The topics we debate on here are as far ranging as our own social, cultural, religious and economic backgrounds. I think we all agree that we know of at least one person we have diametrically opposite views from on at least one subject, but agree with strongly on another. Some debates slip by with barely a reply, and some ramble on for many pages with replies and counters from all angles. All in all I think we have quite a balanced mix on the forums. Most, if not all of us are prepared to admit when we know absolutely nothing about a topic, and we are certainly all experts at finding on-line evidence to back our views! There are certain areas of debate that I feel comfortable enough to debate without referring to wiki, the newspapers or other on-line sources; And I have the feeling that many of you feel the same. So with that in mind my question is simple. What aspects of life do you feel you have sufficient knowledge to debate without referring to the Internet for facts/figures and assistance? I'm not looking for self proclaimed experts, just the topics that you feel comfortable enough with. I have openly stated many times that I know nothing of political or social ideology, nor do i have much grasp on taxation or business. For myself I would say I know a lot about history, particularly military history. I have studied 3 separate A levels focusing on different periods of history, but even outside these studies I have always had one foot in the past. I have organised and guided several battlefield tours in Normandy, the Western Front and Waterloo. Next year I will be guiding a tour from Oporto, through Spain to Toulouse in France following the major battles of the Napoleonic wars. I'm no expert, but I feel comfortable enough with the subject to debate. I also feel comfortable debating the armed forces, the emergency services and Exeter City FC So come on guys, where does your particular knowledge lie?
Sadly the only thing I think I know a fair bit about in depth would be concrete, yes concrete, the stuff that is usually grey and goes hard, exciting or what. I would add that I do however believe I am aware enough on a multitude of subjects to be able to 'have a bit of a go at' and least have a starting opinion on them. Trev I am envious of your interest in history especially the military side and even more especially the Napoleonic era. My heroes come from then namely Nelson and also taking into account his monomaniacal streak Napoleon. How cool a time are you going to have guiding people through the sites of the Penisular wars or what! Got any plans afoot for 2015 I wonder?
So come on guys, where does your particular knowledge lie?
No idea. I don't profess to know enough about anything to be termed as particularly knowledgeable, but I will offer a reasoned opinion on how I see things and from what I have researched. If any of my degrees is helpful (very doubtful on the majority of occasions) then I shall use my knowledge gleaned from there or maybe from what I have learned through business.
Quote by Trevaunance So come on guys, where does your particular knowledge lie?
Erm, I'm pretty knowledgeable about literature - but not many folk would want to debate that! And certain 'bits' of history. I'd like to be more knowledgeable about lots of things though.
I may seem a tad harsh on a couple of subject in here, but what I type is purely down to what i've experienced so far in life. Thankfully, im always happy to put my hands up and say I was perhaps off then. I still love learning and think its one of life's pleasures too. Surely in here everyone's views are based on personal experience as well? I would say i know more about football, early years getting my life education in the Army is still there and as a career geek in the City id hope most IT from desktop to server into comms and security I should know better than most too lol The rest is a mystery but have fun finding out about the mystery bits daily. Wonder too if im the one all have diametrically opposite views from too lol .. cant be though as two in my recent harsh post agreed .. Can you form views and opinions based on anything other than pure experience of them too? Isn't that the only way to know and also feel the pain and happiness that forms actual views and opinion? Isn't that the point of forums though, to debate a topic you feel strong enough about to post in? Fiercely patriotic and proud to have my UK passport having served the realm to now believe the Great bit before Britain no longer to be needed or true. I post in absolute belief no matter how harsh, I base my views on personal experience and even if totally diametric from most, willing to post them and try my best to answer the posts from others about them too. Isnt the point to debate a subject here and air our experience and opinions. Even if only one has the opposite to all too. Why can anyone be offended by someones opinion if based on experience not from google or the Sun. Knowledge is power, but experience is everything J
I have no formal knowledge about anything. I let life and my personal experiences give me the knowledge I require. When I want to know something I ask and when I need to know how to do something I find out how to do it. I have passions about a lot of things in life which drives me to find out more. But I wouldn't confess to having expert knowledge about anything and I always believe there is something about it you might never know, that you don't know yet that you don't know as you just haven't discovered it yet. If that makes sense. So always happy to learn and discover more and keep my mind open to gain knowledge in many areas.
