'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

Go here to find out more.

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

The Brain

It has been said that our brain can never understand itself. It's a bit like trying to pull yourself up by your own boot-straps, or licking your elbow... or something.

Here, in my opinion, is a wonderful little clip showing how tricky it is. If you understand this, please explain in the comments box.


9 comments:

  1. Thank you for clearing that up. I have always known instinctively that E=IIR, though, because it is intuitively obvious that neither EIIR can be true, for otherwise a House of Hanover/Saxe-Coburg-Gotha/Windsor-Mountbatten divided against itself cannot stand.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't understand but two words of it. Am I supposed to?
    A great pity Ronnie Barker never recorded a version, they would be great back to back.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gosh, Adrian! Which two words? I didn't even manage that many.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My first comment got garbled because I used a "less than" and a "greater than" sign in it which Blogger interpreted as containing an HTML instruction. What is said (using words now) was, "...because neither E is less than IIR nor E is greater than IIR can be true, for otherwise..."

    Blogger's brain has not yet been explained by John Cleese or anyone else.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think I had a professor who talked like this. Not sure, I was sleeping.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Robert - I did get the references to Her Royal Highness...
    Adrian & Geeb - I listened to it again just now, and at the end he says "So...don't eat them."

    Violet - I had one of those too! For spatial and urban geography.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wonderful jibberish - I think!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ben Bongers21.11.10

    Hersenen zijn wonderlijk spul, waardoor het verklaren van de werking meer grijze cellen vraagt dan menigeen heeft. Alleen een genie als John Cleese kan het zo helder uitleggen

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hersenen zijn inderdaad prachtige dingen, Ben!

    ReplyDelete

Spam will go in the incinerator. All other comments are gratefully received. Communication is what makes the world go 'round.