Thanks to Timo for pointing to a very interesting article about how groups and individuals influence minds and make converts.
It is written by a hypnotist who is giving away the secrets of powerful speakers.
A quote:
"Over the years, I've conducted professional seminars to teach people to be hypnotists, trainers, and counsellors. I've had many of those who conduct trainings and rallies come to me and say, "I'm here because I know that what I'm doing works, but I don't know why." After showing them how and why, many have gotten out of the business or have decided to approach it differently or in a much more loving and supportive manner.
Many of these trainers have become personal friends, and it scares us all to have experienced the power of one person with a microphone and a room full of people. Add a little charisma and you can count on a high percentage of conversions. The sad truth is that a high percentage of people want to give-away their power--they are true "believers"!"
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Green Lines, Popart
I'm beginning to use more features of the software. It's amazing, it's like there's an infinite picture/universe you can scroll around in and zoom in and out of, totally changing the picture. And that's even without changing the settings and origins of the image.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine
Warmly recommended. One of the most seminal, funny, and quirky films I've seen in years.
It also has, if you care to look for them, many good points to make. For instance about child beauty pageants. Apparently, and I can certainly believe this, the typical parent who pushes their children in these things are the Midwestern uptight types who are so scared of sex and anything progressive that I bet they have to take a laxative every week to have any bowel movements at all.
What they naturally can't see at all is that this terror of sex is exactly what ends up creating something like child beauty pageants, where seven-year-old girls come on stage and look for all the world like walking Barbie dolls, the tan variety (due to loads of spray-on tan). Inches of make-up and dead-sexual costumes. It... is... creeeeepy!
Hesitating
Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences. No good is ever done in this world by hesitation.
-- Thomas H. Huxley
Bollox. If you're just about to hit a toddler with a brick, by all means hesitate.
Leviathud weighed in:
From personal experience, too much of my time has been wasted hesitating and worrying about the worst of possible consequences. Life would have been much more interesting had I, to paraphrase a slogan, "just done it".
eolake said...
My point is that sayings like "He who hesitates is lost" apply well to a frontier world with bears and so on. In a real civilization mature thought is often necessary on complex issues.
... I've looked up the author of the quote, and like I suspected, he lived in the old west, and was a man of the type who would also proudly say: "The great end of life is not knowledge but action" (an actual quote of his.) In other words a "rugged individual" type. Very valuable type in society, but not the only type needed. Thoughtful types are needed too.
Paul noted:
Seems to me anyone who always and consistently behaves one way or the other -- either always acts or always hesitates -- isn't paying much attention to the circumstances he's in and whether those circumstances demand one or the other course.
-- Thomas H. Huxley
Bollox. If you're just about to hit a toddler with a brick, by all means hesitate.
Leviathud weighed in:
From personal experience, too much of my time has been wasted hesitating and worrying about the worst of possible consequences. Life would have been much more interesting had I, to paraphrase a slogan, "just done it".
eolake said...
My point is that sayings like "He who hesitates is lost" apply well to a frontier world with bears and so on. In a real civilization mature thought is often necessary on complex issues.
... I've looked up the author of the quote, and like I suspected, he lived in the old west, and was a man of the type who would also proudly say: "The great end of life is not knowledge but action" (an actual quote of his.) In other words a "rugged individual" type. Very valuable type in society, but not the only type needed. Thoughtful types are needed too.
Paul noted:
Seems to me anyone who always and consistently behaves one way or the other -- either always acts or always hesitates -- isn't paying much attention to the circumstances he's in and whether those circumstances demand one or the other course.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
"Minigun"
A "Minigun" (machine gun) in an SUV.
Apart from wondering how the f**k you can build a thing which can fire up to 100 rounds per second, I can only think: these are evil inventions. They are clearly not meant to mow down soldiers: soldiers don't stand around in large crowds waiting to be mowed down. They are meant to mow down civilians, and wars like Vietnam has shown us that that is what they are used for, for getting those civilians that the napalm did not get. Evil inventions.
Alex chimes in:
Interesting movie clip.
