STAR WARS Family Tree Chart

For those that might be unfamiliar with the "expanded universe" characters that could be featured in the new Star Wars movies, Chart Geek has put together this handy family tree chart. As you can see it details the lineage of the characters we know and love (well, most of em) from the previous movies in the saga, right up to the sons and daughters of Han and Leia, and Luke and Mara Jade - who are rumored to be the focus of Episode VII and beyond.

Personally I think the new films will definitely focus on the next generation of characters, but I don't think they will necessarily be these exact ones. Expect a lot of changes, and not just the names.

---

---

DISCLAIMER: This article was submitted by a volunteer contributor who has agreed to our code of conduct. ComicBookMovie.com is protected from liability under "safe harbor" provisions and will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. For expeditious removal, contact us HERE.

Think this article is front page worthy? Click on the "thumbs up" to the left! Popular articles will appear on the homepage automatically!

Source: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/notyetamovie/news/?a=74671

australia Brothers Grimm Tate Stevens Miss Universe 2012 x factor x factor john kerry

Sigal Museum in Easton offers rare glance at George Washington's early life through documents

The Sigal Museum?s new exhibit in honor of Presidents Day offers a unique insight into the mind of the first president, George Washington, through signed historical documents and select artwork.

The Easton museum has 18 historical documents from a private collection and numerous pieces of artwork related to Washington on display until the end of the month. The museum is open 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. General admission is $7.

Nine of the documents have Washington's signature. The others are select pieces of correspondence to or about Washington. The letters span nearly 50 years, including Washington's hand-drawn survey of a portion of Culpeper County, Va., made when he was 18.

Other documents include lottery tickets, discharge papers, invitations and receipt books, all with Washington's signature.

Perhaps one of the most interesting pieces is a letter by Tobias Lear written Dec. 15, 1799 ? the day after Washington died. Lear wrote about 12 letters to Washington's family and closest friends, including President John Adams. To those people, the letter served as the first word of the man's death. The letter on display was sent to William Washington, a nephew and executor of George Washington's estate.

Also on display are a number of paintings and prints, including many of the original illustrations used in ?Colonel Washington and Me,? a book that, while aimed at younger audiences, describes in detail the life of one of the men Washington owned, William Lee, and the complex relationship Washington and his slave shared. Lee was freed upon Washington?s death.

?Colonel Washington and Me? is one of the few published accounts of Lee?s life. The artist, Preston Hindmarch, is an Easton resident, and the author, Jeffrey E. Finegan, Sr., hails from Pohatcong Township.

Finegan will be at the Sigal Museum at 1 p.m. Saturday to discuss the manuscripts. The event itself is free, but regular museum admission is required to see it.

***

The Sigal Museum?s top five most interesting Presidents Day pieces

5. His surveyor?s report. It?s a chance to see the level of detail and workmanship he already was capable of at the age of 18.

4. The multiple lotto tickets. It was a common way to raise cash quickly for the financially desperate young government. But it didn?t always work. For example, one lotto ticket signed by Washington in 1768 was for the construction of westbound roads, but in this case the lotto didn?t raise the money it needed and he had to return it to patrons.

3. 1860 portrait. It?s weird that a simple portrait of Washington from decades after his death stands out so much, but it?s the story behind this one that makes it worthwhile. It apparently was found on the banks of the Delaware River after the explosion of the Alfred Thomas steamboat in Easton in 1860. The painting is in near-perfect shape, with no smoke or fire damage and little water damage.

2. The death letter. It?s hard to imagine the news of the death of a president spreading slowly, but in an age when there were physical limitations on the speed of information, this letter was the first word on the matter.

1. ?George Washington and His Family? print. It?s an engraving of Washington, his wife, Martha, and her two granddaughters from a previous marriage. Off to the side, displaced and partly in shadows, is William Lee, a slave owned by Washington. His name is featured in a caption, as though acknowledging his importance in Washington?s life, but only a little. The piece is particularly relevant because one of the few books written about Lee, ?Colonel Washington and Me,? was illustrated by Easton artist Preston Hindmarch and written by Pohatcong Township author Jeffrey E. Finegan Sr.

Source: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2013/02/sigal_museum_easton_george_was.html

f/a 18 f 18 crash virginia tenebrae the lake house petrino arkansas roy williams matt lauer

The Rich See a Different Internet Than the Poor

Imagine an Internet where unseen hands curate your entire experience. Where third parties predetermine the news, products and prices you see?even the people you meet. A world where you think you are making choices, but in reality, your options are narrowed and refined until you are left with merely the illusion of control.

This is not far from what is happening today. Thanks to technology that enables Google, Facebook and others to gather information about us and use it to tailor the user experience to our own personal tastes, habits and income, the Internet has become a different place for the rich and for the poor. Most of us have become unwitting actors in an unfolding drama about the tale of two Internets. There is yours and mine, theirs and ours.

