Wie dacht dat er de laatste maanden amper getikt werd door mijn vingers heeft mis :-). We zijn aan de slag met een groot maar erg leuk project 'Men's World'. De bedoeling is enigzins de tekortkoming van 'mannenzaken' of mannensite's volledig in te willigen. Een professionele aanpak met een echte redactie uiteraard. Goede en interessante artikels vragen veel meer dan vlug want knip en plakwerk. Er is ook behoefte voor mannen om zich te positioneren. Voor vrouwen bestaan deze sites al even, waarom dan niet voor mannen ? Of laten we misschien voorzichtig zeggen, vernieuwde en ruimdenkende mannen.

Mensworld heeft als doel de ultieme Nederlandstalige referentie voor mannen te worden. Met een mix van nieuws, informatie en entertainment bieden wij een plek aan de actieve man op zoek naar een eigen online community. Veel meer dus dan een blog met wat foto's van babes.

Een eerste evaluatie na enkele maanden leverde ons al verrassende relevante zoektermen op in onze thema site. Alvast een indicatie dat de behoeften niet gering zijn. De officiële lancering wordt verwacht dit najaar.

Taboes

Eén van onze sub doelstellingen is het bespreekbaar maken van taboes onder mannen. Wie dacht er er geen waren komt bedrogen uit !

Men's World is onderverdeeld in 4 sterke thema's:

www.mensworld.be/grow/

www.mensworld.be/power/

www.mensworld.be/relax/

www.mensworld.be/brainfood/

Als laatste de rubriek media

www.mensworld.be/media/

Binnenkort gaan enkele fotoshoots door, het gezicht van Men's World zal worden bepaald. Er komen ook nog interviews. Wie iets interessants te melden heeft of ziet zitten om vrijblijvend mee te werken verzoek ik contact met ons op te nemen. Ideeën, bemerkingen ? Laat maar horen !

Did you know there are unspoken and even unconscious rules that govern what seems to be random behaviour? If we reflect on our everyday actions, we can spot patterns. Look at the photo above. I combined several photos snapped from the metro platform opposite, in chronological order from top to bottom. Notice anything about where the commuters have chosen to sit? Want to take a guess about where the next commuter would sit down?

Proxemics, a term coined by anthropologist Edward T. Hall, is "the study of the cultural, behavioral, and sociological aspects of spatial distances between individuals." [The Free Dictionary]

We are always, whether unconsciously or not, aware of our surroundings: how close people are standing to us, whether they are facing us or looking away, how our fixed surroundings (furniture, walls) are oriented... We are experiencing what is informally called "spatial empathy." It has to do with that imaginary personal bubble we all have floating around us, that we can voluntarily shrink in certain situations (e.g., a crowded bus) or that can be invaded (e.g., by someone standing too close as they talk to you). The size of this bubble also varies from culture to culture, implying that this is learned behaviour and not innate.

Vimrod.com

People will behave in predictable ways as they try to protect their personal space and maintain their sense of comfort in their surroundings.

In a New York Times article entitled "In Certain Circles, Two Is a Crowd", Stephanie Rosenbloom writes:

Scholars can predict which areas of an elevator are likely to fill up first and which urinal a man will choose. They know people will stare at the lighted floor numbers in elevators, not one another.

“In order to overcome the intimacy, you have to make sure you don’t make eye contact,” said Dane Archer, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who studies proxemics.

“If you videotape people at a library table, it’s very clear what seat somebody will take,” Dr. Archer said, adding that one of the corner seats will go first, followed by the chair diagonally opposite because that is farthest away.

“If you break those rules, it’s fascinating,” he said. “People will pile up books as if to make a wall — glare.”

I think this is a topic to investigate more. It's useful to be aware of these unconscious social mores. If we can learn to better understand our interactions with others, maybe we can get to the point where we choose to act in ways that break social conventions (for a good reason... or maybe just to stir up thoughts).

It's also a useful skill to develop if you intend to spend time in a culture other than your own, as you will be able to spot social patterns and adapt your own habits accordingly.

Anyways, something about being able to predict human behaviour fascinates me. And then, there are the few who catch my attention because they don't fit the mold.

Le 6 février 2008, l'OLF a donné des ordres à la brasserie McKibbons Irish Pub (une taverne bien connue de Montréal) d'ôter leurs affiches décoratives de bières importées de l'Irlande parce qu'elles sont en violation de la section 58 de la Charte de la langue française :

58. L'affichage public et la publicité commerciale doivent se faire en français.

Ils peuvent également être faits à la fois en français et dans une autre langue pourvu que le français y figure de façon nettement prédominante.

