Clipmarks | wildcat's Comments

Doubling Your Strengths?

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:10:09 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: However, the message is confusing. It says: To be successful, we need only half of our selves—our strengths. By redefining the concept of strengths, I have created a framework that describes all of the ways that a person can think, feel, and behave as strengths.

How is it that we don't have weaknesses?

We are so used to thinking in a positive-negative framework, which is a self-limiting way of thinking. So, it's almost natural that when we think about a strength we have, we immediately start looking for a negative, or a weakness. For example, if you see yourself in positive terms as outgoing and gregarious, you might think negatively about yourself when you are quiet and less expressive. I want you to see yourself not in terms of strengths and weaknesses but in terms of opposite strengths.

Clip Source: www.businessweek.com

By learning how to exploit your "weaknesses," you can turn them to your advantage

Do you believe—as most of us have been led to—that you have strengths and weaknesses? Psychologist Tommy Thomas believes something quite different: that people have only strengths. He believes that once you get hold of the idea that your weaknesses are actually strengths, you'll have twice as many personal strengths—ones not often recognized—to draw on.

Tommy was in my neck of the woods recently to give a speech to a group of CEOs, and we met at my house for a conversation about strengths. Here are edited excerpts of our conversation:

Can you explain how you define a strength?

TT: A strength is a conceptual way to reduce a lot of information into a single idea. We use these ideas to identify specific related aspects of a person's ability to think, feel, and behave.

We are taught early on that those things that we are not good at are "weaknesses" and should be disguised and ignored

Tags: strenght

An Introduction to Thought Networking

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:40:50 GMT

clipped by: infopunk

Clip Source: www.mymanmitt.com

Clip Source: www.primalfusion.com

What would happen if you could instead make your thoughts tangible and concrete? What if you could collect your thoughts as readily as you can search online? What if your thoughts could self-organize around your tasks while you’re off doing other things?

Thought networks provide a concrete semantic representation of our thoughts, ideas and interests.

Encoded as data, our thoughts are accessible to the power of computing. Semantic synthesis provides the means to expand and connect these thoughts in entirely new ways.

Ultimately, thought networking is intended to provide two main benefits. First, it will enhance our cognition.

Thought networks can help by expanding the number of thoughts at our disposal and organizing them effectively.

Secondly, thought networks will save time and effort.

Once we digitize our thoughts and put them online, our thoughts may interact with the world even when we’re not attending to them.

they will augment our ability to think and get stuff done.

Tags: semantic, thought networking, networking, social networking

The Internet Is a Brain

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:59:46 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: There is a lot we can learn from the brain and it can tell us where the Internet is headed next.

There’s nothing magical in the brain (at least that we’ve found thus far), and yet it delivers all our mental capabilities, and emotional ones as well – that’s a very intriguing thought. After all, just as there is no particular reason for this lump inside our heads to appreciate fine wines and music, cry, laugh, reason, love, daydream, and aspire to greater things, there is no reason why silicon or some other fundamental substance (maybe even carbon some day), could not be coaxed into creating something similar.

Clip Source: discussionleader.hbsp.com

The Internet is a brain. There, I said it. It has taken me far too long to publicly utter those words. And not because I don't believe them, but for fear that people will think I am crazy.

So, yes it may sound off-the-wall at first blush, but it's an insight that has helped me develop companies that are collectively worth over a billion dollars. It's an insight that will lead to the development of future businesses worth far more than that. More importantly, it is going to change the world as we know it, revolutionizing the way we think about thought and the way we think about ourselves.

Let’s get concrete about what I mean here. The brain is one of the most complex networks in the world, with more neurons than there are stars in the galaxy. Its hardware is a complex network of neurons; its software a complex network of memories. And so too is the Internet a network.

Its hardware is a complex network of computers; its software a complex network of websites

Tags: net, brain

Pink Floyd's Richard Wright Dies at 65

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:57:09 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: www.popeater.com

LONDON (Sept. 15) - A Pink Floyd spokesman says founding member Richard Wright has died. He was 65.

Wright died Monday after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. His family did not want to give more details about his death. The spokesman is Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist.

Richard Wright met Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason at college and joined their early band Sigma 6.

Sigma 6 eventually became Pink Floyd and Wright wrote and sang some of the band's key songs. He wrote "The Great Gig In The Sky" and "Us And Them" from Pink Floyd's 1973 "The Dark Side Of The Moon."

He left the group in the early 1980s to form his own band but rejoined Pink Floyd for their 1987 album "A Momentary Lapse of Reason."

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.popeater.com

Tags: music, legend

Should Spanking Be Illegal?

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 13:36:25 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Massachusetts lawmakers say a proposed measure that would ban parents from spanking their children, even in their own homes, is a way to protect kids from abuse. But many parents believe it's an example of government run amok.

In all 50 states, parents are legally allowed to spank their children. But in 29 states it's illegal for a teacher to practice corporal punishment, including spanking.

A Massachusetts nurse is hoping to change that and make the state the first in the nation to ban corporal punishment at home.

