The Brain

As usual, I've been doing random thinking, and the topic of much thought lately has been the brain. It really is an amazing creation! Take a moment to think about the tons of information that are stored in each human brain. If you're anything like I am, your brain does an almost-unbelievable amount of thinking each day - yet less than 2% of neural activity is conscious thought! If I try to measure the conscious thinking I do each day, multiply that by 49, and combine those two sums, the amount of work the brain does is just incredible! As if hard work isn't enough, it never gets any rest! While you're sleeping, your brain is still working hard processing all the information it has acquired over the course of the day, finding connections between the new information and "old" information, and filing away all the new data into suitable categories to be accessed at a later date.

Then take look at the memory. I am just amazed at the way the memory works. Rather than just filing away each separate piece of information into the related category/s like a man-made computer would, the brain searches all previously entered data for related information. It then establishes "connections" between all these pieces of information, forming a complete network so vast that it is incomprehensible. It is because of these "connections" that you find it easier to learn new things that are somehow related to something you know a lot about already. For me, I can read a paper on rabbit genetics and absorb every idea in the first reading, because I already know a lot in the area of rabbit genetics, and my brain can make more connections between the new and existing pieces of information. The more connections the brain has with a piece of information, the more likely you are to remember that bit of information. In the same way, I struggle to remember even very simple concepts of Geometry. Since I have only just started a Geometry course, everything is new to me, and it is taking a while to establish connections between all the pieces of new information and existing mathematical knowledge (of which there is very little, believe me! =P).

On the other hand, the human brain has a unique creative way of thinking. No animal's brain has the ability to process words and form an infinite number of sentences. Because of the superior brains God has given to man, however, even a toddler can create sentences which they have never heard before. Animals simply repeat things the way they were done by their ancestors, and follow the "instinct" that is programmed into them. A canary's song has always been the same, and always will be. Look at how much music has advanced over the ages, though! Not only do we have very complex music, but it is constantly changing, as humans seek to satisfy their urge to be creative and experiment with new things.

The more I learn about the human brain, the less I understand. How is it possible that a piece of flesh can store tons of data so effectively? It has an unlimited capacity for storing knowledge, but it is far from just an information bank. It gives us the ability to devise new ideas and be creative in our ways of doing things. Because of our creative mind, we are able to make and enjoy such artistic things as music that no animal will ever be able to come close to even comprehending.

Some people would have you believe that there is no difference between humans and animals - that we are nothing more than an advanced primate. After learning about the human brain, I ask you to reconsider!! This is but one example of how we are clearly separate beings created with a different purpose. Their purpose - to provide us with resources for survival and comfort. Our purpose? To bring glory to God and worship Him.

All very well to say, huh? Well now I'm going to do something that you may or may not like. I'm going to challenge you to find at least one thing in God's wonderful Creation that you find particularly amazing (come on, it's not that hard, what's not amazing in Creation?!) and tell people about it. Find out as much amazing facts as you can, and share these with people, bringing glory to God's mighty work. You never know, you might just change the course of someone's life.

And finally... if there's anyone that's actually read this post all the way to here, I'd love to hear what you think about all this. Do you have any interesting facts to share? Perhaps you even know some thing/s about the brain that would interest us, while we're on this topic? And yes, you can have a virtual medal for reading this far. I know it's been a difficult post to read, and you deserve it. *Places medal on your shirt.*

Oh, and if you could remember to keep Joseph in your prayers, that'd be great, too. He had his tonsils and adenoids removed in Canberra today, and from what we've been told, it sounds like it didn't go so well... he sounds quite stressed over it. Hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow morning.

God bless you all, and thanks for bothering to read this!

Musical terms and their definitions

You have to be a musician to appreciate these.

