This news item caught my attention, because it gives an example of a common misconception about sex. The people who are being discussed in the news article are actually not addicted to sex as such. If a person were addicted to sex pure and simple, there is a pure and simple solution to their problem. Get married - have all the sex you want.
However, many of these people are married but, as the item shows, they do not find sex satisfying in their relationship. Their addiction is to the HIT that sex gives them, not the sex itself. This hit is the rush of chemicals in the body that is released when the seducer makes a conquest, when the hunter traps his prey. The sex itself is secondary to that. Some would say that it is an instinct, but this would be wrong, these are learned behaviors. The fault lies in the expectations of our society, which places too much emphasis on winners and losers, and too little on cooperation. In marital sex, there is no conquest, no pay off, no prize to be won.
The idea that people learn a stimulus-response behavior to associate sex with objects is very interesting. My own view here would be that it is not so much the learned behavior that is the cause of the problem, but the fact that certain modes of behavior, such as building relationships, are NOT learned. And once again, this is the fault of our society's thinking, with too much emphasis on the acquisition of, and pride in the ownership of, objects.
Sphere: Related Content
Friday, 5 September 2008
Council Recruits Vigilantes aged 8
My attention was caught by this item of news today. I would love to know what my readers think about it, so please post a comment without delay.
Two thoughts spring to mind for me. The first is that although I deplore the indiscriminate scattering of litter, as does any right thinking citizen, the recruitment of very young informers seems a highly dubious and dangerous move. It is however no surprise and seems to me entirely typical of life in the nanny state that is the modern UK. One is reminded strongly (yet again) of a similar practice by the fictitious (but oh so near) government in the novel 1984 by George Orwell. And yes I know I keep mentioning that book, but it really is quite astonishing how prophetic it is turning out to be.
How long, one asks, before these pint-sized vigilantes start accusing us of crimespeak or crimethink?
The second thought is that it seems perfectly plain to me that, in allowing themselves to be recruited for the purpose of spotting people who are breaking the law, these children may well be putting themselves at risk. One assumes that their surveillance will be conducted in their local area, where it is entirely possible that they might be spying on wrong-doers who know them and who know where their homes are. It seems that reprisals would be a likely outcome. Children as young as 8 cannot be expected to be able to gauge when the situation is dangerous, nor to take appropriate measures to disguise their activity.
And anyway, what in heaven's name are these children doing out and about on the street without their parents?
This is a crackpot scheme, intrusive and dangerous. It should be shelved at once.
Or am I perhaps the only person who feels that way about it? Comments please? (By the way, if you're reading this in America, you are still entitled to have an opinion about it, so I would welcome your comments as well.) Sphere: Related Content
Two thoughts spring to mind for me. The first is that although I deplore the indiscriminate scattering of litter, as does any right thinking citizen, the recruitment of very young informers seems a highly dubious and dangerous move. It is however no surprise and seems to me entirely typical of life in the nanny state that is the modern UK. One is reminded strongly (yet again) of a similar practice by the fictitious (but oh so near) government in the novel 1984 by George Orwell. And yes I know I keep mentioning that book, but it really is quite astonishing how prophetic it is turning out to be.
How long, one asks, before these pint-sized vigilantes start accusing us of crimespeak or crimethink?
The second thought is that it seems perfectly plain to me that, in allowing themselves to be recruited for the purpose of spotting people who are breaking the law, these children may well be putting themselves at risk. One assumes that their surveillance will be conducted in their local area, where it is entirely possible that they might be spying on wrong-doers who know them and who know where their homes are. It seems that reprisals would be a likely outcome. Children as young as 8 cannot be expected to be able to gauge when the situation is dangerous, nor to take appropriate measures to disguise their activity.
And anyway, what in heaven's name are these children doing out and about on the street without their parents?
This is a crackpot scheme, intrusive and dangerous. It should be shelved at once.
Or am I perhaps the only person who feels that way about it? Comments please? (By the way, if you're reading this in America, you are still entitled to have an opinion about it, so I would welcome your comments as well.) Sphere: Related Content
The Canoe Man Appeals
Whatever may be the rights or wrongs of the John Darwin canoe drowning case, and one tends to assume there is more of the latter than the former, there can be no doubt that the affair has piqued the interest of the UK population. It is noteworthy that, for several months after the news broke, sports and equipment shops in the UK were reporting record numbers of enquiries from prospective buyers of canoes.
