Cav's Place

Last night was the first night I slept back in my room, after 24 in “exile“. I only have the bed and the desk so far, but it’ll do, as much as anything can do since I lost everything that kept me here in the first place…

I was saying the bed is just what I wanted and it mostly is, but it does have a small problem that makes it make noises in exactly the wrong spot. In any other area I can even jump on it and it won’t complain in any way, but on the top half of the “free” side, so the area where I get on and off it and also where my arms are when I do pushups on it, there seems to be a problem with something and when the weight changes it “snaps”. I guess we’ll just turn it around and the problem will be solved, since there’s nothing to say where the head should be yet.
The major problem with the desk has been solved though, that drawer has been shortened so my UPS can go in behind it and out of sight. There’s no room to put a board above that place to protect it from anything that might fall from the drawers since he didn’t do it according to my plan, of course, but we’ll see… Also, the drawer still doesn’t come out easily, which makes even getting anything in and out of it a problem since, because it’s so short and it won’t be allowed to slide all the way out unless you pull it up first, the area that you have access to when you slide it out normally is only six and a half centimeters long. But I’ll make due with it I guess, better than nothing…
Another issue is that now the window takes a good shove to close. I asked dad what’s up with that and he said he noticed and thinks they put it back in at the wrong angle and it bent, so now he tried to put it at a slightly opposite angle hoping it’ll straighten itself out in time. There goes the insulation it was supposed to provide I guess, which is the very reason he changed them in the first place against my firm opposition and caused this entire mess with the mold… But it’s weird, because he said they didn’t take the windows out. Somebody’s lying about something…

Otherwise, it’s dirty and I can’t even vacuum now. The part that holds together the flexible and the hard parts of the hose broke and it can’t be put back together. Dad said we’ll just have to use it like that for the time being, just pointing the hose to where we want to clean, but what the fuck? How can you expect to clean a room like that? Ok, there’s no carpet here yet so I don’t need a brush, but still…
On the other hand, the way things are piled up does make it look even worse than it is. The books are in piles on the floor, my clothes are piled up on the desk next to the monitor, there’s a box somewhere in a corner and there are still some things I didn’t get back in here yet. I don’t plan to get those back until I’ll have the shelves as well.

The plan is now to look for things on my own on Thursday. I should be able to link a few things together, check out the book fair and then look through the three major furniture stores, if I won’t get too confused with the directions and if I’ll be able to hold it together around all those people for so long, which is a very big if. But I hope I’ll manage to get the exact idea and then be able to tell dad exactly what to get when he’ll have the time and money for it, which I hope will be very soon.

But, leaving all that, at least I’m back here. Though basically the only thing left untouched in this room since she was last here is the door… There is really nothing more I can say about that, few things were left and even fewer remain. Time doesn’t heal, time only kills…

I already knew about this when I last wrote about the idiotic things that pass for morality, but there was no way to fit it in. I’m talking about the Manchester Museum supposedly taking into account the complaints of a “significant minority” of visitors and covering up mummies, because those visitors were offended by the display and considered it undignified for the mummies. They seem to still be accepting comments on the official blog post about this issue, but they have covered them before asking for such comments.
Need I say I’m baffled? I keep saying this lately, but this world we live in can only shock anybody who is still determined to think we’re in any way inclined to attempt proving that intelligence that we accuse ourselves of possessing. People use their supposed “morals” to justify so many idiotic things and this certainly isn’t new, it’s been done since somebody “invented” the concept.

I have to wonder what’s there to see in a covered mummy? What’s the point of keeping them on display at all? How can a museum, which is supposed to offer people the chance to see as much as possible, condone something like this?
But the real issue is another: Close-minded people insist on imposing their views on everyone else. And they do that because they can, because they’re allowed to. So the real question is why, why are they allowed to do this?

