Kiaran Finn on Life Matters!

Why Are You So Stupid? If you have even a mild reaction to that greeting then you’re in good company. Call me any number of names and direct unsolicited vitriol in my direction and unless your opinion actually matters to me I guess I’ll continue on my merry way. Or not. How many of us are that grounded and rational? 'Why are you so stupid?' is a question that reads differently depending on the word emphasized. There’s also a presumption you are in fact stupid. Fully-grown and productive members of society often revert to the emotional state of a three year old when criticized, particularly if name-calling is involved. This is most in evidence on the anonymous highways of our urban jungle. Placid librarians morph into frenzied psychotic gesticulators and incoherent expletive rendering ranters at the merest of accepted traffic etiquette being breached. In the cold light of day and reasoned contemplation it would appear to be evidence of global lunacy. Let’s assume t...

‘You can’t always get what you want, but you know sometimes you get what you need.’ Inspiring words from Mick and Keith. I have an irrational lack of appetite for shows that purport to be Current Affairs. Not for any compelling reason other than the fact that they gnaw on my soul when I inadvertently wander into the sphere of their influence. Not unlike the sound of long nails clawing across a windowpane or a Celine Dion record for that matter, the irritation is palpable.  Like fodder to sheep or lambs to the slaughter, to prolong the metaphor, the overt manipulation of salacious and highly edited ‘news’ into a neat advertising friendly package, is acutely self serving. So what you may ask?  I have no particular opinion on tabloid journalism. In fact the more outrageous the headlines, the more entertaining and by extension, the less seriously we accept the message. Current affairs shows however, masquerade as arbiters of right and wrong, providing the moral compass ...

Certain phrases and labels mysteriously appear in the everyday lexicon and virally spread. Before long Four Wheel Drive vehicles are the quaint labels used by absent-minded old codgers to describe SUV’s.  Portfolios used to refer to man-purses carried by toffs. All day has morphed in to 24/7 and social networking has erupted from the realm of Church tea and scone get togethers in to the ubiquitous tweeting of mass popular culture. A few years back it seemed like all change was described as a paradigm shift. More recently the term ‘Tipping Point” has made its entrance. Unlike the word paradigm, which is a non-descriptive word without soul and colour, favoured by Lawyers and politicians for the obvious reason that they facilitate obfuscation, I quite like this new player. You can mentally shift gears when imagining a tipping point. With the warp speed evolution of ideas into things and an apparent unquenchable appetite for the novel and uber cool latest technology; ti...

As a preface to this scribble I'd like to reiterate that this Blog does not represent a philosophy or point of view I believe anyone else should adhere to. As the Header indicates, this is merely a wry commentary picking at the scab of human observation, in the hope of eliciting an occasional pause for thought and confronting some of the irony in life's journey. All hugely positive comments endorsing the the Blog are welcomed in the spirit of my own delusion. I like the provocative statement; hope is not a strategy . The use of words such as wish, hope and turn of phrases for instance; 'if only..', are usually the precursors to paralysis. When we have delusional excuses to fall back on, it's easy to abdicate personal responsibility. I wish i could speak fluent Japanese, bench press 150k, date a super-model(not really!) play jazz piano with ease and own a football team, ...if only.. There's the rub. 'If only' just doesn't cut it. Having a fa...

Pondering the absurdity of quantifying meaning in an infinite and intangible universe- I am compiling a collection of recent Blogs into an E-Book. As a thank you to my social networking connections I will be offering 50 Free downloads to those who register interest.  Let me know at kiaranfinn61@gmail.com If you have a favorite title -Let me know-feedback's always appreciated. Below is a link to some archive Blogs: http://www.adversity2success.com/archive_observations.html

I get a buzz out of those rare moments when my certainties are confronted. Recently a quote permeated that part of my brain that has nothing better to do than ponder and elicit some profound meaning. The almost imperceptible buzzing on the edge of my sub conscious related to a comment by a certain Clay Shirkey (I’d never heard of him either!) To paraphrase; how can we waste our time watching TV when there are so many other options? I found myself pondering this question from the high ground of the devils advocate. What makes watching TV inferior to any other number of past times? There are a myriad of reasons to flop down on the couch and bond with family and pets, disengaging the brain and recharging our flow. How can you actually waste time anyway? Surely the absolute incomprehensible magic of inhaling breath and functioning as a self-actualized bundle of cells, constituting me and you is of itself breathtaking. I pondered the relative merits of this apparent inane burnin...

Obscure title I know-but here’s a long dormant thought for you to contemplate. Last year it occurred to me that there was an inverse relationship between the volume of Twitter ‘followers’ I had accumulated and the quality of the relationships. This started to become apparent when my ‘following’ reached over the 100 mark, and has been reinforced as the numbers passed 2000. It seemed popular particularly, thought not exclusively among online marketers to chase the numbers. There would be self-congratulatory tweets exclaiming joy at hitting 1000, 2000 or even 10000 ‘followers’ as if it actually meant anything.  E-books were compiled to educate the ignorant on how to amass tens of thousands of ‘followers’. To what purpose, a few may ask? You’ve no doubt noted the inverted commas. I use the term ‘followers’ very loosely. This is undoubtedly a misnomer. If you are tweeting regularly on topics of inane pointlessness for periodic relief of boredom-then that’s certainly your p...