What is a Chair?

There is something about a chair that makes it a chair. A Chair is more than a thing in which to seat and recline. It is more than just function. A small chair that would collapse when I sat on it would still be a chair for a small child. I would think that even a small little dollhouse size chair is still a chair. There is something about a chair that makes it a chair.

If a chair breaks its leg: is it still a chair? There are some who would say it is no longer a chair. Others would say it is a chair; and because we regard it as a chair we should also regard a stool as a chair.

1) A stool is a chair because we would continue to regard a broken chair as a chair. 2) A broken chair is not a chair. If you disagree with both of these statements, you may be a right wing, conservative, nut job, and only driven by your religious convictions.
What is a person?

Portland Wine Tasting

On Friday, Oct 22nd, we packed a picnic lunch, fed the fish, sheep, chickens, cats, dog, horse, and started for Portland, Oregon. We stopped at a Stonehenge (top picture)made by Sam Hill before we visited the Maryhill Museum to look at the art there. It was very nice but wish we had more time. We drive just down the road to the Maryhill Winery. They have some of the best reds. We bought a couple of Zinfandels and ate our picnic lunch while looking out over the River Columbia. Next we checked in at the Holiday Express in Portland and went to Justin’s for dinner. He made a great Thia meal.
On Saturday, we met up with Michael and Justin for some wine tasting. First we stopped at a deli and got some food. Our first stop was Sokol Blosser Winery (45.251557, -123.050468). Usually, we like their Pinot Noir but this year: not so much. A nice limo driver told us about Vista Hills Vineyard, so off we went. Vista Hills Vineyard (45.266050, -123.070490) has great Pinots and a beautiful view(third picture). We bought a bottle and ate lunch. Next we stopped in at Wine Country Farm Cellars. They have a nice Muller Thurgau. While driving to Erath Winery, the modern architecture of Winderlea caught our eye, so we stopped. They make boutique (expensive) wines. They tasted very nice but a little too boutique for us. Our next stop was Erath. They have three flights of wine to try. Free, $10, $15. The top flight has great wine but they don’t refund your tasting fee with a purchase, which makes it easy to walk out without buying anything, but we did get a bottle of their ‘Prince Hill’ Pinot Noir.
After wine tasting, we said goodnight to Mike and meet up with Justin & Joanna for dinner at Arabian Breeze. They serve great Middle Eastern food. We really enjoy it.
Sunday, we met up with Justin & Joanna for breakfast at Paradox Café. They serve organic food which we loved. We said good bye to the kids and drive back to our casa in Cheney. What a great weekend!

Walla Walla

Took my first overnight scooter ride. I spent the night at the Wildhorse Casino and Resort. It was a nice place for the $10 tent fee. I went from Cheney, through St. John, Endicott, Dayton, and Walla Walla. I have alway like the looks of the Columbia County Court House in Dayton so I took a picture. I stopped at Russell Creek Winery and had a most excellent 2007 Sangiovese. It was over a 100 degees in Walla Walla. I average 34 mph and 73 mpg during the 390 mile trip.
Note to self: Never do this again in 100 degree heat, bring shower shoes, and a bag for wet clothes.

Human Life

Ovulation occurs about every 28 days (about two weeks after the onset of menstruation.) Ovulation is when an egg is discharged into the fallopian tube. Most of the time, the egg will move down the fallopian tube to the uterus, break up, and the remains are discharged as menstrual flow.

For fertilization to occur, sperm must be deposited in the vagina within a few (3) days before or on the day of ovulation. The sperm may reach the egg within 15 minutes of ejaculation. There is heavy mortality on their journey. An average human ejaculate contains over one hundred million sperm, but only a few dozen complete the journey. And of these, only one will succeed in fertilizing the egg.

Development begins while the fertilized egg is still within the fallopian tube. Approximately one week after fertilization, an embryo of about 100 cells embeds itself in the thickened wall of the uterus, a process called implantation, and pregnancy is established. After three weeks, the heart has begun to pump, the brain and spinal cord begin as a tube-like structure; and the mother has just missed her first menstrual period.

An egg cell like a sperm cell is special. It only has 23 chromosomes, unlike the other cells of the body which have 23 pairs (46 chromosomes). We inherit 23 chromosomes from each of our parents. When an egg is fertilized it is new unique human life; 46 chromosomes which are unique to itself. It is not a copy of its mother like a skin cell, but new unique human life with its own DNA. This human life will continue to live for another 75 years or so. It will spend its first 280 days in the womb, followed by a few years in total dependence on others for nourishment. Depending on which society it is born into, it will be taken care of for an additional 10 to 20 years.

