The Sunday Struggle #11

Are you stuck in your carsey today, with nishta to fake but to fiddle your luppers? Need some bona jogger, or a few hints at web-charper worthy subjects? Grab yourself a pogy bevvy and just varda below. I've screeved pogy tips:

1. Learn Polari, the forgotten Gay language.
Polari was developed in Britain in the 1950s as a secret code to communicate. Homosexuality was very much illegal still and it was a means to escape detection by police.

2. Compile a ransom note with the help of the Visual Dictionary

It's a collection of images of words, found in our urban environment. (Thnx Lynne for this excellent find!)

3. Watch a movie/sit-com without paying or stealing at TV Link
A huge selection of high quality films and series you can watch online for free without the need to download them to your laptop illegaly first. (Thnx Matt & Val for this tip)

4. Take time out to think about what you're thinking: The Thought Project
Photographer Simon Hoegsberg took three months to stop strangers in the street, asked them what they had been thinking about the exact moment he stopped them. He recorded their answers on a dictaphone and then took their picture. His website is a very interesting collection of their random thoughts. (Via Ine)

5. Sound familiar? The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon:
Baader-Meinhof is the phenomenon where one happens upon some obscure piece of information– often an unfamiliar word or name– and soon afterwards encounters the same subject again, often repeatedly. The reason for this is our brains' prejudice towards patterns. Our brains are fantastic pattern recognition engines, a characteristic which is highly useful for learning, but it does cause the brain to lend excessive importance to unremarkable events.
(Thnx Disco, u know I love patterns and emergence ;-)

6. Get stuck in the fallacy of logic, the wonder of incentives and some sound economic-cultural thinking at Freakonomics.

7. Break out of the box by separating your circle of concern & circle of influence:In Excellent and in hindsight obvious little strategy on where to focus your energy (Thnx Jo)

"looking at ways to influence and change our surroundings it is helpful to notice where we focus our time and energy. We each have a wide range of concerns--our health, our family, problems at work, the national debt, etc., and it is these things in our lives that make up our Circle of Concern. As we look at those things within our Circle of Concern, it becomes apparent that there are some things over which we have no real control and others that we can do something about. We could identify those concerns in the latter group by circumscribing them in a smaller Circle of Influence."

8. Those of u expecting a new offspring any time soon, would do well to read this article first before choosing a name ;-)

PS: Since I've started the Sunday Struggle, I've received some excellent tips from many of you, so please do keep them coming! ;-)

How NOT to apply a stencil...

My girlfriend sent me a wee quote shortly after:

"There is hope in honest error.
None in the icy perfection of the mere stylist."
- Rennie Mackintosh -

She's an optimist if ever I've seen one. Wonder if she'd let me stencil her walls??

The Sunday Struggle #9

Right then, today's Sunday Struggle is bound to have a minimal target audience, what with the lovely weather out, but here it goes nonetheless. I've amassed the following links/gimmicks/curiosities for you for today:

1. Design your own tie: Girl-ties are all the rage again, and I quite fancy some for the dressed-up days at work. Unfortunately, the only website that seems to sell ties specifically designed for women is a rather crap one. So until someone can point me in the right direction, maybe designing my own tie might be the best alternative.

2. Floor & Wall-stickers: I spotted these and thought they were a good idea in terms of decorating, if you don't fancy going for the regular wall and floor arrangements. Tango-steps explained on your floor or a cheeky plug-socket. They come in at around 50 euros each and I think that's a tad overpriced for something you could quite easily do yourself in the space of a few lost hours on an overcast Sunday...

3. Publish Yourself: (Thx to Ine for pointing this one out). It's one of the several "print yourself" sites out there, but it gives itself a bit of a leading edge by providing an easy downloadable tool with lots of templates that guides you through the process of publishing your poems, your photos, or even your entire blog... in a neatly bound book that would fit well on your lounge-table. I am currently publishing Ubiquitous 2005, Ubiquitous 2006 and a photo-album of my round-the-world trip.

4. Livingstones Lounge: I won't have enough space in my new flat, but if I had, I would most definitely splash out on creating a wee corner like this. It looks fab for kids, or for a lazy comfi Sunday-afternoons, leisurely splashed out across some pebles with yer book or sunday paper.

