I read the news today oh boy! Page 1,540

Don't know about other feminists, but I do pretty well on their criteria:

"He explains that charm makes a man feel 'wonderful' and that the little things, such as a warm smile (Check)
soft voice (Does that mean quiet? Well I can if I really try)
taking interest in sport (check)
considering a man's pocket (I pay my way)
and getting on well with their mother (the mothers always love me.)

His first tip is being thoughtful and surprising your man with, for example, tickets to the theatre.(I love the theatre. Especially musicals. Sadly I am yet to convince a straight man to accompany me to a musical.)

Nothing, he says, infuriates a man more than a women who 'continually smokes his cigarettes'. (No worries there, I don't smoke).

I am the perfect 1950's woman.

Quote: Jennie @ 29th April 2014, 12:23 AM BST

Don't know about other feminists, but I do pretty well on their criteria:

"He explains that charm makes a man feel 'wonderful' and that the little things, such as a warm smile (Check)
soft voice (Does that mean quiet? Well I can if I really try)
taking interest in sport (check)
considering a man's pocket (I pay my way)
and getting on well with their mother (the mothers always love me.)

His first tip is being thoughtful and surprising your man with, for example, tickets to the theatre.(I love the theatre. Especially musicals. Sadly I am yet to convince a straight man to accompany me to a musical.)

Nothing, he says, infuriates a man more than a women who 'continually smokes his cigarettes'. (No worries there, I don't smoke).

I am the perfect 1950's woman.

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So all you need now is a 90yo bloke.

Quote: Oldrocker @ 29th April 2014, 12:27 AM BST

So all you need now is a 90yo bloke.

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Ooh, someone is on the prowl. We should rename you Old Devil.

Quote: Jennie @ 29th April 2014, 12:23 AM BST

Sadly I am yet to convince a straight man to accompany me to a musical

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Try dating a chavvy Essex bloke, I'm sure they'd take you to that X Factor musical or any of the other 'Jukebox' shows - it's like posh karaoke!

We had a 'March for England' in Brighton on the weekend:

Not many marchers, and they were completely surrounded by police, as they paraded past 2 or 3 times as many counter-protesters. All the marchers were gone by 3pm, apparently, but incidents involving counter-protesters continued for several hours after. I couldn't really understand why they wanted to march under such circumstances, so I decided to check out the 'March for England' Facebook page, to try to get a feeling for what goes on in their heads. It seems they were disappointed themselves with the turn-out, and wished more families could have been there (really?). They like UKIP (surprise!), and seem to genuinely* believe they aren't racists. Also, the term "liberal fascist" gets used by them a lot, against the counter-protesters who would seek to deny them the right to protest, and here the marchers do have a point, as it seems the Marchers can now with some justification think of themselves as a persecuted minority; there is video footage of them being provoked whilst trying to have a pint afterwards, and a fight breaking out which they hadn't sought. What's more, until the counter-protesters turned up in recent years, this march used to take place without anyone knowing or caring very much, so I can't help but feel the counter-protesters are not doing their stated cause any favours.

*maybe they like to think they believe this.

Depressing really, the counter protestors find it far easier to scream at a tiny, obdurate group of racists.

Then deal with the betrayal of the main stream left, or reasonable conservative arguments.

Ultimately they push some of these groups, to develop a genuine and deserved persecution complex. And then they turn towards actual violence.

Exactly like Islamic fundamentalists.

Get real, EDL, march for England are a few deluded nitwits who deserve listening to in the same way everyone does.

I've just bought some Soda Crystals, I think that makes me a 1950's goddess

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27186022

A doctor has invented an App that will help people get over their phobias through systematic desensitisation- a method of slowly exposing sufferers to the object of their phobia.

Now, this is where the lines blur for me, as a phobia is considered an 'irrational' fear of something 'normal', yet no one has definitely categorised what is 'normal' or 'rational'.

Eg. I have a slight phobia with public transport, I think it's abnormal that I'm shoved in a tiny box with hundreds of strangers all invading my personal space. However, because we have been socialised to accept public transport as 'normal', my rational fear of chaos, violence, loss of freedom, being trapped, etc. is labelled as 'irrational'.

