Sunday 28 September 2008

The Prince

Niccolò Machiavelli
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machiavelli

Machiavelli's best known book is The Prince, in which he describes the arts by which a Prince (a ruler), can retain control of his realm. He focuses primarily on what he calls the "new prince", under the assumption that a hereditary prince has an easier task since the people are accustomed to him. All a hereditary prince needs to do is carefully maintain the institutions that the people are used to; a new prince has a much more difficult task since he must stabilize his newfound power and build a structure that will endure. This task requires the Prince to be publicly above reproach but privately may require him to do immoral things in order to achieve his goals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machiavelli

He states, "...a wise prince should establish himself on that which is his own control and not in that of others; he must endeavor to avoid hatred, as is noted." He also says "it is best to be both feared and loved; however, if one cannot be both it is better to be feared than loved."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince

Minds are of three kinds: one is capable of thinking for itself; another is able to understand the thinking of others; and a third can neither think for itself nor understand the thinking of others. The first is of the highest excellence, the second is excellent, and the third is worthless. [The Prince, Daniel Donno translation, Bantam, 1966, 1981 p. 80]

Chapter Six

The Fates

"I am not letting my pretty young sister go out with that weirdo. We will get the boys to go around and burn him out!"

The Dragon (INFP) is hiding in his Barrow. The Controller (ENTJ regressing to ESTJ) now thinks he is dealing with a Fox that has gone to ground, which is a Dog-like character XXTJ. They are hounding (ISTJ) him. They think it is a good fun Artisan-style sport, but the Dragon regards it as torture.

Earlier * (the day before). I shook my head to an offer*. I just did not have the strength and I wanted an adversary to be a plonker, not me. *It was probably a Bear, but the circumstances were very difficult and it was hard to be sure. In my prime, I would taken her just for fun.

Revised Text:

The Dogs (ISTJ) want to bag you up and throw you in the river (streams of consciousnesss) which is not a nice thing to happen to a Dragon. He can go and hide in a nicy cosy barrow with rumours of a treasure. He flies above the river, rising above such unfortunate circumstances.

Saturday 27 September 2008

Chapter Five

I have picked a long hard dark road with closed black doors to save my Soul. No happiness but my authenticity remains intact.

I call on a door and get charity, gifts, but no help.

Friday 26 September 2008

INTP: The Architect

INTP: The Architect
INTPs make up 3% of the US population.

INTPs are theoretical innovators, fascinated by logical analysis, systems, and design. Often seen by others as detached, analytical observers, INTPs are preoccupied with theory and often seem oblivious to the world around them because they are so deeply absorbed in thought. The INTP is typically nontraditional, more likely to reason out their own unconventional way of doing things than to follow the crowd. They are passionate about what they see as logical, reasonable, and innovative, and will go to great mental lengths trying to devise ingenious solutions to interesting problems.

http://www.personalitydesk.com/intp-type-description.php

Thursday 25 September 2008

Chapter Four (Notes)

Chapter Four (Notes)

Cassandra passed by in a flash*. She is moving out in time and space. The assassins had done a good job on my autotomy. The Ferry Girl (wrong one) agreed that I needed a Newcastle. I need to travel with Doctor Who.

Another wrong venue. The Lord of the Manor watering hole is Fraudian. The Teddy girl was trying to sound clever and ended up with the Horsemen. And I did not care! This is really boring.

*The same thing happened with the Magician's wife. A blink of the eyes and it is gone.

Narcissists Suck

Narcissists Suck

No life is ever a complete failure; it can always serve as a bad example.
http://narcissists-suck.blogspot.com/

Wednesday 24 September 2008

Chapter Three (Notes)

Chapter Three (Notes)

I had one last look at the new Pony, decided that the odds were against me and I returned to my hometown. I took a ride to the hill fort until the smugglers (felt like they wanted to kill me) had moved on to other games.

Meanwhile, the Controller was having his own burn out, the Seven of Diamonds was trying to get his Millon system to work, but he forgot about the Spinning Top. He was turning into the Seven of Clubs.

Bufo told me about the Bromley malignant from Dark Star and also mentioned the Banker which I never even suspected. They say that the Camelhead is leaving, but this could be another of the lies.

