Ideeahs

You may have read over the last week that the Mars One Mission announced its 100 finalists to become the first humans on the red planet.  Fifty men and fifty women have been selected to proceed to round three of the selection process.  This once again reminds me of what an amazing animal us human beings are. The need to know more, to explore, to go where humans have never gone is so strong across humanity when taken as a whole - as a system.  As individuals we may not all share the same level of interest in climbing Everest, diving into the Mariana Trench, walking on the Moon or, now, taking a one way trip to Mars.  As a group of seven billion we are remarkably adventurous however and have that inquisitive minority to thank for much of the progress, and leaps, we have made to date. Even if many of the discoveries stemming from these adventures can be used by those less interested in the greater good it still is true that, on the whole, they  build human knowledge and therefore inc

Hello world.  It's been sometime (just over two years!) since I have written to the blogosphere.  Who reads?  Who cares?  Who cares! For those of you who have read past blogs you'll know that there are two topics I have often written about.  One is Japan and the other is the use of rules in our society.  This post marries both topics. One of the things that most impresses me about Japan is the respect that its citizens seem to have towards one another, towards public property and personal space.  Many say this is due to the close quarters the Japanese live in.  I happen to think there is much more to it than the close quarters. I can recall multiple examples of respect but the one that pops into my head now is riding on the Yamanote Line in Tokyo.  Close to 4 million people ride that line on a daily basis.  I rode it one morning during rush hour.  I was in a sea of humanity.  At most a few centimetres separated me from my fellow riders.  More impressive than the sheer num