Hi Alan,

Yes, remember that the perfect is the bitter enemy of the good, and all Utopias lead to fascism. Give me an imperfect world any day, with real humans with real (but charming and mendable) faults and a partner that you can have tiffs with. And make up after :)

Cheers,

Joe

Phanto....the human island all to himself, floating in a sea of similar islands. It's already arrived!

Hasbeen...very good...:-))

Alan....Don't panic into silly decisions! As divers learn (taught), here is the rule to avoid disasters from panic situations:
Stop...breath..THINK....act. Notice action comes last!

Poor Diver Dan who has to be in someone else's bosom to feel secure.

Alan B.

Pay homage to Don*

Don is great.

Appreciate.

* http://youtu.be/76RrdwElnTU

Yes Pete, I'll assume the Mecca position and repeat your, Don is good salutation. Always providing that doesn't force me to fart and or worse, they're the ones with the (oops,oops, bugger ) lumps in them.

In the meantime I'd prefer if he (Don is good) stopped his (typical ivory tower dweller) escapist reading, for long enough to log on to a NASA website to acquaint himself with a few useful facts.

One of which and according to their satellite instrumentation, the sun is in a waning phase, which normally as a cyclical event, would be accompanied by a cooler period. Like a mini ice age. Rather than record breaking heat waves/ambient temperatures.

Moreover it is currently in the bottom of an 11 year cycle and its lowest cyclical activity. Which should see Don reaching for a sleeveless pullover not the air conditioner remote!

33C! there are lots of folk in the western suburbs and further west, who kill for temperatures that low? Or Don's pay packet/consultation fees?

Ignoring evidence or data in not the scientific method. Whereas the confirmation bias and (coal funded) disingenuous mendacity may well be? Simply put, a waning sun and reduced solar activity cannot coexist with record breaking temperatures.

So if the sun isn't causing it and according to the collected scientific data, it isn't! What then is? A fiery Yoh Hansen rubbing (stop that you'll go blind) two boy scouts together?
Alan B.

I suspect that many adults do not have any feel for what makes their lives meaningful.

Perhaps that lack doesn't matter to them. While we can all at various times be guilty of being casual about life, in my view always being washed by the tide is more associated with mental laziness and some stupidity.

Where meaning in life is concerned, of course the people I love and care for, friends too, feature prominently.

While I didn't have to have a wife and children in my life, my meaningful life would be vastly diminished without them. That is not to say that one must marry or formally partner, although that makes practical sense, especially where children and obligations are concerned.

It is unreasonable for most of us to expect that pairings will always maintain themselves automatically. However even with the best will in the world, we can drift apart.

There does need to be a debate about what marriage is in modern times, the obligations and where it is headed.

Mating seems to be important even to those who proudly vow otherwise, such as celebrity politicians Julia Gillard and Julie Bishop. They do expect other people's children (imported is cheaper and ever so hip, they seem to believe) to care for them, now and in their old age.