Leisure. --- .This section is about leisure. Topics include: ( ) Adventure. ( ) Danger. ( ) Fun and play. ( ) History, current, future. ( ) Outdoors. ( ) Related subjects. ( ) Risk. ( ) Specific leisure activities. ( ) Terms. ( ) Types of leisure. ( ) What is leisure. ( ) Wilderness. --- 1/24/2006
Leisure. --- (1) "Take it easy. Relax." There is a limit to this attitude. If you spend all your time relaxing then you waste your life. (2) "Enjoy". Enjoy the good things in the world while you are working to solve the world's problems. --- 5/27/2006
Leisure. --- (1) Effects of leisure activities on psychology and sociology. (2) Effects of psychology and sociology on leisure choices. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- (1) Gain, development, growth, evolution, vs. (2) stagnation, vs. (3) loss, devolution. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- (1) Ideal: Have plenty of free time. Make the most of your free time. (2) Problems: Not enough leisure time. Wasting leisure time. (3) Techniques: Track leisure time and activities. --- 6/3/2004
Leisure. --- Adventure can occur in any environment. For example, in the city or in nature. --- 6/4/2000
Leisure. --- Adventure has both negative risk and positive risk. (1) Negative risk: Danger or obstacles. Of known probability or unknown probability. (2) Positive risk. Rewards or opportunities. Of known probability or unknown probability. --- 6/4/2000
Leisure. --- Adventure is relative to individual. Adventure on purpose vs. accidental adventures (epics). --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Adventure. Different levels of adventure. (1) Visit a town that you have never visited before. (2) Go apple picking outside in a field. (3) Go hiking on a well marked trail. (4) Hike off trail. Camp overnight. (5) Go skiing on marked trails. (6) Ski off trail. (7) Explore a region that no human has explored before. (8) Increase objective dangers, for example, weather, avalanche, etc. (9) Longer trips. Multi-day trips. Multi-week trips. --- 10/10/2005
Leisure. --- Adventure. The adventure of exploration. The thrill of going where you have never gone before. The thrill of walking where no other person has ever walked. At some point, every square foot of earth shall be trodden. --- 10/30/2005
Leisure. --- Athletic virtues: Aerobic strength. Anaerobic endurance. Balance, coordination. Flexibility. Speed. Accuracy. Efficiency of movement. Fluidity. --- 1/1/2001
Leisure. --- Causes and effects of leisure choices by individual and society. Causes (psychological and physical) vs. effects (psychological and physical). --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Choices available vs. restraints and limits. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Danger and excitement (kicks, big smile, big bang). --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Danger sports. Adrenaline, endorphin, serotonin, acetylcholine. Rush of mind altering, naturally produced chemicals. Taking you to new places, with mind blowing intensity. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Disneyland as virtual reality, a model of reality, not the real world, and so to are all guided adventures. --- 4/23/2002
Leisure. --- Epistemology of leisure: Are we having fun yet? --- 5/14/2004
Leisure. --- Exploration: searching and discovery of an experience, object, or idea. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Four ways of wilderness travel. (1) High tech. The latest and greatest technological advances. (2) Low tech. Survivalist. Few tools, but latest knowledge. (3) Low tech historical. Old knowledge and tools. (4) Ecological. Latest green technologies. --- 12/4/2002
Leisure. --- Fun = enjoyable. Play = non-utilitarian or non-productive. --- 4/15/2002
Leisure. --- Fun. Keeping things fun is important. Depression makes things less fun. Fun is an emotion? Fun is play? Fun is happy? --- 11/5/1999
Leisure. --- Get as much leisure time as you can, and use your leisure time as productively as you can. --- 1/27/2007
Leisure. --- History current future. (1) Past: what did, why vs. (2) present: what do, why vs. (3) future: what want to do (now, and future), why. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- History of leisure. PART ONE. What has been the history of leisure. In theory and practice. How have past cultures answered the questions, "What is leisure?" and "What to do with leisure?"? How much leisure time did people have? PART TWO. At first, in primitive, egalitarian, nomadic, hunter-gatherer tribes, there was much leisure time. Then, with the rise of slave-labor and feudal agricultural society, there was little leisure time. Most people engaged in constant mindless back-breaking toil just to survive. However, there was a small leisure class of aristocrats who exploited the masses. Then, with industrialized democracies there arose a middle class bourgeoisie who had some leisure time after the standardized work day (8 hrs.), the standardized work week (40 hrs.) and standardized vacations (2 weeks). Child labor laws meant that children had more leisure time. Longer life spans resulted in "retirement" as a form of leisure. --- 4/12/2001
Leisure. --- Hobbies are really obsessions that people develop in order to try to avoid the painful problems of life that need to be confronted. --- 9/4/2005
Leisure. --- Hobbies can be healthy or unhealthy. An unhealthy hobby is one that contributes to avoidance of important issues via obsession with trivialities. --- 4/1/2005
Leisure. --- Hobbies. A hobby is a leisure time, pathological form of specialization where you focus on one thing in order to block out the rest of the world. And focus on the moment in order to block out the past and future. "Be here now" can be a hindrance as well as a help. --- 8/1/1998
Leisure. --- Hobbies. For many people their hobby is an obsession. The obsession being a means to avoid thinking about the rest of their lives and the rest of the world. Avoidance is achieved through distraction by attention to the hobby. The hobby acts as a pathological form of specialization. --- 10/20/2004
Leisure. --- How much leisure time do you need? --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Ideal state approach. 100% free time used 100% well (productively) vs. only enough leisure to support work time. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- If you had a billion dollars, what would you do with the rest of your life? Lay on the beach? Keep working your current job? Try to help others? Extreme sports? Read books? --- 2/15/2004
