Terry's blog

2010-12-16T05:30:00.001-08:00

A Sad Star Shines With A Christmas Commendation

As we near Christmas we hear of amazing tales of selflessness, generosity and kindness. We use Christmas as a time to think of others and be thankful for what we own, are able to gain and for the people that are closest to us. However, there is one man, whom I have met with, who puts others before himself to an extent that I could not have possibly imagined. This young man had been through some of the most extraordinarily traumatic circumstances and yet, to a monumental level, he maintains the greatest possible emotional attributes that any man can ever maintain. The love for his family and the ability to battle through the toughest of situations all add to his wonderful charisma and respect for other people.

Matthew Sanders(False Name) was born in Blackburn, where he lived on a council estate for roughly five years. During this period, Matthew suffered the first in a series of traumatic events. "I was molested when I was younger, I was five years old." He went on to reveal an even more daunting fact. Matthew's exploitation was committed disgracefully "by a member of the family". "I knew that it had happened. I kind of kept it down and kept it in but it came out when I was having a conversation with my mum when it happened to her as well, by the same family member". His mother was also harassed by the same man, her own father. The man was eventually sent to prison for twenty-six years, and died during Matthews young years. Matthew seemed to smile as he stated he was "not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing".

After five years in a Blackburn council estate, Matthew moved to the countryside where he spent most of his teenager years. However, during his early teens he was faced with another emotional blow. When he was 14, his mother had a serious stroke and had to view it with his own eyes. He went "to play cricket, came back, walked in the door and she was led [Lying] on the floor". His face saddened with the memories of this traumatic time, and he would remember for the rest of his life.

During his first year of University in 2009, Matthew experienced a year of fun, excitement and crazy antics and still describes his university experience in a highly positive light stating "I love it". However, a year that was suppose to break him into the world of higher education, turned out to be a year of suffering. His mother was suffering from a number of "TIA's, which are like mini-strokes" (Transient Ischemic Attacks). This put a massive amount of strain on his emotional life, his social life and his educational life. "In regards to the Uni, I lived a couple of hours away so the logistics of getting back when she needs me or anything is quite difficult". It is understandable to assume that going back and forth would have made his University work suffer yet he selflessly continued to visit his family as much as he can, however difficult it was. He normally had to "carry 10 or 12 books back at a time, your lap-top all your clothes and stuff".

Even during this rough time he was still friendly to everybody and he would rarely let these traumatic events get to him. "I kind of forget it when I'm with people, it's when I'm by myself that I have trouble". His absolute respect for the others around him allows him to take comfort in the company of other people, even when we spoke his politeness and manners were impeccable. "It makes me feel better when I'm with other people". Even though his outside appearance portrays a sturdy emotional level, the feelings about himself move in the opposite direction. "I tend to overanalyze everything it's happened in all times of my life, like my now ex-girlfriend". Even after analyzing himself he still comes to this conclusion. "I would hear something from someone about me. Whether or not its true, I would analyze and I would worry about it."

Following the situation with his mother, Matthew was faced with the biggest set back of the lot. He was told in 2009 that he had been selected for the England under 21's cricket team. Not long after this amazing news he suffered a little accident. "The day after, I dislocated my knee". Who would have thought that this accident would have lead to a whole new wave of suffering. "They found a tumour in my knee, it was a cancerous tumour, it is very rare in people my age". From this, Matthew deduced one simple thing. "When I heard the word cancer I thought…death". Suddenly, University had become the least of his worries and started to panic about what to do next. "It gives you something else to think about".

This is where Matthew truly came into his own. Some people may see this as selfish, whereas others will see it as heroic. I see it as one of the most courageous stories I have ever heard. Matthew decided to tackle his illness alone. He went through a gauntlet of treatment all by himself. "I was on a drug, I can't remember the name of it. I was having injections, I was having radiotherapy. I had other problems, I had DVT (deep Vein Thrombosis) so I had to have morphine and all these other drugs. DVT pretty much runs in my family, my mum's had it and my brother has had it." His radiotherapy treatment was the harshest of them all as every other fortnight he would have to attend it. "For the first couple of weeks they had to strap me to the bed because I kept moving". I was then hit with the reasoning of why he chose to do this alone and the extent of how alone he really meant. "I didn't talk about it, I didn't tell my parents about it". The reason he gave was unreal about my mum". I suppose because his mother was suffering from strokes, any tragic information like Matthews cancer could have easily caused another one.

His selfless acts touched my heart as much as I hope they will touch yours. However, Matthew remains a positive thinker, and a kind and devout son, brother and friend.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel and Matthew has recently been given some news which, I think we can all agree, he definitely deserves. "I have the all clear now, and I don't have to go to hospital for another 2 months". Matthew is not the only one who is recovering. "My mum's in relative health, she has not had an episode for about 7 months now." All in all Christmas is about giving, and one thing we should all give Matthew this Christmas is a huge amount of respect, to recognize his bravery and to see him as an example of what selflessness really is this Christmas.

For more information on child abuse visit: www.NSPCC.org.uk,
Or if you wish to make abused children happy this Christmas visit:www.NSPCCwishes.org.uk. Also if you need further information about Cancer or wish to donate to a Cancer Charity visit: www.CancerResearchUk.org.

