Slanted towards IB students

Spot the fake £1 coin

2010-07-28T16:14:00.001+01:00

Fake coins are most definitely not easy to spot, but here are ten tell-tale signs you should always look out for:

The coin has been circulating for some time according to its date of issue, yet it looks surprisingly new.
The design on the back of the coin doesn’t match the official design for the year it was issued. You can check which designs were used in each year at the Royal Mint website. £1 coins were first introduced in 1983 and the design has changed every year since. Check out Britain’s £1 Coin Designs which shows the designs that should appear on the reverse of the coin for every year from 1983 to 2010. Remember, if the date and the design don’t match up, you’ve got a fake.
The lettering or inscription on the edge of the coin doesn’t match the corresponding year. Take a look at the Counterfeit Coin Guide which will show you the correct specifications and inscriptions on £1 coins according to their year of issue.
The designs on both sides of the coin aren’t well defined compared with a real coin.
The alignment of the design is at an angle. Hold the coin so that the Queen’s head is upright and facing you. The design on the back should be upright too.
The ribbed edge of the coin is poorly defined.
The lettering on the edge of the coin is uneven, badly spaced or indistinct.
The colour of the coin doesn’t match the genuine article. Fake coins are often more yellow or golden than the real thing.
Fake coins are often thinner and lighter.
Remember, most counterfeit coins won’t be accepted by vending machines unless the forgery is particularly good. This is a clear indication that you have a fake.

Steps

2010-06-10T00:16:00.001+01:00

So...the end of the pre-IB...

Dream it
Believe it
Visualise it
Work for it
Achieve it

May 26th 9 plays : £3.50

2010-05-25T08:52:00.000+01:00

Questions Cameron won't answer

2010-04-06T15:30:00.002+01:00

Nicola Blackwood came to my house, canvassing for the Tory party. I gave her the questions below and she said she would try and get Cameron to reply. From then on, silence - that was a month ago.

What will they be like in office?

1. Why won’t you discuss the many suggestions that you have used illegal drugs? The assertion that you are entitled to a ‘private past’ is open to question because your attitude to such drugs is also a question of public policy. One of the few strong policy positions you have ever taken was to put your name to a Home Affairs Committee report recommending highly liberal polices on cannabis and some other substances. Your fellow Tory on the committee, Angela Watkinson, refused to sign that report because she believed it was wrong, so your support cannot be written off as a passive act. Aren’t voters entitled to wonder if your ‘private past’, and the fear that it may emerge into public view, may have influenced your public policy? Wouldn’t you be freer to take a strong line against this major menace if you came clean and – if appropriate – expressed regrets?

2. You say you like Britain as it is, not as it was. Yet you also say that it is a broken society. How can you square these two positions? Surely Britain was broken mainly by the cultural revolution which swept away stable marriage and respect for the law, and encouraged the spread of drug-taking and drunkenness? And surely it was better as it was rather than as it is? One or the other. But not both.

3. You have strongly condemned the misuse of Parliamentary expenses by many of your MPs, and quite ruthlessly forced the early retirement of several of them on these grounds, though some others who are friendly to you have escaped this treatment. You have made it plain that the fact that a claim was ‘within the rules’ does not excuse greed. Yet you are by any standards a wealthy man. Your constituency is within commuting distance of London, and many who vote for you make this journey daily. So how can you justify asking taxpayers – teachers, school dinner ladies, bus drivers, nurses – to give you £20,000 a year in mortgage relief, close to the maximum permitted claim, to help you pay for what you yourself described as ‘a very large mortgage’ on a spacious country house worth around £1million?

4. Do you believe that, by holding a poorly-advertised lunchtime meeting in Witney, when most voters with jobs could not get there, by stationing officials at the door with lists to give it the appearance of a members-only gathering, and by cramming it with your own supporters, that you properly exposed yourself and your expenses claims to public scrutiny?

5. You frequently say you are in favour of decentralising power in this country. How do you square this with your increasingly centralised control of the Conservative Party and above all of the selection of candidates?

6. You favour the selection of women and ethnic minority members as candidates and have even toyed with the idea of women-only shortlists. Do you believe that women can only be properly represented by women and members of ethnic minorities can only be properly represented by members of the same minorities? In which case how can you, for instance, speak for the women and ethnic minorities of your Witney seat? Or are you, in fact, just Politically Correct?

7. You refuse to support those who want to restore selection on grounds of ability in state secondary schools. Yet you must be aware that most alleged comprehensives select on other grounds – mainly by catchment areas which close the better schools to the poor, who cannot afford to live in them. Your own child attends a heavily over-subscribed primary school which selects partially on the basis of religious commitment. When your children reach the age for secondary school, it is most unlikely that you will send them to bog-standard comprehensives. In that case you will presumably have to use wealth or faith to save them from this fate, routes closed to most people. Surely ability is a better and fairer basis on which to select pupils, in which case why not say so?

8. You made a ‘cast-iron guarantee’ of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. You must have known that there was a strong chance, verging on a certainty, that this treaty would be ratified by all EU nations before you were in a position to fulfil the pledge. Yet when this predictable event happened, you had no serious alternative policy. Weren’t you pretending to be tough on the EU, while in fact supporting the ‘ever-closer-union’ which is a condition of our membership?

9. You once said you were the ‘Heir to Blair’? Isn’t that exactly the problem?

The Build-up to Voting Begins

2010-04-06T12:06:00.001+01:00

I don't care about voting in the Conservatives.

I want Labour to be punished, punished on a very large and damaging scale.

PUNISHED FOR;

> traducing democratic government in all its forms

> overwhelming dishonesty and venality

> squandering the nation's wealth, making an absolute scallops of the economy and then blaming the Americans

> incompetence in all spheres of administration

> taking the country to war on a false prospectus and for badly letting down the armed services

> trying to run every aspect of our lives including what we think and say

> for deliberately changing the face of the nation in terms of unfettered immigration - which has encouraged the BNP

> for making education standards so depressingly low

> for making young Britons dependent on welfare in mind as well as substance

> for politicising the police

> for reneging on the EU referendum

> for being lying, avaricious, acquisitive hypocrites, and then turning socialist again

> for appointing disgraceful bullying and despotic figures like Harman, Prescott, Smith, Martin, Balls, Reid and Straw to high office

> for appointing useless mediocrities like Beckett, Hewitt, Hoon, Browne, Ainsworth, Kelly, Hain and Blunkett to office at all

> for appointing unelected storm-troopers like Campbell, Whelan, McBride and Mandelson to positions of high influence

> for having Blair and Brown as leaders

BUGGER WHAT THE TORIES HAVE TO OFFER - JUST GET LABOUR OUT

Playwriting Course

2010-04-02T11:34:00.002+01:00

Just click here for full details

Loving April

2010-03-24T01:18:00.004Z

‘Loving April’ by Melvin Burgess, was published in September 1996. It is currently available at Amazon from £0.01 upwards. Giles Croft adapted the novel for the Oxfordshire Theatre Company who are currently on tour. I saw the 2 hour play at Chipping Norton Theatre on March 23rd.

‘Loving April’ stars Sarah Thomas-Lane (Outside Edge, Cat and No Mouse, The Emperors Clothes) as April, a deaf and dumb girl who is mistreated by boys in her village. This ‘mistreatment’ includes sexual abuse (including rape). It doesn’t matter that April can just about make noise – no-one is listening. Brilliantly played by Sarah, the pathos, the humiliation, the sadness is conveyed to the audience. In the final few seconds we even suspect that the tears shown by April are also the tears of the actress playing her, such is her commitment to the role.

To counter-balance April we have Tony, the rich boy. Admirably played by Daniel Naddafy (Snow Dragon, A Tourists Guide to Terrorism) we meet someone else who needs a friend.

But a friend from the same class, not the daughter of a char-lady.

As their relationship deepens so do prejudices surface until finally……no, I’ll not say any more.

Go and see the play – wherever and whenever you can. Read the book, immerse yourself in the story. Experience the strict social setting, imagine the beauty of April’s swan and feel repulsed by the attitude of some of the characters played by Jack Hughes (Stovepipe, Easy Virtue) and Tracey-Anne Liles (Und, Hanako, 4:48 Psychosis.)

Special praise too, to Helen Barford (Salome, ad campaigns for Tesco and Actimel) as Mrs Piggott.

Using this play as a yardstick, also go and watch Vertigo and Handful of Henna.

A Play to See....

2010-03-23T13:54:00.001Z

It's called Reflections in a Distorted Mirror.

FRIDAY NIGHT!

THIS WEEK

Go to the Oxford Fringe!

2010-03-23T13:42:00.000Z

Here is the site.....

These are the plays I am going to:

The Big Bite-Size Soirée

The Big Bite-Size Soirée

Reflections in a Distorting Mirror

Life is fair after all

2010-03-11T17:38:00.003Z

What have these three got in common?

TWO OF THEM did extra essays for me - which I marked.

The other one did a daily blog.

So what did they all do?
WHAT THEY WERE TOLD TO DO.

And they all got grade A !

Only one other person got grade A - and he taught Economics!

Outburst

2010-03-07T01:01:00.000Z

First play being performed!

2010-03-01T21:58:00.002Z

My first play takes place at the Semper theatre, next week...

Sunday reading

2010-02-28T03:28:00.001Z

Do not read whilst eating

also read this...

Laws

2010-02-27T10:36:00.000Z

Law of Mechanical Repair:
After your hands become coated with grease,
your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.

Law of Gravity:
Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped,
will roll to the least accessible corner.

Law of Probability:
The probability of being watched . . .
. . . is directly proportional . . .
. . . . . . to the stupidity of your act

Law of Random Numbers:
If you dial a wrong number,
you never get a busy signal . . .
. . . and someone always answers.

Law of the Alibi:
If you tell the boss you were late for work because . . .
you had a flat tire; the very next morning you will have a flat tire.

Variation Law:
If you change lines (or traffic lanes),
the one you were in will always move faster
than the one to which you switched . . . (works every time).

Law of the Bath:
When the body is fully immersed in water . . .
. . . the telephone rings.

Law of Close Encounters:
The probability of meeting someone you know . . .
increases dramatically . . .
when you are with someone . . .
.. . . . you don't want to be seen with.

Law of the Result:
When you try to prove to someone . . .
. . . that a machine won't work . . .
. . . . . . it will work fine.

Law of Biomechanics:
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional . . .
. . . to the reach needed to scratch it.

Law of the Theater and Hockey Arena:
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle,
always arrive last. They are the ones who will leave their seats
several times to go for food, beer, or the toilet and who leave early,
before the end of the performance or the game is over.
The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once,
have long gangly legs or big bellies, and stay to the bitter end
of the performance. The aisle people are also very surly folk.

The Coffee Law :
As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee . . .
your boss will ask you to do something which will last . . .
. . . until the coffee is cold.

Murphy's Law of Lockers:
If there are only two people in a locker room . . .
. . . they will have adjacent lockers.

Law of Physical Surfaces :
The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich . . .
landing face down on a floor . . . are directly correlated . . .
. . . to the newness and cost of the carpet or rug.

Law of Logical Argument:
Anything is possible . . .
. . if you don't know what you are talking about.

Brown's Law of Physical Appearance:
If the clothes fit, they're ugly.

Oliver's Law of Public Speaking :
A closed mouth gathers no feet.

Wilson's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy:
As soon as you find . . .
. . . a product that you really like . . .
. . . . . they will stop making it..

Doctors' Law :
If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor,
by the time you get there you'll feel better.

But, don't make an appointment, and you'll stay sick.

Easy money

2010-02-26T13:28:00.001Z

Funk all those “How to become a Millionaire” books – I’ve got a blinder that’ll cost you no more that 2 rats and will make you a mint in a night. All you need for this is a group of mates, a Snickers bar and half a pint of cider. That’s your only investment. Here’s what to do.

So, you’re in a pub chilling with your pals – a warm Snicker in your pocket and half a pint in your hand. Go to the toilet, drop the chocolate bar in to the half-pint and place the glass on the shelf above the urinals. Return to your pals.

Within a few moments nature will call and one of the group will need to go for a piss. Thirty seconds later he returns in a shock “Some dirty scrubber and coiled one in a glass and pissed all over it!!”. (The Snickers has begun to stagnate and mix with the cider and a few peanuts are bobbing on the top – Artwork!)

Go and retrieve your concoction, slam it on the table and in your half-cooked state deliver the line “£100 and ill knock it back”

Out comes the money, down goes the food and drink and you’re not only £100 better off but also a mad-f**k in your mates minds! BOOM….Seeeeeya, on to the next pub…

Spotting Liars

2010-02-24T01:53:00.000Z

EYE CONTACT: A bad liar feels uncomfortable with deception and may use tactics such as rubbing their eyes to avoid eye contact. If a pal does this while they're telling you about how fit last night's date was, you can assume they're being dishonest.