The way I see it, the issue is very simple. If you are bothered by seeing a naked mummy, you should not go to the area where they’re exhibited. Of course, the museum would have to arrange their exhibits in such a way that a person who would be bothered by passing through the area where the mummies are would not be required to do so in order to see something else. That’s simply common sense and it takes into account a lot more than the “nakedness” of the mummies. After all, quite a lot of people could be bothered by the sight of a dead body in that state, whether it’s naked or not.
But what’s being done is not reasonable in any way. We’re not talking about a minority’s right to protect themselves so they won’t be required to see what they don’t want to see, we’re talking about some people forcing others to bend to their will. It’s not a question of majority or minority, it’s simply a question of freedom. They should have the right not to see those naked mummies and the rest should have the right to see them as they are, simple as that. I don’t know how the museum is organized, but the only thing that’s required is not needing to pass through that area in order to reach another.

There is another aspect to this, though. Some of those complaints have argued that displaying the mummies in such a way is “undignified” for those people. If you take it from that point of view, some may think the complaints justified, but we’re talking about those with strange views. And no, the fact that they’re common doesn’t make them less strange.
Medicine is based on studying the human body, skeletons analyzed, necropsies performed, and let’s not forget about the virtual human body models that accurately represent their real models. If any such display is wrong, then they all are and medicine would still be in the stone age! Not to mention that if the display of a human body is wrong, then whether it’s covered in bandages or not makes little difference.
For the display of the body to be an offense to the deceased person’s dignity, that person would have to still be connected to that body, be aware of what’s being done to it. So the question is quite simple: Do any of those who complain about this have strong personal views that support the idea that a person’s soul (since it’s the only thing that would survive the death of the body and still be aware, which is a requirement in order to be offended) stays connected to the body even after death? And we’re talking about a very long time after death, thousands of years!

That’s really all there is to say about this… But since I’m on the topic of morality and have mentioned my previous post on this issue, I want to say I’m glad that the whole “nurses posing next to patient” scandal has been sorted in the reasonable manner. They have finally tracked the man down and asked him if he’s bothered by it. He said he isn’t and that he actually talked about this with those nurses before going into surgery. He also said that he intends to sue the tabloid that brought up the issue. So there will be no further action taken against those nurses, though investigators said they still somewhat reproach one of them because she had pictures taken of herself alone next to the patient’s bed, not as a group. But the fact remains that they were pressured into resigning initially and will have to find a job in another hospital now. The good news is that it seems they already have offers.

Three weeks ago I was saying I’m exiled to another room while work is being done in mine. The work itself was over in about ten days, but since everything needed to be replaced the room couldn’t be used so far. Now things are coming in and it would seem that I’ll finally be back there.
I have a bed I like, or at least I think I like since I’ll need to sleep in it first to be sure. There is something on the floor that I specifically didn’t want, but it was shoved down my throat and of course I have no say in the matter. And there’s a computer desk that was built exactly according to my sketch in every detail except the one that made me need to have it custom-made in the first place, which the carpenter just ignored, so it’s perfectly useless for my purposes.
Otherwise the room is bare and I plan to keep it that way until I can get exactly what I want. I’d much rather do without things for a while and then have what I want than have to stay with something that’s not quite right. Not like I need many things anyway… And I’m forced to do without the one I truly need…

Just like last year, I knew all the songs and some of the presentations before the show. Same reason for my interest, of course, trying (and failing) to keep my mind busy…
As usual, I watched the show and tried to rank the songs, trying to judge solely based on the current performance and not on how I knew that song could sound like. I’ve been using the same ranking system for some ten years now and even though I’m usually way off I don’t plan to change it. After all, “political” votes have a major role in determining the classification, but I’m not going to take them into account because I’m trying to rank according to overall quality, not to predict the outcome. Of course my system is subjective, but how else can you judge such things?
That system involves giving each country a song mark, a show mark and a “personal impression” rating. The marks are theoretically between 1 and 10, but they have always been between 4 and 9, with the vast majority being 6 or 7. A 9 is very rare, there have only been two or three in all these years, and it’s basically the same with the 4, thankfully. As for 5 and 8, if I have two or three of each during a show I’m satisfied that I have “calibrated” things properly. The rating can be “good”, “neutral” or “bad” and there are some fixed rules regarding that too, for example taking the language it’s in into account. Then I average the two marks and rank songs according to that. When the average is equal, I rank according to song mark. When two or more countries get exactly the same marks, I take the rating into account. Finally, if everything is equal (and this happens quite a lot) I just try to rank based on whatever differences I can notice, which stuck better in my mind and so on.
Still, even though I came up with this system and have been using it for so long, sometimes I happen not to agree with some of the results I get. That’s partly because I’m factoring in the “personal impression” rating so late and partly because sometimes there’s a very good song that has no show value at all (or the other way around, but that’s rather rare) and I see myself forced to put it lower than I’d have liked. But that’s how it is and I think I’ll stick to it.

