Já está certo. O ator Johnny Depp está no elenco do novo filme de Tim Burton baseado no livro "Alice no País das Maravilhas", de Lewis Carrol. Pra quem ainda não conhece, o livro narra a história da jovem Alice que se vê em um mundo mágico, habitado por loucas criaturas, depois de perseguir um estranho coelho branco até a sua toca.

O filme será filmado com a mesma técnica de animação por captura de movimentos usado em A Lenda de Beowulf.  O papel de Johnny Depp ainda não foi confirmado, mas é possível que seja o do Chapeleiro Maluco, que, na trama, fica com seu amigo, a Lebre Branca, tomando chá e discutindo coisas sem sentido.

Particularmente eu me amarro nos filmes de Tim Burton e nos do Johnny Depp. Gosto ainda mais quando os dois trabalham juntos. Creio que vai ser um ótimo filme.

Shellfish May Invade North Atlantic As Ice Melts

North Pacific shellfish—including snails and other mollusks—may blaze a path across the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic if the sea ice melts in coming decades as predicted, a pair of scientists said today.

Mollusks traveled the northern passage when the Arctic was last ice free, about 3.5 million years ago, during a warm stage of the Pliocene, which spanned 5.3 to 1.8 million years ago, the scientists say.

The Arctic route was cut off when temperatures cooled, starving the ocean of phytoplankton—the floating plants that mollusks need to survive, explained Geerat Vermeij, a geologist at the University of California at Davis.

Leia o resto da matéria aqui.

It's worth reading again and again.

ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?'

So she was considering, in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but, when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

O ator americano Johnny Depp será o Chapeleiro Maluco na versão para o cinema do clássico "Alice no País das Maravilhas", escrito por Lewis Carrol em 1865. A produção, que será filmada em 3D, terá à frente o diretor Tim Burton, em mais uma parceria com o ator. As informações são do jornal "The Sun".

Burton e Depp vêm trabalhando juntos desde 1990, quando rodaram "Edward Mãos de Tesoura". Desde então, o ator já estrelou seis filmes do diretor, incluindo o mais recente, "Sweeney Todd".

Levar "Alice" para os cinemas é um desejo antigo de Burton, disse uma fonte à publicação:

- Tim tem idéias para "Alice no País das Maravilhas" desde antes da fama. Mas ele guardou o projeto até conseguir dinheiro suficiente. Agora, o filme será financiado pela Disney, então dinheiro não será problema.

A desconhecida adolescente australiana Mia Wasikova vai interpretar Alice, que cai em uma toca de coelho e encontra um mundo cheio de esquisitices. O filme começa a ser produzido no ano que vem e deve estrear no segundo semestre de 2010.

A Disney já produziu um desenho animado baseado na história em 1951.

A matéria foi encontrada aqui.

Leia também:
- O País das Maravilhas de Tim Burton

Henry Darger and the petite fille mystique

More Svankmajer's Alice:

{more Svankmajer on (You) Enoch here}

{image from Cans Festival, via What What on Flickr}

Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. "They've a temper, some of them -- particularly verbs, they're the proudest -- adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs -- however, I can manage the whole lot! Impenetrability! That's what I say!"

****

Adjusting to the new reality. Thinking about the thesis again, and thinking about the words that will form the thesis. Listening to Juanes all the time. He's addictive.

U.S. Court of Appeals judges likened the Department of Justice case against a Guantanamo Bay prisoner to a Lewis Carroll poem, "The Hunting of the Snark:"

The government suggests that several of the assertions in the intelligence documents are reliable because they are made in at least three different documents," writes Judge Merrick Garland, "We are not persuaded. Lewis Carroll notwithstanding, the fact the government has 'said it thrice' does not make the allegation true. In fact we have no basis for concluding that there are independent sources for the documents' thrice-made assertions."

The court also ruled the Pentagon improperly labeled Chinese Muslim, Hazaifa Parhat, as an "enemy combatant."

This is the first time a Guantanamo Bay detainee has been given an opportunity in a civilian court to seek his release. The Judges told prosecutors to release, transfer the prisoner, or expeditiously hold a new tribunal. Parhat has been in custody for more than six years.

Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.”

Even going to where people are poor - really poor - helps us realize that we don't need a PS-2 at each hi-def 60" TV to be happy.