Most of us would believe it to be unethical to kill 300 day old human life which had just exited its mother’s womb 20 days earlier. But some believe is it OK to kill it 150 days earlier or 70 years later. I believe they are inconsistent in their views because nothing changes between conception and a terminal illness. Human life is human life all along the way. Dehumanization can cause one to believe there is a life not worth living. Dehumanization is the psychological process of depriving human qualities, making them seem less than human and hence not worthy of humane treatment. Slavery, eugenics, and genocide start with dehumanization; and all inconsistent with justice.

Scooter Ride

I went on a scooter ride across the Palouse and into northern Idaho. I left Cheney on the Cheney-Spangle Road to Spangle. I took the Old State Road 195 out of Spangle then turned left onto the Spangle-Waverly Road. From Waverly I drove out to State Route 27 and took it south to Tekoa. Just before I got to Tekoa I stopped for a break and took the top picture. I left Tekoa on State Route 274 which took me to the Idaho and US95 to Plummer, Idaho. I turned onto State Route 5 which goes east out of Plummer along Lake Coeur D’Alene to St. Maries. I took the White Pines Scenic Bypass (State Route 3) south then took a right to follow the White Pines Scenic Bypass (State Route 6) in the St. Joe National Forest. It started to rain a little but rain is what makes the trees grow in picture 2. St. Joe claims the largest stand of white pine in the country. As I rode into Harvard, I was feeling a little hungry and saw a sign for the Hoodoo Café; I had to stop. I had a nice grilled chicken sandwich, talked to a local guy about the sad state of the logging industry. I saw a number of signs in the area which read, “This Family Supported by Timber Dollars.” The White Pines Scenic Bypass stops at Potlatch which has a huge lumber mill. It use to be the biggest in the world. Route 6 takes me back to Washington. I stopped at the border to take the last picture. At the town of Palouse, I took State Route 27 north through Garfield, and Oakesdale. Both are very well kept towns. I hoped on US195 north, exited at Bradshaw Road and to the Cheney-Spangle Road back to where I started. I averaged 36 miles per hour and 64 miles per gallon.

Equality

It seems to me that racism, sexism, and diversity are the same thing. It is just a matter of perspective.

Pub Philosophy

It is bad luck to be superstitious.

The Purpose of Sex

I believe sex has three purposes which are in harmony with nature. They are in order:
1. Procreation (Natural)
2. Relationship Maintenance (Feminine)
3. Recreation (Masculine)

The two most basic needs of all living things are nutrition and reproduction. We can reason from nature the telos of sex is the act of producing offspring. Men have reproductive organs and women have complimentary reproductive organs. The first purpose of these organs is to reproduce. We would not need these organs to perform any of their other function; which makes these other functions secondary. The male organ is also part of the urinary tract, but women don’t require a penis as part of their urinary tract. The male organ can provide him with pleasure. Women also have an organ for pleasure which is not required for intercourse. Reproductive organs are, the way they are, for reproduction. Most all animals only have sex to reproduce.

As human beings we have a need to maintain our relationships. Only human beings can produce more children than a mother is able to rear. Non-human babies are almost full grown before their mother could possible produce another baby. A human baby is born extremely under developed. Even in the most primitive societies a human would reach the age of fourteen before they could truly care for themselves. In those fourteen years, a mother could have 13 more children. She needs help. Help gathering food and help protecting the children. Non-human females are moving around quit well, as are the new babies, within minutes of birth. A human mother is almost helpless for a week or two after child birth. She needs help. Help gathering food, help protecting her other children, help protecting her self. There is a need for humans to maintain their relationship. Sex creates and maintains that parental bond.

Sex also feels good and provides pleasure. It is great fun. I can only assume it is fun to encourage people to do it in order to maintain the parental bond.

The affluence and technology of the west has allowed us to stand the purpose for sex on its head. The order today seems to be:
1. Recreation
2. Relationship Maintenance
3. Procreation
This seems to be the opposite of the purpose of sex mainly because there are lots of ways to have fun, and we can have close relationships with siblings, friends, and parents without having sex with them. Reproduction can only come from sex.

Consequentialist Murderer

George Richard Tiller (August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009) was a doctor and medical director of an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas, Women's Health Care Services, one of only three nationwide which would provide an abortion after the 21st week of pregnancy. A baby at 21 weeks of pregnancy is 10 inches long, weighs ¾ pounds, and except for their lungs is fully developed.


Today someone with a consequentialist understanding of ethics decided to murder Doctor Tiller. Believing a greater good would come from the murder of an abortion provider, someone killed him; the ends justify the means. Someone with a virtue approach to ethics believes it would not be just to take someone’s life. A person with a deontological view of ethics would never do such a thing because he would hold the view; "If murder is wrong, it is always wrong."

