Alex, a university colleague, was cleaning his double-action, six-shot revolver in preparation for a hunting trip later in the month. In this pistol, when the trigger is pulled the hammer is cocked, the cylinder revolves, and the hammer falls on the next chamber, all in one smooth motion. For safety’s sake, Alex normally kept five bullets in the revolver, with the hammer resting on the sixth, empty chamber.

Before cleaning the gun, he removed the five bullets and set them aside. When finished cleaning, he began to put the bullets back in the cylinder. When he arrived at the fifth and final bullet, he suddenly got a distinct sense of dread. It had something to do with that bullet.

Alex was bothered about the odd feeling because nothing like it had ever happened to him before. He decided to trust his gut, so he put the bullet aside and positioned the pistol’s hammer as usual over the sixth chamber. The chamber next to it, which normally held the fifth bullet, was now also empty.

Two weeks later, Alex was at a hunting lodge with his fiancee and her parents. That evening, unexpectedly, a violent argument broke out between the parents. Alex tried to calm them down, but the father, in an insane rage, grabbed Alex’s gun, which had been in a drawer, and pointed it at his wife.

Alex tried to intervene by jumping between the gun and the woman, but he was too late—the trigger was already being pulled. For a horrifying split second, Alex knew that he was about to get shot at point-blank range. But instead of a sudden, gruesome death, the pistol went “click.” The cylinder had revolved to an empty chamber—the very chamber that would have contained the fifth bullet if Alex had not set it aside two weeks earlier.

Had Alex actually predicted the future, or was this just an extraordinary coincidence? There are several possible explanations for why such “intuitive hunches” sometimes play out. One is that on a subconscious level, we are always thinking and coming to conclusions, but that these register only as hunches to our conscious mind. Another is that we pick up telling cues from body language, subliminal sounds or peripheral vision without being consciously aware of doing so. A third is that for each amazing coincidence we remember, we forget all the times we had a hunch and it didn’t pan out. A fourth possibility is that we modify our memories for our own convenience, creating a connection where it may not have existed. And so on. These sorts of prosaic explanations probably account for many intuitive hunches. But they don’t explain them all.”

This article – all 6 pages of it – is continued here.

However, my question is – do you think sixth sense is something real? Do you have an enhanced sixth sense or know someone that does?

(And could whoever that person is please tell me when I’m going to learn to rollerblade…)

I missed blogging yesterday as I had a treat insomuch as a long weekend off.
They happen quite often.
Should happen every other week but … sometimes they need extra bodies.

I treated myself to some window shopping around London.
A young guy, short dreds and a hoodie walked thru Tottenham Court Tube Station with rollerblades swinging nonchalantly from his bag.
I wanted to walk up to him and say “Hi, would you teach me?”

It’s funny when you have a dream and actively directed yourself at it and nothing happens.
You can have moments of sadness – almost as though you wonder what you’re doing wrong.
I guess I could spend months saving up and be taught professionally – if it’s that much of a priority in my life, one could argue.
Yet there’s times in life when you may be screaming out for something for yourself.
It can be your number one priority but in the face of the other facets of your life – relationships, work, food on the table etc – what you want doesn’t really come into it.

I remain grateful for my bowl of porridge.

Have you ever had hypnosis?
The author of the Ultimate Influence blog is a Hypnotist.
In fact, by all accounts, a very good one at that (I’ve been privy to further information)

With a view of assisting me in achieving my dreams, Ultimate Influence has offered 4 free sessions – be it Enhanced Memory, Accelerated Learning, Confidence Boost, Creativity Improvement, Phobia erradication (and so the list goes on!) to inspire someone to help me.
Ultimate Influence usually charges in excess of 100 pounds per session!

Now, that‘s what I call the Universe stepping in and doing its bit.

I’m just coming to the end of week one of Project 1.
A week in which I had so hoped to have started to learn to rollerblade but instead find myself still sitting in a state of hope.
No bruises, no numb bum yet.
No wind in my hair; no sense of achievement.

Would anyone (please) care to make sure week 2 doesn’t start the same way?

Todays article caught my eye.
I’d have thought it pretty obvious but perhaps that’s only to me.
(I am after all, one of those independent women they speak of)

When it comes to attracting women, men may want to invest in a gym membership rather than bank on their bank account.

As more women become financially independent, they are less likely to seek mates with wealth and are more interested in good looks, according to research in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

“When women can control resources independently, they can afford to have preferences more typical of males, to go for things like physical attractiveness and youthfulness,” says Fhionna Moore, a researcher at the University of St Andrews in the U.K.

Moore found the change in preferences was linked to a woman’s level of financial independence rather than to her absolute earning power.