You'll notice that the vehicle used was a GMC, probably a Yukon, a sibling to the suburban, which is commonly used by enforcement agencies such as the FBI and CIA (drive around DC). You will also see that the car was equipped with a 911 lighting package, blue lights behind the radiator. Again suggesting this be used for a law enforcement application.
I can see how early machine guns were used for high repeat rate of fire, which obviated the need for accuracy, and in trench warfare, urban and guerrilla warfare, it makes sense (not that war makes sense). However, seeing machine guns mounted on jeeps as used by the militia world wide, it is obvious that the intended target is not an invading army, but civil unrest, the general populace.
This weapon of war has no right trying to present itself as an enforcement vehicle. It would not have helped on 9/11, it would not have helped Lockerbie, Manchester, Warrington, Atlanta or any of the other towns where terrorist have struck.
Back to me:
No kidding. Here in UK, even in peaceful little Bolton, the police have sometimes made a point of walking a couple of guys through town in riot gear and machine guns... My question is: even if there is a bank robbery or whatever... you're going to "keep peace" with machine guns?
TTL elaborates:
The best answer I know of as to why arms get manufactured in the U.S. and why America is obsessed with war is put forward by Eugene Jarecki in his film Why We Fight (2006).
The film re-introduces the concept "Military-Industrial Complex" of which President Dwight Eisenhower warned about.
Jarecki is very intelligent in his arguments and the film is excellently directed -- possibly the best documentary on this subject.
"The message here is that while there may be some who sincerely believe that America's various military engagements (in Iraq, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and elsewhere) since World War II are the product of our God-given duty to spread freedom and halt the influence of evil ideologies around the world, the real reason we fight is that war is good business."
Alex added:
I just remembered an old SciFi movie where they introduced an anti-terrorist helicopter gunship to the police force.
The film is "Blue Thunder" and it was set in LA just before the Olympic games were to be held there. The film looked at invasion of privacy, police state and the use of military grade weaponry in the policing arena.
Of course, everyone (TV Producers, TV Audience) thought the helicopter was cool, and there was a follow series where the hero did lots of daring deeds and rescued people, but the film ended with the pilot deciding it was a bad thing and he trashed the 'copter.
Meandering onto the American love of guns and weaponry, look at Lego's "Dino Attack" series of a few years ago, the heroes had "stun "weapons to disable the dinos, they looked like guns and missiles on the toys. Now look at every other countries Lego catalogues, you'lll see "Dino 2010", where the same trucks and helicopters came with lassos, cages and grabber claws, but not a single gun.
Sad statement about the country I chose to raise kids in.
Apart from wondering how the f**k you can build a thing which can fire up to 100 rounds per second, I can only think: these are evil inventions. They are clearly not meant to mow down soldiers: soldiers don't stand around in large crowds waiting to be mowed down. They are meant to mow down civilians, and wars like Vietnam has shown us that that is what they are used for, for getting those civilians that the napalm did not get. Evil inventions.
Alex chimes in:
Interesting movie clip.
You'll notice that the vehicle used was a GMC, probably a Yukon, a sibling to the suburban, which is commonly used by enforcement agencies such as the FBI and CIA (drive around DC). You will also see that the car was equipped with a 911 lighting package, blue lights behind the radiator. Again suggesting this be used for a law enforcement application.
I can see how early machine guns were used for high repeat rate of fire, which obviated the need for accuracy, and in trench warfare, urban and guerrilla warfare, it makes sense (not that war makes sense). However, seeing machine guns mounted on jeeps as used by the militia world wide, it is obvious that the intended target is not an invading army, but civil unrest, the general populace.
This weapon of war has no right trying to present itself as an enforcement vehicle. It would not have helped on 9/11, it would not have helped Lockerbie, Manchester, Warrington, Atlanta or any of the other towns where terrorist have struck.
Back to me:
No kidding. Here in UK, even in peaceful little Bolton, the police have sometimes made a point of walking a couple of guys through town in riot gear and machine guns... My question is: even if there is a bank robbery or whatever... you're going to "keep peace" with machine guns?
