perception

oddly enough, it all started with broccoli. i hate broccoli, and started to wonder how anybody could enjoy the taste of that vile green stuff (or mushrooms, or asparagus, or any of a host of other disgusting things). or, another example: we all know that different people will remember the exact same event in different ways. why?

are events (or tastes) absolute? does broccoli have a fixed taste, one that some people enjoy and others don't? or is it more complex than that? maybe broccoli has a whole host of different tastes, and a person's physical makeup (in this case, their taste buds and sense of smell) causes them to pick up different parts of the flavor mosaic. same with memories... are we actually seeing things differently (thanks to the physical makeup of individual eyes and their connections to the brain)? or do we just attach different levels of importance to the various parts of our memories thanks to a variety of factors (upbringing, alertness, training, etc.)?

this was much more impressive when i originally thought it out about 1:00 this morning, but hopefully it's enough to give you a general idea of what i was thinking.

happy birthday, America!

234 today, and you don't look a day past 200. i think you may be getting into yet another midlife crisis, but overall you've aged remarkably well.