Accidentals: Wrong notes.
Aria: The product of multiplying the singer's length by his or her width.
Cadence: A device for stopping a piece of music, the musical equivalent of a brick wall. Some cadences are less complete than others, and may be called 'deceptive' or 'unfair' cadences.
Choir: A musical organization thought to have been invented by F. F. Handel to assure the perpetuation of performances of Messiah.
Concerto: A sort of musical boxing match between one musician (the soloist) and all the rest (the orchestra), with the conductor acting as referee, in which nobody wins - especially the audience.
Copyist: A person hired  by composers to transcribe pages of their illegible notation into other pages of the copyist's own notation, equally illegible.
Counterpoint: A musical device similar to needlepoint, although not designed to be hung upon the wall or used as on seatcovers. Said to be a musical conversation, it more often resembles an argument. A favourite device of many Baroque composers, all of whom are now dead, although a direct connection between these two facts has never been conclusively established.
Dischord: 1. Not to be confused with datchord. 2. The emotional state that usually exists amongst a group of musicians, especially with regard to those in authority.
English Horn: A woodwind instrument so named because it is neither English, nor a horn. Not to be confused with the French Horn, which is German.
False Relation: The kind of relative who is supportive of one's musical career only if one is making money.
Flat: An adjective used to describe a tone that is slightly below pitch. This term ought to be used cautiously, so as not to offend anyone, especially when applied to a woman.
Flute: A sophisticated pea-shooter with a range up to five hundred yards and deadly accuracy in close quarters. Blown transversely to confuse the enemy, it can be dismantled into three small pieces for easy concealment.
French Horn: A brass instrument that resembles a snail, but sometimes moves more quickly. The French Horn is actually German, and should not be confused with the English Horn, which is French.
Glissando: The musical equivalent of stepping on a banana peel.
Key: Certain musical terms defy easy definition. This is one of them.
Music Stand: An intricate device for propping up music, except at crucial times - such as during the performance. It has a tendency to fall over, often of its own accord. It comes in two sizes - too high or too low - and it is always broken.
Nut: The narrow ridge across the neck of a stringed instrument such as the violin, situated near the pegbox. By extension, then, the term has come to be applied to any person who plays such an instrument.
Oboe: An ill wind that nobody blows good.
Quartet: All that remains of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra after its North American tour.
Quaver: What many performers do while performing.
Strings: A family of instruments that includes the violin, viola, cello, double-bass, and yo-yo.
Trill: The musical equivalent of an epileptic seizure.

Excerpted from "A Musician's Dictionary" by David W. Barber & Dave Donald. My teacher lent me this book to help relieve stress while preparing for my upcoming flute exam. I hope you found it as amusing as I did!

1 week old kittens

As promised, here are some photos of Pepper's new litter. All 7 kittens are growing healthy and strong, and are due to open their eyes and ears tomorrow or the day after. After that, it won't be long before they start leaving the nest to explore.

To give you an idea of how much they have grown in one week, here are 2 photos of the same kitten, taken only 1 week apart!!

This one has a rex coat, and also a very nice colour called Broken Sooty Fawn. As she does with all Sooty Fawns, Caitlyn has fallen in love with it and named it Francine. We have decided we are definitely going to keep this one, and probably sell all the rest.

This one looks like it has a normal coat, and is Blue. Sorry about the awful quality of the photo. I've re-discovered (as I do every time we have a new litter) that it is simply impossible to take a good quality photo of a baby rabbit sitting still. The only way to get one anywhere near satisfactory is to hold the rabbit still with your hand, take the photo, and jerk your hand away just before the photo is taken. Take your hand away 1 second too soon and the rabbit scrambles out of the way, and take it away too late and you get your hand in the photo. That's why you can see my hand in so many of these photos. In light of that, please excuse the terrible quality and try to focus on the bunnies. ;-)

Not sure about this colour yet... although we're fairly certain it has a long coat. We're praying it will turn out to be a doe (female) because someone has promised to give us a Plush Lop in exchange for a long-haired female rabbit. In case you're not aware, Plush Lops are the breed that we long after the most (besides Silky Lops!), and this one is LILAC! So I can't wait to determine the gender of this kitten (which, unfortunately, won't be for at least 4 weeks).

Caitlyn has adopted this one and named him Arthur. He has a normal coat, so we won't be able to keep him, but hopefully we will be able to find a friend or at least someone we know interested in taking him like we did with her last 2 adopted children (Dora & Winifred) so that we will be still able to visit him after he has left home.

Here's the same photo of my favourite kitten again. She deserves the double-photo. ;-)

Renovations - Part 8

I can't be bothered to write much of a description of the building progress this week, so excuse the brevity of this post. Hopefully the photos will tell you all you need to know. The electricity box has finally been moved, but now the builders are waiting for the order of windows to arrive, so they've just been doing odd jobs while they wait.

Here is a photo of what it looks like from the inside: that sliding door is about in the middle of the room, so you can have a rough idea of how big it is.

This is the little balcony thing the builders have added this week. The main door to the house will be here. We think it fits in really well with the rest of the house. This was taken from "the orchard."

From the garden: (I like this one! =P)

From the carport:

She's done it again!