A day in the life of the life in my garden

2010-10-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

The main message that i wish to portray is a day in the life of the life of my garden, is through the decaying of nature and how that decay is still as picturesque as fresh nature. In my photographs i wish to show great contrast between the rotting and the fresh, and how, albeit opposites, they create a matrimony of visual pleasure. I wanted to highlight this in my photos because i believe nature is one of the only true constants that exist. What i mean is, eventhough aspects of nature decay and rot, it is still a continuous act of nature. Even after a plant decomposes it puts something back into a natural ecosystem which is used to create new natural organisms. In brief, the circle of life. A stangnant or rotten pond will always be a home to another kind of life form. The contrats of the rotting against the fresh is similar to the contrast between light and dark. They are two opposing moods that need each other to have a reason to exist. The same is similar with fresh life and decomposing life, they oppose each other, yet they need each other. I hope that the photographs being presented will represent these views and are as entertaining as you may wish them to be.

A weathered gnome smiling in the fresh morning light.

A proud and powerful bird full of energy, enthroned upon a weak and withering tree.

A hellish, decomposing flower glows with a fiery aura, standing against the chilling afternoon breeze.

You will always find life in the darkest of places.

The apple never rots far from the tree...

Darkness envelopes the restless living, soothing it to sleep.

Keynes has been hailed as both the saviour and destroyer of the capitalist system. Why?

2010-08-15T04:49:00.000-07:00

Taking into account the present economic conditioin of our country, the history of economic disasters such as "The Great Depression" and the world economy, John Keynes' theories on the "Multiplyer Effect" and the "Circulation Theory", can help to determine why he has been hailed as both the saviour and the destroyer of the capitalist system.

To start, we can analyse the battle between Keynesian and Monetarism ideas and why the clash of the two can highlight reasons that Keynes' theories may have saved or destroyed the capitalist system. Monetarism, a selection of theories put forward by Milton Friedman, suggests that the goverment should have little say in any kind of buissness. During Margaret Thatcher's reign as PM (Prime Minister) in the 1980's, she used this idea duirng her term.

Althought part of monetarism was successful during Thatchers term, Keynes had to step in with his theories to sort out the 80's recession. His main theory used was a term known as "stagflation". It starts off with increasing government spending which, in turn, gave people more jobs or "government waste" jobs which people would always be needed for. The idea that you should "pay people to dig holes and fill them up again" is a prime example of this. People get jobs, the money they earn is used to perchases, which in term sorts out the recession.

On the negative side of things, people earning more money means that prices in shops increase. This happens when employment rises. The rise in employment rises the Aggregate demand, leading to higher prices in shops. This then means that people cannot afford things anymore. Wages will rise, people will get paid more to do their jobs more "government waste" jobs become available which pay more than normal. These jobs were prominent during the US "Great Depression" and lead to the forthcoming problem. Overshooting or undershooting the aggregate demand will lead to inflation, where the pound becomes almost worthless. Unemployment and inflation rise which is where the term "stagflation" eventually comes into play. This Keynesian theory suggests that inflation will never be low, suggesting that this destruction to a countries economy makes Keynes a probably destroyer of the capitalist system.

An idea that made Kenynes a temporary saviour for the capitalist system was the "stimulus package". In times of economic downfall, the government would print money to give to people to spend. To give a practical example for this we can use the USA. Let's say that george bush decided to give everyone in the country $200 to spend at their will. There is a man named Dave that runs a television retail service. With this spare $200 people go and buy his televisions as they have the money to do so. This is good for Dave as he has made a massive profit and the money that he has earned, he is able to spend in other places. So to make himself more money, he uses the "stimulus packages" that people gave him for televisions, to buy a larger number of better televisions. This money he has spent has now gone to someone else which also helps the economy. This is a reason why Keynes may be hailed as the saviour of the capitalist system, as it
leads to a higher Gross Domestic Products, increasing consumerism, which eventually leads to an economy boost. The boost is a good thing and because of this Keynes can be hailed as a saviour of the capitalist system as this theory allows a countries economy to grow.

However, with every action comes a reaction and the boost that the economy gets because of the "stimulus package" is only temporary. The money which Dave spent on his new televisions, has now gone to waste because people no longer have the available cash to spend. Dave is forced to sell the televisions at less than he paid for them, leading to his eventual bankrupsy, lack of money and finally unemployment. This completely disrupts the natural market, and will lead to a fall in the economy, clarifying the fact that even thought Keynes could be seen as a saviour of the capitalist system, it is not permanent. In this light, Keynes can be seen as the destroyer of the capitalist system.

The "Paradox of Thrift" is a term which can help to understand why Keynes may be seen as the destroyer of capitalist society. This is a reaction to the "circulation theory", another of Keynes' ideas. This can also be a result of the "stimulus package" mentioned in the previous lines. The money from the "stimulus package" gets put into buisnesses which then spend money on other companies etc. The money is then spent the same way, going back into "circulation" as is to say. This does make Keynes a saviour of capitalist society, but that is without possible complications which i will now explain. Where the "Paradox of Thrift" comes into play is where rather than spending money, people will save it. The money which could have been spent on a buisness, is not spent which leads to the recievers also having to save money because of a lack of income. This does benefit the people saving, but the money is not going back into the economy, once again decreasing the GDP, the AD and increasing unemployment because buisnesses may save money by sacking employees. This increase in unemployment once again makes Keynes the destroyer of capitalist society.