Here's how it works. Advertising currently drives the vast majority of the Internet industry by volume of revenue. Silicon Valley is excellent at founding and funding companies that give you free apps and then collect and sell your data when you use them. For most of the Internet's short history, the primary goal of this data collection was classic product marketing: for example, advertisers might want to show me Nikes and my wife Manolo Blahniks. But increasingly, data collection is leapfrogging well beyond strict advertising and enabling insurance, medical and other companies to benefit from analyzing your personal, highly detailed ?Big Data? record without your knowledge. Based on this analysis, these companies then make decisions about you?including whether you are even worth marketing to at all.

As a result, 99 percent of us live on the wrong side of a one-way mirror, in which the other 1 percent manipulates our experiences. Some laud this trend as ?personalization??which sounds innocuous and fun, evoking the notion that the ads we see might appear in our favorite color schemes. What we are talking about, however, is much deeper and significantly more consequential.

For example, federal regulations make it illegal to discriminate in pricing access to credit based on certain personal attributes. But, as Natasha Singer recently reported in the New York Times, technical advances in mining online and offline data have made it possible to skirt the spirit of the law: companies can simply not make any offers to less credit-attractive populations. If you live on the wrong side of the digital tracks, you won't even see a credit offer from leading lending institutions, and you won't realize that loans are available to help you with your current personal or professional priorities.

For the past decade, e-commerce sites have altered prices based on your Web habits and personal attributes. What is your geography and your past buying history? How did you arrive at the e-commerce site? What time of day are you visiting? An entire literature has emerged on the ethics, legality and economic promise of pricing optimization. And the field is advancing quickly: last September, Google received a patent on technology that lets a company dynamically price electronic content. For instance, it can push the base price of an e-book up if it determines you are more likely to buy that particular item than an average user; conversely, it can adjust the price down as an incentive if you are judged less likely to purchase. And you won't even know you are paying more than others for the exact same item.

These blind walls also appear in our digital political lives. As Eli Pariser has observed, the Internet shows us ?what it thinks we want to see? by serving up content that matches the hidden profiles created about us based on our daily online interactions. This behind-the-scenes curation reinforces our political points of view through online ?echo chambers? that affirm, instead of challenge, what we already believe to be true. As Harvard University scholar Cass Sunstein has written, liberals and conservatives who deliberate questions openly only with people of the same political stripe become more confident and extreme in their views.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=2561560c3a9af91b9de451442648d7f0

celiac disease san francisco giants Medal of Honor Warfighter Richard Mourdock d t p

Google executive promises ?insanely great cameras? on next-gen Nexus phones

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Michael Jordan never played against LeBron James but that has not stopped the two from going one-on-one over how to determine greatness on the basketball court. Jordan, widely hailed as the best player of all-time and who turns 50 on Sunday, believes it is all about championship rings, while James, 28, thinks that view is a little too simplistic. The debate has been the chief talking point of reporters and players in the run-up to the National Basketball Association's (NBA) All-Star game in Houston on Sunday. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/google-executive-promises-insanely-great-cameras-next-gen-180058858.html

viola davis school shooting in ohio shooting at chardon high school sasha baron cohen stacy keibler stacy keibler oscar red carpet

Pick the Best Batteries for a DIY Project with Adafruit's Battery Guide

When you're looking to power a DIY project, you have a ton of different battery choices, and it's not easy to decide on which solution is best. To help you make the right choice, Adafruit has put together a guide to picking the best battery for your project.

The project goes through each type of battery, from alkaline to lithium, and talks about the cost, size, and power output. From there, you can pick the best battery for the job. Looking to make it super easy to service? 9V or AA batteries are probably your best bet. Need to get a 5V input? Use three alkaline batteries. If you don't want your projects tethered to a power supply, Adafruit's guide is a good place to start so your electronics get the juice they deserve.

All About Batteries | Adafruit

Photo by Heather Kennedy.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/iG02hsm5jGA/pick-the-best-batteries-for-a-diy-project-with-adafruits-battery-guide

arnold schwarzenegger revenge revenge adam shulman adam shulman peanut butter recall jason aldean

'Multiple murderer': $1 million reward offered for ex-cop

By Sharon Bernstein, NBCLosAngeles.com

Updated at 3:02 a.m. ET: Authorities in Los Angeles have offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of a fired LA police officer sought in connection with a series of killings and threats against his former colleagues and their families.

The reward was announced even as investigators continued to comb the snowy mountains around Big Bear Lake, where Christopher Dorner's burned out truck was found on Feb. 7, and hundreds of officers patrolled the neighborhoods where people live who were threatened by Dorner in an online screed.?

Every day that Dorner is loose, said LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, is another day when the likelihood of an attack on police officers or their families increases.

"We are asking the public, 'Please help us to protect you,' " Beck said at a news conference. "Please help us to find Dorner before he is able to kill again."

---

Dorner is wanted in the slayings of three people and the ambush-style shooting of two others, all part of a revenge-style rampage that began last Sunday, when he allegedly shot the daughter of a police union lawyer and her fianc? in an Irvine parking garage.

The heart of the search continued to be the San Bernardino mountains where Dorner was last seen, Beck said on Sunday. Officers will also look for him near where some 50 LAPD families live who were threatened by the former policeman.

