Questionnaire from Wolf - Au Revoir Mon Amis

Well I guess this will be my last post everyone before this Blog gets archived on 6th May 2010. In any case I am happy that I got 26 Blog entries done and 10 Comments on many of your amazing blog entries. Thank you everyone for being great module mates and for making me laugh at awkward times when reading your blogs in public, making me look like a complete psycho. Have a great Summer.

Name: Christopher William Dunning

Age: 18

Sex: Male

What is your degree subject (both if joint): Creative and Professional Writing with Film Studies

Does ‘Being Bad’ relate well to the other modules you are taking: It helped to hone my writing through the blog and has also made me think about starting one not to do with a module which shall help later in my university life.

Have you found ‘Being Bad’ too demanding, too easy, or at an appropriate level: The questions we were given seemed to not allow much leverage which was a shame and the structured sentence start or the title made it difficult to be creative. However the blog was good as this made me keep my time well.

Do you think the list of topics covered on the module was appropriate: I think the topics were very appropriate and I enjoyed basically every one of them.

Are there any topics not included in the module that you would like to see included: Booze Britain should be included in the module if it is run again as this was a good topic and relates to us all.

Do you think that the format for classes has worked well: The format for the class worked as well as it could with over 100 students at the start of the module.

What did you think of the module team: The module team was excellent, however the guy who came to speak about Tattooing was certainly the best and most motivated.

Do you think it would have been better to have had more: Not particularly, more isn’t always best.

Small group discussions: Definitely would be a good idea if the module is run again.

Discussion and debate among the class as a whole: These were amusing, especially with some of the already present relationships between students in the room.
Information and talk from lecturers: These were fine, keep as is and people will still enjoy them.

The approach taken in the module is interdisciplinary (drawing on perspectives from English Literature, Film Studies, Creative Writing, Philosophy, Media Studies and Politics): do you think this a useful way of approaching the topics covered in the module: Yes, it made it so that no-one felt left out and I believe I got the most knowledge out of the module because of this.

Do you think that interdisciplinary modules are a good idea: Yes this helps to stop extra duplicate modules from appearing and using up space and resources.

Do you think you have benefited from the interdisciplinary approach taken in the module: I think I have as I have learned a lot from Philosophy students especially and some other interesting facts from those who do Literature.

Would you like to see more modules that cover this kind of subject matter: Yes I would, a little bit of controversy never hurt anyone.

Are you planning to take the follow-up module PH2004 ‘It Shouldn’t Be Allowed’ at level 2: That sounds interesting, I haven’t seen any modules for next semester yet, but I definitely like the sound of it after Being Bad was so good.

Would you recommend ‘Being Bad’ to a friend: I already have.

Do you think that the blogs (web logs) were a good idea: Certainly, I felt this was one of the best parts of the module.

What did you think of the other assessments (e.g. would it be better to have one longer assessment rather than two shorter ones?): Perhaps, I liked having two smaller assignments at different times, however if the subject was broader and the students were given free rein on either an essay or creative piece it would still be an enjoyable piece.

What have you learned from the module: That some people have far too low tolerances and a lot of random information about LSD, I would say the module was a success.

What parts of the module have you found most useful and why: Tattooing and Drugs, there was a lot of interesting facts in these modules.

What parts do you think were a waste of time and why: I can’t remember any that were a waste of time to be honest.

Are there any other comments you wish to make regarding ‘Being Bad’: Not particularly, the module was great and I enjoyed myself through the whole module, it was also nice to have my long Thursday calmed down with the relaxed atmosphere of Being Bad.

Thank you for a great semester and hope that you have a great Summer Mark and everyone else on the Being Bad Staff and all those of you who helped me hav an enjoyable semester.

Chris Dunning – Being Bad Man 2010

Comments and Responces 10

http://0274076.blogspot.com/

In responce to Al's post on Infidelity - 'If Infidelity is so bad...'

Personally I have no problem with monogamy. If you find the right person, yes I know cliche, it doesn't prove to be a problem at all. Sure you may think to yourself 'I would tap that' as you stroll down to the local pub but very rarely do you want to actually act upon it.

Being in an open relationship seems odd to me, being able to go and have a relatinship with anyone you want to just doesn't sit right with me.

Maybe I'm just that insecure about life in general, but personally I just feel that it has been drilled into me from birth that you should be faithful and that I think is why monogamy still exists as the norm.

I definately wouldn't try asking a girlfriend or wife about having an open relationship either, if House is anything to go by. Serious awkward situations occur eventually harming them both.

In any case, all to their own, if you can stand seeing the woman you love with someone else then go for it, I however could not, it just wouldn't feel right in my head even if their relationship was merely physical.

Comments and Responces 9

http://vomitandgiggles.blogspot.com/

In responce to her blog post on Abortion

Indeed the picture of the 8 week old aborted fetus is very disturbing. I came to that blog post ready to lightly defend abortion as I felt your post would be purely based upon the negatives, hwever I was met with a truly balanced post which was a welcome discovery.

I have a very weak view to abortion when it comes down to it as there are a lot of reasons for abortion in my mind. From realising late that you are pregnant to realising that you cannot give the child a good life nor can you get on with your own life if you have a child at that time.

However abortion at such a late time feels far too wrong, as you said with your birth at 30 weeks that is a mere 6 weeks more than the foetus shown in your photo.

In the end though it falls with the one who is pregnant as another child being born into this world to a family who won't love it isn't a good thing at all.

Comments and Responces 8

http://clairemcareebeingbad.blogspot.com/

A comment on Claire's post on Dogging

You are indeed a resourceful young lady and a brave one, delving into the scene that is dogging. It made me laugh how you noted the instantaneous 'welcome' you recieved from the community on the websites yu chose to venture into.

