Tag Archives: zenmischief

quotes

Monthly Quotes

And so, once more, we arrive at this month’s collection of quotes.

If workers are more insecure, that’s very “healthy” for the society, because if workers are insecure, they won’t ask for wages, they won’t go on strike, they won’t call for benefits; they’ll serve the masters gladly and passively. And that’s optimal for corporations’ economic health.
[Noam Chomsky]

I have nothing against football. It just seems very wasteful losing two hours of my life to watch 22 millionaires on TV chasing a bag full of wind in their underwear.
[Guy Martin]

The ethos of naturism is not about renouncing the comforts and advances of modern life. Instead, it challenges us to rethink our relationship with our own bodies and those of others within the context of these advancements. It posits that one can embrace technology, culture, and societal progress while also advocating for a more natural and less inhibited experience of human existence … [N]aturism promotes a lifestyle where equality prevails. In a naturist setting, the social hierarchies and status symbols that often divide us in clothed society … lose their significance. Without these markers, individuals interact as equals, fostering an environment where respect for the individual is paramount, and judgments based on appearance are minimized.
[Nancy M; https://justnaturism.com/understanding-the-difference-between-naturism-and-primitive-living/]

In science it often happens that scientists say, “You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken”, and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
[Carl Sagan]

The human body is the best work of art … Naturism is not about sex. Naturists vary in their sexual orientation similar to the general population. Naturism does not mean they are all asexual but despite what people think, a gathering of naked people doesn’t make for a sexually charged environment.
[Dr Vian Aziz, https://twitter.com/VIANAZIZFRCOGUK/status/1771956625139441911]

Full nakedness! All joys are due to thee,
As souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be,
To taste whole joys.
[John Donne, To His Mistress Going to Bed, 1572-1631]

If you have the power to turn another planet into Earth, then you have the power to turn Earth back into Earth.
[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Common sense evolved to help us negotiate the world as we see it – comprising middle-sized objects and low velocities – and we ought not to expect it to help much beyond that domain.
[Eric Schwitzgebel, New Scientist, 23/03/2024]

We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.
[Denis Diderot]

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
[Richard Dawkins]

Christianity. The popular belief that a celestial Jewish baby who is also his own father, born from a virgin mother, died for three days so that he could ascend to heaven on a cloud and then make you live forever only if you symbolically eat his flesh, drink his blood and telepathically tell him you accept him as your lord & master so he can remove an evil force from your spiritual being that is present in all humanity because an immoral woman made from a man’s rib was hoodwinked by a talking reptile possessed by an malicious angel to secretly eat forbidden fruit from a magical tree.
[unknown]

Religion. The practice of training your mind to ignore evidence, logic, and reason, while being able to believe in fairy tales based on faith alone … and being proud of it rather than ashamed!
[unknown]

Atheism is not a negation of anything. You don’t have to negate what no one can prove exists. No, atheism is a very positive affirmation of man’s ability to think for himself, to do for himself, to find answers to his own problems.
[Madalyn Murray O’Hair]

Science is not about building a body of known “facts”. It is a method for asking awkward questions and subjecting them to a reality-check, thus avoiding the human tendency to believe whatever makes us feel good.
[Terry Pratchett]

Naked is as modest as you can get! You have nothing to hide or be ashamed of.
[unknown]

amusements, memes, science, topographical

April Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s five quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Geography

  1. There is a very small (180 square miles) landlocked sovereign country between France and Spain with a population of approximately 75,000. What is the name of this country?  Andorra
  2. What is the world’s largest coral reef system?  Great Barrier Reef
  3. What is the only US state that borders just one other?  Maine
  4. What does the Beaufort scale measure?  Wind Strength
  5. On which continent is the volcano Mt Erebus?  Antarctica

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2023.

personal, thoughts

I’m a Hypocrite

Yes, you read that headline correctly. I’m a hypocrite. Most of us are over something.

Recently, unable to sleep, I started thinking about what it is that makes me a hypocrite. And I found two instances.

Meat. I eat meat – although I also enjoy veggie food. But mostly I eat meat, and fish. I’d struggle to be entirely veggie despite seeing it as more ethical and environmental choice. So yes, I eat flesh … but I let someone else do the dirty work of rearing and killing it for me. Because I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t emotionally bring myself to kill some other sentient creature. And physically I couldn’t manage to handle a large animal. Keeping fish, I have on a few occasions had to euthanise one of them to save it from a lingering death – and I hated it; I had to do it but with a heavy heart and feeling squeamish; and the larger the fish, the more horrible it was. So I couldn’t do it to a mammal.