The opposite of avoiding eye contact is the fixed stare and this can also be a giveaway. This liar is determined to convince you they are telling the truth. If they hold eye contact for more than SIX seconds be suspicious about what they are telling you.

The fact liars can't look victims in the eyes is a myth. A liar often overcompensates eye contact in an attempt to convince the victim they're not making things up.

WHERE THEY LOOK: When right-handed people are lying, they tend to look right. With left-handers it's the other way round.

WHAT THEY SAY: How liars answer questions can also expose them and you should look out for what is called "a contraction". So for example if a truthful person is asked: "Did you falsify this report?" they will reply "No, I didn't."

Whereas a liar will have no time to think about the process and simply mirror the questioner's language and stretch out the sentence, such as: "No, I did not do that."

HOW THEY STAND: Liars will tend to cross their ankles or arms - but a lot of people are aware of that body language and will try to keep a more open posture to put victims off the scent.

Observing a person's stance when they're standing up can be a good indicator. A liar may deliberately position their posture at a right angle to avoid standing in an open position. If they do, they could be telling porkies.

WATCH THEIR HANDS: When kids tell a lie, they will usually cover their mouth and this is worth remembering.

Any kind of gesture from someone's hands towards the upper chest, face or head area - like scratching their head - can mean untruths.

Also, if somebody is holding something like a coffee cup or folder between themselves and you, watch out. They could be using it to create a subconscious barrier to hide behind.

WATCH THEIR LIPS: People's lips will go pale in times of stress. And if they are red-faced or white as a sheet while speaking to you this can be a giveaway too. This happens in response to the body's natural flight or fight response in times of pressure, which can be sparked by lying.

TWITCHES: Liars often twitch which can be one of the easiest signs to spot. Often it's the liar's eyelids which twitch or it could be a tiny muscle in the cheek or neck.

Males have an area at the bottom of the nose which actually twitches when we know we haven't told the truth.

WHEN WOMEN LIE: The biggest girlie giveaway is blushing and can be a sign your missus is lying.

Down the chute!

2010-02-24T01:25:00.000Z

Doomed...

More Muslim hatred in Sweden

2010-02-21T19:29:00.001Z

It's all so sad, this . Naivety, sloth, ignorance on behalf of Western governments. Read....and weep

Poster

2010-02-20T19:16:00.000Z

Haiti: millions suffer while the elite gain

2010-02-20T01:00:00.000Z

Elites as always, gain

Have yourself a cultural week

2010-02-19T16:42:00.005Z

Saturday

The Philanthropist Submit review ‘Bourgeois comedy’ by Christopher Hampton. Oxford dons continue sexual and semantic squabbles against a backdrop of political murder and anarchy.
7.30pm, £5(£4)
Burton Taylor Studio (www.burtontaylor.co.uk), Gloucester Street, (between Beaumont Street and Gloucester Green), Oxford OX1 2BN; Tel. 01865 305305.

Sunday

Drugs, Science and Politics

Tuesday

Dr Stephen Law - "What's It All About Then? Life, the Universe, and Everything"

- Wadham College, Moser Theatre, OX1 3PN (directions)

IMPerium The Oxford Imps In their most ambitious project to date, the Oxford Imps improvise an entirely new world each night, in which even the most minor of characters has a story to tell.
7.30pm, £5(£4)
Burton Taylor Studio (www.burtontaylor.co.uk), Gloucester Street, (between Beaumont Street and Gloucester Green), Oxford OX1 2BN; Tel. 01865 305305.

Wednesday

Yawn Edward Fish is a great talker, a bad sleeper, predator, automobile enthusiast, admirer of Jane Austen's heroines. Tonight he has to entertain Rachel. And she will like it. Suitable for 12+.
7.30pm, £9 (£7)
OFS Studio (www.OFSstudio.org.uk), 40 George Street OX1 2AQ; Tel. 0844 847 2360.

Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=294536615038&ref=ts

Synopsis: Edward Fish is a great talker, a bad sleeper, predator, automobile enthusiast, an admirer of Jane Austen’s heroines and most importantly Constance’s husband. Tonight, though, he will have to entertain Rachel, Constance’s old school friend. And she will like it. As supper approaches, Edward rehearses for his final charm-assault.

Thursday

IMPerium The Oxford Imps In their most ambitious project to date, the Oxford Imps improvise an entirely new world each night, in which even the most minor of characters has a story to tell.
7.30pm, £5(£4)
Burton Taylor Studio (www.burtontaylor.co.uk), Gloucester Street, (between Beaumont Street and Gloucester Green), Oxford OX1 2BN; Tel. 01865 305305.

Friday

13:00

Poetry Workshop

- Lincoln College, Lower Lecture Room, OX1 3DR (directions)

Everyone is welcome to come and share their atheist/agnostic/irreverent/theological poetry and offer sensitive, constructive feedback - or just bring your favourite piece of Godless verse along to read and discuss. We only ask that you bring something to read (a short piece of prose is fine) and if at all possible around six printed copies so we can read along. Open to writers of all ages and levels of experience. There is no need to register in advance.

20:00

Samantha Stein, Camp Quest UK Director - "Public Perceptions of Atheism"

- Wadham College, Moser Theatre, OX1 3PN (directions)

Founder and director of Camp Quest UK Samantha Stein will be delivering a talk on "Public Perceptions of Atheism".

Samantha Stein, writer, public speaker, and student is best known for her involvement with Camp Quest. After reading about this US secular summer camp in Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion", Samantha volunteered at Camp Quest Michigan in 2007 where the idea for bringing Camp Quest to the UK was first discussed. She is now Camp Director for Camp Quest UK, the UK's first residential summer camp for the children of atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers and all those who embrace a naturalistic rather than supernatural world view. The first camp was held in July 2009, with two more camps planned for 2010. Samantha graduated from York University with a BSc in Psychology and is currently taking an MA in Religion in Contemporary Society at Kings College London.

Show Bio...

21:30

Comedian Iszi Lawrence - "The Experiences of an Awkward Atheist"

- Bar Copa Function Room, OX1 2AU (directions)

Stand-up comedian Iszi Lawrence will be performing a set discussing "the experiences of an awkward atheist". The set will draw on material from her first hour show, the Time Out-recommended "Matter of Tact"

Recent short stories published in The Sunday Times Magazine:

Lionel Shriver - Negative equity

Edmund White - Record time

Julian Barnes - Complicity

TC Boyle - Hands on

John Updike - The full glass

Aravind Adiga - Smack

Targets

2010-02-19T03:31:00.000Z

This may be interesting for maths students.

This is a target to beat - especially for Oxbridge applicants!

Free Speech

2010-02-17T23:41:00.001Z

Virtual School

2010-02-17T13:44:00.000Z

For Lau

For Fanny and Kristian

For Nico, Stella, Richard, Eric, Robin and others

For Wonderboy

The Winners!

2010-02-16T17:26:00.001Z

So, so true

2010-02-15T14:19:00.001Z

Yes...

Haiti

2010-02-14T17:33:00.000Z

new developments

2010-02-14T03:27:00.001Z

this may appeal to all

Kriss Donald

2010-02-11T22:42:00.000Z

Is this why people join the BNP?

Food Inc

2010-02-09T02:55:00.001Z

and

Music to make you happy (Duncan)

2010-02-07T20:30:00.001Z

Economics

2010-02-07T20:26:00.001Z

...students like Stella, Veronika and others....

Clarendon Lectures - Economics Oxford University Press The Biological Foundations of Economic and Social Behaviour by Ernst Fehr.
email: michael.burt@oup.com / Tel. 01865 353268
5.30pm, free
St. Cross Building, Manor Road, Oxford

F-R-E-E

Setting up a blog

2010-02-06T00:51:00.001Z

Challenge

2010-02-05T00:51:00.002Z

Scary stuff!

2010-02-04T12:48:00.002Z

click the link...

LSE Lectures

2010-02-04T11:46:00.001Z

LSE Lectures - visit here for videos

Look for the December lecture by Raj Patel.

two reasons:

a. it's a clear and well thought through lecture

b. Because of this.....

Earthbox

2010-02-03T19:53:00.000Z

Fooling you

2010-02-03T13:56:00.001Z

Truth in Humour

2010-02-03T02:20:00.001Z

Business - video - marketing

2010-02-02T23:50:00.000Z

This is interesting

Haiti

2010-02-02T21:24:00.001Z

Buy...give...

Not what it initially seems...

2010-02-02T20:35:00.002Z

Realistic Hollywood Sex Scene

Think faster

2010-02-02T15:00:00.001Z

Can YOU imagine a simple self-development tool...... That can help you THINK FASTER and SHARPER than EVER BEFORE?

DOUBLE your ability to learn. THINK like a genius. RELEASE stress. BREEZE through your studies. UNLOCK hidden ability. SOLVE problems quickly.

Well, it's ALL POSSIBLE - when you discover the Brain Evolution System.

The Brain Evolution System is a simple, six-CD program for helping you MASTER your BRAIN - by literally CHANGING your BRAINWAVES.

It works by using special sounds to help influence your brainwaves -which helps to change your mood, your focus, your stress levels, your confidence - and MUCH MORE!

You'll find yourself enjoying LIMITLESS ENERGY and MOTIVATION. Your emotional baggage will simply DISAPPEAR. Your relationships will IMPROVE. Your confidence will SOAR. You'll experience more CREATIVE RUSHES. You'll become IMMUNE to worries and tension.

And all because you spend JUST 30 MINUTES listening to a simple audio recording.

Would you like to learn more about what's being called "the most powerful self-development technology on earth" ... ?

Then click on THIS LINK and download YOUR copy for JUST $0.00 ... TODAY!

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=DLdOp&m=JL9dZXDCMbU05D&b=Won8swTx02FRBYc_F.6k1A

Wake your brain up!

2010-02-01T20:37:00.001Z

It's simple: close your eyes and visualize in your mind that your head is about one inch bigger all around than it is.

Actually *see* this in your mind's eye.

If you hold this image in your head for about 30 seconds straight it sends your nervous system a signal to pump more oxygen to your brain.

It's a bizarre "brain hack," but it's actually measurable via CT scan.

People who try it usually experience a sense of heightened alertness on the first try. (if it didn't work - try a few times - really *see* your head as being larger in your mind's eye)

Another way to awaken your brain is to train a "dormant" area.

For example, most of us don't know how to draw - yet if we were to train ourselves to (and it's quite easy as demonstrated here ...

http://www.simpleology.com/courses/drawing/

...) we would see a dramatic improvement in our alertness, our confidence, our communication ...

Most people go through life thinking that we either "have it or we don't."

For the most part - that's nonsense.

To use the example of drawing again, for the 99.9% of the population that doesn't know how to draw, it's not that they don't have any talent - it's just that they haven't been given proper instruction.

This part of your brain is "lying dormant" only to be awakened by a good teacher.

Awakening the various parts of your brain that are untapped is deeply rewarding on a great many levels.

An idea

2010-01-30T18:55:00.004Z

The 'law of attraction' is something that's quoted widely in self help books.

The idea, basically, is that your thoughts are like magnets: bad thoughts create bad situations and good thoughts create happiness, success, wealth and prosperity.

You may believe this to be true.

Some say the theory dates back to 3,000BC. Legend has it William Shakespeare and Julius Caesar believed in the law of attraction. There are many others who will swear blind that the power of positive thought bought love, riches, happiness and abundance into their lives...

Me - I'm not sure about it.

It just seems a bit too... nebulous.

I don't believe that concentrating your thoughts on something is enough to make it happen (or not happen).

In my experience, positive results require ACTION.

But hey-ho.

If it works for some people, then fine. Having a positive outlook on life is never a bad thing, so you won't find me heaping too much scorn on the law of attraction or its advocates.

In any case, whether you believe in it or not is largely irrelevant to today's email. I bring it up merely to highlight the proven profit power of something else...

*******************
Public domain material
*******************

Come on - keep up!

You can make a fair bit of money online selling other people's products on a commission basis.

Your cut can sometimes be as much as 40-50%, net of shipping costs.

But if you sell your OWN product, 100% of the profit is yours.

That's where the real money is. But there's a problem: how do you go about writing your own eBook, producing your own 12-part home study course, or burning and duplicating your own CDs?

Where are you supposed to find the time to sit down and do all that? Isn't it simpler to sell other people's stuff - ready-made products - on a 'cut-of-profits' basis?

Well, yes... but you'll never make really good money doing that.

So what if there were a way to sell someone else's hard work AND keep all the cash yourself?

"Who in their right mind would let you do that?" You ask.

Someone who has been dead for 70 years, I reply.

I'm talking, of course, about works that exist in the public domain.

Public domain is a term that describes literary, musical, artistic and educational works that are no longer - or never were - protected by copyright.

It might be that they were created before copyright law was introduced... or they may have fallen into the public domain because their 70-year copyright term (73 years in the US) has expired.

Because these works are not protected by copyright law anyone can take them, reproduce them, modify them and sell them without paying a penny in royalties and without having to credit the original author or creator.

