Power is a State of Mind: January 2022

Monday 31 January 2022

20 Years of Meetup

Back in 2009 I joined a little-known website called Meetup, a place for people to meet people to do certain activities based on their location. Writers Connect was the first group I joined, a community of creative types writing mostly short fiction and poetry. They were a good group that I was a member of for many years until it folded in 2018.

In around 2014, Meetup- a site I’d been on for quite a while – seemed to blossom quickly, with more groups opening up every day. I’d had no idea until this week, that the site was way older than this.

Meetup has just celebrated its 20-year anniversary. The heads of Meetup- the site- are running a meetup- as in an event- virtually, at 8pm GMT on Thursday. ‘The CEO will share what’s coming in 2022 including measures for organizer success and exciting product updates.’ Sounds good. I haven’t been to a meetup in yonks- even before the pandemic- but I’m interested to see how it plans to compete with other tech bringing people together (the Pickle app being one. Wikipedia claims it’s about matching jobs to tradesmen, but it’s mostly people looking for drinking buddies.)

On the blog this week: a review of the Teeline project, and a potential psychopharmacological project is lined up.

Sunday 30 January 2022

I Alone Can Fix It

What is it about American politics I find so fascinating? I guess there’s a huge dichotomy between the country’s developments (Charles Fritz installing the first solar panels on the roof of his New York home in 1884, for example) and their flagrant inability to get gun violence under control (second highest gun-related death rate in the world, after Brazil). Politics oversees all of this.

For four years, The States had a reality TV star, twice-bankrupted businessman, as a president. So of course, his one term ended in a riot.

I’ve spent the last 3 or so months reading I Alone Can Fix It, an expose on Donald Trump’s final year in office. Written by two Washington Post journalists, Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, the book details, in chronological order, the numerous challenges facing the President that year, and his blatant inability to rise to them professionally.

What becomes apparent quite early on in the book- with the final year looming ahead- is that Trump was not happy to concede defeat in the election, were it to happen. He was, as noticed by many other journalists, living in a fantasy world. The book leaves no doubt that, as the results of the 2020 election started to show Joe Biden as the President Elect, Trump was already planning the insurrection. Those Republican senators voting not guilty in his trial were nothing other than traitorous bastards.

Compiled by hours of interviews with key people in the Trump administration, and taking in the perspectives of local law enforcement and The National Guard, IACFI shows the gradual decline of any semblance of order and leadership from the White House, resulting directly in a deadly insurrection. 5 people lost their lives on January 6th. Hundreds of others were injured. The book leaves no doubt that one man ultimately was responsible: Donald J Trump.

IACFI Is a weighty, clinical expose, brilliantly compiled and presented by two of America’s finest journalists.

Saturday 29 January 2022

Echinacea is a placebo – don’t bother

Back in September I started taking daily echinacea, a herb from the American Purple Coneflower. The supposed benefits are a boost to the immune system and benefits to mental health.

I blogged a month later, saying I hadn’t picked up any colds, but hadn’t noticed any real benefits either. I carried on taking them. I had 3 bottles of 90 tablets each, so there was plenty of time to see any improvement.

At the start of December I picked up what was probably norovirus, and that floored me, so echinacea wasn’t a massive help then. This week, I ran out.

I’ve stuck at the gym, beating a few personal bests. Since 23rd October last year, I managed to put 1 min 15 onto my plank record. I’ve put 2 more onto my extra-wide chin-up record, holding handles about a metre apart. Overhand horizontal grip chin-ups- 2 more. I wouldn’t say I was consistently matching these PBs.

I’d waited til September to start this project because I needed the lockdown lifted and opportunities to go out and challenge confidence, but since starting I haven’t been to a great deal of social events. The few I have been to, I’ve not felt particularly hindered by anxiety. Again, time spent in the NHS and support group Andy’s Man Club is more behind any advancements than any substance I put in my body.

Wednesday 26 January 2022

An Australia Day Story

26th January is Australia Day, marking the landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove. Here's a tenuous life story relating to Australia.

Sunday 23 January 2022

Duncan Bannatyne missed my point

I’m back in work tomorrow after 2 weeks off. I’ve largely been practising Teeline shorthand, which is hurting my head although I’m steadily picking it up.

Ozark Season 4 has dropped on Netflix. If you like your gangster crime stuff, this is well worth getting into.

Oh, and I got a Tweet off Duncan ‘Dragon’s Den’ Bannatyne, head of The Bannatyne Group (health clubs, gyms etc.). It was about Novak Djokovic not being vaccinated and getting (rightfully) booted out of Australia. I think Bannatyne somewhat missed my point though.

Sunday 16 January 2022

A Tenuous Ronettes Story

This week Ronnie Spector, singer in 60’s girl group The Ronettes and ex-wife of producer / murderer Phil Spector, died aged 78.

A story tenuously connecting to The Ronettes: back in 2006 I was working for local radio station Key 103, as a promoter. In December, we’d hired out one of the wooden huts in Albert Square, right in the middle of the Christmas Markets. One of the presenters, Justin Moorhouse if I recall, had rewritten the lyrics to The Ronettes’ Christmas hit Sleigh Ride from 1963. (Mitchell Parrish had actually sang the original in 1950.)

Moorhouse’s new lyrics all tied into the city of Manchester. If memory serves, they were:

Just hear those tram bells ringing, ting ting tingling down

You know it’s lovely weather for a tram ride together to town

Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy and cosy you know

You will find Santa Claus by the wooden stalls, yo-ho!