5. And for the most random inventions of the week: The Jonny Glow Toilet Locator and the Hamster Shredder . Designed to help men aim for the toiletbowl in the dark (a problem I am unlikely to encounter in my house-hold what with the absence of men, but I can imagine this would be problematic for some other family arrangements), and an ecological way to shred your paper. I am actually all up for that Hamster thing, and may even suggest it to my boss at our next meeting. Every office needs a mascote. It might as well do something useful too.

6. Photography: Kelli Connell: Look closely at the pictures and you will notice that both people in the image are actually one and the same person. On Connell's website she explains:

"This work represents an autobiographical questioning of sexuality and gender roles that shape the identity of the self in intimate relationships. Polarities of identity such as the masculine and feminine psyche, the irrational and rational self, the exterior and interior self, the motivated and resigned self are portrayed. By combining multiple photographic negatives of the same model in each image, the dualities of the self are defined by body language and clothing worn."

This play with the duality of identity, and sometimes the seemingly contradictory co-existence of both aspects, is very close to my heart. Fits in perfectly with my own Queer identity and daily introspective moments.

7. Organic Fizz: Delish British goodness. With this warm weather, I find it hard to stay away from the Diet Coke. But in terms of rehydration, these fizzy drinks are by far the better choice. May have to import those when I go out to York in a fortnight.

8. Word of the Day: My girlfriend has a thing for words. She knows a plethora of them and they get me hooked on her story-telling. She's introduced me to Dictionary.com, a site that sends you a new word of the day every morning. Today's word was rather appropriate, so I decided to include the link ;-)

prolix
\pro-LIKS; PRO-liks\,
adjective:
1. Extending to a great length; unnecessarily long; wordy.
2. Tending to speak or write at excessive length.

Beyond Enthusiastic

When my girlfriend warned me that she could talk for Britain, I brushed off the comment with a very smitten reply along the lines of "But babe, I could listen to you ramble for hours". What I didn't know then, is that the talking doesn't generally stop when she goes to sleep. This for two very different reasons: Jo is a notorious sleep-talker (whole dreamt-up phone conversations and the lot) and well, Jo's also got a tendency to become very excited about cute little things.

Just a few nights ago, I got prodded in the arm at about 4.30 a.m. It was with some reluctance that I surfaced from the dream I was having, but when I opened my eyes, I found two very awake, sparkly shiners staring back at me.

"Do you know," she said excitedly, "that there's a place in Edinburgh called Saxe Coburgh?!?!"

A little confused about why exactly this bit of information had warranted a prod so early in the morning, I replied: "Erm... what?"

"Well, isn't your royal family called Saxe-Coburgh?!?" *excited Jo-wiggle*

Now, it has to be said. If anyone else were to attempt interrupting my sleep for such a random bit of information, they'd probably get a good thumping or a dangerous little growl, but right then, all I could see, was a big happy grin on the pretty face of that excitedly wiggly girlfriend of mine, and I couldn't help but burst out in a wee giggle.

Now, I think the REAL test of our relationship will come if she'd ever insist on talking me through the life-cycle of the single-celled amoeba in the middle of my sleeping pattern, but until then, I can't wait to find out the other random bits of info that excite this girl so much ;-)

The Sunday Struggle #8

My Sunday's not been much of a struggle this weekend so I figured it best to simply keep it to a Sunday Stencil and Sunday Quote...

- Mankind's Evolution -

Found this stencil while off out on Saturday night. I absolutely love this one. It's such a simple visual representation of mankind's evolution into a military power that has turned on itself. Very powerful visual in my opinion.


"Happiness?

A good wine, a good meal and a good woman.
Or a bad woman.
It depends on how much happiness you can handle."

- George Burns (Via Jo) -

The Sunday Struggle #7

1. Not a Look-Alike

Photographer Francois Brunelle decided to hunt down and document people that are not genetically related, but do look alike. Some of the images and their stories are downright eerie. The two women below are no relation to each other, but were born on the same day, one hour apart. Both studied dance, moved to Montreal and got tattoos from the same shop. After they met, they realised they also lived in the same building... You couldn't make it up if you tried. For more non-genetic "twins", see here.


