Random Spurtings Of A Philosophically Decaying Mind

2004-01-12T09:16:00.000Z

Designers Behaving Badly
Some People Just Don't Think

These links illustrates the number of people who just don't seem to have the innate ability of basic thought. My favourite of the above is on the Designer's behaving badly link. It points out one of the most illogical designs I've ever seen, and no-one ever says anything about it. And the worst part is that it's on your monitor right now. Of course, this would be the wonderful creation that Bill Gates and his entourage have provided you with - the toolbar at the top of the internet explorer (apologies to Netscape users). Try it now, float over one of the buttons and ask yourself why they decided to make it more visible when you've already found it? This is the the most obviously backwards piece of designing you will ever see.

2004-01-05T11:35:00.000Z

I hope everyone had a good christmas, or as I call it: The Annual Period Of Acquisition. Because that's all it seems to be in my eyes. I don't know anyone who goes to church on Christmas day to celebrate Jesus' birthday. Chirstmas is a time of year to acquire all of the things you've never got round to getting over the last 11 months.

Personally I'm anti-religious, and only celebrate Christmas for it's commercial exploits. However, I do not mean this selfishly. This christmas I spent more on presents than people paid for mine overall 'cause I'm such a damn nice guy.

Having said that I'm anti-religious, I do separately celebrate Jesus' birthday on 25th December aside from the commercialisation. Also, at various points throughout the year I celebrate David Blaine's, David Copperfield's and Derren Brown's birthdays. The 4 Greatest magicians that ever lived.

2003-12-10T13:54:00.000Z

Today's lecture on being "too religous" was the most violating experience of my university life so far. People who believe that it's okay to read the bible in public (and I mean out loud) should be shot on sight (not that I believe shooting people is right either). I do not want to hear people reading from the bible (or any piece of literature for that matter) whilst I'm doing my christmas shopping or on a train to somewhere.

Anyway, isn't reading from the bible in public some kind of performance copyright infringement. Are they paying royalties to the decendents of the those who wrote the bible. Do they have a busking licence for performing this pap in public? I think not! I say we slap them until either their face turns orange or our hands turn orange!

"Religion prevents our children from having a rational education; religion prevents us from removing the fundamental causes of war; religion prevents us from teaching the ethic of scientific cooperation in place of the old fierce doctrines of sin and punishment. It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion." - Bertrand Russell

"The fifth commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill. But when you think about it, religion has never really had much of a problem with murder. In fact, more people have been killed in the name of God than for any other reason." - George Carlin

In case you've forgotten the ten commandments that you've probably broken nine of

2003-12-03T13:26:00.000Z

All those who showed up to the Bad Cinema session, you may have seen the film "Kids" whilst you were there (I say that you may have seen it because you may have slept through the whole thing or maybe you had a slight hangover).

Anyone who wishes to see more information on the film, try one of these websites:
All Movie Guide - Kids
Larry Clark: Genius Or Dirty Old Man?

Now, this film is littered with examples of bad behaviour. For example, Insults. I considered this film to be an insult to my rear-end whilst I had to sit there and watch it.

Somebody said to me after the film that "it was the second worst film I've ever seen!" When quizzed on what the worst film actually was his response was none other than "Titanic!"

I had to disagree. Anyone who has seen the film "In The Company Of Men" will understand what I mean.

2003-11-27T11:24:00.000Z

Well from now on I will not be commenting on anyone elses blogs, nor will I be adding any images to my blogs because I've already met the requirements for an "A" on that part of this assignment. However, I still have more blogs of aver 50 words to do and I still have to do some more blogs of over 50 words and I still need another 5 relevant external websites. So I best get cracking so I can rest easy this Christmas, and not have to worry about blogs.

I found yesterdays session strangely interesting. Personally, I don't have any tattos or non-intrinsic holes in my body and i don't see any appeal with getting any. I don't find them attractive or unattractive (unless they decorate the body in excess) and I have no problem with people who have them. I have a few friends who have tattoos and are strangely proud of them. Fair enough if people wish to decorate their body but people don't have to be "proud" of it. That strikes me as silly and unnecessary.

Thats all I really have to say today. Maybe I'll say something a bit more worthwhile soon.

And just in the interest of meeting the criteria here's a couple of interesting web sites to browse:
Ananova - Tattoo Robot Unvieled At High-Tech Fair
Is Tattooing Safe?

2003-11-24T11:22:00.000Z

The session on masturbation was very interesting. Full of interesting stories about poeple's "friends" and plenty of double-on tondra's from Mark. Thanks for an entertaining session on such an interesting topic. It would've been interesting if there was a female practical demonstration.

