Back in the saddle again

Ok, I'm back.

I won't bore you with why I haven't updated my entertaining, informative and not-to-be-missed blog for what seems, in blog world, a lifetime. I'm sure whatever reasons I give would sound old and cliched. I mean there's only so much to say, essentially boiling down to: new distractions.

That said, I'll share with you what bolted me to my feet and prompted me to compose this blog.

The subject I wanna share with you is about death. In particular, preferred type of death. Have you ever thought of how you'd like to die? Although there's richness of the types of deaths one can aspire to attain, all fall under two broad headings: manly death or womanly death. Which one I fervently desire should be obvious.

Ever since I was little boy I've always dreamt of attaining a glorious death. I've dreamt of gaining a death befitting a man of unparalleled courage, bravery, dignity, honour, valour... basically glorified death the type Holloywood so masterfully depicts in movies. Or more contemporaneously fighting a whole division of Melez's troops single-handedly, going down with guns blazing. But before I proceed I should first tell you where I got this vision of my denoument.

It was just before civil war broke out, very hot, blistering sun unabating and dad was taking us to a restaurant outside of Mogadishu (i think it was Afgoye I could be wrong) for a lunch and some sight seeing. While waiting for lunch to be served I excused myself to answer mother nature. Since there were no bathrooms around I had to do the deed behind the bushes which were a little walk from where the rest of my family were seated but still visible to them. So I ventured into the bushes not caring if I would lose my way. A decision I later regretted when I lost my way. Every direction I head to get back led to more bushes, there were no identifiable landscape and it didn't help that I couldn't see above the bushes thanks to my diminutive stature. What happened next defined my view of life and death. I emerged from a row of bushes into a small open area face-to-face with a lion. There I was: a defenseless puny little boy against the man-eating beast of beasts. I had the natural urges to run but fought it for I was convinced I'll die anyway. Why not die bravely and stand my ground? Which I did. I bore a mean face, clutched my fists and shielded my face with them and said to the Beast of the Jungle, "Do I feel lucky today? Well, do ya punk?" The lion sheepishly skulked away and I was from that day imbued with heightened sense of valour. At least I think that way. I stood up and defeated a beast capable of snapping me in half effortlessly, am I not entitled to feel a mite more braver than ever other man?

But of late it's becoming increasingly apparent that my much wished death will probably never come to fruition. That's because here in the West where I presently reside there's higher prospect of succumbing to sissy deaths from sissy killers as Angina, Diebetes, Cervical cancer. Angina? What an insult to me! Needless to say I've be shaken up a little pondering over these matters the past few weeks. Had many sleeps nights and scads of anxiety attacks. Am I alone in this? Would you prefer to die fighting lions or succumbing to wussy killers heart attack?

Psychology: Art or Science?

It's my contention that psychology is very much akin to art interpretation (or crude form of psuedo-science) than what it purports to be. Science. The etiology of ailments are either physiogenic or psychogenic. For instance, depression is an example of psychogenic disorder. After a person is strongly believed to be suffering from depression, he/she is sent to a professional psychologist for further help (usually at least). The psychologist will do examinations afterwards prescribing psychoactive drugs to ameliorate the baleful affects of the symptoms. One of the options open to the psychologist as part of treatment regime is psychotherapy, where the patient tells early childhood memories, among other things. The psychologist listens and based on what the patient tells him comes up with an educated assessment of what he thinks is the cause of patients symptoms and how to treat them. But this runs into the problem of how do we know the psychologist got it right?. What tests can be performed to verify the psychologists diagnosis? More importantly, if a dozen other psychologists see the same patient all coming to disparate opinions and this is very real possibility... how do we decide the correct one among the multitude of varying diagnosis? We simply can't. Contrast that with a real follower of science like a doctor and you'll the see the pragmatic difference between the two. A doctor upon initial examination may have an idea of what the patients problems are but what will ultimately bear him out and give him the confirmation he is doing right is the result of the medical tests. Suppose a doc suspects a patient has Hep B, neither the patient nor anyone else has to take the doc at his word alone. We can all verify the veracity of his initial hunch by asking for blood tests. With psychologist, we only got his/her word.

Furthermore, consider this real life case. A man has been suffering from severe, debilitating depression for more than a decade. He sought help from several psychologists. Been on many anti-depressants. Spent countless hours in psychotherapy sessions. All to no avail. Then one day a medical doc asks him to take Vitamin B12 deficiency test. True to the docs suspicion he was indeed deficient in vit B12. Improvements after taking vit B12 supplements cemented the arguement that vit B12 deficiency was the cause of his symptoms. Now, that is the practical difference between psuedo-science masquerading as science, psychology. And real science like medicine.

P.S. this is modified piece I posted on SOL...

Can you sell Ice to an Eskimo?

No, it's not rhetorical question. Can you sell someone something they appear in no need of? If you could, how would you go about it.

The oft view of "selling" is one pertaining financial transaction between two parties. In truth, selling permeates many human-human interactions. Be it selling yourself to win someone's much sought graces (can you buy love? I have my take on this but that's for another day); persuading another to buy the merit your arguement; selling product/service etc... all encapsulate selling in some form or another. The common demoninator being the seller presents to the prospective buyer alternate, better, more sensical solution... when money is involved, a solution that'll cost less with greater return. If that would be the case, why then wouldn't a prospective buyer make the switch decision?

Here is why I asked the question Can you sell ice to an Iskamo? And it was spurred by a interesting discussion I had with a co-worker few days back. Is there a point where a party would be absolutely content to feel in no need for improvement? Could you ever save enough money? Better services than you currently have? Better car than you currently drive, if for less money? I thought about this and it occured to me that it's like a game of one-upmanship. Someone will always come along claiming to have something better, cheaper than currently available. It's never ending cycle driven human nature's innate sense competition and innovation.

You can indeed sell ice to an Eskimo. Ostensibly, an Eskimo is no need of an ice. But wait! What if you got better ice than he has, one that is say cleaner. Do you think this is all idle speculation? Consider this reality. Bottled water. According to reliable studies (EPA) comparing bottled water and tap water found no major differences, safety or quality wise. So your tap water is as safe and sound as bottled water based on hard facts. And yet people continue to buy bottled in droves on the unfounded believe that they're cleaner than tap water. Here you have people buying for upwards of $1 or $1.50 for a bottle of water from the shelf when they can get the same water from the tap. And they don't even have to leave their homes. This touches on another facet about selling. What you want to sell doesn't actually have to be better and cheaper than what your potential customer already has. As bottled water shows, you can sell a mere idea and reap untold benefits. Bottled water industry hasn't had it better than these days. Kuddos to their advertising people, did first grade job.


PS. THis is my inaugural post. Blogging is nascent experience for me and I'm trying to get a handle on the rudimentaries of blogging. Must say it's turning up to be a little bit more demanding than I anticipated.