Pepper and Muffin are pleased to announce the arrival their 7 new healthy kittens!! They were born late on Wednesday night. The total litter size was 9, but 2 didn't make it (Pepper was really stubborn and refused to build the nest where I kept telling her to...); but we still have 7 healthy babies to rejoice about! It's a bit early to state the colours accurately yet, but it looks like there is a Broken Black (black + white markings), Blue, a couple of broken Sooty Fawns (orange with black shading + white markings), Beige (fawn with blue shading ), Broken Siamese Sable (Siamese cat colour + white markings) and possibly an Iron Grey or 2 (creamy white with dark grey shading).

AND the best news is that there are 2 rex kittens in this litter!! Getting a rex is the reason I bred this litter, and it's great to have 2 to choose from, so I can select the best. They're also more in demand as pets, and consequently easier to sell. ;-)

I've decided to include a couple of photos of the newborn kittens, even though they look really ugly at this stage. For those of you who haven't seen a newborn rabbit before, yes, it is normal for them to look like this, and no, they won't be this ugly for long! In a week they will have tripled their weight and started growing fur, and in 2 weeks they will have opened their eyes and will be walking about! I'll try and post some photos when they've grown a bit, so you can see how not-ugly they actually are!

 

This one is [what looks like] a Broken Sooty Fawn with the rex coat. (You can tell if it is a rex coat because it has very short, curly whiskers.)

 

Another rex-coated kitten, that looks to be Broken Blue.

All 7 kittens in the nest (I dare you to find them all!). We had to lift up all the fur so you could actually see them, then quickly snap the photo before the wriggled out of sight again! By the way, all these photos were taken by Caitlyn, my loyal assistant.

My oboe

About a year ago I purchased a second-hand oboe from Ebay with intentions of learning to play it. When it arrived I was very surprised to find it had completely different keywork to a modern oboe. My flute teacher (who also teaches the oboe) took it home and studied it, and learned that it was made about 150-200 years ago! I had no idea I would be getting a rare antique oboe when I bought it. Had I known, I probably wouldn't have gone ahead with the purchase. It has a very basic fingering system (which makes tuning difficult and limits the playing range); since it had different keywork to a modern oboe, it meant I had to figure out how to play each note by experimenting with different fingerings until I found the right one. That in itself wouldn't have been too much of a problem (as I do love a good challenge), except that most instruments made several hundred years ago are tuned to a different pitch to instruments today. Of ALL the different instruments, oboe happens to be the one that can't be tuned (well, it can, but only very slightly). That means that I can't play this oboe with any other instruments without it being excruciatingly out of tune.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I haven't got a good use for this oboe, so I've decided to resell it. An experienced oboe player could possibly adjust the reeds to make it play in tune, and I'm hoping that such a person will take an interest and take the instrument off my hands. I spent all afternoon on Wednesday fixing up the oboe, oiling the body, and making sure everything was in working order. This involved taking apart all the keywork, oiling it down, then trying to put the keys back in the right places. I already knew that there was a spring that needed replacing, but other than that everything was in good shape. After a good clean and wipe-down, it looked shiny and new again.

This was my first time taking apart an instrument, and I found it quite fun and interesting, and very educational. Here are some photos I took of before, during, and after the process.

This is the bottom half of the oboe before being dissembled.

Top half before being dissembled:

Top half after having all keys except one removed (the screws were so tight I couldn't budge it - ironically, this was the one key that wasn't working properly and actually needed fixing).

Keys from the top half of the oboe, along with the screwdrivers I used, a small bottle of oil, and the bell from the oboe.

The finished work after being oiled and reassembled.

If anyone knows anyone looking for an antique oboe that plays out of tune, let me know!! =D I'd be most happy to oblige.

Renovations - Part 7

Not much to report, as the builders have only been once this week. However, it looks like quite a lot has been done, since they put up all the insulation where the walls are going to go, as well as the roof. I found out that, much to my disappointment, the roof blocks the view from my window (the window in front of my desk). Instead of looking out and seeing a garden and a silver birch tree, I now get to see a big green roof. I guess I have no right to complain, though. I can't wait to see the extension finally finished! In the contract we were actually told it wouldn't take more than 7 weeks... well it has been over 7 weeks now, so hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Anyway, without further ado, here are a couple of photos. This one was taken from the garden:

From the carport:

This one was taken from the roof outside our bathroom upstairs... don't ask.

Apologies for my slackness in posting the last week. I have been extra busy, and I'm likely to be equally busy until about mid-June, so I may not be able to post as regularly as usual. I'll still do my best, though.

Happy Weekend!!