Hair, not the musical

In the Introduce Yourself thread Laurie mentioned her bounty of hair, so I asked for pictures, and she got sum dun. Velly nice.

The Wizard of Oz

I am trying to watch The Wizard of Oz. Man is that outdated, I can barely watch it. Everything looks and sounds like film for todlers.

Have you ever noticed how in monsters in films, especially old ones (old films, though it may apply to old monsters too), always pause and strike a pose before they attack someone? I always thought it was a bit illogical to give people time to counter-attack or run away. I just realized it's for the sake of the camera. Isn't it nice of the monsters to give the camera some good poses? Or maybe they're just vain.

Big and bigger

I just love overkill...
How about a lens weighing in at 250 kilos!
Don't try to use it hand-held.

Internet trick of the week

Here is something that I, in all modesty, discovered myself. (Not to say others may not know about it.)

Say somebody sends you an article in email, and you want to find out who wrote it or published it.
What you do is you select a few significant words and paste them into Google with quotation marks around, and you get this.

Jeffery naturism

Vicky Jeffery art.
And Laurie Jeffery family page. Naturism.
Both pages are beautiful.

Registering on sites

I am looking for an alternative groceries delivery here in Lancashire, because Sainsburys (which I'm otherwise really happy with) does not have crisp bread or any good muesli. So I am looking at their competitors like Tesco and Asda...
But they require me to register my name, address, phone number, and e-mail address before I can enter the online store and see if they have what I need!
How stupid is that? Imagine you want to enter a "real" store, and you are asked to fill out a form with personal information before you're allowed to enter. They'd lose half their potential customers that way.
And for no good purpose. If people like the store, service, and merchandise, they will buy and come back. If they don't, they won't. Pestering them for contact information in order to spam them later without permission will only irritate them.

"Blow in her face..."

"... she will follow you anywhere."
Vintage ads.

More on virginity

Susie Bright on fear-created 30-year-old virgins.

Me, I was a virgin until about 24, and that was definitely not by choice, but more like near-pathological shyness.

(Hehe, just today I was asked to reveal more of the "real me". I don't know if this fits the ticket.) (I don't have a clue what the "real me" is.)

Rondam Ramblings: Top ten geek business myths

Rondam Ramblings: Top ten geek business myths

Perceptions and the Positive

Laurie/Signalroom wrote:
"It's amazing how one can turn things around and take charge of one's reality by a simple perceptual shift. I.e. perceiving no more attack, only fear or a veiled appeal for love inThose who appear to be attacking us. These people are either in pain, or afraid, and even deeper, asking only for what we all want, love.
"Amazing to see this in the midst of one's own or another's harsh judgement. I'm practicing it at work a lot lately with people whom I judge, (okay, I mean, people acting like unkind ass-holes) and have had incredible turn-arounds, really amazing shifts.
"I see my first goal as changing my own perception of the negative person, not trying to change his or her behavior. I have been seeing such FAST turn-arounds happen, it's amazing. More and more I see it, we create our reality."

I had a friend who had a colleague with whom he had lots of problems. He then made a long list of all her bad sides and good sides, intending to give it to her. Then at the last minute he decided to only present her with the good sides list.
He raved to me about how this changed her. Even her voice changed, he said.

I think this is very important lesson. It is not an easy lesson though. We really feel justified in our dislikes, don't we?
But changing our perceptions and focusing on the positive can change everything. I am only half way, after a decade or two, but already my life is unrecognizable, way better in almost all ways.

The hundred and three-year old virgin

I once worked in a nursing home. One of the ladies had the hots for me something bad. One day in the common room, she put her hand on my thigh and said "nice jeans". Then she slid it higher, and said "nice crotch".
A nearby nurse sighed and said: "Karen, how old is it you are again?"
"Forty-two?"
"You're a hundred and two."
"I'm a HUNDRED AND TWO years old?!"

And she was. She died next year, a hundred and three, apparently still a virgin.
Story was she had been scared off men by her mother, and in her old age she had had woefully regretted it.

I guess the moral is, listen to your parents, but don't take everything as gospel.

Maybe I should have helped her fulfil her wish, but I was fearful the the management would see it as taking advantage...

