Wednesday, November 14, 2018

08:30 We get up and take a shower. Lois is still suffering from back pain, so we decide to postpone our visit to the Stoke-Orchard Recycling Centre until tomorrow. The car's boot is currently stuffed with unwanted electrical appliances that we found here and there in the house, but it's no problem waiting a little longer.

11:00 I go up the loft-ladder to the attic and look for any unwanted electrical appliances hiding up there. Unfortunately, the attic has become one big tip, which makes my task today a little difficult to say the least. I find some bigger appliances, but I suspect that there are others somewhere under all the piles of crap! But the devices I do find are good news - I drag them down the stairs and put them on one of the guest beds in our daughter Alison's old room, and the whole thing gives me an enormous sense of achievement.

some of the electrical appliances I find in the attic - it looks quite impressive,

but in fact these devices sadly form less than 1% of what's

up there - damn, scary !!!!

But a journey of 1000 miles starts with but a single step, as Laozi, a founder of Taosism said.

Taoism recently hit the headlines when Owen Pritchard, a 39-year-old known local loser, flirted with joining the taoist faith (source: Onion News).

Pritchard told local reporters that his latest downturn into a spiral of drug abuse, unemployment and complete hopelessness had triggered the intense interest of several world religions, each of which was struggling for his services as a convert.

"I've finally reached a point in my life where all the big religions want me," said Pritchard, whose two failed marriages and growing gambling debts had made him penniless and in a state of blind despair. "Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism - you name it, they have all come to me. I had no work, no family, no direction at all. But right now I'm totally back in the driver's seat."

After 2 months earlier publicising his intention to drink himself to oblivion, Pritchard began to receive pamphlets, letters and VHS tapes from various religions, all of which were urging him to join their faith. Most offers reportedly guaranteed a lifetime of salvation with additional incentives such as entrance to paradise, promises of a new and better life, and the unmissable chance of union with a supreme deity. Christianity appeared as an early favourite to hijack Pritchard after confirming that it had offered him an eternal contract with a signing bonus of eternal bliss.

Pritchard said, however, that he was in no hurry - he was not rushing to accept just any offer, because he expects to remain at the end of his tether for a long time yet.

"Of course, I bring a lot to the table," said Pritchard. "I'm a broken shell of a man who does not know where to turn, and at this point I'm ready to believe anything at all, so if a religion really wants me, they'll have to sweeten the pot. For example, Hinduism has promised me rebirth as a king and the unlocking of all the secrets of the universe. But at this point that's not enough. What about giving me some final redemption, or a car, or complete and total spiritual transcendence?

"You'll have to offer me more than eternal life," laughed Pritchard. "They're all offering that!"

Pritchard was showered with presents when religious institutions tried to ingratiate themselves with him and sway his decision. He received a free Mormon book from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a 2008 calendar from the Christians, and was even visited in his home by two representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses, which Pritchard said was flattering, but "came off as a bit desperate! ".

"The Catholic Church has wined me and dined me," said Pritchard, who had been invited personally  to attend a spaghetti dinner at a local rectory. "If I get free Italian dinners today, just think what they will give me when I tell them that Islam is promising me tall manor houses, lush gardens and 4,000 virgins in the afterlife. I'll be eating like a king!"

Pritchard has recently visited a number of churches, synagogues and tabernacles to check out the facilities and meet with members of the various belief systems. The Mormons apparently showed great interest in Pritchard and said they would be happy to receive him into their faith while a priest in the Columbus area had reportedly told Pritchard that the Lord Jesus Christ himself "loved" him.

"I do not want to brag about it, but after losing all traces of self-esteem, I'm suddenly in a position where I can actually turn down offers," said Pritchard, who recently rejected an initiative from Hare Krishna. "I did not spend a month searching through dumpsters for food to be offered no more than a release from suffering through the realisation of my true nature. Do I look like a sucker?"

"And while the joy of self-control without whole body trembling is okay, I think the Jews can offer me better," he added. "Nirvana would be a good start. I have a suggestion: Offer me nirvana, then we'll talk."

Pritchard later announced that he had narrowed his choices down to three religions, but refused to reveal which. Many have speculated that the favourites were Catholicism, Buddhism and Taoism, who had offered a comprehensive package of everything and nothing. However, the auction's "dark horse", the Presbyterian church, had recently stormed into the lead after offering Pritchard $13.75 million and a private jet.