Quote by Trevaunance So come on guys, where does your particular knowledge lie?
Chelsea FC. Tolkien and Led Zeppelin. The rest Trev is guesswork. I like to think I have pretty wide conversational skills and can debate or even argue about many subjects. 53 years on this planet have let me meet many interesting and clever people, and on so many levels I have increased my life skills. Yes the internet is one of mans greatest inventions, and we can all say we have looked something up on the internet to prove someone wrong, or to gain further knowledge and that can only be a good thing. I like history but recentish stuff from say 1900 onwards,the Second World war and Arthur Scargills downfall :wink: I have a wide level of experience in many sports, and music. There Trev......That was my life.
Quote by Theladyisaminx I have no formal knowledge about anything. I let life and my personal experiences give me the knowledge I require. When I want to know something I ask and when I need to know how to do something I find out how to do it. I have passions about a lot of things in life which drives me to find out more. But I wouldn't confess to having expert knowledge about anything and I always believe there is something about it you might never know, that you don't know yet that you don't know as you just haven't discovered it yet. If that makes sense. So always happy to learn and discover more and keep my mind open to gain knowledge in many areas.
I have some formal qualifications and a brain full of what is often useless unless I am in some weird pub-quiz. Like knowing how most sweets are made. What the hell use is that since I don't work in the confectionery industry? I really do love knowing how things are made and how they work. From engineering to food to languages. I also love sharing info and often forget that people may not be as interested as I am in a particular subject. So apologies to all those that have had a brain-dump off me.
Quote by starlightcouple I have no formal knowledge about anything. I let life and my personal experiences give me the knowledge I require. When I want to know something I ask and when I need to know how to do something I find out how to do it. I have passions about a lot of things in life which drives me to find out more. But I wouldn't confess to having expert knowledge about anything and I always believe there is something about it you might never know, that you don't know yet that you don't know as you just haven't discovered it yet. If that makes sense. So always happy to learn and discover more and keep my mind open to gain knowledge in many areas.
In souff London ? Actually you picked up on a good point there, as living, going to school, working in south east London and for the past 21 years working outside my normal work in a voluntary capacity around youth and adults has greatly helped in my gaining knowledge and understanding of people and cultures and South East London. I find living here so enlightening and interesting in my life and why I would never wanted to move away and wanted my children to gain the knowledge here for themselves. I have been here 48 years and still learn something new everyday here by someone I meet. It has taught me a lot about the psychology of people of many cultures through its diversity. That I believe you can never learn from formal education or reading newspapers. As the best way to learn is from people themselves. Once you understand the psychology collectively you can start to know what and why systems in this country are failing people and makes you think about ideas in how to put them right and start coming up with new solutions and ideas and start to put them into practice and see if they fail. So instead of moaning I have spent many hours and time helping to create a system which has helped me test out my theories and watching it blossom by observing the changes. Showing brilliant results from adults and young alike across many cultures, classes, educational back ground, working together to better and enlightening each other driving the respect they have for each other when working as a team together listening and learning from each other and finding out we all have things to offer and teach each other. Giving 14 year old responsibility and work along side adults to help educate what they have been taught to children as young as 5-6 in helping them to improve in what we offer. We have build a thriving community that has seen a 50% increase in the last three years from old and young alike and a 75% increase in people asking to help and give time too. I have seen it and everyone blossom including ex gang members nobody gets excluded if they want to be part of it and involved. We have never had trouble from anyone and no financial help from government. So no payment from tax payers money. For that reason I have a pretty good understanding of south east London and the people within it. I just failed all formal education but believe I have had one of the best educations for me as it drove me to learn and teach myself in many areas. Including IT, networking, marketing, funding, organising, communication the list goes on so I can keep giving all the people above what they need to flourish and keep growing and learning together. Society is amazing really as I tried to get a job but nobody would employ me as I have no qualifications. Although their lose is others gain which drives me on to prove my theory in what does eduction really give us when it failed me or I failed its