Showing posts with label the. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the. Show all posts
Sunday, 20 November 2016
Be Careful of Your Thoughts They Control Your Destiny the analysis of the Quote
An analysis of this quote of the ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao-Tze.
“Watch your thoughts; they become words”: Every word that comes out of our mouth comes from a thought – whether consciously or unconsciously. A happy, kind thought precedes happy, kind words. And vice versa, if our thoughts are less than desirable, then somewhere along the thought process, we must’ve kindled matching thoughts.
“Watch your words; they become actions”: Our tone of voice and body language instinctively follow the words we’re saying (unless you’ve credible acting skills) – whether sweet or sour – they follow the thought we have bundled behind our words.
“Watch your actions; they become habits”: All of the habits we have were created by the actions we choose to take over and over again. Habits can be changed when we begin to take different actions which will form positive habits.
“Watch your habits; they become your character”: This is the set of qualities that distinguish us from one another – the way other people see us. They can’t feel our feelings or think our thoughts (maybe a soul mate can) – they only hear our words, see our actions and habits that define who we are and what we stand for.
“Watch your character; it becomes your destiny”: Our destiny – our reality – our world. Each of us has a unique perception of the world we live in. This is to an extent because we’ve created it – by our past thoughts. Take the example of the glass being half full or half empty – the point of view is unique to one’s interpretation of reality.
Though we may desire our future to be different to our past and present – many of us don’t achieve our goals because we’re stuck in a chronic cycle of “doing the same things over and over and expecting different results”. If we keep doing what we’ve always done, will we not get what we’ve always got?
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Golden Puffer fish the Dangerous delicious fish
Pufferfish are generally believed to be the second most poisonous vertebrates in the world, after the golden poison frog. Certain internal organs, such as liver, and sometimes the skin, are highly toxic to most animals when eaten; nevertheless, the meat of some species is considered a delicacy in Japan (known as fugu), when prepared by chefs who know which part is safe to eat and in what quantity.
Pufferfish are poor swimmers, but can quickly ingest huge amounts of water to turn themselves into a virtually inedible ball several times their normal size.
Now, here's a disturbed Puffer for you ..!! [VIDEO]When people worry about math the brain feels the pain
 |
| UChicago researchers have found that the higher a person’s anxiety about math, the more anticipating math activated areas of the brain related to experiencing pain. |
Using brain scans, scholars determined that the brain areas active when highly math-anxious people prepare to do math overlap with the same brain areas that register the threat of bodily harm -- and in some cases, physical pain.
"For someone who has math anxiety, the anticipation of doing math prompts a similar brain reaction as when they experience pain -- say, burning one's hand on a hot stove," said Sian Beilock, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and a leading expert on math anxiety.
Surprisingly, the researchers found it was the anticipation of having to do math, and not actually doing math itself, that looked like pain in the brain. "The brain activation does not happen during math performance, suggesting that it is not the math itself that hurts; rather the anticipation of math is painful," added Ian Lyons, a 2012 PhD graduate in psychology from UChicago and a postdoctoral scholar at Western University in Ontario, Canada.
The two report their findings in a paper, "When Math Hurts: Math Anxiety Predicts Pain Network Activation in Anticipation of Doing Math," in the current issue of PLoS One.
For the study, the scholars worked with 14 adults who were shown to have math anxiety based on their responses to a series of questions about math. The questions gauged one's anxiety when receiving a math textbook, walking to math class or realizing math requirements for graduation. Additional tests showed that these individuals were not overly anxious in general; instead, their heightened sense of anxiety was specific to math-related situations.
The study volunteers were tested in an fMRI machine, which allowed researchers to examine brain activity as they did math. Volunteers were given mathematics equations to verify -- for example, the validity of the following equation: (12 x 4) -- 19 = 29. While in the fMRI scanner, subjects were also shown short word puzzles. For these puzzles, people saw a series of letters (for example: yrestym) and had to determine if reversing the order of the letters produced a correctly spelled English word.
The fMRI scans showed that the anticipation of math caused a response in the brain similar to physical pain. The higher a person's anxiety about math, the more anticipating math activated the posterior insula -- a fold of tissue located deep inside the brain just above the ear that is associated with registering direct threats to the body as well as the experience of pain. Interestingly, math anxiety levels were not associated with brain activity in the insula or in any other neural region when volunteers were doing math.
The work by Lyons and Beilock suggests that, for those with math anxiety, a painful sense of dread may begin long before a person sits down to take a math test. Previous research has shown that highly math anxious individuals tend to avoid math-related situations and even math-related career paths. The current work suggests that such avoidance stems in part from painful anxiety.
The current work is also consistent with other research from Beilock and Lyons, in which they showed that the mere anticipation of doing mathematics changes functioning in the brains of people with high levels of math anxiety. Beilock's work, supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education, has also shown that mathematics anxiety can begin as early as first grade, and that female elementary school teachers often transmit their math anxiety to their female students.
