Wednesday 29 July 2015

THE TRIUMPH OVER ADVERSITY NARRATIVE STRUCTURE IS SO 1992. I'LL DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT...

Read this then Leave Out All The Rest

If you have an answer to the question of why it's worth attempting to triumph over adversity, please comment below. Thanks :)

As well as sitting here with a toilet paper nun's habit on my head, I'm trying to compile a wide range of views for the last chapter of my book about my nihilistic obsession with the greatest Wheel of Fortune co-host called: Vanna White: What's the frigging point when I don't even turn the frigging letters anymore?


Disclaimer & Apologies



Speak no Dave. See no Dave. Hear no Dave.
My thoughts on this topic will be filtered through my depression lobe so probably won't be too uplifting but what are you gonna do? This is not a rhetorical question. What are YOU going to do? If you think you can edit this finger banging jumble of symbols into something worth reading, then please get in touch!

I'm deeply sorry about how Benji Madden-ly long this article got. Don't read it; I implore you. I might Bed Periscope a 5 minute version as I know how much everyone loves my high-energy inspirational presentational Muppet-ational style...

I make no claims on Truth and try to remain open to changing my mind; but I accept that I may have locked myself into justifying my current inability to work in order to soothe my brain. This mindset may also ironically make it very difficult to climb up the depression spiral ladder abyss hole; smothered by a comforting Blanket Jackson. This doesn't make any sense. So don't integrate anything I have to say because mental illness is contagious! Run away!!!


"Running away will make you free" Kenny Loggins mis-quote.
Would you prefer to have Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain or Bill Cosby as your father?

A positive, kind new age spiritualist and Batman walk into a séance...

Trudi: "Why not attempt to triumph over adversity? The way I see it is there are two sides to this. 1. yes when bad things happen we can accept its fate and allow them to either affect our stability or not."

Dave: I don't think we have full control over how adversity will affect our stability. It's not a mostly inconsequential and easy 'choice' like whether to watch The Bachelor, The Bachelorette or The Baby Bachelor. A certain percentage of individuals will crumble under adversity and I think it's best to comfort them rather than victim-blame them. Do we really think that on some level they have allowed this to happen to them and somehow made a choice to be miserable? 

I totally love wallowing in misery by listening to the Starlight Express soundtrack on repeat, but most don't.



Trudi: "We can adopt the attitude that everything happens for a reason and that reason is to learn and to grow from the experience."

Dave: This is a comforting probable delusion for lots of people, but not me. In the Universe, it appears that shyte just happens; some good and some bad; and that consciousness is likely just an accident rather than a certainty. As 'Scary Spice' Connor knifed on the picnic table "No Fate." 

Spiritual growth is mostly a construct to convince ourselves that we are constantly leveling up in the RPG of life. Sure, life can still be full of joy and hope and sugar and spice once we reach the level cap, but some of us will be force-fed our internal snails and external puppy dogs' asses. I prefer to think in terms of change rather than growth.

This was right before she tried to murder a mad & evil scientist for being not at all evil & mad
Trudi: "2. we have the power to change our life and make it which we wish it to be."

Dave: To an extent I'd agree but we should support and help those that can't do this without any victim blaming or demonisation.

Trudi: "The shame of it is most people do not believe in their own power the power of their thoughts and wishes and desires to come true and to manifest into reality they do not have this faith in themselves they think they are helpless and victims of fate. The truth is the mind is a tremendously powerful tool and our focused intent provides the fuel."

Dave: I would agree to some extent but we need to be very careful that we're not victim blaming. Being born a poor crack baby is very different to my privileged upbringing where I was fed only the best crack that boosted my immune system. But absolutely some people do and can change to an extent and then help others. As long as we keep the thinking 'pulling up' rather than 'pushing down'. The language of the self-help new age movement to me often seems like I'm being blamed for not trying hard enough.


Trudi: "The physical body is the final instrument of all the other planes, the end result as it were, and it is of this fact that we do not know how to take full advantage of! It is on the physical plane that we can reap the advantage of things started on the inner planes and can enjoy them fully.

One of the Occult teachings regarding the planes is that a man cannot take fullest advantage of any one plane until he has gained some knowledge, and CONTROL, of the plane above that one – we cannot fully use any one plane until we have some power on the plane above it.