Leisure. --- If you spend all your leisure time "improving yourself" just to get or keep your work job then that is not really leisure. That is to say, if your job demands constant off-hours thought or preparation then you have no leisure. --- 4/12/2001
Leisure. --- It is important to ensure that people have leisure time. It is unethical to force people to work 16 hours a day. That is why there are laws for a 40 hour work week. One could argue that it is unethical to do any one thing 16 hours a day. --- 5/1/2005
Leisure. --- Kinesthectics. Movement and gravity. (1) Movement in three dimensions: zero gravity of space and floating in water causes weightlessness and atrophy. (2) Movement in two dimensions with no friction, for example, ice skating. (3) Gravity causes weight, and weight requires muscle and bones, which do work and cause fatigue. --- 12/20/1998
Leisure. --- Leisure activities are affected by: (1) Changes in an individual's view of what is fun. (2) Changes in an individual's view of what is important. --- 11/5/1999
Leisure. --- Leisure environments. (1) Indoors versus outdoors. Who likes being cooped up indoors? Apparently some people do. (2) Outdoors. Outdoors in a man-made environment versus outdoors in wild nature. Wouldn't you rather go on a hike than go to an amusement park? --- 5/14/2007
Leisure. --- Leisure theory (philosophy and science) and leisure activities (of society, of individual, and of me). --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Leisure time is what made America great. Leisure time gave inventors a chance to invent. Without leisure time, inventors would be doing manual labor for fourteen hours a day. The leisure time was obtained through the struggles of the labor movement against the companies and corporations. --- 11/25/2005
Leisure. --- Leisure, is it an activity, or a time period, or a geographic place, or a state of mind? (1) Leisure can be defined as an activity. (2) Leisure can be defined as a time. (3) Leisure can be defined as a place. (4) Leisure can be defined as a state of mind. --- 7/24/2004
Leisure. --- Lifestyle sports: has its own language, fashion dress code, philosophy, and people often give up work to pursue them. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Many people have a wrong attitude that says work job is important and leisure time is unimportant. However, that attitude is mistaken. You need to "have a life". Leisure time pursuits are vitally important for your life (ex. kids, mate, friends, etc.). Having no meaning in your life is just as bad or wrong as being unemployed. --- 4/12/2001
Leisure. --- Me. (1) Wanted to do if I had unlimited resources. (2) Decided to do for situation I was in. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Me. I waste most of my leisure time. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Me. My leisure history. Attitudes towards it (then and now) vs. practice of it. Why I did them, why I liked them, and why I disliked them. Why I started, and why I stopped. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Me. Past: what did, why. Present: what do, why. Future: what want to do (now, and future), why. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Most important idea is that our leisure pursuits should be environmentally friendly or green. --- 4/13/2001
Leisure. --- Most important idea. Workers in unions fought difficult battles to gain leisure. Capitalists once exploited workers into working seven days a week, twelve hours a day. Workers formed unions to gain an eight hour work day and a five day work week. In their newly gained leisure time, workers went to school and improved their lives. Thus, leisure is primarily a political and economic issue. --- 11/12/2005
Leisure. --- Most important ideas. (1) Labor union struggle secured our leisure time by gaining a forty hour, five day work week. (2) Many people waste their leisure time in non-productive activities that commercial advertisers glorify. --- 11/12/2005
Leisure. --- Most important ideas. Leisure time is very easy to waste. And it is very important not to waste leisure time. --- 12/26/1997
Leisure. --- Most important ideas. Sitting on your butt is not the way to spend your leisure time. Do something productive. You will feel better about yourself, and you won't waste your life. --- 10/30/1997
Leisure. --- Nature. Nature defined as that which is not controlled by humans. --- 5/27/2006
Leisure. --- Non-competitive, cooperative, group leisure pursuits. Frisbee. Hacky sack. Kite flying. --- 12/27/2003
Leisure. --- Not all play is fun (ex. play that you don't enjoy). Not all fun is play (ex. work that you find fun). --- 4/15/2002
Leisure. --- Outdoor survival. PART ONE. Survival with no tools. Get water. Gather food or hunt to catch food. Grow food or raise animals. Preserve food. Make shelter. Make fire. Stay warm and dry and fed, and watered and healthy. Navigate: by north star, or by sunrise and sunset. Make clothes and shoes from hides. Make a pack. Make rope. Stone knife, stone spear, bow and arrow. PART TWO. Survival with minimal tools. Metal knife and other hand tools. Natural fiber rope. Natural fiber canvas. The ecological way. PART THREE. Survival with advanced tools. Electronics. Aluminum. Plastics and man made fibers. Matches and compass. Guns. Horses. Writing. Wheels. PART FOUR. Survival in extreme environments. Cold (arctic or winter). Heat (desert or summer). Rain (rain forest or england). High altitude (mountains). --- 1/4/2002
Leisure. --- Outdoor. How to distinguish types of outdoor activities. (1) Environment: degree of wilderness. (2) Needs and desires: heat, water, food, shelter. (3) Technology. Tools: nothing, or just knife, or mountain man gun and traps, or state of art high tech stuff. Techniques: completely dumb or very excellent survival skills. (4) Materials: rocks, plants. (5) Energy: human power, machine power. --- 03/01/1994
Leisure. --- Outdoors. Backpacking. Standing alone at night, naked, in the freezing rain, miles from civilization, not knowing where you are, not knowing if you'll die of hunger or thirst first, with wild hungry animals all around...like rush hour on the subway. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Outdoors. Backpacking. There are three things in a backpackers world. (1) What is in front of his eyes (nature). (2) What is in his head (thoughts). (3) What is in his pack (stuff). A gear-nut focuses on the third, to the exclusion of the first two. He has created his own little world of stuff which he controls. Master of his domain, king of his castle. But the third is the least important of all three. --- 6/16/1998