test. So that society would see me as a failer. I believe I know why and how it has happened. It is a fundamentally flawed system which then has a knock on affect all the way through life in the way we see ourselves and others view us. I have a theory in the way we teach which I see as fundamentally flawed in its approach to the way we are taught. I have told many people my theory and they believe I have hit on the core of the problem. But how does a person change anything as the first question asked is, what formal education in these areas have you had? So once again I have to say none and why I say on this thread I have no specialist knowledge in any area. For the teacher at school that told me at 16 that I was stupid and would only be able to get a job sweeping roads I would like to say if you read this but thank you as you made me never want to go back to be taught in the institution that we call formal education and to gain the qualifications that I would be judged on. I must stress that isn't to all teachers that do a good job out there. Star I don't profess to know all about the past and history wars etc or who to blame for everything. I find my mind is very much better fulfilled on the future and how to improve but some knowledge about the past helps. So I enjoy learning about history. I don't categorise people into groups of age, culture, class, educational back ground, religious belief or political views. Many do but I believe it causes diversion and division. So I would always debate when you do, when I can be bothered and have the time to do so based on my knowledge above. When people quote from newspapers and believe they know what they are talking about within an area I know about. Now read my quotes below and you might understand why I say them
Blimey thanks for that Minxy...........I was not looking for that response but hey I enjoyed reading it. To be honest if what you have written you genuinely believe, I take my hat off to you. It is also true that you don't need a fab education to learn about life skills. We are on many levels a million miles apart but you do seem to have found an inner whatever they call it, and that has obviously made you a richer person. Not by money but by the things that money cannot buy. I have different visions and differing opinions. That does not make me or people who have my views any better or any worse, it takes all sorts. You see Minxy.........Souff London takes many forms and your form is SE London, where as I come from the rather posher side of town in SW London. :therethere:
I guess I'm like Foxy: I know a little bit about lots of things, most of it useless unless you're pub quizzing. I dunno where I've accumulated most of it, I just have one of those memories that soaks things up like a sponge and organises stuff so I can access it later almost unbidden sometimes. I wish I could get rid of some of it, there's a lot of rubbish in my head I'd rather not have in there sometimes. Stuff I could talk about would be literature, consider myself pretty well read. Lot of the classics, much originating in French, German, and Russian as well as English. Here again though I would struggle to go into too much depth with a lot of it. Languages, or the foundations of language something I'm into too, how English relates to French or Latin for instance. Also the way that we use language to interpret and structure our experience of the internal and external world and define our place in it, how what we imagine to be our innermost self is nothing but a linguistic construct, a story we tell ourselves to be analysed, played with and changed at will. Also history I guess, some military history, some from the more social and economic angle, working class history especially, ties in with an interest in ( especially Marxist ) sociological theories of politics and society also. Important to know how we got where we are today, and why. Without a proper sense of the past we are doomed to repeat it all too often, we don't seem to learn very well as a species sometimes, even when confronted with the obvious.
Overall I believe every member has knowledge in certain things. That said I think the Site Admin's, Chat Ops and Mods have the knowledge too :thumbup: Paddy
I don't really regard myself as an expert in anything but the following 3 topics I have studied most. 1) Acoustic Blues Guitar 2) Anatomy of Spiders 3) Greek and Roman Religion Hmmm...a nice mix!
Only one subject I feel I can speak with any real sense of real knowledge and that is SWINGING and that's the truth and that knowledge stems from meeting over 15,000 people in the scene and listening to their views and experiences of the scene. I am very passionate about some subjects without having or feeling the need for a total knowledge of the subjects. I like to think I know a little about everything and enjoy hearing what others have to say about subjects and always learning from the debates, sometimes re-affirming what I think and occassionally totally changing my views on a subject. My favourite subjects are the armed forces, the fight against racism and general, daily life. My downfall is research and not being able to put what I am thinking into words all the time, but of course you all know that
Quote by MidsCouple24 Only one subject I feel I can speak with any real sense of real knowledge and that is SWINGING and that's the truth and that knowledge stems from meeting over 15,000 people in the scene and listening to their views and experiences of the scene.