While many of us would deplore the action of defrauding an insurance company of large amounts of their cash, at the same time, we cannot help but nurse a secret wish that we could get away with it. Most people, it seems, are deeply resentful of the amount of money the insurance companies take from us each year. So when an adventurer like Darwin comes along, it is hard not to feel a sneaking admiration for his audacity. And to make it even more interesting, we find that he was not caught by the police; he gave himself up.
A fascinating aspect of the case is that, as the prosecutor pointed out, the original crime was committed in order to avoid the "shame and embarrassment" of falling behind with debt and mortgage payments. Surely only an Englishman would commit a crime as serious as this for such a motive, merely to avoid embarrassment!
One is reminded of those marvellous episodes of "Fawlty Towers" in which Basil twists and turns, willing to do anything to avoid being embarrassed, only to find that all his efforts have only made the embarrassment worse. Sphere: Related Content
While many of us would deplore the action of defrauding an insurance company of large amounts of their cash, at the same time, we cannot help but nurse a secret wish that we could get away with it. Most people, it seems, are deeply resentful of the amount of money the insurance companies take from us each year. So when an adventurer like Darwin comes along, it is hard not to feel a sneaking admiration for his audacity. And to make it even more interesting, we find that he was not caught by the police; he gave himself up.
A fascinating aspect of the case is that, as the prosecutor pointed out, the original crime was committed in order to avoid the "shame and embarrassment" of falling behind with debt and mortgage payments. Surely only an Englishman would commit a crime as serious as this for such a motive, merely to avoid embarrassment!
One is reminded of those marvellous episodes of "Fawlty Towers" in which Basil twists and turns, willing to do anything to avoid being embarrassed, only to find that all his efforts have only made the embarrassment worse. Sphere: Related Content
Ukraine To Join NATO?
So now we learn that Ukraine is about to become a member of NATO, along with Georgia perhaps, and that its admission will be supported by the Americans. Who would have dreamed, twenty years ago, that we would see this one day? A former state of the old Soviet Union, and a powerful one at that; a nuclear power, don't forget, and the site of the infamous Chernobyl power station.
Ukraine has been making energetic attempts to free itself from the shadow of its mighty neighbor, Russia, and is clearly succeeding gradually to establish itself on the world stage.
For me, the interesting points about Ukraine are the truly awful entries it puts in to the Eurovision Song Contest, and a splendid novel (in English) which I read last year, entitled "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian." Sphere: Related Content
Ukraine has been making energetic attempts to free itself from the shadow of its mighty neighbor, Russia, and is clearly succeeding gradually to establish itself on the world stage.
For me, the interesting points about Ukraine are the truly awful entries it puts in to the Eurovision Song Contest, and a splendid novel (in English) which I read last year, entitled "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian." Sphere: Related Content
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Change All Around I See
Those readers who have been here before will probably have noticed the change of name for the title of this blog. This is no way intended to cause confusion, to reduce the search engine visibility of this blog, or anything of that technical nature. The purpose, if that is the word I want, is merely to change for the sake of change and also to enrich the reading experience of my visitors. As you know, the That Reminds Me World Official Fan Club, now with 29 members, working out of its headquarters office in downtown Ulan Bator, has, under the terms of its Charter, to approve by a straight majority vote any and all such changes. I am happy to announce that approval was granted by a unanimous decision taken at 01:16 GMT today.
Due to a technicality in the Club Constitution, the Fan Club was under obligation to dissolve itself and reform again under the new name Ex-Philosopher Fan Club (EPFC) and I am pleased to announce that this was achieved during class break, which took place at 10:30 local time.
Meanwhile here in Normandy, there was uproar when it was discovered that my neighbour's pet budgerigar, Claude, was missing. This has apparently never happened before since Claude is generally the most home-loving of birds. While my neighbour was out combing the streets and alleys of old Rouen for his errant feathered friend, I was given the somewhat irksome task of calming his girlfriend. She is a formidable woman, who entered into the tragic spirit of the occasion with a gusto of the intensity that can only be achieved by a Frenchwoman. I decided it would be safest to keep my own counsel in the matter.
