Castle Aching

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Would not be a problem in NZ

Or Canada.

[Annie]

I used the 'laugh' response because of the NZ joke, but I would require a 'weep' response icon over the general bulk of the population's limited vocabulary.  I think that's because the most reading some people ever do is what they see on social media and they wouldn't know what to do with a book.

[Nearholmer]

Australians are actually quite good at Wordle, having an average score lower than Brits (many countries do) and the city with the lowest average score in the world.

So, I reckon that the problem isn’t a limited vocabulary, but a willingness  to admit finding something difficult, combined with a tendency to blame the difficulty on someone or something else, which sounds awfully like whingeing to me.

 

The British approach is different, in that people hate publicly admitting difficulty, have a very strong tendency to brag, and aren’t above cheating to maintain the illusion that they find it all very easy (which explains why our PM is our PM, because he embodies the Modern National Character).

 

My bro and his super-clever son got so fed-up with obviously suspect brag-posting about Wordle on Facebook that they worked in parallel to cheat-score a perfect 100%, all done in one guess, over a long run, then posted the resulting summary page.

 

As an aside, several countries that have very low average scores do not have English as their first language, and I wonder why that is. My guess is that they have quite limited ‘player communities’, maybe with a high percentage of US Embassy staff, academics etc, whereas English speaking countries might have a broader player-community, although in all countries it must surely be the case that only people who are fairly good at it persist with it, so there is self-selection involved. The USA and Canada have quite poor average scores, my guess being that they have quite broad player-communities, members of which don’t deselect themselves as readily as in other countries …… they persist even though they don’t do fantastically well.

 

(I do over analyse when I wake up too early)

 

 

[Nearholmer]

Irish tendency to believe in fairies etc: even now there is a widespread unwillingness to dismiss the possibility of fairies, and a really complicated interweaving of catholic Christianity and obviously pre-Christian beliefs/traditions in Ireland. Wells and springs seem to be a huge focus for it, and I love it, because it reaches back into the mists of time, little trickles of water out of hillsides that have been “votive sites” since way before St Patrick set foot in the place, subtly re-named in favour of Christian saints at some stage.

 

One that did make me chuckle was a story that was big in newspapers when I was over there one time. Some guys had been cutting back damaged trees and relaying a hedge, and when they sawed-up the trunks into logs they found “a perfect image of the virgin and child” inside one. I have to say that it was good, but clearly a random pattern made by the incipient rot. The thing is, you don’t see the virgin in a rotting log unless your mind is wired that way, and if the minds of a couple of ordinary guys sorting a hedge are wired that way, the step to fairies isn’t a large one.

[St Enodoc]

46 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Irish tendency to believe in fairies etc: even now there is a widespread unwillingness to dismiss the possibility of fairies, and a really complicated interweaving of catholic Christianity and obviously pre-Christian beliefs/traditions in Ireland. Wells and springs seem to be a huge focus for it, and I love it, because it reaches back into the mists of time, little trickles of water out of hillsides that have been “votive sites” since way before St Patrick set foot in the place, subtly re-named in favour of Christian saints at some stage.

I think that's quite common among other Celtic groups too, Kevin.

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Australians are actually quite good at Wordle, having an average score lower than Brits (many countries do) and the city with the lowest average score in the world.

 

Interesting that the other  3 cities you mention - Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide - are our Aussie Rules playing states. I guess running into each other at high speed is actually beneficial for your brain.

 

 

[Edwardian]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Irish tendency to believe in fairies etc: even now there is a widespread unwillingness to dismiss the possibility of fairies, and a really complicated interweaving of catholic Christianity and obviously pre-Christian beliefs/traditions in Ireland. Wells and springs seem to be a huge focus for it, and I love it, because it reaches back into the mists of time, little trickles of water out of hillsides that have been “votive sites” since way before St Patrick set foot in the place, subtly re-named in favour of Christian saints at some stage.

 

One that did make me chuckle was a story that was big in newspapers when I was over there one time. Some guys had been cutting back damaged trees and relaying a hedge, and when they sawed-up the trunks into logs they found “a perfect image of the virgin and child” inside one. I have to say that it was good, but clearly a random pattern made by the incipient rot. The thing is, you don’t see the virgin in a rotting log unless your mind is wired that way, and if the minds of a couple of ordinary guys sorting a hedge are wired that way, the step to fairies isn’t a large one.

 

25 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

I think that's quite common among other Celtic groups too, Kevin.

