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Sunday, March 25, 2007

Glass Half full?

I sometimes hear the question, "Is the glass half full, or half empty?"
Its a trick. Don't fall for it.
To answer the question as asked is to answer an incomplete question. We must think outside of the box, an artificial box defined to trick us into an answer that we may not like the result of.
The real answer is that the glass is completely full, not with water necessarily, but half full of water, half full of air, or at least half full of water and half full of water vapor, since if we suck out the air, the water would sublimate and fill the remainder of the glass. There could be very few liquids in the glass for which this would not occur, vacuum oil or mercury might be a couple of them, but usually the questioner isn't that clever, and is counting on the questioned to not be so clever.
So answer this question in the correct manner and be judged either as an outside the box thinker, or as very clever. Answer that it is an incomplete question, the answers are not complete, or simply answer "completely full," let them chew on your answer and win a game that you likely didn't want to play in the first place.

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27 Comments:

At Monday, March 26, 2007 at 10:33:00 AM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

How True!...Of course the glass is always full, even if there is not a drop of water in it!LOL
& Congratualtions. I heard that Al gore finally admitted on your side that there IS something called global warming..& the solutions thought out by him aare so funny...emitting less carbon by reducing bovine burps..lol

At Monday, March 26, 2007 at 4:39:00 PM EDT, Blogger Charles $visitorIP said...

Al Gore hasn't been the problem. The problem is a certain group of Republican party tyrants. It suits them to ignore the problem by denying its existence, since it might cost some money for their rich buddies (read: daddy, among others) which is a pretty plain conflict of interest on the top dog's part (he stands to inherit a lot of money). As for the bovine methane problem, it has been estimated that it is worse that that of our auto emissions, way before he might have said anything about it.
I voted for Al Gore, I honestly think that he won that election, but the courts gave it away to the loser.
Please don't think all americans are like any of the men in question. Most of us, like most people of any cross section of any population, would like to live out our lives in peace, with honesty, and with the bit of dignity that we feel we deserve for our efforts.

At Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 4:01:00 AM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

Really? I didnt know that! about the bovine methane thing.
Anyway, I am far from politics of all sorts...
Hey Charles!!! ((((HUGS))))

At Wednesday, April 4, 2007 at 7:18:00 AM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

Charles..no I dont think that the general American population is like'men in question'.
Infact I know that among the ppl of the world, americas are more honest than the most.
This has not been told to me, I have experienced it myself.

At Thursday, April 5, 2007 at 8:29:00 AM EDT, Blogger Charles $visitorIP said...

Mona,
From www.telegraph.co.uk

"There are 1.3 billion cows on this planet, and every year each cow produces about 90kg of methane, and as greenhouse gases go, methane is about 24 times worse than CO2 in sealing the heat in the air. According to a recent report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, agriculture produces 18 per cent of the world's greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent — and that, my friends, is more than is produced by the entire human transport industry."

There's lots of stuff out there describing what the problem is/could be. Just "google" it, if you desire.

Meanwhile, Hugs to you.

BTW. How's that problem of your's working out? I hope you're not ignoring it.

At Sunday, April 8, 2007 at 9:33:00 AM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

Dearest Charles,
I didnt realise that bovine methane was SO dangerous.& with everyone going vegan these days, the bovine population is going to everincrease!

Charles, a HAPPY EASTER TO YOU & SARAH & YOUR FAMILY!

Topcat sent me a beautifully wraped easter egg!!

At Sunday, April 8, 2007 at 4:23:00 PM EDT, Blogger Charles $visitorIP said...

Thank you, Mona.
A Happy Spring Holiday to you too, Mona.
I'm glad to hear that folks can be so kind. I hope it wasn't one he expected you to consume. Eggs can be an almost ideal medium for baterial and/or viral agents, so I'm hoping it perhaps was a candy egg. Its almost impossible to get anything to grow in candy since the sugar tends to dessicate any cells and there's no machinery to replicate virii. So remember if you can't trust the food supply, there's always candy. |P

At Sunday, April 8, 2007 at 4:23:00 PM EDT, Blogger Charles $visitorIP said...

uh, that's "bacterial".

