Clipmarks | Terratone777's clips

What you don't "see" may distract you anyway

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 11:29:58 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: "irrelevant information sneak past people's attention-focusing mechanism"

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Subliminal Messages Drive the Mind to Distraction

What you don't "see" may distract you anyway


	Image: © C. DEFAN/ZEFA/CORBIS
	TROUBLE FOCUSING? Could be subliminal messages playing with your mind. A new study shows that images people don't even realize they're seeing can break their concentration.

A new study shows that subconscious signals interfere with concentration, causing people to become easily distracted and falter on even the simplest of tasks.

When people concentrate, they focus on the task at hand and filter out information irrelevant to what they are doing. A new report, however, published in this week's Science, says that sometimes unrelated info slips through, even if it is not consciously processed. "Our results contradict the general view," says lead author Yoshiaki Tsushima, a graduate student in psychology at Boston University.

Tsushima and his colleagues performed a series of experiments that show how bits of irrelevant information sneak past people's attention-focusing mechanism. Study participants were told to report the pair of numbers in a string of six letters and two numerals that they saw on a computer screen, and to ignore the dots bouncing around them. Some of the dots moved about randomly and others traveled in fixed directions.

Sounds simple. However, ignoring the dancing dots turned out to be easier said than done. The participants did well on their task when less or more than 5 percent of the dots moved in specific patterns, but their success rate dropped off at around 5 percent. This is because, researchers say, at 5 percent the pattern was apparently below the threshold of conscious awareness, but the subjects still picked it up subconsciously. "Invisible signals distract," Tsushima explains. The subjects did not pick up on any pattern in movement below 5 percent. In one fixed-direction pattern above 5 percent, they noticed the dots but were able to ignore them.

Tags: science, research, unconscious, subliminal, concentration, information

Vocabulary Challenge

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 07:00:28 GMT

clipped by: KyleMAD
clipper's remarks: A great personal test for any wordsmith. i managed 95%

Clip Source: oncampus.richmond.edu

The Journalists' Vocabulary Challenge is a random list of words that journalists might know or might want to know. They represent no standard. Take a minute and see how well you do, whether you are a journalist or not. For an explanation of how the list was compiled, click here. For an article about this that appeared in the July 10, 2000, issue of Editor & Publisher, Page 17, click here.

Click here for The Journalists' Vocabulary Challenge

Tags: vocabulary, education, learn, english, language

Love Thy Neighbor Evolved Out of Vicious Competition

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 12:35:05 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Love Thy Neighbor Evolved Out of Vicious Competition


	Image: © ULI WIESMEIER/ZEFA/CORBIS
	WAR AND COOPERATION: New research argues that the human instinct for cooperation arose from vicious competition for resources in our prehistoric past.

Natural selection argues against cooperation. If all organisms, including humans, are pitted in a ceaseless struggle for survival and sex, those who help others would quickly find themselves swamped in a rising tide of selfishness, especially if those they helped bore no relation to them. Yet, most humans reflexively help another person in need even if there are no family ties or a direct benefit to be gained. This conundrum has puzzled evolutionary biologists since the time of Darwin, but a new study shows how internecine warfare among early humans might have allowed for the spread of a dominant group of altruistic tribes.

Economist Samuel Bowles of the Santa Fe Institute examines the evolutionary forces at work on early human populations. He posits two distinct groups: the altruistic and the selfish, divided into many different tribes, which Bowles refers to as demes. Altruists are disposed to take an action helping others, but such actions have a specific cost. For example, an altruist might jump into the river to save a drowning child at the cost of her own life but to the overall benefit of the tribe. Reducing these sets of conditions to a mathematical equation reveals that altruists can only prosper if their altruism enables their group to acquire more territory.

Tags: science, research, love, cooperation, warfare, evolution

images of a snow crystal zoomed in until 36000x

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 02:09:05 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.2loop.com

Tags: snow, pictures, digital

Who Would of Thought It !

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 03:16:48 GMT

clipped by: kbjoy

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Russia teen sues over evolution teaching

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - A Russian court on Wednesday held hearings in an unprecedented lawsuit brought by a 15-year-old student who says being taught the theory of evolution in school violates her rights and insults her religious beliefs.

Maria Shreiber sued the St. Petersburg city education committee, claiming the 10th-grade biology textbook used at the Cervantes Gymnasium was offensive to believers and that teachers should offer an alternative to Darwin's famous theory.