Another thing you should acquire is that you should be able to explore and map out the inner planes, or rather set up your own paths thru these inner planes as there is nothing there now."

My control over my inner planes
Dave: Whether big T True or little t true or not T&A true, some would agree with this general idea while others not. This, to me, is part of in-group / out-group jargon displayed by pretty much all ideologies; even people from something seemingly innocuous yet fabulous like the Salsa dancing scene do the same thing to keep me out.

Human flourishing should be possible no matter what mostly harmless unfalsifiable claims are added on top. Jew, Buddhist, Muslim, Bad Religion fan club member. All these people should be able to lead reasonably happy lives without having to even know about other ideologies. And if my brain adds no extra planes to existence, then some level of 'happiness' should still be possible for me. Remember that I don't think I'm fully in control of what I believe in anyway. Humans will be way better off if we keep reminding ourselves about what we have in common rather than the fact that others believe in fairy godmothers while I believe in Marlon Brando godfathers...


Trudi: " This physical world is the tail end of a number of other “worlds” as you know and the CAUSES OF THE END RESULTS on this plane are in those inner planes. When you know how to penetrate them and study the causes of coming events you can alter those events somewhat depending on your power to do so. These things are not trivial believe me and their acquirement will give you a sense of power and peace that will go a long way to make up for what you may have suffered in this past mixed-up life."

Dave: Again, if these ideas help you in your Semi-Charmed Life and harm no one, great. To me, a sense of peace should be possible by thinking about nothing. No gods, no dimensions, no quantum foam; just calming the brain and trying to minimise the harmful delusions rattling around our heads. If others need to add on harmless probable fantasies in order to achieve this, then that's fine.


Trudi: "The most important thing, that can be achieved, is to learn, in a positive way, how to contact your Inner Powers, or Forces, or whatever name you feel like giving them and, which is still more important of all, learn how to USE your Inner Powers in a positive manner. You have them, you know, but as long as you do not use them, by being ignorant of them, they stand there, doing nothing to protect you, while you suffer the “slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune”

Dave: I'm a negative person by nature. It's like Batman's Joker is constantly cracking wise that I'm no darn good and that hurting others will make me feel better. I mostly compensate for this but I've been like this my whole adult life. Some might just label this as a metaphor for depression and perhaps that's exactly what it is but it could also be just part of my core personality. 

Again, ignorant people can flourish without caring about any of the stuff we're talking about. I've written before about my happy bogan model.


I, of course, am not a happy bogan and need to justify my own existence in a convoluted quasi-philosophical way to protect my ego. I'll claim that I'm trying my best and unable at the moment to engage my inner goddess powers as much as I'd like to. I have been a bit mean about my mother publicly but she's doing the best she can too. I seriously don't believe that she has the ability to act like a supportive mother to me. And just like Candy and Tori Spelling, the only answer is to minimise the harm and try to deal with Tatum O'Neal when she crashes the party.

Trudi: "You are incarnated in a physical body for the purpose of learning how to conquer matter – (thy kingdom come, thy will be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven) – and if you do not start to learn how to conquer matter you will have to come back time and time again, over and over, until you do learn this lesson to overcome the illusion of matter."

Dave: It would be cool if this were true but what do I do if I can't believe it? I have no memory of past lives and am not convinced by all the evidence that I am the reincarnation of Joan Rivers & Hop-Frog. I don't even believe in a Hey Soul Sister! So yes, the Universe for me is a lot more bleak without the band Train. But I still should be able to do something useful with my life. And if I'm wrong, that's cool too, but this shouldn't hinder me from engaging as positively with JW and Mormon door knockers as I am able. Does that make any sense?


Trudi: "Actually you know all this unconsciously and instinctively, deep down inside of you, but there is so much confusion in this life about what our aims are really supposed to be, due to the petty distractions of everyday living, and a deep outer ignorance of fundamental facts about the occult significance of physical life, that it is very hard for the ordinary person, until he begins to study the occult, to find out what the exact goal of living should be, and to get some idea of what the exact process should be to achieve this goal."