But sometimes it is good to go somewhere that has a lot of history and culture, and can provide us with opportunities to improve our minds. Whether that involves olfactory and palette components with the wine tour in France, or soaking in braininess at Oxford, Europe is one of the places where we can get smarter.

So get out of that dungeon, from behind that keyboard, and zip over to Europe to become even geekier and nerdier, but in a more well-rounded and polished way.

Actually scientists haven't discovered why cats make that low 'growling' sound whenever they purr. The purring process still puzzles scientists as they're still trying to study how cats or any creature in the feline family could do just that. Some of them thought that maybe it means 'I'm not a threat.' That theory is feasible. And yet what about those 'meowing' sounds? I have observed that purring (which cats frequently do among humans they 'love') is another thing from meowing and trilling (a kind of growling) they produce whenever they teach their kittens anything. If only they could do what Lewis Carrol, author of Alice in Wonderland said:

It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens that whatever you say to them, they always purr. If they would only purr for 'yes' and mew for 'no', or any rule of that sort, so that one could keep up a conversation! But how can one deal with a person if they always say the same thing?"

Cats have been part of humanity's domestic life for hundreds of years and yet anything about them remains elusive. No wonder they were worshipped in Ancient Egypt (in the form of the goddess Bastet and Sekhmet).

I have this cute cat called "Dadits" (named after a character from Stephen King's Dreamcatcher), a two-toned (black and white) male cat that has been with us for the last two years. You see, our house seemed to be a cat-haven or the Cat Rivendell of the whole subdivision. One time a three-colored cat just appeared out of nowhere and as if it made a decision for itself, it has stayed in the garage ever since. Other cats visit and take the food from Dadits' plate, some even stay for awhile for us (my family) to gaze at them and a minute later, they're gone. I think cats spread rumors that our house is indeed a nice vacation spot or something.

Moving on, Dadits is unique among all the cats that we've cared for. Mainly it's because of his uncanny ability for self-control. While other cats before would jump on the kitchen and eat the food while the whole family's out, Dadits seemed to have that inner struggle... I mean I can tell that he likes to eat it, but whenever Mom would shout "DADITS!" he seem to understand. No need for spanking or shooing the cat. He has this mannerism of opening the screen windows by using his two paws and whenever he would be caught, he immediately runs and hides under the bed. I mean, come on, he knows right and wrong! haha.

The cat has stayed with us (his sister, Trixia died a year ago, and his mother Monique still visits every so often) despite the fact that we don't feed him that much. Whenever all the people in the house are asleep, he also sleeps. Sometimes he even sleeps beside me.

Another characteristic that makes him unique is whenever I sit on the computer chair, he would jump on my stomach, sit there, and if I pretend he's not there, he would use his paw to touch my face to call my attention.

Now, I had this argument with my Mom about why Dadits would still enter the house through the window (even if we're not home) and get out, and enter again. Mom said "Why can't THAT CAT learn anything?! Doesn't he know that when he does that, mosquitoes enter the house? Doesn't he know that he'll be thrown out of the window when we arrive???"

And I got into thinking that.. wait. He does know there's a consequence. I mean whenever he gets caught, he runs and hides, yet he deliberately goes in and out of the windows anyway, leaving the windows open (and letting all the mosquitoes in). Could it be that despite knowing the consequence, he still does that because he simply 'wanted' to go in? Has he accepted the eventual consequence of entering the window? I can only speculate.

Even if cats don't have 'free-will' in reality (for they rely on instincts) this got me reminded of what makes a human, human. Almost all the fields of knowledge we know today have reduced man to a machine... Man can be controlled by certain stimuli; Man can be fragmented, deconstructed, and analyzed, Man is just an animal. We have forgotten that man is not a machine nor an animal. We have free-will. We don't feel emotions as though it were only some chemical reaction that triggered something in our brain or the whole body. Otherwise love, anger, happiness, justice, things that we do not see that matters to us, won't have meaning. And our lives won't have significance.

Somehow my cat reminded me that being human is complicated. That unlike him, I have a conscious will to resist my instincts (like hunger) if it crosses the line, and though I foresee the consequences, my choice doesn't depend on instincts alone or even out of fear of the consequences or anything that can be seen or touched. I can choose to do what is right despite everything.

C.S. Lewis said it best:

Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before.