2. Jo Whiley's Live Lounge

Following a conversation last weekend, I decided to hunt down some of the Jo Whiley Live Lounge sessions (BBC Radio 1). The Live Lounge used to be my favorite item on her show, for the sole reason that artists were always asked to perform a their own take on someone else's song. I decided to upload my favorite one to the widget box below. If you fancy a wee listen, simply click the song-title. I doubt that anyone will ever be able to top KT Tunstall's take on Missy Elliot's Get Your Freak On, it's potentially the best cover I've ever heard. Other brilliant tracks include: Keane - With or Without You (U2 Cover) and The Kooks - Crazy (Gnarls Barkley Cover). Easily hunted down for free on Limewire.






3. Typorganism and Diggs Lab

A web-based project on kinetic typography (cool to play around with) and an alternative way to visually represent what people are Digging in terms of news.


4. Global Rich List

Want to feel good about your salary? And reconfirm just how privileged you are? Try this site. It tells you just how rich you are compared to the rest of the world.


5. Buddha Bowl

I think I may actually splash out on a few of these, they look so perfect for that delightful Sunday Cuppa. Not too keen on the color but they seem to come in a few other shades as well.


6. Air Guitar Nation

Me thinks one would have to be SERIOUSLY bored before one would actually even consider slipping this into the DVD player, but erm... it takes all sorts I guess.

The Sunday Struggle #6

I've had a very relaxed week and weekend so far, so I doubt this Sunday will be much of a struggle, but here's this week's hot tips:

(1) MindPicnic: This site is highly addictive. It will show you a tiny section of the Google Earth maps and asks you to pin-point/guess where exactly on Earth this image was taken from. It then tells you by how many miles you guessed wrong. I discovered last night that it's an excellent chat game: find yourself a competitive chat-mate and challenge them to beat your closest mileage. (Beware of competitive swearing *cough* Jo *cough*)

(2) When Objects Work: A Belgian company attempting return to Minimalism. Successfully so. I particularly like Yindigo Monchizuki's design:

(3) God's Debris: Disco sent me this link as a Sunday Struggle suggestion and this is exactly what I will be doing for the rest of the day: finishing the book. It can be downloaded for free here. A synopsis of the book:

"Imagine that you meet a very old man who—you eventually realize—knows literally everything. Imagine that he explains for you the great mysteries of life—quantum physics, evolution, God, gravity, light, psychic phenomenon, and probability—in a way so simple, so novel, and so compelling that it all fits together and makes perfect sense. What does it feel like to suddenly understand everything? The thought experiment is this: Try to figure out what’s wrong with the old man’s explanation of reality. Share the book with your smart friends then discuss it later while enjoying a beverage."

( 4) Andreas Gefeller Photography: This is absolutely stunning photography and most definitely the kind I would place on my wall. Birdseye perspectives rendered into entirely new visuals.

(5) Sunday quote to entertain my fellow physicists: "Physics is to Math what Sex is to Masturbation" by the legendary Richard Feynman ;-)

(6) My RSS feed list has grown expansively the last two weeks and for those of you looking for good blogs out there to follow on a regular basis, here's my suggestions:

FlyBottle
excellent, down-to-earth, philosophy blog

Apparent Dip
brilliant blog kept by a geologist with a broad interest.

Science Freak
comprehensive and fun Physics blog

Experimental Philosophy
scientific/neurobiological take on philosophy

Better Living Thru Design
the latest design features

Olelog
blog on Earth Science, aimed at a more scientific audience.

Cosmic Variance
particle physics collective blogging with a twist

Eureka Alert
current events newsflash on just about any field of science.
(warning: this site blogs about 15 posts per day on average, so highly time-consuming)

The Meaning of Liff

"In Life, there are many hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognize, but for which no words exist.On the other hand, the world is littered with thousands of spare words which spend their time doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places.Our job, as we see it, is to get these words down off the signposts and into the mouths of babes and sucklings and so on, where they can start earning their keep in everyday conversation and make a more positive contribution to society."