Featured comment by Laurie:
I work part-time in a gym, and work out there. I don't want to keep harping about my hair, but a few days ago an elderly patron in his 70's started chatting with me while I was working out. He squinted his eyes and looked at me and said, "I really like your hair." The thought flashed instantaneously through my mind, "dirty old man." Then, just as quickly, I thought of the Domai philosophy. I also saw how I also love my hair. I smiled at the man, a real genuine turn it all on joyful smile, and we both parted happy.

Later I had a fantastic conversation with this man. He spends his whole week doing nice things for other people, like picking up day-old bread at the supermarket at 6 in the morning, and delivering it to families, and singing in a group with other old men in local nursing homes. He also spends his time commenting on women's beautiful hair. All's right with the world.
laurie

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

I've just tried to watch Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
Holy cow, what a bad movie.
You'd think when somebody adapted thirties pulp fiction and movies, they would take the best aspects of them... well not this producer. Just for example he adopted the absolutely dreadful movie music they always used in those days without changing a note.
Basically he managed to make a movie involving Gwyneth Paltrow and Giovanni Ribisi (both excellent actors) and giant robots (which should be right up my alley), and make it boring! I woulda thunk it impossible.

This movie is the pinnacle of badness, it takes the bad side of bad and makes it look good by comparison. It's the flea on the cockroach on the king of badness. If Bad was light, this would be a supernova. It's so bad it dreams of aspiring to suck.
... OK, maybe not that bad, but lord it's not good.

(I better fess up, the above paragraph was a joke stolen from the old comic strip Bloom County. The penguin Opus as a movie reviewer.) (Rewritten though, since I only clearly remembered the punch line.)

Articles on Money

Thanks to Ronald for pointing to a very interesting collection of articles on money. More specifically articles about the rarely acknowledged fundamental flaws in this world's money concepts. Lord knows much of it is news to me, and I've studied rather more than most people.

Susie sez it

Susie Bright on the relevance of scandals.

Suddenly Last Summer

I started watching the Kate Hepburn movie Suddenly Last Summer, and pretty much gave up when I saw it involved a lobotomy. It absolutely makes me sick.
The Church of Scientology may be nuts itself, but it has done a lot to end the practice of lobotomies.
Whether it has completely succeeded, I am not sure. We don't hear much about lobotomy these days, but is it still done? (And electro-convulsive "therapy" too, almost as evil I think.)

God Hates Sweden?

I never cease to get amazed by humans. (Warning, extremist hate at the end of that link.)

"We" the people!

In the discussion under the Money And Interest post, Pascal challenged Ronald because Ronald was saying "We" should do this and that about global problems. Pascal asked "who is 'we'?" and "are you really in a position to do something?"
Ronalds answers by singing the praises of each of us personally owning even big problems, and I want to back that up.
Sure, we all sometimes feel small in the face the problems of the world. But the world is changing all the time, and those who make the changes are those who say "we" and "I", not "they" and "you".
I personally feel that just the ownership alone will actually change things in the real world, even when we don't do anything. We are creating the world, and the more we own it the more we influence it.

Modesty

I've been wondering why so many people have been so hesitant to talk about themselves in the Introduce Yourself post.
I'm getting a clue from Hannah's comment: "I guess if you want to know anything else, ask. I feel so forward and rude talking about myself, so I try not to drop too many tidbits."
I've touched on this before: I feel that self-effacement has really gotten out of hand on this planet. Sure, a person who does nothing but think and talk about himself is boring and open to ridicule, but it seems to me that the majority of earthlings feel like a spot on the carpet who would rather be overlooked. It is just a pity, because it is part of limiting yourself.

Video blogging

I am amazed at the speed with which video blogging is sudden taking off. There is no doubt it is going to be a very dominating medium in the next few decades.
Example for those interested in photographic equipment: M Reichman's video blog from PhotoKina.

Yessy online gallery

Just found Yessy.com online art gallery. I've long been wondering whether anybody was successfully selling fine art online, and this seems promising, my friend Umbra has sold several pieces via this site.