Dave: I enjoy many of the petty life distractions like Facebook, Tweets complaining about Facebook, Instagram photos of cats trolling the dogs of Facebook, rich hippie posers boasting about living off the grid on Facebook while burning coal to produce the electricity to boast about their delusions of living off the grid, Tumblr posts moaning about how the idiots have taken over Facebook, S&M Lego Facebook groups, 6 second Vines showing Facebook trolling keyboard warrior World Record attempts, Facebook posts quoting lines from The Social Network, Periscope live streams of me reading out my World famous Facebook posts about Bronies, the sexy witches of Facebook, Pinterest boards collecting the best abusive Facebook comments directed at me, Ashley Madison forums dedicated to tips on how to be an anonymous catfish on Facebook, Blogger blog posts about Mark Zuckerberg's dog Beast, the extremist anti-vaccers of Facebook who want the 'weak' children to die, the Unicorns of Facebook who are waging wars on boring brown vanilla horses, ironic posts against capitalism on Facebook tapped out from Apple smartphones, and laughing at poor people who can't afford Facebook.
This got me to the 5000 friend limit in 12 hours
Most big World Views claim to provide some meaning to the lives of their adherents. These World Views usually contradict on major things. They can't possibly all be correct even for the foolish Post-Modernist, right? But they can give people comfort and don't need to be True.

For me, the goal is Peace, Love & Harmony through Humility, Kindness, Technology & Humour. This is compatible with all moderates and it's only the fundamentalists and extremists that get uppity really about all of humanity coming together as one. But one could definitely ask why this is a worthy goal for an absurdist de facto atheist like me! Why should I care when I don't think that the Universe has any grand meaning at all? It's a good question and one that I should be able to answer without needing to add on unfalsifiable claims or using a single reference to Star Wars or Star Trek. 

I want humanity to evolve into something better: a new emergent property that some call the singularity but I call the tech hive mind. Why bother with this futuristic possible fantasy? Because it's sci-fi cool, it should reduce human suffering and it is the only chance we've got in my opinion of breaking away from our current Universe that will eventually give in to entropy. If this sounds similar to you to New Age fluff stuff, then it makes sense to me that many people have similar goals but are walking different paths. 

I think that the old religions and spiritual movements have had their chance and not brought about the new age. If it hasn't happened already, it won't no matter how much wishful thinking the various adherents have to their favourite flavour of ice cream deity. Even the peppermint choc-chip ice-cream monster hasn't managed to bring humanity together and reduce IBS symptoms.

So Lucas sells the franchise to Disney in the hope that they don't Jar Jar Binks it up too
Science & Technology is the only thing that is advancing I think. That's the biggest difference for me and why I am a scientific materialist to the core. Even better is that none of us have to believe in anything to make this happen. We're all along for the ride whether we like it or not. Have I justified my World View and explained why I sort of bother to attempt to triumph over my current adversity? Probably not. But the future will happen whether I'm living in a tent or a deluxe G-pod storage container or a padded cell with Geoffrey 'no fate' Connor or inside my fantasy Ball World where I've cut myself off from the rest of the Universe.

Trudi: "A start has to be made somewhere to learn about the other bodies you possess, and to learn how to use them. To learn how to transfer your consciousness, from the physical body to these other bodies at will, is just about the best and most pleasant rewarding type of growth that you could find to advance along the path leading to Illumination. These powers can come only with use and not by talking about them."

Dave: Whether this is reality or fantasy doesn't really matter as no harm is done either way. If my consciousness is locked inside my brain, then so be it. Technological advances could actually unlock for all what the Spiritualists claim they can currently achieve. As Olivier Newton John sang, in her song 'Culture Shock', about the singularity: "it's the only hope we've got."


Trudi: "For example to be more specific – can you set or lie down and bring up images of persons or things into your mind mirror? Can you see, perhaps dimly, these figures and shapes? Can you then use your will-imagination to move them about and place them in different positions and make them do different things? Everyone can do this to some extent. Do you know what these images really are? These images are Etheric-Astral matter images and you are seeing them with the third eye. The single eye mentioned in the bible."

Dave: Etheric-Astral Platonic matter images they could be sure. I'll stick with the materialistic explanation until such time as I'm convinced by any evidence to the contrary. Again, whether this claim is True or Not shouldn't make a difference to whether we can lead flourishing lives. The Fast & Furious movies are just as entertaining either way.

Trudi: "As I said we all have this power, in some degree, and it only remains to give it careful attention to develop it and thus double your abilities and talents to be able to handle life’s tough problems. Do you want to have less?"