To conclude, Keyens can be hailed as both the saviour and destroyer of capitalist system. While Keynes' ideas are exceptional on a temporary basis, like the "stimulus package", the after effects of his theories create astoundingly negative effects on the economy as a whole. The "circulation effect" cannot be wholly successful, especially when the results show increases in everything bad for the economy. Keynes can be hailed as the middle man of the capitalist system, his theories provide a good basis to becoming a saviour of economic growth, but some of the concequences or reactions to his theories could destroy the capitalist system.

Writing assignment: Gonzo Journalism

2010-05-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

He was outside wokingham train station at about midday. He had a firm handshake and a relatively trusting voice as he said his greetings. He was dressed in a greay suit with a stripey gray tie. It looked a little cheap. He was also carrying a black case with a silver handle that looked rather old. He led me from the station down the road. While passing, the 12:31 to Reading had just pulled in. An idiot decided it would be a good idea to psuedo-heroically get across the level crossing while a train was at the station. Luckily for him it went the other way.

Walking from the station i asked mark about the current day. He had not been up to alot. He mentioned he had just released his manifesto on his website. Lots of people had apparently commented on it. "Some comments were good and some were bad" said Mark. "However, as a new politician that is expected." Another train went the other direction. It was the 12:36 to London Waterloo. The train had excessive graffiti on it. One drawing stated "cunt". It dictated a feel of anger and oppression. Mark commented that it was "disgusting".

Upon walking into town, he was harrassed by passers by. They were mainly women in their middle thirties. They said that his attempt at politics was futile. MArk ignored them but looked at the with a degree of sinicism and hate. He walked proud with his head held high. His steps were jagged, as if stumbling. The stony road was not the most even of things. It looked more like a crevis than a pathway. He crossed the road infront of a blue ford fiesta. It was one of those boy-racer types that cost about five pence to make. It had loud drum and base projecting out of the window.

He waved me into Cafe Nero. Lots of people recognised him. Some of the people were young kids that did not know who he was. He waved at them, and they nervously waved back. They seemed friendly. There was an old couple sat in the corner who also waved. Their wave included a happy smile which Mark reciprocated. He approached the counter. They employee asked what he would like. He was obviously a fan. They discussed the current political standings and asked what Mark thought the election outcome would be. Mark was certain it would be a hung parliament. The employee looked confused. He must not have had enough political intelligence to understand what was happening. MArk ordered a black coffee like it was all that he drunk in there. Lo and behold, it was his first ever visit to Cafe Nero. He said "it is important for a politician to be comfortable in all situations and surroundings". Another customer overheard and snarlled. Mark sat down in the middle of the room. Mark seemed to sink into the soft leather sofa as he gently sipped his coffee. He spoke of his current standings and his excitement for the election. He was sure he would not win a majority in wokingham, but he was confident in gaining some votes. His hand gestures were just as he spoke, conveying a positive and confident attitude towards anyone who took interest in his views.

About half way through his coffee, he was approached by another human. A tall man also dressed in a suit, but alot more groomed than Mark was. They spoke professionally about current affairs. However, there was a sense of tention between the two. The smartly dressed man turned out to be John Redwood. Wokinghams conservative representative. They continued to speak between themselves until Redwood departed with a sompetative handshake. Mark continued to sip at his coffee still discussing wokinghams future. He spoke of the development of a shopping centre and how he thought it would destroy the towns pub-managed economy. He said that getting rid of a pub in wokingham is like taking away steering from a car. It will go all over the place.

MArk finished his coffee with a refreshing breath. He left the premises and strolled into the heart of town. Outside the town hall he spoke to the mayor. The MAyor wished him good luck in his future endevour and parted with a firm handshake. He walked around the back of Iceland. He spoke of the day and said he had buisness to attend to. He enetered his car. It was quite a nice car for a politician, however he also owns a large company known as Trademark Windows. He drove a jet black Lexus which was highly polished.

He drove off with vigilance around the corner and left view. Walking home there were people talking about Mark.Mainly elderly ladies that mentionned that they saw him. When asked, they said that they wont vote for him because it would be a waste. He is not one of the main parties so it would be a waste. MArk was pleasant but lacked reality in what he was doing. He was not convinced that he wouldnt succeed. Still, His courage has led him to become a well known figure in Wokingham's society. It is a local town therefore everyone knows everyone. He was a pleasant man.

New journalism

2010-05-01T05:31:00.000-07:00

In brief, New journalism was the introduction of literary techniques in reporting. Punny headlines we are so used to now are a result of Tom Wolfe's journalism. It brings flare and with certain linguistic techniques can also influence you.

Using onomatopoeia, like in Wolfe's book "The electric kool-aid acid test", can become catchy to a reader, cause imagery and make readers imagine things that they might not wish to, subconciously giving them ideas and views.

Headlines are not the only thing. Even in the reports themselves tom wolfe would use linguistic techniques such as alliteration, to grab the readers and make them read on. Readers subconciously submit to linguistic techniques without knowing which allows journalists to subliminally influence people, hence the great success of the Journalistic media nowadays.