This is exactly what Australian TV presenter Rhonda Byrne did in 2004.

*****************************************
This secret made one woman $40million in 2 years
*****************************************

Rhonda found a 1910 book called The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace Wattles in the public
domain.

The book was all about the law of attraction, and how you can use it to bring wealth, happiness and abundance into your life, simply by concentrating your thoughts appropriately.

As the book had fallen out of copyright, Rhonda was free to take it, use it, reproduce it and sell it, in any way she wanted.

She did just that - and a few months later, the global phenomenon known as "The Secret" was born. First, as an Internet-only pay-per-view film, which became a huge viral / underground hit. Then as a book, which has now been printed in 38 different languages. There are further spin-off books and movies in the pipeline.

It's been reported that the success of "The Secret" book, online film and DVD made its creator Rhonda Byrne around $40million in two years.

In 2007, Byrne was listed among Time Magazine's list of '100 people who shape the world'.

Not bad when you consider all of this came from a book she found in the public domain that had fallen out of copyright!

Now I'm sure Rhonda has worked extremely hard for her success. She's a very clever lady. She has repackaged Wallace Wattle's work very well - the marketing for her products is extremely slick, and she's acquired quite a following.

But the point is: she didn't create this work from scratch. She re-interpreted it and repackaged it.

****************
Nico can do this, too
****************

If the idea of making money on the Internet excites you - but you don't have either the time or talent to create your own product to sell, this is virtually on a plate for you.

There's a huge stockpile of public domain works available; hundreds of thousands of books, articles and pages there for the taking... and this cache grows daily.

Whatever kind of information product you want to create: fitness, investing, gardening, self-help, knitting, pets, you name it; there's a huge stash of ready-made content online that you can grab for
nothing, republish on the Internet in whatever format you'd like, sell on as many times as you like for as much money as you like - and, best of all, pocket all the profit!

The information is all there for you. You just need to know what to do with it. Here are three
suggestions - they may not make you the same money as "The Secret" has made for Rhonda Byrne, but we've all got to start somewhere...

1) You could update and rewrite the book, and sell it online - through a website, through affiliate
marketers or through an email, if you have an email list.

2) You could break the work up into chapters and sell each chapter as an eBook / report ... or the
whole thing as a multi-part home study course

3) You could even record yourself reading the book out chapter by chapter - then create a set of audio CDs you can sell as a home study course.

Of course there's some work involved whatever you decide to do - but it's a lot less hassle than having to write the whole thing yourself, from scratch.

A great starting point for finding free-to-reproduce work is Google. Type in "Public Domain books" and hit search.

Or you can visit one of the specialist online public domain depositories. The most famous of these is "Project Gutenberg" - named after the doe-eyed actor from the Police Academy films.

Not really... it's actually named after Johannes Gutenberg, the fifteenth century German printer who propelled the movable type printing press revolution - you knew that, didn't you?

You can visit the Project Gutenberg website by clicking here

A word of advice though - check the copyright laws VERY carefully before you start copying and pasting huge swathes of someone else's work.

Laws governing when works fall out of copyright differ from country to country - so make sure you know where you stand before you re-publish any work.

Ethnic cleansing in Sweden

2010-01-30T09:22:00.001Z

It's happening....

Australia home to the greatest sinners

2010-01-28T00:25:00.001Z

Haiti

2010-01-27T11:00:00.004Z

When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone

When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on
Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes

Sometimes everything is wrong. Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go, (hold on)
When you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on

'Cause everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts. Don't throw your hand. Oh, no. Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone, no, no, no, you are not alone

If you're on your own in this life, the days and nights are long
When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on

Well, everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on

Everybody hurts. You are not alone

Success!

2010-01-26T17:43:00.001Z

Here's a New Year Plan!

Write a book in a day

2010-01-25T13:14:00.002Z

Writing a synopsis

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

For textbooks....

One

Two (Textbook Writing Tutorial)

Three

Four (How to write a textbook)

Five (Writing a textbook)

Writing an Economics textbook

Writing about Economics

How to write an Economics textbook

IB Notes

Five

££ ££ ££

2010-01-25T02:49:00.000Z

Yet another system of making money online

Ask questions...?

2010-01-24T21:27:00.001Z

Nico

2010-01-24T21:23:00.001Z

Maybe this will work

Song

2010-01-24T17:47:00.000Z

Cain slew Abel Seth knew not why
For if the children of Israel were to multiply
Why must any of the children die?
So he asked the Lord
And the Lord said:

"Man means nothing he means less to me
than the lowiliest cactus flower
or the humblest yucca tree
he chases round this desert
cause he thinks that's where i'll be
that's why i love mankind

I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee
from the squalor and the filth and the misery
How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me
That's why i love mankind"

The Christians and the Jews were having a jamboree
The Buddhists and the Hindus joined on satellite TV
They picked their four greatest priests
And they began to speak
They said "Lord the plague is on the world
Lord no man is free
The temples that we built to you
Have tumbled into the sea
Lord, if you won't take care of us
Won't you please please let us be?"

And the Lord said
And the Lord said

"I burn down your cities--how blind you must be
I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we
You must all be crazy to put your faith in me
That's why i love mankind
You really need me
That's why i love mankind"

Food Crisis

2010-01-24T17:13:00.003Z

"The global deep freeze now striking North America, Europe, China and other regions may lead to severe food shortages and price hikes throughout 2010. Right now, rare freezing temperatures are destroying root crops in their ground, wiping out citrus orchards and devastating food producers around the world. The upshot of it all? Expect food shortages and rising food prices throughout 2010.

This global deep freeze is all part of the extreme weather now being unleashed on the planet due to human beings polluting the world and altering the atmosphere. Scientists can't agree on whether the trend is global warming or global cooling, but no one can argue that something's wrong with the weather.

Rainfall and temperature patterns that used to be reliable are now going haywire. Where there were once reliable seasonal rains, there are alternating periods of drought followed by floods. Where temperatures were once mild and predictable, they're now fluctuating out of control, becoming too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.

All this adds up to escalating crop failures that are now poised to have a real, noticeable impact on the global food supply."

Source:

can we grow our own?

"In 1963, we grew around 30 per cent of our own fruit; now it is closer to 5 per cent. Compare this with France, which in 1963 grew enough fruit to feed 90 per cent of the population and still produces enough to feed 80 per cent; or Italy which produced around 110 per cent of its fruit needs in 1963 and still does today. We may not have Italy’s sun-kissed orange groves, but we could still do better with the land we have. Over the past 13 years, our self-sufficiency in food overall has plummeted from 75 per cent to 60 per cent."

From The Telegraph:

"A new report launched on Tuesday entitled Food 2030 gives a warning that Britain can no longer afford to be complacent. "We need to think differently about food," said Gordon Brown in his foreword to the report, produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Setting out a new food strategy for the next two decades, the report says that the industry needs to prepare for "sudden shocks" such as natural disasters or price spikes. Britain will need to produce more food, we are told, but will have to do so sustainably, "without damaging the air, soil, water and marine resources, biodiversity and climate that we all depend on".

Tim Lang from City University London said we are 'sleepwalking into a crisis' - the lecture notes are here....

In the End of Food, Paul Roberts says that the global food system could be plunged into crisis in any number of ways... including flu pandemics, rises in oil price, or extreme weather conditions....

Check out this site and the graphic below....

Eric ( EricdeCarbonnel@marketskeptics.com ) writes in an article entitled Financial Armageddon:

"Early in 2009, the supply and demand in agricultural markets went badly out of balance. The world experienced a catastrophic fall in food production as a result of the financial crisis (low commodity prices and lack of credit) and adverse weather on a global scale. Meanwhile, China and other Asian exporters, in an effort to preserve their economic growth, were unleashing domestic consumption long constrained by inflation fears, and demand for raw materials, especially food staples, exploded as Chinese consumers worked their way towards American-style overconsumption, prodded on by a flood of cheap credit and easy loans from the government.

Normally food prices should have already shot higher months ago, leading to lower food consumption and bringing the global food supply/demand situation back into balance. This never happened because the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), instead of adjusting production estimates down to reflect decreased production, adjusted estimates upwards to match increasing demand from china. In this way, the USDA has brought supply and demand back into balance (on paper) and temporarily delayed a rise in food prices by ensuring a catastrophe in 2010."

So - what can be done?

Well....

1. Get used to eating less
2. Get used to eating only healthy unprocessed food - maybe a raw food diet?
3. Grow your own
4. Make soup from all vegetable leftovers
5. Eat chicken - use it all

Here's to the rest of 2010!

Final pic

2010-01-23T15:02:00.000Z

Late night drinkers...

2010-01-23T15:00:00.002Z

The influence of TOK

2010-01-23T14:59:00.002Z

This is what happens when you finally understand something!

Landmark Trial

2010-01-21T01:07:00.000Z

Watch this

2010-01-20T02:16:00.001Z

Here

Sweden

2010-01-20T01:58:00.001Z

Just thought you might like to read this...and weep (especially the comments)

They do things differently in Germany

2010-01-19T19:14:00.001Z

...Celebrity Big Brother, that is...

Deception?

2010-01-19T17:55:00.001Z

Das Phantomtor von Tiffert @ Yahoo! Video

Haiti

2010-01-19T02:10:00.001Z

This spreadsheet shows who has given what to Haiti.

Roman Catholicism is the official religion of Haiti, but voodoo may be considered the country's national religion

Note which countries are NOT on the donations list....rich countries...Saudi Arabia.....

It's never too late to be who you might have been

2010-01-19T00:14:00.005Z

Make your OWN Bucket List

The movie "The Bucket List" features two terminally ill men who each decide to create a list of things to do before they die. While the subject matter is depressing, the concept is intriguing and inspiring to many people, maybe because of the high-pressured, time-starved, money orientated way we live our lives these days.

Few of us have the time to even think about what we really want in life, much less to actually achieve it, but creating a life list can be a way to focus on our true passions and achieve things we would otherwise barely even find time to dream about.

Creating a list of life goals can be done in one short brainstorming session, and once you have your list on paper you're likely to add to it and adapt it as you go through life. The idea of the bucket list is that it's your own personal wish list, so while your career, education and income might feature, it's more about personal goals that are important and meaningful to you as an individual.

If you want to create a meaningful list of life goals for yourself remember the following points:

Don't be influenced by what you think you should want. If you have see the Mona Lisa' on your list and you're not actually an art fan, or your goals involve a lot of world travel when really you hate to fly, you're probably falling into the trap of basing your list on collective values. Take some time to think about your own personal values and start coming up with goals based on those.

It might be useful to just "free write" for a while. Let your subconscious take over and don't think too hard about what you're putting down on paper. You may surprise yourself. There may be things on your list even you didn't know you wanted to do.

Be specific. If you want to go to Italy but don't really know why, think about what you want to see in Italy, where you want to stay, even what you want to eat. Craft a dream trip that will really inspire you to be motivated to achieve it.

Inspire yourself with your past. What did you want to be when you were a child? Is there anything you used to do that you would like to take up again and build on. What was your favorite childhood book or movie and why? What was it about? Where was it set? Clues to your true passions may be hidden in the life you lived before adult rules and responsibilities kicked in.

Make a plan to achieve your goals. Break them down into smaller chunks, especially if they require a big financial investment. Maybe you can't fly to Argentina today but you can start saving towards the air fare. Motivate yourself by setting achievable weekly and monthly goals and celebrating when you get there.

Edit your list regularly. Don't hesitate to add new things or cross off the ones that are no longer important to you. Changing your list can be a sign of personal growth. If your wish list remains static it probably means you're stuck in a rut and not really exploring life's possibilities as they present themselves.

Essentially, the aim of your list is to help you live a more meaningful, fulfilled and happy life, so go ahead and set those goals. Just make sure you believe they are worth achieving.

Also read this....

If you are not a member yet, it's free and easy to join by visiting www.mylifelist.org or if you have already created a Life List pick one goal and add it to the top of your list so others can help you achieve your goal!

Worldview - pre-IB

2010-01-18T23:56:00.001Z

well done those who have handed in the essays so far.....

Worldview

2010-01-18T03:04:00.001Z

Crime pays

2010-01-17T18:08:00.000Z

Well, financially anyway...

Dinner...nudge nudge

2010-01-17T17:54:00.002Z

I expect people will either wish to bring their ancestor...

Or their girlfriend....

Or their other girlfriend....

.
Or their boyfriend....

Or their ex-boyfriend...

Or even group of boyfriends...

Who knows who you may meet...

42 people now coming - including five surprise guests.

The surprise guests include 3 Russians, 1 Korean, one Vietnamese....

Bring your cameras....maybe I should invite one for Dima....

Haiti

2010-01-17T02:54:00.002Z

Mind Control

2010-01-17T00:08:00.000Z

He has come

2010-01-16T21:36:00.000Z

Remember this:

Highlights of Maitreya's public emergence

The existence of great spiritual teachers, known as the Masters of Wisdom, became public knowledge in 1875 through the writings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society.