Dogging is indeed a strange thing, personally I do not see the big appeal of dogging, which seems to be a view shared by you and many others. Then again without variety the world would indeed be a boring place.

I do believe though that dogging should not be saved for the pornos, due to one simple thing. There are so god damn many of them :) If you chose to watch every porno around I believe you would die from both boredom, exhaustion or a severe case of wankers cramp.

Comments and Responces 7

http://0274076.blogspot.com/

In responce to Al's post on body modification.

I was essentially nudged into commenting on this as always excellent piece by you through your comment on my own beautiful example of bloggery (virtual sarcasm as mine are generally just long winded).

Firstly, sir knife nostrel is quite a worrying guy, mainly due to his choice of cutlery holders, however you could also commend him on his ability to multi task, he can dry the knives with his breath while still having his hand free to wrk, genius.

On another note, I completely understand there should be no prejudice when it comes to hiring someone for a job or in general life, however I automatically feel a little uneasy when I see an enormous cavern in someones ear lobe and I would tend to not view them as completely stable. I ppreciate this is wrong but I can't help it, it just feels wrong to me.

Lastly with comment on your link about tatoing pets, did you look at the final image, I have to say that gave me a chuckle, awful tatoo to have but very amusing.

Comments and Responces 6

http://rotofthewest.blogspot.com/

I felt compelled to write another comment about this persons blog after reading another post written by him about drugs due to his great choice of image.

A comment on the post - Psychadelics for the masses!

Your opinion is far more structured compared to the politics piece and I was drawn to the picture instantly upon scrolling down the blog.

However first I shall just say, I would definately move into your Utopia (this is not innuendo lol) Merely I agree completely, the use of any drug or activity (within reason) should be left to the discretion of the person doing it and not governed by someone else.

Now onto the picture, very simply, that is amazing and a picture truly does say a thousand words (or more). I was very impressed with the skills of the artist however as even when tripping he produces some phenominal pieces. Far better than the modern art crap that seems to lurk everywhere.

Comments and Responces 5

http://rotofthewest.blogspot.com/

In responce to the post - A word about lying and Politics.

I have to say that though it was quite a short post it was very interesting, especially the link given. Indeed politicians do very rarely tell the truth, which though irritating is understandable to a certain degree due to how many votes (or lack of votes) they would get.

Generally what tends to happen when it comes to politics is that the one with the most ludicrous claims and best advertising campaign wins, not the ones who can put their plans into action.

Sadly this will no doubt continue.

Bad Comedians

Comedy is something that has existed for, well, ages, I mean it must have. How would someone have reacted to a caveman lighting his beard on fire when fire was first discovered? I bet there were a few cavemen and cavewomen who saw the spectacle and chuckled to themselves, before eventually setting themselves on fire like the daft old things that they are.

Comedy must have existed back then, the ability to laugh at another’s misfortune is keyed into our minds and it just has to be done sometimes, sure it’s mean and sometimes inappropriate but what isn’t nowadays?

The lecture gave me many ideas, however after the lecture finished I ended up condensing them into a single idea. I have noticed through many years of watching comedy pieces and then watching people’s reactions to said pieces, that something is only offensive/funny if it is said by the wrong/right person.

Now take for example an openly sexist joke towards women, a man would laugh no matter what, it lets them have a laugh at their other half’s expense, the woman however would only ever laugh at the joke if it is said by another woman. The same works in vice versa when it comes to jokes where the male is the butt of the joke, said by a woman the women laugh but the men feel threatened, when said by a man however both genders will begin to laugh.

This is the same case when it comes to the ‘N’ word, yes I’m talking about the word Nigger. Indeed I just said it (typed it whatever). Now this is seen as taboo even though I don’t mean it derogatively and if a black person heard me say it they would go on the attack? Why? Especially when a black man will greet another with the word Nigger and that is seen as being perfectly normal. Is that not racism and inequality?

Back a little on topic about comedians however, I would like to make a very quick and simple comment, if you are going to go and see a comedian live you should be prepared for their act, whatever their act is. Be it openly racist, toilet humour r otherwise, it’s not their fault that you have no sense of humour and don’t realise they do what they do for money and say what they say in jest.

A few thoughts on the word nigger by some random dude, his thoughts resonate with me (a little)

http://www.ubersite.com/m/32438

A debate on the word Nigger

http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:%22Nigger%22,_use_of_the_word

Tattoos and Body Modification

Faced with a less than scary lecturer the thoughts of many around me began to fade and falter until most people had a look of complacency.

First of all I can say with the utmost certainty that this the most recent lecture was easily the best one of the lot. Not only was the lecturer exciting to listen to but he had a lot of knowledge in his chosen field of expertise. He knew how to engage people, which was evident almost instantly and lasted till the end, as literally no-one had any questions.

I don’t know if everyone felt the same way I did about his lecture but I truly learnt many different things during the lecture and afterwards I felt that not only was it a good lecture, but it was a good use of my time in general, the sort of lecture I would have happily attended without being forced to (well I say forced to, I’m paying for it so I’m damn well going to attend everything possible).

Now first of all let’s have a quick recap of some of the information that he went over in his presentation, just with far less nudity and scrotum piercings. Please note this is in slightly briefer note form and so please feel free to fill in the gaps.

First of all there are four different types of body modification: Non invasive which does not breach the skin layer with the opposite being invasive which does breach the skin. Then you have temporary and permanent modifications such as tattoos and such like.

One point that was raised was the limited view of body modification that people have. Such as how many people if you ask them have they modified their body most people will not think about: Make-up, cutting your nails, filing your skin, getting your hair cut and body building.

There are many reasons for getting this sort of thing done. Some of these ways are: Religious (such as circumcision), Artistic reasons (body as a canvas sort of project), Aesthetic (simply that you feel that doing such a modification would make you more beautiful), Rite of Passage (becoming a man/woman), Membership to a cult etc, Rebellion, Fashion, Memorial and in some cases as a way to control others of be controlled.

