A Dude's Guide » England

Living In Fear

Richard — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 05:01:52 +0000

by Richard

Right at this moment, I’m living in fear. Terrible fear. Zippy the Monkey Boy is, you see, running loose in Europe. Well, not exactly loose — he’s with a tour group from his school — but he’s over there with no experienced adult supervision.

And by experienced, I mean someone more than willing to pull out the sawed-off baseball bat and start swinging to get people back in line. He’s with teachers. They’re notoriously nice. Or at least conditioned not to actually hurt the little dudes and dudettes in their charge.

As part of the trip, Zippy the Monkey Boy will be visiting Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. I foresee so very many problems it’s literally staggering. I mean it. I keep tripping over stuff. Of course that could be the extra beer I’m putting on board to try and drown out the queasiness, but I doubt it.

I mean, think about it. He’s going to be in charge of his money, when the pickpockets are out in force and trying to zero in on the dorky tourists. He’s got to remember to use the Visa gift card we gave him and then he’s got to remember to put it back in his wallet, which he’s wearing around his neck.

This is a young dude who (and I’m totally not making this up) once lost his history book and couldn’t find it for a day when it was sitting all alone, hidden by nothing, on the island in the kitchen. In fact, he never did find it. I finally took pity on him, grabbed his head and slowly lowered it down to be nose to cover with the book.

He’s also got to use a voltage charger to make sure he can keep his electronics charged. I shudder to think of a Zippy the Monkey Boy unleashed without his iPod to play the music that calms the savage breast. Will he remember or will he start a hotel fire or two?

My heart says he’ll be find, he’s a big dude and can act mature when he wants to. My worry brain is hunkered down in the dark, pulling blankets around itself and whimpering softly.

Wish us all luck. Especially those living in Europe who still want to do so when Zippy the Monkey Boy leaves. I think we’re going to need it.

Tags: A Dude's Guide to Kids, A Dude's Guide to Life, Adult, Adult Supervision, alone, Baseball Bat, beer, Blankets, Brain, dude, Dude's, Dudette, Dudettes, England, Europe, Fear, History Book, Hotel Fire, Ipod, Ireland Scotland, little dude, little dudes, Living In Fear, Lost, Man, men, mom, money, Monkey Boy, music, Pickpockets, Queasiness, richard, Running, Savage Breast, school, Scotland, Scotland Wales, Supervision, Tour Group, Tourists, Visa, Visa Gift Card, Visiting Ireland, Wales, wallet, young, Zippy, Zippy The Monkey

Freaky Friday: Online Ostracism

Richard — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 05:01:25 +0000

by Richard

Most of the time, being a bully means abusing someone (normally) smaller than you, either physically, emotionally or verbally. Still, there is another, much more subtle form of bullying. It’s called ostracism, which means ignoring someone, casting them out of the group, and it can have a decidedly detrimental effect on the self esteem of young dudes and dudettes.

A recent study based in England looked at how a group of children, a group of adolescents and a group of adults reacted to being ostracized during the playing of an online computer game.

The study was carried out by a team at the University’s Centre for the Study of Group Processes and was led by Professor Dominic Abrams. Professor Abrams explained that research into cyber-bullying usually focuses on direct abuse and insults.

“However, a more indirect and perhaps common form of bullying is ostracism — when people are purposefully ignored by others,” he said. Professor Abrams also explained that “online ostracism affects adults by threatening their basic needs for self-esteem, sense of belonging, sense of meaning and sense of control. We wanted to discover whether children and adolescents have similar reactions.”

And, yes, for those of you wondering, children and adolescents do have similar reactions. However, those reactions are more significant in the case of the children.

Ostracism affected the self-esteem of the eight and nine-year-old children more than the other groups. This suggests that the adolescents and adults have developed better buffers against threats to self-esteem.

What happened was that these folks were asked to play a game of online ‘cyberball’ in which three online players — depicted on screen by their names — passed a ball to one another. In games where the participant was included, they threw and received the ball four times within the trial. However, in a game when they were ostracized they received the ball only twice at the start, and then the other two players continued to play only passing the ball between themselves.

The good news is that the detrimental effects were basically cancelled out when the subjects were asked to play another game and then included, rather than excluded. This suggests that, if parents and or teachers are on the ball, it is possible to easily remediate any damage done intentionally or unintentionally by bullies.

I think it’s extremely important for us, as parents, to be on the watch for this. Now, I’m not advocating that we go nuts, hover over our little dudes and make sure everyone is included in everything. That would be nuts. Only that we listen to our kids, find out if they’re feeling excluded and find a way for them to participate in something where their input and presence is valued. Sounds like a pretty good way to make sure our kids keep feeling good about themselves, and for good reason.