My neighbour's girlfriend and I have indeed hardly been on speaking terms for the past six months. This is how it happened. The budgerigar had somehow, I don't know how, learnt some very choice English swear words, which it delighted in bringing forth at the most inopportune moments, such as when there was company. Since I am the only Englishman who comes into regular proximity with the animal, the finger of suspicion naturally pointed at me for teaching them to him. It was useless to protest that it was more likely the fault of the television, where every other word begins with F these days. My neighbour's girlfriend was most vehement and voluble in her denunciations of your correspondent, so I told her frankly that I did not care for her attitude and tone.
The matter was left there, but since then there has been some tension in our dealings. For example, there was the incident with the onions, which I consider to be trivial and petty beyond description. But we pass over that.
Anyway, in the manner of a true English gentleman (which I should say that I am most certainly not a gentleman) I attempted to console the poor woman in her hour of distress and tribulation. All's well that ends well though, as some time later my neighbour, smiling broadly, reappeared with the prodigal parrot. He had been discovered perched on the topmost pinnacle of the local pub, whence he had been retrieved with some minor assistance from the Fire Brigade. Sphere: Related Content
Due to a technicality in the Club Constitution, the Fan Club was under obligation to dissolve itself and reform again under the new name Ex-Philosopher Fan Club (EPFC) and I am pleased to announce that this was achieved during class break, which took place at 10:30 local time.
Meanwhile here in Normandy, there was uproar when it was discovered that my neighbour's pet budgerigar, Claude, was missing. This has apparently never happened before since Claude is generally the most home-loving of birds. While my neighbour was out combing the streets and alleys of old Rouen for his errant feathered friend, I was given the somewhat irksome task of calming his girlfriend. She is a formidable woman, who entered into the tragic spirit of the occasion with a gusto of the intensity that can only be achieved by a Frenchwoman. I decided it would be safest to keep my own counsel in the matter.
My neighbour's girlfriend and I have indeed hardly been on speaking terms for the past six months. This is how it happened. The budgerigar had somehow, I don't know how, learnt some very choice English swear words, which it delighted in bringing forth at the most inopportune moments, such as when there was company. Since I am the only Englishman who comes into regular proximity with the animal, the finger of suspicion naturally pointed at me for teaching them to him. It was useless to protest that it was more likely the fault of the television, where every other word begins with F these days. My neighbour's girlfriend was most vehement and voluble in her denunciations of your correspondent, so I told her frankly that I did not care for her attitude and tone.
The matter was left there, but since then there has been some tension in our dealings. For example, there was the incident with the onions, which I consider to be trivial and petty beyond description. But we pass over that.
Anyway, in the manner of a true English gentleman (which I should say that I am most certainly not a gentleman) I attempted to console the poor woman in her hour of distress and tribulation. All's well that ends well though, as some time later my neighbour, smiling broadly, reappeared with the prodigal parrot. He had been discovered perched on the topmost pinnacle of the local pub, whence he had been retrieved with some minor assistance from the Fire Brigade. Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
My Visit To Salisbury Cathedral
If you enjoy visiting cathedrals, as I do, and you have not been to Salisbury yet, then you really should try to get there as soon as you can. It is a truly magnificent example of English church-building.
In this article I am not going to give you a guide book version (you can get that in the - er - guide book) but this will be a purely personal view.
When I first saw Salisbury cathedral, it was at night. My girlfriend at the time, whose name was Susan, and myself had made a bit of a mess of our travel arrangements, and also there had been a minor domestic dispute. I won't go into all the details - in fact, I cannot remember exactly what they were, but suffice to say that it involved a lot of drama of the kind that will be all too familiar to anyone who has had any dealings with people of an "artistic temperament."
Anyway the upshot was that we arrived in the charming little city of Salisbury at about 7 pm, and we still had to find a hotel. This took up some time, but at last we were ensconced in a delightful little guest house, at a very reasonable price. (Incidentally, this in my view is the best way to get a hotel. Just arrive and then find one. You may think it is risky, but there is always a hotel to be found, and because it is probably not in the major guide books, it will almost certainly be nice and cosy, and incredibly good value for money.)
