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It is exciting, but when you really think about it, its quite obscene too. Yes, I’m rolling out the ‘cost’ argument again. I feel uncomfortable knowing that the government are funding the Olympics at huge expense and at the same time refusing some women Herceptin which could prolong their lives, give them more time with their kids and now this new liver cancer drug has been refused by NICE too. I know the Olympics is a much better thing to fund than wars and the ‘Dome’, but when homeless charities, drug rehab centres, hospices, battered women homes etc are crying out for funding and not getting it, then I have to say I find the Olympic spirit (complete with skull face) to be distasteful to say the least.
Simply reading a poem and trying to understand it is ‘analysing’, don’t you think? We can never really know what another person is thinking or trying to say because we can’t actually get ‘into’ their head and feel what they are feeling-we can only guess with our ‘theory of mind’. So a would-be poet has to interpret what they are feeling into language which can be a difficult task to say the least, then perhaps commit it to paper and the reader has to assimilate the poem and interpret it all over again, often in the context of their own life, experiences and language skills. The meaning is likely to be so distorted that I wonder why we bother writing poetry at all because no one will ever really understand what you’re trying to say.
I think most of us probably agree that much ‘academic analyses’ just seems so beyond what is sensical just like art critics comments (anyone watching the BBC2/4 Beauty season on visual arts? The things they say about art seem ridiculous) and I sometimes think these people deliberately do this to exclude the ‘ordinary person’ like myself, from entering into their realm and to give themselves an air of credibility when what they’re doing is just very simple. Anish Kapoor was a prime example of this last night on ‘Beauty’. Then, most of us ‘simple folk’ are too scared to say, “hang on a second, that’s just a polished concave bronze mirror-what it does and how it looks is rather appealing but its nothing to do with ‘humanity’s struggle with the inner tragedy caused by his metaphorical expulsion from Eden which was a result of his curiosity and desire for knowledge, however forbidden'” Its just a beautiful object that says whatever the viewer wants it to say and so you as a would-be messenger will always fail in your task of trying to convey anything. Don’t give us your unintelligible comments on it.
I’m going to make a (pretentious) confession now: I am a huge fan of haiku and waka.
Have you ever gotten a friend to do a true blind test upon you jen_jen? By that I mean get one ‘natural’ product and another standard cosmetic most people use and then apply them to you so you don’t know which is which and see what happens?
One of my friend’s husband has a ‘mysterious illness’ that nobody can put a finger and one that has had calamitous effects upon his family. He was convinced certain foods were causing it (also gut parasites, environmental toxins and now M.E.) so we suggest a blind test which he was dead against and become very defensive about-“You lot don’t believe me, but I am ill” etc. Anyway we persuaded him to allow us to do a double blind test upon him (where the even person administering the food types doesn’t know which is which) and sure enough his symptoms did match any particular food type and and the things he said would make him really ill didn’t and vice versa. But of course he made the result unfalsifiable by claiming cross contamination (which we have been very careful to avoid) or a new ‘allergy’ had developed etc etc. Nothing we said would convince him otherwise even in the face of true evidence that foods weren’t his problem.
Anyway, he retired from his work aged 38, his family live in a financially precarious situation, he contributes nothing to society, he can’t work because of his ‘fatigue’ but has no problem joining in when we suggest an indoor skiing day (until its his time to look after the kids then his fatigue sets in!) or when he has to attend one of his ‘breathing workshops’ somewhere in the UK! Make of it what you will but I’d suggest he has a psychological problem rather than a physical one. Its still an illness but he’s addressing it inappropriately.
I see. But if personal interpretation is what its all about then what’s the point of somebody carefully crafting a poem about the death of their favourite cat only to have a reader interpret it as meaning the decline in Western moral standards or something? The role of the author becomes meaningless unless what the author wants conveying is conveyed! We could interpret anything in anyway by that token and it becomes worthless.
I wasn’t suggesting that any poetry was ‘bad’ in any way, jen_jen
So what constitutes ‘natural’ and ‘non-chemical’ for you, jen_jen? Bodyshop products, for example are supposed to be ‘natural’ but have you read the ingredients on the side of their shampoo for example? Chemical after chemical. Water is a naturally occuring chemical, so is lanolin or sunflower oil or Evening Primrose oil and morphine and cocaine and lead oxide….
I’m looking forward to the Olympics but I’ll be staying firmly at home and watching it on TV! I went to the Commonwealth Games in Manchester a few years back to watch some of my favourite events but was so disappointed because the views were naturally from one angle so you often missed the full glory of a vault, a particularly good floor exercise or high jump. Naturally there were no action replays so it was over in a second and never got a chance to see a gymnasts legs not being held together and hence losing points and you didn’t get the benefit of an expert commentator explaining all the nuances of what was going on.
So, I’ll be leaving it to Auntie Beeb to show me everything I’ve become accustomed to.
I suppose you have to think, ‘Make up has been around for a long time and there seems to be no decreased incidence of cancer in those that don’t use it (men)’. Or perhaps we should all be for animal testing of everything that comes near us? :shock: Or perhaps we should like like people did 6000 years ago. I think I’ll just carry on doing what I, all my friends and people I work with, family etc with have been doing for years and years with no ill effect.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Thanks for the welcome Will.
Nicotine is a bit of an exception to the rule, but the concentrations of nicotine in the patches has to be really high to get a therapeutic dose into the system. The gums and inhalers are much more effective and controllable. Those Ibuleve gels you can buy, to rub onto joints are rubbish at controlling pain until you get them at prescription only high doses. Most of these things work via the placebo effect which is an incredibly powerful effect that we underestimate. Next time you have a headache, try Sellotaping a couple of paracetamol to your skin and see how long it takes for your headache to disappear. If you’re ever giving birth or having a broken leg reset, ask the obstetrician/orthopod to squirt the pethadine onto you skin for pain relief and see how loud and long you scream. The skin is a very effective barrier but not a perfect one. I seriously doubt, jen_jen, that rubbing every day substances onto your skin led to your ailment and anything that is absorbed through your skin is easily dealt with by your liver/kidneys. As for allopathic medicine, its the best thing we have and 99/100 it works really well. I’d rather have medicines than wave a crystal over my head or have some quack hold their hands over me in Reiki healing etc! Hopi ear candle anyone? :wink:
Don’t believe everything you read on Wiki, by the way. One of my students altered all the terms and definitions on an anatomy Wiki page so that his pal would come into Uni the next day and get everything wrong when I quizzed him or pointed things out on specimens! It worked!
And there’s even more mercury in the fillings of your teeth, leaching out constantly and sea fish that you eat….