12:00 I talk a little to Lois about Pritchard's story, but we're both a bit unsure of what his ultimate decision was. The story has dropped out of the headlines, which is a typical failing of our local press. But we suspect he plumped for the 4000 virgins. And in view of his alcohol consumption, he is probably already with them! We have not seen him in the neighborhood for a while anyway, that's for sure.

Good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!

13:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap.

16:00 I get up and we relax with a cup of tea and a piece of bread with homemade apricot jam - yum yum!

We listen a bit to the radio, an interesting program all about the Irish and Scots-English languages. The host of the program is the charming Shahidha Bari (crazy name, crazy gal).

The Old Irish language had many specific names for cats, it appears. A cat you could allow to go into the pantry and wander around in there, for example, i.e. a cat you could count on not to steal anything from the shelves; a cat that purrs a lot; a cat that is very into hunting and stays outside most of the time; and a cat allowed to lie on a pillow all day long. All of these types are described in different words in Old Irish - yikes!

The Irish loved their cats in the old days, that's for sure! And the ancient Egyptians too. The other day I read an article in the Danish media saying that archaeologists had found a very rare collection of mummified cats in seven ancient Egyptian tombs. The cat mummies are believed to have been sacrificed to the gods at the end of the period of Egypt's fifth dynasty and Egypt's early sixth dynasty, which ran from 2,500 to 2,350 BC.

My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Some of the ten cat mummies found in Egyptian tombs

Poor cats !!!!!

18:30 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening listening to the radio and watching some television. We first hear an interesting radio program all about a current crisis in the psychology world, revolving around problems with repeating old classical psychological experiments and trying to replicate the results, not always successfully. The host of the program is the charming David Edmonds.

Examples include the well-known marshmallow effect: children were offered a choice between one marshmallow now or two marshmallows if they were willing to wait a short while (those who chose to wait tended to get better grades in school ).

the marshmallow-effect

Ego depletion - the idea that will power is a resource that can be used up, like petrol in a car. If you use up your willpower trying not to eat chocolate, for example, you will not have enough left to resist other temptations.

Stereotype threat: if someone is reminded of a negative stereotype of his/her group, this may impair his / her performance. Girls get worse results in maths tests, if they are reminded of their gender.

And the famous Zimbardo Stanford prison experiment, where participants were assigned roles as prisoner or guard etc etc, an experiment that had to be stopped when the guards became too brutal.

All these well-known results and many others are now being called into question.

According to this evening's discussion, the cause of the problem is the immense pressure on researchers and scientific institutions to produce new groundbreaking, "sexy" results that can hit the headlines. And newspapers are always very keen on finding these "sexy" stories. And success in the headlines leads to increased funding, which these types of institutions cannot survive without.

Experiments that do not produce significant results tend to be stored away in drawers and the researchers forget about them. However, the same experiment, if repeated enough times (eg 20 times by different institutions) may end up finally producing significant results, just by chance.

My god, what a crazy world we live in !!! (Am I allowed to say this again?) (No - Ed)

The evening's program concentrates on the psychology world. But I cannot help wondering if the same holds true in the world of scientific research on nutrition, diet and implications for health, etc.

Yikes! Scary!

21:00 We turn off the radio and watch some television. The 2nd episode of a special series of "Grand Designs" is on, focusing on the RIBA's (Royal Institute of British Architects) competition to find "the house of the year". The host of the program is the charming Kevin McCloud.

Tonight we see another 5 houses in the competition - there have been approx. 20 houses participating and at the end of the series we will see the judges choose the winning house from a shortlist of approx. 7.

The five houses in this evening's episode can be categorised as "houses with a past," according to Kevin's words.

Lois and I choose our favourite, coincidentally a converted gin distillery in London. We would both love to live in it, whether the owners manage 100% to remove the gin fragrance, or not. And at least the interior of this house shows signs of originality, unlike most of the houses seen in Grand Designs, which mostly all look like each other. But the judges do not care much for this converted gin distillery - no surprise there.

The judges choose the two houses which Lois and I least like. They are full of horrible "spaces" that are "double-height" and echo like mad - not at all cosy in our opinion.