But I digress. Once we had secured our accomodation, we went off to explore the city. By the way, I should say that in England, the word city is not an indicator of the size or population of a place. Any town that contains a cathedral is properly designated as a city, so there can be some very small cities, and on the other hand, some quite large towns that are not cities.
Anyway, we arrived at the cathedral about 9 o'clock. It was a dry, clear, dark and bitterly cold evening in February. The cathedral building was bathed in light from floodlights all around it. It looked like it had just landed, like an enormous mother ship, which I suppose in a way is exactly what it is.
The building was closed of course but we were able to stroll around the grounds. This was marvellous though freezing. We also had a bit of a shock. In the grounds is a famous piece of modern art, called I think, the Walking Madonna, which we didn't notice until we were almost on top of it. Quite a fright. It's not exactly beautiful, and the overall impression is rather more ghostly than was perhaps intended.
Anyway, next day we were able to get inside the cathedral and look around. As I said, I won't give you a guide book tour, but if you like church art and architecture, you won't be disappointed, I assure you. I was amazed by the spire which soars high, very very high above the surrounding countryside. This enormous weight of solid stone is made to look wonderfully light and graceful - an incredible achievement. When you stand inside under the spire and you look up, you can see that the main pillars of the transept arch have been twisted into a long snake-like helix shape by the huge mass they are supporting.
Another notable thing about Salisbury is that it is one of the few cathedrals, or indeed churches of any kind, in which the architecture is all in the same style. Anyway if you have some free time, it's well worth seeing.
This article was first published by me on Qassia Sphere: Related Content
In this article I am not going to give you a guide book version (you can get that in the - er - guide book) but this will be a purely personal view.
When I first saw Salisbury cathedral, it was at night. My girlfriend at the time, whose name was Susan, and myself had made a bit of a mess of our travel arrangements, and also there had been a minor domestic dispute. I won't go into all the details - in fact, I cannot remember exactly what they were, but suffice to say that it involved a lot of drama of the kind that will be all too familiar to anyone who has had any dealings with people of an "artistic temperament."
Anyway the upshot was that we arrived in the charming little city of Salisbury at about 7 pm, and we still had to find a hotel. This took up some time, but at last we were ensconced in a delightful little guest house, at a very reasonable price. (Incidentally, this in my view is the best way to get a hotel. Just arrive and then find one. You may think it is risky, but there is always a hotel to be found, and because it is probably not in the major guide books, it will almost certainly be nice and cosy, and incredibly good value for money.)
But I digress. Once we had secured our accomodation, we went off to explore the city. By the way, I should say that in England, the word city is not an indicator of the size or population of a place. Any town that contains a cathedral is properly designated as a city, so there can be some very small cities, and on the other hand, some quite large towns that are not cities.
Anyway, we arrived at the cathedral about 9 o'clock. It was a dry, clear, dark and bitterly cold evening in February. The cathedral building was bathed in light from floodlights all around it. It looked like it had just landed, like an enormous mother ship, which I suppose in a way is exactly what it is.
The building was closed of course but we were able to stroll around the grounds. This was marvellous though freezing. We also had a bit of a shock. In the grounds is a famous piece of modern art, called I think, the Walking Madonna, which we didn't notice until we were almost on top of it. Quite a fright. It's not exactly beautiful, and the overall impression is rather more ghostly than was perhaps intended.
Anyway, next day we were able to get inside the cathedral and look around. As I said, I won't give you a guide book tour, but if you like church art and architecture, you won't be disappointed, I assure you. I was amazed by the spire which soars high, very very high above the surrounding countryside. This enormous weight of solid stone is made to look wonderfully light and graceful - an incredible achievement. When you stand inside under the spire and you look up, you can see that the main pillars of the transept arch have been twisted into a long snake-like helix shape by the huge mass they are supporting.
Another notable thing about Salisbury is that it is one of the few cathedrals, or indeed churches of any kind, in which the architecture is all in the same style. Anyway if you have some free time, it's well worth seeing.
This article was first published by me on Qassia Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
A Film Called "Tyger"
When I first saw this film a couple of days ago I was amazed by it. I had no idea people were making movies like this. I do recommend you to watch it, it's quite a short film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LsMoUtBlDk Sphere: Related Content
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LsMoUtBlDk Sphere: Related Content
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