Tuesday 25 January 2011

List of the strangest things in the whole world…



List of the strangest things in the whole world…

I would like to focus on a various, strange things on the Earth that you could do or be a part, meet or be keen on, read or watch. Let me start form the very beginning.

As I discovered everyone on the Earth for entire whole life make a lists, different lists of things that they like or hate, love or admire, etc. Try to think about it. If you ate something bad or heard something irritating, you would never try to do it again - for sure. Simultaneously you put that thing on the bottom of that list and at the same time create a kind of an association in your brain: sort of foot --- never try it again, kind of music ---- crap, don’t buy it.

After few years of living your brain is covered by the thousands of associations creating parallel orientated networks. Somebody can say: “that’s the way of learning…” That’s true.

But how much you can force your brain? How many association you can create?

When our brain is overloaded we try to put out thoughts somewhere else. Just to relieve our minds. So we are creating the lists and put them somewhere outside where other people can join and update them by their own observations.

Let’s imagine the situation: you want to buy new TV. But you don’t have any experience in that. You don’t have any reflections, any associations regarding that.

So you decide to borrow somebody else’s list just to learn few things more. How we are able to do that? The answer is simple… Yesterday, you would have certainly gone to the shop and ask the worker about “top ten” of TVs. Today, you would type the phrase in the Internet Explorer and just wait for the results. Thousands of score cards are available on the one click.

That’s the reason of creating “The most stupid things…”, “The most ugly things…”.

I am going to present and describe you some of them. Some of them just worth to see it.

First things first.

At the beginning I would like to present you results of significant question we can ask ourselves in entire life. What is the most important thing in our life?

Many would consider money and financial status as a most important factor. Just ask lottery winners. The others would admire good health condition. Because if you have a health problems (sleekness or disability), you wouldn’t appreciate so much the material things.

On the other hand is love, happiness and family relationship. When you have money and your health is right, all the things are nothing if you cannot share them with other people staying close to you.

Next is appropriate, satisfactory work. When you have a good job it’s easier to earn bigger money, easier to keep your family safer. You happiness and health condition are increasing rapidly.

But the most rated and important is: knowledge and wisdom. Without them we mean nothing.

If you’re still consider that topic you should go there: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/0,30576,1686204,00.html

At the second stage I would like to show you how bad it can be if you made wrong choice.

The worst jobs ever…

Do you ever think about your job that is hopeless? Yes… sometimes… many times…

// source: joemonster.org

When you focus on your career you can easily notice that isn’t so bad. It always could be worse.

There is a special trained group of people dedicated to work at the heights levels. Even every day they have to climb a little bit just to fix something…



Or just to wash few windows…






There was also a couple of TV series covering that topic.
“The worst jobs in History” - hosted by Tony Robinson. Presenter is trying by his hand every job from history that can call the worst ever.





and “Dirty Jobs” program on the Discovery Channel created by Mike Rowe who shows us how to perform difficult, dirty, ugly and discussing duties. Jobs that we can spot now…

THE BEST





THE MUCHO MISTAKES



Now time to go to the stringiest things in the world.

How many times do you think about choosing good restaurant for the lunch or dinner?
Any preferences?

If you consider eating on a toilet I would recommend to you:




source of both pictures:









A toilet restaurant – it has been around for few years. Actually is quite popular in Asian countries. Many people really enjoy eating in a toilet - like environment, with smell of poo. That kind of restaurants are slowly but steadily becoming an icon for Taiwan.





Maybe instead of toilet you would prefer a wheelchair in a hospital:












This is Singapore’s first molecular gastronomy restaurant, described as a hospital-themed dining experience.






Shell I take my Sleeping Beauty and pajama? Yes, you can…





source: http://www.wackyarchives.com



After we ate we can drink…







A short definition:

“Coffee Luak - Kopi luwak (Malay pronunciation: [ˈkopi ˈlu.aʔ]), or civet coffee, is the world's most expensive and low-production coffee. It is made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then defecated, keeping their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness, widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world.” // en.wikipedia.org

During the next coffee try to think a little bit where is it come from, where is that place?!

