The Asocial Blog

Philip Pugh's Asocial Blog

A Tale of Two Twitties August 25th 2021

I don't have a split personality, at least we don't think so, but I have started a second Twitter account. This is not to deceive anyone or do anything illegal. Although there is some overlap, my audiences are split into two:

People who are astronomers, writers or both. They are interested in the mechanics of observing and/or writing and want to know the details of what I am doing and my endorsements and comments on what others are doing.

People who have a passing interest in astronomy and books but are open to chat about sport, life, current affairs and politics.

@PhilipPugh14 is the account for astronomers and writers.

@TheSolargazer is the more general interest account, although I will continue to post book announcements and astronomy photos of objects, such as the moon, which inspire the general public.

Follow You if You follow Me March 2020: Twitter

It was the fashion in the early days of Twitter to follow a lot of people, they follow you back, then you follow another lot of people, then people don't wise up to the fact that you are no longer following them.

I guess we all want to be great celebrities or influencers, but I'm not so arrogant. I follow everyone back when they follow me. I also followed people who liked or replied to my tweets. Not any more. Many people don't follow back or they do, only to unfollow you later. 

So what happens after a while is that you are following far more people than follow you and Twitter imposes limits. In order to follow more people, you have to unfollow people first. Quite honestly, I find the whole thing very tiresome. It would put me off Twitter, except that I actually like the exchange of ideas and, unlike many, am happy to talk to people who disgaree with me on some issues. 

So now, I follow people who follow me but other people I follow on Fridays. I then check who I am following on Thursday and unfollow anyone who is not following me. Maybe not every Thursday but you get the idea.

I don't have any great ego about having more followers than I am following but I don't like being taken for a mug either. I am also wary of people who have a lot more followers than people they follow. They clearly get an ego boost from it but they won't get it from me.

I was also taken aback when a couple of people I had been sharing tweets with decided to unfollow me.  I guess it happens. Perhaps they disagreed with something I tweeted or got fed up with me showing photos of the Moon.

Just about every tweeter has been blocked or blocked others. I once made a rather unwise tweet and the venom I got back would make anyone think I was an MP! Yes, I will disagree with MPs but would not abuse them verbally nor physically and keep to the policies and not make it personal.

The Asocial Blog January 2020: New Year

Where has all the time gone? I had just about remembered to sign my cheques “2019” instead of

“2018” and now I must remember to sign them “2020”. Not that I sign many cheques these days. I

mostly swipe my card and sometimes I need to do a bank transfer online.

I’ve seen more than one message on social media that says that an “arbitrary change of year has

little or no effect and Dec 31 st and Jan 1 st are just like any other day”. Another one says that many

people believe that the new year will always be better than the old one but it’s rarely true.

On the first point, it is probably true for most of the world. Taking Korea as an example, most people

work normally between Christmas and the new year. In England, most of the offices are closed. This

leads to a period of semi-enforced idleness. Being of a generally cynical nature, I always say that I

would rather have a week or so of enforced rest during warmer weather but, being of an honest

nature, acknowledge that a few days of being able to turn the alarm off is rather nice. Apart from

getting up late, having an unhealthy brunch and watching some mindless, but relaxing TV, we think

and reflect, even if we never thought we would. Many of us make resolutions but more on that

later!

As for the new year being better or not, I agree with the general sentiment, but for individuals there

are often good reasons to suspect that the new year may bring better or worse circumstances.

Young people, generally, experience a lot of positive life change, such as moving from one stage of

education to another, maybe first property, first car and career transitions. In my case, there is

evidence to suggest that my income level will be higher in 2020 than 2019, although this is, by no

means, guaranteed. There are also reasons (mostly related to the health of family members) that I

have some possible negatives to expect. But, generally, if one has a bad year (worse than most

preceding years), it is more likely for the next one to be better.

Now resolutions. Many (most of them?) are broken by the end of January. This is because many are

related to food, drink and drugs (including legal ones, such as caffeine and nicotine). January is

usually the worst month of the year in UK. It is the coldest and quietest, as Christmas is over and

spring is not for several weeks. It is far better to give up certain food and drink from mid-spring

onwards). Similar for outside exercise resolutions. Few people relish the thought of walking during

January. I’ll be the first to admit my dogs get more miles of “walkies” during the warmer, drier

months.