I get sent this stuff and I feel guilty because I'm not impressed or awe-struck...

Summary?

Building mental resilience or toughness seems to be talked about a lot at the moment and I think this is great. But some people will be crushed temporarily or even permanently by adversity and we currently have no way to fix them all. As I've said before, if you are functional, then it is your responsibility to help out those who are struggling. If you know 5 people, about 1 will be having major mental troubles for whatever reason this year and just being there and supporting them through this can help a lot. No Judgment Day. No Machine Gun Preaching. No The Secret self-help BS positivity especially if you're talking with me. Just kind & humble human interaction. This is what I enjoy the most about my online interactions. That and getting abused by extremists to fulfill my masochistic quota...

Say yes to bene-violently trolling extremists in the name of World Peace
So can I summarise any of this? The Universe likely just is. Donald Trump's Miss Universe doesn't seem to care about you or me or even Oprah's best super-friend Gayle. There are probably no deities or higher dimensions of existence. We are all alone like ET with the burden of consciousness and the cutest Drew Barrymore. It's just us and it just is. We puny & deluded humans are merely trying to work out what we can do with our lives to give us our own meaning and work together to improve humanity.

Find some meaning to your life. It could be a harmless delusion or deluxe tin-foil suite of delusions. Use this to flourish as best you can. When the pus storms hit, ride the phlegm waves, punch the great green discharge sharks and ask for help. Then make sure to help others when they are getting pus pooped on by the random absurdity of life and the nastiness of their mother complexes.

In conclusion:

Don't take my advice on anything as I'm a life drop-out and widely regarded as spiritual garbage... Remember that humour serves no purpose in our multi-dimensional super-string computer powered simulation.


Successful guy gloating about not having depression

Original discussion on Facebook:

Other related links:

Lots of great Australian resources for mental health. Could Australia actually be World-leading in something? https://www.sane.org/

Here are some ideas for the business person and budding capitalist: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-to-overcome-adversity-2014-8

We all like to believe that we can 'triumph over adversity' and enjoy watching dramatic presentations of this archetypal narrative over and over again. We don’t make movies about those who wallow in adversity typically and if we do they are unsatisfying to many of us. Compare the movie Soul Surfer with Jack and Jill: http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/story/development/1005-top-10-central-themes-in-film?showall=&start=8

Man vs. Herself narrative structure can actually be done with sensitivity & pathos

Sunday 26 July 2015

THE HADRON PARTICLE IS NOT TRUE?

An actual scientist called Peter God-particle
Random internet comment that I can't help but laugh at: (apologies to the author for my nastiness)
"Well after all these years failing to disprove the existence of a Creator, we became arrogant and have decided to substitute the Creator with a different name called the "Hadron" particle. So now we are once again trying to prove the hadron particle to be true. This particle would carry the same attributes as the Creator but we'll call it with a different name. Because we are arrogant and do not wish to identify reality for what it is."

Some people are definitely arrogant. I would say that anyone that believes something with 100% certainty is arrogant (other than cogito ergo sum), but that's just me. Others aren't even certain of this...
That's de facto atheist to you, slogan!
Sorry, you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what you call the Hadron particle. The fact that you are not even calling it the Higgs Boson is a worry. It was called 'the God particle' likely as a little dig at believers. So it's very amusing to me, sorry, that this has been twisted into 'scientists are arrogant and think that the Hadron particle is God'.
Scientists do not think that the Higgs Boson is God ffs!
Some scientists are arrogant, sure, but most are extremely humble and conservative about their own ideas; yet enjoy tearing other scientists a new one when they peer review. This is the scientific method and it takes no magical thinking prisoners. And yes, some scientists lack diplomatic skills; which really gets on other people's nerves yet makes me cheer when they tell it like it is. 
I love Dawkins as a scientist and intellectual; but as a personality not as much. He does come off as a bit arrogant at times I think, which is a shame because he might do more good if he were just a bit nicer during debates. But don't get me wrong; I'm a massive Dawkins fanboy and have posters of him on every wall of my house.
So, to the commenter, can I ask you to at least read the Wikipedia page summary on something before making a comment. Or don't and make me laugh with your brash and ignorant ignorance.