After we finished our meal. Time to go to the “rest-room”, “00” room… or just simply - “toilet”.








source: http://presurfer.blogspot.com

Giant mouth and invisible mouth. Sometimes life isn't so easy.


When we are comfortable. Fed and not thirsty. We can do some exercises.

Just to keep our form on the right level and our health at good condition. So we would suggest "Keep on flying baby"







And after very busy day we can get some rest reading interesting facts about Coca-Cola Co.

1. Seventy-five percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated (likely applies to half world population).

2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.

3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.

4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.

5. Lack of water is the number 1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50%less likely to develop bladder cancer.

9. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.

10. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the “real thing” sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china

11. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

12. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion

13. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

14. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.

15. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

16. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.

17. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.

18. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous Material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.

19. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years!

//taken from: http://www.blippitt.com/19-shocking-things-you-didnt-know-about-water-and-coca-cola


What I would like to present you is how strange the world could be. But fortunately, now, we (our generation) are the creators, so let’s make the life not so complicated…

I wouldn’t ask you any questions right now. Just sit for a while and think: “Do we have to making things more difficult?”



Sunday 23 January 2011

Paris - the most important sights



Paris is commonly believed to be the most romantic, picturesque and bohemian of all European capitals. This city of lovers is annually visited by millions of tourists, who come from all over the world to admire its beauty and charm. There are dozens of places in Paris, which fascinate visitors with their unique ambience and splendor, but some of them just cannot be ignored.



http://www.city-photo.org/pl/Paryz/Wieza_Eiffla_noc/

First of all, the Eiffel Tower is the essential point of sightseeing itinerary. This monumental steel construction has become the unquestionable symbol of Paris. Despite the great deal of controversy, which it arose at the early beginning of its existence, nowadays nobody can imagine Elysian Fields without it. Going up the tower with the lift in order to admire the bird’s eye view of the city centre is also worth recommending.



http://www.bestholidaydestinations.net/category/best-holiday-destination/

Afterwards, you should make your way towards the Louvre Palace, which is one of the oldest and most famous world’s museums. According to estimates, it would take about 2 weeks to see it carefully, but when you do not have enough time to be absorbed by this fascinating art gallery for such a long time, you should spend at least one afternoon to see the most famous exhibits like for example Mona Lisa, Nike of Samothrace or Venus of Milo.

Your trip around Paris could not be completed without visiting the Triumphal Arch and taking a photo in front of this historical monument.




http://www.francemonthly.com/n/0104/index.php

Finally, after the strenuous sightseeing it would be a nice idea to relax having a cup of coffee in the one of numerous cafes of the famous Montmartre hill. Do not be mislead by the impression of exclusiveness and watch out your wallet, because the pickpockets are the real nuisance of the area.

Undoubtedly Paris is not a city of one trip, as it is impossible to see all important sights during a short stay. If you want to get to know it better, you have to come back there several times, but even a single visit can result in a lifelong affair with this unique city, which is really easy to fall in love with.

Questions:

What do you think about Paris?

What is more romantic city?

Have you ever been in Paris?

What is your favorite city and why?

10 richest people in the world 2010




http://www.davebruns.com/Table_of_Contents.html

10th Karl Hans Albrecht was born 20 Feb 1920 in Essen. Karl is a German businessman who with his brother Theo to open a supermarket is known all over Europe. Aldi first opened in 1941 in Essen. In 2002, entrusted the management company to another person, he only collects the profits. Karl is a fan of golf, built his own golf course. He has two children but I do not know about them. We know little about Karl because he hates the media. His fortune in 2010 by Forbs is rated at 23.5 billion$.

9th Amancio Ortega



http://www.rich-people.org/

Amancio Ortega, was born March 28, 1938 in Busdongoo de Arbas in Spain. Amancio is boss Inditex Group, founded in 1975. Index Group to include such brands Zara, Zara Home, Bershka, Stradivarius, Pull Bear, Massimo Dutti and Oysho. It is now the largest clothing company. Ortega in 1989, he had hundred stores in Spain. As the first brand was created and then the next Zaraz clothing brands. In 2001 his company entered the stock market which has sold 41% shares. Ortega now lives in La Coune with his second wife. About his private life little is known Ortega appreciates privacy. His fortune in 2010 by Forbs is rated at 25billion$.