TTL elaborates:
The best answer I know of as to why arms get manufactured in the U.S. and why America is obsessed with war is put forward by Eugene Jarecki in his film Why We Fight (2006).
The film re-introduces the concept "Military-Industrial Complex" of which President Dwight Eisenhower warned about.
Jarecki is very intelligent in his arguments and the film is excellently directed -- possibly the best documentary on this subject.
"The message here is that while there may be some who sincerely believe that America's various military engagements (in Iraq, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and elsewhere) since World War II are the product of our God-given duty to spread freedom and halt the influence of evil ideologies around the world, the real reason we fight is that war is good business."
Alex added:
I just remembered an old SciFi movie where they introduced an anti-terrorist helicopter gunship to the police force.
The film is "Blue Thunder" and it was set in LA just before the Olympic games were to be held there. The film looked at invasion of privacy, police state and the use of military grade weaponry in the policing arena.
Of course, everyone (TV Producers, TV Audience) thought the helicopter was cool, and there was a follow series where the hero did lots of daring deeds and rescued people, but the film ended with the pilot deciding it was a bad thing and he trashed the 'copter.
Meandering onto the American love of guns and weaponry, look at Lego's "Dino Attack" series of a few years ago, the heroes had "stun "weapons to disable the dinos, they looked like guns and missiles on the toys. Now look at every other countries Lego catalogues, you'lll see "Dino 2010", where the same trucks and helicopters came with lassos, cages and grabber claws, but not a single gun.
Sad statement about the country I chose to raise kids in.
Françoise Hardy - Tous les garçons et les filles
Françoise Hardy - Tous les garçons et les filles
Even in my native Denmark we were played this song in French in high school in the late seventies. It seems it's been used by French teachers all over the world. Good choice.
My only problem was mustering sufficient suspension of disbelief to be able to believe that somebody looking like her could not find anybody to hold her hand and look in her eyes.
I remember my class mates laughed when I asked our teacher how old Françoise was. Heck, it was purely intellectual interest, I swear!
... I am just realizing that this is one of the songs I heard once over thirty years ago, and which I am still singing occasionally. Admittedly some of the French lyrics went a bit haywire.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Marilyn Monroe - The Diamond Collection
Marilyn Monroe - The Diamond Collection
Sadly Amazon US does not have a similar offer, but I wanted to alert my European readers to Amazon UK selling this collection for sixteen pounds. That's eleven DVDs for the price of one or two! A good offer in anybody's book. (I don't think anybody is making any money on this one. Must be a loss leader of some sort?)
Admittedly the collection does not include my favorite Marilyn film Some Like It Hot, but it does include another fine comedy (and an overlooked one), Monkey Business, and it has many of her films I have never seen, or not for decades.
Update:
OK, not really a "downside" as much as an irriation point, but: the physical DVD package includes some of the dumbest design decisions I've seen. Each DVD has a different face shot of Marilyn instead of a picture from the movie on it. OK, I could live with that. But then the only hint of which movie is actually on the disc is in the tiny, tiny text along the edge of the disk. I have to have really good light to even read it. And it gets worse: there are two packages because of there being eleven discs. And each package has a large, clear list of films. But get this: the list is for the other package. Geez Louize!
Socrates
"I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person."
-- Socrates, quoted by Plato, 'The Death of Socrates'
-------------------
Quoth Laurie:
"Socrates, you rock.
Some interesting facts about Socrates. He never wrote a single line in his life. He was known to stand lost in thought for hours at a time. He heard and followed, what he believed, was a divine voice within. He devoted his life to the teaching of Athen's youth, but was known to be indifferent to his own sons. He was considered enigmatic by his own countrymen, and by his disciples as well. As an aside, but perhaps not, he was known to be exceedingly ugly, a big potbelly, bulging eyes, flat nose. He was a beautiful mind. Socrates was known to say "Athens is a sluggish horse, and I am the gadfly trying to sting it to life." (what do people do to gadflies?)
The Sophists considered themselves the learned and wise of their culture. They were Masters of rhetoric, and charged money for their teaching.