"You fish where the fish are," Beck said. "And Mr. Dorner has made his intentions very clear."

Timeline: Revenge-Plot Slayings | Read: Full Manifesto | Map: Search Locations

Police locked down a home improvement store in the San Fernando Valley, more than a hundred miles away from Big Bear, after receiving a tip that someone resembling Dorner was seen in the store. Authorities searched car-to-car and cordoned off neighborhoods in Northridge, but the move was seen as mostly precautionary.

Also on Sunday, the Riverside Police Department released the name of one of Dorner's victims. Michael Crain, 34, was ambushed by a man police believe was Dorner on April 7, as he sat with his partner at a stoplight in his patrol car.

New surveillance video captures fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner the morning after his first two murders, NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

Crain, who was born in Anaheim, was an 11-year veteran of the Riverside police force. He leaves behind a wife and two small children.

A second reward, worth $100,000, could also be on the way, a spokesman for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich said Sunday.

Tony Bell said that Antonovich and fellow supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas planned to ask colleagues on the Board of Supervisors to approve that reward for information leading to Dorner's capture at their meeting on Tuesday.

News of the rewards came as the LAPD announced it would re-open its investigation into Dorner?s firing from the department in 2008.

In a 11,400 word manifesto published on line, the ex-officer blamed his killing spree on his termination, saying that he would only stop when his name was cleared.

Re-opening the investigation seems to have two purposes: to communicate to members of the public who have responded to Dorner?s complaints that the LAPD treated him unfairly, and to send a message to the ex-officer himself.

Los Angeles officials announce a one million dollar reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner.

The department "is not opening it because of the accusations or because of the musings of someone who is a multiple murderer now," Cmdr. Andrew Smith said Saturday. Chief Charlie Beck is "wants to ensure that the public knows that the Los Angeles Police Department is fair and transparent, " Smith said.

Witnesses will be re-interviewed and the investigation into Dorner's firing will get a "fresh set of eyes," Smith said. He also issued a plea for Dorner to come forward.

"He can turn himself in and he can be able to get his side of the story out," Smith said.

Deputies have been combing the ski resort area of Big Bear, where authorities found former LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner?s burned-out truck, since Thursday afternoon.

More news from NBCLosAngeles.com

Investigators found weapons inside the truck, suggesting Dorner may have abandoned the truck in an unplanned hurry.

Former LAPD Chief William Bratton told the "Today Show" on Saturday that evidence suggests Dorner's truck may have become stuck in the mud. Previously, it was speculated that the truck may have been intentionally set ablaze as a distraction.

Investigators on Saturday were also trying to determine whether the truck's axle was broken when they found it, or if it was fractured while being towed from the forestry road.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, interviewed outside a prayer breakfast downtown, urged Dorner to turn himself in.

"We will find you," Villaraigosa said. "You?ve disgraced the public safety -- the police profession -- turn yourself in."

As the search in Big Bear was winding down for the night on Saturday, LAPD announced the department is reopening the case into Dorner's 2008 firing from the force.

In an 11,400-word document published online, Dorner laid out plans to kill law enforcement officers and their families, vowing to stop the attacks when LAPD "states the truth about my innocence."

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/10/16918569-1-million-reward-offered-for-ex-cop-in-connection-with-revenge-killings?lite

weather chicago swizz beatz mpaa south carolina debate lauren scruggs william shatner seattle weather

Kevin Cuneo: Pulakos receives military honor

Published: February 11, 2013 12:01 AM EST
Updated: February 10, 2013 8:16 PM EST

George Pulakos, now living in Fort Mill, S.C., recently received the French Legion of Honor for his service during World War II. Officials from the French Embassy cited Pulakos, 90, for his heroism at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. While serving as a surgical technician with the 331st Regiment of the 83rd Infantry Division, he tended to dozens of wounded soldiers. Pulakos told the Charlotte Observer's Mark Price that for years he's carried horrific images in his head of all the bodies on the beach. "They were stacked like cord wood, 4 and 5 feet high," Pulakos said. As Denis Barbet, French consul to the Southeast United States, pinned a medal on Pulakos, the longtime Erie resident who moved to South Carolina a year ago said he couldn't help but think of the hundreds of soldiers who should have received such an honor. "But they never came home," Pulakos said. He also drew laughter at the ceremony when he recalled a good-hearted Frenchman along the side of the road who handed him what he thought was a glass of water. "I gulped it down, not realizing it was pure alcohol and it felt like flames were coming out of my head," Pulakos said. "Everybody laughed, and I did, too, once I could breathe again." He attended the ceremony with his son, Dean Pulakos. ... A big sea glass festival, with more than 90 vendors, is scheduled for May 25 and 26 at the Bayfront Convention Center. Festival organizers, led by Relish Jewelers, expect more than 7,000 at the event. Geologist Scott McKenzie and biologist Jim Grazio will be among the regional experts who will lecture at the festival. The late Chet Wasielewski, who spent a lifetime working on the Great Lakes, once told me he had mixed feelings about beach glass. "It's pretty, but it means an awful lot of people dumped their garbage in the lake," he said.

