June 19, 2012

Judging The Person by The Shoes




Is it just me, or is it quite funny that a study about guessing people's personality from their shoes was carried out in Kansas?

Ok, it's maybe a bit left field, but come on? Dorothy? Toto? Ruby red slippers?

Anyway, here's the science bit. Researchers at the University if Kansas found out that judging a stranger's personality by their shoes is 90% accurate. In fact, it even goes so far as to say that you can work out their gender, age, income, emotional stability and politics from someone's footwear.

Jeez, who needs astrology when all you need to do is check out their clogs?

I was going to call on my science degree for the whole 'Aim, Method, Apparatus, Results, Conclusion' thing, but let's be honest, science is only cool on TV when you're a character on Criminal Minds or CSI.

So the guinea pigs were asked to put on the shoes that they wore most often and complete a personality survey.

It wasn't rocket science to work out that those with the expensive shoes earned more cash or that extroverts tend to have fancier shoes.


Anyway the researchers who viewed 208 photos of shoes noted that agreeable people wore practical shoes, calm people had uncomfortable shoes. Liberals had cheaper and shabbier shoes, whereas the people who liked to take care of their footwear may suffer from attachment anxiety. Ankle boots tend to be worn by those who people who have a more aggressive personality.



So that leaves Dorothy as an extroverted calm person who likes to wear the shoes of a dead witch?

Oh well, who said 'you can't judge an Indian till you walk 10 miles in his moccasins?'





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June 18, 2012

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

There are so many moral dilemmas in this story that I'm not even sure where to begin. It is, in all honesty a mine field for a practising philosopher.
I'll tell you the story though, as best as I can, without any of my views.
Last week, a family in Texas had a gathering of some people round to their house. Other members of the family were outside tending to the horses, when the father came back indoors and caught one of the 'guests' allegedly sexually assaulting his 4 year old daughter. The father then repeatedly punched the alleged attacker in the head, the attacker was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 4 year old was taken to hospital to be examined before being released.
According to CNN, Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon said, "You have a right to defend your daughter. He acted in defence of his third person. Once the investigation is completed we will submit it to the district attorney who then submits it to the grand jury, who will decide if they will indict him."
Wow, tricky situation on a number of accounts but surely, we can all accept that it is wrong to kill.
Fact 1. Initial autopsy results showed that the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Fact 2. The person who died is only an alleged child molester, they have not (and now cannot) be tried in court. There are no unbiased witnesses, only the report that the father found his daughter with Jesus Mora Flores and his underwear at his ankles.
Fact 3. The father of the 4 year old must live forever knowing that he took someone else's life.
Now I know that the father is apparently very remorseful for what has happened, but he can't take away the fact that another person died at his hands. Ok, there may have been some underlying reason for the death of the other person, but only time will tell.
So here is my predicament. Is it ever right to kill?
I know that it is wrong to kill. However, I have no idea what I would do to someone I caught molesting my child.
What I can say with a heavy heart is that, my tree-hugging hippy, Wiccan earth mother persona would get tossed out the window as some demon possessed version of Xena Warrior Princess would appear. Even more of a worry is that, I'm not sure that I would be able to stop if they hit the floor.
I guess it is really true, you can't judge an Indian till you walked 10 miles in his moccasins.

As a foot note: the father will not be charged, here is the link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18522383
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June 13, 2012

Why the Olympic Torch is Important

Its not every day you witness history in the making, but today was the exception.
Today, the 13th of June 2012, I saw the Olympic torch.
It's a bit like the build up to the gala day only on a much larger scale. The police are about and patrolling the streets, Central Scotland Police & the Met as well.




The people begin to line the streets, school children standing, eagerly awaiting to see what is going to happen. People come out from their place of work on an extended break, partly because they can and partly to see what all the fuss is about. I daresay that many of them had the same initial reaction as I did, with the nonchalant, 'whatever' and rolling eyes heaven ward.
But it's more than that. Way more.




There is the bus with the torch bearers, all immaculately dressed in their London Olympic 2012 white track suits, all waiting their turn to share this historic event.
There are the crew of organisers speaking quietly into their radios giving and receiving updates on where the convoy is and when it is due to arrive.