Fellas seem to be getting the message, if the recent proliferation of men’s fashion and fitness magazines is any sign. Says Moore: “All the men I know now spend more time on their hair than I do.”

I wonder, have they got it right…?

Do you have the type of humour that you wield like a weapon to put down others?

Or do you use your humour to entertain and reassure those around you?
Telling little jokes perhaps – but not at the expense of another – but rather an event.

Perhaps you like to make yourself the butt of all jokes?
Funny in small doses possibly but absolutely exhausting if on-going.

Or are you like me – able to just laugh at life as a whole?
If something goes wrong, I can usually find a reason to giggle.
Some could possibly accuse me of not taking life seriously enough if they looked at my humour alone….
Thankfully, I think other aspects of my life balance that out!

I confess that when I’m tired and / or cross, I may be guilty of puting others down with my wit.
Now I’m conscious of it, I think I’ll make a very real effort to stop.

So, what type of humour do you have?

However, they’re as sure as hell not getting my 80 pound weekly family food budget.

I’m not one to boycott companies on a whim – normally.

Yet this is no normal situation.

Tescos owns a 50% share in a Chinese supermarket and it is standard within these Chinese supermarkets to sell tortoises for food.
I’m not even protesting against that – who am I to dictate what one culture should or shouldn’t eat?
However…. it’s the method employed to kill these turtles that upsets me so…

“First we try to get it to stick its head out, and then when it does, we chop it off right there and then. But if we can’t, we’ll break the shell and then take his head off, which usually takes a minute and a half.“

I have personally witnessed this kind of slaughter. It is extremely unpleasant. The animal withdraws its head, and it is very rare that rapid decapitation is achieved: even if it is, the severed head can retain awareness for a very extended period (some reports cite an hour or more)*. This is due to the aquatic turtle’s exceptional tolerance of anoxia (lack of oxygen in the blood). I have seen buckets of heads still gaping, with their eyes blinking and moving.  In most cases, the still-living turtle is simply chopped up fully conscious.

Softshell turtles are killed by “de-carapacing” with a sharp knife. This is an agonising procedure in which the living internal organs are exposed and removed. The turtle remains fully conscious throughout and dies – many minutes later – as a result of blood loss as internal organs are removed one by one. Turtles turn their heads to bite at the hands inflicting such agony upon them.

The above excerp is taken from The Tortoise Trust and having read it, verified it through several other online resources, Tescos has just lost my business.

It takes quite some thought – not to mention time.

However today is not so diificult.

In fact, today I am inspired to pop in two entries – one is inspiring and one is heartbreaking.

This entry is the inspiring one.

Thru the London free morning paper – Metro Cafe – I found out about a search engine that gives 50% of its revenue to charities.

Please, if you’ve either a moment or a conscience, have a look at everyclick.com.

It’s quite inspiring to be going about your usual every day online business and still be doing some good.  

I confess curiousity got the better of me completely …

So let me help everyone out – were you aware that PORN stands for Progressive Outer Retinal Necrosis….

The things Doctors get up to…

Have our lives become too busy – can we justify that we barely have time for ourselves?

Have we become so distrusting, so protective that it now even hurts and damages the good guys?

I wonder – if without original intent – my blog is going to become a mark of humanity now.
Is it going to reflect – not just by my input but by the lack of input by others – how much we’ve damaged ourselves with our progress, with our ‘civilisation’.

Thoughts?

They opened and she was propelled into a cavernous room.
In the middle of this was the biggest table she’d ever seen.
A chair whipped her off her feet and sat her before mountains of her favourite food.

Glancing at everyone else, she reached forward as they all did.
And realised, with horror, that she could not bend her arms.
She could hold a knife, a fork, even reach for the delicious wine.
Yet not bring any of it to her mouth.

She would starve,
Starve with all she craved there within her reach.
Starve as those around her starved also,
With all their answers… right there.

The shock barely had time to register but it did, seeping like dread,
a cruel and vicious coldness of despair and longing.
Zip, like paper tearing,
she was sucked upwards, racing away from the table,
through clouds of pure raindrops.

Before she’d had a chance to draw breath she was placed lightly down
before new doors that gleamed and flames that seemed to envelope her
in gentle warmth, as they spelt out ‘Heaven’.

These doors too opened and in dismay, she saw the same table before her.
Yet, as a chair, unbeckoned, moved to bring her to the tables side,
As she registered that here too, peoples arms would not bend,
So too she laughed and clapped and joy filled her.

For she watched those sat beside each other,
Turn and feed one another.

“Welcome to Heaven” said St Peter and guided her to her place.