A point that was brought up was the common feeling that body modification is considered deviant to some. The main reasons that were given by our lecturer were: Religion, Society (generally overview of a single topic generally by one outspoken individual), Medical (being prone to infection during the process, not so much now but that was certainly an issue before), Pain (why would someone go through with something like that willingly) and the last reason is that some people derived pleasure from the experience.

Lastly one of the most interesting points about tattooing was the discussion about a Maori tattoo called the Moko. The moko was, and still is, a complete story about the person who has it, giving their name and rank among the villagers amongst other information. Some of these are even done with excruciating pain to the individual due to them not being done with simple needle and ink but instead being done with a chisel and then the ink inserted after.



Due to their beautiful facial tattoos they began to be hunted by many ‘civilised’ human beings so that they could be collected as artwork.

Finally my very simplified feelings of body modification, quite frankly I don’t care what people do to their bodies, but I do wish people wouldn’t mutilate their genitalia, I mean it really is weird. Go nuts with tattoos, stretch your ears to whatever you want (They’re emo, they’re a little unstable anyway) just please don’t expect to get a full facial tattoos and ear lobes down to your crotch and still expect to get a good job in a popular store, or for that matter a job where you see and interact with other people.

For a little history on tattooing please refer to the link below.

http://www.designboom.com/history/tattoo_history.html

Bullying and Teasing, are there differences?

Bullying has been around since the beginning of time (well I’m sure it has and I’m a cool guy so just trust me on this, I mean it’s not like there hasn’t always been some douche who thinks kicking someone while they’re down is a good thing).

The original bullying no doubt went along the lines of *Wobble wobble!* *Wobble Squish wobble* due to us being quite simple life forms (I’m looking at this by means of evolution and such, not creationism by the way, so yeah, don’t go givin’ me no hate bout my, lack of, belief yeah (attempt at gangster lexis, success)).

At this stage maybe we had enough mental capacity for arguments or maybe not, but in any case we evolved and began to make our way to the land and begin to change into what we are now. Bullying would have definitely been around when we reached the stage of land dweller or advanced water dweller. No matter what mind set the animal has there will always be rivalry between them, this generally can be narrowed down to either a conflict to determine strength and such to show leadership potential.

This is no different from that of school bullying and bullying in the workplace. The general reason (yes I’m generalising, so sue me) is that a hierarchy must exist for people and animals to coexist with each other. Without such a hierarchy in place chaos would ensue as there would be no equilibrium between the various people and everyone would fight so as to figure out who would lead the pack.

By having these standards set people can move on with their lives without the fear that something will dramatically change repeatedly through the day, though indeed it still could through certain ridiculous occurrences.

Bullying is a brutal piece of life that is rarely missed however the good news is that most bullying is not life threatening or distressing enough to affect later life for the person on the receiving end. Bullies are bad people, be that from them just general having a screw loose in their large thuggish heads, or if they have had a ‘bad childhood’ (oh dear raptor jesus I hate it when people use this excuse for children who are just general brats, maybe the reason they are mini arseholes is because they are actually just arseholes instead of not being able to deal with their pet fly drowning).

I hate bullies, I always have, though sometimes I have turned into one involuntarily, if you are true to yourself you will no doubt realise that you have done the same thing at some point in your life, whether it’s a case of you purposefully being very mean to someone else, if you were going along with a very long standing joke between friends and it went too far or even if you did it for good reasons.

I personally have done all of the above and for the record I’m not proud of it. I’ve been mean to someone for quite a long time, for good reason might I add (not that it makes it that much better) as they had picked on a friend for no good reason. I’ve taken a joke too far, pushing the limits of what was just a simple practical joke to the dark place that exists at the end of any choice.

In the end however bullying is bullying and it will always lead to something bad, or worse.

So when it comes down to it, try not too, I know it can be hard but you wil feel better later, maybe not today, maybe not in a year but at some point you will look back and feel good about that time you left someone be.

Profanity

Swearing is a wonderful thing, a great way to release all sorts of emotions as well as quite simply just to get your point across that bit faster.

If you have not sworn in your life you are truly quite an amazing fellow. You have somehow fought against the tide of shits and fucks and somehow come out the other side smelling of roses. Though I very much doubt that there are any people who are actually true swearing virgins, it truly is a very difficult thing to avoid doing.

The most common way in which you will deflower yourself of your swearing virginity is when you hurt yourself. Generally you will hurt yourself badly enough for you to have absolutely no idea what you can do about it other than scream, instead you’ll open your mouth and yell expletives to the sky and hope to hell the people around you are either too slow to begin videoing the whole process or that they are just not quick enough to be there and do the former

Swearing has all sort of different ways of expressing itself, be it through all sorts of words (cunt, fuck, shit, crap etc) then again especially when you are swearing at other people or trying to swear at people from a distance you may adopt the use of swearing through the use of your hands, perhaps adopting the middle finger approach

You may even do the ‘up yours frenchies’ approach to swearing and do the two finger salute to the irritating S.O.B. It used to rub it in the other armies face that we still had our fingers and could use a long bow however now it’s more of a simple up yours and screw you, with far less connotations.

http://www.laughingpoliceman.com/swear.htm

Being Inapropriate

You know the sort of people who this post goes out to, maybe you are that person and you have just realised. The sort of people who feel that they are being really upbeat and putting something different and exciting into the conversation, whereas from everyone else’s point of view it is both awkward and annoying.

The sort of people who feel that when you’re talking to a friend about their parents recent divorce they feel they have to join in and say that their parents went on a cruise last week and enjoyed themselves. You know the people, they butt in and you never appreciate what they decide to offer to the conversation as in general ‘useless’ is a great description of their input.