Tags: 2010, A Dude's Guide to Kids, a team, About, Act, Ado, Adolescents, Adult, Adults, Aga, age, Amp, art, Bas, Belonging Sense, better, Bl, Br, Bu, Buffers, Bul, Bully, Bullying, camp, children, Comm, Computer Game, Control, Cr, Cyberball, Detrimental Effect, Discov, Discover, Dominic Abrams, Dud, dude, Dudette, Dudettes, Ea, eat, Ec, Eds, Eel, Effec, Elf, Emotion, England, Entr, Epic, ET, Eve, Fi, Fo, Focus, Fr, Freak, Freaky Friday, Freaky Friday, Game, games, Gl, Goo, Good Reason, Gr, Group Processes, Hey, Ignoring Someone, Ing, Insult, Insults, Intention, Ki, kid, kids, Ld, Led, lie, lies, Lit, Littl, little dude, little dudes, Lope, Lt, Lu, make, men, Met, mi, name, names, Nee, Nic, Nuts, old, Onl, Online Computer, Online Game, Ood, Ostracism, Oth, Ow, parent, parents, Parti, Participant, Peop, People, Play Game, Pose, Presen, Presence, Professor Abrams, Ra, Racism, Rat, Rath, Rea, Reas, Reason, Rent, research, richard, science, search, Self Esteem, Sin, Sit, Somet, Somethin, Sor, Soun, Sounds, Ssi, Stra, Stud, study, tan, team, Ter, Ups, Wan, Wh, Wit, Yea, year, young, Young Dudes

Dude Review: Under The Dome

Richard — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:01:50 +0000

by Richard

I can’t believe I’m about to write the following sentence. Stephen King’s latest doorstop of a novel, Under The Dome, is ponderous, predictable and, worst of all, boring. And this is coming from one of the biggest Stephen King fans on the planet. Heck. I even read From a Buick 8 and liked it, but this latest forest killer is just plain awful.

Not only was this bad, but I think it’s broken me of my automatic purchasing of Stephen King novels. I had no idea what Under The Dome was about. I just ordered it because I love his novels. When it arrived, I discovered its length and the fact that this was a book he’d tried to write many years before and I began to get a bad feeling about it.

Turns out, my bad feeling was fully justified. Let’s start with the most noticeable thing; it’s length. This puppy could have been put to bed at a third of the length if it weren’t for the fact that Stephen King loves his characters. He stuffs the book full of them and lets us know the backstory of almost every single one of them. And, not only that, he also documents just about every second of every day that the New England town of Chester’s Mill spends trapped under an unexplainable (to them, but not – unfortunately – to us), invisible and impenetrable dome.

Each of the approximately one thousand, nine hundred and fifty three characters gets some quality speaking time and, each time one of them opens his or her mouth, they get to spout some by-now clichéd Stephen King dialogue. Words are changed around and then repeated again and again as if this were a new technique. Some event happens once and then it’s thereafter referred to as “the famous” fill in the blank. Basically it’s Stephen King at his he-really-needs-an-assertive-editor worst.

Once the characters find they are trapped inside the Dome, we’re allowed a look around at the skeletons in the closet, particularly the closet of the local bigwig Big Jim Rennie. It’s Rennie who, when the Dome comes down, begins to take draconian measures to grab power. It’s also revealed that Rennie, along with other town leaders, have been running the country’s largest meth lab near the local radio station. At the time of the book, the only person out there with the highly flammable meth chemicals and enough propane to fuel a battleship, is a religiously crazy meth smoker. What happens next isn’t really a surprise if you think for more than two seconds.

Finally, we find out who or what dropped the Dome on Chester’s Mill. Once I found out, though, I began to beg for mercy. Surely it couldn’t be what I thought it was. It was. It was hoary and dusty when Star Trek used it way back in the 1960s. This trope hasn’t improved with age.

No, I think Under The Dome has definitely given me something to think about. Mainly, why did I buy this thing without checking it out first.

I’m giving this book one (1) dude out of five, if only because I got a little exercise lugging the thing around for a week; a week I’ll never get back. Don’t waste your time or money on this book. Seriously, life is too short.

You can find this review, along with thousands of other, on a great book site, Novelspot. It’s a fantastic site, full of book lovers sharing that love with anyone who’ll listen. You can find all books reviewed here at Novelspot as well.

Tags: A Dude's Guide to Life, About, Act, Aga, age, art, Bac, Backstory, Bas, Battleship, bed, Befor, Bigwig, Bl, Boo, books, Br, Bu, Buick, Buick 8, buy, Chara, Cli, Cou, Cr, Dialogue, Discov, Discover, Doors, Doorstop, Dow, Dud, dude, dude review, Ea, Ears, eat, Ec, Eds, Eel, England, England Town, ET, Eve, exercise, Fanta, Fi, Fir, Fo, Fr, Gl, Gr, Hasn, Heck, Hey, Hig, Hou, Ing, Irs, Jim Rennie, Jus, Ki, Ld, Lead, Led, lie, Lit, Littl, love, Lu, Man, men, Met, mi, money, Mou, Nee, New England, Nex, Novel, Novels, Oth, Ow, Parti, Pot, Pout, Pow, Puppy, Ra, Radio, Rea, Renn, review, richard, Running, Shor, Sid, Sin, Single One, Sit, Skeleton, Skeletons In The Closet, Somet, Somethin, Star Trek, Stephen King, Stephen King Fans, Stephen King Novel, Stephen King Novels, Stic, story, Stuff, Surprise, Ter, Thoug, Time One, Town Of Chester, Trek, Wh, Wit, Wor, words, Writ, Yea, year

A Dude's Guide » England

Living In Fear

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