Naked Photo Test

[xoxoxoBruce]

The naked photo test is interesting. Suppose you had a naked photo of yourself. Not just naked but doing something that would embarrass you and your family so much, should it surface, you'd have to move to another town...maybe state.
Now you can't destroy it and you don't want to have it in your possession.

How many people do you know, you would trust that photo to?

According to this article.....

Studies show that for almost everybody, the number of people we really trust is shrinking. About a quarter of the people they talked to said they had NO ONE to confide in. Walk down the street, one out of four people you pass have nobody.

Among the people who did have somebody, the average number of people in their circle of trust was two. And that includes spouses and parents. Yes, this is new. The numbers are down a whole bunch since just 1985. The world is becoming a colder and lonelier place. Here's why.

The name of the article is, "Seven Reasons the 21st Century is Making you Miserable". The reasons he gives are:
1. Not enough annoying strangers in our lives.
2. Not enough annoying friends, either.
3. Text = Bad Communication
5. We're not criticized enough.
6. The Outrage Machine
7. We feel worthless because we actually are worth less.

Now reading that list at face value, one could reasonably and logically say....what are you, nuts?
But actually the seven are only slightly misleading and he makes a very good case for each of them.
It would appear that more and more people are playing it cool, by making their life a little colder. Good line, huh? You can use that.

Anyway, the link is safe for work...or home, and I think well worth reading.

[Sundae]

I've been puzzling recently what I would do if I had to go away for a few days. I'd have to take my cats to a cattery as I have no-one I could ask for that kind of help. My co-worker asked, "Couldn't you ask one of your friends" forcing me to admit I didn't have any.

BUT.

This thread is cheering me up no end, as I realised I simply don't have any friends in Leicester. There are 3 people I would trust with that kind of material, who just happen to live too far away to catsit effectively. As do all my family.

But the article was definitely worth reading. I'm further down the path to cutting myself off from the world than my colleagues, so I tend to think of it as a bizarre accident that has happened to me, rather than a result of choices I have made. I think perhaps it is time to start reversing the process. Because he is right in some ways - not least the fact that the more you rub along with people the less corners you have.

[Griff]

Our decision to settle in Grifftopia had a lot to do with this. Even though family can be much more annoying than friends of choice, we're all stuck with each other. In America it is almost subversive not to move when all the economic forces say move. Pete has a friend at work who has moved (long distances) about three times in the last five years. He is intrigued with our way of life as we are with his, thing is you can't do both.

[skysidhe]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

I've been puzzling recently what I would do if I had to go away for a few days. I'd have to take my cats to a cattery as I have no-one I could ask for that kind of help. My co-worker asked, "Couldn't you ask one of your friends" forcing me to admit I didn't have any.

BUT.

This thread is cheering me up no end, as I realised I simply don't have any friends in Leicester. There are 3 people I would trust with that kind of material, who just happen to live too far away to catsit effectively. As do all my family.

But the article was definitely worth reading. I'm further down the path to cutting myself off from the world than my colleagues, so I tend to think of it as a bizarre accident that has happened to me, rather than a result of choices I have made. I think perhaps it is time to start reversing the process. Because he is right in some ways - not least the fact that the more you rub along with people the less corners you have.

oh my god. I would come to your house in a heartbeat! I'm a nice girl . Polite in every way. I find you charming, entertaining,smart and fun. I'm sure Id be grinning ear to ear.

If I ever do manage to buy a ticket to Europe you just remember me. I'm comming over!


I'll actually read the article later. I would also like to know what that
bizarre accident was SG.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by skysidhe

that bizarre accident was SG.

Yup, kinda sums it up
I just mean that I haven't always taken responsibility for the lack of social interaction in my life, preferring to believe it happened quite by chance.

Thanks for the kind words. You're definitely welcome any time you want to drop by. I'd love to show someone round and I'd buy you a wonderful curry. And if we didn't get on, I'd leave you babysitting my cats and bugger off to my parent!

[hijack] Just to clarify - the issue with my cats is that they are house cats and people-dependant. It wouldn't be a question of someone popping in once a day to dish up food - I could find someone to do that. They would cry themselves hoarse if left alone for more than 24 hours. So I'd need a real friend, who was willing to move in for as long as I was away - that's what I don't have (closer than 70m away).

This was an issue this weekend as Dad was rushed into hospital Friday night and at the time it was a suspected heart attack. He's still in for observation, but it's been diagnosed as angina. They're being careful because he had a blood clot on his lung last year following his knee replacement. He goes for a full set of tests Monday. Anyway, it made me realise that without friends nearby it is harder to cut and run. If it had been serious I'd have had to take them with me.

