couldnt sleep last night, read Wired

this week is officially christened the "portugal planning week"! after 5 days in Lisbon, i think we should head to Porto for a couple days and then make a short 1 night visit to some small town near Lisbon, like Sintra - from where we can get to the aiport in the morning. all cities have access to beach, but of course the sea water temperature is around 19 degrees...thats just enough for doctor but not me. oh well...

i really wanna do a short "blue cruise" holiday while we are still in turkey... sometimes we planned it with friends but it seems impossible with everyones schedules and other plans.

an old acquintance (or what do u call these people u made a brief but perhaps meaningful contact with a long time ago, online??) contacted me by email, tracked me down via my deviantart account. he found himself studying AI and works with data now...aaanyway, he gave me think link to a Bloomberg article on code and its a wonderful (but long!) read. some of it just kind of beginners stuff on computers, cos the article is essentially about code, but its so well written its just fun to read :)

i had a skype chat with another old friend today about London. Avner and his wife have lived there for years and i just wanted to hear how he likes it, pros and cons, how much is the gas bill and so forth.


The Atlantic: Why Women Aren't Having Children. im always happy when there is a somewhat sensible article on the topic, but a part of me is usually a little bit disappointed with the content anyway. but maybe thats just me, i do ALWAYS find something not right. first annoyance: the article says

"Though no one exactly says it, women are voting with their ovaries, and the reason is simple. There are too few social supports, especially given the fact that the majority of women are no longer just mothers now, they’re mother-workers. Yet virtually no social policy accounts for this."

i think it would be fair to mention this text applies to especially US, also many other countries, but there certainly are countries who do a great deal to support motherhood and families financially...!

one of the interviewed women (who has the right to her opinion of course!) says of children:

"In the main, they are ungrateful. "

i know its just a sentence, but where do i start? are all children ungrateful, is it an inherent feature of our species really? are they ungrateful all their lives or just during some parts or all of their childhood? how is ungratefulness defined, btw? one is allowed to expect thing from other beings of course, whether it is reasonable or not, but indeed if what u need is someone to be grateful, i agree that not having children is the right choice. well, i sound like im attacking a fellow 'childfree' person, but i found that an awkward comment.

"The sense that having children is the most worthy of human activities is questioned by the writer Tim Kreider, who argues that it’s “a pretty low-rent ultimate purpose that’s shared with viruses and bacteria.”"

i wouldnt call having children "the most worthy of human activities", but it is the most important one for the species (because all species are programmed to survive and procreate, thats the only reason we exist). just because bacteria and viruses also reproduce doesnt automatically change the value of the fact. bacteria and viruses also need water in some form, just like humans, so how about that? i think its odd to be a human and suggest that humans shouldnt behave the way they are programmed to, and what led us here... just because we are conscious beings, and we know the planet is overcrowded, we cannot (usually) override the need to reproduce, if we have one. of course, the article was trying to shed some light on why some of us are NOT reproducing, and if Tim sees it the way he does, thats okay. childfree people have many reasons, from logical or emotional, from traumas to other, all-consuming goals etc...  and some may be just freaks of nature, maybe evolution wise its better if some of us dont spread our genes, honestly i think it could be *one* of the reasons some of us dont want any. could be me (although i feel like my genes are pretty awesome, lol).