But Socrates never wanted to be known as a teacher. He never charged for his "teachings". He remained poor all his life. "She is wisest who knows she knows nothing."
In life and death, he considered himself a "philo-sopher" -- a lover of wisdom, a lover of truth. He could have saved himself from drinking the hemlock by appealing for mercy, or agreeing to leave Athens, and quit his philosophy. He said, it would be like asking a soldier to turn back in battle if he thought he was going to be killed. He chose to die, because for him truth was far greater than death of the body.
He listened to people, asked questions, never "taught" people the truth --- and he sparked in every one who dared talk with him the spirit of inquiry."
-- Socrates, quoted by Plato, 'The Death of Socrates'
-------------------
Quoth Laurie:
"Socrates, you rock.
Some interesting facts about Socrates. He never wrote a single line in his life. He was known to stand lost in thought for hours at a time. He heard and followed, what he believed, was a divine voice within. He devoted his life to the teaching of Athen's youth, but was known to be indifferent to his own sons. He was considered enigmatic by his own countrymen, and by his disciples as well. As an aside, but perhaps not, he was known to be exceedingly ugly, a big potbelly, bulging eyes, flat nose. He was a beautiful mind. Socrates was known to say "Athens is a sluggish horse, and I am the gadfly trying to sting it to life." (what do people do to gadflies?)
The Sophists considered themselves the learned and wise of their culture. They were Masters of rhetoric, and charged money for their teaching.
But Socrates never wanted to be known as a teacher. He never charged for his "teachings". He remained poor all his life. "She is wisest who knows she knows nothing."
In life and death, he considered himself a "philo-sopher" -- a lover of wisdom, a lover of truth. He could have saved himself from drinking the hemlock by appealing for mercy, or agreeing to leave Athens, and quit his philosophy. He said, it would be like asking a soldier to turn back in battle if he thought he was going to be killed. He chose to die, because for him truth was far greater than death of the body.
He listened to people, asked questions, never "taught" people the truth --- and he sparked in every one who dared talk with him the spirit of inquiry."
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Slowing down
Re my quest for laziness, ttl pointed out this video'd lecture. Carl Honore: Slowing down in a world built for speed. Warmly recommended.
Some of those suffering the most under today's super-pressure are children and teens. A Scottish school banned homework for kids under thirteen. Of course the parents were horrified, but it turns out exame results not only did not suffer, but actually improved.
Some of those suffering the most under today's super-pressure are children and teens. A Scottish school banned homework for kids under thirteen. Of course the parents were horrified, but it turns out exame results not only did not suffer, but actually improved.
Borat experience
It took me a while to getting around to watch Borat. I had seen bits of Borat on "Ali G" DVDs, and he struck me as not so interesting. But the film certainly is. It is one of the most dividing bits of culture in recent history, and it is no wonder. I found I got all the same reactions just in little me: rolling on the floor laughing... cringing with embarrassment... flinching with revulsion... Seriously, this film is really hard to watch, but impossible not to.
I bow to Sacha Baron Cohen's sheer balls. In the name of comedy he mortally insults a stadium full of drunken rednecks at a rodeo. He has a naked fight with a 200-kilo man who sits on his face. And he speaks blatantly offensively to policemen, politicians, street gangs, and worst of all, to organized feminists. I know I could not come within a million miles of doing any of that.
I wonder what Cohen is like in person. When he is in character, he is vile. And dead funny. And like the best comedians, he puts the finger right on the most sore spots of what's wrong with our world, racism, misogyny, war-lust, ignorance...
Cohen out of character on Letterman.
Cohen as Ali G, interviewing "Beck and Posh".
Update 19/7:
Pascaleiev said...
"When I first saw the Ali G Show, I didn't know he was a role. And I found he was an incredible mix of outraging, funny and sometimes even cute in his badly raised child style. Always shocking yet never mean."
Yes! Exactly right. And that is another reason I don't sympathize with people who get so damn offended: if you are not the type who get automatically offended by some things, it is clear that he is not mean. If Borat or Ali G were real people, they would just be brought up wrong or something, they are good people.
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