~resplend3nt

PS: These pictures are actual pictures of Dadits from my camera phone. :D

O meu destaque não-musical:

Dia 7:

16h00 DANÇA / PERFORMANCE
ALICE DO OUTRO LADO DO ESPELHO
PARCEIRO: BALLETEATRO ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL
LOCAL: CLAREIRA DAS BÉTULAS
(REPETE DIA 8 ÀS 16H00)

Este trabalho é mais uma viagem de Isabel Barros pelo universo de Lewis Carrol, cruzando Alice no País das Maravilhas e Alice do Outro Lado do Espelho, ao qual recorre diversas vezes na sua poética. O nonsense e o absurdo estão presentes neste espectáculo visual e sonoro. Um espectáculo para todo o público.

* Un Misíl en mi Placard - Soda Stereo.
Playboy: Lectura para Adultos. Y que tiene que ver Soda con Playboy? Bueno, pues esta canción fue inspirada en un chiste que apareció en esta revista, a principios de los 80s.
Cerati dice: ´En una ocasión estaba hojeando una revista Playboy, y ví una caricatura, donde un tipo encontraba un vibrador en el placard (gavetero) de su novia. De ahí me quedó la sensación de engaño entre una pareja´.

* Alicia - Bunbury.
Mítico personaje e historia, nacidos de la imaginación del matemático Lewis Carrol.
De hecho, Alicia existió de verdad. Cuentan, que siendo Lewis un profesor, le impartía clases particulares a algunos niños. Entre ellos, una niña que fantaseaba con un mundo absurdo, pero donde todo era posible. Bunbury, con toda la cultura impregnada en su subconsciente, nos lleva al exilio una chica que, ´siempre tan breve, ya ha terminado´. Por eso quizá la expulsaron.

* Fausto - La Ley.
Fausto es un personaje de ficción, protagonista de varias obras literarias y musicales, inspirado en un mago que se supone que vivió entre el siglo XV y el siglo XVI. Proclamaba que había vendido su alma al diablo para obtener sabiduría. Pero Goethe, le había dando otros rumbos a las historias originales. De todas formas, quién no venderia su alma al diablo por cualquier razón, que lo hiciera poderoso ante otros hombres? Beto Cuevas, sobre pasa los límites, para vender su alma y así poder ´besar las montañas maternas´ de cualquier angel desprotegido.

pb

- Ninguém aparece na estrada - disse ela.

- Oh! Quem me dera ter tais olhos! - Observou o Rei em tom impertinente. - Poder ver Ninguém! E a esta distância! Porque eu, o mais que posso fazer, com estes olhos, é ver as pessoas de verdade.

...

E Alice não podia negar que ele dissera assim mesmo.

- Quem você encontrou na estrada? - Continuou o Rei, erguendo a mão para o Mensageiro lhe dar mais feno.

- Ninguém.

- Muito bem: esta menina também o avistou. Assim, é claro que Ninguém caminha mais devagar do que você.

- Eu faço o que posso - disse o Mensageiro, assomado. - Estou certo de que ninguém caminha muito mais ligeiro do que eu.

- Não é possível - disse o Rei -; senão ele teria chegado aqui primeiro... Mas, visto que você já tomou fôlego, pode contar-nos o que aconteceu na cidade.

(CARROL, Lewis (2007). Alice no País dos Espelhos. Editora Martin Claret. São Paulo)

Este texto me deu ataque de riso de madrugada, me foi prazerosamente engraçado como o texto da Matemática. Bom humor é sempre bem vindo, "não há nada mais ridículo do que levar a vida a sério", enfim... :D

The focus on Saturday's session was "Redefining poetry in our current context". The dialogue, in fact, became a monologue as both parties waved a "high five" for the definition of poetry and verseification to be broadened. According to Vihanga, poetry, in the current context, should consider all the rock bands, metal outfits, rappers and hip hop etc. Sulla added how metal bands and rockers have opened up the world to a "new expression" and a "new voice".

Poetry, it was agreed, had to be "saved" and re-defined in relation to a far more complex "sense" of Sense --- in that respect, a wider under-conceived creative / artistic / cultural realm --- than the conventional 2D / 3D framework we have derived via the mainstream.   

Vihanga and Sulla. In their conception Eminem is Byron and John Lennon is Blake.

There were many parallels drawn between canonical poets and some of the figures that were suggested to be "poets", in the proposed sense of it. Byron and Eminem, Blake and John Lennon were coupled as being "resonant" of one another.

