VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Stonyground|DATE|1366741486|CONTENT|Regarding sleep. It makes sense to me that sleep evolved because we live on a world that alternates between light and darkness at short regular intervals. The brain doing its administration during the dormant period is probably just a by-product. I would suspect that if life was discovered on a planet that orbited in an area where there were enough bright stars to make it like day all the time, then we would find that sleep would not have evolved there.

&quot;Death and sleep are often confused in our language, often to try and avoid references to death itself.&quot;

I really don&#039;t like euphemisms apart from when they are used as a joke. I tend to have little time for those who would use a euphemism as a way to avoid saying what they actually mean. When it comes to bereavments, though, I can understand why they are needed. I have been very lucky to have reached my mid fifties without having to endure a really painful bereavment. All of my grandparents have now gone, but they were all well past seventy and I wasn&#039;t really close to any of them. My dad had Parkinson&#039;s disease and dementure, when he died he was in such an awful state that it really was more of a relief than a time for sadness. Because of the gradual deteriation that was caused by his condition, we kind of lost him in a long drawn out process rather than suddenly. However, were I to lose my wife or my daughter I would be devastated and would need all the euphemisms that were on offer. 

|EMAIL|elizabeth@iww1967.wanadoo.co.uk|IP-ADDRESS|95.150.29.65|MODERATIONFLAG|