Saturday 25 July 2015

MINDLESS POSITIVITY REALLY STOKES MY MISANTHROPY

Hardly the best thing I've ever read...
The problem word in the quote above is "allow". The positivity movement is malevolent in my opinion because at its core seems to be this idea that we all have a good level of control over our mental states. We don't. The more you look at the science, the more you start to think that we either have zero free will or quite limited free will. 
I'm not talking about the illusion of free will; that is not great evidence! Do you really believe that you had full control over whether you ate a plate of vegetables for dinner or a jumbo bag of peanut M&Ms with a chocolate marshmallow fudge dipping sauce and sprinkles?
Sayings like these might make you feel temporarily better about yourself; but does it come at the price of demonising the most vulnerable? Without being conscious of it, are you kicking your dysfunctional family member while they're down and passed out from self-medicating on pethidine? 
Your unconscious mind might be hiding it from you, but is there a voice somewhere in you saying, "You allowed the iceberg to hit your Titanic, therefore, hey, you kind of deserve to be jobless, homeless, partner-less and pants-less. But I am functional because I chose to slug Jack in his pretty little lips and watch him get dragged down into the blackness while I, Rose, floated on this door, got rescued and made up the whole 'sacrifice' thing."?
Not shown: Rose crushing Jack's skull to save herself

Just look at the cancer that is multi-generational domestic violence and tell me that just because some manage to somehow break out of it, the losers in life 'choose' to copy the dynamics of their parents. Help people that are down. Nobody chooses to be born as a crack baby, unless of course you believe in karma and reincarnation and that's a whole other level of special pleading to convince yourself that the Universe actually gives a fark.
So, when I run out of money and show up on your doorstep smelling of a hearty mix of cat excreta, at least try to get me some help rather than go and grab your Mark 2 Lancer Assault Rifle and preach to me that I've done this to myself and 'deserve' to be homeless. And in the meantime, how about doing something useful with your life rather than reading memes on the Internet that seemingly justify your worthless existence?

AFTER EARTH GOT ME THINKING ABOUT AFTER DAVE

His tweets are fun to mock too
Critics say, "Don't critique a movie unless you've seen it." While I agree with the sentiment, does this mean I need to see all of After Earth with Will Smith and his 'chip off the old wooden acting' son Jojo? 
In the movie, Jojo had to be in a Zen-like bored shitless state to defeat the aliens. It took him way longer than me to get in this state.

Does this 'walk in their clown shoes' sentiment also apply to everything else? Don't judge ISIS unless you've tried to incite God to start the countdown to the end times? Don't judge Tony Abbott unless you've incited Islamophobia to save your bacon? Don't judge Katy Perry unless you've squirted cream from your nipples? Don't judge Alan Jones unless you've been arrested for indecent activities in a known London beat? Don't judge Reclaim Australia unless you've been told off by Jimmy Barnes and John Farnham? Don't judge Tori Spelling's book by its contents? 
That's enough from me. You can make more in your head...

GOOGLE SHOULD TOTALLY BE EVIL. WHY AREN'T THEY?


I love being a sub with my Google dom!
This 'Google deciding what facts are' idea feels a bit like Big Brother courtesy of Google rather than Endemol.
These 6 members of Big Brother secretly rule the World and Ben is the Kingpin
I agree with their aim in principle but how is it going to work for 'facts' that aren't falsifiable? Perhaps the thinking is that anything science-based will be way more consistent than the anti-science stuff on the same topic; the Apollo moon missions for example. 
But there is way more to Googling than just looking up facts like whether there are any health benefits of chocolate milk enemas. What about satire like the Onion or humorous presentations like Cracked? Deliberately not fact-based and if the Google brain tries to find consistency with the science, then, what, no more satire? Unless typing in keywords like 'funny' into the search engine disengages the fact-checking lobe?
How does Google fact check this Onion headline?
This media release by Google may just be trying to smoke out the competition to see what they're up to. If Google haven't been able to make it work yet, then maybe they can poach someone who can. Or they could be trying to force their adversaries to release what they've been up to in the same space. Anyone got Bing Brain?
I love the idea that Google has a secret knowledge database. This is Blofeld kind of stuff; but who is our James Bond to go in, sleep with all the women with unconvincing foreign accents, and check them out to make sure that they aren't secretly a doomsday cult playing the long game? Forget Armageddon! I want to see a movie where Google holds the whole world to ransom and will shut down their services with a secretly embedded 'kill-switch' code if their demands aren't met (Actually, this was my fantasy version of 'The Internship' movie). 
I'm trying to convince the Google overlords to produce my script for the sequel
Knowing Google, however, they would still be trying to do what they perceive is 'good', and want to establish a benevolent Global dictatorship. Actually, I think they've already pretty much achieved this without resorting to my outdated, Austen-Powers-parodied concept of world domination.
Lastly, as long as it annoys post-modernists, that don't believe in absolute Truth or facts, it will be fun. And if it just gets the most dangerous stuff voted down like anti-vaccination propaganda, they might make the world a slightly better place. We love you Google!