Background of the Sexual Revolution

2010-05-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

The sexual revolution was profoundly involved with the hippie culture of "free love" in the 60's - 70's. They believed that sex was a biological phenomenon and thus, lots of stonned orgies occured. Its background can go as far back as The Enlightenment (marquis de sade) and can even be traced back to the victorian era. You could look at it with the jacobean period also with the uprise of the Radical, diggers and levellers.

It is definately not a "holy thing" seeing as it the sexual revolution was at the time of the disregarding of christian power.

The mass media helped a great deal. Most americans now had television and decent radio, so the popularity of the "free love" culture was broadcasted world wide so people all over the world could be influenced by what they see and hear. The fact that few people owned these media outlets, meant that their views could be put into place (similar to the political swings of newspapers noweadays).

The introduction of the pill made contraception easy, so people were increasingly able to have free unprotected sex without the consequences of bastard children. Condoms were also mass produced.

And here comes frued!! Hearts for phycoanalysis. The whole oedipus complex arrose with children apparently wanting to shag their parents. The oedipus complex describes this. Oedipus's father gained a prophecy that his son would eventually kill him and marry his mother. After Oedipus was left in the forest to die, he returned, killed his father (which he didnt know) and married his mother. O dear.

William riech was also important to this. Mysteries of the organism was a revolutionary film and invoked the breaking down of "body armor" to cause "orgasm reflex" which linking to frued, braught back happy childhood memories, maybe causing desire for their parents.

All is prevalent to the sexual revolution as sex was seen as a way to break away from the boundries of society and power and was a leading factor for the 60's and 70's "free love"

The Assent

2010-03-09T04:36:00.000-08:00

A great Existentialist film. I will only write a short para on it as most people watched it in the lecture last week.

AS we said the week before some existentialist films are pretty weird, and the assent was no exeption. Angles watching how we live from above is a strange concept to think of and to think about how they would percieve us is intersting. These Angles have no idea about anything we do or the reasons for doing so. The existentialist part comes in where one angel talks about he doesnt feel like he exists because all he does is watch people. He is envious on how people on the world can feel and experience emotions and tasks, as it means they have a history.

Overall it was a good film. If anyone didnt watch it i would recommend it to see a good tke of an existentialist film.

Existentialism

2010-03-09T04:22:00.000-08:00

Existentialism is a strange philosophy to examine. If we take the main idea of it i.e, not caring about anything, or having no reason for doing things, it can take quite a strange route in the way we look at ourselves. Some people will say they dont care about something, at least once in their lives. But, normally it turns out they do. Is this Existential? The way people see reactions of uncaring people on their outer shells? It might not be as they may be doing it for a reason.

The idea that History stops you thinking that your nothing is quite an important one also. The only way we can clarify our existence is through historical things we have done in the past. As was said in the lecture, existence comes before essence, as our essence is determined by our existance.

There are a couple of films which are interesting to watch, and i do recommend watching them so you can see existentialism in a different light. Equilibrium is one them. It describes how humans greatest need is to feel like they exist, and the only way they do exist is be their history. The industry in the film believed that feelings and emotions took away your essence as sometimes you may become depressed, hyperactive etc. This would in tern change your essence and make it seem like something that can be played with. Everyone in the world of Equilibrium has no emotion, no feelings. This makes them Existential. An example of this would be the industries slaughtering of dogs. In a non existential world that would be an outrage because people care for a look after dogs. In the world of Equilibrium, this is not the case. The dogs were slaughtered because they changed peoples emotions, or essence.

The Matrix also encompasses some ideas of existentialism. People trapped inside the matrix are technically not using any of their true emotions because everything in the matrix does not exist, they are just computer programmes. Outside the matrix, in the real world, people who have been free'd can have a history, allowiing them to exist and have true emotions.

If anyone would like to add anything to this please comment.

The machine age to our time

2010-02-13T05:48:00.000-08:00

After watching a clip of Marcel Duchamp, i came to the conclutsion that everything seems to come down to some sort of sexual innuendo or allegory. His window, and like the buildings mentioned in Bauhaus, can be seen as machines. The architechture of Bauhause movements are functional and built for purpose. Like Duchamps window, the background of the buildings change to whatever is neccessary or needed at the time. Thus the allegory differs on the scenario, yet the buildings or architecture still function as they are scientifically meant to, with reason and with explanation.

Machines are built in a way that resembles sexual activity. A small example would be the way pistons work in a car motor. Constantly thrusting in and out of a cylynder does indeed resemble the physical act. Duchamps window is a product of machine, if so the outcome. So to resemble the sexual act as a product of a machine allegorically resembles some functionality of the way we live today.

The window represents the profund love which we experience today with the machine-like functionality of the sexual precedure. Its scientific and can be explained and described the same as any kind of allegory or machine that exists. The process of being able to sleep with a woman is seen the duchamps window through allegorical means. The life force, or semen, is created through the grinding process and then spurted up a tube but meets a block were you just have to watch and observe and love. The same thing happens in architecture. The buildings are erected and meet a point where they need to be looked at and admired. The same as the women on the top half of Dechamps window.

This explanation is very raw and brief, as Dechamps modernist cubism, if so, i found quite difficult to come to terms with and link with Bauhaus. If anyone could help me with this i would be very appriciative as i found it rather confusing as you can see above.

