A poem by Kipling...thanks to Nicci Brunt

IF.....

IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

An almost forgotten document November 25 2009

Ariel 2

This is a record of the pregnancy of Ariel Dunne. At the time of commencement of writing Ariel is at ~14 weeks gestation.

On August 1 this year Selina miscarried at five weeks gestation. We were deeply upset at this, this baby was the first child for either of us. Having been told to go back on the Pill after Selina had had a natural cycle, we resumed an active sex life….without using any form of contraceptive. We did incidentally buy a packet of the Pill for when it would be needed.

In early October Selina came to me and said that she thought she was pregnant. She had been feeling “odd” for the previous three days. She had also noticed that her breasts had begun to change. She was also feel queasy when she ate. The final proof for her was her inability to eat much of anything at a party we attended on the 3^rd of October. It should be noted that Selina generally eats like a horse.

The signs of pregnancy continued to grow. As in the first pregnancy Selina’s breasts began getting larger, her areola darker and the appearance of a shadow areola and the appearance of linea negra  all of which happened in the first pregnancy. In addition to these signs there were new ones: her pulse rate rose, veination appeared on her breasts and hands, there was nausea when Selina’s blood sugar levels dropped past a certain level, a dislike of certain smells (pumpkin, Woolworth’s roast chicken, fried onion),  and at least one doozy of a mood swing….she went from ticking me off for telling people just how quickly the pregnancy test showed to crying in the bathroom over fears of losing this pregnancy inside an hour.

I sent our GP George Zaharias an e-mail where I listed no less than ten signs that Selina was pregnant. He wrote back saying that a urine test was still needed. We were quietly pleased but anxious, we had been overjoyed when Selina had fallen pregnant the first time only to lose the pregnancy. Eventually I insisted one Sunday afternoon in October that we simply buy a home pregnancy test. We had every sign that Selina was pregnant, we were just being “gun shy”. Selina dutifully peed on it and a positive test showed in an amazingly short period of time. I promptly notified the world via the Internet. I even e-mailed a photo of the test to everyone in my gmail address book.

At the end of October we finally got to see the GP. George does the urine test and it must have lit up as quickly as ours had….he didn’t even hint at the prospect of a blood test. We are then given a referral for an ultrasound. We had almost no idea of when Ariel was conceived. We knew Selina was very late in having her period, but beyond that we were in the dark. It’s weird, we tell people she’s pregnant and then when asked how far along is she, we have to confess ignorance. Half the purpose of the ultrasound is to get an idea of just how along this pregnancy is. The technician takes about six measurements of Ariel from crown to rump….a careful one this girl. Ariel is 4.3 cm from quite literally top to bottom. The date May 24 appears on the screen. This is the due date for Ariel. It means that this pregnancy is already nine weeks old…nearly twice as old as the first.

Earlier in the year....around January or February we took bets on exactly when Ariel would be conceived...it was a bit of fun. I guessed August 30. It turns out that on August 30 we went for a walk along part of the O'Shanessy Trail, came home, had something to eat and then made love. Ariel was conceived in the post coital snuggle...or we simply fell asleep in each others arms.

    Yesterday, November 24 we had the second ultrasound. The technician took his time and all up must have taken easily 15 or more images of Ariel. We looked inside his head, his abdomen, at his bladder, the vertebrae in his spine, counted toes & fingers and saw very clearly that Ariel has Selina's nose. There was a collective letting out of breath as we realised that Ariel is a perfectly normal foetus. The technician reassured us that Ariel fulfills all the measurements expected of a baby at the end of the First Trimester. I got a bit silly after that.

The relationship between Selina and myself is changing. It is deepening. There is a peace and a gentleness to it...not that there wasn't before, it's just deeper.

Illness

My "charming" son had a dose of gastroenteritus aka The Runs. He gave it to me. Then last week I had a molar out...fucking great hole in my face that has required two stitches to fix.
So I guess I'm saying that the diet hasn't exactly been on course. When I had The Runs the wife was pumping me full of milk rice and for the last week the amount of Ryvita in my diet has been zero. I have however walked 35 + km and had a visit to my GP who listened to my plan and didn't argue.
       According to the scales at my GP I now weigh 108kh, but this was with clothes on and a full stomach. So I'd rate myself as being closer to 106 kg...we'll split it at 106.5kg. The weight is being shed. Nothing spectacular just a simple curve that should lead to permanent changes in me.

         I am pushing my fully loaded son with an equally fully loaded nappy bag in his pram whilst carrying about 10 kg in books & laptop for about 15 km a week. The plan is to be walking 50 km or more a week.
www.abc.net.au/health/library/stories/2007/05/10/1919866.htm

Once I achieve my goal weight of 95 kg, I'll begin reintroducing foods and quantities and see if I can achieve a stable weight. I know that if I really wanted to that I could make it down to 80 kg, which is what I used to weigh in my teens, but having done a lot of hard labour over the years means that 80 kg with my physique will make me look just dreadful, not to mention more than a little unwell. 95 kg on the other hand should put the "Whoo!" back in the "Hoo!".

The Delusion of European Superiority

This is a size comparison between a 15th Century Ming Chinese treasure ship and a European Caravel of the same period. Notice that the Chinese ocean going vessels were just a little bit larger than the best that Europe could build.
At the same time...and in fact about half a century before Europeans struggled across the Atlantic and bunny hopped up the East African coast in search of India....these ships, in fact whole fleets of them were conducting trade with East Africa, intervening in Sri Lankan civil wars and generally impressing Asia with Chinese military and economic might.
Little wonder that when the Portuguese showed up in Southern India they would have been ignored if they hadn't resorted to blasting the locals much smaller and unarmed boats out of the water with their cannon. You could imagine the consternation of the Portuguese if the Ming had decided to keep building these babies for a half century longer and one of them...or a fleet of them had've shown up at the same time. The Portuguese would out been out of Calicut before you could shout "Diego!" The Portuguese would have yelled "O Foda!", upped anchor and cut west and not particularly caring what was out there so long as they weren't in town when the real power was in town.
I mean the Chinese could have run over the Europeans in the middle of the night and not really have cared. To build one of these babies is impressive, but to have built anything up to 50 and sailed them over half the planet is another.
So to all the Racial Delusionists that insist that White people are actually superior to every other race...deal with this reality.