The convoy involves police motorbikes, who not only wave at the crowds but go and touch the outstretched hands of school children, all delighted to be involved. The big police BMWs with 'Metropolitan Police' emblazoned down the sides, windows down, again waving to the crowds in the street, lights on with the occasional siren come next, drawing yet more interest from the bystanders, radio and tv crews.




Then come the convoy of sponsors buses. Handing out some items to school children and old people alike, no one is exempt for the party atmosphere.
At the beginning of the route, the torch bearer comes out of the bus to massive cheers from the crowd.




Where we were, torch bearer number 46 stood with a face awash with pride for what he was about to do. Some of the staff from the surrounding offices, ushered the kids to the front of the crowd for a better and much closer look.

Tom Sreeves spoke to the children and answered all their questions, he posed for photographs and took his time to share his honour with us, the public.

It has to be said, the torch is beautiful. For some reason I expected it to feel cold and a bit rough around the 8000 perforated circles, but it doesn't.

When the torch is lit, it is done in a circle of met police officers all in matching silver shorts and tshirts, the only way you know they are police is from the warrant cards proudly displayed on their arm. Like a precision operation the flame is safely passed from one person to the next.




And that is what today was all about, inspiration, pride, joy and us all coming together in celebration.




It's not everyday you witness history, but, today on the 13th of June 2012, I touched the Olympic torch.


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Olympic Torch


It's a bit like the build up to the gala day. The police are about and patrolling the streets.

Complete with a special appearance from the Met


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June 10, 2012

Zombies or cannibals, which is more socially acceptable?


I try really hard to blog about different subjects, you know, the ones that attract your attention, make you laugh, grimace, scowl, cringe, give you the 'dry boak' (I know it's a Scottish word, but it'll do y'all no harm to learn some words in another language) or a combination of all of the above.


Unfortunately, I'm finding myself writing about zombies and cannibalism again. So, yeah if that means I'm a sick depraved individual who is starting to appear on some real dodgy lists out there in the stratosphere then so be it.

It should be no real surprise that I've unearthed some more cannibalism/zombie stories from the worlds news recently. It's actually quite gross that there are more and more stories of people getting bits of themselves eaten, in fact bizarrely enough the recording of 'Criminal Minds' was about a cannibalistic killer who fed everyone searching the woods for the victim a very filling stew..... Oh yeah, the meat was the missing girl.

Bleurgh!

So then, what stories do we have so far?

Well, Canadian bisexual porn actor Luka Rocco Magnotta being arrested for the suspected torture, killing and eating of someone.


In Japan, Mao Sugiyama had his male genitalia removed then offered them online to diners as a ¥100,000 or about £800. Just for your information, 5 people coughed up the money and ate his 'bits'.

The Miami man who was shot dead because he was in the process of eating someone's face, incidentally the victim is STILL alive

The Maryland student who was charged with killing and eating his flat mate.

The Swedish man who cut off and ate his wife's lips, by the way, she is still alive.

The Texan woman who ate her infant son.

The man from Louisiana who argued and bit a chunk out of his ex-wife's new husband.

So then, is the beginning of a zombie apocalypse or is cannibalism gradually becoming socially acceptable?

Im actually laughing at that sentence, but it is certainly doing the trending thing on the likes of twitter, yahoo, google blah blah.



Perhaps when Stephen King had said that there was something comforting about the end of the world, he was actually making sense.

He said, 'Everyone assumes they’ll survive; all of their current problems, which seem so daunting today, are suddenly, conveniently irrelevant; and all you ever wanted is just lying around waiting for you to pick it up, including everything you need to fight off the Army of Darkness.'

Much as I would like to think if there was some apocalypse on the horizon that encourages us to eat one another, I would become an amazing shot with a cross bow, I would probably be the unfortunate vegetarian trying to eat your face.

But that's another dilemma for another day.


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June 7, 2012

What To Do Instead of Watching Two and a Half Men

22 minutes and 22 seconds can be a really long time. OK if you're asleep between snoozes of your alarm, it's a very short time, I'll give you that. Generally though I'm sure you'll agree that it can be a long time, especially when waiting in a queue for the ladies toilet, being stuck behind a tractor or in a hospital waiting area......(not sure quite what that says about my life experiences)



However, I'm absolutely positive that you'll agree 22 minutes and 22 seconds while not taking a breath would seem like an absolute eternity. I mean, how would you pass the time? Would it be like when youre in a hot sauna and all you can think about is how hot it is?