Russia, as usual, has a high position assured regardless of the song. That means their performance must only give them that extra edge to put them on top and it would appear that this time it was enough.
Ukraine seems to continue the run of good results and I can’t blame it on the “political” votes. The performance was quite good overall, I’m not complaining about this one.
But I think I’ll have to get back to “political” votes when it comes to Greece, because otherwise I don’t see why it was third. Then again, it’s a matter of taste, songs of that kind drive me away.
Same goes for Armenia, because I thought it was one of the worst performances in the contest. It shouldn’t have even made it to the final if you ask me.
Norway had a very good song, but without a good enough show to back it up. I’m actually happy that it ended up on a better place in the contest than in my ranking.

And since I mentioned my list, here it is (actual place between parenthesis):

1 Azerbaijan (8)
2 Finland (22)
3 Georgia (11)
4 Ukraine (2)
5 Russia (1)
6 France (19)
7 Latvia (12)
8 Sweden (18)
9 Norway (5)
10 Poland (24)
11 Iceland (14)
12 Turkey (7)
13 Denmark (15)
14 Romania (20)
15 Portugal (13)
16 Greece (3)
17 Croatia (21)
18 Bosnia (10)
19 Serbia (6)
20 Spain (16)
22 United Kingdom (25)
21 Germany (23)
23 Armenia (4)
24 Albania (17)
25 Israel (9)

Didn’t get any place right and wasn’t ever even only one place off. Two places off for Denmark, Germany, Portugal and Ukraine. Three off for Iceland and United Kingdom.
On the other end, at least ten places off for Armenia, Finland, France, Greece, Israel, Poland, Serbia and Sweden.

Let me briefly explain my top ten picks now.
Azerbaijan were the only ones who stood out by show value, what they did actually expressed something and connected with the lyrics of the song. And the song wasn’t bad either.
Finland… What can I say, I liked the sound…
Georgia and Ukraine were both good, though very different, songs that were backed by a decent show. I’m going to plead guilty of putting Georgia above Ukraine partly because the singer’s blind.
Russia is one of those cases where I disagree with my own ranking. There were several songs I liked better, but Plushenko’s show of skill while trying to skate on that very small area meant this one had some show value to back it up.
France had something going for it, it simply was interesting. It’d have probably been way better if the singer would have managed the trick with the helium, since that’s what I think it was, properly.
Latvia put up a good show and their voices actually didn’t sound as bad as they had previously. The song’s catchy.
Finally, Sweden, Norway and Poland had good songs, but not much show to back them up with.

A word about the countries that made it to the final… I used the same system to rank the semi-finals and seven out of my top ten from each did go through. In the first one I put Andorra, Belgium and Slovenia instead of Armenia, Bosnia and Israel (special note here, Israel ranked last out of all 43 participants for me). In the second I put Bulgaria, Hungary (which ranked last according to votes) and Malta instead of Albania, Croatia and Portugal.
As a side note, the country that benefitted from the new rule that states that juries choose one of the qualifiers from each semi-final was Sweden, at the expense of Macedonia. Poland was the country the juries picked in the first semi-final, but they were tenth according to votes anyway. At least this time I agreed with the juries both times, seeing as both Sweden and Poland were in my top ten even in the final. (And speaking of Sweden, I happened to bump into the song the viewers chose in their national selection. It’d probably have been the best ballad in the contest, but the jury chose otherwise and by a wide enough margin to make the difference.)

