The hand that rocks the cradle

, is the iron hand that rules the world!

The worst thing that can happen to a mountain climber is that his rope gets entangled around his neck. (Yes... HIS rope and HIS neck. This isn't about political correctness. this is about what I see when i think 'mountain climber'. and I think... 'man'. (Aside: When authors imagine animal characters for their books, do they see the gender of the animal as well? Read Douglas Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas. The essay A Person Paper on Purity in Language has a brilliant take on sexism, if you are interested.))

Asides apart, the central issue is legendary. From the waters of the Nile in Egypt to the tourism industry in Goa, human history is replete with examples of the life-line that has a strangle-hold on the lives it sustains.

Opportunity cost no longer makes sense; for, in both cases, the cost is the same and the opportunity - non-existent. You cut the rope; and you plummet to the end, at 32 feet per second per second. You don't cut the rope; and asphyxia takes over, at 72 beats per minute and counting. Which number do you choose?

I choose choice. I will die of my own volition. As DP once famously said, "The best way out of a hostage situation is to take the gun and blow your own brains out!".

Snip!
And I'm free... Free falling.