An architect gives a married couple who are retiring a combined living room and "library", a double-height (ie 2 storey high) room again, with ladders to dig out the books on the highest shelves. My god, what madness!

I just hope that if the couple end up falling off the ladders and breaking a bone or two in the bodies, that they will sue the architect for every penny he has!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

08:30 Vi står op og tager et brusebad. Lois lider stadig af rygsmerter, så beslutter vi at udskyde vores besøg til Stoke-Orchard-genbrugscentret til i morgen. Bilens bagagerum er for tiden propfyldt me uønskede elektriske apparater, vi fandt her og der i huset, men det er ikke noget problem med at vente lidt længere.

11:00 Jeg går op ad loftstigen til loftet og jeg leder efter nogle uønsked e elektriske apparater som gemmer sig deroppe. Desværre er loftet blevet til et stort rod, hvilket gør min opgave i dag lidt vanskelig for at sige mildt. Jeg finder nogle større apparater, men jeg mistænker, at endnu andre ligger et eller andet sted under bunker af lort – pokkers! Men de apparater, jeg finder, er imidlertid god nyhed – jeg slæber dem med ned ad trappen og lægger dem på en af gæstesenge i vores datter Alisons gamle værelse, og det hele giver mig en følelse af bedrift.

nogle elektriske apparater jeg finder i loftet – der ser ganske imponerende ud,

men faktisk danner disse apparater kun mindre end 1% af det,

der er blevet lagret deroppe – pokkers, skræmmende !!!!

En rejse på 100 mil starter imidlerid med ét skridt, som Lao-Tse, en grundlæger af Taosisme sagde.

Taoismen ramte for nylig de overskrifterne, da Owen Pritchard, en kendt 39-årig  lokal taber, flirtede med at slutte til troen (kilde: Onion News).

Pritchard fortalte lokale journalister at hans seneste glidebane ned i en spiral til narkotikamisbrug, arbejdsløshed og fuldstændig håbløshed havde udløst den intense interesse af flere verdensreligioner, der hver var i gang med at kæmpe for sine tjenester som konvertit.

"Jeg har endelig nået et punkt i mit liv, hvor alle de store religioner vil have mig," sagde Pritchard, hvis to mislykkede ægteskaber og stigende hasardgæld har gjort ham pengeløs og i en tilstand af blind fortvivlelse. "Kristendom, jødedom, buddhisme – hvad som helst, de er kommet til mig. Jeg har ikke noget arbejde, ingen familie, ingen retning overhovedet. Så lige nu er jeg totalt i førersædet."

Efter at have forklaret sin hensigt om at drikke sig i glemsel to måneder tidligere, modtog Pritchard pjecer, breve og VHS-bånd fra forskellige religioner, der alle opfordrede ham til at slutte sig til deres tro. De fleste tilbud garanterede angiveligt en livstid af frelse med yderligere incitamenter såsom indgang til paradiset, løftet om et nyt og bedre liv og den uundgåelige belønning for forening med en suprem guddom. Kristendommen dukkede frem som en tidlig favorit til at kapre Pritchard efter at have bekræftet, at den havde tilbudt ham en evighedslang kontrakt med en underskrivelsesbonus af evig lyksalighed.

Pritchard sagde imidlertid, at det hastede ikke – han havde ikke styrtende travlt med  at acceptere bare ethvert tilbud, fordi han forventer at forblive ikke i stand til at kunne mere i lang tid.

"Selvfølgelig bringer jeg meget til bordet," sagde Pritchard. "Jeg er en ødelagt skalle af en mand, der ikke ved sin levende råd, og jeg på dette tidspunkt er klar til at tro på noget som helst, så hvis en religion virkelig vil have mig, skal de stikke mig noget under bordet. For eksempel hinduismen har lovet mig genfødsel som en konge og oplåsning af alle universets hemmeligheder. Men på dette tidspunkt er det ikke nok. Hvad med at give i tilgift en endelig genløsning, eller en bil, eller fuldstændig og total åndelig transcendens?   

"Du bliver nødt til at tilbyde mig mere, end evigt liv," tilføjede Pritchard. "Det tilbyder alle!"