8th Eike Batista



http://cauin.com.br/eike-batista-abre-canal-no-youtube/

Eike Batista was born 3 Nov 1956 in Governador Valadares in Brazil. He is a businessman. Industries in which it operates mining petroleum. He is the richest in Brazil, is the son of Eliezer Batista. Batista, was minister of energy. Interested in politics and election campaigns sponsored by their parties Goes. His private live is stormy. In 2009, belonged to the 100 most influential people in the world. His fortune in 2010 by Horbs is rated at 27 billion$.

7th Bernard Arnault



http://magazine.wsj.com/features/the-big-interview/being-arnault/

Bernard Arnault was born March 5, 1949 in France. Is the richest Franchman Bernard is president of LVMH (Moet, Hennessy Louis Vuitton). He comes from a very wealthy family. IN 1981 in Florida he had a construction company, with the money he earned he bought a company Tag Heuer, the company produces luxury watches. In 2007 he bought a 9% stake in Carrefour. Bernard Arnault has a daughter Delphine, she helps him earn money. According to Time Magazine, Bernard is one of the most influential people in the world. His fortune in 2010 by Forbs is rated at 27,5 billion$.

6th Larry Ellison



http://firdaus354dmc.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/10-orang-it-terkaya-di-dunia/larry-ellison/

Larry Ellison was born August 17, 1944. Larry is well-known founder od Oracle Corporation in 1977. When he was young he worked on a database for the CIA who was called Oracle. His biggest competition is the database of IBM, Larry tried to talk with IBM so that the files were in the same format but IBM refused. Larry Ellison is currently the fourth wife, who is known as a writes Malanie Craft. Larry loves the largest yacht, his yachts have a length of 140 meters. Unfortunately, he finished with his hobby because when Larry cruised killed six of his friends, His fortune in 2010 to Forbes is rated at 28 billion$.

5th Lakshmi Mittal



http://www.thelittlehousecompany.co.uk/news/selling-luxury-home-impossible-for-billionaire-0004.htm

Lakshim Mittal was born June, 1950 in Sadulpur in India. He lives permanently in London. Laskshim is president of the biggest steel producer Arcelor Mittal. By the crisis in the world was in fourth place he lost half his assets. But they still have something to himJ He is known also in Poland, yhe government purchased from our steel mills. It is the richest resident of the UK. He bought himself a private jet and one of the most expensive jet. His house in London has been priced at 128 million $. His daughter had a wedding at Versailles. His fortune in 2010 by Forbs is rated at 28,7 Billion $.

4th Mukesh Ambani



http://www.topnews.in/mukesh-ambani-inked-biased-gas-pact-5-minutes-rnrl-2240245

Muskesh Ambani was born April 17, 1947 in Aden in India. Mukesh currently has 48% stake in Reliance Industries Limited. He graduated from three directions at the University of Bombay, Bachelor of Arts, Science Stanford University, Master of Business Administration. Mukesh has a wife and three children. In 2008 he built one of the largest buildings in the world for his family. The construction cost was more than a billion dollars. Mukesh wants to invest in Poland 1,8 billion in fuel industries. His fortune by Forbs in 2010 is rated at 29 billion $.

3rd Warren Buffett




http://dealbreaker.com/2010/11/warren-buffett-wake-up-america/

Warren Buffett was born August 30, 1930 in Omaha. Warren is the greatest stock market investor. Has a share: 21.1% American Express, 8.3% Coca- Cola, 18.1% The Washington Post Company, Gillette 9.5% group (part of the group Procter & Gamble) and other packages of shares in a number of corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Buffett id the majority shareholder worth 74.4 billion dollars. Insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway. Warren plans to spend 37 million to charity. As an interesting is, Warren, who lives in a house he bought 50 years ago for 31,500USD. One of his best friends is Bill Gates. About his private life little is known is very modest. His fortune by Forbs in 2010 is rated at 47 billion $.