Blavatsky, who worked directly with the Masters, revealed that:

these perfected beings have guided humanity from behind the scenes of everyday life for countless millennia. Periodically, at times of great human crisis, they send one of their own into the world to show humanity the way forward. We know some of these teachers as Krishna, Confucius, Zoroaster, the Buddha, the Christ, and Mohammed. Anticipation of the imminent appearance of the Master of all the Masters, the World Teacher, Maitreya, grew and waned in the early part of the 20th century.

Near the end of World War II, Maitreya announced his intention to physically enter the everyday world at the earliest possible moment, along with a group of Masters, when humanity had achieved a measure of peace and had begun to implement the principle of sharing.

Since 1974, information about Maitreya's emergence has been presented to the public by Benjamin Creme, chief editor of Share International magazine. His training for this work, under a Master of Wisdom, began in 1959.

July 1977: Maitreya leaves his ancient Himalayan retreat, taking up residence in the Indian-Pakistani community of London. Since then he has lived in London as a seemingly ordinary man concerned with modern problems ― political, economic, and social ― directing his transforming energies to every part of the world. The timing of Maitreya's emergence has been governed by many factors. These include humanity's response to his energies and the need for humanity, through the world's media, to invite him forward, so that our free will is not infringed.

March 1978: Maitreya begins to emerge as a spokesman in the community where he lives. He is not a religious leader, but an educator in the broadest sense ― pointing the way out of the world's most critical problems.

May 1982: At a Los Angeles press conference, Benjamin Creme reveals that Maitreya lives in London, and invites the media to investigate. Reports of the press conference itself are the extent of the media's coverage.

August 1987: Creme announces that "in the coming three or four months, Maitreya will be working intensively to bring about a breakthrough in international relationships in the world." An armaments agreement soon follows between the USA and USSR that no one thought possible.

1988: Maitreya begins to appear, both in person and in dreams, to well-known leaders in various countries, and to many ordinary citizens. World détente, and the ensuing release of tensions, allows more open signs of his presence. Manifestations of crosses of light in the windows of people's homes are reported in the US media and seen by many thousands. Maitreya appears miraculously 'out of the blue' on June 11, 1988, at an open-air prayer/healing meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. He is photographed addressing thousands of people in their own language, who instantly recognize him as the Christ.

1988 - 1993: Through one of Maitreya's closest associates in the Indian-Pakistani community of London, Share International magazine receives a series of articles. These outline Maitreya's teachings and draw attention to developments and happenings which he expects to take place in the world, both in the short and the long term. Outer events have demonstrated Maitreya's insight. As early as 1988, he foresaw the release of Nelson Mandela (in 1990) and the process of détente in South Africa. In the same year he stated that governments everywhere would have to give way to the "voice of the people," a statement which found its most impressive proof in Eastern Europe. Furthermore, weeks or months ahead of time, Maitreya forecast the cease-fire between Iran and Iraq; the global rapprochement between guerrilla forces and national governments; the internal problems of the Soviet Union; the establishment of peace in Lebanon.

In early 1988, he also announced that there would be an international stock market crash which would cause governments to re-order their priorities.

In 1989 the Japanese stock market lost 40% of its value, and in subsequent years the crisis spread to Eastern Europe, the Asian 'tiger economies', the Soviet Union and Argentina. The financial collapse hit the US hard in 2008 and soon had further worldwide repercussions.

1990, April 21-22: Maitreya calls together
about 200 world leaders or their emissaries from the fields of government, business, science, religion and journalism for a weekend conference in London. Many pledge their cooperation to help implement his priorities.

1991 - present: Maitreya appears miraculously before large groups of people all over the world. In most cases, he magnetizes water in the vicinity before his appearance. Many people report healings from this water. In Tlacote (Mexico), Nordenau (Germany) and Nadana (India) healing wells charged by Maitreya attract growing numbers of visitors By means of these and other 'miracles', Maitreya seeks to create a climate of hope and expectancy into which he can emerge as the Teacher for all humanity

Upcoming events

Television interview: A major American television network has requested an interview with Maitreya, and he has accepted the offer. The interview will take place at a time of Maitreya's choosing, as yet unannounced. Important note Share International will NOT have any prior notification of the time of the interview. As soon as we have additional information about this interview, we will post it as a Special Bulletin on the home page.

Star-sign: On December 12, 2008, Benjamin Creme announced that a large, brilliant star ― visible both night and day around the world ― would appear, heralding Maitreya's first interview. In January 2009, reports of extraordinary star sightings began to be reported. See photos and news reports here: Star Sign Day of Declaration

Maitreya will be invited by the international media to speak directly to the entire world through the television networks linked together by satellites. On this Day of Declaration, we will see his face on the television screen wherever we have access. The biblical statement, "All eyes will see him," will be fulfilled, in the only way in which it can be fulfilled. We will see his face, but he will not speak. His thoughts, his ideas, his call to humanity for justice, sharing, right relationships and peace, will take place silently, telepathically. Each of us will hear him inwardly in our own language.

In this way, he will re-enact on a worldwide scale the true happenings of Pentecost 2,000 years ago. At the same time, the energy which he embodies ― the Christ Principle, the energy of love ― will flow out in tremendous potency through the hearts of all humanity. He has said: "It will be as if I embrace the world. People will feel it even physically." This will evoke an intuitive, heartfelt response to his message. Simultaneously, on the outer, physical plane, there will be hundreds of thousands of miracle healings throughout the planet. In these three ways we will know that Maitreya is the World Teacher, come for all groups, religious and non-religious alike. Our response to this experience will determine the entire future of this planet. Maitreya will present us with a choice: either we continue as we are now, in the old, greedy, selfish, complacent ways of the past, and destroy ourselves, or we accept the principle of sharing, accept that we are one, and begin the creation of a civilization such as this world has never yet seen. Maitreya already knows our answer. He has said: "My heart tells me your answer, your choice, and is glad."

As foretold here, and also here, the Maitreya has now come.

Maitreya steps forward

The way prepared by His Herald the ‘star’, Maitreya, the World Teacher, has given His first interview on American television. Millions have heard Him speak both on TV and the internet.

His open mission has begun.

He was introduced not as Maitreya, the World Teacher and Head of our Spiritual Hierarchy, but simply as a man, one of us.In this way He “ensures that men follow and support Him for the truth and sanity of His ideas rather than for His status”.

He spoke earnestly of the need for peace, achievable only through the creation of justice and the sharing of the world’s resources.

This is the first of many such interviews which will be given in the USA, Japan, Europe and elsewhere, bringing His message of hope to the world

Haiti

2010-01-16T00:37:00.001Z

Emotions!

2010-01-14T22:45:00.001Z

ieving his or her goals, while a good EIQ can help someone who might otherwise struggle achieve success in life.

Snapshot Report

Self-report Component
Subscale IQ score = 118
Subscale percentile = 90

118

According to your self-report answers, your emotional intelligence is average. People who score like you do feel that their ability to understand and deal with their own emotions and those of others is acceptable but could still use some improvement. Emotionally intelligent people have an easy time overcoming difficulties in their lives and they are generally able to control their moods. It's easy for them to motivate themselves to overcome obstacles and reach their goals. In addition, they find social interactions to be quite easy and fulfilling, for several reasons. They are comfortable allowing themselves to get close with others, and feel comfortable being vulnerable enough to establish intimacy. They also report having an easy time offering support to others; likely due to an empathetic nature and a clear mind when it comes to offering good advice. Perhaps by working on your problem areas, you can become more confident in dealing with your own emotions and those of others.

Remember....

2010-01-13T22:50:00.001Z

Close your eyes, and go back . . .

Before the Internet or the Mac,
Before Uzis and crack.
Before Nike and Reebok, before the NBA.
Before Sega or Super Nintendo.
Before burglar proofing and KFC.
Before soca, dub and chutney
Before children's rights and women's lib.

Way back...way.. way back

I'm talking about hide and seek at dusk.
Looking through the window, sitting in the gallery,
Licking your lips over hops and condensed milk.
Going to Saturday afternoon confession.
Drinking chocolate tea and cocoa tea and green tea and shining bush tea.
Carrying sandwiches in a brown paper bag to school.
Eating chilibibi and press with green and red syrup, with or without milk.
Bathing in cold water from a barrel with a calabash.
Hopscotch, butterscotch, hoop, Jacks,
Police and Thief, Rounders !
Pass-out cricket in the road with a lime
Lying on the floor reading Mandrake and Katzenjammer Kids and Mutt and Jeff.
Borrowing books from the library.
Hula Hoops and jawbreakers and kaiser balls.
Bathing in the rain under the guttering.
Going for walks on Sunday afternoon.
Band Concerts. Window shopping.
Wearing old pants to the beach and collecting sea shells and pretty stones.

Wait. . .

The excitement of catching candle flies in a jar and batimamselles.
Putting the ti-marie to sleep.
Killing birds with sling shot, cooking and eating them.
Pitching marbles, running jockey in the canal.
When a calypso on the radio in Lent would have caused a scandal.
When going to town was a major outing requiring serious preparation.
Spending holidays by your grandmother and aunts.
Castor oil and senna pods at the end of August to clean you out!
Eating caimite and mammy seepote and downs and sapodilla and sugar apple and
tying up your mouth with lalay.
Climbing trees,and skipping rope and eating a bucket of long mango.
Making a Christmas tree from a Gauva branch with cotton for snow.
You thought apples and grapes only grew at Christmas time.
Cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, keeping an eye out for soucouyant and
la diablesse.
Sliding down the bannister, jumping on the bed.
Pillow fights.
Having a pet chicken, duck, rabbit or goat and crying when it became a meal.
Being tickled to death.
Running till you were out of breath.
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt!
Being tired from playing....remember that?
Going to the Chinee shop for Trebor and a penny sweet biscuit.

There's more . . .

Scratching your mother's head.
Fighting for the bowl when your mother made a cake.
Churning coconut or custard ice cream on Sunday and licking the palette.
Peeling cane with your teeth.

Remember when . . .

When there were no sneakers, only watchekongs and you washed them every
Saturday and whitened them.
When you knew nothing of Rottweilers or pit bulls, only pot hounds.
When a penny was a decent allowance, and another penny a huge bonus.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When fashionable young ladies wore crinoline and boleros.
When your mother wore stockings that came in two pieces and had garters.
When all of your male teachers wore ties and female teachers had buns.
When you had to be rich to have a car or a radio.
When there was no TV and you went to sleep at seven o'clock.
When there was no designer water.
When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the
box.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry
groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.
When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real
restaurant with your parents.
When every kitchen had a safe with wire mesh.
Milk came in rum bottles and had to be boiled and the cream was a great
treat.
When they threatened to keep kids "down" if they failed...and they did!
When your mother used to say that your licks hurt her more than it hurt you.
When adults spoke in code so "little ears" wouldn't hear.
Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive-by
shootings, drugs, or gangs.
Disapproval of parents and grandparents, godparents,tanties... was a much
bigger threat!

If you can remember any of these things, Well, sir/madame, I swear you must
be my age!!!!!!

Terrorism

2010-01-13T00:36:00.001Z

The terrible threats presented by terrorism have lead to a serious reconsideration of torture as a means of extracting information. While there is considerable debate regarding the legality of torture, this essay is focused on the morality of torture in the context of the fight against terror.

While most people regard torture as evil, there are reasonable moral arguments in its favor. The most common argument is a utilitarian one: the harm prevented by gathering information by torture can outweigh the moral harms inflicted by the practice of torture.

A favorite example used by torture proponents, such as Harvard's Alan Dershowitz, is the 1995 case of Abdul Hakim Murad. After being tortured for over a month by Philippine police, Murad revealed various terrorist plans, including a plot to kill the Pope. Because of cases like this, one might conclude that the evil of torture can be outweighed by its good consequences-such as preventing murder.

If the evil of using torture is outweighed by its potential good consequences, then the matter of its effectiveness needs to be resolved. If torture is not an effective means of gaining reliable information, then there will be no good consequences to outweigh the evil of engaging in torture. If this is the case, then torture cannot be justified in this manner.

While there is significant debate over the general effectiveness of torture, it appears that it is not a particularly effective means of acquiring accurate information.

First, consider the American and European witch trials. During these trials a significant number of people confessed, under brutal torture, to being witches. If torture is an effective means of acquiring truthful information, then these trials provided reasonable evidence for the existence of witches, magic, the Devil and, presumably, God. However, it seems rather odd that such metaphysical matters could be settled by the application of the rack, the iron maiden and the thumb screw. As such, the effectiveness of torture is rather questionable.