As a writer, many writers have specific goals for the new year. I only had one, which was to release

my 2019 astronomy summary “as soon as possible”. I managed this on the very first day:

https://www.amazon.com/2019-Astronomers-Year-Phils-Scribblings-

ebook/dp/B083C5K1NH/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=2019+an+astrpnomers+yer&qid=1577971466&s=digi

tal-text&sr=1-1-spell

However, the reality of trying to set meaningful goals hit hard. A family member became suddenly ill

and I couldn’t ignore them for the sake of writing! Also, if I get more hours of paid employment, I will

need to postpone and even shelve some writing projects. Most writers make the majority of their

income from sources other than writing and I’m no exception. So, I have only minimal control over

how much time I have to write and (even more relevant) how much quality, uninterrupted time.

The same principle applies to exercise goals that require a lot of time. Sounds lame but life can really

take over.

At one time, I set and measured many goals, such as walking and diet. I managed to achieve most of

them, then changed jobs to one with short lunch breaks. This had previously been one of my primary

times for walking. Now I could have walked more evenings and weekends but that would cut into

family time and writing. It just illustrates (again!) how a change of circumstances can make goals

more diffiuclt.

So, instead, I have set some general declarations of intent, rather than setting specific, measureable

goals. I intend to eat less meat, so have taken meat-free soups to work and had cereal in the

morning (good start). I also intend to stop checking my Twitter feed constantly! As a writer, I need to

maintain a large base of followers but I seem to have reached a natural plateau between 6500 and

7000 followers and don’t think I’m likely to get many more.

For those of us in the UK, there has been a mass of upheaval caused by the “Brexit” debate.

Needless to say, I was unhappy with the election results for several reasons:

1. “Baurice” won and will proceed to take us out of the EU and I’m a remainer

2. My preferred party, the Liberal Democrats, increased their share of the vote but showed

very poorly and lost their leader’s seat in Parliament. They are back to being a “fringe” party

and I sincerely wonder if they are just about finished.

3. For the first time in my life, I preferred Labour to Conservative and the result was a

landslide.

4. Apart from Brexit, the Conservatives show little concern for the ill and poor.

5. I’m very much in favour of the UK but the election suggests that Scotland have a very good

case for independence and Northern Ireland have a good case. It probably won’t come to

Trump building a Scottish wall and Scotland claiming historical rights down to Hadrian’s Wall

but it’s not out of the question

Whether I like it or not, the EU debate is probably dead and buried for several years. If we tried to

re-join, it would probably be on much worse terms than we left on. So, if there’s unemployment,

civil unrest, etc don’t say I didn’t tell you so!

As for the world as whole, racism has reared its ugly head again and not just in the UK and USA. It is

very prevalent in Eastern Europe. It is not just a “football” problem and it shows that the racism of

the 1970s never went away but was just driven underground.

PAGE DOWN FOR OLDER POSTS

I always thought of myself as a social person, first down the Student Union Bar. 40 years later I have no idea how much a pint of beer costs in a pub. Do they even serve pints these days, or is it half-litres? That’s what I mean by being “asocial”. Being anti-social is deliberate sabotage of other peoples’ lives, like vandalising bus timetables, smashing windows and all that. I’m certainly not that, nor do I wish to be. I simply do not meet people in a traditional social setting. At first, I thought it was me, that I was somehow different and not inherently likeable. Well I do have personality traits that many people find uninteresting or irritating but just name one person who doesn’t, not that I’m using that in any way as an excuse. No, I’ve come to the conclusion that we now live in a very asocial society (is it even a “society” any more?). I’m just an example and not an exception.

Firstly, social life pretty much went out of the window when our daughter was born. No, I do not regret having her, nor do I regret putting her first but, as a result, my wife and I neglected ourselves. Secondly, I live far from my birth family and even further than my in-laws, actually the other side of the Atlantic and the equator. We have friendships here that we value very much and they know we are here for them and vice-versa. Thirdly, it is impossible to meet friends down the pub or visit anyone when you are part-way round the world on a business trip or, for that matter, packing for one or unpacking from one! But I’m online a lot and I do interact with people through work, so I do have a social comment, even though I am asocial.