"I think it's ironic that domestic violence applies to everyone except the most vulnerable — children," said Kathleen Wolf, who wrote the bill.

And one mother echoed the sentiments of many, saying, "I don't want the government telling me how to raise my children."

Nineteen countries have banned corporal punishment, and some child-rearing experts believe one day the United States will do so as well.

Tags: my, parents, would, still, be, in, jail

space elevators a step closer

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:58:16 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: nextbigfuture.com

Advance in separating carbon nanotubes brings space elevators a step closer

Carbon nanotubes are very strong and light and can be 100 times stronger than the equivalent weight of steel. Carbon nanotubes bearing the same qualities can interlock with one another. But until now, no one had figured out a way to identify and separate nanotubes according to their properties.

Papadimitrakopoulos and his team at the University of Connecticut have used molecules from Vitamin B2 and attached them to nanotubes in such a way that could distinguish different types of nanotubes. With a way to identify nanotubes, researchers can group them together according to their types. (H/T Sander Olsen)

Next for Papadimitrakopoulos is taking his experiments to a more practical level. With an atomic force microscope at UConn, he's researching how to make the nanotubes bond into material. He figures it will take him two to three years for a conclusive result.

Tags: technology, nanotechnology, carbon nanotubes

Barriers shrink, gaps widen

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:44:11 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Interesting and counterintuitive results...

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

As Barriers Disappear, Some Gender Gaps Widen

When men and women take personality tests, some of the old Mars-Venus stereotypes keep reappearing. On average, women are more cooperative, nurturing, cautious and emotionally responsive. Men tend to be more competitive, assertive, reckless and emotionally flat. Clear differences appear in early childhood and never disappear.

It looks as if personality differences between men and women are smaller in traditional cultures like India’s or Zimbabwe’s than in the Netherlands or the United States

The biggest changes recorded by the researchers involve the personalities of men, not women

Removing the stresses of traditional agricultural societies could allow men’s, and to a lesser extent women’s, more ‘natural’ personality traits to emerge

If he and Dr. Schmitt are right, then men and women shouldn’t expect to understand each other much better anytime soon. Things could get confusing if the personality gap widens further as the sexes become equal.

Tags: gender

Where government and God and oil pipelines collide

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:13:57 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: I wonder if she thinks Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed because the people's hearts weren't with God. I suppose that if we prayed more for our mortgage rates to go down we wouldn't be in this mess.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

"I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas pipeline built. So pray for that ... I can do my job there in developing my natural resources. But all of that doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart is not good with God."

Tags: palin, alaska, oil pipeline, politics, mccain

Large Hadron Collider:Today is Launch Day!

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:49:25 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes
clipper's remarks: Could it all end today...?

Clip Source: cdsweb.cern.ch

A word from Lyn Evans:
A sprint to the finish

Most people consider that the starting point for the LHC was a meeting organised by the European Committee for Future Accelerators in Lausanne in March 1984, even though quite a few of us at CERN had already begun work on the design in 1981. Since that time this truly unique machine has moved from a dream to a reality. With its ‘two in one’ magnet structure cooled by superfluid helium for operation at 1.9 K, the LHC is like no other particle collider. In a very real sense, the LHC is its own prototype.

the LHC is the first accelerator in which the superconducting magnets have been cooled as low as 1.9 K, where helium is superfluid. This is the operating temperature we need if we are to reach the high magnetic field strengths necessary to bend the beams at 7 TeV.

Now for the first time the complete machine is fully loaded with 130 tonnes of liquid helium and the final commissioning of the hardware is progressin

Let’s now bring this machine alive

Discomgoogolation?

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:31:58 GMT

clipped by: Packrat61
clipper's remarks: Hi My name is Packrat and I am a web surfer.
support group: Hi Packrat.

LOL I can sadly say I identify with this article.

Clip Source: tech.yahoo.com

Do you suffer from discomgoogolation?

How much do you rely on the Internet? Probably more than you want to admit. Well a recent study found that Internet addicts suffer from extreme stress when they can't access a computer, especially when they're out and about. Psychologist Dr David Lewis says people need to make quick decisions when they're out, and some feel they're not making the best choices without the information the Internet gives them.

Internet addiction is not officially recognized as a clinical disorder, but researchers say Internet dependency can affect a person emotionally as well as physically. This stressful state, called 'discomgoogolation,' affected heavy Web users in the study who experienced increased blood pressure and brain activity when they couldn't access the Internet.

Tags: web, addicted, internet.

On Genes, Memes, Bemes, and Conscious Things

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:36:23 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: A brilliant presentation, by an innovative thinker, i wholeheartedly agree with the writer that Bemes will prove mightier than genes in the long run.
go read all of it

Clip Source: www.terasemjournal.org

Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D.

Humanity is rapidly extracting the essences of people into cybernetic form. These essences will soon demand a life of their own, which may ultimately occur through Natural Selection. The cybernetic essences that demand the most time and attention will thrive and proliferate. If we say no to cybernetic life, we may face a kind of class war. If we say yes, we face the challenge of redefining life, consciousnesss, and civilization.