"The biology textbook generally refers to religion and the existence of God in a negative way. It infringes on believers' rights," she said in comments carried by Russian television stations.

The suit is the first of its kind in Russia.

Tags: evolution, religion

How to beat your Girlfriend at Video Games

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:00:08 GMT

clipped by: Terratone777

Clip Source: www.wiihaveaproblem.com

Attack on Girlfriend Proves Fatal to Boyfriend's Wii Privileges

Unfortunately, my courage was far greater then my skill. Having taken a good kicking, Liz then tried to intervene with disastrous results. She approached me from the side, appearing from my blind spot, whilst I was performing a slashing movement. I hit her with full force right in her eye!

Tags: video games, fight, accident, wii, nintendo

Christmas Blasphemy

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:06:45 GMT

clipped by: Terratone777

Clip Source: www.christiannewswire.com

CBS Turns 'Joy to the World' Into a Song About Fornication

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 /Christian Newswire/ -- "CBS Television has crossed the line in a big way," said Douglas R. Scott, Jr., president of Life Decisions International (LDI). "In an affront to all of Christendom, the network allowed actor Charlie Sheen to change the lyrics of 'Joy to the World' into a song that could be called 'Joy to Fornication.'"

Joy to the world
I'm getting laid
I'm getting laid tonight.

We'll light the Yule log
Deck the halls
And then we'll play some
Jingle balls.

It's been a real long wait
This is our second date
It's Christmas Eve
And I'm getting laid.

"Why have attacks on Christians and Christianity become so commonplace and even acceptable? No other group of people tolerates such treatment. I think it's time for a Christian anti-defamation league."

Tags: blasphemy, christmas, god, hollywood, evil

Violation of Rights: Forced to Worship!

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:02:51 GMT

clipped by: Terratone777

Clip Source: www.spcm.org

INDIA : MORE VILLAGERS FORCED TO BOW TO HINDU DEITIES

Hindu extremists yesterday forced Christians in the remote village of Bevainahalli, in the southern state of Karnataka, to bow down before Hindu deities and applied the vermilion mark to their foreheads. It was the second such incident in Chitradurga district in a little over a week.

At about 5 p.m. on November 6, two Hindu priests accompanied by a group of 20 to 25 Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, entered Chitradurga district’s Bevainahalli village and knocked on every home’s door.

Leaving Hindu residents untouched, the extremists shouted threats at those in Christian homes, ordering them from their houses to a site near the village temple. Christians who questioned why were slapped and ordered to start walking.

The extremists then marched the Christians off to the village temple, forcing them to bow down before the Hindu gods and goddesses. As a mark of acceptance of the Hindu faith, the Hindu priests applied the kumkum or vermilion mark on the foreheads of the men and women and compelled them to eat the Hindu offering called prasad.

Tags: worship, idolatry, christian, hindu, forced, rights

Will you See Him?

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:47:47 GMT

clipped by: Terratone777

Clip Source: www.heartlight.org

Tags: revelation, hope, jesus, love, christian

I can pick nose but can I pick my path?

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:38:11 GMT

clipped by: Terratone777

Clip Source: www.godspeaks.com

Isn't every religion really a path to God? [Print Options]

“If one believes in the idea of God and in salvation, there should be different ways of reaching a level of salvation, enlightenment, whatever you believe in. I find it rather difficult to comprehend the common belief that one religion, one path is the way to salvation. A religious leader shouldn’t preach the exact same ‘path’ or ‘way to salvation’ for all his listeners any more than a doctor should prescribe the exact same medication to all of his patients.” (Grace Li, an Internet essayist)

These words reflect the thoughts and opinions of many. After all, why shouldn’t there be different paths to God, just like there are different paths to your grandma’s house?

Of course, a lot depends on our starting point. If we’re going to start with our own opinions, likes, and dislikes, we could probably fashion a number of alternative “paths to God.” But, what if the starting point isn’t up to us? What if God actually blazed the trail and set up the signposts for us to follow to find our way? What if he were actually to say to us, “This is the way, walk in it”?

That would decidedly change things, wouldn’t it?

Tags: god, salvation, humble, questions

Hey, Who stole my transitionals?

