Ice cold marketing

I mean really. Since when is cider drunk with ice? If you believe the marketers, forever. In medieval times, a villein would not be seen drinking un-iced cider, it's so traditional. It's so traditional, in fact, that people got bored of it in about 1940, just before home freezing became possible, so for all the time since then, we've been stupidly, ridiculously drinking cider without ice in it. But now, thanks to ultra-old fashioned Irish Magners, we've been educated as to the error of our ways, and are drinking cider over ice.

Kak!

More from the BBC on how easy it is to dupe the masses

Indoors/outdoors

I recently spent 10 days camping out in rural France, while attending Buddhist teachings. In that ten days I had as many minutes of access to the Internet. And in a way, that was ten minutes too long. For somebody who studies computer science, I can be remarkably unexcited about computers. Actually, I think I kind of have two lives. One is the life of my body, one is the life of my brain. My brain likes a lot of stimulation, constant activity. My body likes fresh air, walks, views, massage, good food. Lots of other things. My brain really just likes stimulation. Which includes studying, I suppose.

What makes me feel healthier is being outside, using my body, feeling the raw elements. Campfires and long walks. Being indoors hunched over a computer screen does not make me feel good.

I don't really have an answer as to how to resolve the two sides: I've been working with them, oscillating between the two, for many years now, without finding a happy medium.

I suppose I can't assume that other people have the same experience as myself, but I suspect that many of the tensions of the city could be shed with occasional immersion in a more natural "country" lifestyle.

Another thing that occurs to me is the oriental idea of the body-mind. That one's mind, or consciousness, is not separate from the physical body. I do find that my mind is calmed by treating my body well. And in meditation one positions the body in such away that the mind is stabilised. The beneficial effect of exercise on one's wellbeing is documented, and I'm sure most people have experienced the effect of a day's physical exertion leading to a satisfying feeling of repose in the evening.

Perhaps I'm still skirting the real issue, which is that in fact one's body is really one and the same as one's mind. That is the body which we truly inhabit is simply a projection of the mind. From an external point of view, one's body might be diseased, but one might still feel healthy. To say that actually the person is sick is churlish. The person's experience is that they are healthy. Likewise somebody might be in "perfect" health from the point of view of a medical checkup, but feel sick. Telling them that they are fine is not going to stop them feeling sick. Most likely they will assume the medical practictioner is missing something.

Well, those are my musings for the day. As so often is the case, I feel as though if I were a bit brighter I might be able to articulate something worthwhile... sigh!