Conversely, if we shoved the same number of people in a prison cell (or even cattle in a truck) then that would be considered inhuman.

Instead of developing Apps to force / fool people into overcoming preposterously horrible situations, we should instead have a look at the root cause of anxiety disorders - the artificially constructed environments we have created, learned behaviours and the social stigma of challenging these constructs.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ 29th April 2014, 1:49 PM BST

Now, this is where the lines blur for me, as a phobia is considered an 'irrational' fear of something 'normal', yet no one has definitely categorised what is 'normal' or 'rational'.

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A phobia is about fear that is disproportionate to risk.

You aren't frightened of public transport, you dislike it. You do not enjoy being in enclosed spaces in that context. But you still do it, because you know that the risk to you is minimal and the benefits of getting where you want to go outweigh the risk.

Me being a bit uncomfortable during flight turbulence and grabbing the hand of whoever is next to me (whether I know them or not) is not a phobia.

I have a slight fear which is equated to what is a slight risk of the plane crashing.

My friend being unable to get on a flight and having complete meltdowns at the gate is a phobia. Her fear is greatly disproportionate to the risk of a plane crashing, which is minimal.

That App is simply trying to employ CBT/mindfulness techniques to conquer anxiety disorders.

The purple spider is seriously creepy. I do not have a phobia of spiders, but I do of creepy purple ones in top hats.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ 29th April 2014, 1:49 PM BST

. we should instead have a look at the root cause of anxiety disorders - the artificially constructed environments we have created, learned behaviours and the social stigma of challenging these constructs.

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I have absolutely no idea what that means.

An anxiety disorder is our brains sensing danger when there isn't any.

Also, something is usually classed as a phobia if it prevents or disrupts you from having a normal life. We've all got fears, most rooted in a perceived threat of some sort like Jennie said...I'm still a bit scared of the dark, heights, and being accidentally sliced while opening tin cans.

The use of computer programmes as a cure for psychological illness is actually as old as the computer and was something Alan Turing envisioned.
CBT is a very natural match to computer programming, they're actually very similar disciplines.

Though RCP you do have come across something that really annoys me. And that's pseudo self diagnosis.
For example there's a huge difference between being uncomfortable travelling on the tube and sleeping rough for the night, because rush hour and night buses terrify you.

Talking of transport woes...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-27197241

This looks delightful. So happy not to be in London this week!

I think this is a ridiculous strike, all businesses take on new technology and that leads to job losses. Oyster was introduced at huge cost to turn newsagents, platform staff and the internet into ticket offices.
The RMT is doing this because they can, and they're one of the few unions who can carry out a noticeable strike.

Hey Shandy have you seen your horrorscope, a tall, dark, stranger will assist you opening a tin of beans.

Quote: Shandonbelle @ 29th April 2014, 2:54 PM BST

A.I'm still a bit scared of the dark, heights, and being accidentally sliced while opening tin cans.

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Oops sorry.

Quote: sootyj @ 29th April 2014, 6:38 PM BST

I think this is a ridiculous strike, all businesses take on new technology and that leads to job losses. Oyster was introduced at huge cost to turn newsagents, platform staff and the internet into ticket offices.

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If you buy them all the time and know what you're doing. If you're a tourist or not from London newsagents can't help you with what route to take or where bugger all is.

I assure you the surly bastards running the newsies in my squalid part of London, could sell a martian a ticket if it meant money.

And that's not including the new state of the art personal ticket machines platform staff will be getting.

Like rail staff have had for, oh 10 flipping years.

I approve of driving such stupid out of London, let them wonder around Bury St Edmunds.

The underground needs a massive revamp, it's technology is decades behind the rest of the world and it's costs amongst the highest. Some lines have 2 drivers on every train, because the radio safety system has n't been upgrdaded. Some lines are still running on a 1960s punch card system for which the parts no longer exist. If you've been on the Overground, Metro or DLR they can all be like that.
And the RMT are happy for Milton Keynes to lose out on buses to fund this dated monstrosity.

As long as they don't get rid of the little black meeces.

I quite like the tube being all old and crap and staying just the way it is. The only thing I want them to do is put air conditioning in every carriage.