Orwellian examples of "Newspeak"---- Duckspeak

2010-01-10T08:24:00.001-08:00

"Newspeak" is an Orwellian term which is a away of influencing the thoughts and reactions of others through language. If you look back at my previous blog on euphemisms then the way this works will become quite clear. It is wrong to say that "Newspeak" is just euphemisms because it isn't. One word derived from "Newspeak" that i have chosen is a word called "Duckspeak". Some of you may of heard of this and others may well have an idea of what it could mean.

In brief, "Duckspeak" means to actually quack like a duck or to speak without any recognistion of thought. Speaking without thinking basically. "Duckspeak" can either be good to use or "ungood". Now, to speak lies and talk about random bollocks is obviously not going to be a very good thing to do. However, doing it for the greater good, i.e politicians will use "Duckspeak".....alot, is a positive thing.

In orwells 1984, there is an explicit example of this at the begining of chapter 9. An Inner PArty speaker is describing the crimes of Eurasia until a peice of paper is handed to him. He then condemns the crimes of eastasia. The speaker has not thought about what he was saying at all, but for the good of the party he has had to read of paper, without stopping his previous speaking, without thinking.

One of the main humerous ideas of what i call "Duckspeak gone wrong" is definately with George Bush.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EvNJWM_NDg

It is an example of "Duckspeak" because he is clearly not thinking about what he is saying as he is reading it off the back of some paper. Not only that the speaches were probably made for him anyway. However, it is not noticed because he is or was the president so whatever he would say would be good in the mind of people anyway.

An example of "duckspeak" as in random stuff coming out of someones mouth is this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQIek1XIKaA

This guy obviously has no idea what he is talking about and the fact that he doesnt makes public viewers worried about the fact that he has not done his job properly or attempted to do it at all by the soiund of it.

"Duckspeak" can be seen as a humerous subject however the realities are very true. Sometimes, without us knowing, people can fool our minds into thinking something different to what is being said. Again, the example from 1984 can show the importance of this.

Orwell and politics- modern euphemisms

2009-12-07T05:02:00.000-08:00

Orwell's essay, Politics and the English Language, highlighted one of my favorite aspects of the english language. Euphemisms. As Orwell pointed out, politicians are full of confusing jargon, using complicated lexis to convey the most simple of ideas or comments. Not only that, euphemisms used by previous politicians and leaders, hide the real aspect behind them. Euphemisms let people react in a better way, rather than giving them the shocking truth.

Alot of these euphemisms started to occur during the Iraq war.

Friendly fire: term used to describe military action on ones own side or allied forces. (Came from United States Military, stupid bastards)

Shock'n'awe: The use of overwhelming power, to demolish the opposing side and destroy their will to fight, also known as Rapid Dominance.( Came from United States Military, thick bastards)

Collateral Damage: Dead Civillians (Probably American)

Department of defence: Department of War (America ...again)

Soft Targets: Bombing of civillian targets (Yeah you know who did it)

Neutralise: Kill

You can see, especially with the last one, that It sounds better to say these words because it takes away the shocking nature of what politicians actually mean. Neutralise doesnt even sound like something has been killed, immobalised maybe (Immobalise- break or use force to stop working).

Orwell described this perfectly throughout his book and also in 1984. The ministry of truth obviously being a euphemism for the ministry of lies or control. The ideas of surveillance and control through the use of euphemisms is extremely important in the film. Orwells genious really was foreshadowing the events of today.

I leave you with a short video of another euphemism that came to light in the heat of war. Extraordinary Rendition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0MjAzFeNbU (the 0 is a Zero not an o)

Freud's ego is huge!!

2009-10-20T02:05:00.000-07:00

To follow last weeks lecture i thought it would be nice to look into Freud and his ideas for the psychoanalytic theory for personality. It was a breakthrough to look into the human psyche at such a deep level and to look into the way that humans present themselves in and out of their own bodies.

A humans personality, according to Freud is made up of three different functions. The ID, Ego and Super-ego. Each one has their own role in determining persona and creating complicated behaviour.

1) ID

You could say that ID is the animal instinct that lives in it regardless of what we do. ID is present from birth and in it exists the most basic of needs. If we were to look at ourselves as an animal we need the basic things to survive. Primitive behaviour is what the ID is and encompasses the Pleasure Principal. Basically, we strive for our needs, our desires and what we want. If these needs are not or cannot be met, it creates anxiety.

For example, A new born baby is hungry. He cannot talk yet so the mother does not know until the ID of the baby makes it cry to get its needs.

You cannot live on this principal alone, if had a craving for something you may find yourself stealing from someone or killing them alltogether to satisfy your ID.

Freud sudgested that the ID resolves some of this tension throught the Primary Process where the ID forms a mental image to keep us happy.

2)EGO

Ego deals with reality. Freud states the EGO is conjured from the ID and that the EGO can fullfill the needs of the ID through simple acceptable manners. The EGO functions in all states of mind; concious, preconcious and unconcious.

The reality principal gives itself to the ID and supresses its desire through socially acceptable ways. It measures the pros and cons of an action before acting or ignoring. Some the ID can be happy through Delayed Gratification where the EGO will let the ID do what it likes in the right situation.