Delicately, I have hoped to exclude the poisonous Conceited One from out of the loop, with his would be Hawk behaving like a Dog. He should not really know: it was a finesse.

Home is still full to enter without permission. Puff the Magic Dragon intermittently tries to blow down the walls, but the core is made of brick.

The Smuggling Gang was tracked by the Watch all the time and they did not even know it. These fucktwits are playing stupid games and will trash the heads of any new crumpet on the dockside manor. Their collective fortress will not be blown away by me. It was hammer blow, but that it is their limited repertoire. I am bored of it all.

Two Engineers have appeared on the scene. These high class Dogs are counting up the dosh. I do not think they are connected to the telepath.

I think the Priests have finally worked out that everything has gone awry because I am on a different wavelength. The Controller needs to slow down, but he has just got bogged down in excessive detail.

Beside Ourselves: Our Hidden Personality in Everyday Life

Beside Ourselves: Our Hidden Personality in Everyday Life
Naomi L. Quenk
ISBN 10: 0891060626
ISBN 13: 9780891060628
Publisher: Consulting Psychologists Pr
Publication Date: 1993
Binding: Softcover
http://tinyurl.com/457bnn

I was hoping to find the answer to Critical Stress or Burn Out in the above book. All, I really got was confirmation of what happens when Eagles (INTP) go Pony (ESFJ). The fourth inferior function is unfamiliar. The Grip Reports seem to indicate that most people in this unfamiliar world see it as fraught with dangers. I described it as Heaven & Hell (with a really special form of neighbourly hell) and try as hard as I could, the hell component was the overiding occurrence. There were periods of heaven, but the hell returned before I could find my operating wavelength.

Friday 19 September 2008

Chapter Two Plot (First Draft)

Chapter Two Plot (First Draft)
by the Phoenix XNXP
Notes on NPs (Aliens):
Learning Style and Type Dimension Research into Student Characteristics Related to Counseling Situations:
http://www.oswego.edu/plsi/counsel.htm
NP-least conventional
NP-high creativity

Telling about an event:
SF-what the people did
ST-accurate order of events
NP-most prone to fantasy
---------------------------
THE TRUE STORY

Looking for a place to lay my head, I went into the public house of the local Lord looking for Cassandra (who was offside by conventional and support, but still within the law). Actually, the PH was occupied by degenerates including Ajax the Lesser. For this purpose the Phoenix adopts his wyrm (serpent)- like mode.

Interlude; The Irish Hawker girl had seduced a young Pony and she was pregnant with one of those mysterious babies that appear by accident.

On board ship, I heard by the international telepath, the Germans were calling, and the young Ginger one has written down a message.

Dare I be kidnapped by the German aliens? Will they succour my body and feed on my soul? Are they friends like the Dutch? But a wrong move could trash my head or get me killed by the Mad Axeman in the criminal family.

In the Lord's public house, I was hounded out by the Guardians, after the Cat had sent a message (surmised). I went cruising, but there were only young ponies and older dogs, and a brass or two on the loose. I was running out of spare change. I wanted to talk to somebody.

I was sent to the public house Bad Pines where I was offered rest and fun at the retirement home. I declined their offer. On my way home, I spotted the sadist with a young girl, he had stolen/begged from his Son (surmised).

Interlude: The local Mafiosa were predating on young girls for the Pet Shop rounds. They had kidnapped a Hawk. She sat there drugged and watching television like a melon.

Back in the local grade Secret Agencies, all had their own problems. The Psi Cops were waiting to arrest me, if I made a wrong move. They sent down a spaced out Beaver (could have been a Horseman, I wasn't paying attention), a trusted Dog with the daughter of the Wolfman as a honey trap. They told endless lies. The Beaver was suffering from that most incurable diseases called conceit.

I don't think the Wolfman is bad; he just can't slow down and rushes around too much. The
enemy is the person who damages you, even if he is a Seven of Diamonds.

Seahorse Panda (the stalker) is sending messages through the telepath weathervane. I don't know if this is cursed bad luck or an opportunity?
--------------------------------

Addenda:

Earlier: The Fascist is being chased and hounded by a Red Mallard express locomotive.