-Douglas Adams & John Lloyd-

I know this is old grub and I suspect most of you have read at least parts of the Meaning of Liff, but the topic of language and ideas came up in an intriguing conversation last night, and it instantly reminded me of the Meaning of Liff.

We talked about how certain terms are hijacked by a subset of people (or organisations) and taint the concepts related to the terms in such a way that people will instantly categorise them when they hear it. Take, for instance, the terms "energy" or "flow". Many people will instantly link these terms to new age concepts or "hippy-esque" ideologies, while in fact, the concepts behind these terms are universal and uncoloured by any ideology. So we discussed the importance of the evolution of language. How language needs to continuously be enriched. How concepts need to be defined by words that keep them approachable for anyone. How terminology needs to be altered so that the concepts themselves aren't instantly incorrectly categorized.

Language can be both rich and inadequate and I do believe we need to conciously and subconsciously work at its adaptations and growth.

The Meaning of Liff is a playful example of this. Do we have a word for that feeling of sitting down on a chair after someone else has just sat on it. You know... sitting down on that warmth left by a previous owner? Nope. Well, the Meaning of Liff conjures up a new word for it. And hundreds more. Fascinating and fun. You can buy the "dictionary" here.

The Weight of Words

There's few things I like more than spending an evening in conversation with a close friend over a few drinks. I'm fortunate to have friends who speak their minds at any given moment in time. I thrive off the feedback because I know that every word spoken, is softened by the warmth and safety of a strong friendly bond. My close friends - each and every one of them - have challenging minds and ways of thinking. It keeps me on my toes. It motivates me to take a step back and take stock of who I am and where I am at. It helps me redefine ideas, wear down my sharper edges or, failing that, to at least become aware of them. I might not always agree with their points of view, but I'm inclined to at least take them on board, because they come from minds I very much respect and admire.

Last night, over a quiet drink in a cosy li'l caff, the topic floated to the use of words. How to use them, when to use them and the subtle shifts between them.

It was pointed out to me that the language I use in my blog is becoming denser over time. That I increasingly use expensive words and that my sentence-structures have become more intricate. He pointed out that he didn't mean to focus on this in a pejorative light, but rather, as a simple observation. I have to admit that I wasn't really aware of any of this but he's right in that it's an important notion to consider when your writings are intended to reach an audience.

I think it's important to situate who your target audience is, because that generally determines your choice of topic and your choice of style. I gave my friend's opinions a lot of thought last night, because he of all people is someone who's viewpoints I value greatly. While his analysis is undoubtedly right, I think I've finally honed in on where I stand on the matter personally right now.


If I'm honest... I write this blog predominantly for myself. The average amount of time I spend on compiling my blogposts is about 10-15 minutes. I generally don't weigh my words nor my topics much. It's like a stream-of-conscious finding an easy outlet. My blog is like the proverbial shoebox of memories and thoughts stacked under the bed. And your part in this, as a reader, is to shine different colours of light on those memories and thoughts, so I can see more of the subtle aspects of them. So they become richer.


And the way I write, on a personal forum intended for no audience in particular, comes from deep within my belly. It's the raw, unpolished version of the language that reigns my thoughts. I love words. I love the richness of language. If I were to write science for the general public, I would adjust the level of language. But in personal matters, I revel in the richness of it all. I like thinking that my readers, like me, will go search for the meaning of a particular word they don't know yet, so words get replicated in more minds and grow stronger in their existence. My friend is one of those who do make the effort to look things up and keep learning. I think that is exactly the target audience I wish to attract, for that is exactly the person I am.

To finish off this post, I want to leave you with a gem of a phrase I recently came across in a French obituary:

"Il a basculé pour l’imparfait,
ce vilain temps où l’on ne parle de lui qu’au passé... "

QED ;)

Conservapedia

Have to keep it short, as I have a guest, but I just couldn't resist mentioning Conservapedia.

*shudders*

Just have a random browse on it if you've got time to spare. Prize will go to the person who spots the most hilarious or most cringeful entry.

It's pretty appalling. Like this entry or the gross omission of this. And if we're talking about bias: how can anyone get an unbiased perspective from entries like this and this.