I can butcher meat that’s already dead without any problems. I have no problem jointing or spatchcocking a whole turkey or chicken; or filleting fish. And when younger (about 17, in the late 1960s) when I worked in a supermarket, I was taught to bone a side of bacon. We had the bacon delivered as half a pig, ready cured and without head, trotters, entrails etc. I had no problem with this. It’s a disembodied entity.

So I wouldn’t be able to despatch a warm-blooded creature – but I’m happy to let someone else do the deed for me, and eat the results. Which is inconsistent and hypocritical.

Shaving & Hair. This case is not so horrid; just somewhat stupid. I shave the hair off my face. When I was working I used to do this every day with an electric shaver. Now I’m retired I shave maybe twice a week with a wet razor. Why do I do this? Well, really for two reasons.

First, I find more than a handful of days beard uncomfortably itchy and scratchy. I’ve never managed to grow my beard for more than about 10 days before it becomes intolerable. Except that for some years in my late-20s/early-30s I had a moustache.

Secondly, in general I don’t like beards. Too many look scruffy, or affected. I don’t think they’re a good look. But I would never deny anyone’s right to have a beard if they wish.

But here’s the hypocrisy. What’s with the Barbie look? I can’t get the fashion for females to shave/wax their pubes. Why would you want your 20/30/40/50/++ year-old self to look pre-pubescent; who are you trying to kid? It’s not a good look, even before one thinks about the shaving rash, the ingrown hairs and the stubble. Pubic hair likely has a purpose, so why remove it? By all means tidy it up or trim it a bit, but there is no imperative to remove it. (Incidentally all this applies just as much to, for example, armpits. And yes, guys it applies to you too!) But then it’s your body, your choice.

So, no, I don’t like denuded pubes, but I prefer denuded faces. If that isn’t hypocritical, it’s at least inconsistent. But if either is what you want to do, then you have every right to. Just do it because that’s what you like or are comfortable with, not because it’s the fashion or you think society, or a partner, expects it.

Whatever you do, do it for you! And remember: those that mind don’t matter; and those that matter don’t mind.

I’m sure there are other places where I’m inconsistent or hypocritical. What about you?

medical, personal, photography

Monthly Self-Portrait, April

So what to do for this month’s self-portrait, especially as I have this damned filthy cold back again? Oh well, lets have something some may consider TMI – although it’s nothing you couldn’t safely see in the gym changing room.

As long-time readers may remember, I’ve said on a number of occasions that I have a secondary nipple. This is apparently not that unusual – I bet some of you have too. It’s on the right side of my abdomen, a bit above the level of the navel. The corresponding place on the left side has just a slightly denser area of hair.

Anyway this is what it looks like, fairly close up. On the left is the actual vestigial nipple. On the right, a mole. (I’ve always had the mole; it’s nothing to worry about). Keep in mind that the area in the photograph is about 4cm wide.

Close-up view of a secondary nipple
Left: secondary nipple. Right: a small mole. Image 4cm wide.
[Click the image for a larger view]
photography

Buggered Britain #27

Yet again it’s been about 4½ years since we had a “Buggered Britain” post. I blame the plague, largely as it’s meant not going anywhere much, and consequently when one does the eyes and brain are out of practice looking for photographs. Somehow I have to get everything working again.

Anyway the other day, travelling along the A40 to Hammersmith Hospital, I spotted this pretty mess: a mixture of fly-tipping (or just lazy householders) and incomplete clear-up after roadworks – all of which has clearly been there, creating an eyesore, for some months.

roadside fly-tipped mess
[Click the image for a larger view]
photography, ramblings

Bits of Spring

It was actually sunny today, on and off, although quite windy. And Spring is definitely beginning to burst out all over. So I thought we’d have a few quick snapshots caught between gusts of breeze.

a single yellow celandine flower
The early celandines are still flowering; there’s a goods scattering
all across the garden (which shows how wet our garden is).
[Click the image for a larger view]
a single yellow dandelion
Of course there is also a good crop of golden dandelions
coming along for the early bees.
[Click the image for a larger view]
bright pink blossom all over our ballerina apple tree
Our columnar “ballerina” ornamental crab apple tree has been a mass
of bright pink flower for the last week.
[Click the image for a larger view]
delicate white & pink blossom on the Pinova apple tree
Meanwhile the Pinova eating apple has burst into bloom;
I’ve no great hopes of a good crop as there seem to be no pollinating
insects abroad and the compatible Falstaff tree is only just starting to flower.
[Click the image for a larger view]
how did this deconstructed bird feeder end up in the middle of the lawn?
Strangest of all, how did this deconstructed bird feeder get from
it’s hanger to the middle of the lawn?
The fox was seen on the trail camera playing with it one night,
but I can’t think a fox managed to get up and dislodge it.
[Click the image for a larger view]
freedom of speech, nudism, personal, thoughts

Some Thoughts on Social Nudity (Again!)

