Social dominance

Some of us, not all (or else this post would be pointless), have experienced what it's like being on the losing side of this. I feel as though I actually am on that losing side quite frequently. It used to bother me more when I was younger, but now I'm getting used to it. Finally though, I believe I'm understanding why it occurs.

Let me describe this phenomenon a bit better. Imagine your at the park with a group of friends. Your all moseying along in a general direction with no real constraints or defined way-points you need to hit. You see something interesting not far off in the distance, mention it aloud, and go to look at it. At this point one of two things can happen.

1. The rest of your pack of friends follows you.

a. Because you are socially dominant, and draw others to you

b. Because your friends are extremely curious people

2. They continue in their general direction while you travel to the object of your curiosity alone.

A socially dominant person would wind up in the midst of option 1. For reason "a" (with perhaps "b" contributing). I, on the other hand, almost exclusively wind up at option #2, with the rare option #1 reason "b" occurring.

What is interesting to me is that this social dominance is something that has been more or less unchanging whilst among the same groups of friends. I believe that the root of this behavior lies in the perceptions others have of you.

So what does this mean? Here is a synopsis of two groups I commonly associate with. One group of people has known me for quite some time, and other group, a short while. How I'm treated by each group is vastly different however. In one, I'm seen as a respectable source of knowledge, fun loving, a bit of a comic, and a worthwhile person to listen to. The other group who has known me longer, (from my admittedly biased opinion) see's me as an unfortunately necessary member, with uninteresting contributions, a lack of humor, boring hobbies, and an annoying personality.

After giving it some thought, I came to the conclusion that the friendly group, not surprisingly, have similar interests and personalities to my own. The awkward group has near opposite interests and a much higher tendency towards "right brained" personalities.

So after all this rambling, what does it all mean at the end of the day? Am I a bad person or a good person? Are my friends bad people or good people? Am I really boring and annoying, or interesting and funny?

Hanging out with people very unlike yourself is obviously possible. It's even possible to be good friends with them. However, don't be surprised if you feel like your constantly "going against the grain" when with them. Don't be surprised when you realize you lack any social dominance.

I believe I have been stuck in the awkward group for a good portion of my life. In high school I had a very close-knit group of friends that I felt connected with. It was wonderful, and I must admit it's been a fault of my own to not connect more with that group since then. I found another group once again for a few years in college. It's been a bit of a rough go since then to be honest.

Best of luck finding your friendly group.

Cheers

Nineveh

It is amazing to me how these incredibly wicked people accepted and believed in God so quickly. Perhaps we need to be a bit more forward in our message of salvation at times? People just need to hear the truth....the Holy Spirit clearly can take care of the rest.

Jonah 3:5-10 NASB

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.  When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered  himself  with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.  He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.  "But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.  "Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish."
  When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do  it.

How powerful is our God!

To witness the events that took place on that day would, in my mind, create such an unshakeable, solid, absolute faith in a almighty God, whom Elijah served, that one would never be tempted to worship the gods of the lands again.

1 Kings 18:34-39 NASB

And he said, "Fill four pitchers with water and pour  it  on the burnt offering and on the wood." And he said, "Do it a second time," and they did it a second time. And he said, "Do it a third time," and they did it a third time.  The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water.  At the time of the offering of the  evening  sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, "O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word.  "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and   that  You have turned their heart back again."  Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.  When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God."

They weren't so different back then

Tonight's reading was interesting. Take a gender below at the bit I want to bring to your attention.

2 Samuel 11:4-6 NASB

David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.  The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant."
  Then David sent to Joab,  saying,  "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David.

David did not concern himself with the matter until Bathsheba told him she was pregnant. It was probably 2 months past by then! David must not have had a very strong conscience....I can't imagine living with that guilt for that long.

First successful blog post in a long time! Woohoo!

Android app check

I'm hoping this app will encourage me to blog more. Test.

pond

pond

pond

So....you think you have it bad at work?

Today was brutal. Last week and the week before had days even worse. heat index's one day were 117 degrees.

Now some people might say "oh ya well the middle east gets up to 120-something everyday!" Well they DO NOT HAVE a heat index there (usually). Dew points are usually low enough they are negligible. Here our dew points have been 70+ degrees, even touching 80 degrees one day.

Then others still "well I worked inside a house without A/C". Or the somewhat common "my car doesn't have a/c" blah blah blah

Check these pictures out. Today only topped out at 94 degrees IIRC which has been faily common as of late. However that is just the official temperature reading taken at the airport. Temperatures at other places in the city will vary.

I took some thermal measurements with a infrared laser thermometer accurate to within +/- 2 degrees.
























Here You can see this piece of cardboard laying on the patio of the construction site we are at. Its sitting in the sun and the temperature is 140.3 degrees F.



















Here is a quick shot of the stone patio itself. Temperature readings were anywhere between 125-140 degrees depending on where you took it. This is what were walking around on all day by the way.



Want to grab that hammer-drill? Better think twice about it as the handle is 137.7 degrees F.



Here's the hottub we helped install early this morning. Shaded all day. That's right...111.9 degrees in the shade on this patio.



Want to use that circular saw? Be prepared to wear a glove or endure some pain. 135.3 degrees F.


So at 111.9 degrees in the shade (where the heat index is measured) with a dew point of 70 (which was our dew point at the time these pictures were taken) gives a heat index value of about 122 degrees. Since the heat index is calculated in the shade, add at least another 10-15 degrees for how it feels when your in direct sunlight. Another thing to think about is that this patio we've been working on has wind breaks on all four sides. Meaning we don't get that nice cool (or hot) breeze.

At this heat level, you sweat so much that you really have to constantly be drinking. I can easily go through a gallon worth of water/gatorade/etc in the afternoon.