Toutefois, le gouvernement peut déterminer, par règlement, les lieux, les cas, les conditions ou les circonstances où l'affichage public et la publicité commerciale doivent se faire uniquement en français ou peuvent se faire sans prédominance du français ou uniquement dans une autre langue.

Tout ça c'est bien beau, mais vous ne trouvez pas ça un peu ridicule? L'OLF s'attaque à une brasserie irlandaise pour ses affiches décoratives! Tu vois un inspecteur de l'OLF rentrer dans un resto chinois et demander que les caractères chinois sur leurs décorations soient enlevés parce qu'ils ne sont pas traduits en français?

Il y a une part à faire pour protéger et promouvoir la langue française au Québec, mais il y a des limites. Et une de ces limites vient encore d'être franchie : la frontière entre l'amour de sa propre langue et la crainte de la diversité. Je suis parmi ceux qui croient qu'une des richesses de Montréal, c'est sa diversité ethnique et culturelle. Mais des mesures absurdes comme s'attaquer à une taverne irlandaise parce que son décor n'est pas bilingue ne feront qu'aliéner l'affection potentielle de gens pour la langue française.

Que le gouvernement arrête de chicoter sur des "infractions" insignifiantes à sa charte et qu'elle se concentre à la place sur des moyens de promouvoir la langue française de façon positive!

En attendant, je crois que l'OLF se fait des ennemis. Pas très brillant.

Here are a few photos from my most recent trip. The topic was portion sizes. We discussed how portion sizes have grown in the last decade and strategies for enjoying delicious foods in the right portions.

The kids were shocked to learn that an average bottle of soda was 7 ounces and that today's serving size is only 8 ounces, even though it is largely available in the 22 ounce bottle. The could hardly believe what one serving looks like in the 22 ounce bottle. It barely filled the bottom of the bottle!

They also poured a typical bowl of cereal and measured it. Nobody poured one serving. Most poured at least two servings. Another eye-opener.

We had a quiz to guess the calories, fat and saturated fat in plain chocolate ice cream from Cold Stone. I didn't even have to mention the ice cream chain. I just had like it, love it, and gotta have it and they instantly knew it was Cold Stone. Don't get me wrong, I love ice cream. But when I got to Cold Stone, I get the kids size because it is a few ounces smaller than a small size, it's the cheapest and I get all the yummy flavors without going crazy! I mean, when a gotta have it has more calories, fat and saturated fat than a double quarter pounder with cheese, I'd say that's going a little too far. The kids or small as an occasional treat is more than satisfying!

We finished the day by baking a pumpkin pie in the blender with just a thin layer of bisquick as a crust.

Jacobi, Yang Zhu, Nechayev;

Tzara, Gramsci, Vaneigem, and Navrosov;

Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum.

No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.

I read this quote this morning and have been thinking about it. People often think I've lived a sheltered life. That because I don't go out and get absolutely smashed every weekend, I am naive or innocent. But perhaps, the reality is that I am more familiar with badness than they think. It's only when I try to be unselfish that I realize how self-centered I am. It's only when I try to do good that I see all the weakness and laziness and fear in me. These many forms of badness resist my well-intentioned efforts and push me to give up on being good.

Photo: Arne Larsen

The analogy that helps me understand this is smoking. Nicotine is very addictive. But I couldn't tell you how strong that addiction is. Neither could someone who's been smoking for years and enjoys it very much, thank you. We can't tell you how addictive smoking is because we've never tried quitting. Smokers who have tried to quit know. Whether they succeed or not, trying to quit shows them the strength of their habit. They experience how much willpower it takes to refuse their morning cigarette. They feel how their body craves nicotine. Until the point when smokers decide to quit, they cannot fully understand what nicotine is like. But as soon as they try to resist the cravings--that's an eye-opener!

Like a nicotine-addict trying to kick the habit, I've tried to quit the badness in me, and I've had my eyes opened to how strong it can be. Because of this, I don't think anyone can call me naive.

I also don't want anyone who reads this to think, "Wow, that girl is always fighting to do good. What a great person!" Ha! That's not at all true. In fact, I'm more like the smoker who says, "No thanks. I'm trying to quit. Well...I suppose one last cigarette couldn't hurt. I'll quit for real tomorrow." And that's also not the reason I'm writing this post. I shared the quote above because it made me think and it might make you think too.

To sum it up, perhaps our knowledge of badness is less dependant on actual experiences than on the process of resisting such experiences.