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 13:44:51 GMT

clipped by: Terratone777

Clip Source: emporium.turnpike.net

There is no adequate explanation for the origin of life from dead chemicals. Even the simplest life form is tremendously complex.
The fossil record, our only documentation of whether evolution actually occurred in the past, lacks any transitional forms, and all types appear fully-formed when first present. The evidence that "pre-men" (ape-men) existed is dubious at best. So called pre-man fossils turn out to be those of apes, extinct apes, fully man, or historical frauds.

The big issues!

Tags: creation, evolution, truth, god, evidence, hope

Which came first, Adam or the Ape?

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 13:39:33 GMT

clipped by: Terratone777

Clip Source: www.answersingenesis.org

Adam or Ape?

But if you believe that life arose as a result of natural processes and that all humans are descendants of animals (and ultimately back to the first life that evolved in some primeval soup), then humans are accountable to no one but themselves. Thus people have a right to set their own rules about life (if they can get away with this in their society). In this system, all morality is relative—there are no absolutes (which in actuality is the one absolute which these people can hold!).

Tags: adam, creation, christian, evolution, relavitve, godless

Questions I Would Like to Ask God

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 13:29:15 GMT

clipped by: Terratone777

Clip Source: www.rzim.org

Questions I Would Like to Ask God

Take, for example, professor Michael Behe’s book Darwin’s Black Box. Behe is Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I cannot help but smile when I think of a professor from Bethlehem addressing the issue of origins— albeit a different Bethlehem. But the pun cannot but generate a smile. Larry King was not far off the mark. Behe’s book basically challenges the naturalist into recognizing that biochemically evolution is impossible. In just one of the many outstanding chapters he illustrates his point by describing the chemical changes that are set in motion to generate sight. From the moment a photon hits the retina to the end result of an imbalance of charge that causes a current to be trans-mitted down the optic nerve to the brain, resulting in sight, a series of chemical reactions have taken place that in evolution’s mechanism would have been impossible. His bottom-line argument is this: The irreducible complexity of the human cell meets Darwin’s test of what it would take to prove Darwinism false.

How does the scientific community react to this? One scientist sitting next to me at a meeting said, "Give us time; we will find an answer." If that was not a betrayal of bigotry in its determination to find materialistic answers at all costs, I do not know what is. If the theist uttered such hopes were theism to face such an impos-sible explanation, he or she would be mocked with the same venom that Darrow spewed upon William Jennings Bryan in the infamous Scopes trial. Buttressing this "naturalism at all costs mentality," Darwinism’s fiercest watchdog, Richard Dawkins at Oxford, unable to scien-tifically challenge Behe, dismissed him as intellectually lazy. "Tell him to go and find an answer in his own dis-cipline," he bellowed.

Tags: questions, god, love, christian, ask, creation, evolution, ravi

Do you really exist?

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 13:22:23 GMT

clipped by: Terratone777

Clip Source: www.rzim.org

The Hide and Seek of Truth

A Litany of Lies How tragic a portrayal it is of our times that our lives are so enmeshed in deceit and falsehood; the lies from the professorial lectern, the lies on the screen, the lies of political rhetoric, the lies of false religions, the lies of promised utopias, the lies of broken vows.

The list is unending, and possibly the greatest lie of all is the lie that somehow, if God had just given US enough evidence, and if He would only turn stones into bread, more people would follow Him. Bertrand Russell was once asked what he would do as a professing atheist if he happened to find out after he died that there was a God. Said Russell, "I would tell Him that He did not give me enough evidence." Russell's theatrical arrogance and imperiousness notwithstanding, the Bible brands that presumption a delusion of the highest order, a risk of the greatest stakes. For the Scriptures remind us that man's problem is not the absence of evidence but the suppression of it.

Jesus' teaching repeatedly focused on the supreme value of truth in defining human nature and destiny. His assertion was that the loss of truth, in effect, trivialized existence and left the sanctities of life open to ridicule and vulgarity. I would like to underscore a few principle ideas He left us on the subject.

No Truth, No Freedom First, Jesus stated that there is no real freedom in life apart from the truth. A life that is built upon a lie is enslaved and on the road to self-destruction. It would do well for us as a nation, and for national leaders, to take note that freedom when severed from truth sets the time-bomb ticking to a countdown of catastrophic proportions. Without the knowledge and practice of truth, there is no *freedom, just an illusion of it.

Tags: truth, relative, lies, christian, jesus, illusion

Giants in the Land.

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 03:08:08 GMT

clipped by: Terratone777

Clip Source: www.remnantofgod.org

Tags: giant, huge, bones, christian, evolution, creation