Global Warming March 20th 2019

Gosh has it really been 10 months since I last blogged here, not that I haven't been blogging about astronomy and writing. Global warming has been a hot (no apologies for the pun!) since 1973 when we were all encouraged to plant a tree. The situation is that if you are a "goodie", you believe that global warming is 100% or nearly 100% due to human activity. If you don't believe that then you are a "climate change denier" and therefore a "baddie". So far, I am a baddie! 

IMO climate change is real. I remember needing gloves to go fishing in September and have seen ice in the margins of lakes. These days, I consider September as a "summer" month. Also through fishing (which I haven't done since 2003) I learned that pollution is real. In more recent years, I have seen the stickleback population of one local brook drop to zero and a mere fraction of its former population in another. Who cares? It's not as if sticklebacks have any sport fishing value, like trout, etc. Well I care! Sticklebacks are part of small ecosystems and part of the food chain.

In common with the goodies, I have no doubt that the activities of humans is detrimental to the environment as a whole. What I disagree with them is that global warming and cooling happened long before humans evolved on this planet. However, far from letting the human race off the hook, it means IMO that simply eliminating the effect of human activities by cleaning up our act and "offsetting" by using technology and planting more trees, etc. that it will not be enough.

Whilst being carbon neutral is a laudable and tough target, we have to do even better. To compensate for natural causes of global warming, we must be CARBON NEGATIVE.

I've Been Busy May 23rd 2018

I haven't posted anything here for ages. It isn't as if there hasn't been anything important going on, like Brexit, Ball Tampering, #MeToo and the like, not to mention some rather strange omissions from the England World Cup squad. I've been busy, too busy. I see there's a book out called "Busy is the New Stupid". Of course, I've been too busy to read it and would also need to justify the cost of buying it, as I'm on a restricted budget. The latter helps me justify the fact that I haven't read it. Do I even NEED to read it? Maybe not, the title says it all.

For about 300 or more years, humankind has developed loads of labour-saving devices and automation has meant that machines can increasingly take over tasks that humans can do. So that means we can only work four hours a day. Instead, some professions are working increasingly more hours. We have developed a culture of presenteeism. Come on, be honest, who has not sent the boss an e-mail just before bedtime to create an impression of presenteeism? Of course, the boss can see through it, just as his boss can see through all the e-mails sent from your boss and a few that he/she has forwarded for good measure. In the workplace, being busy or pretending to be is highly important. When it comes to downsizing, offshoring or any other jargonese for reducing the workforce, the employer would not dare dispense with the services of a busy person? Well it sort of makes sense but, no, I have heard of someone who literally had no work to do for 18 months! His boss wanted to retain his expertise, liked him and did not wish to get rid of him. Most important of all, his boss could AFFORD to keep him. There was no financial pressure to reduce costs.

Unfortunately, this culture has spilled over into our private lives. By being "indispensible" to our families, we are needed. Also we can easily be "busy" to avoid tackling chore that we would rather avoid. For several weeks, I have been feeling that the world is turning too fast and I can't keep up with it. I have a "to-do" list as long as my arm. Due to my personality, many chores I avoid until I know that I have enough spare time to complete them without interruption. I just hate leaving things half-done. I have an agenda that is important to me and I like to tick all of the boxes before I need to help deal with someone else's. Sounds selfish and single-minded, yes, but many of my agenda items (probably over half) are jobs that others are too tired, don't have the right skillset or are just too busy to do.

Are all of the things that keep me busy, urgent or even necessary at all? I don't need to maintain a social media presence to improve my status in the world. I need it to promote my writing. Whatever any writer will tell you about their "art", we all want to receive more money from writing. Well that's it for now. I have an important appointment for my day job. I'm busy.

January 21st Halesgate like Stokesgate

Another daft situation where a cricketer was suspended for non-cricket-related incidents: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/42762619. Would a shop assistant be suspended from their job for being involved in a fight on a night out???

Walk-On Girls

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/darts/42841620

 So yes, it is like two sides of a coin. Feminists claim that parading female beauty (or perhaps, in their eyes, female sexuality) is demeaning to women. The girls feel that they are being denied a source of income. So who is right?

