The origins of Jingoism ?

As a former student of an instituiton with a large mixed student population,I have had many opportunities to witness jingoistic tendencies among people.The region from which one hails from,the primary language that one speaks,one's religious beliefs and even the kind of music that one listens to can all be hailed as reasons for people holding chavunistic attitudes.Passive jngoism always seems to be at play,and usually turns active after a trigger-Even something as trivial as a region-specific sporting event can act as a reason for violent confrontation between people belonging to different 'groups'.
It can also be clearly seen that fanaticism exists everywhere,and at every level-From small gangs and cliques to large nations with aggressive foreign policies.The number of people who do not identify themselves as belonging to any one group at any level are few and far apart.(It can also be argued that a group of two or more such people can be considered a group itself.)
Groups at any level also seem to possess the following traits :

1.Consensual agreement among its members for certain issues,even if the members do not agree with each other for other issues,seen as irrelevant to the functioning of the group itself.

2.A tendency amongst most of its members to regard their group as superior to other groups on the same level.

3.A tendency among most of its members to be aggressive to any member formerly part of the group,but is not anymore.

4.The members of a group at one level are all not necessarily part of a single group at another level,but the ones who are,tend to form sub-groups within a group.

The reason why groups exist is definitely not a singular one,and one reason surely cannot satisfactorily explain their prescence,though I believe that groups arise because humans are naturally pack animals,and in the absence of a rigid pack system,we tend to blend into what is the closest equivalent.In pack animals such as dogs and wolves,agression towards non-members of the pack is sometimes observed,and the parallel to this in human society may be jingoism.

Astrology website experiment! - PRANK!

It was yet another boring night when I was Googling random stuff (as always),I came across this website that talked about astrology,solving problems with gemstones etc. After seeing that their 'basic' package that involved a reading,a solution,and how a 'premium' package can be helpful,I decided to pull a prank on them- I wanted to enter details of a totally fictitious character and random dates and events and send it across for a 'basic' reading.Due to total lack of creativity to come up with any other fictitious name,I entered the name 'Bruce Wayne'( The alter-ego of the Batman,for all those who just awoke from your cryogenic preservation).As for the dates,they were completely made up by me. There was also a column for entering details about any significant events that have happened so far ,and I entered details of events that did happen to Batman in the comics,such as his parents being shot down by a mugger,his back being broken,the death of Jason Todd(The second Robin) etc. Also,I created an email id specifically for this purpose - 'brucewaynerich@gmail.com',as I did not want to use my own email id (I'm a major spamophobe :P).

Today,I finally got a reply from the website.It reads as follows:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rakesh Singhal <lifescape@lifescapeastrology.com>
Date: Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 8:54 AM
Subject: Re: Advice from Lifescape Astrology
To: brucewaynerich@gmail.com


Hello Mr bruce wayne,
a man who by heart is well wisher of society , colleagues and friends is getting worst from the same elements. your chart is likely to be included in our future training programmes.
your objectives are my objectives too, but before that, you need to be financially well off. you will do well in business, and in case there is any doubt, you remove them.
please wear emerald. keep in touch, and send us your observations after one month of wearing emerald.
yes, points mentioned by you can be read from your chart.
wish you good luck,
rakesh singhal

------ Original Message ------
From: webmaster@lifescapeastrology.com
To: lifescape@lifescapeastrology.com
Sent: 2/4/2011 12:00:08 PM
Subject: Advice from Lifescape Astrology

First name: Bruce

Last name: Wayne

Gender: M

Date : 19

Month : 2

Year : 1967

Hour : 5

Minute :

Town: Gotham city

State: NY

Country: USA

Email: brucewaynerich@gmail.com

Email 2: brucewaynerich@gmail.com

Eventdate1: October 1975

Event1: Parents killed by mugger

Eventdate2: June 1988

Event2: Partner dies

Eventdate3: January 1993

Event3: Back broken by a thug

Eventdate4: September 2008

Event4: Cheated by current girlfriend

Profession: Business

Problems: Bring peace to Gotham city and strike terror into the hearts of criminals

Casestudies: Yes

This clearly proves how true the website's claims are. I urge anyone who is reading this blog to try a similar thing with other such websites.Lets hunt these morons out!

Here is the image of 'Bruce Wayne's natal chart' that the website sent me:

Here's the excel file that I got from the website that has the details of the above chart in a spreadsheet:

bruce wayne.xls - 21.0 KB

Here's a pdf copy of the original form:

Gemstone Advice.pdf - 24.7 KB

I only have one thing to say to the website in question,and to other 'practitioners of astrology' : FAIL! :D :D

The real 'secret'

If one were to look at any list of bestselling books of the last ten years, one can see that a good portion of the ones noted are what are known as 'self-help' books. One thing that's common to these books is their purported nature of showing the reader how to make the 'best use' of his/her life and turn out 'successful'.Some of the more recent ones even go as far as saying that it's possible to obtain anything that one wants by merely wishing for it.Another common feature of these books is the usage of pseudo-scientific terms such as 'Quantum consciousness','Collective subconscious' etc and the usage of non-existent phenomena to highlight the author's attempt at explaining what according to him/her is the nature of the working of the world.The blurbs on these books all seem to claim that the ideas espoused by the book in question is mankind's key to understanding the universe.