Leisure. --- Outdoors. How simple can you live? How light can you travel? What are the basics? What is the least you need? Carry your home on your back. Mobile, nomad, freedom, self sufficient, self reliant, independent, and individualistic. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Outdoors. Many people want to get back to nature, but only through a layer of plastic. What a joke. --- 2/1/1999
Leisure. --- Outdoors. Sleeping outdoors is (1) Reveling in your freedom to leave (break away, get away) from parents and old family, and thus create a new family. (2) To know you could leave for good, from any situation, if you wanted to. (3) Is it getting to nature, or getting away from civilization? --- 03/16/1997
Leisure. --- Outdoors. Why do people go into nature? To feel less dependent on society and technology. To feel less a slave to society and technology. --- 3/21/2001
Leisure. --- Outdoors. Why do so many people go outdoors? More specifically, why do so many people go into nature? More specifically why do so many people go into wilderness? I say, for inspiration and revelation. Inspiration defined as an improvement in mood or emotion. Revelation defined as new ideas, which occurs when immersion in nature helps bring our subconscious mind closer to the surface. --- 3/21/2001
Leisure. --- Play. Play as pretend, not real, imaginary. Play as modeling. Play as creativity. (2) Psychotherapeutic aspects of play. Educational aspects of play. Social aspects of play. (3) Play as competition, contest. Play as cooperation, sharing. --- 5/14/2004
Leisure. --- Problem approach. (1) Not enough vs. too much leisure time. (2) Leisure time not used well. (3) Not enough physical exercise vs. too much time spent on it. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Progressivism and Leisure. Progressives do not waste their leisure time. --- 5/5/2007
Leisure. --- Questions for any specific leisure activity (x in general it). (1) What is it (metaphysics)? Why do it (ethics)? How do it (technology)? (2) History, culture. (3) The environment, the act, the lifestyle, the people. (4) Philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics. (5) Psychology, physical, and sociology. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Business and leisure. The advertisers fight each other for your leisure time and leisure dollars. They try to sell you an argument for a philosophy (metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics), a lifestyle, and an answer, not just a product and a brand. --- 8/2/1998
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Economics: what do you put into a leisure activity vs. what do you get out of it? Inputs or costs vs. outputs or results. Benefits, help, gains vs. problems, losses, drawbacks. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Environment and leisure: beach, wilderness, urban. People want to go someplace new. Variety is the spice of life, they say. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Environment and leisure. Most climbing ropes and gear, and surfboards, are not environmentally friendly. --- 09/26/1997
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Environmentally friendly outdoor gear. Cotton vs. nylon. Resources each uses. Pollution each makes in production, and after use. How long each lasts. Cotton and wool clothes, blankets, packs, tents, how heavy, warm, waterproof are they? --- 09/20/1994
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Philosophy and leisure. (1) Metaphysics: what is leisure? (Ex. What is essence of climbing.) (2) Epistemology: how do we know? Only by experience? (3) Ethics: what do, how do it, how much, and why? (4) Aesthetics: the beauty of the activity. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Philosophy and leisure. Aesthetics: The environment that you like influences what leisure activity you choose. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Philosophy and leisure. Metaphysics. What leisure is vs. what people think leisure is. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Philosophy and leisure. What is leisure (metaphysics)? How do we use it (ethics)? How much leisure to get, and what to do with it? --- 07/22/1993
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Psychology and leisure. Causes and effects of individual's leisure choices. Psychological, physical, and economic/financial factors in choices. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Psychology and leisure. Leisure choice of individual: society influences individual's thought and desires. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Psychology and leisure. Leisure is an area where we often focus on the effects of environment and physical activity on our mental state. (1) The effect of environment on mental state. For example, we often go somewhere that has either a calming or exciting environment, and a beautiful natural environment. (2) The effect of physical activity on mental state. For example, we pursue engaging physical activities like hiking, biking, etc. Or we lie motionless on a beach, which is just a step away from the meditative practices of Eastern ascetics. (3) The effect of environment and physical activity on mental state is to change our attitude (emotions and thoughts). The change in attitude can be to gain new ideas and emotions, or it can be to return to healthy ideas and emotions that we have lost touch with during the rat race. (4) Humans would do well to incorporate these beneficial aspects of leisure into their everyday work world. --- 2/24/2001
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Psychology and leisure. Psychology or personality type attracted to, or repelled by, any leisure activity. Causes of individual's leisure choices, and effects of leisure activities on personality. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Psychology of leisure activities. Compare the following activities. (1) Nurturing, constructive activities like gardening, etc. (2) Risk activities. Climbing, big wave surfing, etc. (3) Conflict activities and destructive activities. Bullfighting. Hunting. Bear baiting. Dog fighting. Boxing. Cat torture. Harassment. PART TWO. We can divide leisure activities into the following groups: healthy and productive vs. non-productive vs. unhealthy and destructive. --- 11/15/2003