I have been reading blogs on this subject today and came across Michael Jackson - Who's Bad by Leanne. Something she said interested me. She said:

"Masterbation is definately a subject that is not talked about alot. Maybe people feel it's just that little bit too private?"

I wouldn't blame people for treating it as a private subject. By definition, masturbation is a solo activity (except when you have someone else who's willing to do the work for you, which is often welcomed) and is acceptably treated that way in discussional terms.

However she went on to contradict herself by saying that "...men just like to talk about it with their mates about and women prefer to keep it a little more private."

I don't know about any of the other men reading these blog pages but masturbation is not something I'll sit in a pub and discuss with my friends. Sorry, Leanne, but your making generalisations based on a small group and I consider this to be bad behaviour.

Any of you who have been on Google and typed in "Masturbation" for a search then you may have come across this link:

The Ultimate Male Masturbation Resource

2003-11-17T11:42:00.000Z

I'd like to comment on Haseeb Shafiq's blog (which is oddly entitled Bad Boys Bad Boys What You Gonna DOOOOOO) in the interest of hopefully meeting the criteria for this assessment to get an A. He said that "Famous people like Brad Pitt
who smoke in films are sending out negative images to young people especially the ones that are at a vulnerable age." This may be true but Brad Pitt is a 40 year old man (yes, 40) and if he wants to smoke in front of a camera then we have no law to stop him. He's even more welcome to it when someone is paying him millions of dollars to do it, in my book. Good luck to ya Brad, you rich b*st*rd.

Although I do agree with his comments on smoking in a workplace full of smokers. I too am a devoted non-smoker and I work in a pub where a lot of the customers smoke, the majority of the staff smoke, the boss smokes. It's not the smoking that bothers me. My clothes don't even smell of smoke when I get home. But for some reason, there is a very strong smell of the dry unsmoked tobacco on all my clothes. This confuses me and probably will for a very long time.

I have a treat to satisy all you non-smokers out there to comfort you in your choice of not smoking:

Smoking is a hobby you will never see me taking up. This is for the simple reason that I'm a borderline alcoholic, and that takes up most of my funds, so I can't afford to smoke aswell. But, seriously, smoking is not something that has ever appealed to me as a good idea and never will, so if you ever see me with a cigarette then I have Double.

For any of you who I have inspired to want to stop smoking (ha, ha, ha, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!) then take a look at this web site:
American Lung Association - Quitting Smoking

Arrividerci

2003-11-08T14:20:00.000Z

I have been reading alot of blogs about the bandits and outlaws session where many people have been asking the question about whether bad people can be considered good for what they do. See Joanne Foreman's and David Law's blogs.

The key to this all down to perspective. For example, when we watch a James Bond film, we always want 007 to defeat his enemy and come out on top as the good guy. But what about films like "Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrells" where the film is based around, who we would consider, the "good guys" stealing money and drugs from people to cover their gambling debts. Does this sound like good behaviour to anyone here?

We obviously like these characters and can take a different opinion on what they are doing. If any of you lads out there saw this film as a teen then I'm sure you've found yourself donning a cockney accent and quoting phrases like "...guns you tit!" and "The entire British empire was built on cups of tea." We do this because we like the characters and think they're cool, which is an illustration of the "cool=bad" hypothesis.

To see this in other films you could think about "The Italian Job", "Swordfish" (until we actually find out how bad John Travolta really is), pretty much any of Quentin Tarantino's films, and many more. Is there anyone who didn't think Jay & Silent Bob were cool whilst they were stealing the monkey (BONG!).

It all depends on perspective. A website for y'all to check out since you have time to waste reading my blog:
Ned Kelly's World

Snuchibuchi's

2003-11-03T13:09:00.000Z

I recently read Nichola J. Kings blogs again Is Blaine Bad Or Mad? and was interested by her reference to Jim Steinmann's "Left In The Dark". This also got me thinking along a very musical direction of how bad behaviour can be demonstrated. Then it hit me...one of the most amazing albums I've ever heard, Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory (a concept album), tells a 75 minute story about a man who has dreams of someone who was mysteriously killed in the past, which he later finds out actually happened. The story of her death involves lots of lying, betrayal, infidelity, murder, etc...

This album may not be to everyone's taste musically, as it is progressive rock with alot of metal influence at some points, but the story involves alot of bad behaviour which makes very interesting listening (and watching if you get hold of the live DVD or Video). Anyone who wishes to read the lyrics can see them at Dream Theater - Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory - Lyrics.

"This feeling inside me
Finally found my love, I`ve finally broke free
No longer torn in two
He`d kill his brother if he only knew" - From "Finally Free"

2003-11-03T12:49:00.000Z

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I have been reading Simon J. Chinn's blog and I found his comments on infidelity to be very interesting. In particular his comments on betrayal. He said "To not be found guilty of betrayal we would have deny self and live for others." This sentence contains an interesting idea - denying the self. This is not possible without driving yourself to an untimely death through not being able to eat incase someone needed you for something (at which point, even dying could be seen as betraying people).