Second, extensive studies of torture show that it is largely ineffective as a means of gathering correct information. For example, the Gestapo's use of torture against the French resistance in the 1940s and the French use of torture against the Algerian resistance in the 1950s both proved largely ineffective. As another example, Diederik Lohman, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, found that the torture of suspected criminals typically yields information that is not accurate. A final, and rather famous example is that of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi. Under torture, al-Libi claimed that Al Qaeda had significant links to Iraq . However, as he himself later admitted, there were no such links. Thus, the historical record seems to count against the effectiveness of torture.

Third, as history and basic human psychology show, most people will say almost anything to end terrible suffering. For example, a former prisoner from Abu Ghraib told the New York Times that, after being tortured, he confessed to being Osama Bin Laden to put and end to his mistreatment. Similar things occur in the context of domestic law enforcement in the United States : suspects subjected to threats and mistreatments have confessed to crimes they did not commit. As such, torture seems to be a rather dubious way of acquiring reliable intelligence.

Given that torture is not effective as a means of gathering reliable information, the utilitarian argument in its favor must be rejected. This is because torturing people is not likely to yield any good consequences.

Despite its ineffectiveness as a means of extracting information directly, torture does seem to be an effective means towards another end, namely that of intimidation. History has shown that authoritarian societies successfully employed torture as a means of political control and as a means of creating informers. Ironically, while actual torture rarely yields reliable information, the culture of fear created by the threat of torture often motivates people to bring information to those in power.

Given its effectiveness as a tool of coercion and intimidation, torture and the threat of torture could be used as weapons against terror. If the threat of torture is both credible and terrible enough, then the likelihood of terrorist activity could be reduced and the number of useful informants could increase significantly.

From a moral standpoint, if torture were to prove effective as a means of reducing terrorist activity then it could be argued that the use of torture is morally acceptable. The gist of the argument is that the moral harms of threatening and utilizing torture are outweighed by the moral consequences-namely a reduction in terrorist activity.

While this argument has a certain appeal, it faces three problems. First, it seems likely that adopting torture and the threat of torture as weapons would be morally harmful to the society in question. To see that this is likely, one needs to merely consider the nature of societies that have already embraced the use of torture. Second, the use of torture as a means of coercion and intimidation certainly seems to be a form of terrorism. As such, the reduction in one type of terrorism would be, ironically, offset by the increase in another. Third, terrorism is denounced as a moral evil and its alleged opponents, such as George Bush, seem to revel in claiming the moral high ground. However, a society that accepts the use of torture cannot claim the moral high ground-they are walking the same ground as the terrorists. Thus, it would seem that the use of torture is not morally acceptable.

Poison

2010-01-13T00:34:00.000Z

In a far away land, it was known that if you drank poison, the only way to save yourself is to drink a stronger poison, which neutralizes the weaker poison. The king that ruled the land wanted to make sure that he possessed the strongest poison in the kingdom, in order to ensure his survival, in any situation. So the king called the kingdom's pharmacist and the kingdom's treasurer, he gave each a week to make the strongest poison. Then, each would drink the other one's poison, then his own, and the one that will survive, will be the one that had the stronger poison.
The pharmacist went straight to work, but the treasurer knew he had no chance, for the pharmacist was much more experienced in this field, so instead, he made up a plan to survive and make sure the pharmacist dies. On the last day the pharmacist suddenly realized that the treasurer would know he had no chance, so he must have a plan. After a little thought, the pharmacist realized what the treasurer's plan must be, and he concocted a counter plan, to make sure he survives and the treasurer dies. When the time came, the king summoned both of them. They drank the poisons as planned, and the treasurer died, the pharmacist survived, and the king didn't get what he wanted.
What exactly happened there?

Answer

The treasurer's plan was to drink a weak poison prior to the meeting with the king, and then he would drink the pharmacist's strong poison, which would neutralize the weak poison. As his own poison he would bring water, which will have no effect on him, but the pharmacist who would drink the water, and then his poison would surely die. When the pharmacist figured out this plan, he decided to bring water as well. So the treasurer who drank poison earlier, drank the pharmacist's water, then his own water, and died of the poison he drank before. The pharmacist would drink only water, so nothing will happen to him. And because both of them brought the king water, he didn't get a strong poison like he wanted.

Fallacies - 1

2010-01-13T00:30:00.000Z

Poisoning the Well

Etymology:

The phrase "poisoning the well" ultimately alludes to the medieval European myth that the black plague was caused by Jews poisoning town wells—a myth which was used as an excuse to persecute Jews.

The phrase was first used in its relevant sense by Cardinal John Henry Newman during a controversy with Charles Kingsley:

…[W]hat I insist upon here…is this unmanly attempt of his, in his concluding pages, to cut the ground from under my feet;—to poison by anticipation the public mind against me, John Henry Newman, and to infuse into the imaginations of my readers, suspicion and mistrust of every thing that I may say in reply to him. This I call poisoning the wells.

"I am henceforth in doubt and fear," he says, "as much as any honest man can be, concerning every word Dr. Newman may write. How can I tell that I shall not be the dupe of some cunning equivocation?" …

Well, I can only say, that, if his taunt is to take effect, I am but wasting my time in saying a word in answer to his foul calumnies… We all know how our imagination runs away with us, how suddenly and at what a pace;—the saying, "Caesar's wife should not be suspected," is an instance of what I mean. The habitual prejudice, the humour of the moment, is the turning-point which leads us to read a defence in a good sense or a bad. We interpret it by our antecedent impressions. The very same sentiments, according as our jealousy is or is not awake, or our aversion stimulated, are tokens of truth or of dissimulation and pretence. There is a story of a sane person being by mistake shut up in the wards of a Lunatic Asylum, and that, when he pleaded his cause to some strangers visiting the establishment, the only remark he elicited in answer was, "How naturally he talks! you would think he was in his senses." Controversies should be decided by the reason; is it legitimate warfare to appeal to the misgivings of the public mind and to its dislikings? Any how, if Mr. Kingsley is able thus to practise upon my readers, the more I succeed, the less will be my success. … The more triumphant are my statements, the more certain will be my defeat.

Source: John Henry Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua

Type: Argumentum ad Hominem

Example:

I wish it were possible for men to get really emotionally involved in this question [abortion]. It is really impossible for the man, for whom it is impossible to be in this situation, to really see it from the woman's point of view. That is why I am concerned that there are not more women in this House available to speak about this from the woman's point of view.

Source: House of Commons Debates of Canada, Volume 2, November 30, 1979, p. 1920

Analysis

Exposition:

To poison the well is to commit a pre-emptive ad hominem strike against an argumentative opponent. As with regular ad hominems, the well may be poisoned in either an abusive or circumstantial way. For instance:

"Only an ignoramus would disagree with fluoridating water." (Abusive)
"My opponent is a dentist, so of course he will oppose the fluoridating of water, since he will lose business." (Circumstantial)

Anyone bold enough to enter a debate which begins with a well-poisoning either steps into an insult, or an attack upon one's personal integrity. As with standard ad hominems, the debate is likely to cease to be about its nominal topic and become a debate about the arguer. However, what sets Poisoning the Well apart from the standard Ad Hominem is the fact that the poisoning is done before the opponent has a chance to make a case.

Exposure:

Poisoning the Well is not, strictly speaking, a logical fallacy since it is not a type of argument. Rather, it is a logical boobytrap set by the poisoner to tempt the unwary audience into committing an ad hominem fallacy. As with all forms of the ad hominem, one should keep in mind that an argument can and must stand or fall on its own, regardless of who makes it.

Analysis of the Example:

This is a common type of circumstantial poisoning of the well, which claims that men should either not make a judgment about abortion, or should keep it to themselves if they do. This illustrates the effect that poisoning the well tends to have, which is to forestall opposition in debate. It also shows the mistake underlying all poisoning of the well, since the sex of the arguer is irrelevant to the merits of the argument. No doubt one could always find a woman to advance the argument, whatever it is.

Sources:

S. Morris Engel, With Good Reason: An Introduction to Informal Fallacies (Fifth Edition) (St. Martin's, 1994), pp. 206-209.
Douglas N. Walton, Informal Fallacies: Towards a Theory of Argument Criticisms (John Benjamins, 1987), pp. 217-222.

Fallacies - 2

2010-01-13T00:29:00.000Z

Alias: Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

Translation: After this, therefore because of this, Latin

Type: Non Causa Pro Causa

Forms
Event C happened immediately prior to event E. Therefore, C caused E.	Events of type C happen immediately prior to events of type E. Therefore, events of type C cause events of type E.
Examples
The only policy that effectively reduces public shootings is right-to-carry laws. Allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns reduces violent crime. In the 31 states that have passed right-to-carry laws since the mid-1980s, the number of multiple-victim public shootings and other violent crimes has dropped dramatically. Murders fell by 7.65%, rapes by 5.2%, aggravated assaults by 7%, and robberies by 3%.	…[E]vidence shows that even state and local handgun control laws work. For example, in 1974 Massachusetts passed the Bartley-Fox Law, which requires a special license to carry a handgun outside the home or business. The law is supported by a mandatory prison sentence. Studies by Glenn Pierce and William Bowers of Northeastern University documented that after the law was passed handgun homicides in Massachusetts fell 50% and the number of armed robberies dropped 35%.
Source: "The Media Campaign Against Gun Ownership", The Phyllis Schlafly Report, Vol. 33, No. 11, June 2000.	Source: "Fact Card", Handgun Control, Inc.

Analysis of the Examples

Counter-Example:

Roosters crow just before the sun rises.
Therefore, roosters crowing cause the sun to rise.

Exposition:

The Post Hoc Fallacy is committed whenever one reasons to a causal conclusion based solely on the supposed cause preceding its "effect". Of course, it is a necessary condition of causation that the cause precede the effect, but it is not a sufficient condition. Thus, post hoc evidence may suggest the hypothesis of a causal relationship, which then requires further testing, but it is never sufficient evidence on its own.

Exposure:

Post Hoc also manifests itself as a bias towards jumping to conclusions based upon coincidences. Superstition and magical thinking include Post Hoc thinking; for instance, when a sick person is treated by a witch doctor, or a faith healer, and becomes better afterward, superstitious people conclude that the spell or prayer was effective. Since most illnesses will go away on their own eventually, any treatment will seem effective by Post Hoc thinking. This is why it is so important to test proposed remedies carefully, rather than jumping to conclusions based upon anecdotal evidence.

Sibling Fallacy: Cum Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

Source:

T. Edward Damer, Attacking Faulty Reasoning: A Practical Guide to Fallacy-Free Arguments (Third Edition) (Wadsworth, 1995), pp. 131-132.

Resources:

Julian Baggini, "Post Hoc Fallacies", Bad Moves.
Robert Todd Carroll, "Post Hoc Fallacy", Skeptic's Dictionary.

Fallacy - 3

2010-01-13T00:28:00.000Z

Weak Analogy

Alias:

False Analogy
Faulty Analogy
Questionable Analogy

Type: Informal Fallacy

Form:

A is like B.
B has property P.
Therefore, A has property P.
(Where the analogy between A and B is weak.)

Example:

Efforts to ban chlordane assailed

WASHINGTON (AP)--The only exterminator in Congress told his colleagues Wednesday that it would be a short-sighted move to ban use of chlordane and related termiticides that cause cancer in laboratory animals.

Supporters of the bill, however, claimed that the Environmental Protection Agency was "dragging its feet" on a chemical that could cause 300,000 cancers in the American population in 70 years.

"This bill reminds me of legislation that ought to be introduced to outlaw automobiles" on the grounds that cars kill people, said Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who owns an exterminating business.

EPA banned use of the chemicals on crops in 1974, but permitted use against termites because the agency did not believe humans were exposed. Chlordane does not kill termites but rather drives them away.

Source: Associated Press, June 25th, 1987

Analysis

Exposition:

This is a very common fallacy, but "False Analogy", its common name, is very misleading. Analogies are neither true nor false, instead they come in degrees from near identity to extreme dissimilarity. Here are two important points about analogy:

No analogy is perfect, that is, there is always some difference between analogs. Otherwise, they would not be two analogous objects, but only one, and the relation would be one of identity, not analogy.
There is always some similarity between any two objects, no matter how different. For example, Lewis Carroll once posed the following nonsense riddle:

How is a raven like a writing desk?

The point of the riddle was that they're not; alike, that is. However, to Carroll's surprise, some of his readers came up with clever solutions to the supposedly unsolvable riddle, for instance:

Because Poe wrote on both.

Some arguments from analogy are based on analogies that are so weak that the argument is too weak for the purpose to which it is put. How strong an argument needs to be depends upon the context in which it occurs, and the use that it is intended to serve. Thus, in the absence of other evidence, and as a guide to further research, even a very weak analogical argument may be strong enough. Therefore, while the strength of an argument from analogy depends upon the strength of the analogy in its premisses, it is not solely determined by that strength.

Resources:

Julian Baggini, "False Analogies", Bad Moves
David Hackett Fischer, Historians' Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought (Harper & Row, 1970), Chapter IX: "Fallacies of False Analogy".