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology and leisure. America. Time available, typically in America. 1/3 sleep, 1/3 survival work, 1/3 leisure. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology and leisure. America. What do most Americans do in their leisure time today? Married men take care of their lawns and cars, and watch sports on television. Married women go shopping and talk on the phone. Singles hangout in bars socializing. What a big waste. --- 8/1/1998
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology and leisure. America. X number of people in U.S. spend Y hours doing Z activities. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology and leisure. America's leisure activities: Eating, sleeping, sex, shopping. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology and leisure. Groups and their philosophies about leisure activity and life. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology and leisure. Social ethical attitudes toward leisure time and leisure activities. Ideas on what do, how much do, and why do. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology and leisure. The amount of leisure time and varieties of leisure activities a society can get depends on technology, economics, politics, environment, and the society's philosophy. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology and leisure. The current overemphasis in the U.S. on sports and entertainment. Americans attempt to legitimize these forms of escape. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology and leisure. The varieties of leisure activities a society chooses depends on physical, psychological, and economic/financial factors. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology and leisure. The varieties of leisure activities a society permits, promotes, pursues, endorses, discourages, and prohibits. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Sociology. The variety of different types of leisure activities that a society has: (1) Depends on the technology available. (2) Depends on the creativity and inventiveness of individuals. (3) Depends on the freedom of individual expression in the society. (4) Depends on society's attitude toward leisure in general. Does the society value leisure? Does the society value fun? --- 7/30/2002
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Technology and leisure. (1) Low tech (simple) and high tech (complex). (2) A little tech (little quantity of stuff) and a lot of tech (big quantity of stuff). (3) The two pairs are not the same. Example, you can have a small (little), high-tech (complex) device. (4) I prefer as low tech and as little tech as possible to get the job done. --- 4/8/2001
Leisure. --- Related subjects. Technology: as technology increases, will leisure increase? If leisure increases, will people lose their edge and character? If leisure time increases substantially, what should we do with our leisure time? The thing is to keep working on systems (individual, natural, world). --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Relationship of work and leisure. (1) We must have leisure time. We must not have a society that works people 12 hours a day plus 4 hours of commuting. (2) We must make good use of our leisure time. We must develop ourselves. We must not waste our leisure time. (3) A bad situation is one in which society provides little leisure time for the individual, and the individual wastes the little leisure time that they have. Unfortunately, that describes the USA today. --- 1/22/2004
Leisure. --- Risk, adventure and danger. --- 12/30/92
Leisure. --- Risk, danger vs. safety, security, responsibility, duty. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Risk. Floating through the air on a balloon festooned lounge chair, teenage hooligans, climbing, etc. Young, fearless, men looking for excitement and adventure. Doing creative yet useless acts to gain public attention. Stunts. Avoiding the boring and mundane. They have energy to burn, and can't think of anything better to do. --- 07/30/1996
Leisure. --- Risk. Safety, regularity, conformity, predictability vs. danger, chaos, rebellion. Some seek one, some seek the other, why? --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Sex, food, shopping, rest, friends. These are things you "need" to do anyway. Who says you do not "need" to climb, surf, etc. --- 4/28/1998
Leisure. --- Specific leisure activities. Antiques are about: (1) Love of history. Love of the past. (2) Love of money. Antiques as investments. (3) Love of physical objects. Love of the thing. (4) Love of self. The desire to "save the antique" is perhaps really the desire to save the self from decaying and dying. And the desire to save everyone and everything from dying. (5) A desire to stop time. (6) Love of physical beauty. --- 2/24/2000
Leisure. --- Specific leisure activities. Collecting and collectors. Why do people collect? (1) For money. To resell at a profit. (2) For meaning. Sentimental meaning. Historical meaning. (3) For material acquisition. To have lots of meaningless stuff. --- 7/12/2001
Leisure. --- Specific leisure activities. Collecting. Stamp collecting is the adult version of children collecting stickers, which is the human version of bird's fascination with bright shiny objects. Baubles, trinkets, mementos, souvenirs, knick knacks, and brick a brack. --- 12/30/1996
Leisure. --- Specific leisure activities. Hackysack is popular among deadheads because there are no winners or losers, or score. You work together communally to keep the ball aloft. It is cooperative, not competitive. --- 09/01/1994
Leisure. --- Specific leisure activities. Men call phone sex lines for sex. Women call psychic hotlines for a friend to talk to. Empathetic listeners to soothe worries. Soothsayers. --- 09/01/1994
Leisure. --- Specific leisure activities. Pets. Dogs are like dumb sidekicks. Many people want a dumb sidekick. For example, in the movie Superman, the character Lex Luther had a dumb sidekick named Otis. However, if dogs were smarter than humans then few humans would keep dogs as pets because humans fear anything superior to themselves, and smart pets would make the humans feel feelings of inferiority. --- 9/10/2000