Though there are plenty of things that are considered to be far worse than being Inappropriate, it is one of those things that, to borrow from Family Guy, Grinds my Gears. I know some people lack social skills, but please if you fail that hard at it just stick to chat roulette and World of Warcraft and please stop speaking to me in your breaks.

However bear in mind that this is not to do with anything that has happened lately, nor to anything that has happened in the past, merely a little thing that irritates me.

A short pos today, but there really isn’t much to say about this subject. After this post I shall be focusing back on the topics of the Module as well as perhaps the odd post to do with the seven deadly sins as I expect I can find a few things out about those that could interest you guys and gals.

Some innapropriate statues.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/25-unintentionally-inappropriate-statues

Gluttony

This post is a direct result to the amazing day out with my family today. We went to an amazing Brazilian restaurant that I was introduced to a few years ago when my Auntie Flavia suggested we go there, by doing so I have experienced twice the amazing food, service and culture of the Brazilian meat feast.

The restaurant is in London and in a very nice part of town, no dodgy roulette backstreets or anything of the sort. The restaurant is called ‘Rodizio Rico’ (http://www.rodiziorico.com/). The outside is pleasant and just standing at the door you begin to salivate. Once you are seated you are explained the way in which the system works, you can order a plate of something or go for the restaurants speciality, skewers. What happens is they come around with skewers of different meats and such, you have a circular card that has yes on one side and no on the other, if you have it on yes they will ask who would like more meat, they carve it onto your plate and if you want vegetables and salad then you go up to the lavish salad bar in the central area of the restaurant.



This idea is right up my alley, I love my meat, I love even more an unlimited supply of meat. With meats from lamb cooked to perfection (slightly pink in the middle) to red and rare rump steak, it is the place for a carnivore to meet other such like minded people.

Me being a carnivore to the core, my plate slowly begins to look like a ploughed graveyard with a side order of corpse. Any meat that doesn’t peak my interest I either don’t ask for or leave in the centre of the table where other carnivores can rip it to shreds, what can I say, it’s like a food bonding experience.

I leave feeling full and of course like a gluttonous T-rex, I get home and plonk myself upon my bed or sofa and watch some television like the good slob I am. I f you want a mental image of this please read on.



Gluttony is the feeling that can consume you that makes you desire to eat more than that which you need. A great deal of information lies around the internet and in books about one of the seven deadly sins which is gluttony, featuring tales of gluttons all around the world, many stories find their rots around rich and well off kingdoms that have a gluttonous king who can never be satisfied until people serve him his just deserts.

http://www.deadlysins.com/sins/gluttony.html

Personally when faced with a mountain of meat I demolish it, no two ways about it. Anyone who watches is stunned by the abilities of my stomach and my metabolism to clear space for such a great deal red meat and for that I am glad because the next day I always feel amazing. The rush of either protein or the feeling of fulfilment keeps me wanting to do it every few weeks. When the food is that good as well, it’s not very difficult to see why Kings and such like would take a fancy to a banquet and eat more than their fair share.

Addiction

Alright, I know a lot of people will be thinking when reading this post; hang on addiction isn’t being bad, addiction is just something that happens, or that addiction only happen to other people. Well addiction takes many forms and quite a lot of the time addiction can lead to other sorts of bad behaviour as well as being a bad thing in the first place. I appreciate it is not as bad as truancy and other such subjects but this topic does link in to others I have and will discuss.

To start things off recently in gaming news there has been a perfect example of addiction in gaming, a game that no doubt many of you Facebook addicts have played and still play. This is Farmville (hence the articles picture).

http://kotaku.com/5512410/12+year+old-runs-up-1300-farmville-debt

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/apr/07/farmville-user-debt-facebook

This is a perfect example of addiction, not bad parenting as many of the commenter’s seem to believe. The addiction here is very obvious, to advance quicker in the game the little kid decided to go and blow not only all of his savings but then raid his mothers credit card as well, resulting in a debt of over £900. If that isn’t a gaming addiction I don’t know what is.

Then again, stories appear almost every day that are to do with other sorts of game addictions, the main one being the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) World of Warcraft. With instances arising of people who get so addicted that they end up playing for such a long period of time that they not only begin to use adult diapers so as to be able to stay at the computer longer, they can even begin to deteriorate and after a while they can even die.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Two-Fanatic-World-of-Warctaft-Gamers-Have-Died-Becouse-Of-WoW-11821.shtml

This sort of story appears everywhere when it comes down to World of Warcraft as far too many people get far too addicted to the wonderfully formed game code (no I’m not a fan I’m just being nice to those who are).



In any case addiction is generally known to most as: cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. This is with good reason as these are generally the only addictions that most people encounter during their lives. This as I have shown is not the case.

Addiction is a bad thing, there is no two ways about it. When addiction gets hold of you you are dominated by it for great deal of your life in most circumstances. The most common being addiction to cigarettes, you no doubt know someone who is, whether they know it or not. There are other addictions shown in the paper from drugs to sex.

We even discussed masturbation addiction in sex education in primary school, possibly the most awkward discussion ensued where no one could keep a straight face or discuss their point without going bright red.

Well that’s my information on addiction and a little of my opinion, have fun and hopefully don’t get addicted to toe nail clippings.

Fast Food

Now fast food has grown in popularity as the years have passed. As work schedules have become more demanding and more and more families have less and less time to cook and spend time in the kitchen fast food has become an almost standard way of putting food on the table. This can mean that a family may not have a single home cooked meal throughout the whole week.

This would not be an issue if fast food was good for you, however this is not the case. Fast food has a great number of additives, saturated fats and other such nasties that your body can’t absorb properly. So by having a great deal of large unhealthy meals your body will begin to put on weight, this weight will not be muscle, it will be purely fat.

