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/