Leisure. --- Specific leisure activities. Pets. What is it that people enjoy about pets? (1) Is it all about emotion? (2) Unconditional love? (3) Unconditional loyalty? (4) Anything with eyes. (5) Anything that moves. (6) Anything unpredictable. Anything semi-random? (7) Anything with a pulse. (7) Anything warm? (8) Anything that lives and breathes? (9) Like a stand-in for a child? (10) Like a stand in for another person? (11) A generic "other". (12) So we don't go crazy? (13) A connection to nature? A connection to the wild? A connection to life? (14) Like a stupid human? Or like a smart plant? (15) We tend to anthropromorphize our pets. (16) We are the ones who want attention from the pets. It is not just the pets that want attention from us. And it is not just that we want to give attention to the pets. (17) We need something to love, anything. (18) Pets as stand-ins for humans vs. pets as pets. --- 10/20/1999
Leisure. --- Specific leisure activities. Scrabble variants. (1) You can play Scrabble with letters on the wood tiles (the original game). (2) You can play Scrabble with words on the wood tiles. (3) You can play Scrabble with sentences or ideas on the wood tiles. --- 8/18/2000
Leisure. --- Specific leisure activities. Shooting targets. (1) Stationary shooter and stationary target (archery). (2) Moving shooter and stationary target (basketball). (3) Stationary shooter and moving target (skeet). (4) Moving shooter and moving target (dog fight). (5) Linear movement vs. planar movement vs. 3-D movement. (6) Speed and distance increase difficulty too. --- 08/24/1994
Leisure. --- Specific leisure activities. The billiard green is the poor mans lawn. Your eyes drift into the expanse. --- 06/21/1993
Leisure. --- Terms. (1) Risk: Are the risks that we take in board games real risk? (2) Danger: Danger does not necessarily have to involve a new situation. (3) Exploration: We explore new situations. Exploration does not have to occur in nature or the wilderness. Exploration can even be mental. (4) Nature: Nature is not always wild. (5) Wilderness: Wilderness is usually nature, but not necessarily. (6) Adventure: Adventure usually involves risk. Adventure usually involves exploration. --- 4/13/2001
Leisure. --- Terms. Leisure theory includes such terms as travel, risk and adventure. (1) Risk. Risk means you know what the possible outcomes are but you do not know which of those possible outcomes will be the exact actual outcome. For example, when you flip a coin you know it will be either heads or tails but you do not know which. (2) Travel. Simple travel means you are going to see and experience something that you have not seen or experienced before, yet you know what it is that you will be seeing or experiencing for the first time. For example, traveling to visit the Taj Mahal for the first time. (3) Adventure. Adventure is something beyond simple risk and simple travel. Adventure is beyond simple risk in that in adventure there are many possible outcomes and you do not know what those outcomes are. Adventure is beyond simple travel in that you are going to see and experience something for the first time, yet you do not know what it is that you will see and experience. --- 1/1/2001
Leisure. --- Terms. Leisure theory includes terms such as nature, competition, and adventure. (1) Can you have adventure without being in nature? Yes, for example, in urban areas. (2) Can you have competition in nature? Yes, for example, the eco-challenge race. (3) Can you be in nature without having adventure? Yes, for example, pre-planned tours in which you know where you are going and what you will see. (4) Can you have adventure without competition? Yes, for example, if you go and get lost in the wilderness. --- 1/1/2001
Leisure. --- The body. Dancers, athletes and manual laborers understand the body. They understand the use of the body. They understand the body experientially. They understand the body in a way other than the way medical doctors understand the body. (2) Its good to have a healthy body. Its good to have an understanding of the body. Understanding the body in the way a dancer, athlete or manual laborer understands the body is very close to access to the unconscious. Thus, understanding the body is a step toward greater creativity. --- 4/10/2005
Leisure. --- The coolest sports: climbing, big wave surfing, full drift auto racing (i.e., 1950's Grand Prix auto racing), and bull fighting. The uncoolest sports: bowling, golf, tennis. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- The Corpratization of leisure. The company softball team. The company picnic. The company holiday party. The corporation wants your work time and it also wants your leisure time. --- 7/24/2004
Leisure. --- Three philosophies of what to do with leisure time. (1) Have fun, even at the expense of one's health. Decadence, both minor (smoking, drinking) and major (Russian roulette). (2) Rest, recuperation and relaxation. Doing nothing. Stasis. Loafing, vegetating. Physically and psychologically. (3) Getting something done. Accomplish something. Getting healthy. Getting wealthy. --- 4/13/2001
Leisure. --- Three suboptimal pairs of attitudes. (1)(A) The "leisure" mentality that pursues leisure for leisure's sake. The non-productive use of leisure time. (B) The "leisure" mentality that posits the highest joys as stuffing your face with food and then sleeping all day. (2)(A) The "jock" mentality that sees everything as a competition. (B) The "jock" mentality that sees the physical body as all-important, and is anti-intellectual. (3)(A) The "fan" mentality that results in rabid devotion to the team. The fan mentality that results in violence in the bleachers. (B) The "fan" mentality that spends so much time and energy obsessing about a useless activity. --- 9/17/2005
Leisure. --- Three ways of spending leisure time. (1) Spending leisure time "improving yourself". (A) Going to the gym. (B) Going to school. (2) Spending leisure time stagnating or vegetating. (3) Spending leisure time destroying yourself. Ex. Drinking yourself slowly to death. --- 4/12/2001
Leisure. --- To have no leisure time is unjust. To waste your leisure time is unjust. --- 11/10/2001
Leisure. --- Travel and pollution. Air travel pollutes a great deal. Car travel pollutes less. Bus travel pollutes less. Bicycling does not pollute. A person can bicycle about 100 miles a day. Walking does not pollute. A person can walk about 20 miles a day. Motor boats pollute, but sail boats do not pollute. --- 5/22/2007
