Kennemer Dunes Parallel Universe in 360°, today. Go slow [ never quit ]

Above: Photosynthesis, respiration and refueling after trail training. Training fueled by breathing air, drinking enriched H₂0 with Mg and C₂₃H₃₁NO₆ and rest in darkness and silence. Post-training: salmon, carrots, Brazilian nuts, garlic, ginger, red pepper, olive-oil.

Min/max temperature: 8°C/15°C; humidity: 69%; precipitation: 0 mm; sea level pressure: 1011 hPa; wind: NE 25.7 km/h; visibility: 10.0 kilometres; Clouds: Few 762 m.; Moon: Waxing Gibbous, 83% illuminated.

"13. Do not pursue the taste of good food (mi hitotsu ni bishoku o konomazu)."

Miyamoto Musashi in Kenji Tokitsu's 'Miyamoto Musashi. His Life and Writing', page 223, first published in 2000 by Editions Desiris in France

"Among the various human activities that are the subject of attention, none has aroused deeper concern than man's aggressiveness. […] People are not born with preformed repertoires of aggressive behaviour; they must learn them in one way or another. Some of the elementary forms of physical aggression can be perfected with minimal guidance, but most aggressive activities -- duelling with switchblade knives, sparring with opponents, engaging in military combat, or indulging in vengeful ridicule -- entail intricate skills that require extensive social learning. […] Examination of the origins of aggression must consider not only the behaviour of free-lancing aggressors, but also that of professionals who are authorised to use aggression as a means of social control or who are officially trained for mass destruction in the service of national policies. Societies rely on military training establishments rather than on innate [ i.e., originating in the mind ] response repertoires to produce good fighters. It requires a great deal of complex learning to develop efficient weapons of destruction as well as technical skills to use them."

Albert Bandura in 'Agression, a social learning analysis', page 1, 61, 62 First published in 1973 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., USA

"A cloud pattern in the sky may fit in well with your daydreams, but you do not usually conclude that the daydreams were its cause."

Ulric Neisser in 'Cognitive Psychology', page 158, first published in 1967 by Pretice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 158

Kennemer Dunes National Park, 360°, today. National park [ parallel universe ]

Above: Chow-chow: Fish from Alaska , Red-Peppers from Spain, Mozzarella from Italy, Spinach and Apple from Holland, Ginger and Garlic from China, Brazilian nuts from Bolivia.

Min/max temperature: 5°C/10°C; humidity: 67%; precipitation: 2 mm; sea level pressure: 1015 hPa; wind: North 17.7 km/h; visibility: 10.0 kilometres; Clouds: Few 914 m.; Moon: Waxing Crescent, 8% visible

"The myth that program content is determined by the preferences of the viewing majority is widely accepted. Television preferences reflect what viewers are given to choose from. The offerings that are broadcast are determined by commercial considerations as well as popularity ratings, which do not always match. Programs that capture large audiences are discontinued if the people they attract do not fit the age (18 - 49) or income categories that advertisers wish to influence. Thus, popular programs that deliver the wrong kinds of viewers from a commercial standpoint are retired for unfavourable "demographics" despite their wide acceptance because they fetch low advertising rates .[…] Since people who lack purchasing power hold little interest for advertisers, disadvantaged minorities tend to be underexposed in survey samples of television preferences. […] Program production cost per thousand viewers therefore strongly influences what gets televised. With a couple of horses, a makeshift saloon, a superhero, a transient evil-doer, and the open range a producer can grind out endless episodes at a price that yields higher profits than more popular programs incurring greater production costs. Many shows high in violent content are retained [ emphasis added ] because they are financially attractive to the industry even though they draw smaller audiences than programs that do not feature violent action. […] Those who create the programs acknowledge quite candidly that conflict is essential for engrossing drama and physical violence is the easiest and intellectually non-demanding way of depicting it. As one producer put it: In dramatising conflict on television, man against nature is too expensive, man against God is too intellectual, man against himself is too psychological and leaves little opportunity for action, so man against man is what one usually ends up with. […] Just as aggression is not rooted in the individual, neither does its control reside solely there. Humaneness requires, in addition to benevolent codes of self-reinforcement, social reinforcement systems that continuously uphold compassionate behaviour and discourage cruelty. Societies must create more effective organisational safeguards that function as restraining influences in the use of institutional power for exploitative or destructive ends."

Albert Bandura in 'Agression, a social learning analysis', page 219, 220, 221. First published in 1973 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., USA

Kennemer Dunes, today. Recoverytraining [run, bend, stretch, walk, move, rest ]

"Individuals raised in aggressive societies are prone to attribute fighting to man's biological makeup and have difficulty conceiving of people living peaceably. Researchers coming from these settings who subscribe to the belief that man possesses an aggressive drive requiring periodic discharge selectively search for evidence of psychological disorders when they study the people of [peaceful] societies. Considering the omnipresence of problems of living, the dubious validity of personality tests, and the elasticity of referents for psychiatric conditions, one who sets out to demonstrate that non combativeness is hazardous to mental health should have no difficulty in finding confirmatory evidence, regardless of the merits of the belief. The reinforcement customs and habits of aggressive societies are rarely, if ever, studied by observers from gentle cultures. Were they to conduct anthropological field research revealing that in societies in which aggressiveness is idealised and cultivated people recurrently humiliate, injure, and kill each other, they would undoubtedly be struck with how aggression is generated by man's social customs. From the social learning respective, human nature is characterised as a vast potentiality that can be fashioned by social influences into a variety of forms."

Albert Bandura in 'Agression, a social learning analysis', page 113. First published in 1973 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., USA

"The capacity to use symbols provides humans with a powerful means of dealing with their environment. Trough verbal and imagined symbols people process and preserve experiences in representational forms that serve as guides for future behaviour. […] Images of desirable futures foster courses of action designed to lead towards more distant goals. Trough the medium of symbols people can solve problems without having to enact all the various alternative solutions; and they can foresee the probable consequences of different actions and alter their behaviour accordingly. […] From a social learning perspective [social learning theory: the explanation of human behaviour in terms of a continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioural, and environmental determants. This conception of human functioning then neither casts people into the role of powerless objects controlled by environmental forces nor free agents who can become whatever they choose. Both people and their environments are reciprocal determinants of each other], human nature is characterised as a vast potentiality that can be fashioned by direct and vicarious experience into a variety of forms within biological limits. The level of psychological and physiological development […] restricts what can be acquired at any given time."

Albert Bandura in 'Social Learning Theory', page 13. First published in 1977 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., USA 

"Pain is delight."

Jan Siebelink's 'Pijn is genot', title of excellent Dutch book with conversations with (among others) Erik Breukink, Wim van Est, Jan Janssen, Peter Post, Steven Rooks, Jan Siemons, Gert-Jan Theunisse, Johan van der Velde en Joop Zoetemelk