Pritchard blev overøst med gaver, da de religiøse institutioner forsøgte at indsmigre sig hos ham,  og påvirke hans beslutning. Han modtog en gratis Mormons Bog fra Jesu Kristi Kirke af Sidste Dages Hellige, en 2008-kalender fra de kristne og blev endda besøgt i hans hjem af to repræsentanter fra Jehovas Vidner, som Pritchard sagde var smigrende, men "gav det indtryk af, at være lidt for desperat!".

"Den katolske kirke har beværtet mig med vin og fin mad", sagde Pritchard, som personligt var blevet inviteret til at deltage i en spaghetti middag på en lokal præstegård. "Hvis jeg får gratis italienske middage i dag, tænk bare på, hvad de vil give mig, når jeg fortæller dem, at islam lover mig høje herregårde, frodige haver og 4.000 jomfruer i efterlivet. Jeg skal spise som en konge !"

Pritchard har for nylig besøgt en række kirker, synagoger og tabernakler for at tjekke faciliteterne og mødes med medlemmer af de forskellige trossystemer. Mormonerne viste tilsyneladende stor interesse for Pritchard og sagde, at de ville glade for at modtage ham til deres tro, mens en præst i Columbus-området havde ifølge rygter informeret Pritchard om, at Herren Jesus Kristus selv "elskede" ham.

"Jeg har ikke nogen lyst til at prale af det, men efter at have tabt alle antydninger af selvværd, er jeg nu pludselig i en position, hvor jeg faktisk kan afslå tilbud," sagde Pritchard, der for nylig havde afvist et initiativ fra Hare Krishnas. "Jeg brugte ikke en måned på at gennemsøge dumpsters efter mad til ikke at blive tilbudt andet end en frigørelse fra at lide gennem realiseringen af min sande natur. Ser jeg ud som en idiot?"

"Og selvom glæden ved selvbeherskelse uden universel skælven over hele kroppen er okay, tror jeg, at jøderne kan tilbyde bedre," tilføjede han. "Nirvana ville være en god start. Jeg har et forslag: Tilbyd mig nirvana, så snakker vi."

Pritchard meddelte senere, at han havde indsnævret sine valg til tre religioner, men har nægtet at afdække hvilke. Mange spekulerede om, at favoritterne var katolicisme, buddhisme og taoisme, som havde tilbudt en omfattende pakkeløsning af alt og ingenting. Den ”ukendte størrelse”, der faktisk var den Presbyterian-kirke, var imidlertid stormet til føringen i de seneste dage efter at have tilbudt Pritchard $ 13,75 millioner og en privat jetfly.

12:00 Jeg snakker lidt med Lois om Pritchard-historien, men vi er begge to ikke helt sikre på, hvad hans ultimative beslutning var. Historien har droppet ud af overskrifterne, hvilket er en ganske typisk fejl i vores lokale aviser. Men vi mistænker,  han gik stærkt ind for de 4000 jomfruer. I lyset af hans alkoholforbrug, er han sandsynligvis allerede med dem! Vi har ikke set ham i nabolaget i et stykke tid, det ved vi med sikkerhed.

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!

13:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

16:00 Jeg står op og vi slapper af med en kop te og et stykke brød med hjemmelavet abrikosmarmelade – yum yum!

Vi lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program der handler om de irske og skotsk-engelsk sprog. Programmets vært er den charmerende Shahidha Bari (skørt navn, skørt pige).

Det oldirske sprog havde mange specifikke navne til katte, lader det til. En kat, man kunne tillade at gå ind i spisekammeret og vandre rundt derinde, for eksempel, en kat man kunne stole på ikke at stjæle noget fra hylderne; også en kat, der spinder meget; en kat der er til at jæge og er udenfor det meste af tiden; og en kat, der er tilladt at ligge på en pude hele dag. Alle disse typer er beskrevet med forskellige ord på oldirsk – yikes!

Du godeste sikke et vanvid!

Irerne elskede deres katte i de gamle dage, det er der ikke nogen tvivl om! Og de antikke egypter også. Forleden læste jeg en artikel i de danske medier, hvor der stod, at arkæologer havde fundet en meget sjælden samling af mumificerede katte i syv ældgamle egyptiske gravkamre. Kattemumierne menes at være blevet ofret til guderne under slutningen af perioden Egyptens femte dynasti og Egyptens tidlige sjette dynasti, der forløb fra år 2.500 til 2.350 før vores tidsregning.