Leisure. --- Travel. The feeling of being a traveler. Not settled. Adrift. No home. In a state of flux. A refugee. An ex-pat. A stranger in a strange land. An alien. A global citizen. Thinking and acting globally and locally. --- 5/22/2007
Leisure. --- Two things that I always had doubts about were mediated experiences in artificial environments. Mediated experiences meaning when another person is controlling how you experience the environment, for example, a tour guide. Artificial environment meaning an environment constructed by man for you to experience, for example, Disneyland. So a mediated experience in an artificial environment would be, for example, a guided tour of Disneyland, something that I would not like to take part in. On the other hand, an unmediated experience in a natural environment, for example, walking into the wilderness without a guide, is something that would interest me. PART TWO. What are my objections to mediated experiences in artificial environments? (1) You do not have to think because you are spoon fed like a baby. It is too passive. (2) They take all the obstacles, danger, challenge, risk and uncertainty out of the picture. (3) It is easier to be lied to. They can shield you from the truth, despite even them having good intentions. (4) If you are interested in "reality" then why accept a toy model of reality? PART THREE. Some people might counter-argue the following: (1) All art is a mediated experience of an artificial environment, yet people continue to read books, watch movies, etc. (2) Today, the world (i.e., the living environment) we live in is mostly manmade. At some point in history we went from a living environment that was greater than 50% natural to a greater than 50% manmade artificial environment. So the world we live in (a.k.a. "reality itself") is a mediated experience in an artificial environment. In this respect, the real world, defined as the world we spend most of our time in, is actually an artificial world, defined as a predominantly man-made world. So why should it bother us if our leisure time is spent the same way? (3) Another counter-argument is that all artificial environments are a type of mediated experience. For example, a building is designed by an architect, then built, and then people walk through it. Even if the architect is not personally present to guide the people through the building, he has still mediated the visitors experience of they building by how he designed the walkways through the building. PART FIVE. What can I say to these counter-arguments? I say that I prefer to decide where I go and when I go and how I go there. I do not like to conform to someone else's itinerary or travel plan. In terms of truth, more often than not, tour guides hide the truth rather than reveal a truth that you could not find yourself. In terms of freedom, more often than not, tour guides limit your freedom rather than increase your freedom. (3) Tours tend to produce lazy, unthinking people who do not mind being overcharged, who do not mind being lied to, and who do not mind having their freedom limited. PART SIX. To sum up, the objection that many will have to "virtual reality" is that it is a mediated experience in an artificial environment. --- 8/30/2001
Leisure. --- Types of leisure activities. (1) Active vs. inactive or sedentary. (2) Physical vs. mental. (3) Useless vs. not useful. (4) Mindless vs. not mindless. (5) Work, play, lounge. (6) Think, talk, do. (7) Solitary vs. social sports. (8) Competition with self vs. competition with others. (9) Competitive vs. cooperative activities. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Types of leisure pursuits available depends on technology, economic, social, and political factors. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. (1) Dangerous (risky) vs. non-dangerous activities. There is a big difference between them. (2) Hurtful vs. neutral vs. helpful activities. (3) Productive vs. non-productive activities. (4) Some people argue that any leisure activity can be productive if it helps that specific person be happy. I will call a productive activity an activity where, even if the person did not enjoy it, something useful would still be produced anyway. --- 11/30/1996
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. (1) Education: learning and studying information. Vs. (2) Art: as performer vs. as audience (live or taped). Arts as education and entertainment. Vs. (3) Entertainment: circus, TV, comedy clubs (art?). --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. (1) Fun (enjoyable) vs. not. (2) Productive vs. not. (3) Healthy vs. not. (4) Helpful (worthwhile and rewarding) vs. not. (5) Frivolous and unimportant vs. not. --- 4/13/2001
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. (1) Party and celebrations. Party hardy vs. laid back. Solitary vs. social gatherings. Talk, music, dance, booze/drugs, sex. (2) Socializing. With lover, friends, work people, relatives, strangers, mass social events, clubs and bars. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. (1) The Big 3: surfing, skateboarding, climbing (and hitching). (2) Maintenance activities: lifting, running, calesthenics, bike, swim. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. Chosen vs. forced by various forces such as social, political, natural, economics (time, energy, money, materials), and personal capabilities (psychological and physical). --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. Different versions of competition. Playing for fun vs. playing seriously. Playing for nothing vs. playing for bragging rights vs. playing for money. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. Exercise: mental or physical. Games: mental or physical; solo or group; sedentary (chess, checkers, cards) or active. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. Leisure as rest and recuperation. Meditation. Laying on the beach doing nothing. Down time. --- 5/14/2004
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. Pastimes and hobbies. Model building, collecting (stamps, bugs, etc.). --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. Pets, plants, and kids: their psychological effects on people. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Types of leisure. Rest, relaxation, veging, sleep. Not having to think, say or do anything. Your mind neither running from nor pursuing anything. Zen like. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Unproductive leisure. America is completely obsessed with non-productive leisure time and activities. Its been sold by advertisers and bought by the American public. At this point most Americans cannot think critically to argue against it. --- 7/7/2005
