Besondere Anickotäten
When in Norway, I used to begin most of my ice-breaking phrases with "I was just wondering..." Funny, but I'm still seriously wondering and observing the world, keeping some distance to the events themselves and trying to analyse the globe with rationality being aware of my limited capacity to do so. Thus, I decided to list a few things that I wonder very much. And now, please be careful with the word "wonder". Here is a risk of syntax error when I'm writing this so I shall start with a definition."wonder" and "not to understand" in this post mean "a sincere feeling of an open quesion mark, curiosity, open-mindedness, honest and pure will to find an answer of any kind, without any previous stand or opinion on the issue". They do not mean attemps to critisize or to judge.
So here we go.
#1. Hygiene. How can some people eat while working in the computer lab? Especially fruit, which they touch with same fingers as with which they type? How could this German lady that I saw in a bakery hold the bread in her gloves - the gloves she wears when driving a car, opening doors, handling with cash? How can parents let their babies lick the floor at Oslo Gardermoen international airport? I've seen a 8-month-old baby lying on the floor, laughing and "tasting" the floor with his tiny little tongue.
#2. Military. Why do Finnish men still accept the only obvious organization that divides people according to sex and sex only?
#3. Bus. How do the bus drivers control that I travel exactly the amount of kilometres that I paid for? Uno ejemplo. I'm buying a ticket from Gothenburg to Stockholm but "accidentally" fall asleep and "wake up" in Luleå, so that I've actually travelled double as long as I paid for. How does the bus driver control that I step off the bus where I should? Some told me the drivers remember, but I cannot believe in that either if the bus is full of people.
#4. Literature analysis. (Now careful with syntax...) I really want to know what the point is. I enjoy lit analysis but the point remains unclear.
#5. Eye glasses support. Eye glasses are essential for almost half of the population. Why doesn't the state support people wearing them, giving financial aid? Hmm... In Germany, I've heard, they actually do.
#6. Shoes. How can some people wear shoes inside their homes, even in their beds? How can they also put their shoes on the opposite seat in busses?
#7. Law. Lawyers, why do they need to take the "extreme" view in each case?
#8. Memorial. Why is a state-wide memorial organized for people who've died in natural disasters or as victims of some widely known military operation but not for individuals who die because of, say, an electrical shock when fixing the tv cabel?
#9. Monarchy. Why does it not sound too funny for people today?
#10. "Thin is bad". I've seen many commercials recently that state that "being thin is bad". As far as I've learned, being thin really is healthier. I've understood that human beings should be thin, since obecity is really a risk factor. I know that being skinny can be dangerous, too, but as far as I know, being thin really is something to aim for. I don't care about the beauty factors but really, human beings evolved to move and exercise and thus, to remain thin. So which is right, to hold this view, or to agree with people who state every size is good?
#11. TV permits. In Finland, (plus many other countries) people watching tv should pay 200 euros for it annually. So far, internet surfers don't need to pay a single euro for watching news, movies and short films online. That is, people who own tv and all they watch is news only, are 200 euros worse off than folks doing the same thing on internet.
posted by Anicko @ 11:01 PM
4 Comments:
Plus, add a question mark to the purpose of human existence and that should do... Oh, no, sorry. That would be my list.
Oh, Anni. Can't stop admiring your curiosity.
Heeheehee! I love this post! Been meaning to leave a comment for days. Your curiosity goes in so many directions! And of course, the questions you ask nobody can give a definitive answer to... But i'll try my hand at them anyway (these are much better than those questionnaires people send around asking things like: "what music are you listening to right now?" or "what would be your favorite colour if you were to drown in the northern atlantic at 11:52 am on july 23rd 2014?"
Anyway:
#1) my take's there's a great variation as to how people perceive germs. Me, i think a bit of exposure is good. Am no biologist and have no scientific basis for believing this, but still, i believe it: a little bit of germs keeps the immune system on its toes, strong and ready to fight. But definitely, sticky keys on my computer, i do not like. Yuk! Fruit while typing? If it was a banana or something non juicy, it's ok, i suppose. But otherwise?
