Interesting Links for 23-8-2011

[andrewducker]

• The Zero-Carbon House: It’s Just Around the Corner
  (tags: housing energy)
• Spain decides that the US deadlock was so much fun it ought to limit its borrowing too!
  (tags: spain finance)
• Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not - anyone got more info on this?
  (tags: iceland finance)
• Boys believe discussing problems is a waste of time
  (tags: men conversation)
• Judge OKs Unlicensed Cloud Music-Storage Service
  (tags: music law usa EpicWin technology)
• The people that check benefit claimants to make sure they're ill (and have a 40-70% error rate) are shutting down dissenting websites
  (tags: welfare benefits uk atos EpicFail)
• Astronaut Suicides
  (tags: space astronauts suicide art photos)
• Fox’s 8-Day Delay on Hulu Triggers Piracy Surge (114% for one show, 189% for another)
  (tags: piracy tv usa)
• Vodafone Germany looks to migrate its internet customers from phone lines to 4G
  (tags: adsl internet mobile germany)
• Why The Hugos Should Have A “Best YA Novel” Award
  (tags: awards scifi hugo fandom writing books)
• Woman jailed over her friend's looting freed on appeal
  (tags: crime law uk riots)
• Happier youths commit less crime. Also, the Pope is apparently Catholic.
  (tags: happiness crime psychology)

Comments

Re: Stiff upper lip after all?

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

So, really we're talking about the same thing but with different focus.

Or do we disagree on where personality ends and illness begins? Is the friend who refuses help sick, or an arse?

Re: Stiff upper lip after all?

[andrewducker]

I'm not easily able to draw lines there. Someone can be a massive pain in the arse and very hard to deal with for a variety of reasons. If those reasons are temporary we trend to say they are ill. If those reasons are permanent we tend to call them an arse. It all seems to come down to perspective.

I read something the other day about how we tend to explain our own behaviour as situational (I was rude because I was horribly stressed about my job) and other people's as being down to personality (They were rude because they're an arse). Once been more introverted for a couple of years because if stress that I see as situational. Am I now an introvert?

And then there are the people whose behaviours have changed radically due you tumours or brain damage. Personality is complex :-)

Re: Stiff upper lip after all?

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

There's also... well did you ever read Eric Berne "Games people play" and the follow up?

He identified "Wooden Leg" as a life game, and "Yes, but" as a social one. It strikes me that being depressed is - potentially - a great strategy for doing nothing, while feeling justified and being the centre of attention.

Re: Stiff upper lip after all?

[andrewducker]

Yup - and I'm sure there are some people that do that, playing on it because it gets them what they want. I have some sympathy for them - because if they were able to realise that taking responsibility meant they'd be liked more, and enjoy themselves more, they'd be happier. But I also don't want to spend time around them.

Oh, and I found the thing I was thinking of a couple of comments back:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2345971.stm

Re: Stiff upper lip after all?

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

As I get older, I find that more and more I subscribe to black box approach: people are what they do.

Re: Stiff upper lip after all?

[andrewducker]

Depends on what I'm doing. If I'm deciding how to dealwith someone, then what they do is paramount. If I'm trying to understand them, I take a more nuanced approach.

Re: Stiff upper lip after all?

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Learned helplessness can certainly be a coping strategy, but being depressed is not good. It's also not always a look at me thing. Arguably the failure to articulate feelings, to say this is how I'm feeling, itself contributes to the problem here. Boys/Men don't cry, don't feel etc.