Many studies have been done to look into the different effects and problems that arise from a habit of eating fast food and all come to the same conclusion. Though it is indeed okay to have the odd one, perhaps a few times per month, having one regularly can severely damage your health and deprive you of essential fibre, vitamins, minerals and in many cases protein as much of the meat is severely processed and lacking its meaty qualities.

The other problem with fast food is its addictive qualities (addiction will be in my next blog entry). Many additives have been found in close to all fast food products in different establishments to be using ingredients that after a time without them they begin to produce a sort of withdrawal affect which can become increasingly problematic as time goes on, some people even begin to crave things such as McDonalds after eating their food over a few days.

This was shown to great effect in the film ‘Supersize me’, if you have not watched it yet I strongly advise you to do so. It is an amazing documentary that goes into great detail about a man who eats almost only junk food for a period of time. You get to see the severe decline in his, originally, perfect health. By the end his doctor tells him that if he continued to eat that way he would no doubt have a heart attack. Now think, he was in perfect shape, after a diet of fast food he became overweight AND at a great risk of a heart attack.

I’m not going to be a nanny when it comes to food though, I enjoy the a KFC or Burger King as much as the next guy, however try not to over indulge and is can prove to be deadly in the most severe circumstances.

For information on Super Size Me:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/

General information on fast food:

http://www.fastfoodfacts.info/

Also Would the picture below be considerred fast food?

Incest (Keep it in the family)

WARNING: This shouldn’t come to be a surprise to anyone that this post will contain opinions and a one sided discussion that could be conceived to have bad vibes. Well it is incest so.....

Alright I have no idea why anyone would want to commit incest, it just seem wrong in my head, even thinking about it gives me shivers and makes me die a little inside. But the world is made so that people are different and I suppose there is nothing more different that getting funky with your siblings and parents.

Though the media may make you think that incest has been ‘invented’ in the modern world, that is in fact completely untrue, it was also not done due to a decrease in moral standards or that some redneck decided his daughter was one hot piece of arse.

Incest was mainly shown in royalty, so as to keep the ‘royal blood pure’. The blood would then not be tainted by the blood of those out of a royal bloodline. This was done to a high degree in Egypt and also still shows its vile head in modern monarchy, even in the monarchy still in (mild) power in England.

My point is though incest is wrong (in my mind, it is weird) doesn’t mean it isn’t done for a reason. If they wish to have an increased vulnerability to certain genetic malformations and other such abnormalities, go for it, hit that.
KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY.

A little more about incest in Egypt

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/sexuality.htm

Arguing and Politics

INSULT. RETORT. COUNTER-RETORT. QUESTIONING OF SEXUAL PREFERENCE. SUGGESTION TO SHUT THE **** UP. NOTATION THAT YOU CREATE A VACUUM. RIPOSTE. ADDON RIPOSTE. COUNTER-RIPOSTE. COUNTER-COUNTER RIPOSTE. NONSENSICAL STATEMENT INVOLVING PLANKTON. RESPONSE TO RANDOM STATEMENT AND THREAT TO BAN OPPOSING SIDES. WORDS OF PRAISE FOR FISHFOOD.. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND ACCEPTENCE OF TERMS.

I thought that summed up an argument and politics very well. No I didn’t think of it, nor did I even write the idea down, pure plagiarism right there.
To start things off this will not be as long as my other posts, this is merely a brief opinion on arguments in general and also my lacking view and interest in politics.
Now though arguing, personally I try to avoid arguments, why? You may ask. Very simple, what do you normally get after an argument, you will have both sides feeling quite awkward with each other and one side feeling like crap, generally this person is the one with the most common sense and quite a lot of the time the correct point.
The person who comes out on top is usually the one who has either the loudest voice, biggest body or just they are so thick headed the other party gives up.

Sometimes, I agree, that arguments can indeed help, help you to discuss the issues that two people have, have a little blowout and yell random insults at each other, helps to relieve tension. However the main problem with most arguments is that one person is wrong. This is my issue with them, if one person is wrong why try to make something wrong into something correct, just because you say dolphins are hippos it won’t make them go rolling around in buddy water and put on a few hundred pounds.
The other problem with arguments is specific to certain people, you will know someone like this. They are the brick wall argument types, you will say a valid point and they will either say one point over and over, you will interject, they will repeat their point, you will stop them there, they will repeat their point again, rinse and repeat.

In all honesty that is probably my main issue with arguments as the only ones I seem to get into are the ones where my opponent seems to not be able to comprehend anything other than their own view which makes arguing pointless, it’s just two people reciting their brains to each other in raised voices.

Find your arguement type here:
http://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=673

Well here’s my long awaited view on politics. Now I couldn’t care less who gets in or out, or shakes it all about for that matter, as long as I have my internet, xbox, computer, friends and family. Really I couldn’t care less whether Labour takes control or a pack of weasels, it’s all the same to me. Every party will promise over 9000 different things and not commit to doing more than 1 of them during their time in power, everyone will moan and want to switch, rinse and repeat (what a lovely phrase).

I do however hope that at some point a party that knows it won’t win, Llamas for Lisbon or whatever, should just pull out all the stops and say that if they get elected they will shower streets with candyfloss and give every child a steam train, just a thought.

Cheating

Cheating is a nice little topic, not nice as in a little rabbit wiping its face on some grass, I mean nice as in most people will have something to remember when I say my usual contemplative question at the end of the post, or just leave you hanging like a complete douche. What can I say I’m an arse.

When there is a problem that you either cannot get past, or you just can’t be bothered to try because your mate is round or the girl you invited over has reminded you that you have no idea about, for example, cooking you may get the feeling that perhaps you could take the easy way out. No I don’t mean suicide that would be silly, you wouldn’t even be cheating death, I mean cheat, in the case of the kitchen, frozen microwave meals. When it’s games, it would be the use of cheat codes for extra lives and such.

