Post graduate studies from the University of Life

Some people say that the best education one can receive is the route through the school of hard knocks, moving on to the University of Life, but at this point for most people the metaphor seems to break down. By the time one has reached this level, the suggestion it seems is that lifes lessons have been learned and one should be in a position to cope. I am unconvinced that this is the case, and feel that there is scope for post-graduate studies, possibly at the University of Life, School of self-improvement studies. The question, as with all post grad studies, is what area should I specialise in? There is a huge choice out there, for some it is learning how to cope with bereavement, for others it is coping with rejection, there are courses on financial management and control, and relationship studies, the list is endless, and whilst many courses are a rehash of previous studies, they take the subject further forward and enhance existing skills.

Life is a process of constant learning, constant refining of processes and methodology, a constant stream of analysing, reviewing, growing and building, and once that process stops, there is only entropy left, a reduction in faculty and function, a decay of ability and a slow decline to death. No matter how well or badly we are currently doing, there is always room for improvement, always room for further skill development and there has never been a better time than now to explore further studies. Everything that has gone before is history, everything yet to come is opportunity, now is the only chance you have to prepare for the future. Enrol in one of the post graduate courses at the School of self improvement today. The process is easy and the courses can be free. Start at your local library, get a book, any book, doesn't have to be on any particular subject, our reading list is extensive. Read that book, and then go and get another, and another, and another. You don't have to memorise anything unless you want to, there aren't any exams, all coursework is mark by continuous assessment, and we operate a self marking policy.

Join us today for a free bonus offer, choose one self improvement study course and we will throw in absolutely free a trial sample of our latest product "Feeling better about yourself"......enjoy....


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The problem with blogs.....

And bear in mind this is a blogger writing this, but there is something that has been worrying me for a little while. As a society we are very used to what we read, and particularly what we see, when it is presented as news, or information, being in the main accurate. There is a wealthy of anecdotal evidence that there are sections of society who will believe pretty much anything, taking the most inane nonsense at face value, and therein lies the problem. You, gentle reader, fellow internet explorer, have very little way of knowing if I am a 30 year business verteran with insights to divulge, a high flying scientist with detailed knowledge of my subject area, or a 14 year old culling all of my information from Wikipedia and rehashing erroneous stories. It is an interesting dilemma, particularly when you consider the amount of erroneous information out there.

Sure, Wikipedia is a great basic resource, articles being regularly amended and updated, it is even starting to turn up in the references of Phd theses but it is only really a start point, in the same way that a traditional encyclopedia only provides basic information. The point is that it is often difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff and to find sources of quality information and insight without having to spend hours filtering and reading and double checking and analysing. What works for me when I am wearing my internet browsing hat is, having found something I like, to bookmark it and keep track of it so that I can over time develop a portfolio of the content that I like.

Google is already starting to assist with this process by building up a search history for logged in users over time so that extra relevance is given to sites that are similar to sites that the user has been to before, but for me, bookmarking still works well.This is one site that I particularly like....

Freedom of the press?

So, News International is once again in the news, and once again we, the public who fund these organisations have been let down. If the allegations surrounding the hacking of Millie Dowlers mobile phone and the deleting of voicemail messages are to be believed then there is no excuse, no justification for such an act. The arguement that always seems to be trotted out at times like this is that if we want exposure of politicians wrongdoing, for example, we have to be prepared to put up with intrusion into other areas for this to be possible. This arguement is nonsense since in any system of morals or ethics there are boundaries and limits, otherwise you have no morals or ethics and should expect short shrift.

The stranglehold that the media has in the Western World, and particularly that held by News International means that there is little that we as consumers can do, other than vote with our wallets, and stop putting money in Mr. Murdochs pocket. The problem that I have is that this is just another in a long list of intrusions and wrong decisons by the mainstream media, and here I am not just thinking of the tabloid/gutter press, but across the media in generally, and we as consumers seem to have a very short memory in terms of holding these news outlets to account. There can be no question, that if proved, these allegations deserve to result in serious reprecussions for everyone involved irrespective of current position or power, but I strongly suspect that this will not happen and that once again we will see token gestures and in a couple of weeks it will all be forgotten.