 

he need to appease fairies is taken pretty seriously in the IoM as I recall

[CKPR]

6 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

 

he need to appease fairies is taken pretty seriously in the IoM as I recall

And Iceland 

[Regularity]

30 minutes ago, CKPR said:

And Iceland 

The capital of which is…

 

…about 3 krónur… (2p in GBP).

Edited April 10, 2022 by Regularity
Icelandic plurals

[rocor]

If the belief in Fairies (creatures with human form and magical powers), occurring in so many cultures is seen as evidence for anything, that would have to be the manifestation of wishful thinking amongst the members of the human race. 

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, CKPR said:

And Iceland 

I must be getting old. I remember when that was Bejam.

[Nearholmer]

I’m not so sure it’s fair on the people involved to say that, at least not of people in the past. 
 

Its natural for people to seek explanations for events, and it’s very much natural for people to spot patterns in things, and perceive patterns even where there are none, they’re both good adaptive traits, and in the absence of scientific knowledge and widespread teaching of it, at least at a very basic level, what we would call “the supernatural” is a perfectly rational explanation for many things …… in fact, it’s part of the natural, rather than ‘super’ the natural. For the great majority of human existence, the great majority of people have coexisted with invisible sentiences of one kind or another, it’s only very recently that they’ve been first corralled into single deities, then erased altogether by science, and an awful lot of people miss them.

 

In short, wishful thinking now in most parts of the world, but perfectly rational thinking until an alternative, and TBH objectively better, set of explanations came along.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Nearholmer

[ianathompson]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Interesting that the other  3 cities you mention - Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide - are our Aussie Rules playing states. I guess running into each other at high speed is actually beneficial for your brain.

 

Never did me any harm (wibble, wibble) on a rugby pitch.

Cannot understand these new fangled rules.

Every time I see a big hit and say "Good tackle, mate" the TMO immediate flags it up and the player gets a red card.

 

And as for modern scrummaging....!

 

Ian T

[rocor]

20 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

I’m not so sure it’s fair on the people involved to say that, at least not of people in the past. 
 

Its natural for people to seek explanations for events, and it’s very much natural for people to spot patterns in things, and perceive patterns even where there are none, they’re both good adaptive traits, and in the absence of scientific knowledge and widespread teaching of it, at least at a very basic level, what we would call “the supernatural” is a perfectly rational explanation for many things …… in fact, it’s part of the natural, rather than ‘super’ the natural.

 

In short, wishful thinking now in most parts of the world, but perfectly rational thinking until an alternative, and TBH objectively better, set of explanations came along.

 

My reference to wishful thinking was in relation to these supernatural beings having human form, though typically a slender variant of it (Trolls on the other hand seemed fair game for a bit of body-shaming). For anybody, the possibility of being able to possess such magical powers can be very seductive. 

[Nearholmer]

Projecting an idealised form of ourselves onto them? Big-headedness on our part, in multiple senses.

 

There are plenty of not-mini-humans in the spirit realm as well though. Celtic lore is pretty rich in hounds of various kinds, protective ones and aggressive ones, for instance, and changelings related to seals, while giant hawks and dragons crop-up all over the place.

 

To me, it’s quite interesting, if impossible, to try to get into the ‘frame of reference’ of people before monotheism and science cropped-up. To me, it seems very unlikely that it was much like floaty new-ageism, more a matter of fact acceptance that the universe ran on a particular set of principles, and contained all sorts of things that we find incredible. I used to attempt to get into a mid-C17th frame of reference when involved in re-enactments of that time, a bit easier of course, because some at least wrote down what they thought and why at the time, and the common books of the time (The Bible, Fox’s Book of Martyrs etc) are freely obtainable. Still really difficult to put your head in that place though.

[MrWolf]

It's something that interests me too, particularly the fact that almost all of the kind of beliefs you mentioned crop up all over the world at a time when we didn't have any contact with other countries or races. 

 

It's a problem being an artist to be able to talk about such things amongst those I normally see face to face because it rapidly descends into some new pagan chatter where somebody claims to be guided by a Cherokee shaman but asks if you want to make a Tibetan prayer flag, generally whilst proferring some healthy meat free snacks grown on the site of a former rainforest, if you get my drift. 😉

 

Dog legends are a particular interst, from the Bargeist to the hounds of Wild Edric.

There's just not enough hours in the day for making a living, doing the essentials and exploring everything that takes my interest!