Also, through Secondary Process, the EGO can get rid of the ID's tension by finding an object that is similar to the mental projection created by the primary process.

3) SUPER-EGO

This is our morals and ideology that we gain from our parents and society. Right and Wrong. It helps us to make judgements and starts to play a larger part after about 5 years of age. The EGO IDEAL is a concept that controls the rules for acceptable behaviour, those which are aproved by parents or authoritative figures. These give us a sense of pride and fullfillment. On the other hand the Consience hold all things that a viewed as bad by parents and society. Most are not allowed and can lead to worse things. Often the Consience leads to guilt.

The SUPER-EGO stops all our ID's bad urges to make the EGO act upon standards rather than principal and is present in all states of mind.

Freud had the idea of EGO STRENGTH. Those of you with good EGO STRENGTH can manage the pressures of the ID. Those of you with too much or too little can become very disruptive.

Which one are you???

Conspiracy theories and theorists

2009-10-13T02:39:00.000-07:00

We live in a an age with conspiracy everywhere. Whether it be on a personal or global scale everyone has a conspiracy theory on something. As a very big follower of conspiracy theories, and also a believer of some, i'm going to highlight some of the most famous and show how they all link to the documentary we watched last thursday.

1) Attack on the World Trade Centre, September 11 2001.

The amount of conspiracies that came out of this horrific attack was mind blowing to look at. One Idea included that demolition charges were placed in the buildings which was quickly passed aside by demolition experts saying that it would have been noticed and recognisable by the way the buildings fell. People believe that the plane that hit the pentagon was actually a missile, that the american government knew about the attacks before they happened and that the planes were controlled remotely. To highlight Anti-semitism in the last lecture it was also beleived that 4,000 jewish workers in the world trade centre failed to turn up to work on that day. To link it further you must think back to David Ickes and his belief that the Jewish community rule the whole world. See the similarities? However, with my own research I have found numerous sources that can make you think about whether or not 9/11 was really planned or not.

Firstly, the information i used to help gain some of this information was also from a conspiracy killer website, basically a website of the american government.....http://www.america.gov/st/webchat-english/2009/May/20060828133846esnamfuaK0.2676355.html .......So anything this website says is going to be bias towards the american government regardless.

Secondly, the only footage that the FBI will let the public see from the petagon crisis is this video which explains the possibility that the "plane" was actually a missile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRK8QFvXyfE

Not only that, the Pentagon has the most amount of security cameras in one place, IN THE WORLD, and the fact we can only see one peice of footage from this raises quite a few questions, also the fact that this footage was found from a gas (petrol) station.

I will leave you guys to look into this for more info.

2) The death of Princess Di and Dodi Fayed.

Only a couple of conspiracies but feasable none the less.
The First being that they faked their own death to get away from the media and everything else that was following their lives.

The usual driver of the mercedes was not actually driving on the night it crashed. Henri Paul was the driver of the car and he died and was aparently wisked away from hospital afterwards, did this man even exist? Now a 121mph crash would have definately killed everyone in the car so it could not have been going that fast. The body guard was the only one to have surved and he was believed to have links to MI6 which is another theory that they were responsible for the death of DI

6 Hours before the crash DI revealed that she was about to get out of public life permanently, she revealed this to a reporter called Richard Kray.

David Icke, which we learned about last weeks, is one of the key conspirisists as his ideology is the basis that all other conspiracies are roped upon. That a secret government that no one knows about is able to dish out death and judgement asd they see fit to keep us under control and to stop us asking questions. This being anti-semite is an ideology that sticks with Icke alone and other right-wing extremists around the world. Reavealing conspiracies and looking into them is a hobby of mine but does not represent my views on society.

If anyone would like to add to this with their own conspiracies i would appriciate it as it is a very large topic of discussion.

I will leave you with one of the best sources of terrorism conspiracies for your enjoyment..

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-8136133221213939183#

Epistemology- a basic run through

2009-10-06T01:56:00.000-07:00

Epistemology was one of the words that came up in the last lecture and to be honest, i had no idea what it meant. So i thought i would post something up to help everyone else if they also had some trouble understanding this, or even wondered what it meant.

In brief, epistemology focuses on the understanding of knowledge and justified belief. It asks questions to gain knowledge for this like---- What are the conditions of knowledge? What are the sources?And what structure and limits does it hold?

Epistemology focuses on the justification of your own beliefs. How justified are your justifications? Is this internal or external to your mind? It has alot to do with the creation of knowledge in specified areas of investigation.

Knowledge comes in many different forms, which you all should know. Things like the knowledge of certain subjects, how to do things, how to deal with problems and specific areas of interest.

This is simply outlined with a very simple scenario and deals with the conditions of knowledge through epistemology.

"Tom knows that James has gone to the park"

Through this we see toms knowledge is that james has gone to the park. But how do we clarify this? Through investigative means (like investigative journalism). What we ask is--- What are the necessary conditions for tom to know that james has gone to the park.

To go into slight more detail, these conditions can be solved in two different ways.

1)Traditional--- Toms knowledge that james has gone to the park can be justified true belief. However, if Tom did not beleive the it cant be propersitioned that tom knows. Make sense? Is what tom nkows even true? he may belive it but it may not be justified because belief could also be a lie. To justify it it has to meet 3 conditions of truth, belief and justification. If one fo these is out of line then you cant have knowledge of something.