The homeless waif is distributing her favours and playing childish games, and snorting like a spoilt Pony when scorned.

The older Pony wants it now, right now, and she can't wait for five seconds. It's physical.

Meanwhile, in the Roman Camp, I saw a very pretty middle-aged Dragon that was being treated as though she was a Bear. I could see from the Bear cubs. Straining up under the Bear, and did she know she would be beaten horribly if she strayed? Then she might be cast out, damaged and in ruins.

Summary: the Right Wing are taking hostages.

---------------------------------

Correction: it turned out to be an Earthling versus Alien misunderstanding. The sleep spell was induced by Gay Representatives on an Earthling agenda and I was identified as neutral. I was operating as an Introspective. NP Psychedelics are most prone to fantasy.

Blink Rate

The present study examines changes in a variety of oculomotoric variables as a function of increasing sleepiness in 129 participants, who have been passed through a broad range of subjective alertness. Up to now, spontaneous eye blinks are the most promising biosignal for in-car sleepiness warnings. Reviewing the current literature on eye movements and fatigue, experimental data are provided including additional indicative oculomotoric parameters; inter-individual differences in the experiments were also assessed. Here, self-rated alertness decreased over six steps on average and proved itself a reliable measurement. Regarding oculomotoric parameters, blink duration, delay of lid reopening, blink interval and standardised lid closure speed were identified as the best indicators of subjective as well as objective sleepiness. Saccadic parameters and fixation durations also showed specific changes with increasing sleepiness. Substantial inter-individual differences in all of these variables were illustrated. Oculomotoric parameters were linked to three different components of sleepiness while driving: a) deactivation; b) decreasing attention, resulting in disinhibition of spontaneous blinks and reflexive saccades; c) increasing attempts of self-activation. Finally, implications for the development of drowsiness detection devices were discussed. Keywords: fatigue; subjective rating scales; blink, saccade; fixation; EOG
http://tinyurl.com/4uu2sj

Thursday 18 September 2008

"Disease Of Conceit"

"Disease Of Conceit"
There's a whole lot of people suffering tonight from the disease of conceit
Whole lot of people struggling tonight from the disease of conceit
Comes right down the highway straight down the line
Rips into your senses through your body and your mind
Nothing about it that's sweet
The disease of conceit.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/diseaseofconceit.html

It is the sweetness that is a guide. I do not know if your sweetheart is conceited?

Monday 8 September 2008

Individuals under Capitalism & Socialism

Psychological Types,
Note 1,
Individualism

Individualism in capitalism thus has its limits. The irresponsible person might end up starving in the gutter. Under laissez-faire capitalism there were, of course, organizations (like the Salvation Army) who made it their business to offer help to such indigents, but only if they were willing to reform themselves at the same time. The "compassion" of leftist politics, of course, cannot allow such unfair judgmentalism to happen, so everyone is to be picked up out of the gutter and given whatever they need, by right. When they get the message about this, then it would be slavery to actually expect them to do anything to earn or deserve these benefits. They thus gain the right to be fundamentally irresponsibile, and fundamentally independent of any other person or any relationship of voluntary exchange or association -- even while the government is obliged to support them. This is even evident in feminism, where the very idea that women as mothers might be economically dependent on men provokes horror. Ironically, where Marx had said that capitalism turns even the family into a cash relationship, this is exactly what the modern Left wants -- wages from the government for housework, and such subsidies or support from the government that women can have children as "single mothers" and, with or without jobs, can live in a style equivalent to those married couples who support themselves and their children without subsidies. It is the duty of such married couples, of course, to pay sufficient taxes to support this right of financial independence in others. If the hardworking people resent all this, then they are damned by press, academia, and even pulpit as heartless, greedy, and self-centered.
from
http://www.friesian.com/types.htm#potter

Comment: Jobs to suit the personality type, rather than any old job.