This post has been sitting in my drafts for a very long time. Taking the post number into account, it’s been sitting here for more than a year. Occasionally I’d add a link or remove another, but I haven’t actually written anything in it until now. I guess all this talk about influences finally made me get around to it. I thought it might, even mentioned it in that post…

Let’s start with the one thing that I might in a small way agree with. I’m talking about movies where violence is used just for the sake of violence. That doesn’t mean I support any kind of restrictions, only that I can see how, in a certain context, they could make some moderately unstable people do the wrong things, so closer supervision may be required. I certainly don’t agree with banning them or forbidding children from watching them, that’d just make them more interesting and would not solve anything. And have to say again that I’m talking only about those where violence exists only for the sake of violence, not where its use is justified.
The problem with movies is that you can’t get involved, there’s no direct way to release the tension that builds up. Watching a movie, or anything else for that matter, is completely passive. When you play a game you’re directly involved in the action, when you read a book (which is not an issue for this post, only used as comparison) you imagine what’s going on, or at least you should, and I even consider listening to music as somewhat more involved than watching a movie or the news. But in this case all you can do is sit there and take it all in, the lack of release making it require a less severe case of existing mental instability in order to potentially trigger an undesired reaction.
Watching something containing unjustified violence certainly won’t have such effects on a person that’s at least reasonably sane and intelligent, of course. Which means it’s still the person’s fault or, in case of children, the parents’ fault for not noticing the problems and explaining everything in the correct manner in due time. And that’s the main issue: Potential violent influences may only affect those who are obviously prone to such acts, the fact that such people exist being their own fault if they’re no longer children, and by that I mean past the age of 12 at the very most, or their parents’ fault if they are. The media isn’t there to educate the masses, it’s not its job.
I rarely watch movies and when I do it’s mainly for the effects and massive battle scenes, preferably “with the fate of the world on the table”. That means they certainly include violence, but it usually has a purpose, it results from the story, it’s not an end in itself. Though it could be somewhat less than justified if the effects are nice enough I guess, but I’d have serious misgivings about it. I’m not saying I’m representative of anything, just that when assessing risk you should determine why does a person choose to watch violent movies or shows. It all boils down to the person…

Moving on to music, I think it offers a little more chance for release than the movies or TV. You’re still not directly involved, but there’s nothing stopping you from doing something to release any anger you may feel. When you watch something your eyes must stay on the screen, but when you listen to something your ears don’t usually have to stay in a certain position relative to the source of the sound. Not to mention that songs are much shorter than movies and therefore have much less time to create a certain mood unless you specifically want them to do so. Therefore music requires a significant predisposition to violence in order to have any such effect on a person, making it impossible to justify blaming it for any such acts.
A person who’s at least reasonably sane and intelligent will choose what music they listen to according to their mood, not the other way around. Of course there are people who are criminally insane or simply too stupid, but that’s not the music’s fault! Those people would end up doing the wrong things sooner or later regardless of what they’re listening to and excuses may be found at any time, but they’d be just that, excuses.
There is even a study saying that violent music may be beneficial, helping intelligent youth get rid of anger and frustration. It only included a small number of subjects, but I think it can be confirmed by a simple look around. Reasonably sane and intelligent people will choose what they listen to according to who they already are, also passing the message and any mood it may create through their own “filters”.
People who can handle themselves need choices and the freedom to make them, because they will sometimes find good uses even for what others consider to be bad options. What we should aim towards is reducing the number of people who are prone to making the wrong choices, who don’t realize what’s real and what’s not and are too influenceable for their own good and that of the world. And that’s not achieved by reducing the number of possible choices, that actually makes them even less likely to choose correctly when faced with a choice!
I for one have started listening to metal after Andra left and haven’t stopped since. I usually listen to music only when I’m very depressed, and I’m constantly very depressed since she left. I needed something “stronger” than what I knew until then, somebody sent me a few songs and the rest, as they say, is history. I focus on the more melodic kinds, can’t stand growls and usually listen mainly for the lyrics, using the music mainly to deliver the necessary “punch” to break through my mood and allow me to take in the lyrics properly. Yes, my favorite songs are usually depressing, though some might also be considered violent or even both at once, but I choose what I listen to according to my existing mood, not the other way around. Actually, this shows why I agreed with the results of that study so much, doesn’t it?