2nd Bill Gates



http://www.frazpc.pl/b/224999

Bill Gates was born October 28, 1955 in Seattle. I thing everyone knows Bill and knows what he’s doingJ Bill has more than 9% of the shares of Microsoft. Bill Gates in recent years engaged in charitable actions. He opened the foundations od Bill and Melinda Gates. When Bill was told that there is little mathematical genius. When he went to school was caught breaking the Computer Center Corporation, a computer making use of it thang. Thanks got the CCC first work where he was looking for bugs. At 14 yers old he wrote his first program for which he earned 20,000 $. In 1973 he studied at Harvard. November 23, 1976 opened the company Microsoft. Microsoft is currently the largest IT company. His fortune by Forbs in 2010 is rated at 53 billion $.

1st Carlos Slim Hel




http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/WYDJ.html

Carlos Slim Hel was born January 28, 1940 in Mexico City. Carlos is a Mexican Businessman. Slim studied engineering at the Universid Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Slim was a vice president of the Mexican stock exchange. Currently serves on the Board of Directors Philip Morris International. Is the owner of France Telecom, Southwestern Bell Corporation, Telmex and Telnor. In 2008 he bought a 6.4% stake in The New York Times Company. Slim wants to buy a Honda F1 TeamJ As to private life he has known sons Carlos, Marco Antonio and Patrick Slim, and he has three daughters. His wife, Soumaya Domit Gemaye died of kidney disease in 1999. His fortune by Forbs in 2010 is rated at 53.5 billion $.

Source:
www.forbes.com
www.wikipedia.pl

Questions:

Do you think being rich means being happy?
Which of these people raises the greatest respect?
They are rich because they did whether they are geniuses?


Saturday 22 January 2011

Yes, it's me again and once more I'd like to show you something about our mind. Both previous parts were about diseases that were obvoious in some sense. Each of them were a lack or excess of something, but this part is about something that may be seen as a spiritual, supernatural or more like a case for a psychoanalyst. These aren't problems considered by many people as neurological or medical. Let's get to the stories, because that's what is really interesting.

Miss O'C lived in home for elderly and was hard of hearing. One night she was awaken by very loud Irish music. Beside her, no one was awake. She started to look for a radio that might had been responsible for those sounds, but every one was off. After that, she realized that her dental filling might acted like an antenna. It turned out that it wasn't the reason. After she visited some doctors, she came to doctor Sacks. All the time she was listening that Irish music and it made doing anything impossible. As silly as it may sound, she had problems with communication with others because of that. After some talk, it turned out that these songs were memories from miss O'C's childhood. After some more days of tests, music started to become more and more silent and in course of few weeks, music disappered.

When describing this case, Book's author tells a story of other similar cases. There are hundreds of people with problems alike the mentioned one. Some of them were worse, because they didn't disappear just like that. Everyone described there, could have recalled those songs as being part of his past like for Miss O'C. The sad part of this disesase is that there were some people that had parts of their brains removed to get rid of the neverending stream of music. It was just physical removal of memories. The interesting part is that it seems that brain can keep or keeps memories and can show them as if they were happening at that very moment.

Other thing is that some people can forget something like Donald did. He took phencyclidine and killed his wife after that. Another day he didn't remember anything. He was hypnotised and tested in many other ways that prooved with high certainity that really didn't remember what has happened to his wife. He was imprisoned and after many years there, he was freed. Not longer after that, he had an accident which harmed his brain. In hospital he had nightmares of him killing his wife and it turned out that these were the real memories of what he did in the past. It's really amazing that brain really remembers everything but it seems that we just can't find it there. For me it seems that brain is a mystery that we know little about.

I recommend you to watch Oliver Sacks talk about hallucination from TED conference:


Do you know any interesting medical cases involving brain?
Do you have deja-vu sometimes? Do you think it's like a flashback in some way similar to above-mentioned stories?
What do you think of science of the brain? Can it lead to our full knowledge of what brain is, how it works and where our soul is there?
Hi again.

