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Thought Patterns - June 2003
Sunday 29 June
Autism and Mercury "linked"?
If the adoption of the precautionary principle means that in the US mercury is no longer included in childhood vaccines why does the NHS continue to back the inclusion of mercury in injections for infants in the UK?
This was the question asked by File on 4 this week. What a disgrace that the Dept of Health could not find anyone to answer this question. The programme commented:
In a statement, the Department of Health said that it is wrong to compare the effect of vaccines with eating fish and shellfish, since they contain different compounds of mercury.
But this was the very comparison which four years ago persuaded the US government and Europe's medicines agency to decide that mercury should be eliminated as soon as possible.
The programme can still be listened to on the BBC website (Real player needs to be installed)********* Saturday 28 June
A visit to Joydens Woods in Kent - a place that I used to make the object of frequent trips around 30 years ago. The trees are much more mature now and the vegetation more lush than I remember in those days. I didn't find the guitar that I left standing against a tree on one peculiarly absent minded occasion but it was a pleasant feeling being surrounded by green and natural things for a change.
********* Thursday 26 June
Whilst searching for an online definition I happened across the name of Carlos Castaneda. The fact that Castaneda died in 1998 had slipped under my radar. I had seen the "Tensegrity" web site and frankly was not too impressed but I had already been jolted some years earlier by reading Richard De Mille's debunking of the "Teachings" narratives.
But I cannot deny the great influence that his first 5 books had on me. "Journey to Ixtlan" in particular is an extraordinary work peopled by characters who are so much larger than life that their adventures make the world itself a much larger and more interesting place with more possibilities to explore.Academic, conman or spiritual adventurer? Here's one commentary, but I prefer to think that some genuine inspiration made CC a vehicle for some extraordinary insights and ideas which have been influential in many ways since then. A particularly cosmic little joke then.
Some further observations on the significance of dissertations that break academic formations
*********** Tuesday 24 June
BBC Radio is surpassing itself when it comes to the Tuesday lunchtime slot.
13:30 Armitage And Moore's Guide To Song
The first of a three-part guide to popular recorded songs, presented by the poet Simon Armitage and the musicologist Allan Moore. Each week the pair analyse and unpick some of our favourite popular songs to find out what makes them tick and how they combine words and music to get their effects.In the first programme they consider the 'Who?' of songs - their narrators, characters and personas, from David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust to Natalie Merchant's Henry Darger. And the singer Barb Jungr performs and discusses her version of Bob Dylan's I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Listening to this I obviously had to find out more about Henry Darger - a man who spent 65 years writing a book alone in a room and producing fantastic illustrations for it. A man called Mr McGregor spent 10 years constructing an intricate biography of this extraordinary man. Here's a good review on Salon.com
More on Persuasion
Scanning the seminal book on mass persuasion by Vance Packard I came across this key paragraph:
We still have a strong defence available against such persuaders: we can choose not to be persuaded. In virtually all situations we still have the choice, and we cannot be too seriously manipulated if we know what is going on. It is my hope that this book will contribute to the general awareness......"When we learn to recognise the devices of the persuaders, we build up a "recognition reflex"... (which) can protect us against the petty trickery of small time persuaders operating in the commonplace affairs of everyday life but also against the mistaken or false persuasion of powerful leaders..."
I guess this is why the rumblings over WMD go on. People suspect that they were duped into going to war by being given dodgy information by Bush and Blair and are trying to discredit the "ad campaign" associated with it.
******* Monday 23 June
Just like the US I am acquiring a pre-emptive policy. Bearing in mind the events of yesterday I diagnosed a sporadically leaking overflow pipe as a likely candidate for pre-emptive treatment. I bought a replacement valve assembly and endured an hour or so operating in a dark two foot square loft that seemed to be packed solidly with glass fibre. The excellent online DIY manual by Reader's Digest assisted with the operation and I was glad to get out of there with a sense that I'd somehow got one up on the material things that are grabbing at my ankles.