Leisure. --- Unproductive leisure. It is important to get leisure time. It is also important to use leisure time productively. That second notion is lost on many people. --- 10/21/2005
Leisure. --- Unproductive leisure. Spending one's leisure time unproductively is a total waste. 90% of Americans use 90% of their leisure time unproductively. I endeavor to use 100% of my leisure time productively. --- 7/7/2005
Leisure. --- Unproductive leisure. The nonproductive waste of leisure time. Pure entertainment. Pure hedonism. Debauchery. Sloth. America has become a culture that values laying on the beach doing nothing. Golf. Drinks on the patio. The American Dream is Sloth. --- 8/31/2005
Leisure. --- Vacation. (1) Who gets a vacation? Not everyone gets a vacation. Of the people who do get a vacation, some people get a paid vacation, while other people do not get a paid vacation. (2) How much vacation do people get? Some people get a week vacation, other people get a month vacation. (3) What do people do on their vacation? Some people waste their vacation doing nothing. Other people do something positive and useful with their vacations. PART TWO. Useful vacations. (1) Environmentally friendly vacations. Eco-vacations. Your leisure practices should be earth friendly. (2) Volunteer vacations. Work toward social justice on your vacation. --- 5/14/2007
Leisure. --- We have in our society the notions of leisure times and leisure places. For example, "After work" as a leisure time. "The bar" as a leisure place. "Vacation or holiday" is a leisure time. "Beach or resort" is a leisure place. Both work and leisure are therefore artificially created times and places. --- 1/8/2004
Leisure. --- What is leisure? (1) Survival vs. leisure. (2) Leisure environment vs. leisure activity vs. leisure time. (3) Leisure work vs. leisure play vs. leisure lounge. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- What is leisure. (1) Leisure survival (have to do). (A) What, how, how much, why. (B) Sleep, eat, piss/shit, shower/shampoo, chores. (C) Procure or shop, maintenance and repair. (D) Formal education (school). (2) Leisure free (choices). (A) Leisure work (accomplishes something). (B) Leisure play (accomplishes nothing). Sleep, daydream, thinking, obsessing, relax, goof off, waste time, sports, games, hobbies. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- What is leisure. (1) Survival work: your job. (2) Leisure time. (A) Leisure work: productive. Need to do (ex. Chores). Free to do or not (ex. Charity work). (B) Leisure non-work: non-productive, play, loafing. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- What is leisure. (1) The old view of leisure: Rest the body. Rest the mind. (2) The new view of leisure: Exercise the body (all parts of it). Exercise the mind (all parts of it). --- 9/25/2000
Leisure. --- What is leisure. (1)(A) Fun: enjoyable. (B) No fun: not enjoyable. (2)(A) Work: productive. (B) Leisure: non-productive? --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- What is leisure. Components of leisure. (1) Joy. Celebration. (2) Play. Games. (3) Idleness. Doing nothing. Waiting for inspiration. --- 11/26/2000
Leisure. --- What is leisure. Definitions of leisure. PART ONE. (1) Leisure defined as "not working job". (2) Leisure defined as "no responsibilities". Ex. Hiring a baby sitter to watch your kids while you and your mate go to a movie. PART TWO. Leisure defined as "no responsibilities" gets into the whole area of ethical responsibility (see also Philosophy, ethics, responsibility). (1) Things you have to do like breathing, sleeping, eating. These are usually not considered responsibilities because they are unavoidable. (2) Things you should do. (A) Things you should do but can avoid (ex. flossing teeth). Avoidable responsibilities. (B) Things you should do and cannot avoid. Unavoidable responsibilities. (ex. ?). (3) Things you contracted yourself to do of your own choice. By written or verbal promise. That you didn't have to do, but that you chose to do. --- 4/12/2001
Leisure. --- What is leisure. Fun vs. no fun. Work is productive, play is nonproductive. Either one can be fun, or no fun. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- What is leisure. Leisure conundrums. (1) If I get more good accomplished during my leisure time than I do during my work job then a profound metaphysical change has occurred. (2) If two people fall in love during their leisure time, and if that love affair is the greatest thing in their lives, then surely work job has taken a demotion in importance vis a vis leisure. --- 4/12/2001
Leisure. --- What is leisure. Leisure definitions: (1) Unpaid, and/or (2) Unproductive, and/or (3) Fun, and/or (4) No effort required. --- 09/10/1994
Leisure. --- What is leisure. Terms. (1) Fun: anything we enjoy, for whatever reason. (2) Entertainment: amuses us. Entertainment vs. information. Entertainment vs. art. (3) Leisure: time, non-survival work time. (4) Sports: physical competition. (5) Game: a mental or physical contest or competition. (6) Exercise: an exercise to stay in shape, prevent atrophy and mental and physical decay. (7) Play: an activity, non-productive. Child's way of dealing with reality. Frivolous, not serious. Practice for real world. (8) A drag: no fun. (9) Goofing off: . (10) Recreation: . (11) Hobby or pastime: a leisure pursuit, non-competitive. (12) Rest: . (13) Relaxation: . --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- What is leisure. Terms. (1) Play: Play is an activity, as opposed to inactive resting and relaxing. (2) Exercise: Exercise is a maintenance action or a practice activity. (3) Hobby: (4) Pastime: noncompetitive. (5) Lifestyle: (6) Game: competitive, can be physical or nonphysical. (7) Sports: physical and competitive. --- 4/13/2001
Leisure. --- What is leisure. The leisure-lifestyle specialist consciously believes that he or she is simply pursuing fun. However, unconsciously, the leisure-community that the leisure specialist belongs to, and the leisure-belief-system that the leisure specialist holds, both provide a feeling of safety, comfort and protection from outside ideas and attitudes. It also provides a sense of identity. --- 10/4/2000