2) the non-traditional method is similar but no the same. It deals with whether toms statement if true out of probability to save it being true just out of luck. Basically, a balance of probabilty rather than guessing something that turns out to be right. This "guessing" idea is also a problem known as the Gettier Problem.

My knoweldge is also starting to get a little jaded at this moment so I will make a couple more points and then that should leave you the basic idea of epistemology.

The idea of justification can also be shown with a different scenario.

"Tom asks dick a question and dick answered with a lie" was dick justified to tell a lie? " Harry thinks that dick was justified because toms question was innapropriate to which the answer was none of toms buisness."

What does it mean to think that dick was justified into telling a lie. Because of the innapropriateness of the question dick was under no obligation to refrain from lying, it was not her duty to tell the truth. This form is also called Deontological justification. Simply---- A is justified in doing B if and only A is not obliged to refrain from doing B.

Non- Deontological justification follows a simply reverse pattern.

Tom is justified in beleiving james has gone to the park if and only tom belives james has gone to the park on a basis that properly probabilifies toms beleif that james has done so.

After these points it becomes very simple, and you can see how these philosophies can be merged in with investigative journalism. The ideas of evidence vs reliability to justify your knowledge through the justification means come into alot of modern day journalism and most of us dont actually realise how often the points above actually happen.

Eurovision hope

2009-05-12T04:27:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately i happen to be a eurovision freak, i don't know what it is i just love watching it. Random acts of stupidty, strange costumes, normally outrageous dancing and the German act which normally includes some form of leather bondage costume or obscene singing.

I think our chances are good this year, yes the last few years have been pretty terrible i will say, mabey horrific. But we have an ace in the hole now, a man to change our fortunes in this war.....Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Yes the musical wizard, has personally picked our young hopeful, promoted her all over the world and even tried to change the minds of the eastern territories to stop the bias voting.

Will this really happen though. I mean i cant remmember a year where Cyprus didnt give Greece top marks. The same goes for Russia, Ukraine and Serbia. But after many events of the past year we can definately see some new votes coming in.

We know for a fact that Georgia is definately not going to give Russia and its followers anything due to the fighting that has been happening. Most of the powerful EU (France,Germany,Sweden) may vote for us because of our lead in the global financial crisis.

We can pretty much say that Eurovision is going to stay a pollitical fight for surrounding allies, however i think this year will be slightly different due to the fact that our singer is fantastic. What do you guys think?

Gaming

2009-05-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

I notice that everytime i try to sit down and write blogs i struggle to find something to talk about. It could be just laziness (probable). But as of today i think i might start doing something on it. It may be too late to do so. So i figure that to get myself into it i would talk about things that i enjoy. It starts with gaming.

Now many people will say that gaming is a waste of time, an immature hobby or a way to just make time fly by. I disagree with anyone who says computer games are brainwashing or for unintellectual beings.

I want to start with talking about my grandparents. They always said to me that computer games were a waste of talent and that there are better things to do with my time, which sometimes there are.

Grandparents, Parents and people about 15-20 years older than myself and fellow students may think this because of a number of reasons.

Retro gaming was a phenomena years ago and older people only ever got a simple taste of what the future could hold. For example games like Pong. A simple black and white 2D game with the most basic of concepts. Hit a ball with your brick looking thing past the other brick looking thing like tennis and you win YAY!

Games back then did not have the complex and depth they do today. Games now have deep and sometimes emotional story lines that hold you in tension all the way through playing. The game is no longer a "game" it is a story, a work of fiction, a movie if you like. And you are the characters, the fictional makeup that the game needs to function. You no longer play games, you are the game.

Most games today, especially on the nex-gen consoles like the PS3 and Xbox360, rely on your choices when you are playing. Different things will happen on the choices you make. OOO will i go that way and take him from behind or could i go in all guns blazing. This tiny example of choice will spur numerous different reactions from other AI (Artificial intellegence) in the scenarios you play in.

AI is also another key factor in the greatness of gaming today. AI in gaming means enemies or opposition in the games think for themselves. They have the same options you do as a gamer. They also have choice. Which makes gaming a more spectacular phenomena then ever before.

I want your opinion on gaming and what you guys think about it. I know some of you are very much into them others mabey not. But reply with your ideas.

Swine Flu: Pandemic or a Mild Symptom

2009-05-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

Looking at Swine Flu over the last few days has made me think about whether or not it is really as bad as the WHO say it is. A few people all over the world are becoming infected with this strain of flu, and it does seem to be spreading at a fairly fast rate. But is it really going to be threatning to the health of the world?

Confirmed cases of Swine Flu have risen to 16 in the UK now and it seems to be under control. All the individuals in question have indeed had contacts with people who have either vistited Mexico or Mexicans themselves so we can understand why they have caught it.

I get a little hazy as to why everyone is going mad about this Swine Flu though. I mean, the amount of people who have died, got it and transmitted it is the tinyest fraction of the human population possible.

Secondly, the symptoms are supposed to be fairly similar to normal, bog standard flu. How do we know that some cases are actually just flu?