At Monday, April 9, 2007 at 2:18:00 AM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

Of course it was a candy egg..I have displayed it on my blog foe all to see.
Thanks for being so concerned about my all round health!
You are very kind & considerate.

At Monday, April 9, 2007 at 10:52:00 PM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

you are absolutely right about that one charles.
& believe me, after they asked me about what that word wud spell like, it has been a circus all around. & I have regretted already & drawn my line.
So no using such terms or any other related terms I have told them categorically.
I am already sorry I told them about this word of Pidgen English.
I should have refused to tell it.

At Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 7:59:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous $visitorIP said...

Hi Charles,Nice to read you.You have alot to say,very interesting material.You are very Intellectual...


Dana.

At Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 2:47:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous $visitorIP said...

Dear charles I hope you are fine.
I am sorry for causing you such consternation.
henceforth your blog will be the only place where I shall be able to communicate with you ocassionally.
I hope you will not mind.

Love

Mona

At Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 10:05:00 AM EDT, Blogger Charles $visitorIP said...

Dana:
Thank you. I really don't have much to say, other than random thoughts that (literally) pass through my mind, other than we should try to be nice to each other, including ourselves, and to improve the world starting with ourselves.

Mona:
I don't mind at all that you communicate with me here. I just tried to open your blog, to no avail. What happened to it? Please let us know what is going on.

Charles

At Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 2:42:00 PM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

charles
I deleted my blog for some very good reasons.
Blogging has made me realise a few home truths about myself, & I need to work upon my follies & foibles, before I think I shall be fit to communicate again.

I do not know why, but I cried a lot thinking about you today. I cried my heart out thing of your mother too, just wondering where she might be & in what state, how she must have faced life after losing her children...I cried for hours just thinking that...

I kept telling myself I was being foolish, but I couldnt stop crying for hours & kept thinking of a soul who has no clue about me.

I kept thinking about you & about your childhood, about how it must have felt on losing your mom when she went away, knowing that she was there out somewhere...

I know you might reprimand me or feel amused at such a foolish behaviour on my part.

& I do not know why I still can't help telling you all this, knowing that you might smirk.

I must be crazy.

At Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 3:21:00 PM EDT, Blogger Charles $visitorIP said...

Mona,
Please don't feel bad for me. Although as a child, I felt bad about such things, I do not feel thusly now. I know that were it not for the life experiences I have had, I would not be who I am today. When I look back or am asked if I could go back and change anything, I have to answer "No, I wouldn't change it. If I did I wouldn't be who I am. And if it were meant to be any other way, it would be." It is within our power to change only the here and now. This is where we should begin, if that is our goal. There's an old song that goes something like, "ka sera sera. What will be, will be." I think its applicable here. I hope that you are not crying because of depression, either. I know that it can lead to some rather harsh things, mostly trumped-up in one's own mind. Most reasonable folks forgive even some very bad things, those who do not, usually seem to be trying to control someone else, usually because they feel out of control. I would urge you to restart your blog, you were making some pretty worthwhile friends, and its not fair to them as well as yourself to cut yourself off from them. If there are ones that you feel you just absolutely do not want to communicate with, then explain to them why and ask that they don't communicate with you.

Follies and foibles are something that are worked on moment by moment, not something one has to take an extended period of time to correct. You've done the identification of them apparently, that's half of it. The rest is paying attention so it can be applied.

Meanwhile, take care of yourself and remember you are welcome here. Please do, stay in touch.

At Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 4:12:00 PM EDT, Blogger lime $visitorIP said...

charles, i know as much as you do. i am sorry to see that mona has deleted her blog. i had only recently made her acquaintance but enjoyed reading her very much.