Last time I showed you some stories from first part of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat". Like you probably remember, they were about losses. This time, I'd like to focus on so-called excesses. Oliver Sacks describes this type of disease as an opposite to loss. There is hypermnesia, which is an antitype for amnesia, there's hyperkynesia and other hypers. What's interesting psychology and neurology before the release of this book weren't interested much in these type of diseases but it changed afterwards.

I'd like to show you some examples of those.

1.
First story is about Ray. Ray had Tourette's syndrome which you probably know more or less. It's a disease that involves nervous motions like ticks, noises, curses of all sorts. There are different intensities of these. Some people just have ticks once per minute but there are ones who have it second after a second all day long. Ray belonged to the second group. It all started when he was about 4 years old. In spite of those problems, he graduated from college and had a wife and 2 kids. Real problems arose when hetried to get a job. He was thrown out of each of them because of his disease. Nonetheless, he had a musical talent for playing drums. Thanks to his syndrome, he was able to make great drum solos. It was his way to earn some money. Other thing that he was great at was ping-pong. No one was able to have that reflex and make so fast and sudden shots.

But all that wasn't enough, because his wife couldn't live like this. That's why he got to the book's author. The doctor gave him Haldol, which lowered his dopamine level. After a week of receiving this drug, he came back. He was angry, because he couldn't cope with what was happening to him. Before that, he was able to jump in and jump out of revolving door and unfortunately this changed after Haldol. He just couldn't catch the right moment. He didn't want to do that anymore. Despite of that, Mr Sacks offered him 3 months of some kind of psychoanalysis after which, they would try Haldol once more. It turned out that Ray liked many things that he just wasn't able to do because of his sickness. After this preparation and realizing that he might live without Tourette's syndrome, Ray tried Haldol once more.

It turned out that with preparation, he was able to live more or less normally. He started a normal job, he started to have friends etc. But he wasn't all that happy, because on Haldol he was boring and anything but spontaneous. Now he lives all week on Haldol to be able to work, but at weekends he leaves his medication and plays drums like he used to. What I like about this story is that you can be sick, cope with that and leave something worthy for yourself.

I recommend you to watch this movie about Tourette's syndrome:


2.
Another form of excesses is what you may call Cupid's disease. Oliver Sacks was once visited by Natasha K. who was a woman in her mid 60s. She started to become more and more vigorous but also interested in men much younger than her. Before that she was kind of shy, but she started to flirt and tell jokes. Her friends started to worry, so she went to the neurologist. It turned out that about 50 years earlier, she had syphilis and it had left spirochaetes in her brain. What's even more interesting, she didn't want to go back to her self before these changes. She wanted to stay so alive, but she was afraid that this might get worse than that. Happily, penicillin did kill the spirochaetes but changes in the brain weren't reversible. She stayed vigorous and it wasn't getting worse. That's my favourite story from that part.

Have you seen anyone with Tourette's syndrome? It is estimated that there's about 1 to ten people per 1000 with that syndrome. Do you find it odd?
Do you think that an old lady behaving like Natasha K is odd even though it's just a disease?


Hi everyone.

As it's my time on this blog, I'd like to tell you about some stories from one of the most interesting books I've ever read. I'd like to recommend it to you by posting some of the stories from it. It's called "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat". It was written by neurologist Oliver Sacks in 1985 and consists of some stories about his patients. There are 24 stories there and each one of them is an exceptional example of how brain can fool us. These stories are sometimes funny, sometimes scary, but each one shows how much we are slaves of our own mind. Book is divided into 4 parts titled "Losses", "Excesses", "Transports" and "The world of the simple".

First part is about people who lost something that is common for almost everyone. Second part describes people from the other end, people with too much of something. I know, this sounds little too general, but for me, there's no less general term for this type of disesases or whatever you may call it. Third part sticks to cases where someone experiences his past as it was happening at this very moment and the last chapter is a description of experiences with so-called simple minds. This was a mere formality and without further ado, I'd like to start with a set of stories from the first part.

"Losses"
Loss is a term extensively used in neurology and psychology to describe diseases based on lack of something. Let's start with a title story.