Pub Philosophy

Beer is proof there is a God, and he wants us to be happy.

Hypocaustum

Something we learned by visiting the Roman Bath in Bath and Chedworth Roman Villa was hypocaust or hypocaustum in Latin. Hypocaust was a system used to heat a rich family’s home. The floor was built over pillars and hot air was forced into the space under the floor. The heat air was made in the furnace outside the villa. The fire required constant attention but they had people for that. The floors were also cover with mosaics. The top picture is a room with only the pillars remaining. Picture two is the remains of the furnance. The square hole in the center of the picture is where the hot air entered the home. The third picture shows a completed floor. The fourth picture shows a completed floor to the left but in the top right you can see the channels under the floor where the hot air flowed. All these pictures were from Chedworth Roman Villa.

Sheep University

There were sheep all over England. I wonder if a bunch of sheep got together would they start an educational system; a place where they could get degrees with little to no social or economic value just to satisfy their innate need for knowledge. But do sheep have an innate need for knowledge. If they don’t, maybe they would not start an educational system. But if they did start an educational system maybe it would not have majors with titles ending in ‘studies.’

Home

After a one hour subway/tube ride to the airport, elevenses, sitting on the plane at the gate for an hour, a nine hour flight to Seattle, one hour trip through customs, dinner, and a one hour flight to Spokane, we made it home.

We spent £2800 (£215/day) plus airfare. Gas was selling for £.98 per liter (£3.71/gallon). We had a diesel powered rental car, so we were paying £1.04 (£3.94/gallon) for fuel. The average cost of a B&B in Cornwall was £60/night but closer to £100/night in London. Our best deal was staying at the Stirling House on Fairford Royal Air Force Base for £24.50/night. During the summer of 2008 the British Pound cost $2.00, but during our vacation it was selling for $1.58. The 20% discount was nice.

I gained about 7 pounds during the trip. I probably consumed more of the local beverage (beer) then I normally would. We could have eaten the Full English Breakfast, Elevenses, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, and Dinner everyday but we knew our clothes wouldn’t fit after a few days at that tempo. We usually had a very lite breakfast, elevenzies, lunch and dinner. Maybe the 7 pounds came from elevenses.

Home Bound

We just got back from Mass at Westminster Cathedral. We had a light breakfast and we are our way back to America.

Kew Gardens

Today we went to Kew (queue) Garden. It is a huge park with many plants and birds. While walking around a tree I surprised a goose and she hissed at me. I didn’t know a goose could hiss. I then noticed she had babies under her wing. (top picture). We walked over a bridge when we noticed a duck gathering material and giving it to the other duck to make her nest. (second picture). We are not sure why it is called Kew Garden but we noticed huge lines to get in as we were leaving. Then we walked across the Millennium Bridge to the south bank of the Thames River. There were hippies and artists, but no witches or goblins, so we walked along the south bank then walked back across on the Hungerford Bridge.

Westminister & Buckingham Palace

At the end of Whitehall/Parliament Street is Westminster Abbey built as a Catholic Abbey in the 13th century by Henry III for the monastery, and pinched by the crown in the 16th century. Henry VIII changed the Abbey to a Cathedral, so he would not have to destroy it like he did the other Abbeys. In the 19th century, when being a Catholic priest was no longer considered an act of treason, Westminster Cathedral (second picture) was built less than a mile from the Abbey. It is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. It was built in a Byzantine style like St. Marks in Venice, Italy. We rested our knees over an adult beverage then made our way to Buckingham Palace (bottom picture)

Whitehall Street

After lunch, we went to Trafalgar Square and ate lunch (top picture). We caught the changing of the guard at the Horse Guard barracks. (second picture). A few steps down the road is the home of the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street. This was as close as we could get (third picture). Then was walked about a block away from Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Tower of London

This morning we went to the Tower of London (top picture). We got a very entertaining tour from a Beefeater. (second picture). We went to see the crown jewels. We couldn’t take picture but this is the building (third picture). The display was very educational; telling us about a coronation along with seeing the jewels. This is the 500th anniversary of the coronation of Henry VIII, so there was a display of all his memorabilia. The display is called: ‘Dressed to Kill.’ Outside the tower is the Tower Bridge (bottom picture) which is one of the many cool bridges which cross the Thames.

Killer Breakfast

The deadly English Breakfast

2 Amici

We just got back from a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant called 2 Amici. They served their food an very large round plates which means the food tasted great but we didn’t get an excessive amount. The owner was very nice and I think at one point he was flirting with me; this made me very uncomfortable because my wife was with me.