Gender Stereotypes

Gender Stereotypes
The theory of the sexual dynamic of the psyche in Jung is conformable to the theory of male and female patterns of conversation in Deborah Tannen's best selling book You Just Don't Understand. Tannen, as a result of her own research, contends that men use conversation to establish status, or for "information," while women use conversation to establish closeness. This contrast seems to display the logos/eros functions, since information is rational while closeness is emotional. When a woman talks to a man about a problem she is having, they may speak at cross purposes. She may basically just want to be comforted and encouraged, while the man may think that she is seeking a solution that he can give to her quickly and then move on. Something similar is described by the pop psychologist John Gray in the popular Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus: When they have a problem, men go into a "cave," retreating from contact, to work things out. Women, on the other hand, seek contact. If men and women are aware that the other has a problem and, as Confucius says [note], use their own feelings as a guide, they will tend to treat the other in exactly the opposite way they want to be treated. Men with a problem will not want to be bothered; and, if they are bothered, it can only be because a succinct "solution" is being offered to their problem. But women will tend to bother them without a "solution," which the man will find very irritating. Similarly, a man may avoid a woman with a problem, thinking she would like to be left alone. If she then seeks contact, he may respond by abruptly telling her how to fix it and then going away again. Both Tannen and Gray, like Jung, expect that as each sex learns what the other seeks, they will, at the least, not insensibly work at cross-purposes.
from

http://www.friesian.com/gender.htm

Comment:
Personality Type theory does not seem to divide rational and emotional in quite the same way. Only the Guardians (SJ) seem to be clear cut in this way.

Sunday 7 September 2008

Modern Documentary - Chapter One (First Draft)

21st Century Documentary
by


The Phoenix
Category: XNXP Morph-shifter (small scale)
Home Planet: Perseus Meteors
Residence: Albion
Gender: Male
Spirit Level: Masked
Existential: Revolving (MO: Detached)
DNA: Not determined

It is the eighth year and the ninth month of the new millennium, the thirteenth since the Ice Age.

Location:
In the seventeenth century it took Samuel Pepys to say the the public house is the heart of ole England. Three hundred years later, the very heart of England is being ripped apart by the Corporation Horseman. Pubs are being rationalised, commercialized and turned into absurd charactures of the real thing. But the eccentricity of the British character still lives on from the last millennium, located in a forgotten watering hole at the end of the twitten, like a ship riding on the ocean of progress. Already the Black Riders are hovering.


The story/documentary is set in the above location.

Although in normal circumstances, the plot would be finalised from the end to the start, this story is an ongoing event, so the finish is not known. The text will contain morph-shifting gaps, so the reader has to follow the dialogue and then take in the landscape both at the same time.

It is traditional in the English pub that strangers are welcome. The sign over the bar says that the captain is always right, so when the guest has outstayed his welcome, he is asked to leave and is expected to do so. However, it is really the customers that run the pub (unlike the Corporation taverns) and they will leave of their own accord if the ambience and refreshments are not of the desired quality. And there are still remnants of archaic licensing laws and restrictions on allowed substances. Tobacco and pharmaceuticals are barred by law. The approved substance is called alcohol and served in various forms: beer, cider, wines, spirits (distilled liquor) etc. In the old days the landlord could be put in the stocks for serving poor ale.

The story:
"Are you gay?"

"Excuse me?"
"Are you gay?"
My contenance indicated perplexity.
"I'm not miserable, if that is what you mean."
The other was already beginning to get irritable. I imagined he would turn into a camel in an instant.
"Aha!" a sign of comprehension.
"Are you from Brighton?"
He nodded. At this instant, in this metro-cultural society, the visitor needs to know that the language and meanings of words are not universally accepted. What is meant in the city may have a totally different meaning in a small town or a country pub. Such misunderstandings can be a cause of friction.
"Do you mean, am I a poofter?" I asked politely.
It was then his turn to be offended. Certain words are not politically correct according to the modes of the time. By this time the murmurs of conversation at the bar had ceased and heads began to turn. I picked up my pint and took a long swig. It is at times like this, a cigarette (fag) can break off any tension. Perhaps, I needed some processing time as thoughts wandered through my head.
"Can I whisper the answer in your partner's ear?" I replied.