-

Fairview's Blake Bojewski, one of the finalists in the 2012 Rising Stars competition, will be a featured vocalist during Greenville Symphony Orchestra's May 11 spring concert. ... Officials who operate the Baldwin-Reynolds House in Meadville are excited that humorist Mark Russell will headline an April 4 benefit for the musem at Allegheny College's Ford Chapel. The Baldwin-Reynolds House, marking its 50th year as a museum, was once home to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin. ... Best wishes for a speedy recovery to longtime Millcreek football and baseball coach Kim Parker, who had surgery Thursday at the Cleveland Clinic. ... When St. Patrick Church pastor Monsignor Henry Kriegel recently told parishioners that, after raising $1.5 million for extensive church renovations, he could not in good conscience come back to ask for more money to repair St. Pat's silent bell carillon system, a church member called later that day to pledge all the money for a new system. The next day, another parishioner called to make the same offer, but Kriegel explained that a family had already stepped forward. "Well, is there another project, preferably one related to music, that we can assist?" the caller asked. Kriegel said the family then pledged funds to restore the church's historic pipe organ. ... Erika Ballman DeSalvatore, a graduate of Mercyhurst Prep and Mercyhurst University, will be featured on NBC's "Fashion Star" on March 8 at 8 p.m. ... A Broadway touring company will stage "The Book of Mormon" at Cleveland's Palace Theatre from June 18 through July 7. Call (216) 241-6000 for ticket information.

?

Source: http://www.goerie.com/article/20130211/OPINION13/302119968/Kevin-Cuneo%3A-Pulakos-receives-military-honor

Pretty Little Liars Rob Parker Comcast Pokemon X and Y Rob Ryan Silver Linings Playbook bethenny frankel

Backed Or Whacked: Revenge Of The Dumb Watch

Editor?s note:?Ross Rubin is principal analyst at?Reticle Research and blogs at?Techspressive. Each column will look at crowdfunded products that have either met or missed their funding goals. Last year, Kickstarter launched a bumper crop of smart watches that connect via Bluetooth to your smartphone. The field was led by the record-setting Pebble, but also included products such as Cookoo,?the MetaWatch Strata,?and Martian, all of which have shipped by now. Recently, though, a number of timepieces have surfaced that bring us back to basics when it comes to telling time.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/vXWNBIsD1ig/

piracy sopa marg helgenberger censorship wikipedia sopa and pipa bills censoring the internet

Cantor says children of illegal immigrants should get U.S. citizenship

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. Republican lawmaker said on Sunday he would support granting citizenship to children who are in the country illegally in a sign that conservatives who oppose immigration amnesty will be playing defense as Congress takes on immigration reform in the coming months.

Representative Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives, said Congress could make quick progress on immigration if lawmakers agreed to give citizenship to children - an idea he opposed when it came up for a vote in 2010 as the DREAM Act.

"The best place to begin, I think, is with the children. Let's go ahead and get that under our belt, put a win on the board," Cantor said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Cantor is leading an effort to improve his party's image as many Republicans worry they will be consigned to irrelevancy in coming years if they do not reach out to the fast-growing Latino electorate, which strongly supports immigration reform.

President Barack Obama has made immigration reform a top priority of his second term in office and a bipartisan group of senators is working to draft legislation that would tackle the issue in a comprehensive manner, rather than the piecemeal approach that Cantor suggested.

Republican Senator John McCain, who is involved in that effort, said his group aims to provide a path to citizenship for all of those who are in the United States illegally, not just children, as long as border security is tightened.

"There are 11 million people living in the shadows. I believe that they deserve to come out of the shadows," McCain said on "Fox News Sunday."

That could be a tough sell for many of Cantor's Republicans in the House, who say it would amount to amnesty for those who willingly broke the law.

"We want to make sure we're compassionate and sensitive to their plight - these kids know no other place as home. On the other hand, we are a country of laws," Cantor said.

Cantor declined to say whether he would support a pathway to citizenship for adults as well. He could be forced to take a stand one way or the other if McCain and his colleagues manage to pass their legislation out of the Senate.

Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Cantor's support for citizenship for children was a positive sign. But he said his colleagues in the Senate would be pushing for more.

"I've met these young people, and they will tell you, yes, I want a future, but what about my mom and dad?" Durbin said on "Meet the Press." "We're not stopping with the DREAM act, we're beginning with the DREAM act and pushing forward."

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan, additional reporting by Xavier Briand; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cantor-children-illegal-immigrants-u-citizenship-171338467.html

dwight howard trade ncaa bracket 2012 2012 ncaa bracket john carlson greg smith catamount mike dantoni

Chilean film "Gloria" cheered at Berlin festival

BERLIN (Reuters) - There were cheers for Chilean drama "Gloria" at the Berlin film festival on Sunday, partly out of relief as the annual cinema showcase finally got its first hit after a series of critical misses.