Analysis of the Example:

Representative DeLay attempts to argue against a bill banning chlordane by comparing it to a bill banning automobiles, but this analogy is very weak. Here are some of the relevant differences:

Banning automobiles would be economically and socially disruptive in a way that banning a single pesticide would not.
There are many alternative pesticides available to replace a banned one, but there are few modes of transportation available which could replace cars.
Automobiles play a significant role in our society, whereas chlordane was used only to prevent termite damage to houses, which is of comparatively minor importance.

Fallacy - 4

2010-01-13T00:27:00.001Z

Contradictory Premises (also known as a logical paradox): Establishing a premise in such a way that it contradicts another, earlier premise. For instance, "If God can do anything, he can make a stone so heavy that he can't lift it." The first premise establishes a deity that has the irresistible capacity to move other objects. The second premise establishes an immovable object impervious to any movement. If the first object capable of moving anything exists, by definition, the immovable object cannot exist, and vice-versa.

The Liar Paradox

The Liar Paradox is among the simplest of paradoxes. It can be traced back at least as far as Eubulides of Miletus, a fourth-century B.C. Greek philosopher.

Eubulides’ version of the paradox is this: A man says that he is lying; is what he says true or false?

However we answer this question, difficulties arise.

If we suggest that what the man says is true, then we end in contradiction: if the man’s claim that he is lying is true, then he is lying, in which case what he says is false.

If we suggest that what the man says is false, then we are no better off: if the man’s claim that he is lying is false, then he is not lying, in which case what he says is true.

Both answers give rise to logical contradictions; it cannot be the case either that what the man says is true or that what the man says is false.

The Liar Paradox is sometimes referred to as “Epimenides’ Paradox”, after the sixth-century B.C. Cretan who asserted that all Cretans are liars. The apostle Paul makes reference to Epimenides in Titus 1:12, writing, “It was one of them, their very own prophet who said, ‘Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.’”

Epimenides’ statement alone does not give rise to a paradox. What he says can’t be true, for if Cretans are always liars, and he is a Cretan, then he must be lying, in which case his statement is false. His statement could be false however; it could be that Epimenides is dishonest but that not all Cretans are liars.

Paul, though, excludes this dissolution of the paradox, proceeding to say in the following verse, “This testimony is true.” This leaves Paul asserting that Epimenides truly said that he (and all other Cretans) are liars, which takes us back to Eubulides’ paradox above; Paul cannot be right.

Fallacy - 5

2010-01-13T00:26:00.000Z

I. Argumentum ad Misericordiam (argument from pity or misery) the fallacy committed when pity or a related emotion such as sympathy or compassion is appealed to for the sake of getting a conclusion accepted.

Hence, assent or dissent to a statement or an argument is sought on the basis of an irrelevant appeal to pity. In other words, pity, or the related emotion is not the subject or the conclusion of the argument.

The informal structure of the ad misericordiam usually is something like this:

Person L argues statement p or argument A.
L deserves pity because of circumstance y.
Circumstance y is irrelevant to p or A.
Statement p is true or argument A is good.

II. Some typical ad misericordiam fallacy examples follow.

Georgia Banker Bert Lance should be excused from conflict of interest divestiture problems, former President Jimmy Carter asserted, because Lance's promise to sell his stock so that he can serve his government has depressed its market value.

Oh, Officer, There's no reason to give me a traffic ticket for going too fast because I was just on my way to the hospital to see my wife who is in serious condition to tell her I just lost my job and the car will be repossessed.

Members of Congress can surely see in their hearts that they need to vote in favor of passage of the Gun Bill allowing concealed weapons because their constituents who lobby for liberalizing firearms will be greatly saddened if they do not do so.

Public Schools, K through 12, need to have much easier exams for students because teachers don't fully realize the extent of the emotional repercussions of the sorrow and depression of the many students who could score much better on easier exams.

Richard P. Feynman, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, has been misunderstood almost all of his life. Since World War II, he came close twice to having a mental breakdown--first with the death of his wife and second with the explosion of the atomic bomb. I think that the Journal of Science should publish some of his later theoretical work out of our kind regard for his memory and from the interest of human concern for his difficult life.

III. Related emotions include sympathy, love, regard, mercy, condolence, and compassion. Occasionally, an occurrence of a fallacy can be correctly analyzed as either the ad populum or the ad misericordiam fallacy since these fallacies overlap in their appeal.

IV. Non-fallacious uses of the ad misericordiam include arguments where the appeal to pity or a related emotion is the subject of the argument or is a pertinent or germane reason for acceptance of the conclusion.

Relief arguments are relevant to the problems raised by a disaster caused by a tidal wave and cholera outbreak in India.

If we have the choice of buying a newspaper from a blind news vendor, ad misericordiam considerations are not necessarily irrelevant. The essential question is whether the pity or compassion is relevant to the situation at hand and is being appealed to exclusively or excessively for the acceptance of the conclusion.

Fallacy - 6

2010-01-13T00:25:00.000Z

Hasty Generalization

Alias: Converse Accident

Type: Unrepresentative Sample

Quote…

It's a story, say, about the New York City public schools. In the first paragraph a parent, apparently picked at random, testifies that they haven't improved. Readers are clearly expected to draw conclusions from this. But it isn't clear why the individual was picked; it isn't possible to determine whether she's representative; and there's no way of knowing whether she knows what she's talking about. Calling on the individual man or woman on the street to make conclusive judgments is beneath journalistic dignity. If polls involving hundreds of people carry a cautionary note indicating a margin of error of plus-or-minus five points, what kind of consumer warning should be glued to a reporter's ad hoc poll of three or four respondents?

…Unquote

Source: Daniel Okrent, "13 Things I Meant to Write About but Never Did", New York Times, 5/22/2005

Example:

Of course your columnist Michele Slatalla was joking when she wrote about needing to talk with her 58-year-old mother about going into a nursing home. While I admire Slatalla's concern for her parents, and agree that as one approaches 60 it is wise to make some long-term plans, I hardly think that 58 is the right age at which to talk about a retirement home unless there are some serious health concerns. In this era, when people are living to a healthy and ripe old age, Slatalla is jumping the gun. My 85-year-old mother power-walks two miles each day, drives her car (safely), climbs stairs, does crosswords, reads the daily paper and could probably beat Slatalla at almost anything.

Source: Nancy Edwards, "Letters to the Editor", Time, 6/26/00.

Exposition:

This is the fallacy of generalizing about a population based upon a sample which is too small to be representative. If the population is heterogeneous, then the sample needs to be large enough to represent the population's variability. With a completely homogeneous population, a sample of one is sufficiently large, so it is impossible to put an absolute lower limit on sample size. Rather, sample size depends directly upon the variability of the population: the more heterogeneous a population, the larger the sample required. For instance, people tend to be quite variable in their political opinions, so that public opinion polls need fairly large samples to be accurate.

Exposure:

Suppose that you are cooking a pot of spaghetti, and you fish out a single strand to test for doneness. If it is done, then you conclude that all of the spaghetti in the pot is done. Here, your sample is one strand of spaghetti, and the population is the entire potful of pasta. Have you committed the Fallacy of Hasty Generalization? No.

This is a familiar type of inference that most of us engage in whenever we cook something, for instance, when we taste a pot of soup to test whether it is sufficiently seasoned by tasting a single spoonful. We don't feel it necessary to test several spoonfuls, because we have every reason to believe that the spoonful we test is representative of the whole pot of soup. In the same way, a single strand of spaghetti can be representative of a whole pot of noodles.

The reason why these kinds of inference can work is because spaghetti is mass-produced, and every noodle from the same box is virtually identical to all the others. Moreover, if we put a whole boxful of spaghetti into a pot of boiling water, we can be pretty sure that all of them are being cooked for the same amount of time and at the same rate. It is in this way that we can know that the single noodle we test is a representative noodle, that is, it is like all the other noodles in the pot in terms of doneness.

How do such inferences go wrong? Let's return to the soup example: suppose that you season the soup by sprinkling spices onto its surface, but that you forget to stir the pot. Then, if you take your test spoonful from the top of the soup, without stirring, it is unlikely that it will be representative. Instead, you are likely to get much more of the spices in that spoonful than you would get from the bottom of the pot. If you fail to notice this, and conclude from your sample that the soup is sufficiently spicy, then you will have committed the Fallacy of Hasty Generalization. You will probably be disappointed later that the soup is not flavorful enough. This is why we stir a pot of soup after seasoning it, and before tasting it, so that the spices will be evenly distributed throughout the liquid, and a single spoonful will be representative of the entire pot.

When we are dealing with populations that are more variable than soup or spaghetti, we need to be not only careful how we take the sample, but we have to take a sample that is big enough to represent the variability of the population. If we are polling people's political views, then a sample of just one person is guaranteed to be misleading, no matter what opinions that person has. A hasty generalization occurs anytime the sample is not big enough to represent the population.

Source:

S. Morris Engel, With Good Reason: An Introduction to Informal Fallacies (Fifth Edition) (St. Martin's, 1994), pp. 137-140.

Resource:

Douglas Walton, "Rethinking the Fallacy of Hasty Generalization" A technical paper in PDF format.

Fallacy - 7

2010-01-13T00:24:00.001Z

The Fallacy of Accident

Alias:

A dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid
Dicto Simpliciter
Sweeping Generalization

Type: Informal Fallacy

Form:

Xs are normally Ys.
A is an X. (Where A is abnormal.)
Therefore, A is a Y.

Example:

Birds normally can fly.
Tweety the Penguin is a bird.
Therefore, Tweety can fly.

Exposition:

The fallacy of Accident, one of Aristotle's thirteen fallacies, has been interpreted in various ways by subsequent logicians, perhaps because of the obscurity of The Philosopher's account. I will discuss only one of these interpretations here, due to its relation to recent developments in logic.

Consider the generalization "birds can fly" from the example. Now, it isn't true that all birds can fly, since there are flightless birds. "Some birds can fly" and "many birds can fly" are too weak. "Most birds can fly" is closer to what we mean, but in this case "birds can fly" is a "rule of thumb", and the fallacy of Accident is a fallacy involving reasoning with rules of thumb.

Common sense is full of rules of thumb which do not hold universally, but which hold "generally" or "as a general rule", as is sometimes said. Logicians have tended to ignore rules of thumb, probably because of their unscientific vagueness. However, in the past couple of decades, primarily due to research in artificial intelligence, which has shown the importance of such general rules for practical reasoning, there has been growing interest in so-called "default" or "defeasible" reasoning, of which rules of thumb are a part. As a consequence, there has also been a rebirth of interest in the fallacy of Accident.

The difference between rules of thumb and universal generalizations, is that the former have exceptions. For instance, flightless birds are exceptions to the rule of thumb that birds can fly. One might hope to represent this rule of thumb by the universal generalization "all non-flightless birds can fly", but even this is not correct, for flighted birds with broken wings cannot fly. One might still hope that some lengthy list of exceptions would do the trick. However, one can imagine many different scenarios in which a bird would not be able to fly: its feet are stuck in quicksand, all of the air around it has suddenly rushed into space, it has developed a phobia about flying, etc. One might then try to sum up this diversity of cases under the rubric of "untypical", or "abnormal", and say: "All typical or normal birds can fly". This is exactly what a rule of thumb is.

Rules of thumb differ from statistical generalizations such as "90% of birds can fly" in that there is no specific proportion of flighted to flightless birds that determines normality. The rule of thumb doesn't even necessarily imply that the majority of birds can fly, though it would be unusual if this didn't hold. We can imagine, for instance, that there might be so many penguins in Antarctica that the majority of birds would be flightless. However, our notion of normality applies to the familiar, everyday birds we see in our backyards, rather than "exotics" on distant continents. Clearly, then, rules of thumb are specific to a cultural and temporal context.

The fallacy of Accident occurs when one either attempts to apply such a rule of thumb to an obviously abnormal instance, or when one treats the rule itself as if it were an exceptionless universal generalization, rather than a defeasible rule of thumb.

Source:

S. Morris Engel, With Good Reason: An Introduction to Informal Fallacies (5th Edition), (St. Martin's, 1994).

Calling Volunteers

2010-01-12T23:10:00.001Z

Anyone want to do voluntary work?

Check out these blogs...

Dinner: 22 January 2010

2010-01-11T23:55:00.001Z

The dinner is being organised by SuperChee on the left. She will be booking the table.

The Brown's menu....

The venue

YOU MAY NEED TO BRING ID

Post TOK exam questions

2010-01-11T21:57:00.001Z

Young Mrs.Perkins, of Putney, writes to me as follows: "I should be very glad if you could give me the answer to a little sum that has been worrying me a good deal lately. Here it is: We have been married a short time, and now, at the end of two years from the time when we set up housekeeping, my husband tells me that he finds we have spent a third of his yearly income in rent, rates, and taxes, one-half in domestic expenses, and one-ninth in other ways. He has a balance of £190 remaining in the bank. I know this last, because he accidentally left out his pass-book the other day, and I peeped into it. Don't you think that a husband ought to give his wife his entire confidence in his money matters? Well, I do; and - will you believe it - he has never told me what his income really is, and I want, very naturally, to find out. Can you tell me what it is from the figures I have given you?"