Its definition of Wikipedia and the list of "proof of bias" on the other hand simply made me cringe. What one doesn't have to swallow in order to maintain the status quo of Freedom of Speech.

And on another note:

The Sunday Struggle #2

1. Surfing the web without clicking your Mouse. An excellent concept! (via Lama)


2. Computer Nostalgia: Apache Strike, the first game I ever played on my dad's Mac. I was nine and absolutely hooked. Download it at the Macintosh Garden to while away a few pointless hours on a lazy Sunday.


3. Scottish/English/Irish Accent Audio Archive. Click here for a listen to the Stirling accent (choose voiceclip 1), and you might begin to understand why I bought this book, when I first arrived in Stirling.


4. Robin Rhode: Photography in Motion

5. Cute Word of the Week: Dyke Tyke. The male equivalent of a Fag Hag (via D&TC and The Girlfriend)

6. Sunday Song: Sia - Sunday (click the filename in the box to listen)

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Beware: Rant On The Way

I came out off the geek closet at work today. I'd received a few comments on my supposed use of expensive words (apparently the word "contamination" is classified as expensive these days) and on the fact that I was reading an English book during our breaks. So, I finally decided to out myself. Told all about how I've been living a double life and how I hope they will accept me for the geek that I am *grin*.

The response was really surprising. I had anticipated little more than a few shrugs and a stone-cold banishment from the social room. But instead, people started coming to me with more and more questions the further the day progressed. At first, it was just one of the girls. She told me she'd never had a chance to study, but had always been interested in science and its relation to things like religion, spirituality etc... We had a very pleasant conversation about this topic and I noticed that the others around us were listening intently, despite not participating.

After a while, someone else moved a little closer and said: "Would you mind if I asked you something? I've always wanted to know... birds... the way they all fly together, like... do you know how they do that, or is that not something you've studied". It's funny that this question should've come up, as it's the token example of Emergence in Complexity Studies. So I got VERY enthusiastic and explained as far as my limited knowledge stretched.

After that, the questions just kept coming from all corners. It'd turned into a game. They were testing my knowledge, but also, asking questions to which they'd apparently never found the answers themselves. And I have to say, the questions were interesting and insightful.

One of the questions though, turned the game into a rather poignant realisation. The person had been to see the doctor last week and was diagnosed with a virus, but was told by her doctor that there was no reason she shouldn't be at work. She said she couldn't remember the name of the virus, and hadn't really understood the doctor's explanation. She was worried, but afraid to ask him for more info, because she felt stupid. So I asked her if she could describe her symptoms and I said that while I was no doctor, it DID sound like a standard bout of mononucleosis. She said that that wasn't the word he had used, so I ventured a guess and said: "Well, did he maybe call it the Epstein-Barr virus?" She instantly recognised it and said: "YES!!"

It made me realise how seriously wrong we are. Us scientists, doctors, people responsible for communicating facts to laymen... we have got it seriously wrong. If a doctor doesn't sense that he should use less jargon when dealing with people who have no medical background and sends them home without answers because they are afraid to ask... then seriously, he shouldn't be a doctor.

I'm the first to admit that while I have some very libertarian-socialist viewpoints, I believe that a liberal/capitalist system is far more workable for everyone in our current global climate. We will always need people who do menial jobs... jobs that keep our economy floating. And sure, not everyone is up to the task to do high-flying jobs, but I very strongly believe that it is important that we keep including everyone into our information dispersal systems. Regardless of "status" (if you can call it that), people should always be made to feel that they belong. That they matter as much as the next person does. Because if we don't, we are re-widening a gap between the different social groups, our grandparents fought so hard for to close. Perhaps the gap will be less about money, but more about the possession of information.

The people I work with have thousands of questions. Interesting questions. And they are eager to listen if only someone would explain it to them in an understandable way. They might not read books, or browse the Internet for answers, but they like getting answers to things that pop into their heads during the experiences of every day life.

And I was thinking... maybe the government or several scientific institutes should subsidize something like an Info-Crew. Like a group of scientists/medics/experts who visit factories to work alongside the people there for a day or two, to just chat with them during work and over lunch breaks. So they get conversations going in an informal manner and people can just fire away their questions. No teaching. No lecturing. Just an easy access point to get answers to THEIR specific questions. It would certainly help to re-align the opinions about science and medicine. We'd probably start re-gaining our credibility if people felt that they OWNED the science as much as the researchers do.

