Sex Crime

One thing I am struggling with right now is the issue of relationships in relation to human sexuality, and how "romantic" or sexual relationships are defined. I was first introduced to Orwell's version of "sex crime" in a political science course I am taking. Through the essay I am writing, and a few "intellects" at my work place, I have encountered many different views on sexuality and relationships worldwide, and in Toronto.

Orwell's version of sex crime is extreme, but where should the line be drawn? For example, the "sex game" in Toronto. Do you date, are you a player, are you interested in serious "expensive" relationships, etc etc. For me, at least at the moment, I am REALLY questioning sexual experimentation. So many young people are doing it these days. One person I know had a frightening description: "Men have these urges". They need to be taken care of. That's why he said he was breaking up with his girlfriend. He wanted to try other sexual partners. She was willing to allow him to do so, on the basis that they would be able to remain in a relationship. He wanted to break the relationship off, because he did not want commitment. He wanted to experiment. This just seems wrong. He said he would mature out of it. What, one day he wakes up ready to be committed for life? I don't think so. I think relationship building and commitment is based on habits and choices that take a lifetime to build, they don't instantly occur becuase of hormonal changes in your body once you're 30. He's basing this on male sexual peak at 18. Ok, so the female sexual peak is supposedly at 30. Then we will have these urges, and we will want to play around, and when that guy is willing to be committed, he'll have to get a woman who is at least 42 in order to ensure she doesn't cheat on him. Or does he not think it should be able to go the other way around? Does he think that when a man no longer has these urges and is willing to settle down, the woman will automatically follow suit? It doesn't work that way. If you use others, you can't expect to get away with it, and never have others use you.

On another note, with all this "girl power" stuff, many young women are getting the wrong impression about it, thinking that they can also become engaged in what the boys are doing, because if the boys can do it, they should be able to, too. (See the aforementioned about relationship building and maturity. That goes both ways. That's the equality.)

No! That's not what equality is about! It's not about, "He's a slut, so I can be one too! Yeaaah, now we're all equal!"
No
No
No. The media, being a "slave" so to speak, of what "the people want", or feeding "the people" these attitudes. Either way, it's backwards. It's wrong. But there are people, and I have just encountered one of them, who believe it.

Young people are getting these ideas from somewhere. They are twisting truth to fit the Golden Calf. My current conclusion is that education and opinion can help to change these attitudes, but in a society where economy and business has more power than government or any moral institutions, how will this happen?

At least THREE meals a day

Think about health, here. It's not always easy for me to. Sometimes I'd rather read Terry Prachett while eating cookies than go to the gym and eat carrots.

"Regular intake of food was certainly the way our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate. They needed the nutrients for body-temperature regulation (no central heating!) and hard physical work.
Modern researchers have shown that eating three meals a day actually assists in setting the body’s internal clock. Regular meals (and exposure to sunlight) trigger wakefulness during the day. If we are awake during the day, we’re more likely to sleep well at night.
Several studies have demonstrated that eating regularly throughout the day helps keep weight and cholesterol levels down. Irregular meals do the opposite.
Remember, I didn’t say how much to eat, only to eat something of nutritional quality at regular times. You might need only a piece of fruit and a handful of almonds. Quality matters more than quantity."

In his article, Tom Ballard discusses the importance of making sure you eat food multiple times during the day, in order to keep up your energy. He suggests eating a good breakfast, and lunch 4-6 hours afterwards. He emphasizes quality over quantity. Sit down for smaller meals, and you can be more rejuvenated and less tired after them, although having a nice sit-down dinner is good, too! He also suggests how to set goals:

"Judge the success of your meal timing by how you feel. The first step is to decide on an initial strategy. For instance, you may decide you’re going to eat three balanced meals a day. Good plan. Now, do that for one or two weeks and keep a record of how you feel. If you feel good and your weight is stable or going in the direction you want (up or down, usually down), then stick with that program. If you’re not doing well, reevaluate by pinpointing when you’re not feeling well."

As a designer, eating like this is especially hard in the winter months, becuase of those deadlines, where you get by on one meal and snacks a day, living in the computer lab. That will especially be happening this year to me, as it is my final year in an Honours Program. I am sure it happens to many more stud

What if all terrorists were just bloggers?

What if all extremists and fundamentalists were given a soapbox and / or a computer and they just wrote? Then we would all be able to debate on the grounds of opinion, and all opinion could be tolerated and argued. All opinion could come up for discussion. No-one would be looking for power or Holy revenge or converts or anything. Each person equal in the realm of their own blog, and the blog community. Regardless of whether the belief seems "right" or "wrong" at first glance, the concepts of "truth always triumphing in a free and open encounter"(as Irvine says in an article on John Stuart Mil) could be exercised. The war could be waged on paper, on our soap boxes, and in cyberspace. This would save so many lives.