I am with labour MP Tom Watson who last night on newsnight surprised Mr Paxman by attacking not just the coalition leaders but his own leader, and called on them to form a united front to bring the media to heel in this specific area of abuse of the defenceless and innocent, and further I would suggest that anyone paying money to the News International organisation is, by association, accepting that what appears to have been done in this case is acceptable, or at least acceptable enough to not cancel Sky. Personally I am making a stand. I have cancelled my Sky TV subscription, and am boycotting News International media outlets. I am not going to alter this position, irrespective of the outcome of any investigation as I have reached my limit and enough is enough....

Rantings on environmentalism

Do our politicians and media types think we aer stupid? Do they think we have no ethical, moral or social sense? Do they assume that we are a bunch of self-centred, narcissistic hedonists? It would appear so if the latest batch of programmes and articles are anything to go by. There seems to be a movement at the moment to question the work that is currently being done in the name of environmentalism, and to suggest that we are doing it wrong. We know! We have known this for a long time, but we are doing the best we can in a difficult situation. We need to consume less, we get that but it takes time to change the habits of a lifetime. We need to share more globally, but there are complications in getting what we share to where it is needed without it being hijacked. We need to use our resources more efficiently, but that is challenged by the need to maintain an overpopulation. We are not stupid!

We understand that there are comprimises that at this stage have to be made in order to prevent the breakdown of society as we know it. We are torn between trying to save the planet and trying to save ourselves, and we know that the two are not mutually exclusive but are intrinsically linked. We know what we should be doing better, and different, and we are working on it. What we don't need is some politician or campaigner reminding it of this in such a way that we are discouraged from keeping on trying! Right now we have to keep focused on doing what we can to make the world a better place, and we have to try to work around the compromises that have to be made.

So protecting an endangered species puts pressure on indigenous peoples? We know this, we don't need it pointing out, and we certainly don't need to be told that what we are doing is wrong. Life doesn't work that way. We have to be clear that we are making an effort and that we are making a difference in order to keep going, and we need clear unambiguous information in order to take the descisions we have to make. What we don't need is rhetoric and sensationalism.....

Why therapy doesn't work

There are so many people of my generation who are, or have been under the care of a therapist of one sort or another. The choice is vast, NLP, CBT, drug therapies, electromagnetic therapy, colour therapies and all the rest, but there are two things that all of these share in common. Firstly they currently have little or no basis in medical fact, and secondly they, like most medical treatments are designed to deal with symptoms, not with causes. This second point is contentious because the claims for many of these therapies is that they address the deep seated issues that are at the root of many neurological conditions, but I would content that this is a nonsense. Having experienced several of them, what they offer is a series of coping strategies to deal with the worst of the symptoms. The idea as I understand it being that by alleviating the symptoms, one is better able to function and therefore deal with the underlying condition.

However, there does not seem to be any direct method offered by any of these therapies for doing that, so one is left in a position where the symptoms are diminished but one is left to try to resolve the causes alone. This often causes additional stress which causes the symptoms to re-emerge, thereby negating any beneficial effects. It should be pointed out that there are questions over the prevalence of mental illness in the first place. It has to be asked why there has been an upswing of epidemic proportions in the cases of mental illness in many categories in the last 20 years. There is an arguement that we better understand the brain and are therefore better able to assess and analyse abberant mental states, but this can only be part of the story. If we go back to our parents and grandparents generation, can we honestly say that they faced any less stress than we do? Were they spared any of the tradgedies that we deal with? I would argue that if anything they had it far tougher than we did, but certainly in my own case, my parents were expected to just get on with life, and in the main they did.

I know that were my parents alive today and in their prime, my father would be diagnosed with depression and addictive personality disorder and my mother would almost certainly have a diagnosis of paranoia and obsessive compulsive disorder amongst other things. Yet they successfully, in the main raised two children, one of whom had a developmental disorder, held down jobs for the most part, created a relatively safe and secure relationship and generally just got on with things. They both coped with the stress of termainl illness, they coped with the stress of infidelity, they coped with the nightmare that is now described as a "difficult" child, so why are they so different from me, my friends, my peers? I would argue that they aren't, they just didn't have our resources......