Now I’m not going to talk about cheating in the form of infidelity as I don’t particularly want to repeat myself seeing as only a few posts ago I did about infidelity, if you are truly interested just do bit of backtracking, you’ll find it.

Now the moral ground for cheating is shaky at best as many people believe that you should never cheat in life, in anything. This is understandable as cheating does diminish the feeling of winning or accomplishment from most things in life and doesn’t give you the same satisfaction when you rub it in someone’s face.

On the other hand many people look at this in a completely different light. With many people not feeling any remorse when lying and cheating their way through life, they feel they should be able to cheat at the odd thing so as to ‘level the battlefield’. This isn’t exactly a very good view in my mind however as this would eventually lead to a world of liars, the complete opposite of The Invention of Lying (wow how terrible would that film be).

When it comes to education however I truly see no reason to cheat. If you do decide to cheat in an exam, not only will you never forget it but you will know for the rest of your life that you didn’t deserve the qualification. This gets to be very problematic for cheating computer engineers as perhaps the part they cheat on could come up during work and then, well, excrement would hit the fan.

Truancy/AWOL/Skiving

I can imagine that if you are a student, at whatever level, or at work you have no doubt pulled a sicky or just skived at some point in life. You may have had your reasons but generally it will have been that you couldn’t be bothered, or perhaps you had something better to do, such as a party, a shopping trip, a game release or you were quite simply too wrecked from the night before (you should have used my hangover helper in my alcohol post).

These phrases are all associated with different things. Truancy is generally associated with school, college etc, where if you leave the grounds when you are meant to be on them during a lesson you are marked as a truant. Playing truant can land you in a whole heap of detentions and ‘extra time’ with your teachers, oh and your mummy dearest will probably be called. Generally however playing truant doesn’t go much further than that, unless you do so repeatedly and then your parents can face a quite hefty fine as apparently you being a twit who doesn’t appreciate the FREE education you are given is somehow your parents fault, hell forbid you might have done so on your own free will because you’re a ragamuffin.

AWOL however is associated with the military, used when the target decides to go off mission and either return home or do some other task that isn’t sanctioned by a superior officer. This is far more serious than playing truant as there is generally a large consequence, not to mention the fact that someone could get hurt from you slacking off. Consequences can vary from dismissal to a fine, to a trial, so if you join the military DON’T go AWOL, trust me.

Skiving is just as bad as it sounds. You take the day off work or school because you can’t be arsed, there is no good reason behind a skive. If you skive you are a lay about and a twit, end of. This is the most common method of taking time off work or not going to school.

Then you have the less interesting sick days, where you ring up and fake that you were ill or some such, generally whilst putting a very ill voice on and fake coughing or sneezing a lot whilst down the phone. Then again some people get inventive and will say things that make the other person so uncomfortable that they don’t question them further and just say get well soon, my favourite are ‘I had massive diarrhoea in my sleep’, ‘I had my left testicle removed’ (men only) and my favourite ‘ my sanitary towel leaked’ (women only).

Which brings me to one of my many quibbles about the world. If a woman is late, bored, annoyed or otherwise they have the get out of trouble scot free card which is ‘lady problems’. Yes I appreciate it makes things very awkward but why can’t we have a sympathetic similar card, like ‘husband to receiver of lady problems’, I so reckon that should catch on.

I of course refer to the taboo to talk about menstrual cycle (to a chorus of ‘no shit Sherlock’) and not to the fantastic mathematical reasoning shown below.



For general sickness stats from 2005 (men and women) look below

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1577

Alcohol and Bingeing

Pretty much everyone has abused or at least tried some sort of a alcoholic beverage through their life, many of you will have done a lot more with alcohol than just try however. Those people are the future!

This post goes out to all of you who have:

1) Drunk so much you threw up

2) Drunk so much you forgot where you were

3) Drunk so much you forgot who you were

4) Drunk so much you thought why you were

5) Drunk so much you took something home you shouldn’t (other sex, same sex or just a cone or sign)

6) Oh and to students in general as ‘all of the above’ applies
Now drink is a great thing, gives you that extra edge of confidence, helps you see things in a whole other light (see LSD with government control), alcohol can even help you to increase your group of friends.

Let’s face it, alcohol is good. Even big medical professionals agree with me, in moderation (what’s this?) alcohol can be both beneficial and essential to keep your body healthy and promote a good heart.

Well, now everyone who has spent a night on the drink will have felt the after effects, some more than others. The acheing head, the random cuts and bruises that you were sure you never actually got but somehow have, the five numbers on your phone that weren’t there before and finally the best of all the random photos on both facebook and your phone showing how amazingly you composed yourself over the night.

Other than the photos the bad feeling can be explained very easily. Alcohol dehydrates you, so if you do not rehydrate before you go to sleep you will wake up with a headache as your body lacks water. So I’m going to tell you how to avoid having a headache for most nights, very easy.
Here are the steps I follow and they seem to work:

1) When you get in check that there is nothing on your bed, or next to your bed that is sharp or otherwise irritating as during your sleep you will either wake and not be able to get back to sleep or you will get annoyed and just break it. I did just this with glasses and dvd box.

2) Secondly you will want to drink as much water as you can possibly drink, seeing as you have been drinking the whole night this shouldn’t be too hard. Normally 2 pints is enough but more the better.

3) Thirdly you will want to take two paracetamol tablets and crawl into bed. Have a nice sleep and hopefully wake up for lectures the next day without a hangover.
I’ll close off this post with my personal favourites. If your reading this why don’t you comment with yours too.



Now generally I’m a whiskey man, Jack Daniels gets me through the night, he’s usually accompanied by a few vodka mixed things.