********** Sunday 22 June
You know how it is when you know in your heart of hearts that there is a job to be done but which apparently doesn't demand to be done precisely at that moment. So the task gets deferred and deferred...
Then one day that little task will sit up and demand to be done and it will have to be done because it has managed to put a trip wire across your planned activites.
So it was today as I prepared to take the car for a spin down the motorway to take some photographs in Kent. All packed up and ready to go and the car wouldn't start. Low battery - I knew there were problems around the battery compartment because I could see a lot of compressed leaves and other debris around the bottom of the battery. OK so I have to get it charged now and clean out that compartment. But then I have an almighty tussle with a corroded nut on the battery clamp that seems to be buried in a place inaccessible to any known spanner. In the end I managed to improvise something with an old wheel nut spanner jammed into a half inch socket.
Anyway that was my afternoon comprehensively taken care of but at least that job's been done. I wonder how many others are waiting to get me when I least expect it.R.I.P. Pat's fishy. 1992(?) to 20/3/03 No longer a familiar shimmer in the weeds. ******** Saturday 21 June
Aargh! It's Midsummer and I'm.....steam cleaning. Ok I'm writing emails and listening to Captain Beefheart too. I mustn't lose track of the fact that what I am doing is to upgrade my local environment, getting rid of the nasty grease stains and improving access to a cupboard.
The Mechanics of Persuasion
I've been thinking about persuasion today trying to get a handle on what is involved in the concept. My initial thought is that it's something to do with the imposition of will on another. An advertiser aims at making the consumer want to select that particular product. - by making it seem as though the consumer will be somehow better off, more attractive, more satisfied if he uses the product.
I'm not homing in on this yet though. It's the micro processes that go on that I'm interested in at the moment. It's as if a thought passes from one brain to another so that the second brain recognises the thought as one of its own or perhaps adopts would be a better metaphor. The adopted thought will eventually settle down and become just like one of the family.******** Wednesday 18 June
An angel can break the pattern anywhere at at any moment and find its heaven; it has the power to descend into the lowest matter and to extricate itself at will. (Henry Miller - Tropic of Capricorn)
Tuesday 17 June
A fabulous BBC4 documentary on Joni Mitchell. One of the few sixties musicians who has continued to pursue a genuine individual musical dynamic over the past 35 years. One whose music has touched me more times than I can remember during that time. Thank you Joni.
********* Monday 16 June
A plug for a new free and regular local live music event at Potter's Bar & Grill in Stoke Newington. Open Mic blues sessions with Luddy Samms from 1pm onwards every Sunday afternoon.( 1/7/03 NB - now cancelled as the pub has reverted to a staple of Irish music)
During half time I popped out on Sunday to take a photo of this spectacular looking fire somewhere down towards Dalston. Probably no more than a car being torched I guess as it all died down very quickly.
******** Wednesday 11 June
Splashes of colour in a June garden..
********* Monday 9 June
A new young lady has moved in upstairs on a short term let. It's expected that this house will be up for sale soon - which will give me plenty to think about when the time comes for choosing a place in which to be based.
Thursday 5 June
I'm begging in the rain...
******** Wednesday 4 June
Oh well - that's me sorted out...(via Shadow symptoms)
Feel free to comment
What Poetry Form Are You?
Short, terse, unfriendly,
Yet sometimes quite emotive;
I am the Haiku.Tuesday 3 June
A little gem of a program (1st of 2 parts) called Out of Tune on Radio 4 explores dissonance in music. It's worth listening to and, like many BBC items, can be heard during the week of broadcast via the "Listen Again" button on the website. Brian Eno who contributes is doing a project around bells - it seems that people prefer untuned bells on their churches as this gives each church a distinctive sonic character.
Monday 2 June
The entrance of (Saddam) Hospital in Najaf, now obviously changed to Sadir Hospital. One icon goes another comes, not even necessary to repaint the whole picture. It is scary how well the two images fit on top of each other
An image from Salam's blog reporting from Baghdad in a way more compelling than any of the mainstream news organisations.
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