The touching story of a middle aged woman's quest for love and adventure in modern-day Santiago drew comparisons to Woody Allen for the intimacy of the relationships and to Meryl Streep for the arresting performance of actress Paulina Garcia.

Garcia plays Gloria, a bespectacled 58-year-old divorcee whose children have left home and who goes out to singles night discos, where she dances and flirts and refuses to retreat quietly into the old age.

There she meets Rodolfo, a charming but complex former naval officer in his 60s, who sweeps her off her feet in a whirlwind romance that Gloria believes may turn into something permanent.

As they try to forge a lasting bond, their past lives constantly intrude, in what critics saw as a metaphor for Chile as it emerges from the dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet.

Director Sebastian Lelio's inspiration was his mother and her generation, which is rarely tackled in an industry obsessed with youth.

"I would say that we are all facing what Gloria is facing, but it just happens to some people sooner than others," he told reporters in Berlin, where Gloria is one of 19 movies in the main competition lineup and the most popular so far.

"We all face crossroads in our lives where we can retreat into ourselves or we can hit the dancefloor."

GLORIA AS ROCKY

He likened Gloria to the movie character Rocky Balboa.

"The world strikes at her and beats her down, but she manages to get up once more and carry on forward, holding her head up high."

Lelio is unflinching in his portrayal of the romance between Gloria and Rodolfo, which includes passionate sex scenes normally reserved for younger actors.

Actor Sergio Hernandez said he expected people in Chile would be shocked by the graphic nature of some scenes.

"We live in a hypocritical society, but I don't think people should be shocked," he said. "It's always been there ... adults making love as they never have before, perhaps better than they ever have before."

Lelio believed his movie had universal appeal as well as portraying Chilean society today.

"We have increased life expectancy," he said.

"Hitting your 60s doesn't mean the same thing that it used to in the old days. A new chapter of your life can begin and that's what I wanted to look at in this film. That's not Chile, it's happening in lots of countries around the world."

It was welcome in Berlin, where it was the seventh competition film to screen at the February 7-17 event. The first six, including U.S. entries "Promised Land" and "The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman", failed to impress critics.

Though not a comedy, Gloria's zest for life ensures plenty of laughs. Her revenge at being jilted comes in the form of a paintball attack on her target in a spoof of mob movies where enemies are gunned down in the street in broad daylight.

For Garcia it also has an upbeat message for Latin American audiences, because her character would have lived through the military coup of 1973 which placed Pinochet in power and the human rights abuses that followed.

"I think we are seeing a new society emerging in Chile and I think this is linked to what happens in Gloria," she said.

"Sometimes people are gloomy and cynical and I think it's important to say there is another way of looking at life - seeing the light and not just the dark."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chilean-film-gloria-cheered-berlin-festival-124936419.html

nit championship transcendentalism bells palsy channel 5 news uc berkeley harrison barnes brett ratner

Margaret Paul, Ph.D.: How to Stop Fighting With Your Partner or ...

When you think back on fights you've had with your partner or others, do you generally remember what you fought about? In my work with couples, they may tell me that they had a big fight, and when I ask what they were fighting about, they often can't remember. The reason for this is that it's rarely the issue itself, but how they are dealing with the issue that creates the most problems.

What often happens is one person says something that triggers the other, such as:

• Something that isn't true or accurate, or in some way doesn't make sense
• Something that indicates that one person doesn't see the other clearly, or is misinterpreting them
• Something that sounds judgmental or blaming
• Something that sounds arrogant or righteous
• Something that sounds or feels rejecting
• Something that sounds or feels needy

How do you generally respond when your partner, parent, child, friend or co-worker triggers you in one of these ways?

Do you:

• Explain, defend or use logic to try to fix/change them, or do something else to talk them out of their feelings and show them they are wrong?
• Get angry or blaming?
• Withdraw in anger or resistance and sulk?
• Give yourself up and go along with what they are saying?

What happens when you react in these ways? The chances are good that if you do the first two, you will end up in an argument. If you withdraw or give yourself up, you might avoid the conflict, but you may feel upset and resentful. In either case, the connection between you is broken for the time being, and this likely feels sad to you.

Does the conflict reach a loving resolution when you react in any of the above ways? Probably not.

One of the things many people have a hard time accepting is that when someone is coming from their ego-wounded self, they are closed to learning -- which means they cannot hear and take in what you are saying to them. Whatever you say when someone is closed falls on deaf ears -- and they are always closed when they are distorting the truth, misinterpreting, being judgmental or blaming, being arrogant or righteous or being rejecting or needy. Most of us cannot hear the other person when we are triggered into our own protective/controlling behavior.

Then, if both of you are triggered into your controlling ego-wounded selves, the interaction can escalate into threats, rage or violence.

What to Do to Not Fight

The first thing you need to do is fully accept that there is nothing you can do about what is going on with the other person. This is very hard for most people. We want to believe that if only we say the right thing or act right, we can get them to see things our way. No matter how right you are about the issue, explaining, defending, getting angry, blaming or righteous will do nothing to change the other's mind. They can't hear you when they are trying to control you!