The tendency to violence and the fear that drives these terrorists is not productive. But it is real. There are people out there who are afraid and angry and they deal with it in outwardly violent bursts, and ways some of us think illogical. We can teach these people differently before they begin to act and think and feel this way. Murdering the innocent individual is just pure rage. There is no Religion there. Yet these people are allowed to continue by their governments. Toleration, yes, but not of physical crimes that punish the innocent. Toleration of opinion. Not violence. When violence occurs, governments should carry out their responsibility to their people to protect them. Whether or not they value individual human life as much as the next country, because if your own country is rife with violence, all the citizens may kill each other, and you. Then you have no country. So if governments carry out their responsibility to do everything necessary to eliminate those who commit violent acts, they will also be protecting themselves. Self preservation and survival! That will allow the country to live another day.

What does that involve? Not more chains. Stopping the crimes before they start. Educate all citizens so that they may have freedom of opinion, and not be cornered and feeling fearful and furious. Instructing people to deal with their anger in ways different than with weaponry whether within or outside their boundaries. This would seem to include the U.S. The have given, or sold, other countries weapons, as well as its own citizens. These are not the right tools to be giving out. I am interested in hearing opinions. I believe whole-heartedly that there are tools that can achieve the same result as some people believe weapons achieve, but they do so without costing innocent lives. They include Time and Co-operation, Opinion and Verbal Argument. This isn't just some strange romance. It is a reality in several countries within themselves and in their international efforts. I do not understand why other countries feel that weapons are the way to the truth, or peace, etc. Is this a form of censorship of opinion where the opinion on the bad end of the barrel of the gun will be silenced? Look at what that is doing to us! Is this what the U.S. wants? "Oh, now look, we gave them weapons for our own reasons, but now they are learning from our example -- you take weapons and use them to silence wrong opinion -- we don't like what they are doing. That's wrong. So we will take our weapons and use them to silence that wrong opinion". Does anyone see a pattern here?!?!?

(My God, if you know Terry Prachett's Masquerade, you'll know what state I'm in by the punctuation at the end of that last sentence!)

There is at least one person who might disagree with me, and he has an impressive BLOG. But it's a BLOG. Not a bomb on a bus, or any other form of outright violence.

Tribute to an Artiste

I've never worked as hard at anything in my LIFE as this guy does at his art. He has taught himself everything he knows about art (other than what he learned in Animataion at Sheridan). Art Fundamentals at Sheridan College four years ago he humbly displayed a couple of his favourite paintings in his rez, more as a conversation piece then anything else. You, see, he taught himself how to paint. One of them was a scene from Beowulf. He delights in drawing history; his major independant painting project was of a battle in ancient Rome, can't remember who inspired him, though. Maybe he can comment on that. Now he's taught himself how to paint using the computer, and again, he has created masterpieces. They are a combination of Tolkien (Alan How and John Rowe's art) and Lucas (some scenes you may see in Star Wars). This is a sci-fi spin from his historical works. I haven't seen what he has produced over the last couple of years, but in Art Fundies his work was very historically based.

He is, in my opinion, a creative genius, although he is probably much to humble to tell you so himself. No matter how much skill I ever acquire, I will never achieve the creative spark that keeps this guy going until his hand goes numb, and he has to ice it and seek medical attention. His only concern there? "I'm losing time on my art!"

Because the link doesn't seem to work, here it is in plain "URL": http://cowaneric.tripod.com/eric_cowan_portfolio/

Tetris for Health Nerds?

Apparently Steven Johnson has a new book out about video games and your brain. Well, I am a child of the video game era, having been around since the dawn of the 80s, however, I never really played much. I did do some PC problem-solving games, and I love Tetris, but if I had been told earlier they were good for me, I would have used that as leverage to buy some, and play them, gosh darn it!

Learnging how to win your way through these games IS the challenge. It's learning, creating strategies, and it's fun! My good friend has been a gamer of all sorts for years, and every once in a while, I get a glimpse of what it's like. As Johnson mentions, test results are beginning to show "the cognitive benefits of playing video games: pattern recognition, system thinking, even patience". And, I might add, scores of problem solving abilities. When many people play, I think they are more interested in being challenged and being able to say "I won" (against the game, or other people in my room or online). Or more than that, just sharing strategies between gamers, and enjoying the experience of the interactivity video games afford. An added benefit of video games is that they are the kind of product some researchers turn out for cash to create more beneficial things, like interfaces for physically disabled. Amazing. And fun!

