Psychotic Architecture

It may be popular to decry all forms of modernism as somehow “bad.” In architecture, especially, this call of classicism can be strong. However, designing an office building with Doric columns seems, to me, silly.

So having got the fact I am not completely anti-modernity, I would like to remark on the trend towards what I would term psychotic architecture. This is a style of architecture that breaks any link of form and function. Instead, it seeks to impose a sense of confusion and disorientation on the user. It seems as if the occupants of the building have been demoted from human users to supplicants of the architectural vision.

Another One Bites the Dust

I have complained before about bloggers white paging their site. It seems one of the biggest bloggers in these parts has done just that. Roissy’s (Citizen Renegade) is no more. The “no longer available” message looks as if it is a permanent rather than a temporary disappearance.
[Update: It turns out the blog has merely moved to a new location: http://heartiste.wordpress.com/.]

A Movement of Peace

A quote:

After the terrible events in Norway, we must remember that immigration restrictionists are not the enemy. We cannot let one bad apple distract us from the fact that this is really a movement of peace. We must be wary of any backlash, and look to see if we can understand the frustrations that drive someone to do this. We must continue with our openness that allows us listen to all voices and all treat all opinions with respect. We must not fall back into narrow thinking that allows us dismiss such beliefs as “extreme,” indeed we must redouble our efforts to reach out to those in the immigration restriction community with tolerance and respect for their views. We must not use the actions of one evil person turn us against the legitimate concerns of a large group of citizens.

Source: Not the New York Times, any politician, or elite opinion.

NLP and Mindfulness

NLP has some fame in the pick-up community for its use in seduction. Back in the mid 1990s, in the early days of the Internet’s public phase I remember seeing references to something called “Speed Seduction.” Speed Seduction was the creation of Ross Jeffries and claimed to be a way to use NLP to create sexual attraction in any woman. I was, and remain dubious, about the potential of NLP in seduction^* but do see a role in personal improvement (including inner game).

Confidence

After my earlier post where I covered shyness, I will now ponder confidence.

Shyness

The discussion on a SDaedalus thread included descriptions of dances for teenagers. The description of young men on one side, young women on the other, with few crossing over the gulf, caused me to ponder what a curse shyness is.

Republican Professors are Tougher Graders

An article on Inside Higher Ed relates a study that shows Republican professors (both of them) grade in a less egalitarian manner than Democratic professors. Republican professors awarded a wider range of marks, giving more high grades and more low grades. Democratic professors tended to give fewer “extreme” grades.

Milk and Wine Revisited

I wrote a while ago about the maxim that women age like milk, while men age like wine. Men tend to embrace it, while women tend to reject it.

Men like the idea because it seems to point to a rise in their power in the dating market. Women tend to dislike it because it points to a decline in their power in the dating market. However, I am not so sure either are correct.

Chivalry

Some deplore chivalry as no longer valid in a grrl-power world. Others, mostly women and social conservatives, regret its loss. I cannot say I really deplore it, but I hardly regret its slight decline (and let’s be clear, it has not disappeared).

In the words of Bill Clinton, we should, “mend it, not end it.”

Blog Burnout

I have been trying to discipline myself to writing a post every day (with some weekend breaks). I seem to be suffering blog burnout, so I offer this paltry post as a way of claiming I kept up with my goal. I hope to be back tomorrow as I have one or two ideas, but fear I may be looking forward to writers block regarding topics.

I did add a new feature in the sidebar. I call it Readings for the Young Beta Male. In it, I will highlight blog posts or articles that may offer good guidance to the eponymous beta male.