Once you accept your helplessness over them, then you can realize that you are not at all helpless over yourself. Here are two healthy choices you can make to not get into a fight:

• If you can walk away, do so, but not in anger or blame. Disengage -- not as a punishment of them ("I'm going to pull my love and caring away because you are hurting me and I will show you that you can't treat me this way") -- but to take loving care of your own feelings. Move into compassion for the sadness, loneliness and heartache that you may feel when someone you care about is disconnected from you and unavailable to talk openly about it. Of primary importance is: Don't take it personally. Their unloving behavior is not about you -- it is a reflection of their own self-abandonment.

  
  The challenge in lovingly disengaging is to keep your own heart open so that when the other person is open, you are not stuck with anger and resentment. The way to do this is to learn to take full responsibility for your own pain, managing it with compassion and kindness toward yourself and making sure you are not taking their behavior personally. I like to put my hand on my heart, which grounds me in my heart, making it easier to be kind and gentle with my feelings.

• If you can't walk away, then remain silent, going inside to attend to your own feelings. Remember, whatever you say when someone is closed will only add fuel to the fire. Resist the temptation to tell them how wrong they are, or to explain yourself in the hopes they will hear you and change.

What to Do If They Open at Some Point

At some point, the other person might calm down and open. If you have been taking care of yourself, then you are also open. The time to discuss a conflict is only when both people are open to learning about themselves and each other.

There are two things you can do that may facilitate resolution:

• You can open to learning with them about what was going on with them -- why they were upset and closed. This can lead to new understandings of an issue that may need resolution.
• You can share your truth regarding how their unloving behavior affected you -- sharing the loneliness and heartache you feel when they disconnect from you -- without blame or judgment.

If, at any time during this discussion, one or both of you close down again, stop. Stop talking. Stop trying to resolve anything. Accept that you cannot resolve a conflict unless both of you are open to learning. Go back to tending to your own feelings, staying open to why you might have closed up in the interaction. There is always much to learn about what triggers us into a closed, protected, controlling place.

You will likely find many of your relationships becoming more loving and connected when you learn to lovingly disengage, stay open to learning, not take others' behavior personally, and tell your truth without blame or judgment.

Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is a relationship expert, best-selling author, and co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding? self-healing process, recommended by actress Lindsay Wagner and singer Alanis Morissette, and featured on Oprah. To begin learning how to love and connect with yourself so that you can connect with others, take advantage of our free Inner Bonding eCourse, receive Free Help, and take our 12-Week eCourse, "The Intimate Relationship Toolbox" - the first two weeks are free! Discover SelfQuest?, a transformational self-healing/conflict resolution computer program. Phone or Skype sessions with Dr. Margaret Paul.

Connect with Margaret on Facebook: Inner Bonding, and Facebook: SelfQuest.

For more by Margaret Paul, Ph.D., click here.

For more on relationships, click here.

?

?

?

Follow Margaret Paul, Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/innerbonding

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-paul-phd/relationship-advice_b_2645449.html

elizabeth berkley lenny dykstra jenelle evans jenelle evans mlb 12 the show sabu franchise tag

Do College Age Women Need Self-Defense Items ... - jackie's bazaar

Related eBooks

Do college-age women need self-defense items? Absolutely, and in some respects they are actually more vulnerable than the general population because of the proximity to alcohol and drugs and the ever-present peer pressure. Read on to learn more.

Source:Do College Age Women Need Self-Defense Items?

Tags: self defense

Source: http://www.jackiesbazaar.com/womensinterests/self-defense/do-college-age-women-need-self-defense-items

dolly parton i will always love you beverly hilton hotel whitney houston found dead i will always love you whitney houston 2012 grammy awards powerball results pebble beach golf

Chemicals linked to obesity in black children - Mother Nature Network

Black children with high levels of hormone-altering chemicals used in some shampoos and lotions are more likely to be obese, according to research published today.

?

The study by New York University scientists is the second to link phthalates to obesity in children but the first to use a large sample of children and look for racial disparities.

?

Black children have much higher levels of the chemicals in their bodies than children of other races, and for every tripling of certain compounds, they were 22 percent more likely to be obese, according to data from 2,884 children aged 6 to 19. No links to obesity were found in white or Hispanic children.

?

?The takeaway is we need to consider environmental exposures when looking at the obesity problem,? said Leonardo Trasande, a professor at New York University School of Medicine and lead author of the study. ?Environmental chemicals may contribute independently of diet and exercise.?

?

Phthalates are a large family of chemicals with varied uses. The phthalates associated with black children?s obesity were the kind commonly added to personal care products to make fragrances last longer. Other phthalates are used to make vinyl and can be found in food packaging, medical devices and flooring.

?

Trasande and colleagues checked for a variety of phthalates and only found a link to the kinds used in personal care products.

?

Both Trasande and other researchers were quick to point out that this doesn?t mean phthalates cause obesity.

?