Blimey Mids.........you got a big willy or something?
Quote by starlightcouple Only one subject I feel I can speak with any real sense of real knowledge and that is SWINGING and that's the truth and that knowledge stems from meeting over 15,000 people in the scene and listening to their views and experiences of the scene.
Blimey Mids.........you got a big willy or something? No star, he's got Sasha
Quote by GnV Only one subject I feel I can speak with any real sense of real knowledge and that is SWINGING and that's the truth and that knowledge stems from meeting over 15,000 people in the scene and listening to their views and experiences of the scene.
Blimey Mids.........you got a big willy or something? No star, he's got Sasha Just viewed the pics GnV and understand what you are saying. That picture with her back to the camera in stockings is just well..........damn that's gone and done it.
Well it's certainly true, Sasha is an asset But the 15,000 is a conservative estimate, however, I did say met, not played with. I have worked in the industry for nearly 14 years, I ran a guest house catering exclusively to swingers visiting Utopia, Chameleons and Xstasia for 8 years. I now run a guest house catering exclusively to swingers visiting Adventures and atlantisEVOLUTION. I was Manager of Pappillon des Alpes for 3 years (swingers hotel in the Swiss alps) I worked at Utopia swingers club behind the bar and on the disco I worked at Chameleons swingers club behind the bar I now work occasionally at atlantisEVOLUTION behind the bar. So yes, I do get to meet and chat with an awfull lot of swingers and it is what they tell me that gives me a more thorough knowledge of the scene, their views, their likes, their dislikes and their experiences :lol:
Quote by Trevaunance So come on guys, where does your particular knowledge lie?
When online you need nothing more than to be armed with the likes of Google, it is the fountain of all knowledge and a lazy womans tool but it's also my doctor/physician/psychologist/diagnostic engineer all wrapped into one. Offline and in your face I dont consider me'sen to have any real knowledge on any given subject, bit fick me along with being too busy as a mommy/wife to further any of my once career/hobbies/pastimes I do enjoy listening to certain people such as Stephen Fry who seems to be able to discuss any subject and on any level, the man is pure genius and then there is Quentin Tarantino who is so off the wall at times that he makes for an interesting listen. Also, I enjoy listening to the likes of BBC presenters Kate Adey and Orla Guerin. Not quite what you asked Trevaunance but....
I never feel knowledgable enough to debate anything really, although my confidence in that area is growing as I age. I always feel that others know more than me. I personally hate references from google.. it is a dangerous place. If I do debate something I try to back it up with peer reviewed research but even then I tend to be over crtitical of methodology etc. I guess that's just due to the area I am in. I know quite a bit about psychology but more the biological basis behind behaviours rather than the social side of it.
Quote by starlightcouple Blimey thanks for that Minxy...........I was not looking for that response but hey I enjoyed reading it. To be honest if what you have written you genuinely believe, I take my hat off to you. It is also true that you don't need a fab education to learn about life skills. We are on many levels a million miles apart but you do seem to have found an inner whatever they call it, and that has obviously made you a richer person. Not by money but by the things that money cannot buy. I have different visions and differing opinions. That does not make me or people who have my views any better or any worse, it takes all sorts. You see Minxy.........Souff London takes many forms and your form is SE London, where as I come from the rather posher side of town in SW London. :therethere:
Star, I have belief in my theories which relate to formal education, and how that can impact on our own psychology. I am in no way against education I do however see major flaws in the way it is constructed. I believe education in one of the fundamental places in life where we look at ourselves in relation to those around us. I have studied this for 36 years from the age of 12. Then having twins helped me gain more knowledge by them teaching me in understanding nuture v nature they are now 16. I am about to under take the writing of a dissertation about my studies and what many others have taught me by talking to hundreds of adults and children over the years and listening. I believe babies are born with elements of wisdom about how to survive without the emotional maturity to understand it and use it. I believe we try and show them how to continue but I believe not in the most constructive way. I believe it could have an impact in many aspects of society that many complain about. Crime, work ethic, etc etc. I have spent 36 years trying to dispel my theory as I had this theory at 12. I am pretty much expecting the doctors in white jackets coming to lock me away after.