In a lighter vein it was suggested that Lewis Carrol [known for his prose than poetry] and Michael Jackson, too had things in common = a concern for children.

The need to revise definition of a "Lankan poetry", which was pronounced to be "dead and 6 feet under" was brought out. According to Vihanga, the likes of Chinthy, Krishan and co would pass off as a "new poetic clan" within Sri Lankan creativity. Sulla drew on metal bands and the growing "cultism" and the "alternative 'out-classed, out-law' verdict" it casts on social, political and even personal tensions of the day.

Session 2 will be in a fortnight, focussing on what ails Lankan writing as a genre.

«Quanto fa uno più uno più uno più uno più uno più uno più uno più uno più uno più uno?»

«Non so», rispose Alice.

«Ho perso il conto.»

Lewis Carrol [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson],
Attraverso lo Specchio e quel che Alice vi trovò (1871)

In January, I read Through the Looking Glass for the first time (I'd never read Alice's Adventures, either) and, to be frank, I didn't understand a lot of it.  I figured that this was largely due to the fact that it is a nonsense book, but it wasn't as funny as I'd expected.  I suspected, knowing that Carroll had been very interested in logic and mathematics, that I was missing a lot of puns, logical puzzles/paradoxes/jokes, and the like.  Well, it seems I was right.  Gardner's introduction tackles just this issue, suggesting that many of the jokes lose their essence to the modern American reader, because they play on popular songs, the ways words were pronounced, and other details peculiar to Victorian England (he also goes on for a very long time about how worthless it is to do psychanalysis of Carroll's writings, preffering to look for plays on words, in-jokes and references to people in Carroll's life, and logical/mathematical ideas and jokes).

Throughout the text, Gardner notes wordplay and reproduces the songs and poems that Carroll is lampooning in his (sometimes lengthy) nonsense songs and poems.   Gardner also discusses the implications of anti-matter and the possibility of an anti-Alice through the looking glass, worrying that their meeting would certainly eliminate both.  He reassures us that this is unlikely considering that, in Tenniel's illustrations, Alice is not inverted in appearance... OK, so maybe Gardner gets a little off topic sometimes, but his insights and explanations are greatly appreciated in trying to read through these, actually very funny, stories.

read: 8 March 2008

This is the best thing ever--or at least in the top 30 of best things.

YOU. CAN. FLIP. THE. PAGES!

The internet has finally caught up to the technology of the book! It freaks me out just a little on how real it looks--like I'm sitting here, but somewhere else I have a phantom hand doing my bidding. I hope when it isn't turning pages, my phantom hand is off petting poor homeless puppies in Italy.

Click here to see the Iowa Digital Library's first edition of the first printing of Peter Rabbit. Best thing ever. (side note: I still have not seen "Miss Potter" yet, very lame of me)

Or you can click here to see the British Library's "Turning the Pages"--which includes such manuscripts as Jane Austen's "The History of England," sketchbooks of Leonardo Da Vinci and William Blake, and the original "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" written AND illustrated by Lewis Carroll. And I thought Robert Schwartzman in The Princess Diaries made me swoon.

Word on the street is that the technology that does this is cheap, too! If so, then whycome I am not turning the pages all over the internet!? (Although, it is possible that I misunderstood the word on the street) Nerd on!

amberj.

A prática de manipulação fotográfica vem de longa data, tendo ficado famoso o caso das fadas supostamente fotografadas por duas adolescentes inglesas de Yorkshire, que em 1917 enganaram Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, o famoso autor das aventuras de Shelock Holmes. Até mesmo peritos da época declararam que os negativos não haviam sido alterados. Doyle escreveu e publicou, em 1922, um livro defendendo a existência das fadas, com base naquelas fotografias. O livro está integralmente disponível online, com todas as fotos. Hoje qualquer leigo percebe tratar-se de grosseiras falsificações. Ou será que deixamos de acreditar em fadas?

O texto de Doyle foi encontrado no Internet Sacred Texts Archive, um site que vale muito uma visita. É o maior repositório na Internet (pelo menos segundo eles próprios) de textos sagrados, esotéricos, místicos, apócrifos, budistas, zoroastristas, etc, etc etc. Coisas interessantes por lá. All in English, I´m afraid...