Leisure. --- What is leisure. There is no distinction between work and leisure. If you are independently wealthy, all your time is leisure time, but you may use that time doing work. The only distinction is on the job vs. off the job. Or actually, forced to work vs. chosen to work, since the same millionaire might take a job they don't really need. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- What is leisure. Total leisure complex of individual or society. Type, duration, frequency, and intensity. What you do, why. How, where, why. How much can you get, and how much do you take. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- What is leisure. Total time and behavior = survival work (job) + leisure time (no job). --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- What is leisure. What can be said about people who focus on trivial leisure pursuits? They know how to relax. They know how to have fun. Do not underestimate the importance and difficulty of relaxing and having fun. Its a skill. Many people do not know how to relax and have fun. They are uptight curmudgeons. --- 11/26/2000
Leisure. --- What things are fun? (1) What things do most people consider to be fun? Coffee, women and not thinking. (2) What things do I consider to be fun? Coffee, women and thinking. So you see, I am only one off. --- 6/11/2002
Leisure. --- Why do we have leisure? Why try and get leisure? Why study leisure? How use leisure? How study leisure? --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Why leisure? (1) Leisure can be a way to avoid reality and problems, or confront reality and problems. (2) Leisure as a means to catharsis. (A) Without knowledge of problem or conflict, or (B) without solving problem or conflict. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Why leisure? In leisure activities you can confront new situations and learn things that you wouldn't learn in everyday life, and thus grow. Ex. sky diving. --- 01/01/1993
Leisure. --- Why leisure? You owe it to yourself to enjoy life. The pleasures are all we have to counteract the pain. If you give yourself a nervous breakdown, or perform suboptimally because you wouldn't take it easy, that's bad. The key is to find the right type and frequency of leisure that produces the best "mind" for your work, and no more. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Wild and free are two different things. Four combinations. (1) Wild and free (ex. an animal in natural environment). (2) Not wild and free (ex. a civilized free man). (3) Wild and not free (ex. an animal in a cage). (4) Not wild and not free (ex.a civilized slave). --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Wild. Four definitions of wild. (1) Untamed (unbroken) vs. tame. (2) Uncivilized (ignorant, or without culture) vs. civilized. (3) Natural vs. filled with meaningless social norms. (4) Chaotic (unstable) vs. order. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Wilderness travel types. (1) Tools: low tech vs. high tech. (2) Knowledge: stupid vs. smart. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Wilderness: free, uncivilized, unconditioned, unbribed, unfearful, unfaggot, untamed. Civilized: tame, bribed, slaves, fearful, faggots. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Wilderness. (1) Wilderness can mean a new unknown environment, or (2) Wilderness can mean an unspoiled natural environment. --- 12/30/1992
Leisure. --- Wilderness. The illusion of wilderness. A young suburban kid might consider his local woods to be wilderness but it is not. Similarly, to the first white explorers the Amazon rainforest seemed like wilderness, but the native Indian tribes that lived there considered the rainforest to be home. So there is a subjective quality to the phenomenon of "wilderness". Another example, the English saw the Australian outback as a deathtrap, but the native Aborigines saw the outback as a source of life. So it seems that wilderness is a personal experience. What adventure travelers pay for is either a personal wilderness experience or the illusion of wilderness. PART TWO. (A) Wilderness as an ecological term has to do with man's impact on the natural environment. If man's impact was nil then there would be wilderness everywhere and we would live in it and not call it wilderness. (B) As far as wilderness as an adventure term goes, there is no objective standard of wilderness. Even if you say "to go where no man has gone before", well then big deal, who cares. Even if you add "almost died trying", well then big deal, who cares. --- 5/18/2001
Leisure. --- Wilderness. The reason to go into the wilderness is so you can "see" civilization. To be able to see civilization you have to see it from the outside as well as from within it. To experience when civilization is not there lets you see what civilization is. --- 5/21/2000
Leisure. --- Wilderness. There are several things that drove me (and others) into the wilderness. (1) Freedom. I was so sick of school, parents, job and laws. Wanted to just get away from it all. Escape. (2) Simplicity. Wanted to see how much "stuff" you can live without. (3) Natural. Wanted to live as naturally as possible. Less civilization, and less mechanization. Beauty of nature. (4) Undisturbed privacy. Did not want to be bombarded with advertisements. Wanted some quiet time to think. Wanted to be away from people. --- 12/30/1996
Leisure. --- Wilderness. When an Eskimo was captured and taken to New York City it was wilderness to him. --- 5/18/2001
Leisure. --- Wilderness. Wilderness can be defined two ways. (1) Wilderness as the places that are uncharted. The blank spots on the map. The places that we, as a society, have no knowledge of. (2) Secondly, wilderness as the places where nobody lives. The places that are uninhabited. This weaker definition of wilderness says that even though we know what's there, its wilderness if no people live there. (3) My contention is that the wilderness, in both of the above senses, regrettably, has ceased to exist. With the advent of the study of geography, and especially global positioning satellites (GPS), there are few places that are uncharted. And with the increase of the human population there are few places where people are not. People are everywhere. --- 11/25/2001
Leisure. --- You have no leisure time when you are raising kids. --- 11/14/1998