Dinner!

2010-01-10T23:46:00.003Z

Where are you?

How I Made $20,000 in 4 Months…At 17

2010-01-09T02:24:00.001Z

It's there...

Truth

2010-01-08T18:56:00.000Z

What has happened to it?

Why live here?

2010-01-07T00:06:00.001Z

Britain has dropped to 25th place on a list of the best places in the world to live – behind countries like the Czech Republic, Andorra and Lithuania.

While France tops the poll for the fifth year in row, the UK is associated with a dismal climate, soaring crime rate and cost of living, congested roads and equally overcrowded cities.

Even former Communist countries where unemployment is still rife are considered better places to live.

The Czech Republic and Lithuania were not even accepted into the European Union until 2004.

Enlarge

Cars near high-rise flats in Vilnius, Lithuania: The Baltic state came in three places above Britain in the list

Enlarge

A block of flat in the Czech city of Most: The eastern European country came just above Britain in the poll

Since then thousands of people from both countries have flooded into the UK, but most are drawn by the chance to make money in a liberal, entrepreneurial economy, rather than because of Britain's quality of life.

Many eastern Europeans make as much money as they can in the UK before returning home at the earliest opportunity.

The Quality of Life Index, published by International Living magazine for the 30th year in a row, puts Britain down five places from 20th in 2009.

In all, 200 countries are surveyed across nine categories, including cost of living, culture and leisure, environment, safety, culture and weather.

Australia is placed second after France, with Switzerland in third.

Residents across the Channel enjoy everything from Riviera beaches and Alpine ski resorts to arguably the best health service in the world, but it is the country's 'bon vivant' lifestyle which sets it apart.

Enlarge

Ice skaters trek around the frozen Lake Nasijarvi in Tampere, southern Finland: The Scandinavian country came 18th in the list of best places in the world

While British people are nowadays renowed for their TV dinners and binge drinking, the French savour the finer things in life day-in, day-out.

This includes freshly baked bread twice a day, two hour lunch breaks in which to enjoy cheap cordon bleu restaurants, and some of the best wine in the world.

Working hours are far shorter than those experienced by stressed-out British people, who have far less holiday entitlement too.

The French, in contrast, take most of August off, view Sunday leisure as sacrosanct, and have far more public holidays, as well as less crime and dirt.

'In France, life is savoured,' said Jackie Flynn, publisher of International Living

TOP 25 PLACES TO LIVE

1. FRANCE
2. AUSTRALIA
3. SWITZERLAND
4. GERMANY
5. NEW ZEALAND
6. LUXEMBOURG
7. UNITED STATES
8. BELGIUM
9. CANADA
10. ITALY
11. NETHERLANDS
12. NORWAY
13. AUSTRIA
14. LIECHTENSTEIN
15. MALTA
16. DENMARK
17. SPAIN
18. FINLAND
19. URUGUAY
20. HUNGARY
21. PORTUGAL
22. LITHUANIA
23. ANDORRA
24. CZECH REPUBLIC
25. UNITED KINGDOM

magazine.

'I don't think anyone will argue that France is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, where there is so much pride in all the small details.

'The French love little window boxes filled with flowers, tidy gardens, pretty sidewalk cafes, and clean streets. Cities are well tended and with little crime.'

Variety is also seen as a major factor in France's attractiveness, with the survey noting: 'Romantic Paris offers the best of everything, but services don't fall away in Alsace's wine villages, in wild and lovely Corsica, in lavender-scented Provence. Or in the Languedoc of the troubadors, bathed in Mediterranean sunlight.'

The U.S.A dropped from third to seventh place this because of last year's economic collapse. 'Sustaining the American Dream has escalated out of the reach of many,' said a magazine spokesman.

While countries like France, Italy and Australia are considered to have the best climates, Britain does not top a single category.

Germany, which comes fourth in the overall survey, is widely praised for its efficiency and leisure facilities.

The survey notes: 'In Germany, everything works and works well. Its houses are built to last, and their legendary autobahns are still mostly without speed limits.

'If you enjoy sports, even small towns have numerous facilities. Some odd ones too—the Harz Mountains now has a specialist hiking trail for nudists. From spas to parks to North Sea beaches, Germany is arguably the world's most naturist-friendly country.'

Long article...

2010-01-06T18:55:00.001Z

...but interesting, about blogs.

and one from Wired

Fault-line

2010-01-06T14:03:00.001Z

CHOP CUP from :weareom: on Vimeo.

In TOK we're doing logic.....

2010-01-03T19:42:00.004Z

New Research on BEER

This is worrying.

Beer contains female hormones
Last month, Wits University and RAU scientists released the results of a Recent analysis that revealed the presence of female hormones in beer.

Men should take a concerned look at their beer consumption.

The theory is that beer contains female hormones (hops contain Phytoestrogens) and that by drinking enough beer, men turn into women .

To test the theory, 100 men drank 8 pints of beer each within a 1 hour Period.

It was then observed that 100% of the test subjects :

1) Argued over nothing.

2) Refused to apologize when obviously wrong.

3) Gained weight.

4) Talked excessively without making sense.

5) Became overly emotional

6) Couldn't drive.

7) Failed to think rationally.

8) Had to sit down while urinating.

No further testing was considered necessary.

Link to test on fallacies

Love is a Fallacy

New Year's Resolution

2010-01-01T16:43:00.000Z

Welcome change....

50 Trends for 2010

2009-12-29T00:40:00.000Z

(Source: the Times)

1) VIDEO

Get over your camera phobia: the next decade will be “video, video, video”, declares Zoe Lazarus, trend analyst at Lowe Worldwide. Prepare to move from words to images. If the Noughties was the decade we forgot how to spell, will this be when we forget how to read?

2) GOING LIVE

Hold on tight: modern life is moving into the “now”, says the ad agency JWT, with a constantly updated stream of real-time information and virtual interaction. Think Twitter buzz, vlogs (video blogs), breaking news and rapid, mobile response. Do keep up.

3) TWINDUSTRIES

Twitter is going to clean up, with social transport (a phenomenon that started with Tweetbike — tweet for a pick-up), bespoke Twitter gigs (Frankmusik’s latest tour, in fans’ bedrooms, was guided by their tweets) and alerts on everything from bread straight out of the oven to asthma warnings (see MediClim).

4) MOBILITY

Let’s hope Santa delivered a smartphone. Your mobile will serve as entertainer, currency, friend-finder and informer, says Yannis Kavounis, of The Futures Company: “Our phones will take us away from our screens and get us out there.”

5) AUGMENTED REALITY

The Minority Report has arrived: according to Trendcentral, AR will allow consumers to view digital content (local stockists of your fave brand, restaurant reviews or nearby houses for sale) overlaid onto the streets before you.

6) TRANSMEDIA

Interactive storytelling across film, comics and gaming (remember, pictures are the new words). You can also connect with friends on screen — so as you read/view your story, you can comment on it with friends. Check out the Amanda Project for young girls.

7) INTELLIGENT SHOPPING

Favourite websites will already know your shape, preferred brands and, of course, credit-card number. Tobi.com has virtual fitting rooms (using webcams and motion sensors) and posts your image to Facebook for friends’ opinions. And with a smartphone and the ShopSavvy app, scan an item’s bar code to find cheaper versions.

8) EVENT SHOPPING

To get consumers offline and into the store, shops are working up the experiential quotient. Expect in-store events, “rock-up” spaces (even more guerrilla than pop-up) and designer collaborations, only “IRL” (in real life).

9) PARASITIC SHOES

Already in prototype, shoes that harvest energy as you walk, generating electrical power for charging your pods and mobs.

10) PLASTIC PAPER

Print won’t die, it will become electronic, with the arrival of paper replacements such as Plastic Logic — flexible electronic sheets that allow books and mags to be read as if on paper.

11) SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY

With GPS devices (such as the Buddi) to track wayward kids/pets/grannies, anti-cheating software to infiltrate your partner’s call log and texts (Mobile Spy), and biometric recognition in, like, everything, you’d better watch your back.

12) SMART HOMES

Think electronic, mood-managing walls, a robotic house help that cleans and entertains pets, washing machines to calculate detergent levels and energy metering as standard by 2020.

13) CLOUD CONTROL

Cloud-computing means your PC, networks, email and mobile are connected. “Organise a dinner party on Facebook — your radio-tagged fridge, which knows its contents, will order from Ocado, and the robot maid will do the rest,” Lazarus says.

14) 3-D TeleVisions

How television-makers are fighting the computer’s domination. You may be watching the World Cup next year from behind the sofa as the ball flies through the room. (Sky will be broadcasting in 3-D; silly specs still required.) Also hotly anticipated are 3-D mobile phones.

15) THE END OF CABLES

You can already beam television around the house without having to run a cable under the Persian rug, and wireless charging pads exist that can power up multiple gadgets. Eventually, phones will feature solar panels, just as calculators used to.

16) THE DIGITAL PA

Voice recognition grows up (and gets better). Many gadgets — phones and satnavs, for instance — already respond to voice commands, but soon they’ll be able to talk back, with up-to-the-minute, local recommendations. Bad news for real-life friends.

17) TOMORROW’S TRAVEL

With no icecaps, try outer space for holiday top trumps. Since Virgin Galactic’s inaugural commercial flight, with only six £121,000 seats, is already full, head instead to Spain, when the high-speed Paris-Madrid link opens in 2012(ish).

18) LOVE IS THE NEW HAPPINESS

The self-help gurus herald love as the next holy grail. But this isn’t about smug, coupled-up bliss — more a big-hearted approach to work, money, family, community, even politics. The happiness guru Robert Holden leads the fray, with workshops on how love can be applied to all.

19) CUL-DE-SAC COMMUNES

No need to get crusty to save the world. This kind of commune — aka co-housing — sees you in your own home, but with shared laundry, tools, cars and WiFi to reduce waste. Springhill, in Gloucestershire, is Britain’s first.

20) SHARING

Spread that love with pot-luck parties, where everyone brings a dish. This is the American trendspotter Marian Salzman’s tip for the future. Borrowing from neighbours is about to get much easier, she anticipates, as the NeighborGoods model (a kind of lending Freecycle) picks up here.

21) MASS MINGLING

Social networking goes hypersocial: “Popular online services are all about tracking, connecting to and meeting interesting people,” Trendwatching.com says. Try meetup.com.

22) WE-COMMERCE

Cutting out the middle man, pooling resources and starving those fat cats is the new growth area, Kavounis says. It could be “so long” to Tescopoly if Arthur Potts Dawson pulls off The People’s Supermarket, run by the people for the people (www.peoplessupermarket.org ).

23) EMOTIONAL SPACE

You’ll yearn to retreat from the modern buzz to “safe spaces”, Salzman says — empty your head by the sea, camp en famille, get low-key.

24) SOCIAL LUXURY

Seeing as we’ve exhausted conventional luxury, the new consumer high will come instead from social enterprise. For example, Chocolate & Love employs people with Down’s syndrome to pack the choccies. It’s about feeling good, not guilty.

25) LEARNING

Brace yourself for swotty holidays — Salzman predicts that we’ll all be up for educational self-improvement to overhaul our lives and reinvent our shallow Noughties selves.

26) THE OLDIE INDUSTRY

As 90 becomes the new 70, so new gaps in the market are swiftly filled: the Thermador hob with auto shut-off, Whirlpool washing machines with pedestals to stop the stoop, and Samsung’s Jitterbug mobile, which rings (loudly) at meds time.

27) TRICARE

An ageing population means a rise in “sandwich” families — with children and elderly parents to look after. Tricare to the rescue: childcare, elder care and pet care in one happy space. And nobody to mind the noise.

28) LITTLE BROTHER

It began on Twitter, with the Iranian elections and the campaign against that abusive London Underground guard. The virtual lynch mob is perma-armed with video cameras and can mobilise in minutes.

29 THE DEATH OF BULLS***

After a decade of cover-ups and nondisclosure, it will all be about transparency, accountability, unrestricted access to information and a deluge of honest, user-generated feedback. You, too, may find that there is nowhere to hide, with open-salary practices and an internet that never forgets.

Hail the age of consequences — the Future Laboratory predicts calorie and carbon counts on menus, fat taxes on airlines and bossy traffic-light stickers on products, berating you for harming yourself, animals, farmers and the planet.

31 PIG ARKS

Home-farming chard and chickens is child’s play. Now prove yourself with pigs: pig-arcs.co.uk . And, according to Lazarus, the Grow It Yourself (GIY) movement will, um, mushroom as processed, packaged convenience foods fall from favour.

32) NOSE-TO-TAIL EATING

This erstwhile foodie fetish, popularised by Fergus Henderson, will be the new vegan, says Maude Standish, of Trendcentral: “It’s how carnivores can enjoy meat in a green and holistic way.” Also, steady yourself for in vitro meat — yup, grown in test tubes.