This latest study points to the value of seeing math anxiety not just as a proxy for poor math ability, but as an indication there can be a real, negative psychological reaction to the prospect of doing math. This reaction needs to be addressed like any other phobia, the researchers said. Rather than simply piling on math homework for students who are anxious about math, students need active help to become more comfortable with the subject, Beilock said. Beilock's work has shown, for instance, that writing about math anxieties before a test can reduce one's worries and lead to better performance.
Beilock is the author of the best-selling book about stress and performance, "Choke: What The Secrets Of The Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To."
Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by University of Chicago. The original article was written by William Harms.
Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Saturday, 1 October 2016
Europe’s Forgotten ‘Hitler’ Killed Over 10 Million Africans — But the West Erased it From History
Most people have no idea of who is pictured above, but you should. The sight of this man should cause a similar revulsion to that of seeing Mussolini, Mao, Stalin or Hitler, as he committed an African genocide that resulted in the killing of over 10 million people in the Congo.
His name is King Leopold II of Belgium.
Most of people never learned about him in school, and have also most likely never heard about him in the media either. This is because he’s not included in the popular narrative of oppression (which includes things like U.S. slavery and the Holocaust).
King Leopold II is part of an ongoing history of colonialism, imperialism, slavery, and genocide in Africa that would clash with the popular social narratives taught in our school system today. It doesn’t fit neatly into school curriculums where, paradoxically, it is looked down upon to make overtly racist statements. However, it’s quite fine not to talk about a genocide perpetrated by European capitalist monarchs that killed over 10 million Congolese.
Belgium’s King Leopold II ran a personal empire so vast and cruel, it rivaled – and even exceeded – the crimes of even some of the worst dictators of the 20th century.
When Leopold II ascended to the throne in 1865, he ruled with the kind of gentle hand that Belgians wanted from their king after the democratization of the country in the wake of the multiple revolutions and reforms. He had great ambitions of building an overseas empire, and was convinced, like most statesmen of his time, that a nation’s greatness was directly proportional to the resources it could extract from those colonies.
He disguised his business transactions as “philanthropic” and “scientific” efforts under the banner of the International African Society and used slave labor to extract Congolese resources and services. His reign was enforced through work camps, body mutilations, torture, executions, and his own private army.
The empire was known as the Congo Free State, and Leopold II stood as its undisputed slave master. For almost 30 years, rather than being a regular colony of a European government, Congo was administered as the property of Leopold II for his personal enrichment.
The world’s largest plantation, registering at 76 times the size of Belgium, possessed rich mineral and agricultural resources and lost nearly half of its population by the time the first census counted only 10 million people living there in 1924.
Interestingly, when we learn about Africa in the U.S., we learn about a caricatured Egypt, the HIV epidemic, the surface level effects of the slave trade, and if you went to a good school perhaps something about South African Apartheid. We also see lots of pictures of starving children on commercials, safaris on animal shows and we see pictures of vast savannahs and deserts in films and movies.
What we don’t learn about is the Great African War or Leopold’s Reign of Terror during the Congolese Genocide. Leopold II essentially turned Congo into his own personal part-plantation, part-concentration camp, part-Christian ministry, and yet history fails to retell the lessons of his tyrannical endeavor.
It seems that when you kill ten million Africans — you aren’t called ‘Hitler’, your name never comes to symbolize the living incarnation of evil, and your picture doesn’t produce fear, hatred, and sorrow — rather your crimes are simply swept under the historical rug and the victims of colonialism/imperialism remain forever voiceless.
Source:
walkingbutterfly.com
thefreethoughtproject.com
Tuesday, 13 September 2016
trip to the museum
Found some amazing skulls for references at the National Museum of Wales, its an origins exhibition
(This cool picture was taken by my friend Aziz)
Friday, 9 September 2016
G tridens the fruit fly with pictures of ants on its wings
This is unbelievable, but the fruit fly G tridens has somehow evolved to have what looks like pictures of ants on its wings. Seriously, its transparent wings have an ant design on them complete with "six legs, two antennae, a head, thorax and tapered abdomen." It's nature's evolutionary art painted on a fly's wings.
Recently spotted by the New York Times, the fruit fly is just incredible. Other flies in its family of 5,000 species have other type of markings on its wings but it's the G tridens that has something so intricate and so specific.
The idea of the ant design, as explained to The National by Dr Brigitte Howarth of Zayed University who first discovered G tridens in the UAE, is that these flies use their wings to ward off predators. The fly flashes it wings back and forth to make it seem as if the ants are moving around and that movement would confuse the predator. Nature's version of a tattoo, I guess.
References:
- New York Times
- The National
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)