1.
Doctor P. was an opera singer that became a lecturer at music academy. He was successfull on both fields for many years. At some point in time, he started to behave a little odd from time to time. He stopped recognizing people and started to treat objects as being part of people. For example, sometimes he had stroke hydrant like it was someone's head. There were countless examples of such behaviour and the frequency of such events was rising.

Doctor P's wife asked him to go to the oculist, but after some tests he was directed to visit a neurologist. That's the moment when mister Sacks met Doctor P. At first, book's author was charmed by P's intelligence and charm. But after a while he started to see that there was no eye contact between them. P was looking at neurologist's ears, nose, mouth but only occasionally in the eyes. After some neurological tests, patient was asked to put back on his shoe, but he couldn't have find it even though it was just beside his foot. He was looking for it everywhere and have fought that his real shoe was his own foot. Yes, he thought his shoe was his own foot! If you think it's more than odd, you should hear what happened later. After a set of more tests, he was asked to describe what he sees, after red rose was given to him. I can't describe it better than it was written by the author himself.

"About six inches in length. [...] A convoluted red form with a linear green attachment.[...] It lacks the simple symmetry of the Platonic solids, although it may have a higher symmetry of its own. ... I think this could be an inflorescence or flower."

Whats more, Doctor P was good at recognizing shapes of simple shapes like cube or rectangle. What's even more puzzling, is that his musical skills didn't suffer from this. He was still a great singer and he could speak about opera for hours. He was recognizing some people, but only if they were charactaristic in terms of large nose, big mole on face etc. He could see those marks, but not the face in general. In terms of losses, he sufferd from lack of cognitive judgement. It's that type of judgement, that gives us information about things and how they relate to each other. It's what makes are able to see things how they are, not as just a set of some properties. Life without this judgement seems like a

2.
There's a chance that you've heard a story similar to this, if you've seen "Memento" movie. If you haven't, I recommend you to do so. So, the second story is about Jimmy G. that was brought to a neurological hospital after he was diagnosed as being "helpless, demented, confused and disoriented". At first glance, he seemed like a normal person telling jokes and all about his life. Mister Sacks was talking to him for some time and left after that for a moment. When he came back, Jimmy seemed not to remember the conversation from a moment before. He knew mister Sacks was a doctor, but that was based purely on the surroundings and an outfit. The whole event took place in 1975, but Jimmy thought it was 1945. He didn't recall anything from between those years. What's even more scary, when Oliver Sacks asked Jimmy to write something, hide it in his pocket and get it from there after a minute or two, he was amazed, because he couldn't recall that writing. When Jimmy looked in the mirror, he panicked because he saw a man 30 years older than he thought he was. But after a minute, he didn't remember that.

The thing that scaries me most about Jimmy G, is what has happened to him. This was revealed after some investigation made by mister Sacks. It turned out, that after the war, Jimmy was a "happy-go-lucky" and "always a drinker" according to his brother. In 1970 his drinking reached a top and he was taken to a hospital where after a month of detoxification, he started to have memory lapses that after a while, turned him into Jimmy G from the start of this story. It's one of the saddest stories I've ever heard. What's surprising, basing on description in the book, Jimmy seems happy. But does he have any other choice?

Trailer for "Memento" movie:


3.
Third story is the one, that made me realize that there are some things, that I can't imagine no matter how I try. Miss S. was in her 60s when she had a brain stroke. After that, she stopped seeing left side. Not left side of something, but left side in general. When she sat in front of a meal, she ate only right half of it. She was mentally aware, thanks to treatment, of the fact that probably there's a left side of this meal, so she turned right on hear wheelchair. When she saw again what was left of her meal, she ate half of that and so on. Everytime she wanted to put on a lipstick, it ended with only half lips painted. There were tries of using a monitor instead of mirror, but she felt sick seeing one part of her face and not feeling the touch of lipstick on the left side that she wasn't aware of. It's amazing and I really can't imagine being in such situation. It must be a horrible experience to know that there's a left side but not able to see it.

Do you think that you could live life with one of those losses?
Can you even imagine how Miss S. may see a world around her?
Have you seen "Memento"? Did you like it?