Back to learning, video games are "embedded with one of the core principles of learning -- students prosper when the subject matter challenges them right at the edge of their abilities." That's true, too. I could get into the psychology of learning, but I can't remember it all now so I won't. Learning involves a system of challenges and rewards, and keeping your on your toes to survive, for that added Darwin effect. The most popular games, according to this article, are about "challenging mental dexterity" and not the plain shoot-em-up games. They are more advanced then movies and books in that the game itself has flexibility to increase in complexity in response to the player's abilities. In spring 2003, one research assistant the University of Rochester decided to give a visual recognition test to gamers and non-gamers, and found the gamers were much better at recognizing the objects (naming colours, numbers and shapes). They have theorized that video games DO increase people's ability to perceive the world more clearly.

Now, I've played Halo II once, and I was turning around in circles, trying even just to walk forward! Had I not played it under the guidance and giggles of my friend, I would have never stopped walking into the wall. But there's hope for me and video games yet!

We didn't light the fire

It was always burning, but is it burning out?
(ooo, there's so many good things you could write about with a title like that!)

Unfortunately, as John Stuart Mil discusses in his book "On Liberty"; "Once the doctrine has taken its place, if not as a received opinion, as one of the admitted sects or divisions of opinion; those who hold it have generally inherited, not adopted it ... Instead of being constantly on the alert either to defend themselves against the world or to bring the world over to them, they have subsided into acquiescence ..." this is what happens when a doctrine "dies". A group of people have inherited it, and no longer believe it. They, and here's a good cliche, "take it for granted."

Well, terrorists have got our attention. It is up to us to begin "un-granted-ifying" our beliefs, and start re-affirming them. We (in Canada at least) have an extremely strong culture, and, I believe, a beautiful one. If we are ever attacked, we need to awaken to what our beliefs are. It all depends on how fast we can react to what is going on with these terrorists in a mature fashion. Educating ourselves not just on our own beliefs, but how to refute those we believe can be wrong. The beliefs of the terrorists can be wrong. The can also be revolutionary in that they wake us up to what we truly are so that we will grow as a country and as individuals. If some people argue that part of anyone's identity is what their country grants them, then what does our country grant us? Well, the soil can't do it. We as members of a country have to put effort into defending what our country means to us. Keeping and defending our peace. Keeping peace for our future, and keeping all the rights we have, and maybe growing to include more.

One more point before I go for now. To know both our own book; the ____ (Bible, Torah, Bhagavad Gita, whatever) AND Classic Islam would be beneficial. Islam isn't bad, but many people now think it is. Their repressive belief systems are. Right now, they are fighting for revenge. What about if they start to fight because they believe our belief system is wrong and theirs is right, and they want to bring the world (or their targets) under their obedience. What if they do attack Canada? How many times will they do it? The war will be on our soil. Canadians, whether they want to or not, will be involved. Possibly we can begin to reflect on what we believe in now, so that if the time comes to state it to the world, and if war comes to us, we know what we are fighting for. Just re-read the anthem.

My prof was commenting the other day on the fact that Canada is not psychologically prepared for an attack, or for war on our soil. We have been peaceful for a long time, thank God. If we are attacked? I am not calling for us to go out and fight like the calls made during World War I. I do not want to lose people like that anymore. But will may need to fight. I think that if terrorists believe it is an honour to die for their religion and beliefs, and they will gladly give up their lives for the survival of their beliefs, we have to be ready to defend ourselves for our beliefs.

... I can't believe it!

The London bombings. They happened. *gathp*
There's probably a similar such bombing every day around the world. Think about this; we are supposed to be globalized and care about world issues, right? Then why is it that we are all having a hissy fit here about a few people who decided to become martyrs for a cause they believed in? Because it's the white folks it happened to! It's the Brits! They're one of us, the people who we claim are the good guys! I've seen Canadian flags at half mast everywhere! Is there some unkown rememberance day going on, or other event I don't know about? This can't be all for 50 unkown innocents who died in a country a quarter-way around the world from us. It can't be. That would be ridiculous. If that was the case, our flags would never be up! Then what is it? Is it becuase of the 300 who just died in a Pakistan subway crash that happened by accident yesterday? Are we mourning the deaths of those people? No. Because many people don't care about them. They do not deserve our flags to be at half mast. When did this happen? 7/7. It's now a week later, and the flags are still down. How much longer? We don't even know the individuals that died. We don't know the people in Pakistan, either, but we don't mourn their deaths. Actually, excepting for the fact that the reasons for all these attacks are screwed up, I hear their message. But I do not agree with terrorism. I also do not agree with Americans, Canadians, British, or anyone else being in Afganistan or Pakistan to make sure those countries' ascents to democracy or goodness occurs the way we think it should.