A while back, over on Medium and on Quora James Grigg posited the question:

Why do men seem more comfortable with nudity?

As well he might; there is historically a greater preponderance of “single men” in the nudist movement. But why?

Grigg is an artist and photographer who does a lot of nude positive work, photographing ordinary people, including himself, in the nude in ordinary poses. So in some ways he is in a good position to judge. In other ways, because he’s male, he isn’t (and neither am I!).

His basic thesis is that women tend to avoid social nudity because

Slut shaming and rape culture are not conducive to women being able to be naked … comfortably.

This is based on the misplaced but widespread belief that nudity and sex are interchangeable, and that

Women … are expected to gatekeep sex from men who apparently … have no control over their … desires or actions.

There’s also the question of objectifying the female body, such that perfectly ordinary bodies are not seen as adequate. All of which basically says to me: lads you need to grow up.

While I wouldn’t disagree this is a significant element of the problem, I think there are other factors at play although perhaps not as predominant. Let’s turn the arguments somewhat on their head and look at the male side of the question. I see a further three possible reasons why men are more comfortable with social nudity, but they’re big generalisations.

First there is the macho need to show off, to be top lad, and attract a mate – the biological need to be the alpha male. This is not necessarily about shagging any eligible nubile (attractive though that might be!); it’s more about male pecking order. This makes nudity below the waist acceptable, even essential, for bragging and showing off; and above the waist neutral or irrelevant as there’s nothing much to show off. Females are the opposite: it is (mostly) OK to be bare above the waist (bragging rights or showing off, again, maybe?) but there’s no imperative for nudity below the waist – again because there is nothing very visible to show off (although the fashion for removing pubic hair does change that).

The second factor – which goes along with this – is all about physical comfort, and not having all your appendages constrained within clothing. Hence, simplistically, females are more likely to be physically comfortable bare chested, and not having their tits clad in armour. Conversely males are more comfortable with their dangly bits free to air – especially as ventilation also mitigates against the annoyances of jock itch etc.; something of which many blokes appear unaware.

I also suspect there is another, subconscious, factor at play. As a very big generalisation, guys tend to experience spontaneous desire: they’re always up for it even from a cold start. Contrarywise females mostly have responsive desire: they need warming up, enticing, encouraging, before they become actively aroused and eager. Yes, that is a generalisation, and there are many who don’t conform to this model, but it could be another factor playing into the “alpha male culture”.

I’ll accept that most guys and girls probably don’t actively think very much about any of this – it’s mostly subconscious. Basically therefore, while I don’t disagree with James Grigg’s thesis, I think the situation may well be more complex than he makes out – although, given our social conditioning, much of the time the reasoning will be entirely subconscious.

Getting this levelled out – as we should if we’re going to have a really well balanced society – will take time, and a willingness on everyone’s part to adjust and to grow up. Much as we’d like it to, it won’t happen overnight. Which just amplifies my oft repeated belief in respecting one another and treating everyone the same. We’re all people. No-one is better (or worse) than anyone else. And, give or take, we all know what’s under each other’s t-shirt and jeans. So, really, there shouldn’t be a problem with nudity, should there!

amusements, memes, science, topographical

April Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As before, they’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as having a bit of fun.

Geography

  1. There is a very small (180 square miles) landlocked sovereign country between France and Spain with a population of approximately 75,000. What is the name of this country?
  2. What is the world’s largest coral reef system?
  3. What is the only US state that borders just one other?
  4. What does the Beaufort scale measure?
  5. On which continent is the volcano Mt Erebus?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

history, memes

April 1924

Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

1. Adolf Hitler is sentenced to 5 years in Landsberg Prison in Germany for his participation in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch (he serves less than 9 months)

15. Born. Sir Neville Marriner, English conductor and violinist (d. 2016)

20. Born. Leslie Phillips, English actor (d. 2022)

24. Born. Clement Freud, British writer, broadcaster, chef and politician (d. 2009)

28. Born. Kenneth Kaunda, 1st President of Zambia (d. 2021)