Introduce yourself

We have some cool eggs hanging out here, and I'd like to know a little more.
Like where is Lucid Twilight? How old is Final Identity? What does Ronald do for a living? How tall is Pascal? What color is Laurie's hair? Where was Adam born? What does Wonko do to relax? Can we get a topless picture of Hannah (just kidding)? Does TTL really mean "through the lens"? Is RevLizbeth really a reverend?
And most importantly, this Anonymous guy, how does he have time for all those posts, and does he have a last name? (Apologies to all those I did not mention.)
Just put up like 100 words, with the most pertinent facts.

Oooh, and I know it's hard, but try not to make it sound like a Lonely Hearts ad, OK? :)

Discussion, Money and Interest post

There is an interesting discussion going on under my Money and Interest post.

Steve Ballmer, rock star

If you haven't seen this one before, you're in for a treat. I think this is the funniest thing ever. Steve Ballmer of Microsoft displayed some extraordinary behavior at a conference (if you think Tom Cruise is making a fool of himself...), and somebody made a cool and funny music video of it.
First the source videos:

"Developers..."

"Give it up for me!"

And then the music video:

Ballmer dance trance

Interview with me

I've been interviewed at The Successful Dilettante.

Gabriel & Dresden

Ooh, I really like this. Found Gabriel & Dresden's "Tracking Treasure Down" via this article. Good pop music.

A Spell Against Hurtful Words

A Spell Against Hurtful Words
by Silvia Hartmann

I received a request from someone who was very upset because a "certain word" was being used on them, to hurt them, on a regular basis by "silly boys" in their environment.

Now it is said that "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me" but that is actually not true.

Words are the audible part of an energy package being sent ; and words can be swords, and arrows, and they can cause intense injury as well as cut to the quick. Indeed, words can be such hard core magical devices that a single word said at at a vulnerable time, like "You are a loser!" can become REALITY for a person's entire incarnation.

That is heavy duty magic indeed and causes intense suffering.

The "healing spell" I am advising to this young person, inexperienced in the ways of magic or modern psychology or personal development, is in fact, EmoTrance. It is the perfect healing spell to break the power of "the word" and end the suffering.

Here is my response:

Ok. This is about ownership of a "magic word". They have found a "magic word" that has the power to hurt you.

As long as it has this magical effect on you, of course they will continue to use it - as you say, they are stupid boys and they're probably very excited to have discovered they have such power.

I have two sons, and one of them used to pick up our cat and squeeze it to get it to make a weird noise. He did this for two years, at least once a day and never got tired of it, no matter what I said; but then the cat just stopped making the weird noise one day. I guess it had finally figured it out. He squeezed a bit harder for two, three days - nothing. So then he left the cat alone. It wasn't funny anymore, it wasn't worth it.
It's structural, I guess.

Here's what you need to do to take the power out of the magic word that makes you cringe.

Write it in big letters on a piece of paper, with a big, thick pen.
Lay it face down on the ground before you.
Take a deep breath and turn it over, let the word assault you.
Pay attention.

Where do you feel that in your body?
(A pain sensation, a hot pressure, nasty, an ACTUAL body feeling)
Put your hands on that place, close your eyes, and say out aloud:

"Healing hands of mine, heal this. It is ONLY AN ENERGY. Soften and Flow!"

Breathe deeply until you can feel the feeling dissolve, drain away.

Take another deep breath and open your eyes, look at the words again.
Where do you feel this in your body?

It sometimes can be still the same place, but now it's less painful - that means your healing is working, and just repeat it a few more times until you can look at the word and it means absolutely nothing, or even makes you laugh.

That means their "spell" on you is broken and that whole thing is over now.

Sometimes you can feel another pain in another part of your body, like a tightness in the throat or something like that.

Should that be the case, place your hands right there and repeat the healing spell until that place, too, is healed.
Either way, continue on until you do not feel any pain anymore when you see the word.

Now, speak the word.
If there's any pain left, use the healing spell.

You're ready now to take this into the actual environment and wait for them to "squeeze the cat" again. PAY ATTENTION if there's any pain left; heal that as soon as you get a chance, but while you're there, say loudly in your head, "Soften and flow!" to minimize the damage to your energy body.

This works for all insults, all such "spells" that people use like weapons to hurt you and destroy your energy system (which then makes you feel weak and have no confidence).

It's a great skill to have learned, so give this a good old try. If you have a friend, try throwing insults at each other and then healing the injuries thus revealed together. This is called EmoTrance and it really works.

Blessings on top, StarFields