All citations are taken from "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat". Cover taken from Amazon.com.

Oman - Part 3

One of my questions in my last post sounds: Would you like to visit or move
to Oman? If the answer on the second part is YES or nearly yes, this post is
directed especially for you.

I have already mentioned that Oman is one of the oldest civilisations on Arabian Peninsular, it is a country dominated by miles of pristine beaches, feathery palms, mountainous backdrop and true hospitality. Fascinating scenery, agreeable climate and amicable citizens make Oman a dream destination for adventurous visitors. I would like to add, for those who know the story about Sinbad that this legendary figure comes from the land of Sultanate.

If you are ready to move to Oman or invest there some money in a real estate
property, I have an ideal opportunity for you;): the Wave, Muscat, an exclusive development by the Ocean, about 10 minutes drive from the new international airport.


It combines understated luxury, inspirational design and tranquil living for those seeking an escape from bustle and dullness of everyday life.
With breathtaking ocean views and lush landscapes, the Wave offers a variety of opportunities to invest in freehold property such as villas, townhouses or commodious apartments with swimming pools, kept in absolute security and resort-style luxury.


http://s3.cdn.dubizzle.com/images/user_images/2010/12/11/6272663_SP_photo.jpeg


http://www.ireypg.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/The-Wave-Oman.jpg

Besides private properties, the investment consists of huge marina, shopping center, bars and restaurants, luxury resorts such as Kempinsky and
Fairmont Hotels and one of the biggest golf courses in this region, signed by
Greg Norman.



I have been there and I have to admit that it looks very promising. I have even visited the Wave Sales Office and made a small investigation about prices, contract conditions, schedule of payments, costs of maintenance and so on. Prices of townhouses (about 250 sq.m.) starts from 1.2M zł, with complete high qualities interior finishing (you just only need to buy a bed!). One bedroom apartment with living area about 70 sq.m., costs around 600K zł. I have to underline again that interior is made turnkey! It’s not expensive comparing with apartment prices in Warsaw (and you could have an ocean front localization)... Cost of maintenance is comparable to Warsaw or even lower...

http://gulfnews.com/polopoly_fs/pm-101201-ind-wave-2-1.720267!image/3015098284.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_475/3015098284.jpg


http://www.thewavemuscat.com/Images/Content/PressReleasenew.jpg

I am really interested in buying some property in the Wave in Muscat:). What
do you thing about my plans? Do you think that it is a good decision? Have
you started thinking seriously about moving to this country;)?

sources: own work

Living in small or big town

Today i would like to say a few words about living in a small town vs big town. Life far from civilization, where thera are no computers, telephones, cars or any kind of modern technology is many people's dream.


A few of my friends from high school lived in small towns. I have always wondered why so many young people decided to move to large cities. The countryside is said to be more peaceful, the air is clean, you can't get lost, and what's most important - you never run out of parking places. People always find the time to sit down and talk, the pace of life is slower, there is very little crime. Everyone knows each other so there is no problem finding any kind of specialist when you need help with the car or your cow. Car alarms don't go off all night and there is a lot of empty spaces to run across with your dog. Unfortunately, in case of an emergency, a doctor is usually very far away, unless your neighbour happens to be one.


So what makes people move out off the countryside and into the city?

The answer is quite easy. The first, and the most important, issue is education. In a small town there are very few primary schools, a high school is rare, and a university has never even been heard of. This forces people looking for education to move to larger cities or towns. Even studing on-line could be troublesome since there is no internet in some small towns. Not much is going on in a small town, making it hard to find a well paid job. It is hard to find any job at all.


However, moving is no small cost, so many people decide to stay. I consider myself lucky, because I got the chance to move to a large city having lived in a medium sized town, thanks to which I am getting an education. The issue of traffic jams and lack of parking places you say? Well I found a simple solution. I drive a motorcycle. Luckily, my cat doesn't mind living inside so the open spaces are not an issue. Living in the city allows me to see my friends without having to travel to another city.


Questions:

Have you ever lived in a very small town?

What are the pros and cons of living in a large city?

Do you plan to move to a larger/smaller town someday?