At Friday, April 13, 2007 at 12:13:00 AM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

Charles,
I cant tell you how relieved & thankful I feel today as I read your comment. Thanks for making me see things with so much clarity of perception,[ which sometime tend to become clouded with our subjectivity].
As per your very wise suggestion, I have restarted my blog again & I already feel confident that I shall be able to move forward with it, with an ovewhelming sense of gratitude to who feel I am worthy of them, & also to all who feel I am not, but for whom I might hopefully make some difference just by my being there.
If God, Existence has created me, it is because it needed me to be here, & if He/ It has sustained me, It is because I still have my place here & need to serve my cause.
Thank you very much for being there, I feel truly blessed by your presence...as I have always felt in the past too.
& at this point I have also been able to learn that mind & heart can sometimes be ignored, but GUT FELLING is something that one should never ignore.
I am glad that I did'nt ignore mine about you.

At Saturday, April 14, 2007 at 12:55:00 PM EDT, Blogger Dana Barnett $visitorIP said...

Hey Charles,Thanks for geting back to me,Hope your day is good!!!Ps Sorry abuot your mother,If it helps my father has disowned my mom-mom [his mother]till her death,me for more then half my life,my daughter dose not even know him...and all of this for no good reason???But as you say it dose not or should never run or render your quality of life....I myself am still learning that...Beside's leave the past reidue in the past,even though It realy realy hurt's.God has put us all here for great reason weather we know it or not.and the most importent thing is do not judge other's lest be judged yourself...Never Ignor someone because you feel indifferent....It realy hurt's being left in the cold...

At Saturday, April 14, 2007 at 7:56:00 PM EDT, Blogger Charles $visitorIP said...

Hey Dana,

I'll add to your list, so please forgive me if I sound preachy(sic).
Love your children as you would have liked to have been loved. Love yourself as you would your children. Learn that that was withheld from you in your deprivation of your parental love. Forgive, everyone has reasons for their behavior, one cannot know what someone else has gone through.

On the last point, know that for much of my life, I hated my father, but later, I forgave him. It helped heal me.

Remember too, where there is life, there is hope.

Charles

At Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 3:12:00 PM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

Dear Charles
I managed writing a post today after a much needed haitus.
Not the usual stuff though...
had planned something else but turned out as something other, so the original pends as part II with the same title...though not quite as boring:)
Take care
((hugs))

At Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 8:44:00 PM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

Dear Charles.
My blog is pretty screwed up. I dont know why it is showing the same date, the same time of posting etc.everywhere.
I really messed up during trying to add links, which thanks to my ignorace is still a big mystery, and so I got stuck somewhere!
I do not know what I have done to that blog!The muddle head that I am as far as computer knowledge is concerned.
& now whatever I have done is not getting undone!
Now what?

At Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 8:54:00 PM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

EEEEKS!
something even more terrible happened.
I fixed the date & now I have lost the paragraphs!!!!!
I didnt do anything this time! god promise!

At Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 8:46:00 AM EDT, Blogger Mona $visitorIP said...

Charles
Did you see? I see only one wall of a single para from word one to the last.
Topcat says it appears fine [ with the paragraphs intact and in their place] on his screen.

Can you see them the way I do or the way topcat does?

At Thursday, April 19, 2007 at 6:08:00 AM EDT, Blogger Tina $visitorIP said...

Hi Charles! I decided to pay you a visit... enjoyed reading your post.
I'll have to agree with Mona, the glass is always full :).

At Monday, April 30, 2007 at 4:19:00 PM EDT, Blogger cathy $visitorIP said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

At Thursday, May 3, 2007 at 8:09:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous $visitorIP said...

I think it's important to understand the context in which the question is being asked.
It's origin is to emphasize if one is an optimist or pessimist.
Now if we were sitting drinking wine or having a cup of tea than the question is relevant to whether you want to have it refilled or not.
Then there is your definition which is quite good btw, if we are to look at it in a purely scientific and logical manner.
tc

At Monday, May 21, 2007 at 1:40:00 PM EDT, Blogger Charles $visitorIP said...

TC,
Absolutely. I don't want to be classified as one or the other. When it comes down to it, what happens happens, no matter how I would feel about it. As for drinking, I've learned to only take a half mug of beer at a time, its colder if it doesn't sit out as long. Other drinks, hey! fill it up.
I rather like my definition, its fun to confound someone's attempts to classify me. I'm more than just an outlook, as important as an outlook may be.

Charles

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