33) KIDDY MOBILES

Bright pink, plastic and pleasingly tacky to children aged 4 to 12, the Firefly (£85) has only five buttons, including the folks on speed dial.

34) SURI SYNDROME

Eat your 13-year-old heart out, Tavi: the adultification of kids will hit way younger. Six-year-olds are already creating bespoke outfits on the online playground Kidzui.com.

35) BRAND ME

Your own brand starts with your public profile (such as Facebook) — which must appeal to employers, mates and dates — and finishes with the “me-conomy”, says Reinier Evers, of Trendwatching.com. As respect for multinationals plummets, so the independent revolution arises.

36) KIDZBOOK

Yes, that’s Facebook for kidz, predicts Jenny Dyson, contributing editor of Teen Vogue: “A disturbing and genius idea, but how to keep it sacred to children?”

37) DIY PUBLISHING

MagCloud (magcloud.com ) can publish one copy, or one million, of your magazine. Blurb (blurb.com) does the same with books. As new rules make blogs more transparent, they’ll get more credible.

38) CONSUMER FACING

Even Mary Portas will be this, when she starts selling direct on Maryportas.com next year. We’ll all be commercialising our wardrobes and shopping from friends, reckons Salzman. Supermarketsarah.com was there first.

39) REALITY TV

“Fame will become infamy,” Salzman warns. Citing recent examples such as Octomom, Balloon Boy and the White House reality-TV couple, she predicts we’re entering an anything-goes universe. Take cover.

40) THE PRIVACY INDUSTRY

Roman Abramovich is on it — his superyacht has an anti-paparazzi laser shield to zap digital-camera images. Also expect anti-WiFi paint and companies to clean up your digital dirt. Phew.

41) MEMBERS-ONLY FASHION

To avoid that doppelgänger effect, apply to Vonrosen (vonrosen.com), a shamelessly exclusive Berlin label — only those approved by the company are permitted to purchase.

42) REAL MODELS

Six-foot glamazons are all very well, but nothing gets people talking on Planet Fashion like using a real woman. Remember Mark Fast’s spat with his stylist over plus-size models, and US Glamour’s — gasp — belly roll?. Dress down for those street casters.

43) YOU, THE DESIGNER

It’s the decade of creative collaboration, asserts Trendwatching.com, as brands move away from a transactional, us-and-them mentality. Where Nike ID led, others will follow. Selfridges hosts frequent customising events, such as Louis Vuitton monogramming. Create your own heirlooms.

44) BIOMECHANICAL (AND PARANOID) YOU

Seven calories per yawn? Forty-three per star jump? Remove the guesswork with Fitbit, a watch-like device that measures calorie output, distance travelled and sleep quality.

45) VAIN BRAINS

Forget about cup size — a high IQ will be key in finding a mate, Salzman says. A healthy brain, boosted by exercise or supplements, will be the new six-pack, she predicts. We’ll post our IQs on Match.com, and neurologists will be the new surgeons as we queue for our brain nip/tucks. No, no, you first.

46) A BAN ON SUN BEDS

The consultant dermatologist Dr Nick Lowe predicts a UK ban on tanning beds, given that 100 people die from melanoma every year as a result of overuse.

47) SNORTING STEM CELLS

According to New Scientist, stem cells could be used for treating neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, strokes and Alzheimer’s. To get them to the brain, you might have to inhale them.

48) COSMETIC DEVICES

The beauty industry is moving on to gizmos, or “integrated application tools”, according to L’Oréal, which next month launches Perfect Clean, a cleansing range with the detachable “scrublet” pad. (See also Maybelline Pulse Perfection Vibrating Mascara, Neutrogena Wave vibrating cleanser and Garnier’s massaging Eye Roll-On.)

49) INTELLIGENT MAKE-UP

“We’ll be seeing skincare morphed with make-up, such as foundation resembling well-moisturised skin,” says Terry Barber, of Mac. He forecasts powder-based products that imitate real skin, spelling the end of excessively groomed “Waginess”. We also welcome the predicted demise of short-term celebrity fragrances.

50) EXTREME INGREDIENTS

Mintel predicts the use of ingredients from extreme environments, such as the Arctic, deserts and deep seas, in the beauty industry. Clarins is working with — wait for it — watch lubricants to help skincare stability, while L’Oréal has been studying genes: its Youth Code range with “Pro-Gen technology” launches next month.

Alcohol helps you lose weight...

2009-12-27T00:46:00.000Z

There is some debate about the effect of alcohol in weight loss on a low-carbohydrate diet.

Dry drinks like vodka and dry wines contain no carbohydrates, but they do contain alcohol. This provides energy at 7 calories per gram and, as alcohol is absorbed rapidly by the body, this source of energy can be used as a source of fuel by the body in place of carbs. The late Dr Albert Pennington, who had considerable experience of high-fat, low-carb diets in the treatment of obesity in the middle third of the 20th Century, says that alcohol checks the combustion of fat in the body.

This is probably true. We know that alcohol does not raise insulin levels, it is not stored as fat and, thus, will not itself make us fat. However, it can stop weight loss. If the calories provided by alcohol are used preferentially, that will mean calories from both glucose and body fat will not be used until the energy supplied by the alcohol is used up. This must have an effect on weight loss. (Note that here I am talking about the alcohol in a drink, NOT the carbohydrate content of that drink. That will contribute to weight gain.)

On the other hand, there is Banting's evidence. He took six glasses of claret a day and a glass of rum or something like that most nights when he went to bed, and still he lost weight.

Another researcher working with low-carb diets, Dr Gaston Pawan, of the Middlesex Hospital, London, mentioned the intriguing possibility that alcoholic drinks, by dilating the blood vessels in the skin and making it work harder, may step up metabolism to an extent which more than compensated for the calories taken in as alcohol. This increased metabolism, coupled with increased loss of water from the skin and in the urine, he opined, could then result in weight loss. There is experimental evidence for this.

Pawan's colleague, Professor Alan Kekwick found that obese patients who were losing weight satisfactorily on a high-fat, low-calorie diet, would still continued to lose if alcohol was added in amounts up to as much as 500 calories a day — which is equivalent to about a seven fluid ounces (190ml) of 37.5% gin or vodka. But if that extra 500 calories were given as a carbohydrate-rich food such as chocolate or bread, they stopped losing weight and started to gain. It seems probable that all alcoholic drinks except those such as beer or sweet wines and liqueurs which contain large amounts of carbohydrate, are not fattening.

It might be wise to consider, however, that the stimulation of appetite and the removal of inhibitions by alcohol may mask the slimming effect by tempting you to overeat the fattening, carbohydrate foods which are so often provided with drinks.

Source

Xmas Lunch

2009-12-25T11:50:00.000Z

The average person passes gas about 14 times a day, and normally it doesn't smell bad. But what about when it does?

Here's one tip. Go easy on eggs, meat, beer, beans, and cauliflower. They all release nose-assaulting hydrogen sulfide when broken down by bacteria in the gut.

Sulfur Solution
Some of the sulfur-rich foods mentioned above may be healthy favorites of yours, so don't feel like you have to give them up completely. To avoid the smell, eat some leafy green vegetables or pop a probiotic pill (specifically one rich in Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG) along with the sulfur-producing items. For beans, which are full of good-for-you nutrients you shouldn't pass up, soak them ahead of time, or try a little Beano. Check out this video clip on how to soak dried beans.

Gas Attack
If you find that you get gas frequently, you may need to not only avoid certain foods but also change your whole approach to eating. Try these tips:

* Eat smaller meals more often. Along with fighting flatulence, mini meals help control appetite. Here's how.
* Ditch bubbly drinks. Carbonated beverages can cause bad gas. Find out why they're bad for your heart, too.
* Beware of fats. High-fat foods slow digestion. (But don't give up the friendly kind.)
* Get moving. Regular exercise makes for a healthy bowel. (Set a walking goal and track your progress.)

Could your GI problems be a sign of irritable bowel syndrome? Find out with this quick quiz.

10 free things for Christmas

2009-12-24T14:00:00.001Z

Christmas e-cards

Christmas cards definitely seem to have had their day. Not only does buying and posting them all add up, but most of us seem to think it pretty pointless to chop down trees to make thousands of cards that are put in the bin within a matter of weeks.

But what if you'd still like to send some festive cheer to your friends and relatives? Good news, there are plenty of e-cards available that can be sent to your whole email address book in seconds, and some are even free. And many have unlimited space for your message, so you could even squeeze in your annual Christmas letter to boot.

Check out 123 greetings, blue mountain, e-cards and Ilovecards for free Christmas e-cards - and for free charity cards take a look at Treeaid and SOS Children's villages.

Free Christmas animation

Alternatively, for a bit of fun JibJab is offering to create you a free animated Elf snowball fight video. Simply find some photos on your computer of each member of your family (you can have up to 5) and the software will lead you through what to do. You'll then all be made into "elves" and watch the snowball fight animation begin! (This is also a great one to send to friends and family).

Free Christmas clipart

If you fancy creating your own gift tags, table decorations or party invitations you'll need some sort of Christmas artwork. If you're not inclined to create your own you can find heaps of free Christmas clipart here that can be simply pasted into your creations to give them a lovely festive feel.

Alternatively, you could print these free, ready created gift tags, certificates, Christmas cards and even gift wrap from All Things Christmas.

Free Christmas activities for kids

The Christmas holidays are on their way so it's time to get prepared with activities to keep the kids occupied. You can find free games, puzzles, or your child could even write his/her very own Christmas story featuring him/herself as the lead character at the Blackdog site.

You can create Christmas decorations and other projects at the AllFreeCrafts site and ActivityVillage (including Shidonni - where you can create your own virtual pet).

Plus there are some Christmas themed activities at the CBeebies and CBBC websites.

Have a read of Top 10 cheap Christmas activities for kids for more help.

Free Christmas music

Having a party or gathering but don't own a single Christmassy CD? Not to worry, the internet can come to the rescue.

You can find free Christmas party music and download Christmas MP3s of carols and music. If you fancy a Christmas sing song but can't remember any words, you can find the most popular music and lyrics here. Or simply create your own playlist and stream the music you want from Spotify or We7.

Free Christmas parking

Many towns and cities will be offering some sort of free parking incentive in the run up to Christmas with a number timing this with free festive activities and events.

If you live in Bridlington, for example you'll be able to park for free, each weekend in the run up to Christmas, saving up to £3.50 a day. Check out your local council's website and see how much you can save.

Free Christmas events

Although there are a lot of festive events that cost money, there are equally a large number that are absolutely free.

If you live in Liverpool, you can take the kids to free art and craft activities and Christmas storytelling at the World Museum. Anyone living in London can take advantage of the free events lined up at the Southbank Centre.

And if you're in Doncaster, head over to the Frenchgate centre this Saturday. Not only will kids be able to have their faces painted, there will be live magic, and stilt walkers and jugglers will be handing out free lucky dip bags.

Adopt our goal Cut the cost of going out for more help.

Free Christmas knitting patterns

Knitting has become incredibly trendy with a surprising number of us having picked up some needles for the first time. If you're an avid knitter, or know someone who is, Knitpat is offering a free, downloadable knitting pattern to create cute Christmas novelties such as tea cosies and placemats.

Free or cheap Christmas gifts

Christmas presents can add up to a fortune, and let's face it; most are simply dumped in cupboards after the big day. What a waste of money!

Why not agree to a "no gifts" Christmas with presents only bought for the children, or organise a Secret Santa? Or try your hand at making Christmas presents such as bath salts and cookies.

Alternatively, there are things you can give that will cost you nothing apart from a little time that will be far more appreciated.

For example, why not create a voucher that will entitle a parent to a night's worth of babysitting; an elderly relative an afternoon's worth of gardening or a child to ice skating/swimming/football in the park?

And if you must buy presents don't forget those loyalty points - you may have enough Tesco, Nectar or Boots Advantage card points for a few free gifts. And you can snap up a free Alvin and the Chipmunks watch here (you'll need to pay £1.99 P&P).

Free festive makeover

Finally, if you have a Christmas party to go to, you can look great for nothing by getting your make up done in a shop or department store. Big names such as MAC do charge a fee which is redeemable against any cosmetics you buy. But if you stick with smaller companies you can often look just as good, without having to pay a bean. Just try to turn up when they are a bit less busy, and make sure you're dressed smartly! Read 10 ways to look good for less this party season for more help.

Have a happy and frugal Christmas!

Get help from lovemoney.com this Christmas

If you're feeling the pinch this Christmas, we can help!

First, adopt this goal: Make some extra money

Next, watch this video: How to save when you've got no money

Finally, why not have a wander over to Q&A and ask other lovemoney.com members for advice?

Have you enrolled on a course?

2009-12-21T14:22:00.000Z

One piece of advice was to enrol on this - if you haven't done so by now, then you're too late.