?It?s a big study and nationally representative, which is good,? said Joe Braun, an epidemiology professor at Brown University who was not involved with the research. ?But since they measure phthalates levels in urine and obesity at the same time, it?s a chicken and egg problem. Do phthalates cause obesity or are obese children more exposed?? It?s unclear, he said, when they were exposed relative to when they became obese.

?

Kathryn St. John, a senior director of product communications at The American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical manufacturers, said no conclusions can be drawn from this study about whether a significant increase in childhood obesity can be linked to phthalate exposure.

?

?Attempts to link our national obesity problem to minute exposures to chemicals found in common, everyday products are a distraction from efforts to address this important national health issue,? St. John said.

?

Previous studies have linked phthalates to hormone disruption ? including hormones responsible for fat tissue and development of the brain and reproductive system. Trasande said it?s plausible ? though not proven by this study ? that phthalates could contribute to obesity by messing with receptors that metabolize lipids and carbohydrates.

?

One previous study linked phthalates to obesity in children. High phthalate concentrations were associated with increased body mass and waist size in Hispanic and black children aged 6 to 8 in New York City. Phthalates also were linked to adult obesity in a 2007 study.

?

In the new study, it is unclear why there was only a link for black children, but it could be due to their higher concentrations of the chemicals. For the personal care product-type phthalates, black children had levels 81 percent higher than white children, 45 percent higher than Mexican American children and 4 percent higher than other Hispanic children.

?

"One possibility is that different racial/ethnic groups use phthalate-containing shampoos and lotions differently, or use products containing different [phthalate] mixes," says the study, which was published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

?

Researchers didn?t see any differences by age groups. And, while the black children had higher levels of phthalates as a whole, the association with obesity happened at relatively low levels of exposure, Trasande said. The study used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?s 2008 nationwide testing of chemicals in people?s bodies.

?

It?s possible black children are simply more exposed, or they metabolize the chemicals differently, said Emily Barrett, a professor at the University of Rochester who studies exposure to environmental chemicals.

Many factors ? including nutrition and stress ? could alter how different children metabolize chemicals, said Jennifer Adibi, an epidemiology professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

?

In a study released late last year by Trasande and colleagues, another hormone disrupting chemical ? bisphenol A ? was linked to obesity in only white children.

?

Trasande controlled for diet, television watching, gender and age in the phthalate study. Pinning chemicals to weight gain is a challenge, but the study forces some new thinking about obesity, he said.

?

The next research step is to look at phthalate exposures from fetus to childhood to try to tease out whether the chemicals are contributing to obesity, he said.

?

Adibi said the findings are ?interesting and scary.? While it?s not enough evidence to spur policy changes, she hopes it will reframe the conversations about risks to disadvantaged communities.

?

?This is another reason to increase awareness among low income, African American and Hispanic populations and let them know they?re at an increased risk of exposure to these chemicals and that we?re seeing these associations (with obesity),? Adibi said.

?

Related on MNN:

?

Source: http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/chemicals-linked-to-obesity-in-black-children

clooney arrested southern miss rod blagojevich rod blagojevich uconn ncaa march madness mario williams

Character Sheets

I've debated scrapping character sheets before, but I stick with them for two reasons.

First, it it helps me spot if a character isn't going to be appropriate to my game's setting. My games take place in somewhat defined worlds I try to establish clearly in my setting info. Occasionally I fail at the clear part, and someone gets confused. Most of the time, they just don't pay any attention and submit the antithesis of what's called for. For example, in a game where it was an important part of the setting that humans didn't know about supernatural otherworldly beings, someone gave their character a back-story involving a battle between demons and humans. Whatever the case, if there's an issue, I can catch it before those problems come up in game.

Second, it does help me get a look at a person's style. I used to require a writing sample as part of my game applications, but I stopped doing that a while back. That means the profile, along with checking if the person has played any games here, is all I have to go on. My standards are a lot more lax than they used to be, so I rarely wind up rejecting people for anything but obvious cases of "did not even glance at the rules and setting." However, there still may be times that someone's style just does not mesh with mine at all.

What I expect out of a profile, though, isn't much. I stress that brief answers are fine so long as they're polished (since, again, it's all I have to go on). It's surprising what you can tell just from a few sentences per field. Longer is perfectly fine, though. As long as it accomplishes its goal -- giving me an idea of the character and how that character fits within the setting -- it works for me.

I always use variations of this profile:

Name:
Age:
Physical Description:
Personality:
Abilities:
Any Other Info:

This is the bare bones, of course. I add other game-specific fields as necessary (e.g. a space pirate game may have a "Position" field that specifies position on the ship, or "Occupation" in a modern RP where most everyone has a job/is looking for a job/is a student/etc. and is defined by that). However, I think I can get a good snapshot of a character with the above. "Abilities" may be phrased differently depending on the game and what kind of abilities are allowed, and it's a pretty important field in terms of judging whether a character fits into the game.