I think that one of the main problems I have with it is that Mexico have lowered the amount of suspected deaths from 176 to 101. It says to me that the unnacounted deaths were probably from other diseases or illnesses. Can we really be sure that this a mass killer, or is it going completely blown out of proportion, I leave you to decide.

All I know is theres no way in hell im going to Mexico.

Start anew

2009-03-19T04:14:00.000-07:00

Right instead of planning stuff out and trying to organise this bloody thing i think im just gonna write about whatever the hell I like from now. hoorah!

apologies

2009-03-12T06:59:00.002-07:00

Ah! sorry to all i keep on forgetting to write on the blog. As of tomorrow i should be adding a different section to this blog, or mabey a new one. I will be writing about any events happening in the world of the xbox 360 i.e reviews, new releases and any kind of subject that springs into my head. This should also motivate me to write about the politics lectures aswell, so there should be more posts up on that as off our next lecture.

apologies

2009-03-12T06:59:00.001-07:00

Does it really need to be said that much.....

2009-02-17T04:14:00.000-08:00

Most of you have been watching or reading the news this week and there is one story which i am starting to get tired of. Jade Goody has been told she has around 2 months to live due to cancer, sad story, yes, news worthy, yes. It is an emotive story she has young kids who wont understand why and shes using her last few moments to marry her partner. Beautiful. to constantly have it in the papers and in the news is outrageous.

Front page of the sun yesterday said how she is being brave shopping for a wedding dress. She isn't being brave she is doing what any other person would do in the circumstances, go and spend as much money as possible. The full story showed a picture of her in a wheel chair. Sad to look at, but not so sad when you look at the picture of Emporio Armani next to it.

I'm not saying I hate Jade Goody, nor am I saying that no one cares. But what on earth has she honestly done for the country. A thick sponge is put onto a reality T.V show and automatically gains celebrity status. The loud mouthed beaver gets put on the show again and tries to get more attention but making unintelligent and completely unimaginative racist, if you call it racist, remarks to a bollywood puppet. A huge media uproar started just because a slightly pale smurf stated a tasty yet dry indian snack after the name of an indian woman. Rediculous.

All i'm trying to say is if it were Sir David Attenborough in Goody's position, i would be upset and i would expect large coverage because he is a pure british legend and has actually done something for the respectable public. Goody appeared on Big Brother.

I was upset when Steve Irwin died, he did something. I was upset when Heath Ledger died, he did something. I was upset when Bob Munkhouse died, he did something. If keith chegwin died I would also be upset. But Jade has done sweet sod all apart from being stupid. It's upsetting yes, and I know i'm probably being rather cruel, but a page or two in a paper for 1 day would have been enough to make me go "aw thats quite sad", now it's getting rediculous.

Now a little more for paper stupidity. Front page of the mirror today states " Jade to get her dream wedding". Ahem, sorry did it just say "dream" wedding. I don't think her dream wedding involved her being pushed down the isle in a medical wheel chair on the drip thank you. I will take her side for this. I'm sorry her "dream" wedding, i'm pretty sure cancer didn't come into the equasion when her and her partner were thinking of the idea. Not only that they put a picture of her wedding location which actually looks beautiful.

Why isn't she putting money into cancer research? Why isn't she doing talks on how she has tried fighting it? She is winging and moaning about her cancer, but has she forgotten about the other 100's of thousands of people who also suffer? Attention seeking once again, still not caring about the other members of society.

Orwellian state

2009-02-10T12:07:00.000-08:00

During the lecture today, we were foretold the ideas of the state, what it means and different variations of how the state worked, works now and how it could work in the future. I did notice that George Orwell was mentionned at sometime during the lecture, however brief, so i would like to do a little para on what George Orwell's ideas convey.

In Orwell's book, Nineteen eighty four, he mentions numerous ideas about how the state should work and what could be acheieved by this. You guys know that rediculous programme where a number of "randomly" selected individuals partake in a 13 long, long, long weeks of grueling stupidity, retina straining nudity and down right bolluks. Yes, yes, BigBrother. This idea that "BigBrother is always watching you", was origionally thought up by George Orwell. His ideas included a complete state of surveilance where no one was free from cameras, listening devices and the national service.

This may seem like a good idea to the naked eye, but Orwell predicted this outcome and also predicted the ideas of anarchy that is caused by this ordeal. Today, we are nearlly on an epidemic. CCTV lies everywhere we walk, our credit cards are tabbed everywhere we use them, the new chip cards in passports keep a record of wherever we travel. We are slowly falling into this "Orwellian State", and wanted to highlight an important factor of the state, but let you guys realise the horror of what actually goes on behind the picture.

Oh yeah, BigBrother is shite never watch it again :-)

Another addition, when i start i should be uploading a "terry's daily fun" section on this blog. This will include anything funny i find on the likes of youtube or any other website which i think you guys will appriciate. Most of them will be mildly rude and some of them fairly clean, but i guess your all adults and can understand this.

Be posting at some point soon goodbye!!

An introduction....

2009-02-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Obviously this is my first post and because this is fairly new to me, it might not be as literate as some scholars might think. So to start of my name is Terry, my hobbies will come to light at some point I deem neccessary to save my own dignity. This blog is going to start off slow, however, it should pick up as I get used to it. Items will include overviews of the lectures I have attended and political issues that are happening or upcoming in the news.

Will post another artical nearly straight after this one..