Posts by Graham Marsden

Post Hoc != Propter Hoc

"Habitual viewers of smut often mess up their lives".

ORLY?

Or perhaps people who have messed up lives become habitual viewers of smut. Or alcoholics. Or drug abusers. Or resort to crime. Or...

The same goes for “excessive users had severe social and relationship problems and had often lost their jobs or been in trouble with the law as a result of their addiction” the conclusion seems to be that it's the porn that caused the problem, rather than the problem being the result of other factors and which is then manifested in this "addiction".

BTW "addiction" is a nicely pejorative term, but whilst drug addicts may mug grannies for their pensions to feed their habits, I don't think I've ever heard of someone doing the same so they can buy another porn mag or download a movie...

Meanwhile, *who* were these "800 habitual online smut viewers"? How were they selected? And if there were "800 habitual online smut viewers" how does that compare with the number of those who also view online smut but do not do it "habitually" (whatever that means, how frequently do you have to do it before it becomes "habitual")?

I found a link to the original survey, but, alas, the survey was no longer available which is a shame, because I'd have loved to see what the questions were and how impartially they had been phrased.

Some other questions:

"30 percent acknowledged that their work performance suffered due to excessive viewing" and how many "habitual" smokers acknowledge that their work suffers due to them gasping for a cigarette?

"20 percent of respondents said they preferred the excitement of watching porn to being sexually intimate with their partner" and what about those geeks out there (of which there are more than a few) who haven't got a partner because aren't good in social situations and, as such, find other ways to relieve sexual tension?

"Around 14 percent had formed a relationship with other online users" which is surely a good thing (but good things don't come from "addictions" do they?)

"18 percent were preoccupied with fantasising when they were not online" and it's only "habitual smut watchers" that have this problem. After all, it's not the same as thinking about the big match you watched yesterday evening or worrying about your financial problems when you should be working or...

And finally ""Watching porn is a learned behaviour and we believe it can be unlearned” says Dr Sitharthan. Why does this sound so disturbingly like the assertion from the last century that "Homosexualiy is a learned behaviour and we believe it can be unlearned”, resulting in attempts to "cure" gays by administering electric shocks for aversion therapy or, even, giving them lobotomies?

I think these researchers had a conclusion and then did their research to prove it.

Nothing can go wrong...

... go wrong... go wrong...

So get NoScript...

...and you'll be warned when someone tries to Clickjack you!

Well there goes Tattooine

Going by this article, a binary system is one where the "hot Jupiter" has accumulated even more mass and undergone fusion to be come a sun in its own right.

If that's the case then you'd never see that fancy double sunset because your planet wouldn't exist in the first place.

Bravo Judge Brown!

At least it seems that *someone* in the US Legal System has a clue!

OTT?

Oh, so not the "Adult Version of Tiswas" that Chris Tarrant and Lenny Henry did, then...?

And once again...

... what happens to my business?

As I've posted in the past, I run a legltimate, legal and successful business making affordable leather products for the (ahem!) discerning adult ;-)

I already have my site signed up to Net Nanny, Cybersitter, Surf Watch etc so that *responsible* parents can install appropriate blocking software and stop their children accessing it.

But if this stupid proposal comes into force, I'm probably going to find my business on the blacklist meaning that anyone who wants to be a customer has to ask permission from Nanny first which is not going to be good for trade.

What next? Having to opt-in to being able to visit Ann Summers shop on the high street...??

This nonsense was tried back in the 1980s...

... when it was decided that access to the 0898 "naughty phone lines" should be made opt-in rather than opt-out.

Unsurprisingly, very few people were willing to call up their phone provider and say "Please let me access the smutty message services", meaning that perfectly legal and legitimate businesses suddenly had a massive drop in their income.

Eventually, of course, this decision was reversed, but it just goes to show how stupid the "Won't Someone Think of the Children!" mentality can be.

Will the DVLA remember what vehicles you're allowed to drive/ ride, though?

I know several bikers who, when it comes to licence renewal, have claimed that theirs is "lost" because if they send them back to the DVLA they have a habit of sending new ones *without* the details of said bikers having passed their test and being told they're going to have to re-take it otherwise they'll be riding illegally!

"They have to agree...

"... to receive documents about parliamentary business on the fondleslabs rather than have that information printed out on paper."

And then they'll dump loads of stuff out to printer anyway, because that's what they're used to...

"leaving one three minutes to build an extra widget"?

Or just more time to download other pointless videos...

"we cannot support anything that is sexist or that is inconsistent with our values"

Those "values" are, presumably, to make arbitrary decisions based on anecdotal evidence and to give credence to whinges from the "We don't like this, so you shouldn't be allowed to see it" brigade...

"the length of your correspondent's size 13 flip flops"

So will we finally be able to spot Bigfoot?

So can someone tell me...

... exactly *HOW* these sites got hold of this information in the first place??

I will...?

Oh, sorry, different Graham...

Why did I read that as...

... "Two Faced"?!

"the crew of the International Space Station, famously...

"...must drink their own recycled urine"

Right, because on Earth all urine is neatly stored away and never re-enters the water cycle to be drunk again...

ROVER

Orange Alert! Orange Alert!

(Large white weather balloon bounces across the interwebs...)

Now all they need to invent...

... is the Cobra Mark III and a Mining Laser.

Right on, Commander!

But it's Paedos and Criminals and Terrorists,oh my!

How can anyone argue with that...?!

... including China and Saudi Arabia...

... and the United Kingdom if certain Home Secretaries and Intelligence Services get their way...

Oakley...

... Thump?

Wasn't that from The Goodies?

Isn't it fortunate...

... that the only governments who want to use this sort of technology are repressive, dictatorial regimes who have no respect for personal liberties or democratic principles and operate on the basis of "presumed guilty".

We'd never see British Governments trying to introduce anything like that here, would we...???

Someone forgot to say...

... "Nar nar, ne nar nar!!!!"

"unless consumers choose to let them see it"

Which just means that there will probably be "By signing up to this or by joining that or by reading the other you automatically consent to allow us to read your meter data unless you jump through lots of hoops to decline" clauses turning up everywhere...