[alastairq]

These days?

Lord of the Rings stuff?

Hairy Porter stuff?

 

GAmes Workshop? {The games rather than the modelling, I suppose?]

Most interactive computer games?

 

Has it all supplanted fairies?

[Regularity]

2 hours ago, rocor said:

If the belief in Fairies (creatures with human form and magical powers), occurring in so many cultures is seen as evidence for anything, that would have to be the manifestation of wishful thinking amongst the members of the human race. 

Or just the soaring power of human imagination: something to be celebrated, I think?

 

Anyway, all this talk of magical beings out there to protect us and lead us to safe and harmonious living, I wonder if it isn’t simply a case of everyone relying on elfin safety guidance?
 

Taxi for Regularity? On my way!

Edited April 10, 2022 by Regularity

[Nearholmer]

1 hour ago, alastairq said:

Has it all supplanted fairies?

J K Rowling gave a long interview in a TV prog exploring ‘universal myths’, the creatures that crop-up apparently independently in myths all over the world, and I was interested in how coolly intellectual she was about the process of creating her own mythology. She’s clearly studied this stuff deeply, and understands the psychological and anthropological drivers behind the ‘universals’, and uses all that knowledge in a very conscious way. It’s almost as if she is working to formulae ….. wifty-wafty she is not!

 

So, supplanted local and spontaneous fairies with factory mass-produced ones, almost.

[Donw]

When People cannot understand how the world works it is only natural to imagine strange forces and beings causing things to happen. When there is no rain and your crops are shrivelling at least praying to some god or doing strange dances makes you feel you are at least doing something. In extreme cases people sacrificed someone often the leader who was obviously at fault, and just hopped it would work.  We all are somewhat supersticious. While I know it makes no difference at all I cannot stop thinking that leaving my coat at home might increase the risk of rain. In fact the risk of rain would not have changed but the impact of rain has increased significantly.

The are plenty of sightings of ghosts and other things whether it is autosuggestion or missreading of natural things who can say.  Wisps of mist moving are common especially near water, but if you have been told there is a ghost and you see one your brain turns what the eye sees to fit the infomation you have been given. 

 

Don

[Regularity]

49 minutes ago, Donw said:

In fact the risk of rain would not have changed but the impact of rain has increased significantly.

I think you have mailed something really important there, Don.

Speaking as a “risk management” professional (financial services, not H&S) with a background in psychology, I notice time and again that people pay much more attention to the impact, rather than the likelihood.

As an example, there is no point (in terms of likelihood of a big win) in buying a lottery ticket, but if you happened to buy one and it won, then your life would be transformed.

(Something like 47p of every pound is returned as prize money, but if you ignore the big wins, then it’s about 2p for  every pound you spend.)

 

And of course, with praying for rain, we’ll, if you pray for long enough, it will rain… QED, one should pray for rain… 

(The nature of coincidences is that we don’t notice when they don’t occur.)

Edited April 10, 2022 by Regularity
Coincidence

[Nearholmer]

To help my son understand it, we re-watched a very good (if slightly gimmicky) programme by Prof Spiegelhalter about the probability side of all this yesterday. It’s c10 years old, but the facts don’t alter, on iPlayer.

Edited April 10, 2022 by Nearholmer

[Caley Jim]

5 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

There are plenty of not-mini-humans in the spirit realm as well though. Celtic lore is pretty rich in hounds of various kinds, protective ones and aggressive ones, for instance, and changelings related to seals, while giant hawks and dragons crop-up all over the place.

There are also Kelpies.    it was common in Scotland, especially the Highlands, to plant a rowan tree beside the house, this being to prevent the fairies stealing the children.

 

Jim

[Nearholmer]

Another very relevant telly recommendation: this is in iPlayer at present, daughter and I watched it last week and were both very engaged by it https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_the_Sea_(2014_film)

 

I’ve watched way more telly than usual over the past three weeks, having been flattened by covid over the exact same period that RMWeb was off sick. My good lady, my son, and my cycling-pal neighbour all attempted a ‘zero to hero’ return to full activity levels immediately after testing clear when they had covidl, and all three then crashed again after about 2-3 weeks, so I’ve decided to build-up very gently, hoping that will avoid a relapse.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Nearholmer

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, Donw said:

In extreme cases people sacrificed someone often the leader who was obviously at fault, and just hopped it would work. 

We still do that. It's called a General Election.