money and petrol, of course, but that's just a Mounce family tradition... Besides, I don't think Christa would look kindly on me if I deviated from this particular tradition).