And now, the most reviled of all such potential “influences”: Video games! It’s so easy to take the newest development and blame it for everything simply because it’s still relatively new and many people don’t understand it properly, isn’t it? This never ceases to surprise me because, out of all these potential “influences”, games offer the best chance for release! That makes them a great way to release existing anger and frustration, therefore making those same reasonably sane and intelligent people I keep mentioning that much less likely to take something out on actual things or living beings, so how can you blame the games for the acts of violence committed by obviously unstable individuals?
I won’t focus too much on the other potential benefits of gaming, though they may include gaining knowledge, improving skills or physical abilities, or social interaction. I doubt that anybody who’s determined to see violent games as the cause of so many evils will care about those anyway. I want to focus on violence and what I’m trying to say is mainly that playing games, regardless of the degree of violence, will not make you actually be violent unless you already have some serious mental problems. It’s sad that so many studies tend to aim towards telling people what they want to hear when it comes to this issue, but it’s always nice to see that a few balanced ones do exist (though I have a problem with that one as well, namely the part about suggesting ways to limit children’s use of games).
The purpose of violence is important, but since the player is directly involved there can be a legitimate reason for apparently meaningless violence as well, namely releasing anger. If you are already angry or frustrated and need to let it all out somehow, I’ll say it’s far better to have a bloody virtual world readily available before you reach a tipping point and risk taking it out on actual objects or living beings! This way, violent games actually make reasonably sane and intelligent people less likely to cause damages or harm and the fact that they’re blamed for acts of violence is absolutely baffling.
What’s more, games can include moral choices and the path you take may more or less represent your views and values. This way, a person’s choices while gaming may be a way to determine the already existing risk factor, but they shouldn’t be taken as a cause for it. If a person constantly chooses the needlessly violent or otherwise “evil” path in games, it may be a sign of problems that could need to be gently corrected in order to prevent actual acts of violence in the future. However, if a person chooses that path only when they are already angry or have no other valid choice, it can be a sign that they’re a responsible individual who tries to find safe ways to release the tension and thinks before acting.
I for one play RPGs almost exclusively and that certainly requires a lot of thinking, planning and making choices. I think my gaming reflects my views and values very well since, unless I’m only playing to release some tension, I do my best to play a “good” character but I judge that mainly based on the end result, placing somewhat less emphasis on the means of achieving it and practically none at all on the game world’s rules and laws. I try to always do what I think is right and cause as little unjustified harm as possible. I’ll do what needs to be done if it comes down to it, but I’ve been known to replay significant portions simply because I realized I could have done something without stealing, not to mention without killing. I find myself baffled when I see people asking why can’t they be completely “evil” in this or that game, slaughter everything, rob everybody and so on. Don’t get me wrong, I fully support the idea that you should be able to do those things and occasionally use virtual violence and “evilness” to release real tension myself, but I think anybody who specifically wishes to act like that in games frequently has a serious problem that has absolutely nothing to do with the game.

You might have noticed how many times I specified “reasonably sane and intelligent”. Fewer and fewer people could qualify as being that these days and I’m quite sure that’s where the problem is. That has nothing to do with potential violent “influences”. It, however, has a lot to do with the stress this society creates, its absurd requirements, its relentless pace… And the fact that certain people in positions of authority like the ones they have power over to be stupid and irresponsible, it makes it easier for them to keep their position and profit.
That said, would you kindly let the violence in TV shows, movies, songs and games go and focus on the real issues, namely bad parenting, stress, stupidity and mental problems? Not all problems, mind you, just those severe enough to make somebody no longer know the difference between what’s real and what’s not, between what can cause real harm and what won’t. After all, I don’t consider myself to be sane by any stretch of the term, but I won’t go on a killing spree regardless of what I’ve been watching, listening or playing lately… Despite the fact that humankind often makes me think that such an act would be quite justified…