The authors of all these books want to point out that our lives so far has been empty and meaningless and that they are the ones who will rescue us from the mundaneness that we have created,and turn us into 'highly successful people',who know 'the secret' of being good at everything.

If the books have helped anyone become succesful at what they do,it is the authors themselves,no doubt having got considerably richer with the sales of the books.

It leaves one to wonder if people have become so insecure about themselves,that they need someone else to tell them how to go about their lives.

One just needs to pause and think to know that the world around is beautiful in its own regard. Surely,the stars in the sky are enchanting,even without a 'God' to hold them up.The way nature works is a marvel,even without a 'spirit' to drive it.And it surely is common-sense to know that one can have what one wants/needs,by suitably working at getting it.

Our ability to reason and understand is what drove our species to have considerable mastery over much of the world,and ignoring our voice of reason will not be a good thing at all.

Spelling is important - One letter can make all difference :P

Trasnfarmers :P

Engineer's guide to the seasons

So,who wants to be a superhero?

In real life,a bite from a radioactive animal will only make the person sick.This is for anyone out there who may have wanted to engage in superheroics,at any point of time in their lives.This post gives you an idea for starting up your own super-career.

1.Source of 'Power'

This 'powerful' idea is probably the easiest-All it would require is that a homemade stun gun is made,and fixed on gloves or wherever.A stun gun can be made at home for less than 10 USD,by using a disposable camera's flash,or by using a high capacitance capacitor and a discharge circuit,with open leads.One can find quite a number of websites that teach you how to make your own stun gun.

2.Shielding

Unfortunately,we do not have rapid healing powers that will help us get away from our injuries,unharmed.And so,some kind of protection is needed against both projectiles such as bullets,and against direct physical blows. The best bet would be to have a helmet,not unlike a sports helmet or a biker helmet,and making sure that it covers the entire face. For the upper body and the limbs,a Kevlar vest is needed for sure,for protection against projectiles,and padding with thick rubber/foam or a chain linked suit ( Like a fencing costume).

3.Locomotion

I was initially thinking of a large set of ornithopter wings or helicopter blades,but then ,I realised that it would be impractical to have either of them,as they would be too heavy and too 'non- indiscreet' to carry around.The most practical solution seems to be a motorcycle,with a GPS system as a necessary add-on.

4.Utilities

These utilities will be necessary,for any emergencies :

-> A basic first aid kit.

- > A cellphone/any other communication device.

- > A set of handcuffs(OPTIONAL).

- >A pocket knife for cutting up ropes etc.

- >A flashlight.

- >Extra clothes.

These utilities will be needed to be carried ,at all times and the best way to do that will be in a backpack.

With all of these ,I estimate the cost of starting up one's superhero career ( not Including the cost of the motorcycle or the cellphone connection) to be around 800 USD. Happy superheroing,everyone! If anyone who reads this has a few ideas of their own,do tell me.

Extra-terrestrials and whistleblower websites.

Disclaimer: The following post is a completely hypothetical one,and I do not believe in extra-terrestrials visiting earth regularly and working with governments.I do think it would be really cool if that were the case though 8).

Any day is a fine day for speculative controversy theories and in the spirit of the same,I'm posting about the probable reactions that will be generated if Wikileaks were ever to reveal that they have conclusive evidence about Extra-terrestrial beings being in contact with governments around the world.

The first reaction would probably be denial by the government(s) in question.But,as the news spreads around the world, they will eventually be forced to admit the 'truth'. Immediately after this,the ETs would be introduced to the world at large,and this would provide a lot of fodder for media around the world.Engineers and scientists everywhere would spend much of their time learning the workings of the ET's spacecraft and any gadgets that they have on board,and the biology of the spacemen themselves etc. Manufacturing companies around the world will attempt reverse-engineering anything fancy that the aliens might have with them,and start selling them. Religious leaders will ,yet again,come up with a 'reinterpretation' of their religious texts ,to accommodate the presence of the aliens,and there will be much debate on if the presence of the aliens proves or disproves the presence of a god(s).Magazines and blogs will be inundated with articles about the 'visitors' ,and people around the world will attempt learning about the various aspects of these non-human sentient lifeforms.Also,undoubtedly,there will be all new forms of porn coming up online(Even if it turns out that the aliens do not reproduce the same way that humans do).There will be a number of movies made that reference the aliens either directly or indirectly,and they would all be blockbusters.Governments around the world will add new laws to accommodate non-earthlings,including methods of punishment etc,and form all kinds of treaties with other governments. Economic relations with other planets will be planned,and the marketplace will change in ways one cannot even possibly imagine.

Over time,tourism to the planet/world inhabited by the aliens will start,and life as we know it will change drastically.