Anyway. Just my two cents.

To apologize for this rant, I shall leave you with a little gem of an mp3: Metric - The Twist. Just click the file name in the box below to start listening. (Cool text as well)


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Blame My Typewriter

Right, well I'm going to give it a go. Without pretences that it will take off much.

Blame My Typewriter

I've opened this blog to run alongside Ubiquitous. I merely wanted to create a real and a fictional thread parallel to each other. Whereas Ubiquitous is a diary in stealth mode, Blame My Typewriter will be the shoebox under my bed in which I keep my attempts at fictional writing. The themes of these attemps will vary. Some might be liked. Others are bound not to be. This is MY shoebox. But you're allowed a peek.

Constructive criticism is welcome in the comment section. For any serious issues/ dilemmas/ outbursts of frustration or boredom, I'd like to refer you to My Typewriter. It's always got the last word.

Request for Help

Hey guys... I am planning to open up a parallel blog next to this one, on which I would publish my fictional short stories & proze. Does anyone know anything about copyright and authorship rights? I have no intent to ever sell my own stories later on, but if you put your texts online in a public forum, do you retain authorship rights? Just to play on the safe side... any comments welcome.

Faffing & Geekiness reach all time high

Some PhD students clearly have far too much time on their hands: How Gay is your Starsign

Also, since I no longer live in Britain and therefore can't participate in any of the exciting competitions myself, I have decided that my brit-based scientist friends have to participate for me. It's Famelab auditions again! Jim, Ann, Od, Lynn, Fi, Bino, Rob... get in!

One I can and will try for (and would recommend to anyone with an interest in public understanding of science): Science in School Webzine.

Where words fail...

I went to a literature/poetry night at the NTG this evening (courtesy of Ine, for which thanks!). It was a good attempt, if anything. But my head is full now. I find it hard to listen to a series of poems. I'm still processing one when the next has got its foot in the door. Certain words... evoke things which can't just be bulldozed over by the next series of words. Anyway. It's a pretty strange after-effect right now.

I made the mistake of turning on my mp3 on the drive home. It stumbled right onto this one:


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You can listen to it straight from this widget (just click on the file name: Aqualung). Five years after first hearing it, this song still reaches places few other songs manage to go to. I would write the lyrics down, but they lose half their power without the context of their music.

Not much space left in my head now. Time for bed.

Special Needs Pew

I generally consider myself to be of the reasonably intelligent variety. But at times I do wonder if perhaps I too am "special needs". I am sure many of you are dying to comment on this statement, but no, this post is not a call for "ways in which we've known Pew to be utterly blonde". I'm merely making an observation here.

I seem to be incapable of posting a blogspot comment, without getting the word verification wrong at least thrice. I am seriously starting to consider clicking the wheelchair symbol in future, to hear the spoken version of the letters.

Mmmm... maybe I simply need glasses.

Dialogue

This might be a bit of a controversial post. I apologize in advance if it offends anyone.

A friend of mine recently told me that since her relationship fell apart, she's struggling to suppress the urge to take painkillers to numb herself. She seemed embarrassed yet relieved to be able to admit to such a thing. But I don't think she's an exception. I think this happens more often than people are willing to admit.

Some people seem perfectly capable of placing their emotions on a manageable platform: if everything around them comes crashing down, they can keep functioning. I'm not sure how they do it. I suspect they simply take some distance. But how one achieves this distance is beyond me.

The other type of people, they crash when everything else does. There's no more levels to it than that: they simply are their emotions. I know for a fact that I am part of this latter group. Everything comes to a halt and you just have to let yourself fall into whatever safety net you can find. I'm lucky. I have a tremendously patient, understanding and constructively supportive family and group of friends. Whenever I've been faced with situations I couldn't cope with, I've had a place to fall. A place to simply stop "being", for a little while.

But even then, I completely understand my friend's urges. It is ridiculously tempting to just numb yourself at times, to drown out your emotions. If you're one of those people who needs to go to the depths of their emotions to be able to resurface full strength, then a bit of numbing every now and then is very welcome. There's so many tempting external ways to help you take a break when your emotions can't give you one.