#2) my proposal is, ban weapons from the military, and give them the job of establishing a colony on mars in the next 25 years. They can have no colony without women, so they'll become egalitarian. Voilá! Two birds with one stone.
#3) sounds great! A system that relies on people's honesty! And i'm sure it works, at least most of the time. Besides, if you fell asleep and went much further than you had to, i'm sure if you told them about it, you wouldn't even have to pay the trip back to where you really did have to get off.
#4) for me, the point of learning literary analysis was to become familiar with the different elements that can make up a piece of writing. It's not like i do one in my head every time i read something, but i certainly feel i can sometimes appreciate details or levels or quirks that i wouldn't have picked on before. I think it's made my life richer.
#5) eyeglasses, yes... but also dental work. And (i'm not being sarcastic here) also free access to food, housing and education, for life. People would work not to get bored, and they'd choose to do those things they're really passionate about, without any kind of pressure. Of course, we would work less, and some might end up taking years off of work, but they'd eventually go back to producing something. Just taking is boring, when everything can be taken without effort.
#6) maybe this has to do with number #1). But you know, in countries where it's warm and doesn't rain much, most of the time it really doesn't make any sense to take your shoes when you come into the house. Unless you've stepped on poop or something (arguably, we might be always stepping on microscopic remains of poop without realizing; in that case, even if a microscopic amount of dog poop gets into my organism somehow... it's ok. As long as it doesn't make me sick, and i didn't have to taste it, i can live with it.)
#7) i don't completely understand this one. How do lawyers always take extreme positions? What i don't like is when a lawyer agrees to defend someone even if the defense includes hiding the criminal stuff the clients have done. Happens a lot in my coutnry.
#8) i think it's to do with numbers. If enough people died in a short period of electric shocks while fixing their TVs, there would be a national memorial, and they'd be thanked because thanks to them new laws would be passed that made TVs safer for everybody. Of course, the real reason behind it all is that memorials are shows organized by the state to nip in the bud any potential protests against the state's incompetence.
#9) in my case, i think monarchy a sore reminder of a classist era. On the other hand, while monarchies continue to exist, they remind us that our own era is still quite classist, which is a good thing to remember.
#10) hmmm... I don't know what human beings have evolved for. Certainly, our bodies have the capacity to store A LOT of fat. This might have been a good strategy to survive during glaciations, perhaps? Also, we live today longer than we've ever lived in recorded history, and we tend to put a lot of value in that length. Truth is, smaller human bodies do tend to last longer, and i'm not talking only weight, but height, muscle size, etc.. Apparently, this is one of the reasons why, on average, women have a longer life expectancy than men. Personally, i think we're measuring wrong: duration, rather than intensity, or enjoyment, or what we've given. But i'm no biologist, this is a good question for them.
#11) so, the options are: institute a computer tax, or stop charging for tv! I'd go for the second one. Don't people pay a tax when they buy the tv, already?
something that might be a bit random but: a study has shown that taxi drivers in London have an enlarged hippocampus, which is a part of the brain that is used for navigation/orientation. So who knows what part of the brain is used to remember when you got on the bus and how long you travelled ;)
hugs!
Yeah, about the lawyers. Well, I was reading this brochure of a uni in the UK and they introduced their major alternatives. On law they said that it would be an optimal choice for someone who is smart, loves to ARGUE, doesn't want to GIVE UP and wants to WIN. Does that ring a bell? For me, it seems like the most important thing (and even worse, the accepted way of doing it) is to defend someone just for the sake of defending (or opposing, of course), just for the sake of expressing bright arguments and being driven by the force of will to win every single case. Life is not that extreme. I don't understand why this method is so commonly accepted instead of lawyers who would be the most self-critical, balanced people. But I know my weakness with my point: I haven't seen/followed many cases in court and thus my curiousity in this case is based on ---- what else but the American tv series.
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