[/hijack] and apologies for interrupting an interesting thread!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Tell Dad a bunch of yanks are rooting for him. For you too, we care and were here 'round the clock for you're convenience.

snip ~they are house cats and people-dependent. ~snip~ They would cry themselves hoarse if left alone for more than 24 hours.~snip

Oh dear, cat owners are so naive. You think because they treat you like slaves, they're dependent.

The truth is, you wouldn't be two blocks away before they would have their buddies in, playing cards, with Chinese food or pizza on the way.

[Trilby]

SG--we ARE pulling for dad...tell him, it'll cheer him up! (or, send him over the edge, depending on how he feels about Yanks!

And I'd watch your cats, too. It'd just take me a while to get to your place! (step one: cross that pond...)


I'll be honest-most people bug me or bore me. I don't like to be around many of them and those that I do like being around, it's not for a long time. I didn't always used to be this way--I chalk it up to my life experiences, my work experiences and my experiences with organized religion. Yep, those three things kinda messed me up to the point of near-misanthropy.

[xoxoxoBruce]

1. Not enough annoying strangers in our lives.
snip~ Get stuck in the waiting room at the doctor? No way I'm striking up a conversation with the smelly old man sitting next to me. Plug the iPod into my ears and have a text conversation with a friend, or play my D'S. Filter that annoyance right out of my world.

And that would be awesome, if it were actually possible to keep all of the irritating shit out of your life. But it's not. It never will be. As long as you have needs, you'll have to deal with people you can't stand from time to time. But that skill, the one that lets us deal with strangers and tolerate their shrill voices and clunky senses of humor and body odor and squeaky shoes, is being burned right out of us.~snip

The meat of his first point rings true for me. Of the half dozen good friends I had, four are dead, and one is dying. The remaining one I don't see often enough.

Probably when I lived in Boston, riding the subway/trolley line, I was immersed in people the most. Of all the annoying things people do rated on a scale of 1 to 10, being bombarded with it every day, I wouldn't notice anything less than 5, half the time.
Then, I could press my weight and dead lift double, too.

Now I find going out in the world, most everything they do is 8 or higher. I know it's not them getting worse, although there may be more of them, because they're a % of the population. Everything changes, including us.
It's my tolerance has eroded....and I probably couldn't dead lift my weight.


You could say, so what, in this electronic world I can live in my virtual reality. Yes some, maybe even most of the time. But unless you're Howard Hughes, not completely. Even if you do, it's not healthy.

I'm sure some of you, considering all the technical expertise here, have created yourselves what could be electronic retreats. I wonder how much you use it to keep people at arms length?

[limey]

I'm well aware that I choose to live on the edge of civilisation because most people irritate me and that most people irritate me because I live on the edge of civilisation.
(The edge, by the way, is not just a physical location, but also defined by the fact that I don't buy a newspaper, don't listen to the music that most people do, don't watch the TV programmes that most people do ...)
That being said, I'd trust most of my "neighbours" with that photo ... so I'm one of the lucky ones ...

[xoxoxoBruce]

So they refer to you as the odd one, or strange one, without being derogatory?

[limey]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

So they refer to you as the odd one, or strange one, without being derogatory?

I suppose so ...

[Aliantha]

I live right smack bang in the middle of civilization. There are a lot of people I trust, and the sad thing is, a lot of people will read that statement and suggest I'm naive or careless.

For me though, I have a large and closeknit family, every one of which I'd trust with the lives of my children or even a naked photo of myself.

As to cats, well, we have three of them and two dogs. When we go away I just ask one of my younger cousins to house sit for me. They live in my house and eat the food out of the cupboards and in return, they feed the animals and water the plants etc.

I also have a small group of friends that I trust, but the ones I really rely on are my family.

I find this whole idea of cutting ourselves off from society in small or big ways very odd and I've always wondered why people choose to do so when there are so many benefits to be had from being a part of it. Even the school environment is a good thing to look at. When you've got kids, and something comes up, isn't it better to be able to call the parents of your kids friends and ask for help if you've got an appointment? You can't do that if you don't know them, so that's why we've always made a point of getting our kids in the habit of socializing with their school friends as well as family. It just gives you so many more options when you're in a tight spot.

Anyway, that's the end of my rant.

[Griff]

Its a matter of genetics, our ancestors left the isles because it was too crowded, yours because they needed to go to the penal colony.
I kid I kid...

[Aliantha]

lol...so you've been reading other threads huh?

we were sent here because of overcrowding too you know.

Just a note. I'm pretty fucking stoked that i ended up here instead of elsewhere.

[Griff]

Ya, that conversation wasn't really going anywhere was it? I think you Australians are pretty fortunate.