MAY POLYESTER LIVE LONG AND PROSPER


Some might look at this photo and see an extinct metal bird and polyester, but I see hope; hope that these fashions will return; hope that our mission to explore strange new worlds will be resurrected; and hope that Leonard Nimoy managed to transfer his katra to Zachary Quinto before the end so that in the third reboot movie, the Enterprise can travel to the Genesis planet and the fal tor pan procedure can be performed on a mindless young boy.





MAKE 'THE MUSLIMS' ANGRY FOR RATINGS


ON AIR BATTLE: Muslim Spokesperson calls out Islamophobic Question ON AIR & Walks Out Sky News Interview! [SHARE]
ON AIR BATTLE: Muslim Spokesperson calls out Islamophobic Question ON AIR! May Allah preserve Brother Kaleem and Cageprisoners's work. Sky News Presenter Kay Burley, was just playing dirty, asking the same question three times, if only more Muslims could as principled in the face of trials. If you ever go on the media please don't let them walk all over you. STAND YOUR GROUND :)[SHARE]
Posted by Majid Freeman on Thursday, 26 February 2015

Imagine that you are a law-abiding, moderate Young Earth Creationist and, in 1993, during the Waco siege, you were constantly asked questions that implied that there might be a connection between you and David Koresh. Would you not get annoyed too? Perhaps this is a false analogy, but just because ISIS uses the same books to justify their doomsday cult, why should all the Muslims of the world need to publicly denounce them?



Do we really believe that there is a large contingent of ISIS sympathisers in Australia and the UK? I'm going to work with the assumption that it is a small minority unless provided with better evidence than fear mongering by our politicians to get votes and beat-ups by the mainstream media to get ratings.



REMEMBER WHEN ABBOTT WAS ONLY WAVING 6 FLAGS?



"Fear-mongering works and I'll do whatever it takes!"
Tony Abbott's speech when played backwards:

"And to the racists and xenophobes and nationalists with "fuck off we're full" bumper stickers and forum trollers incessantly commenting "kill all M$#&@ms" and to the people that abuse veiled women on the street and trains and the graffiti artists that decorate mosques and to the brave Christian militants going over to fight the crusade and to the shock jocks who incite riots I say this: Wave your flags in the air and at the Muslims glare! It's time to party, Team Australia!" 


It's your time to shine if you love his tattoos!



Friday 24 July 2015

ONE BATHROOM TO POOP THEM ALL


I had been unable to sit down and squeeze out an opinion on this issue, but now I'm in position and ready to scat. How can we have equal rights for all when we still segregate public bathrooms? Not everyone neatly fits into 1 of 2 gender boxes. Gender appears to be a spectrum and is fluid; just ask my dear partner if they think I'm all 'man' all the time! I wear a 'ladies' t-shirt nightie to bed, have moobs and belong to a local witch coven.
That's me on the right
Will there be a future where everything is gender neutral and gender fluidity is not a 'trigger' concept causing emotionally charged internet rants about 'real women' and 'real men'? Some ideas about our possible future:
- People could, of course, still be defined as having either XX or XY sex chromosomes but this in no way would define who they are as a person or how they would be treated by society
- We could all go to the public toilet together to powder our noses while pooping. There would be one queue to bind us.
- Toys wouldn't be segregated; so there would hopefully be no stigma if any child wanted a barbie or princess costume or a GI Jane figurine.
This is a bronie. He is harming nobody by loving My Little Ponies.
- Clothes wouldn't be segregated so I could walk into Autograph with my head held high and try on some plus-size skirts.
- All sport would be open to all with no genital or chromosome checks. Would ditching ladies tennis really bring down our civilization?
- Prisons would be a tough one. Would sexual violence in prisons increase, decrease or stay the same by integration? This would obviously need to be trialed on a small scale first.
Queen Bea Smith would not be kind to someone like me
I have heard and can somewhat sympathise with the usual objections to these ideas. I fully accept that we may not quite be ready. Issues such as reducing the rate of sexual violence and addressing its chronic under-reporting might need to be sorted out first. Also, as with any change, it won't be all positive, but the benefits should outweigh the risks. 
Fortunately for ass-end Queensland in ass-end Australia, we definitely won't be the first to make any of these changes. We'll be able to see how it goes in places like California first and assess whether there is a net benefit to society. My guess is absolutely we should do it, but I will naturally change my mind if the evidence indicates otherwise.
In any case, my hope for the future is to be called, and treated like, a person; not labelled a 'man'. 
Gees these lace panties are squashing me! Where can I buy some with some more scrotum room?
The is a man with a pussy. He is no threat to you. Which bathroom should he use?

