Personal Space: Knowing When to Back Off and Come Closer

You can be an enemy or a friend depending on where you stand.

Photo from Bradley Gordon’s flickr

When a stranger came shoulder to shoulder out of a sudden, a person’s natural response is to protect herself and her belongings. Some will cast a hazy stare. Men may push him off without haste. This is because strangers are not welcome to enter our personal space.

Personal space is claimed territory around us. It is described as an “imaginary bubble”; and serves as an extension of our self. We are wary to people coming close to us. In situations where we are forced to crowd, we become uncomfortable. This is the reason co-riders in elevators are quiet.

People whom we have intimate relationships, be it friends or family, are permitted to invade our space. And at certain instances, we allow strangers to enter and shake hands or dip cheeks; but this is a brief contract of consent. A swift kiss from an acquaintance is alright but it’s a violation if it took minutes.

It is rude to strand next to someone and you’re too deep inside his personal space; but it is equally rude to be too away.

Culture defines a difference in personal space. Westerners generally have wider personal space compared to Asians because west people are more individualistic; and thus demand more territory. People from United States, Canada and England require the largest personal space.

Aside from geographical influences, men have broader comfort zones than women. People from the higher class of society expect more personal space. And understandably, victims of abuse need more space.

In social interactions, people should adjust to the demands of each other’s personal space. No matter how sincere your compliments are, it is the emotion you made them feel that they’ll remember. If you’re too far away, you’re aloof. If you’re too close, you’re overwhelming. Make sure you’re in the right ground to grant yourself a better impression.

It is hard to mentally calculate every person’s unique space requirements. We won’t know the history of our acquaintances either. But their behaviors will tell when we’re not at the optimal position. These signs include stepping forward or stepping back, clenching fists, covering the top lip, and leaning. Be aware of how they react.

What are your simple behaviors when people you’re interacting with are too far or too close?

Sources:
Personal Space: Why Two Can Be a Crowd; Excelle
5 Signs you are invading my personal space; Ethical Behavior

Alien Life: We Come In Peace?

“If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans”.

British weapon, the Taranis and the sketch of sighted alien craft

Those are the wise words of Stephen Hawking commenting on how an alien discovery could bring more danger than good. And let’s face it, he has a point – after all, if we were to find an alien species with higher level of intelligence and understanding than us, how would parties on both sides react?

It seems like every other day there is another rover being sent to some distant planet on the edge of our solar system, looking for signs of life. More telescopes pointing towards the skies and everything from written messages to radio waves all in a desperate attempt to find life.

Add to that, more people looking to the skies with little more than the naked eye – claiming to have seen alien spaceships and UFO’s.

People today are obsessed with such a possibility and how it will change our understanding of science and the universe. More films are being released with various different scenarios revolving around the idea of discovering alien life and how us and them would react.

Ideas of invasion, death on a large scale and manipulation may all sound completely ludicrous and similar to that we may expect from a feature film. But nobody knows exactly what kind of danger lies within our universe and what we could potentially be dealing with.

On a more positive note we would come together as a race, as Ronald Reagan once stated: “I occasionally think how quickly we would set aside our difference if we faced some alien threat from the other side.”

Nick Pope, a former British Ministry of Defence UFO expert claims aliens have been around us for some time and can come in all shapes and sizes.

Possibly one of the most significant recorded alien sightings was in Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, United Kingdom – not far from where I am currently based – where an alien space craft apparently landed between two defence bases.

Many people tried to cover up this case as much as they could, but what the people working at the defense base claimed to see is frightening to hear – especially when it seems Britain’s latest fighter craft – the Taranis – looks similar to that of the UFO claimed to have been seen near Rendlesham Forest.

It is also worth noting what some would call excessive defense systems in place during the London 2012 Olympic games, where missiles were placed on top of a number of blocks of flats across the city.

Is or was Britain preparing for an alien invasion? And if so, are they aware of certain alien activity across the planet that the rest of us are unaware of? Or is the Taranis just the latest unique addition to modern warfare?

As Nick Pope said in a recent interview regarding skeptics of the idea of alien contact: “The believers only have to be right once.”

Let’s just hope no one ever has to report on an alien takeover of planet earth.

Should we be taking a step back?

Sources:

The truth is out there… UFO expert Nick Pope talks about aliens; The Independent
Britain Has Alien-War Weapons, Says Former Government Adviser; Truth Alliance Network

Daniel Mayes Is A Recent Journalism Graduate With An Upper-Second. He Has Experience Working At BBC World Service, Sky News Online And Has Worked On Projects In Europe And Africa.  

You can read more articles from Daniel at: danmayes.wordpress.com

Space Tourism: Out of this World

The requirements: good health, ludicrous loads of money and shots of bravery.

Photo from NASA

The adventure that history may think as fictional or delusional is now taking off with us. Space tourism is welcoming wealthy adventurers to go somewhere where not many has been and seen. Like what Virgin Galactic said, “space is a virgin territory”.

After a brief tease of the thrilling tour, people jumped aboard.  From 520 listed customers, £64M ($103M) is already in deposits. The first batch of flight will happen next year.  Among the early birds to space were known personalities – Hollywood’s Paris Hilton, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt; scientists James Lovelock and Stephen Hawking; and royal Princess Beatrice. See Virgin Galactic passenger list.

A spaceplane can accommodate eight people. Two are pilots and six are passengers. Perhaps, among the six passengers was a photographer to keep track of the adventure. Virgin Galactic is excited to bring in the first batch of space tourists photos. With this mission of resolute publicity and marketing, it won’t be for long until they earned back their £162M ($261M) investment for the fleet of spaceplanes. In fact, the space industry has the potential to reach $1.6B in the next decade.

This growing industry also has growing competition. Orbital Technologies, a Russian company, plans to construct a “Hotel in the Heavens”.  No gravity is the gimmick of the hotel. The price to get there was £500,000 ($806,000) and £100,000 ($161,000) to stay for five nights. Space Adventures in Virginia will bring you to the International Space Station for $50M. Other companies offering the adventure are emerging in California and Texas while a European conference was held in London in the talks of space tourism.

How will it go? Everything will seem like a flash. 90 seconds to ascend with a speed of 4,000km/h. After six to seven minutes of gliding to the space engineless and gravityless, they’ll start descending. Tourists will appreciate a view similar to this:

We don’t know where it’s going from here. I guess there will be more men – ridiculously wealthy men – to step on the moon in the near future.

Would you travel in space?

Sources:
Space tourism: to infinity and beyond?; The Guardian
Space Tourism Is Here! Wealthy Adventurers Wanted; The New York Times