......Which brings me back to my opening point, therapy is a waste of time and money, resources that would be better spent teaching children to cope with the ups and down of life.....

Is there a place for trade unions in the UK?

We are curently, in the UK seeing the start of the latest round of public service indystrial action organised by the Unison trade union. The current strikes are a protest against changes to pension rights, moving from a final salary pension scheme to an average salary pension scheme. Clearly this is going to cause issues for staff, the bulk of whom have chosen to remain in the public sector, where salaries are traditionally lower than the private sector because the pension schemes were so good. The response of the trade union has been to ballot members on strike action, and following sufficient support, to organise trike action. I have only one issue with this, it doesn't work. It didn't work through the 1970's and '80's and it doesn't work now. All it does is alienate the rest of the population who are predominantly guided by the mainstream media, and lend fuel to the politicians who are anti-union by allowing them to suggest that the unions are out of touch with Britain through the economic aftermath post 2008.

I am not, by default a fan of free market economics as a rule, believing that in generally this policy leaves the most vulnerable in society unprotected, but in a case like this, I believe that a better solution for public service employees whould be to allow market forces to take effect, leading to mass resignations rather than mass strikes. This would send a far clearer message to the council leaders and politicians who seem to see their staff as a resource to be utilised as they see fit. If the goal posts have changed sufficiently that the financial incentives to being a public servant have been removed, there is really only one course of action, and if it taken by enough people, the status quo and balance of power will shift without union intervention.

Unless unions have the ability to develop new weapons to combat unfair treatment of union members, their purpose is negated and they have nothing more than a limited role in society. The situation is complex, and resources are increasingly scarce. As long as unions fail to understand that they need to change they will not succeed....

The use of the word ritual by archaeologists

It used to be a running joke within archaeological circles that anything that was discovered that didn't have an obvious mundane purpose was ascribed a ritual significance. A classic example of this was an antler device with a hole bored through one end that had for many years been described as a talking stick. Further analysis has suggested a couple of much more mundane uses, most likely as a tool to get a better grip on a thick rope. There is good evidence for ritual practices throughout the neolithic and into the bronze and iron ages, particularly in the creation of stone axe heads that would have been far too fragile to actually be useful, and were significantly overworked. The development of heavily stylised statuary as seen in the Willendorf Venus lends further credence to this supposition. However it is undoubtedly the case that many of the practices ascribed a ritual importance are in fact unlikely to be such.

This is particularly the case with the evidence for ritual de-fleshing of bodies. It is reasonably well established that in the neolithic bodies were left on platforms in the open to be stripped down to the bone by birds and animals. Moving into the bronze age and later through the iron age, generally inhumations were of cremated remains, or dressed burials. The evidence for defleshing by human agents is limited to the appearance of cut marks on long bones and skulls found in caves and pits. One of the more famous are those found in Goughs cave in Cheddar in Somerset but there are plenty of others. When these bones were recently re-analysed it was suggested that the position and type of the cuts were more akin to those found in butchery and the disarticulating of a carcass prior to consumption.

This would make more sense, as, contrary to common opinion, cannibalism has historically been more widespread than is generally accepted. There is, of course an argument, backed by anthropological evidence, that cannibalism can be in itself ritualistic, the eating of defeated enemies hearts is a prime example, as is the consumption of human brains as a source of spiritual power. There is however more evidence that cannibalism is a routine stage of most civilisations in times of hardship, having been seen across the world during periods of extreme environmental stress. The practice has even been shown to exist in the modern age in severe survival situations, so would this perhaps be a better interpretation than the old cliche of ritual activity? Of course, ritual allows the creation of far more interesting stories, and it is often the case that those archaeologists who are also folklorists tend to be more prone to buying into these stories and thereby propogating them further.

In archaeology, as in most things, the military mantra should perhaps be the first port of call - KISS Keep It Simple Stupid....