Well that’s it from me today.

Infidelity

Well after the lecture I can’t help but think that some people are far beyond help. Quizzed on the reasons behind infidelity and whether certain things are cheating or not, some caught my attention more than others, now some were typical: If you sleep with someone other than your partner, if you think dream sex is cheating. Now brace yourself do you think the next one is cheating

Train masturbation................................................ what?

No I don’t mean chain masturbation, though I would indeed say that doing that during a relationship would certainly be cheating, as well as a bit creepy out of a relationship (if you want more information type in Bukkake, or just pretend you know, I would advise you do the latter).

What was meant by train masturbation is those exhibitionists that decide to masturbate on trains. Seriously? That really is messed up, I mean just imagine sitting there on a business call or doing some coursework on the way home when you hear groaning from behind and BANG you need to wash your new suit jacket and by wash I mean burn.

Now infidelity is never thought of as a good thing which is understandable. It is a bad thing, no matter how strong your relationship is, it can destroy what is left of your relationship, or if you have a limited relationship as it is it could very easily demolish the foundations.

As was said infidelity is to do with many different things. Some reasons less justified than others, the first being the simple lusting after someone other than your partner, some just feel the need to have someone else.

Personally I don’t think I could ever cheat, I appreciate those are the words of doom, but I truly don’t think I have it in me to cheat. I go into a relationship feeling that cheating is wrong and that continues throughout, even if sometimes my partner does not.

I appreciate some people will experience a need to cheat, I don’t see why but there is always that minority who feels that way. Be it from the fact that the couple started their relationship without true feelings for each other or perhaps the relationship is open and though they have affairs they both agree that it is not infidelity, it’s just a part of their marriage.

The Independent takes a look at cheating and if a relationship can survive it, quite interesting.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/can-a-relationship-ever-survive-infidelity-our-experts-comment-465949.html

Bandits and Outlaws

Bandits and outlaws have been around forever, there is always someone who wishes to take advantage of the world by not necessarily legal means. Someone who wants to be that lump of turd on the bottom of everyone’s shoe, the only difference between them and the turd is that pretty much anyone with any self respect will remove the said excrement.

Bandits take many different forms; only few of these types of outlaws get given enough press to give themselves a true name and even a nickname, some are very infamous, these being couples like Bonnie and Clyde who held up banks and stores with little regard for anyone they came across, sometimes even gunning down the innocent.

To highlight a very famous bandit/outlaw/highwayman I would always reference Robin Hood. Why? For the simple reason that anyone you say the name to you will always get the same description, this being that he was an honourable man who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, oh and don’t forget that he was an absolute ace with a bow and arrow. After a little research you can find out a lot about Robin Hood and his merry men.

Robin Hood was not all he is cracked up to be. He did indeed used to steal from the rich, but he also stole from the poor as well, just not the poor that he knew and liked, almost an honour among thieves sort of idealism, of course this was not the sort of thing that you would want to tell your kids about and would surely not want to read to them before a full night’s sleep. So the story was adapted and morphed a little to fit the more idealistic views of the public and to make it more accessible to others.

Now I’m not saying that Robin Hood was such a bad guy, he did what he needed to do survive which is understandable. If you were forced to live on the streets and were given an opportunity to steal some money to keep your family out of the gutter, can you honestly say you would turn it down because you didn’t want to steal?

Bandits and outlaws get quite a lot of coverage in the media, especially those who reach a high degree of infamy, these can even get themselves their own movie, for example Tom Dillinger in ‘Public Enemies’. Some even get put into other pop culture such as Bonnie and Clyde who get featured in many different projects, from music videos to movies and television, almost always being referenced if a man runs away with a woman with the intent to commit a crime.

The idea of this person who does not abide by the law is cherished by a lot of creators of all shapes and sizes, from movie directors to game designers. This is generally because of the air of mystery that surrounds such people and the fact that the average people among us will never witness or take part in any of the activities that we are told about in the age-old crime stories.

For more information on some famous criminal couplings have a gander at:

http://listverse.com/2007/11/01/top-10-partners-in-crime/

Bad Film

Well a very interesting lecture appeared out of what was a very simple lecture plan. We were to watch a film and find out a little about why and how a film portrays the feel and look of bad person. Or at least that’s how I went into the lecture.
My general feeling of a viewing that would be suitable for the class was of something far more tame than the semi aptly named film ‘Kids’. I should have expected that the film was to be quite offensive in some way after the lecturer actually told us that the film would be offensive from the get go.

The film focuses on the lives of a group of teenagers, one of them finds out he has AIDS, he finds out he gave it to a girl he had sex with a while ago, shit then proceeds to get real until it finally ends with a huge blow out of a house party that ends the film with a rape between two of the main teenage characters. The film then ends with a vocalisation of one of the main characters aims in life, which summed up is that he would rather die than not have sex.

Now moral of the story is very simple, USE A CONDOM, oh and also don’t get AIDS. Though that should be sort of obvious as no-one would want that.

Next on the agenda for this post is what I thought about the film. Now I can sum up my feeling of the film very easily as my feelings didn’t change very much until the end. Now I constantly felt a feeling of unease all the way through, be it from the awkward kissing scenes or the very annoying ‘gangster’ like actions of the main characters.

http://www.badmovies.org/movies/

With reference to the link above which features an A to Z that has a list of all sorts of different bad films, not of people doing bad things, the films are just terrible.

These were what I was expecting from the lecture and though I was shocked I was definitely pleasantly surprised.

Drugs

Ooooooh, a nice little topic here, oh and by little topic I mean a broad and interesting topic that has many different views shared by many people around the world.

You get drug campaigns telling you to never touch drugs and to report both users and dealers. On any channel that can be watched by a teenager there is guaranteed to be an advert for FRANK (http://www.talktofrank.com/) , the ‘talk to us about anything, especially drugs’ helpline.