Alcohol is probably the most socially accepted form of numbing. I know quite a few people who are clearly purposefully sedating themselves on a regular basis, but no one ever comments, because drinking is socially acceptable in a lot of circumstances. Painkillers are less visible, but easy to get. Drugs, more dangerous and less socially accepted, but highly effective.

I rarely drink. My number of units a month probably amounts to no more than 8. If that. I have taken class A-type drugs on no more than maybe a dozen occasions. But in retrospect, it is quite obvious that when I did drink lots or did take drugs, it was at times where I felt emotionally unstable. I'm fortunate in that I am aware of this. I know what and why I am doing such things, when I am doing them. And this keeps me from falling into a destructive pattern at those times. It enables me to make those moments a rarity.

I think it should be socially acceptable for people to give themselves a breather before facing their issues head on. And I really don't think my friend had any reason to be embarrassed about admitting such a thing. If anything, an open conversation will make her feel less alone. But I also think society should be more tuned into dependencies. If people continue to sedate themselves with latent societally accepted aids, then they simply uphold a status quo. Nothing ever improves. We don't question enough. And so there is no dialogue. The threshold to admit to problems still seems insurmountably high for some people. And others still feel shame at admitting a very human problem.

People often ask me why I am as direct as I am, in my communications with others. It's because I want dialogue. I don't want to worry about stuff I needn't worry about. Things are complicated enough as they are. I have an incredible need to be open about things. To get feedback off others so I can put myself and what goes on in and around me, in the proper perspective. I don't want to second guess other people's actions. I don't want to hide emotions. Directness might make people uncomfortable, but everyone will know exactly where I am at and where they are with me. I'm sure that's the reason my friend chose to tell me about her worries. Openness breeds openness. We're all drawing the same line here, after all. We're all just as fallible as the next person.

Competition

Now here's a competition one could really sink their teeth into ;-) Check out the first prize...

New Scientist and Audi have teamed up. And as usual in New Scientist competitions, one needs to write no more than 250 words... I think I know what I'll be doing with all my spare time this week ;-)

Spinning Words

I know this is a familiar story: "Drug company 'hid' suicide link".

"Panorama reveals that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) attempted to show that Seroxat worked for depressed children despite failed clinical trials. And that GSK-employed ghostwriters influenced 'independent' academics."

But while we've all seen programs or read articles that have focussed on the topic of drug trial manipulations and the aggressive marketing style of some Pharmaceutical companies, this documentary takes on a slightly different perspective. It explores how the manipulation is achieved: through clever strategic use of spin-doctors and ghostwriters with a knack for "re-phrasing" the specifics and how their skills are used to reel in supposedly independent academics. It focusses largely on the power of word and perception.

I am interested in this topic for quite obvious reasons, but also because most -if not all- of the freelance translation work I do on the side, involves documents related to phase I and phase II clinical trials. It is interesting to study the wording in certain documents and I can only hope that if any of my family members or friends ever were to face the decision to participate in a drug trial because of health reasons, they will be guided through the sometimes ambiguous wording by someone who's got their best interest at heart.

Moreover, how do we keep ourselves from conveying the wrong messages? Language is clearly a very subtle, powerful tool. Are we always that concious of our choice of words? If I trawl through the archives of this blog, I am sure to find misleading statements, while I might not purposefully have written them in as such. We inherently rely on our own common sense and that of those nearest to us, to be corrected in our use of language and to be pointed out the hidden messages behind the facade of linguistics.

I think all of this pinpoints a process that underlies many misgivings and failures in democracy: the manipulation of language in politics, science, medicine, trade, economics, sales and education. And by extention, their (ab)use of the most powerful forum of words: The Media.
A fact that was worded incredibly well in Manufacturing Consent:


“Media is to a democracy, what violence is to a dictatorship.”


To watch the abovementioned BBC documentary, Click Here. (35-minute feature)

Addendum: I would like to point out that while the documentary itself reports on manipulation, it in itself is not entirely devoid of somewhat ambiguous, sensationalist spins.