1. She takes an after-tale nap.

[audio http://api.ning.com/files/9CzPSwE6UKmrPn5P0iYC8I0lLbtMFMRw4LOd*Ax*DEbfYtRrTYR1uL4o74BGNsRO1GJMn-KpMG8AgpnzxIfUJNdVwTmZz29C/1.Shetakesanaftertalenap.mp3]

2. What about the white rabbit?

[audio http://api.ning.com/files/9CzPSwE6UKnq2MzCYkGcdQ89v6TSbjPIMeLMXRQsQ5FoNAmk-6yazkORIhuiww1-l8RYsyUlKxYck7aoEwwK5Rvj8hkS*BsS/2.Whataboutthewhiterabbitinterrogao.mp3]

3. She grows up. She grows down.

[audio http://api.ning.com/files/9CzPSwE6UKlOHuc85kZlCMkLGqm0f46TOhvLn*YF11ukGocmzBsVeXMomNOv3Q-Gl1EHKK-j9fFl-LUPoiMZ0QKJCgVErOw2/3.Shegrowsup.Shegrowsdown..mp3]

4. Cater-pillar-butter-fly-cat-smiles

[audio http://api.ning.com/files/9CzPSwE6UKncg3W85kYdocfFd70IoyBD*60ziNn0njgyQPuurgtxIC3MrXrrwCRjgJj7V1isWi1xaOzpaNjDBuJHxoFE5ifM/4.Caterpillarbutterflycatsmiles.mp3]

5. The Duches is cooking a childish

[audio http://api.ning.com/files/2fuBN27fUeDkd4frzcHI8h2mUqbsY0*U2QmvJjr*4ZTyK*XrKNJduAombQjvs3MZrYMhbjINBVdeRns9iVTeorIBLnqxO5gb/5.TheDuchesiscookigachildish.mp3]

6. Mad Hatter's Tea Party

[audio http://api.ning.com/files/2fuBN27fUeA8UDFNIgGCo9NnmCoJ7AwUDsbWfuQeO2kBPngmiPx6eB7QpY8BNRwcrvOeUay0HWaJoWMYAGVxosCknBa8n8X5/6.MadHattersTeaParty.mp3]

7. Queen of Heart (Head off)

[audio http://api.ning.com/files/2fuBN27fUeCoPXkUiLrg3v7n8bvocTabUeg2Sv8qnWFSUNcIr1aICeg0St3b2CvQR9nBGIahFswZHoDycthOk4Oqx1NM1PAb/7.QueenofHeartheadoff.mp3]

8. She runs away.

[audio http://api.ning.com/files/2fuBN27fUeDdXTl2fDJET-wavd30y2Qsd1PPUBmHL8I6q-K2ejRveplWbQMeuapvjyrFEEE4QXHr2hGIt*eXTBOZhltxwM20/8.Sherunsaway.mp3]

9. She wakes up

[audio http://api.ning.com/files/rQyHlaA8eUbp1iZiaxX7laQWpE7vwq*h9wI19DVy16d*OLLkbFcAbYJiQAqBpQG2lW*C97lihV-62GxbS1v4TGXrobK2j5Tw/9.Shewakesup.mp3]

Read this paradox

Which is better, a clock that is right only once a year, or a clock that is right twice every day?
'The latter,' you reply, '"unquestionably.' Very good, now attend.

I have two clocks: one doesn't go at all, and the other loses a minute a day: which would you prefer? 'The losing one,' you answer, 'without a doubt.' Now observe: the one which loses a minute a day has to lose twelve hours, or seven hundred and twenty minutes before it is right again, consequently it is only right once in two years, whereas the other is evidently right as often as the time it points to comes round, which happens twice a day.

So you've contradicted yourself once.
'Ah, but,' you say, 'what's the use of its being right twice a day, if I can't tell when the time comes?' Why, suppose the clock points to eight o'clock, don't you see that the clock is right at eight o'clock? Consequently, when eight o'clock comes round your clock is right.
'Yes, I see that,' you reply.
Very good, then you've contradicted yourself twice: now get out of the difficulty as best you can, and don't contradict yourself again if you can help it.

You might go on to ask, 'How am I to know when eight o'clock does come? My clock will not tell me.' Be patient: you know that when eight o'clock comes your clock is right, very good; then your rule is this: keep your eye fixed on your clock, and the very moment it is right it will be eight o'clock. 'But—,' you say.

There, that'll do; the more you argue the farther you get from the point, so it will be as well to stop.

Lewis Carroll: ca. 1850 In: The Rectory Umbrella, M.S. First published 1898.

