The Loony Quiz©

May 30, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

To find out if you are a loony or not tick one box in either column A or column B, for each question.

	A	B
Do I get impatient often?	yes	no
Do I lose my rag in traffic jams?	yes	no
Do I feel offended quite often?	yes	no
Do I think “life is not fair?”	often	rarely
Am I prone to over reaction?	yes	no
If I don’t get my way do I sulk?	often	rarely
Do I bear grudges?	yes	no
Do I seek to get even?	yes	no
If someone does better than me, do I get upset?	yes	no
Do I try to pull others down to feel better about myself?	yes	no
Have I ever had a bout of cranio-rectal disease?	often	rarely
Am I special?	yes	no
Does nobody appreciate me?	yes	no
Must I always be busy?	yes	no
Does silence scare me?	yes	no
Must I always be the winner?	yes	no
Do I always know best?	yes	no
Am I always right?	yes	no
Do I enjoy opining upon things I don’t really know?	yes	no
Do I enjoy gossip and trust it?	yes	no
Am I impressed by the unproven opinions of others?	yes	no
Am I genuinely opened minded?	no	yes
Are people who don’t believe the same things as me?	crazy	sane
Is my belief system the only correct one?	yes	no
Is advancement better than happiness?	yes	no
Is kudos the be all and end all?	yes	no
If I win prizes / competitions does that make me feel better than?	yes	no
Am I a grand person or one of the little people?	grand	little
Do rules apply to me?	no	yes
Is material plane status important to me?	yes	no
Am I a bit of a tense motherfucker?	yes	no
Am I happy and at peace with the universe?	no	yes

Now count up the number of As and Bs.

In your best judgement are you a loony or not, what do you think?

Group Control and Decision Making

April 27, 2025April 27, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

It is not unusual for groups of people to gather together and try to control what an individual outside of that group is doing. They may even have the illusion that said individual is keen or desperate to join their group as per the famous Garry Glitter song about gangs. Groups by their nature have real difficulty seeing and assimilating perspectives outside of the rarefied air of their Olympian group. We Gods know. The group may even believe that they know what is best for the “lucky” individual. Being quasi-corporate they can only see a quasi-corporate “answer” to whatever the imagined problem may be.

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They can get quite complacent if something approaching within-group consensus is found.

The problem is that they can be very mistaken and totally unaware. There is very little one can do when a group has made up its mind. Nietzsche is attributed this quotation.

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“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

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You can decide for yourself regarding some of the “sanity” currently coming out of the USA.

Groups may consider it sound to offer the lucky person a fait accompli. Having discussed only amidst themselves they may not consider how it might wash with an individual outside. Such a thing happened with the so-called peace efforts expecting Ukraine to suck it up and be grateful. The individual is then blamed and scapegoated for not accepting the divine arrogance of group omniscience.

“That pesky pleb should count his lucky stars!! He should be very grateful!!”

This phenomenon can be found on all sides in academia, industry, business, politics and amongst the righteous “they” down the pub.

Groups do not always make the best and most inclusive decisions because they cannot see outside their own Venn diagram walls. A collection of frogs at the bottom of a well, even though it may agree amongst itself, has not seen a pacific sunset nor has it gone on a silent retreat in the mountains for three years. It might imagine itself more knowledgeable and experienced than it actually is.

Groups with corporate mind always want to deal with other groups in which the socio-political hierarchy is known. They are obsessed with hierarchy and group positions. They struggle with even the notion of a non-affiliated individual. Group to group interaction can be even less inclusive. There are often power struggles and a great deal of negotiation. It is so often about power and preservation of status quo. It is about control.

The object of negotiation can be totally unaware of the blessings, he/she is about to receive.

People are people and the tendency is to do the same shit over and over.

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La raison est ce qui effraie le plus chez un fou.

March 25, 2025March 25, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

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“What frightens us most in a madman is his sane conversation.”

Anatole France

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People can be ultra-judgmental if you stray in any way from the norm, the rules, if you dare to be even a smidgeon different. Those who have lost hope and succumbed are quick to label others feckless dreamers. They can be punitive and unforgiving.

For many reasons and with many feelings, “The Dead Poets Society” is / was a film for me of awakening. Later because of various real world events it had a haunting and melancholic wounding personal resonance. It spoke volumes as to where society misplaced it values and then inflicted them on others. Young people had their entire self-worth invested in exam results, success, winning and achievement. Off piste expression was frowned upon, goals were the be all and end all. Compliance seen as the way, you must play the game to get ahead. Even if it means dying a little inside.

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As such so often the baby is thrown out with the bath water. There is no way to convince a narrow minded person with a blinkered view that this is true. A frog at the bottom of a well is an expert on the well bottom, but it has never seen a pacific sunset on a white coral beach in the tropics. The frog cannot begin to conceive of an ocean let alone a sunset.

There is no reliable way to be 100% confident either of my sanity or my insanity. This especially through a blog. I could be a season card bus ticket holder to Barking or park my 4×4 in the drive of my expensive Godalming home having studied PPE at Oxford. There is no need to decide or choose.

Only in a very weird situation would it matter if I was a crackpot fantasist or not. Sat where I am, I do not impinge on the world. I have the time to daydream and it impacts not, provided that I do the garden and cook dinner from time to time.

Nevertheless, how people decide, perceive and assimilate the world can have real world effects.

Thanks to recent events in the USA the world is becoming an ever more divisive, coarse and unpleasant place. Nuance is being executed by social media sound byte firing squads. The monosyllabic and the droning are draining the will to live. Hope is being replaced by pissing contest.

If you don’t comply you will be berated in public and written out of the script, sidelined with those who do not toe the line and suck up enough. Manna will not fall from the high table, the Fed. There will be no place at the banquet-orgy of US economy for you. War, trade war.

I see nothing inspiring, nothing uplifting, no succour for the poor and the needy. I see no harbinger of hope or joy nor for that matter of humanity. I see no Christian values.

The lights of the world are slowly going out…

You can judge for yourself who is more sane, you or I?