shirgall

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-antidepressants-brain-structure-20140918-story.html ... Researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, used a magnetic resonance imaging machine to compare connections in the gray matter of those who took SSRIs and those who did not. They were particularly interested in what goes on when the brain is doing nothing in particular. “We just tell them to let their minds wander and not think of anything particularly dramatic or upsetting,” said neuroscientist Dr. Julia Sacher, a co-author of the study published online Thursday in the journal Current Biology. They created 3-D maps of connections that “matter” to gray matter: interdependence, not just anatomical connection. They relied on a discovery in the late 1990s that low-frequency brain signaling during relative inactivity, such as daydreaming, is a good indicator of functional connectivity. When more serotonin was available, this resting state functional connectivity decreased on a broad scale, the study found. This finding was not particularly surprising -- other studies have shown a similar effect in brain regions strongly associated with mood regulation. But there was a two-fold shock: Some areas of the brain appeared to buck the trend and become more interdependent. And all the changes were evident only three hours after the single dosage. ...

http://kellymcgonigal.com/willpowerinstinct/ This is an interesting book about the physical structures of the brain related to willpower and self-control and empirical evidence on working to improve willpower, decrease distraction, and control impulsivity and addiction. The book is arranged similarly to the 10-week course the author taught at Stanford and encourages experimentation with your own areas where you need improved willpower. I will indeed attempt some of the items in the book, and some of them I already try to do. For example, sleep deprivation is a pretty widely known sapper of willpower... but what is interesting is that any exercise that you are willing to do helps, and simply controlling your breathing helps (meditation is mentioned as well). At any rate, it's easily found as an ebook or an audible book and all that. I'm about a third of the way through and I'm curious if others have come across this one and what they thought of it.

Yes, I'm a premium subscriber to lastpass (mostly because I wanted the mobile app integration and the shared folders).

I think it was learning curve, as it got very hard to make progress, despite encouragement. She also struggles with Algebra.

I had this problem: My daughter was interested in learning the piano. I got her lessons, set up a decent piano for them to use (with headphones). As soon as it got difficult she gave up. I wonder about the sense of investment. When I used to teach Boy Scouts how to shoot we used to do a rifle merit badge camp for free and we'd have 80% no shows. When we charged $5 it dropped to 20%. Even so, a lot of people that showed up were not invested. They wanted the patch, not the skill. It has been a problem for me to figure out how to get my daughter, and those boy scouts, invested in learning. I try to explain what learning those skills can accomplish, and how good one can feel about oneself when one does accomplish things. I'm not a very good salesman I guess.

I've been using Lastpass for a while, too, and it has the added benefit of allowing me to share passwords with my spouse.

Well, there's http://www.epicmealtime.com/

I've always joked about the much larger space, the pink couch, and foot massagers. Well, that and people actually talk to one another in there, but only about boys.

The cold-blooded murder of a bound and helpless prisoner in Braveheart really got to me. Very disturbing. Gore never really bothered me that much, but stark realism still does. I don't like shows like "Worst Traffic Accidents and Police Chases" either. I don't know how people can watch that.

Via Zero Hedge, a link to this: http://asr.sagepub.com/content/79/4/605.abstract AbstractThe reversal of the gender gap in education has potentially far-reaching consequences for marriage markets, family formation, and relationship outcomes. One possible consequence is the growing number of marriages in which wives have more education than their husbands. Past research shows that this type of union is at higher risk of dissolution. Using data on marriages formed between 1950 and 2004 in the United States, we evaluate whether this association has persisted as the prevalence of this relationship type has increased. Our results show a large shift in the association between spouses’ relative education and marital dissolution. Specifically, marriages in which wives have the educational advantage were once more likely to dissolve, but this association has disappeared in more recent marriage cohorts. Another key finding is that the relative stability of marriages between educational equals has increased. These results are consistent with a shift away from rigid gender specialization toward more flexible, egalitarian partnerships, and they provide an important counterpoint to claims that progress toward gender equality in heterosexual relationships has stalled.

http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/1148836/vancouver-feminists-up-in-arms-over-naked-sushi-catering-company/ Vancouver feminists up in arms over Naked Sushi A Vancouver catering company that offers sushi served on women’s naked bodies is sparking controversy among feminists who call the practice disgusting and degrading, but a model is defending the service, describing it as an empowering and respectful art form. “We’re not hijacked into doing this,” Vancouver model Jessica Perry told Metro. “Personally, I find it something quite beautiful.” Naked Sushi, a Toronto-based catering company that offers nyotaimori— the Japanese practice of serving sashimi or sushi on a naked female body adorned with strategically-placed flowers and leaves— has yet to host an event in Vancouver, but already women’s rights activists are asking health officials to shut down the growing business. ...

The easiest way to stop lecturing is to start asking more questions. I'm hardly an expert on the Socratic Method, for example, but that ensures far more engagement from your conversation partner.

http://reason.com/blog/2014/09/09/young-millennial-libertarians-are-divers Read the whole thing...

The amusing part of that is that it was the women that set the rules of Victorian Age society, not the men. Basically an entire gender engaged in "price fixing".

The sad reality is that college is worth what you put into it, and you will be surrounded by a lot of people who don't put much into it at all. 1/3 of them will wash out in Freshman year, though. Focus on the fact that you are paying for something and extract the most value that you can from it. I made the mistake of treating it as merely a piece of paper.

Submitted without comment.

Yeah, that's nearly a universal, I was trying to be funny.

The reason I would bother would be to change her mind and hope that she would change other people's minds. As you already said, she's not likely to, so you are unlikely to save anyone directly or indirectly. I engage so little on facebook I might be biased too far in the "don't respond" direction, though.

http://reason.com/blog/2014/09/03/study-people-more-likely-to-shoot-white Money shot: Quoting the press materials from the underlying study: "Participants in an innovative Washington State University study of deadly force were more likely to feel threatened in scenarios involving black people. But when it came time to shoot, participants were biased in favor of black suspects, taking longer to pull the trigger against them than against armed white or Hispanic suspects..."

Sure, that's why I was merely troubled and not adamant. Again, are people trying to unearth the truth or are they making speeches and not listening?

If there is no chance of changing your mind, or your counterpart's mind, then you are not having an argument, you are just making speeches. When negotiating or arguing, are you both looking for the interests and values that underlay positions or are you simply shoring up your defenses and discounting the other's statements? Are you both looking for areas of mutual gain? Is it clear that no resolution is possible? That "100% sure" is troubling in light of these principles.

While they raise awareness, they compete with other things for my attention with a method that really doesn't deserve attention. It was cute, sure, and viral, but that in itself doesn't make it worthy of attention. ALS has plenty to make it deserving of some attention, sure, but celebrities doing stupid things isn't one of them.

These PR stunts are just as valuable as changing your profile picture on Facebook to "support the cause." They should get as much attention as you give chain letters and cat pictures.

Yeah. When I started a job a year ago (and I just got laid off from it Friday), the first week three different people used the phrase more than once in my first conversations with them. I had to decide if it was a verbal tic of the office or if it was something else. Surreal.