Thursday 23 July 2015

UGLY AND BAD FOR HUMANITY: THE STORY OF WIND POWER?

Get them off my screen. They're killing me!

Disturbing headline sending me off into a spiral of despair with no electricity generated:

"Research council calls for further study into 'wind turbine sickness', sets aside $500,000 in grants"

My headline:

"Dave Chaffey Hippie calls for research council to use their fricking critical thinking skills and not waste any money on what is obviously the the nocebo effect!" 

Give me the $500,000 instead and I can tell you that there is no such thing as wind turbine sickness. There is always a tiny chance that I could be wrong but I'm as certain of this as I am that Bobo won't find Bigfoot on his stupid TV show and that Ghost Hunters won't ever actually catch Michael Jackson's ghost and put him in ghost prison for his ghost molestation of ghost boys.

World's leading Bigfoot academic
I do have sympathy for people who have debilitating symptoms and blame it on completely implausible causes, but in most cases it's a psychological condition that should be treated by mental health professionals that are experienced in treating people with such conditions and obviously understand that there is no such thing as wind turbine sickness or electromagnetic hypersensitivity or whatever mystery condition is in fashion.

Fully protected in my tin-foil room so don't need to wear my hat indoors!
The 'kooks' trying to make money off vulnerable people and make names for themselves will use news stories like these to add legitimacy to their scams; which may very well create new sufferers and delay the existing sufferers from seeking out the legitimate help they need.

And it goes round and round and round like, well, you know.

Further reading:

Pretty good article on nocebo:  http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150210-can-you-think-yourself-to-death
"responsible media reporting would at least stem the spread of poisonous rumours" 

You listening Graham Lloyd, self described "fearless reporter" and described by me as understanding about as much about science as Bill Cosby understands about the meaning of 'consent'?

Follow up and rant about the media:


My custom TP re-prints of Graham Lloyd's articles
Shame on The Australian toilet/newspaper and 2 more 'shames' to give them the full Derryn Hinch. Who the fruck told the Australian that the nocebo effect had been discredited? Just look at the history of these kinds of conditions. 'False balance' on science in the media mainly happens because most journalists wouldn't know a WIMP from a strange quark. 


The climate change public debate was also destroyed in large part due to media 'false balance'. Being impartial doesn't mean giving equal time between 97% of climatologists and the other 3%. We also love the overdone narrative of the rogue scientist fighting the evil oppressive system and being proven to be right in the end. While there are some examples of this of course, the vast, vast, vast majority of science doesn't work this way. Most science is nowhere near as narrative-worthy and therefore doesn't capture the public's imagination.
The vaccination debate has, especially recently been reported way better. For some strange reason sick kids with resurrected diseases force us to agree with the established science! Crappy science journalism is not totally the media's fault and with the imminent extinction of the Rupert-Murdocho-saurus dinosaurs, mainstream science reporting won't improve any time soon.

Rupert Murdoch's real form
All we can do is continue with online citizen journalism and skeptic groups, who do know that the Earth is an oblate spheroid, not a sphere. Thanks Australian public broadcaster ABC's Media Watch for airing your story, except I'm just not convinced that further work needs to be done. 

I will freely admit I am wrong when someone presents me with anything other than pseudo-science, but enough time and money has been spent in my opinion to show that wind turbines are safe (unless you're a bird and even if you are a bird, then cats are a much higher risk).