Nice to see some replies to this question. I'm surprised how many people feel they aren't knowledgeable just because they don't have a formal qualification in something though.
I think we are all aware that there is always someone who knows a bit more about a subject than ourselves so are reluctant to say we are experts on any subject or even very knowledgeable, I love military history but there is a lot more I don't know about the subject than I do know despite having a passion for it and contantly watching Military channels, Discovery channels and the like. Watching Mastermind for many years has taught me that even the experts on a subject still have a lot to learn about thier favourite topic. Wouldn't it be wonderfull to know everything but at the same time wouldn't it be terrible not to be able to learn something new every day.
Quote by Trevaunance For myself I would say I know a lot about history, particularly military history. I have studied 3 separate A levels focusing on different periods of history, but even outside these studies I have always had one foot in the past. I have organised and guided several battlefield tours in Normandy, the Western Front and Waterloo. Next year I will be guiding a tour from Oporto, through Spain to Toulouse in France following the major battles of the Napoleonic wars. I'm no expert, but I feel comfortable enough with the subject to debate. I also feel comfortable debating the armed forces, the emergency services and Exeter City FC So come on guys, where does your particular knowledge lie?
I tend to post more about life experience/s than being knowledgeable about any particular field these days. I love art so know a little about most stuff - worked quite a bit with artists and graffiti artists, so have an understanding about what its about, the process and issues that arise from it. I do like to watch a good history programme and your tours sound fascinating, yet I'm not particularly interested in it. Suppose its a general interest thing and I like to take photos of places I visit so good to know the history. I try to keep well away from politics! My last job was quite political and have totally and utterly had enough of it to last me a lifetime.
Quote by Trevaunance Nice to see some replies to this question. I'm surprised how many people feel they aren't knowledgeable just because they don't have a formal qualification in something though.
You shouldn't be surprised as that is how we are generally judged across society as a whole isn't it?
I generally know nowt about nowt - however, personal life experience in many areas gives me a bit of knowledge in certain stuff - I know quite a lot about drugs, addiction, rehab, treatment etc. Qualified in child development and education so a bit about that but im learning more everyday now i am homeschooling my daughter. I wish I had knowledge of how to fix stuff, everytime summat breaks down i tend to get a new one (usually second hand), my grandad used to be able to fix anything and everything - what a shame i was too busy chasing the pea truck when i was a kid rather than glean knowledge fro him in how to fix a pair of shoes etc . My thirst for knowledge is dwindling now im into my forties but am contemplating taking my teaching qualifications further in September once we have relocated, never too late to learn i reckon
Quote by flower411 I generally know nowt about nowt - however, personal life experience in many areas gives me a bit of knowledge in certain stuff - I know quite a lot about drugs, addiction, rehab, treatment etc. Qualified in child development and education so a bit about that but im learning more everyday now i am homeschooling my daughter. I wish I had knowledge of how to fix stuff, everytime summat breaks down i tend to get a new one (usually second hand), my grandad used to be able to fix anything and everything - what a shame i was too busy chasing the pea truck when i was a kid rather than glean knowledge fro him in how to fix a pair of shoes etc . My thirst for knowledge is dwindling now im into my forties but am contemplating taking my teaching qualifications further in September once we have relocated, never too late to learn i reckon
You had to pee in a truck !! Blimey life were ard back in the day !! ffs flower ya tit, we used to chase the pea trucks when they left the fields lol, dangerous business really, surprised we never ripped our hands off trying to grab handfulls of em :)
Swinging Heaven features sexually explicit material. To access this site you must be of the legal age to engage with the material of an adult site.
By entering Swinging Heaven you agree to the following;
I am deemed an adult where I live, and I am at least 18 years old
I am allowed to access & view sexually explicit material
And certain 'bits' of history. I'd like to be more knowledgeable about lots of things though.
if you read this but thank you as you made me never want to go back to be taught in the institution that we call formal education and to gain the qualifications that I would be judged on.