Bemes are fundamental, transmissible, mutate-able units of beingness very much in the spirit of memes[1]. The difference is that memes are culturally transmissible elements that have common cultural meanings whereas bemes are highly individual elements of personality, mannerisms, feelings, recollections, beliefs, values, and attitudes.

Over time, people will start to realize that the beme is mightier than the gene. We humans are much more accurately described by our intellectual uniqueness than by our genetic codes.

Tags: genes, memes, bemes, consciousness

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:15:43 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: It is easy to become unsettled by privacy-eroding aspects of awareness tools. But there is another — quite different — result of all this incessant updating: a culture of people who know much more about themselves. Many of the avid Twitterers, Flickrers and Facebook users I interviewed described an unexpected side-effect of constant self-disclosure. The act of stopping several times a day to observe what you’re feeling or thinking can become, after weeks and weeks, a sort of philosophical act. It’s like the Greek dictum to “know thyself,” or the therapeutic concept of mindfulness. (Indeed, the question that floats eternally at the top of Twitter’s Web site — “What are you doing?” — can come to seem existentially freighted. What are you doing?) Having an audience can make the self-reflection even more acute, since, as my interviewees noted, they’re trying to describe their activities in a way that is not only accurate but also interesting to others: the status update as a literary form.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

On Sept. 5, 2006, Mark Zuckerberg changed the way that Facebook worked, and in the process he inspired a revolt.

Pundits predicted that News Feed would kill Facebook, but the opposite happened. It catalyzed a massive boom in the site’s growth. A few weeks after the News Feed imbroglio, Zuckerberg opened the site to the general public (previously, only students could join), and it grew quickly; today, it has 100 million users

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

In essence, Facebook users didn’t think they wanted constant, up-to-the-minute updates on what other people are doing. Yet when they experienced this sort of omnipresent knowledge, they found it intriguing and addictive. Why?

Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye.

Tags: brave new world, digital intimacy

How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:36:21 GMT

clipped by: spherepet

Clip Source: downlode.org

How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later

Philip K. Dick, 1978

Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful. A few years ago, no college or university would ever have considered inviting one of us to speak.

SCIENTISTS SAY THAT MICE CANNOT BE MADE TO LOOK LIKE HUMAN BEINGS. It was a federally funded research program, I suppose. Just think: Someone in this world is an authority on the topic of whether mice can or cannot put on two-tone shoes, derby hats, pinstriped shirts, and Dacron pants, and pass as humans.

So I ask, in my writing, What is real?

I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind.

It is my job to create universes, as the basis of one novel after another.

I like to build universes which do fall

Tags: universe

Hey dude, i'm fighting a bacteria now

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:34:44 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Marijuana Ingredient May Fight Bacteria

Marijuana may be something of a wonder drug — though perhaps not in the way you might think.

Researchers in Italy and Britain have found that the main active ingredient in marijuana — tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — and related compounds show promise as antibacterial agents, particularly against microbial strains that are already resistant to several classes of drugs.

It has been known for decades that Cannabis sativa has antibacterial properties. Experiments in the 1950s tested various marijuana preparations against skin and other infections, but researchers at the time had little understanding of marijuana’s chemical makeup.

The researchers say they don’t know how the cannabinoids work, and whether they would be effective as systemic antibiotics would require much more research and trials. But the compounds may prove useful sooner as a topical agent

Tags: biology, bacteria, marijuana

Free Speech and the Right to Offend

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:49:30 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Free speech is indeed precious, but that doesn't mean that we have to defend without qualification every moron who abuses it

Saying that we have a right to offend skips over the question of whether we are right to offend. I have a right to tell random strangers that I think they're ugly, or that they have terrible taste in clothes, but it would be wrong of me to exercise that right,

we don't just utter words, we do things with them, as the Oxford philosopher JL Austin put it. When words belittle or mock, they can reinforce prejudice and hierarchies that have very real effects on people's lives. Mockery of those already on the margins can shore up the very barriers that limit their life chances.

Tags: morons

Clipmarks | wildcat's Comments

Doubling Your Strengths?

An Introduction to Thought Networking

The Internet Is a Brain

Pink Floyd's Richard Wright Dies at 65

Should Spanking Be Illegal?

space elevators a step closer

Advance in separating carbon nanotubes brings space elevators a step closer

Barriers shrink, gaps widen

As Barriers Disappear, Some Gender Gaps Widen

Where government and God and oil pipelines collide

Large Hadron Collider:Today is Launch Day!

A word from Lyn Evans:A sprint to the finish

Discomgoogolation?

Do you suffer from discomgoogolation?

On Genes, Memes, Bemes, and Conscious Things

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later

How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later

Philip K. Dick, 1978

Hey dude, i'm fighting a bacteria now

Marijuana Ingredient May Fight Bacteria

Free Speech and the Right to Offend

A word from Lyn Evans:
A sprint to the finish