Now I appreciate that yes, many people are misinformed about drugs and seem to have no opinion on them other than the opinion spoon fed to them by the government but really? A whole helpline to do with drugs? I’m sure the money that goes into the helpline and the advertising can’t be worth it. If you actually need to speak to someone about drug use either:

a) If you really have no clue about whether you should take drugs, stick to the simple rule of DON’T.

b) If you know a friend is taking drugs and you want to help them to stop SPEAK TO THEM NOT A HELPLINE.

I know some people are too afraid to do so, I appreciate that I really do, but with how many help lines are available now you would have thought that there should be no problems in the world, but guess what, there are.

Well anyway, that’s my rant on drugs and the whole health and safety annoyance spinning around in my head dealt with so let’s move on with the post.

---------------------------------

There are lots of different drugs on offer these days, ones that make you hyper and bounce off the walls, some that make you slowly drift in and out of sleep so you’re in a haze of tiredness. Hell there are even a few that make you see flying unicorns and giant purple frogs (you think your dreams are messed up, wait till you see a purple hippo cruising down the street riding a dragon, yeah I see you cowering).
For all the bad things that I say about FRANK though they do have a great A to Z of drugs that are known around the world. If you wish to know more just visit the website: http://www.talktofrank.com/atoz.aspx

In any case there is pretty much a drug for everything in this world. All of them being discovered pretty much by accident, some scientist realises a tribe in some distant land has been chewing and smoking a certain leaf, BOOM cannabis is realised and brought to the west. Someone notices that certain parts of the poppy plant can be extracted and used, VOILA here comes Morphine, Heroine and other derivatives.

With so many plants and such around the world there is no way of knowing what they can be used for, if you think about it before major colonisation there were forests everywhere, with plants growing in abundance. Just think what those now gone forever plants could do, maybe nothing, but perhaps one of those that was pushed to extinction before major scientific advancements could have cured Alzheimer’s?

Onto my opinion on such illicit substances, now I’m not going to say I’m a saint, why you may ask, well because I’ve already done a post on lying and that would be hypocritical. However I am also not a junkie. I won’t go into what I have tried in my relatively short amount of time alive and I will let you guess my fancies.
The reason I say this is, firstly I cannot be bothered to find out background information to supply you guys and girls about the few drugs I have come into contact with and secondly because of the fact that some may think that my experiences may influence my thoughts (which is completely true).

Now I have no problem with the use of marijuana in both medical uses and also in casual recreational use as there has been no concrete evidence of harm from such use, however regular daily use is another story, that can cause ‘lazy sperm’ in guys and a lower sex drive in both males and females.

Other than the previously stated marijuana I have a pretty much universal view of drugs. From cocaine and heroin to LSD, I am against there use mainly down to the general issues associated with the usual abuse of the product after first use.
All in all that is the main problem I have with drugs, the overuse and addiction of the substances. A carefully administered dose would generally have very limited side effects.

Which nicely brings me round to my last point, the legalisation of various drugs. I see no reason as to why many drugs cannot be legalised, by doing so the government could tax the products and control usage. Though with all sudden legalisations there would be a binge period and the media would latch on and bite hard it would, in my opinion, lead to a more stable and controlled usage of drugs. Hell if all else fails it would at least cleanse the gene pool of those stupid enough to binge on heroin and such like.

If you wish to know more or find out about a drug have a gander over at the aptly named
http://www.drugs.com/

Pornography

Pretty much from the start this topic links into my previous post on masturbation as though porn does create jobs and is a growing industry the main reason for porn is to excite people. I’m not saying excite in an action film kind of way, I’m looking at it in a more party in my pants kind of way.

Porn existed many years ago, yes even before the invention of VHS, DVD and even you guessed it, the internet. Amazing isn’t it people used to secretly choke their chickens to porn even before the use of video.

First it was very simply more voyeuristic in essence, watching people literally having sex where they would pay, like a peep show (not the TV series, sex is not generally comedic, unless it is REALLY bad or someone falls off the bed/couch/seat or out of a car).

After this came images, be they on canvas or more standard images such as photographs.

Then we get to the standard these days, video. Originally it was generally focused around the borrowing and purchasing of these ‘dirty’ videos. Then as the internet became more accessible porn became an amazingly lucrative business as there are countless videos that people are willing to pay to view.

Paying to view content is around all over the place, if you have any sort of TV or computer you have access to it. On TVs you just have to go to the last channels on the list and there they are, the ‘dirty’ channels, the adult channels, those you were told never to go near when you were younger. All the same you went on them to find yourself either strangely fascinated or repulsed.

(Information from website below)

The statistics are truly staggering. According to compiled numbers from respected news and research organizations, every second $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography. Every second 28,258 internet users are viewing pornography. In that same second 372 internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines. Every 39 minutes a new pornographic video is being created in the U.S.

It’s big business. The pornography industry has larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined. 2006 Worldwide Pornography Revenues ballooned to $97.06 billion. 2006 & 2005 U.S. Pornography Industry Revenue Statistics, 2006 Top Adult Search Requests, 2006 Search Engine Request Trends are some of the other statistics revealed here.

Pornography Time Statistics

• Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography.

• Every second - 28,258 internet users are viewing pornography.

• Every second - 372 internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines.

• Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States.

(From http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html)

In my opinion porn isn’t a bad thing. On the contrary I think porn is actually a pretty good force in the world, instead of becoming frustrated sexually you can let off some steam, so to speak.

In this day and age no industry is safe from the economic crisis

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4165049/US-porn-industry-seeks-multi-billion-dollar-bailout.html

Used in my blog for a few statistics and such, I didn’t even touch on half of the points voiced throughout the article.

http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html