Not so for Tom Sietas a 35 year old German. I have no idea why his age or nationality matters to anyone, but apparently its important to all the reporters relaying the story.

Anywhoo.... This guy has a huge lung capacity, which I suppose goes without saying if you can hold your breath for over 20 minutes. His lung capacity is 20% larger than the average person for his size. However, if you increased my lung capacity by 20% I'm still not sure I could hold my breath for 2 minutes, never mind the other 20.


Much as I would like to report that Tom discovered his breath holding ability while lying under foamy bath suds one Sunday night, it wasn't. His 'talent' was actually discovered by his suba diving teacher, which does seem like a bit of a let down.

Anyway, Tom was competing alongside the previous world record holder (maybe that should be world record breath holder), Ricardo Bahaia from Brazil. He only managed to hold his breath for a paltry 20 minutes and 21 seconds.



In order to make this 'task' easier, Sietas says that he lowers his metabolism by not eating for 5 hours before hand. To help them out, they start submerged in colder water about 5C which later on gets raised up to a much more hospitable 40C.

I find the whole idea of holding your breath for 22 minutes totally bizarre. I mean, breathing is something you have to do to to stay alive, so why would you want to practise not doing it?







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June 4, 2012

Having an Old Friend for Dinner

We all know that I love a bit of urban fantasy fiction. A bit of vampires, werewolves, witches and necromancers, shapeshifters, elves, fairies and zombies. Please note the use of the word 'fiction'.

This brings me nicely (or gruesomely) onto THE bizarre story of last week. The man in Florida who was shot dead whilst eating another man's face off..... Rudy Eugene, for some strange reason, pulled Ronald Poppo out of the shade, beat him up and was in the process of eating the last remaining 25% of the 65yr old's face when police got to him. After failing to stop munching, the police finally shot him.

Then we had the story of Canadian police looking for Luka Rocco Magnotta a 29 yr old self confessed bi-sexual porn actor who has done lots of posting. This included posting body parts to Canada's Conservative Party Headquarters, posting a video, imaginatively titled '1 lunatic, 1 ice pick' where he actually filmed the murder and posting some random blogs on how to kill folk and get away with it. Charming eh?

Then..... We had the story of the man in New Jersey who was intent on self-harming, well himself obviously. When the police broke in to his house to prevent him doing any damage to himself, he ended up throwing his intestines at them. Definitely a bad day at the office I'd say.

Want more? In Baltimore, Maryland, student Alexander Kinyua was arrested for killing and eating the brains and heart of his flat mate, Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie. The motive is still unknown.

This ultimately leads to the whole 'zombie apocalypse' headlines appearing in the news followed very closely by the jokes, fake/comedy twitter accounts and hash-tags. I could blame the whole social media thing and say that it has effectively wiped out the traditional period of mourning and shock at something really tragic happening. Everything happens so much faster today than even 10 years ago. It could also be said that anonymity on the likes of twitter and Facebook can add to even darker and more bad taste jokes being aired.

It was only when reading through this blog, that I realised I am totally guilty of the same thing. I can't help it, it's my main defence mechanism in dealing with things that are too horrible to contemplate, especially when they are true and real. I've relayed 4 gruesome stories and thrown in a bit of ironic humour. After all these cannibal jokes are in bad taste (10 points if you got the really awful joke there).

Surely this cant be the future of entertainment? Trolling the news for items of bad taste in which to joke about makes us the zombies, we become immune to humanity and feed on the pain of others. The way I see it is gallows humour is one thing but looking for unfortunate or tragic events to poke fun at isn't humour at all. I admit comedy is about knowing where that line is and dancing across it every so often, but it is a very hard thing to do without offending someone, somewhere.

But for now, there is no zombie apocalypse. Just some disturbed people out there with no one in a position to help them or care for them and no safety net for mentally ill outpatients, unfortunately this could mean that a whole load more people get killed while the world works out what to do with those who are mentally unstable.

In the meantime though, I recommend that you read 'World War Z' and 'Feed' just for some ideas on how to survive.......just in case the CDC are wrong.