If we consider Descartes ideas in relation to that sentence "To not be found guilty of betrayal we would have deny self and live for others." then this would not really be possible, as Descartes stated that the only thing he could ever be sure of was that he existed in some way, "I think, therefore I am". This would mean that the people you are betraying may not even exist. How could you betray people who don't exist?

(Sorry, just trying to introduce some theoretical philosophy to the blogging)

This is Rene Descartes, who I speak of. A very unusual and interesting man.

2003-10-23T10:51:00.000Z

In the spirit of bringing new conversation topics to the Blog boards I'd like to question the ethicity (I think i've just made that word up) of creating artificial intelligence. We've all seen the Matrix (you may notice this recurring theme running through my blogs) and if you haven't, you should've done. The Matrix was based around us creating artificial intelligence and then it outsmarting us. I found this article that relates to this idea German chatty bot is 'most human' which shows once again (but this time in competition) more use of deception for personal gain (see previous below). Once again, we must ask if this is bad or not. I leave it open for your blogging discussion.

2003-10-20T11:48:00.000Z

I found Nichola J King's blogs (Is Blaine Bad Or Mad?) to be interesting reading today. I first read the David Blaine rant which lit my flame of curiosity as to whether he is being bad by exhibiting such behaviour as starving himself in public or decieving people with his illusions. Does this mean that the entire Magic Circle is a bunch of unethical Cartesian nightmares? Personally, I think not

The second blog made by Nichola regarding religion's effect on our conscience and morality was also interesting. The idea of everyone being guilty of the "original sin" is in my eyes a ridiculous one to put it lightly. Should I be held responsible for Auschwitz or Pearl Harbour when i wasn't even alive? Although one thing that the religions who hold this belief of the "original sin" has got right is something not common in most other fields of religion: CONSISTENCY. At least EVERYONE is born with the original sin and not just some.

However, this consistency is rare in religion. For example, the "sanctity of life" (The idea that all life is sacred). Why is it then with it's humans we call it abortion, but when it's a chicken we call it an ommelette? Who said that we're better than chickens?

Anyway, I've seen the marking criteria and I know I need to link to some images to get some good marks. So here's the first one of my Blog experience. It's an Escher painting which is very strange. I thought it might fit in with the whole deception being bad thing that David Blaine and the Magic Circle have going for them in the recent blogs.

2003-10-16T09:29:00.000Z

I'd like to comment on an act which I consider to be bad that occurred yesterday on our blog boards: Manipulation of facts.

This is aimed at the post made by Jeanette Macrae (nothing personal) in her blog, "Jai's Web Logs Things".

She said, in her comments about us living in a material based world and any literal meaning behind the phrase "Money makes the world go round", that in our exercise of what people would do if they could get away with it "70% of people held money based answers".

This statistic is a blatant guesstimate and is a tool of a journalist to make articles seem more factual then they are. Whilst I was in that lecture I was not aware of any surveys on what was written by the masses and I'm not aware of anyone who stayed behind to analyze the contents of the scrap paper we'd been writing on.

This is what I would call "Watchdog Syndrome". BBC's Watchdog was known for reporting that 90% of all PlayStation 2's in this country were shipped with faulty power leads. What they had failed to point out was that this survey was based on a sample of 32 people who had complained to Watchdog about their PS2 in general. This is a blatant misuse of statistics and is, in my opinion, bad behaviour.

My apologies to Jeanette Macrae, nothing personal was intended by this blog.

2003-10-15T13:58:00.000Z

Two blogs in one day. Wow. I'm gonna sleep tonight!

Just a comment on the WOLF Being Bad Weblogs board. Will people get their ******* blog address right because I'm tired of manually editing their address in my web browser!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2003-10-15T13:52:00.000Z

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My introduction into the PH1000 Being Bad module has been interesting to say the least. I have entered into it as an elective part of my first semester psychology course.

I chose to do psychology because essentially I'd like to know how people think (wouldn't we all?) but I think I've learnt more about the way people think from the introductory classes in this module than I will in the whole of my Psychology degree. Some of the, shall we say, "odd" things people have committed to paper in the first lesson's anonymous activity of "What's the worst thing you've ever done?" raises interesting questions about the sanity of the philosophy students I have seated around me once a week.

To the person who, in that activity, said they killed their best friend out of jealousy and dumped their body in the Thames - I ask you...

If I need to do an analytic case study for my psychology course, can I study you, but from a distance?

That's my random spurting for today! Cheers me ol' fruitbats!