Mar 10 2007

shock survey shows soft power preferences

category: cultural curiosities
scribble tags:

A survey of 28,000 people from 27 countries conducted by the BBC World Service asked respondents to indicate whether each of 12 countries had either a negative or positive influence on the world.   The USA is perceived as having a negative influence on the world.  NPR prints an Associated Press news release on the survey results,  in rank-order for perceived negative influence:

  1. 56% perceive Israel having a negative influence & 17% a positive influence

  2. 56% perceive Iran having a negative influence & 18% a positive influence

  3. 51% perceive United States having a negative influence & 30% a positive influence.

When ranking by positive influence Canada is ranked highest (54%) followed by Japan and France.  The article cites Prof.  Steven Kull hypotheizing the reasons for this result “people around the world tend to look negatively on countries whose profile is marked by the pursuit of military power… …Countries that relate to the world primarily through soft power, like France and Japan and the EU in general, tend to be viewed positively“ 

soft power (information as arguments) as opposed to hard power (weapons as arguments) 

Jan 19 2007

back seat driving

category: courting
scribble tags:

Apparantly,  after a ‘bitter’ break-up a girl will drive the boy to a replacement-girl.  This must be because boys are challenged when it comes to driving decisions,  for example:

  • what direction to steer the car
  • when to use the brakes
  • whether they can cope with being single
  • who might be a good match for them

I’m extremely impressed by the way ex-girlfriends considerately help decisionally challenged ex-boyfriends.  Good show!

  

Feb 18 2006

Stains. Slandered.

category: short stories
scribble tags:

Webster describes a stain using words like ‘discolor’, ‘tarnish’ and ‘taint’.  Webster’s first definition of Dye is ‘to stain’! then words like ‘permanent’ with a positive connotation.  Intention is sometimes a definitional difference: 

  • Stain by accident
  • Dye on purpose

I believe staining does not, and dyes do, force a change in chemical structure of whatever they colour.  This means stains do not, and dyes do, weaken whatever they colour.  Think of hair dyes.   After dying people often need to repair and condition the hair because it becomes dry, brittle, frizzy.  Possibly because of chemical restructuring?  I stain my hair using a mixture of

  • Red Wine
  • Tea
  • Coffee
  • Henna

This conditions it and perks up the colour.  Double wammy.  NICE.  Silver hairs take the stain more readily.  Highlights!  The stain will also

  • fade with time.
  • make hair resistent to chemical dyes and perms (they wont work until the stain fades).
  • look like cow dung. YUCK

  CowPat      HennadHair

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