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Omkring ti kattemumier blev fundet i det egyptiske gravkammer

Stakkels katte !!!!!

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt fjernsyn. Vi hører først et interessant radioprogram, der handler om en nuværende krise i psykologiverden, der kredser om problemer med at gentage gamle klassiske psykologiske eksperimenter og forsøge, ikke altid med succes, at reproducere samme resultater. Programmets vært er den charmerende David Edmonds.

Eksempler inkluderer, den velkendte marshmallow-effekt: børn blev tilbudt et valg mellem en marshmallow nu, eller to marshmallows hvis de var villige til at vente en kort stykke tid (dem, der valgte at vente, havde tendens til at få bedre karakterer i skole).

Marshmallow-effekten

Ego-udtømmelsen – idéen, at vilstyrke er en ressource, der kan opbruges, ligesom benzin i en bil. Hvis du opbruger din vilstyrke i at prøve ikke at spise chokolade, vil du have ikke nok tilbage til at modstå andre fristelser.

Stereotype-trussel:  hvis nogen bliver mindet om en negativ stereotype af sin gruppe, kan dette forringe hans/hendes præstation. Piger får værre resultater i matematiktest, hvis de bliver mindet om deres køn. 

Og det berømte Zimbardo Stanford fængsel-eksperiment, hvor deltagere blev tildelt roller som fange eller en vagt osv osv, et eksperiment, der blev nødt til at stoppes, da vagterne blev for brutale – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Alle disse velkendte resultater er nu blevet draget i tvivl.

Ifølge aftenens diskussion er forårsagen til problemet den immense pres på forskere og videnskabelige institutioner til at producere nye banebrydende, ”sexede” resultater, der kan ramme overskrifterne. Aviser er altid meget friske på at finde ”sexede” historier. Og succes i overskrifterne fører til øget investering, hvilket disse slags institutioner ikke kan overleve uden.

Eksperimenter, der ikke producerer væsentlige resultater, har tendens til at blive lagret i skuffer og forskerne glemmer om dem. Men det samme eksperiment, hvis man gentage det tilstrækkelige gange (eksempelvis 20 gange af forskellige institutioner), kan ende med at producere væsentlige resultater, bare tilfældigvis.  

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!  (Er jeg tilladt at sige dette igen?)

Aftenes program kredser om psykologiverden. Men jeg kan ikke undgå at spekulere på, om det samme holder stik i verden af videnskabelig forskning om ernæring, kost og implikationer for sundhed osv.

Yikes!

21:00 Vi slukker for radioen og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser det 2. afsnit af en speciel serie af ”Grand Designs”, der fokuserer på RIBAs (Royal Institute of British Architects) konkurrence for at finde ”årets hus”. Programmets vært er den charmerende Kevin McCloud.

I aften ser vi endnu 5 huse i konkurrencen – der har været ca. 20 huse der deltog, og ved slutningen af serien skal vi se dommerne vælge det vindende hus ud af en kortliste af ca. 7 .

De fem huse i aftenens afsnit kan kategorises som ”huse, der har en fortid”, ifølge Kevins ord.

Lois og jeg vælger vores favorit, tilfældigvis et konverteret gin-destilleri i London. Vi ville begge to elske at bo derinde, hvad enten det har lykkedes ejerne 100% at fjerne gin-duften, eller ej. Og husets indre viser tegn på originalitet, ulig de fleste huse man ser i Grand Designs, som for det meste alle ligner hinanden. Men dommerne bryder sig ikke ret meget om dette konverterede gin-destilleri, lader det til – ingen overraskelse der.

Dommerne vælger de to huse Lois og jeg mindst kan lide. De er fuldt af forfærdelige rum, der er ”dobbelt-højde”og som ekkoer af alle kræfter – overhovedet ikke hyggelige efter vores mening.

En arkitekt giver et ægtepar, der er ved at gå på pension en kombineret stue og ”bibliotek”, dobbelt-højde igen, med stiger for at grave frem bøgerne på de  højeste hylder. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Jeg håber bare på, at hvis de ender med at falde af stigerne og brækker et eller andet ben i kroppen, vil de sagsøge arkitekten for hver øre, han har!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz!!!!!