There was man in a grass skirt riding on another horse, a poison dwarf, an army of Petit Gods old enough to be my Dad, two pretty girls walking hand in hand, and the Priest flogging the girl on a bicycle. The Greeks had something to say just how proud you can be walking around the streets and holding up the traffic. The promoter lives in a big house, and leads the parade down to the pond in his horse drawn chariot. The Watch is on duty. The chariot is on the wrong side of the bridge by Honeyman's Hole with Gaylord Falcon. Nobody ever won a revolution with a fancy dress party. When the wind is blowing from the east, you can smell the gas factory.

I whispered.
"Actually, I am feeling rather melancholic today," I explained.
She shied away. I expect she thought I was an alcoholic.
I opened up my wallet and she moved closer.

All sorts of transactions are undertaken in public houses. In a good pub, is where you find the recommended plumber, electrician and jobbing builder. Or somebody to print the wedding invitations and fix the computer.

I mean you get all sorts, the petrolheads talking about their cars, the criminal bears playing hide and seek with the cops, the electric horsemen drinking out of the skulls of their latest victims, the catwoman let out of the bag. Jingleballicks offered to pay for a round of drinks, but it was after time had been called. The Watch were quelling the disturbance in the apartment block called Beirut.


Saturday 6 September 2008

Bob Dylan Lyrics

The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair"
There's something funny going on" he said " I can just feel it in the air"

NEW RECOMMENDED LINK

http://tinyurl.com/5o764c



REDUNDANT
Bob Dylan Lyrics
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs
On the first one the search site method on Google can locate a song title
http://www.azlyrics.com/d/dylan.html

Friday 5 September 2008

ALBION

ALBION

Etymology
Gallo-Latin Albiōn (Middle Irish Albbu) is from a Proto-Celtic stem *Alb-i̯en-. Together with other toponyms such as Alpes it may either derive from a Proto-Indo-European root *albh- "white" (also found in Welsh elfydd meaning "world" and in the Germanic Elves), or may be of pre-Indo-European origin.[1]
It is often hypothesised that the Romans took it as connected with albus (white), in reference to the White cliffs of Dover and Alfred Holder's Alt-Keltischer Sprachschatz (1896) unhesitatingly translates it Weissland ("white-land").

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion

Attestation
The early writer (6th century BC) whose periplus was translated by Avienus at the end of the 4th century AD (see Massaliote Periplus) does not use the name Britannia; he speaks of nesos 'Iernon kai 'Albionon: the islands of the Ierni and the Albiones. Likewise, Pytheas of Massilia (ca. 320 BC) speaks of Albion and Ierne. But Pytheas' grasp of the "Πρεττανικη" (Britanic) archipelago is somewhat blurry, and appears to include anything he considers a western island, including Thule.[2]
By the 1st century AD, the name refers unequivocally to Great Britain. The Pseudo-Aristotelian text De mundo (393b) has:

Ἐν τούτῳ γε μὴν νῆσοι μέγισται τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι δύο, Βρεττανικαὶ λεγόμεναι, Ἀλβίων καὶ Ἰέρνη

"the largest islands they reached were two, called the Britannic [isles], Albion and Ierne."
Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (4.16.102) likewise has:
"It was itself named Albion, while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britanniae."

-------------------------------------------------

c900 tr. Bæda's Hist. (1890) I. I. 24 Breoton is garsecges ealond, æt wæs iu geara Albion haten. c1205 Layamon's Brut (1847) 1243 Albion hatte at lond. 1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) II. 5 Firste is ilond hite Albion, as it were e white lond. c1399 CHAUCER Purse l. 22 in Wks. (1894) I. 406 O conquerour of Brutes Albioun. a1592 GREENE Fr. Bacon (1594) sig. E2v, As if that Edward gaue me Englands right, And richt me with the Albion diadem. 1593 SHAKES. 2 Hen. VI I. iii. 48 Is this the Gouernment of Britaines Ile? And this the Royaltie of Albions King? 1605 Lear III. ii. 91 Then shal the Realme of Albion, come to great confusion. [1653 J. BOSSUET uvres (1816) XI. 469 L'Angleterre, ah! la perfide Angleterre, que le rempart de ses mers rendoit inaccessible aux Romains.] 1713 POPE Windsor-For. 5 When Albion sends her eager Sons to War. 1757 GRAY Progr. Poesy II. st. iii in Odes 9 When Latium had her lofty spirit lost, They sought, oh Albion! next thy sea-encircled coast. 1841 W. M. THACKERAY in Fraser's Mag. June 711/2 Ferocious yells of hatred against perfidious Albion were uttered by the liberal French press. [1846 R. FORD Gatherings fr. Spain iv. 37 If there be a thing which ‘La perfide Albion’, ‘a nation of shopkeepers’, dislikes,..it is a bankrupt.] 1850 WORDSW. Prel. (1926) x. 239 Since I had seen the surge Beat against Albion's shore. 1903 A. MCNEILL Egregious English 11 The French dislike of perfidious Albion may be reckoned to a great extent an intermittent matter. 1941 H. G. WELLS You can't be too Careful III. viii. 146 There I wasa lovely crossingsaying Adieu to the white cliffs of Albion.