Nice one, sorted, don’t be mard, here’s a Chris-ta-mas card

I wrote it all by myself today

Man U, City, Deansgate Locks, Our Christmas rocks!

Then back to our place with a happy face, open a selection box!

That’s a little inaccurate but it was 14 years ago, so whatever.

It was our job, as Street Team members, to man the stall, which was equipped with sound recording gear, and encourage the public to blast out their own karaoke rendition of Moorhouse’s new lyrics.

We’d hear this same track played repeatedly, covered by one Mancunian after another, who was usually drunk on mulled wine from a nearby stall. The stallholders on one side of us, selling giant wooden toadstools, were a couple in their 40s or 50s. The man was local, but the woman was from perhaps Germany, from the accent. They were telling me they were singing the song in their sleep by the end of the first week.

One night, I’d been out Christmas shopping. I was walking the streets with a full-length kitchen knife in my bag (Mum’s present. Not out to ‘murk your man’ or anything). I decided to swing by the stalls and see who was on.

Two guys from the street team were manning the stall. I figured I’d get up and have a go on the mic. Due to my terminal zaniness, I felt compelled to sing the whole thing in a Brian Blessed voice, and ended the song on a high note for the sake of it.

A day or so later another Street Team member told me it had been played on air, and was introduced by the presenter saying, ‘and who’s THIS guy?’

Saturday 15 January 2022

Social Dieting… Again

What is Social Dieting?

I coined this phrase in 2019. I was, at the time, eating clean food at home – no junk, chocolate, takeaways etc. If I went out with friends, I could cheat on the diet with desserts and alcohol and suchlike. The hard work was done in the supermarket. Avoiding the junk. Buying in the raw meat and veg. Making the right decisions there, then progress followed that. Following recipes, spending time in the gym mixing classes with sessions, and home workouts allowed for better fitness.

That’s what I’ll do from today onwards. So how does this tie to psychology?

We all like food. When we eat, we get dopamine. Dopamine, along with serotonin, is a neurotransmitter. These are the only two things we will ever like, fundamentally behind everything we eat and divulge in. Dopamine is addictive, serotonin is not. In the case of food, it’s the sugar and salt in food that we can become addicted to, which is why so many of my clothes – particularly trousers – don’t fit any more.

I’m around 87-88kg at the moment. Would be great to be under 80. This starts today.

Tuesday 11 January 2022

Donated Beermats: 90

Way back in December ‘19 The Prairie Schooner pub in South Manchester gave me a beer box full of beermats, some dating back to 1960. I’ve spent my time, since then, doing weekly uploads from the box. In this post I’ll show you the last few mats. About an eighth of the box was doubles. I’ve traded a handful of them out. I still have the rest to trade, so if anyone fancies, inbox me. What you’re seeing here are the last few mats. I hope you’ve enjoyed them. You strange tegestologists.

Sunday 9 January 2022

Love Island’s Shaughna Phillips is a batshit anti-vaxxer

I really don’t know why I bother getting into these debates. I have better things to do that argue with some Love Island airhead spouting off anti-vaxx claptrap. Especially when I’m out with family. But whatever.

Listen. Since lockdown has been lifted, I’ve persistently called people out for anti-vaxx remarks. I’ve worked the whole pandemic for an essential service, I’ve taken all the vaccines that have been offered to me, and I’ve encouraged others to do so too. I’m not going to bang on about work, but LOADS of my clients have died. My parents are in their 60s and 70s, and they have pre-existing health conditions. My prerogative has been keeping them safe.

I’m more than aware that the vaccine is only 90% effective, so I’m aware that there’s still a possibility that they can get ill if they were to catch COVID. As the scientists have said from the beginning, it’s important that we vaccinate as many people as possible to prevent as much spread as possible. This will also reduce the chance of other, new variants emerging for which the current vaccines might not be as effective.

Hence, when I see young, healthy people spouting off with their bullshit opinions and total pseudo-scientific remarks, I call them out. They are the problem. If you believe anything other than that, you are too. So, if Shauna Phillips from Love Island Season 6 enters my tweet feed (despite not even following her) and I see she’s misinforming her 102.5K followers, I will kick off. As you can see, she bit. And then blocked me.

Shaughna IS vaccinated, or so she says. The problem is, she, like many other people, thinks that her vaccination only affects her. The reality is, we get vaccinated to protect OTHER people, a concept Shaughna- and many others- evidently find totally alien. She then digresses into Thalidomide, which wasn't a vaccine, didn't have trials and was 50 years ago.

I was going to write a lengthy post about this, but what’s the point? You know my stance. You’ve been given the facts in daily Coronavirus press briefings for the last 2 years. If you don’t understand those facts, it’s on you. But you can expect to be called out if you get those facts wrong, or if you could take the vaccine, but due to being straight-up wrong, won’t.

Saturday 8 January 2022

Smoky Sausage, Sweet Potato and Red Onion Tray Bake

I love sausages and sweet potatoes, but I’d have never thought of putting them together. This Roasting Tin recipe leapt off the page at me.

Predictably, I forgot to preheat the oven, so it took around 90 minutes, with prep, instead of the prescribed 60. The paprika and garlic create a real taste medley.

Take a look at Rukmini Iyer’s range of books for more.

Tuesday 4 January 2022

Donated Beermats: 89

This week from The Prairie Schooner, foreign mats and whisky.