Miss World, F1 girls, you name it, they have all come under fire. Yet, unlike many porn stars, nobody is forcing these girls to take part in these events. Besides, this is neither porn nor bare sexuality. They are being paid and, usually, quite well. If they are being objectified, it is of their own free will.

Now would I mind if I was objectified for my looks? Not a bit, although whatever looks I might have had have long gone. However, that is not really the point. In general, women do not usually objectify men in the same way that men objectify women, so my view is more hypothetical. I fully support the right of women to look at naked men but, honestly, the main “market” for pictures of “sexy” men is the gay community. Would I mind being “objectified” by a gay man? No, not really. Gay men have as much right to objectify men as lesbians have the right to objectify women. Yet, it is undeniable and an inconvenient truth, that men are the main objectifiers, so perhaps the feminists have a point.

As I’ve become older, I have separated the idea of beauty from “sexiness”. Maybe it came as the result of growing up and being dad to a young woman. Is parading female beauty objectifying? I say no but parading female sexiness is. Is it morally wrong? Perhaps but only because men are not objectified to the same extent. There is a fundamental difference between the genders in this way. Yet, is it the willing, paid participants who are being exploited or the (mostly) men as the consumers?

Would I like my daughter to appear on Page 3? Not on your nelly!  But I would defend her right to do so if that was her choice.

Stokesgate http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/42533216

 

This is crass lunacy on so many levels. Firstly, there are fights in and outside pubs and nightclubs very weekend in this country. Why does it take more than three months to investigate an alleged fight outside a nightclub? Surely the police and judicial system have got several centuries worth of experience of dealing with these sort of things? I've seen some speculation as to what happened, yet seen nothing to confirm or deny it.

I always thought people were supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Now, if someone is in the public eye, they are "tried and convicted" by the press and if they are proven innocent, well there is "no smoke without fire" is there? Didn't he hire a great solicitor who could get him off?

Then what about the England and Wales Cricket Board? The Aussies must be laughing their heads off at us. Perhaps Ben Stokes was unwise to be outside a nightclub after 2 AM. As far as I know there was no grievous bodily harm and if they ever jailed everyone who ever got involved in a bit of fisticuffs, over half of the adult male population would be in clink. No, I'm not excusing it and I'm not condoning it but a fight outside a nightclub is hardly in the same class as armed robbery, terrorism or causing death by drunk driving. If the judicial system couldn't get their act together and knock the issue on the head BEFORE the start of the Ashes, then why was Ben Stokes not allowed to play? Perhaps he should have been suspended from vice-captain, at least until it was resolved.

As it was, this lunacy cost England one of their top players. Few might speculate that we would have saved the Ashes even if he played but even the Aussies would feel that the team that they beat wasn't a full strength one and the victory was somewhat hollow. Has this been in the public interests and the interests of the game of cricket? Not a hope?

January 17th Minister for Loneliness

Minister for loneliness: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/theresa-may-appoints-tracey-crouch-as-uks-first-minister-for-loneliness-to-continue-jo-coxs-work-a3741956.html

Government gimmick or a genuine attempt to deal with an increasing problem? Whichever your view, loneliness is real and it won't go away in a hurry.

Aside from the devastation that most of us feel following a bereavement or relationship break-up, there is the feeling that many people do not have much contact with others. Honestly, I think that the problem has always been with us but has become much worse. Unlike the USA, people in the UK have traditionally been reluctant to migrate far from where they grew up. However, people have become more willing to move to better jobs, cleaner air, less traffic, more entertainment, cheaper housing and a million and one other reasons. Cheaper 'phone calls and the internet have helped people keep in touch with friends and family but, quite often, intra-country migrants do not make many new friends after they move. Despite labour-saving devices, people are more busy with longer working hours, longer commutes and the financial necessity of needing two full-time incomes to support a family.

Using myself as an example, I have a small circle of people that I see often. Those of you who remember George Best, will know that he was not only a great footballer but also a great social personality. Yet he once said that he only had six really close friends. If we are close to a small number of people, the loss of one can have a profound impact.

I think we have lost our sense of local community over they years but was it ever really there? Perhaps in pockets of the UK but not to the extent it is portrayed on telly. I think most people experience loneliness at some stage in their lives. Is there a cure and will having a minister for it make any difference? The jury is out.