This simple instructions are given by the King of Hearts to the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventure in wonderland (1865) when the Rabbit is called up to testify against the Knave of Hearts ( who is been accused of stealing tarts).

The King less nonsensical then it first seems; the rabbit is reading from a piece of paper containing verses with no beginning, no end- and no meaning..

In poche parole.

La miglior non organizzazione per la prima e peggio riuscita non presentazione della storia della letteratura.

( Intervista però yum yum, on line da martedì 8, dopo le 19, su RVNET.EU )

http://www.rvnet.eu/fuoritesto/009/play

Francesca è stata perfetta: imbarazzata, timida, eloquentissima.

Potto alla sua Altezza.

Il Principe degli Iris, poco distante, sciorinava bulbi profumati e parole alate.

Medici giocavano a carte.

Le Nonne Sorde facevano le Domande Giuste. Warburg.

Il cane giallo sorrise fino a scomparire. Agamben.

Un prete, beh, insomma, un uomo con un vestito da prete scambiava una sorella per la figlia. Ottimo Virginia in the air.

40 anni da Sargeant Pepper. Sigarette rubate. Inadeguatezza. Rose. Damia materna. Un trionfo.

Lewis Carroll non avrebbe saputo far meglio.

Etienne, vero mathematicus, era altrove…

per capirne ancor meno: http://baotzebao.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/chi-e-francesca-di-pino-roveredo/

a Trieste il libro è in vendita da EINAUDI, Via del Coroneo 1.

Einstein famously said that he arrived at the general theory of relativity by asking childlike questions with an adult mind. It's telling that Kipling's six serving men (what, why, when, how, where, who) are listed in a rhyme in a children's book. As we shall see, another children's author - Lewis Carrol, tops off Kipling's list with four more.

But in case you think that this is all too frivolous, let us consider a Great Classical Philospher. Aristotle.

Ah, classical philosopy, that's more like it, isn't it?

Aristotle listed eight questions to discover what he called the "circumstances of an act" - Aristotle was interested in investigation:

Cause

Why did it happen?
What made it happen?
Who made it happen?
With what instruments?

Circumstances

When did it happen?
Where did it happen?
How did it happen - in what manner?

Result

What happened?

What this shows us is that although Kipling's serving man will steer the question in a specific direction, the rest of the question is, if you like, the payload.

There is a difference between:

How does it happen?

The answer will describe the mechanism in qualitative terms.

How much does it happen?

Which produces a number of some sort which can be measured in some way, a quantative answer.

How often does it happen?

Which is in fact a time question and more closely related to "When" than to "How" because you can measure how often it happens. If you want to use jargon, it is a quantative temporal question. Doncha love those long words?

Spatial questions should sometimes include direction. Kipling limited his six serving men to the main one-word questions available in the English language but he omitted whence, meaning "where from", and whither, meaning "where to".

There is a powerful and not very intuitive, set of questions which let one examine a theorem, its converse, its inverse, and its reverse mirror image. You were doing fine until I said "reverse mirror image" weren't you? This isn't mine. I've picked it up out of a paper by a chap called Tony Hookins. I've taken out the maths to make it easier to read:

This, deliciously, comes from Lewis Carroll, and you can that sprang from mind of the man who wrote "Through the Looking-glass", can't you?

Sad bunny that I am, I have produced 18 questions to pick and choose from when analysing systems and processes:

Time - When? How often? For how long?

Place - Where? Whence? Whither?

Quantity - How many?

People - Who by? Who for? Who with? Who from? To whom? Whose?

Events - What happens?

Means - How is it done?

Things - What things are used? What things are produced?

Reasons - Why do it?

One can extend almost all of these questions out along another axis by applying Carroll's matrix, (what would happen if it was done then / what would happen if it wasn't done then, etc).

To be honest, this way madness lies. Ultimately one can produce check-lists and tables to one's heart's content, but what matters is to think about extending Kipling's questions by considering number and direction, and - as Caroll shows us - to consider inversions and opposites.

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, book 3 section 1.

Carroll, L, (originally writing as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, presumably). 1939. The complete works of Lewis Carroll. London, The Nonesuch Press.

Kipling, R. 1902. The Elephant's Child, The Just So Stories. London. Retrieved 3rd February 2007.

Hookins, T. Revisiting the interrogative pronouns and adverbs in the design of information systems. Retrieved 3rd February 2007.

More another day.