Perhaps my opinion will mature as I do research into the topic. Perhaps not. What I do know, however, is that if someone or a country is being ordered around by another, they have every right to retaliate. It's like a kid growing up. They may be a brat and retaliate for the wrong reasons at first, but you still can't stop them. It's part of growing up, maturing, acquiring an identity and self-awareness. Then, as they grow, they will form their own identity whether the parents like the identity they are choosing or not, and they can hope their kid grows up to be a good productive person. I think places like Pakistan (pardon my ignorance for not being able to supply a detailed list of countries) will become quite powerful, and they will grow and mature as a country into one that is able to have peaceful relations with America, Britain, and Canada, and not because "peace" will have been beaten into them, but because we will have come to a mutual respect.

Heart Health

I was reading "is Heart Surgery Worth it?" From Business Week, and I would like to add a few comments to John Carey's critique of heart surgery.Heart surgery seems to be becoming more and more of a plastic surgery maneuver these days.

First off, it's the patients. When those who can afford face-lifts for their pet rocks begin wheezing going up the stairs, they opt for surgery rather than drug treatment and self-aware rehabilitation. Of course! Why not put some metal into your body instead of taking the time and responsibility to make a change in your own daily habits. The surgery is a quick fix that allows people to play doctor God, and in the meantime, get rid of the pain so they can continue to lounge about on their couches and eat their roast beef. They have only put a stopper in the drain with surgery, and soon the fat build-up and lack of responsibility will lead them back into surgery because these procedures are temporary. If you do not solve your problem yourself after the surgery, the fat will build up again. Hence the term "artery-clogging".

One thing is that not all people know there are alternatives to surgery, and here's an area where the doctors are failing. They are so enthusiastic about surgery that they are not empowering the patients with the knowledge of drug therapies and self-conducted methods. A lot of people are also too afraid to take the step. They aren't provided with a feeling of network. There are some doctors who are willing to provide that connection to networks and resources that will educate, instruct and encourage people to change their lifestyles and daily habits just enough to save themselves.

Surgery is not necessarily producing better results. But learning more about your body and how to care for it every day you live with yourself will.

Designer Awards

"BusinessWeek magazine has coverage of the 2005 annual Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). The competition this year was as hot as it was last year -- with some predictable outcomes, and a few surprises. No surprise was the top design firm: IDEO, which has been taking home most of the design awards for the design firms in the last few years. Surprisingly however, other design firms have been closing the gap on IDEO -- most notably, Design Continuum. From the corporate perspective, Apple and Samsung continue to bring in awards for having designed innovative products -- but this year, there was a surprise leader of the pact: HP. Who would have think that staid ole HP could out-design Apple and Samsung?"

Okay, I got that from my Dad's site. I'm not necessarily interested in the names, as much as the design. All the new tech gizmos are cool, but not as cool as the snack and sippy cup from Gerber. I like different human-based design that acknowledges a plastic and / or natural world outside of tech toys, too.

For a slideshow of the award winners, click here.

The Truth vs. the Dollar

This comment is on the Free Press and the media, taken from Media Centric, by Jon Fine, from Business Week.
Fine makes some very good points about the “fight” journalism has to put up in order to report different issues, and the fact that sometimes journalists are silenced by the economic duct tape of corporations, instead of doing what they love to do; good, solid, investigative reporting. I wouldn’t quite agree with Fine about his description of today’s “limping media business”, but I would say that some journalists are definitely limping … or handcuffed. It’s just stupid. Yet not many people would think that the great democratic environments we live in would have anything to hide. Journalists know. They know what some governments and corporations hide under the guise of “confidentiality”.

“There is a huge cost if, say, a source who has documents proving a corporation is fouling the water supply decides to stay silent because her anonymity can’t be guaranteed. It costs media companies nothing if that story is never written”. And it costs the environment, and possibly some people, their lives. Sad, really.

Google the world?

At http://maps.google.ca/ you can see the world! Well, At least any of it that Google deems important. Google has a service where you can type in any adress in Canada, U.S., of Great Britain, and view it either on a map, or from a satellite image. It's so good I can see the buildings we live in, and the park across the street. Talk about an identity boost! But then, those three areas are the only ones that have any level of detail. The rest of the world is only mentioned by countries. No capitals, even. That sucks. I would be interested in seeing what streets look like in Israel, or getting a satellite view of the pyramids, and their souvenir shops ... or what about Potsdamer Platz in Germany? The Eiffel Tower? This map is interesting for a while, but then it just feels like a disappointment, becuase of how lacking in worldly detail it is.