Arrive in London

After settling into our hotel, we got dressed for a Thames Dinner Cruise (top picture). We hailed a cab and our evening had started. I told the cab driver, I heard his “Speaker of the House" was in a pickle, that started him into a 15 minute rant that lasted all the way to our destination. I’m not sure I agree with him because I couldn’t understand most of what he said. The cruise was a four-course meal with dancing while we sailed up and down the Thames looking at the sights. After we got back, Cindy noticed we could see Big Ben and the London Eye out of our window, so I took a picture (second picture). Today we went Greenwich. Home of the Meridian. We had to take the tourist picture by standing in the east and west hemispheres at the same time. (bottom two pictures). For lunch we went to Dirty Dick’s and read about the legend of Dirty Dick. A man who dressed very nice but the rest of his life was a filthy mess.

Rights

Rights dominate most modern understandings of what actions are proper and which institutions are just. There are two major contemporary philosophical approaches to explaining which fundamental rights of conduct there are, and why these rights should be respected. These two approaches are broadly identifiable as deontological and consequentialist. Deontological (the study of duty) would argue the ends do not justify the means. A consequentialist would argue that the ends do justify the means.


Deontological theories hold that human beings have attributes that make it fitting to ascribe certain rights to them, and make respect for these rights appropriate. Deontological approach is based in natural rights. All natural rights deal with attributes humans have by their nature, and which make respect for certain rights appropriate. Human attributes like free will, the need for psychological goods, or the ability to live with moral virtue.


Consequentialist theories hold that respect for particular rights is a means for bringing about some optimal distribution of interests. The consequentialist is based in rule utilitarianism. Rights are rules created with goal to provide the optimal distribution of interests. The most common objection to grounding rights in such a theory is that the resulting rights will be too flimsy. Why should it not be a rule of such a system, for example, that one should frame an innocent man if this would prevent a major riot? Why should it not be a rule that one should "violate" the right of an innocent not to be killed if this would prevent the killings of two innocents elsewhere?


Justice would support deontological ethics because to force someone to forfeit something which belongs to them is not just. To demand justice one must be willing to give justice. If someone were to suffer for the good of five people, a consequentialist would believe the suffering to be good, while a deontologist would believe forcing someone to suffer is wrong. Then there is the larger question of who decides what is ‘good.’ It would not matter as much to a deontologist.

Travel to London

Today was a travel day. Last night we stayed at Coxley Vineyard for the second night. The breakfast was great. We dropped off the rental car, got on the train, and arrived in London at 13:00. It is always nice to turn in the rental car in almost new condition. Something I’m no longer responsible for. After driving in England for 10 days, I’ve grown to love the “Give Way” (Yield) sign. In ten days I saw two “Stop” signs. In America, we litter the landscape with stop signs when a ‘Give Way’ is all you need. I drive to the end of my gravel road in Cheney where I will usually encounter zero cars before entering Salnave Road. At the end of the gravel road is a ‘STOP’ sign. I am required by the force of law to come to a complete stop before entering the vacant paved road. In America, we have taken the responsibly away from having to decide whether to ‘stop’ or ‘yield’ away for our citizens. I should be grateful.

Catholic? Churches

Henry VIII established himself as the head of the Church in England and took the Church’s property. Catholic worship was illegal in England until 1829. We visited several Catholic Churches that are now Anglican Church.
St. James in Chipping Campden (15th Century)




St. Mary's in Warwick(14th Century)





Salisbury Cathedral (13th Century)








Wells Cathedral (13th Century)

Pub Philosophy

Work is the curse of the drinking class

Wells & Glastonbury

Today we went to the Wells Cathedral (top picture). Very Gothic. It has the oldest clock with a dial face. Every quarter hour the knights over the top of the clock would joust. Next we went back to Glastonbury to see the Chalice Well. (second picture) The legend is: Joseph of Arimathea took a chalice containing the sweat and blood of Christ and brought it to Glastonbury and that is why the water runs red. (third picture) OR there is a lot of iron in the water. At the well garden we saw a hippie couple taking pictures but we were not afraid. We left there and started walking up the Tor. It is a huge hill with the remains of St. Michael’s Churchat the top. We got ¾ the way up (bottom picture) and decided to turn around. Then we were passed by the hippies, who then walked all the way to the top. I found out later it was not the witches, goblins and hippies that bothered Cindy; it was the guy in the dress yelling for us to watch out for the police in a Monty Python voice, as he ran through town. We left Glastonbury and drove back to Wells and walked around window-shopping.