Symbols of rebirth

It is a classical anthropological paradox that symbols of rebirth and fertility are frequently found in funerary rituals throughout the world. 

After the very recent death of a close friend and neighbor - sitting back now to write the eulogy makes the contrast of a one-year baby’s babble and playful screams even more pointed.

LMG

Recently I received a text message which included the initialism LOL. Thankfully I’d encountered an LOL previously and understood the gesture :). Initialisms are of course formed from the initial letter or letters of several words or parts of words, but which is itself pronounced letter by letter. A good example is BBC for British Broadcasting Corporation.

SIC means "Latin sicut (just as) - apparent mistake

The use of initialisms has been popularized with the emergence of Short Message Systems (SMS). To fit messages into the 160-character limit of SMS or the 140 character limit of Twitter initialisms such as "LOL" have been popularized into the mainstream.

The use of  Initialisms is not necessarily a new fad. They were were used in Rome before the Christian era. For example, the official name for the Roman Empire, and the Republic before it, was abbreviated as SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus). Inscriptions dating from antiquity, both on stone and on coins, use a lot of abbreviation and initialism to save room and work.

By the way it turns out the LMG stands for "Let Me Guess" and an Internet slang.

Honesty in the city

Honesty

Sometimes the truth I’m tempted to hide due to guilt
or just some simple pride

When honesty
I try to avoid relationships
are sure to be destroyed

When intentions are not to misinform the only solution
is to inform

For if I was to continue in this vain we shall never really gain 


For a healthy relationship in which we trust

that trust is lost but by a single fault

The pain and pain of an office romance

The pain and pain of an office romance – for some it’s a casual fling, for other’s a crush, an infatuation, and, a love that blossoms against all odds, and is told and told to friends who care, inventing reasons on the run and look for hugs for-one-last-time, and murmur vague obscenities when no avail. Like high school girls with clear skinned smiles, Janis Ian, tells us they married young, and then retired, for those who win the game lose the love they sought to gain. 

Ok, so I got carried away a little. For many, professionalism is sometimes pushed aside, they will tell you, how can someone remain so with someone so beautiful!, adorable even. So much can’t be said, the pain, and inevitable goodbye - 9 to 5 after all and rules to go.

Careerbuilder and Harris Poll asked 7,000 employees tough questions about their work and dating habits recently. It turns out that 38% of workers said they have dated a co-worker at least once over the course of their career; 17% reported dated workers at least twice. 31% said their office romance led them to the altar.

Workplace relationships have become so popular, the pop culture term "office spouse" took hold of the corporate environment and held on for a good while.

Interestingly, the trend continues to show that 1 in 3 of those romances lead to marriage.

A painting and gender anxieties

Whilst at home today nursing the flu I came across a little book about a painting which at the turn of the twentieths made a very large statement became embroiled gender politics and anxieties of the time.

In London’s national gallery hangs an amazing nude. She belongs to the 17^th Century but looks more like a modern-women. She’s been called the baroque equivalent to a playboy centrefold.

I’m talking about the Rokeby Venus. A painting by Diego Velázquez virtually unknown until about a hundred years ago. It suddenly became famous at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. And when it did emerge, the canvas became the victim of a violent attack.

When the Rokeby Venus was painted 350 years ago in Spain artists who dared to paint nudes faced excommunication, fines, and exile enforced by the Spanish inquisition.

After Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808 the painting was whisked to England where the picture was bought by an art dealer and sold to a Scotsman in Rokeby, thus the title. It remained unseen by the public for 80 years. After financial hardship, the painting was sold again in 1905.  The National Art Collects Fund launched a campaign to save the painting with little luck.

An art lover, none other than the king, Edward the 7^th came to the party. In the National Art Collects fund book (see above) for January 1906 there is a pasted letter with the Buckingham Palace letterhead stating that his Majesty was much interested and promised a contribution of 8000 Pounds plus a loan of 5000 pounds.

The painting became a national icon, and whilst the Rokeby Venus epitomised female beauty, women in Britain were up in arms. They wanted the vote. The painting was attached by a women in support to those held in custody for civil disobedience.

YOLO code for irresponsible behaviors

So is “YOLO” the latest craze trending ion Twitter, Facebook and amongst teens. The acronym for the phrase “you only live once” which is often used as a hashtag on Twitter to bring attention to exciting events or an excuse for irresponsible behaviors. "You Only Live Once," is used to signal that they're about to make a bad decision, has recently become huge with everyone else.

Living in the now is really less about living, and more an entitlement to self-indulgence, a title that people throw around because it supposedly gives the perception of someone who is grabbing life by the balls. But the “living” had dwindled down to a slew of romanticized notions of “fun,” as dictated by the girls and boys of Gossip Girl (alcohol, sex, drama).

Most historians credit the hip-hop artist Drake, who observed, "You only live once, that's the motto nigga Y.O.L.O." on his hit song "The Motto."

In 2011 the Twitter analytics site Trendistic reports that tweets with the keyword “yolo” picked a day after Drake tweeted the balcony photo closely followed by official music video. in December 16th, 2011, The Huffington Post published a photo of the actor Zac Efron with “YOLO” tattooed on his right hand. In the 3rd season of the NBC reality show The Average Joe. Mesh launched the “You Only Live Once” (YOLO) clothing line on in 2004.

Fifty Shades of Grey and Sugar Daddies

Can it be true that thousands of women are focusing their energy on landing sugar daddies, according to a website specializing in “mutually beneficial relationships.”

It seems thousands of women have cited the racy Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy by E. L, James as the primary reason for signing up for www.SeekingArrangement.com since January.

Talk of the book, which follows a woman’s provocative sexual relationship with a rich entrepreneur, has been all over social media feeds, as many casual readers are gobbling up the series as fast they can. Meanwhile, the website offers younger women and wealthy older men the chance to meet up in the hopes of pursuing anything from casual flings to long-term relationships.

SeekingArrangement spokeswoman says the site’s female members are typically looking for rich partners to provide allowances, take them on trips and help them live the “fairy-tale” experience described in the books.