OED

Thursday 4 September 2008

Desiderata

desiderata - by max ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann c.1920
http://www.businessballs.com/desideratapoem.htm

Typology of the Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Psychological Types

http://www.friesian.com/types.htm

Nice use of colours in the text.


And it should be possible to identify the type who wrote this piece by the writing style.

including

Psychological Types, Typology of the Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

These pages contain mistakes of fact.

Typology Prayers

Typology Prayers

ISTJ: "Lord help me to relax about insignificant details beginning tomorrow at 11:41.23 am E.S.T."
ISTP: "God help me to consider people's feelings, even if most of them ARE hypersensitive."
ESTP: "God help me to take responsibility for my own actions, even though they're usually NOT my fault."
ESTJ: "God, help me to not try to RUN everything. But, if You need some help, just ask."
ISFJ: "Lord, help me to be more laid back and help me to do it EXACTLY right."
ISFP: "Lord, help me to stand up for my rights (if you don't mind my asking)."
ESFP: "God help me to take things more seriously, especially parties and dancing."
ESFJ: "God give me patience, and I mean right NOW."
INFJ: "Lord help me not be a perfectionist. (Did I spell that correctly?)"
INFP: "God, help me to finish everything I sta
ENFP: "God,help me to keep my mind on one th -- Look a bird! -- ing at a time."
ENFJ: "God help me to do only what I can and trust you for the rest. Do you mind putting that in writing?"
INTJ: "Lord keep me open to others' ideas, WRONG though they may be."
INTP: "Lord help me be less independent, but let me do it my way."
ENTP: "Lord help me follow established procedures today. On second thought, I'll settle for a few minutes."
ENTJ: "Lord, help me slow downandnotrushthroughwhatIdo."

Wednesday 3 September 2008

Altruism

Political Dictionary: altruism
Benefiting other persons or interest-bearers. The common contrast with selfishness reveals some variations in the understanding of altruism, which may refer to a disposition, to an intention, or to behaviour. Hence an altruistic person might intend to benefit others, but fail to do so when executing that intention. Altruism is sometimes understood as giving more consideration to others than oneself, and sometimes as giving equal consideration to oneself and others. Since there are commonly more ‘others’ than the decision-maker, the distinction usually lacks practical importance, but it may be significant in two-person cases. In discussions informed by game theory, a contrast is drawn between reciprocal altruism and universal altruism. Reciprocal altruists display that behaviour towards those from whom they have received it, or from whom they expect to receive it. Universal altruism, often seen as the central ethical prescription of Christianity, is unconditional. In sociobiological applications, it can be shown that the survival chances of individuals and groups depend not only on the incidence of selfishness and altruism, but also on the type of altruism in question.
Andrew Reeve
http://www.answers.com/topic/altruism

Monday 1 September 2008

Phoenix

There is a certain bird which is called a Phoenix (XNTP). This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But as the flesh decays a certain kind of worm (ENTP) is produced, which, being nourished by the juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers. Then, when it has acquired strength, it takes up that nest in which are the bones of its parent, and bearing these it passes from the land of Arabia into Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. And, in open day, flying in the sight of all men, it places them on the altar of the sun, and having done this, hastens back to its former abode. The priests then inspect the registers of the dates, and find that it has returned exactly as the five hundredth year was completed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(mythology)

See:


http://soredragon.blogspot.com/2008/06/serpent-transforming-to-eagle.html