A "Bio" or "History" field may be included, but I often make that optional (for the sake of players who don't like to reveal everything at once). I think knowing a character's background is helpful, and in some games I do require it, but it can put pressure on people to write out every inch of a character's life and put themselves in danger of meta-gaming. I haven't run into this attitude much, but I can respect it when I do. I feel similarly about Personality -- I like a brief idea, but I don't think the player needs to reveal the character's every facet if they don't want to, and it doesn't need to be highly specific or set in stone because characters often grow. I'm really looking for a feel for the character's general nature.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/a-lp23p_2kk/viewtopic.php

tuskegee airmen mike james red tails red tails heidi klum heidi klum red tails trailer

Obama to visit NC, Atlanta after State of Union (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/283676783?client_source=feed&format=rss

eli manning eli manning kelly clarkson national anthem halftime show super bowl halftime show 2012 ahmad bradshaw halftime super bowl 2012

6.9 earthquake strikes Colombia; minor injuries reported

USGS via EPA

An intensity map shows the location of a strong 7-magnitude earthquake that struck southwestern Colombia.

By Andrew Mach, Staff Writer, NBC News

A strong 6.9 magnitude earthquake jolted southwestern Colombia on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, causing damage to more than 100 homes and injuring six people.

The quake, centered 6 miles southwest of Pasto, was 80.5 miles deep and was felt in Quito, Ecuador, 123 miles away, where buildings shook for at least two minutes, Reuters reported. Some residents were evacuated briefly in the Colombian capital, Bogota.

Five adults and a child suffered minor injuries and more than 100 buildings, mainly private homes, were damaged, Reuters reported.

"For the time being, the assessment shows that 124 homes, a health clinic and three schools have been damaged, and a church was destroyed, but no one was killed or disappeared," said Carlos Ivan Marquez, the head of the national emergency services office.

Marquez said they have not issued a tsunami warning and there have been no aftershocks.?

USGS originally reported the tremor, which happened at 9:16 a.m. ET, had a 7.0 magnitude earthquake.?

?

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/09/16910221-strong-69-earthquake-strikes-colombia-minor-injuries-reported?lite

marco rubio marco rubio farrah abraham Paul Ryan Speech chris cooley chris cooley condoleezza rice

Suspected drunk Romanian pilot halts flight from London

Radu Marinas , Reuters ? ? ? 1 hr.

BUCHAREST -- Romanian airline Tarom canceled a flight to Bucharest because the pilot was suspected of being drunk before takeoff from London's Heathrow airport, it said on Friday.

In a story reminiscent of Denzel Washington's portrayal of flying under the influence of alcohol in the movie "Flight", British authorities refused permission for the pilot to take off in the Airbus A318 from Heathrow on Wednesday morning.

"We canceled the flight because one crew member was not physically fit to operate. His medical incapacity was tracked down in London during routine checks," the state-owned Romanian carrier Tarom said in a statement.

"The pilot returned home on Thursday and we suspended him from activity until the investigation is finalized.

"If official results we receive show he tested positive for alcohol, we'll immediately fire him," the airline said.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/suspected-drunk-romanian-pilot-halts-flight-london-1B8296996

Hurricane Sandy Nyc Saanvi Venna vikings Colin Powell Tyrann Mathieu noaa Jessica Ridgeway

Sunitinib benefits patients with renal cell carcinoma, study suggests

Feb. 8, 2013 ? Findings from clinical trial patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, a common kidney cancer, show they did not have accelerated tumor growth after treatment with sunitinib, in contrast to some study results in animals. Sunitinib is one of several drugs, either on the market or undergoing testing, that target blood vessel growth. There had been debate, based on the animal studies, about whether tumor blood vessel changes induced by these drugs promoted tumor growth and/or caused cancer to spread. In this study, Tito Fojo, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Experimental Therapeutics Section, Medical Oncology Branch and Affiliates, NCI, and his colleagues, found that not to be the case.

Results of their study appeared in Cell Reports, Feb. 7, 2013.

Using a mouse model to assess small, relatively newly developed tumors can be much more challenging than assessment in humans who tend to have more established tumors several centimeters in size. To address whether sunitinib accelerated tumor growth in humans, researchers analyzed data from a randomized phase III trial comparing sunitinib with interferon alfa in patients with kidney cancer. Using a novel methodology for assessing efficacy , they found sunitinib reduced the tumor's growth rate while improving survival, without appearing to negatively alter tumor biology after discontinuation.

Their findings suggest that concerns arising from animal models may not apply to patients receiving sunitinib and most likely will not apply to patients using similar agents, but recognize more studies may need to be done.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National Cancer Institute (NCI) at NIH.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Krastan?B. Blagoev, Julia Wilkerson, Wilfred?D. Stein, Robert?J. Motzer, Susan?E. Bates, A.?Tito Fojo. Sunitinib Does Not Accelerate Tumor Growth in Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma. Cell Reports, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2013.01.015

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/n4HzwcTVDqk/130208124601.htm

Martin Luther King, Jr. Mlk Quotes Elder Scrolls Online joe biden michelle obama lupe fiasco jason wu

101 Best Family Card Games | UNO-ONE.COM

101 Best Family Card Games

101 Best Family Card Games

?A nicely organized book chockablock with games that can be enjoyed by?a variety of ages?.Begins with games that children as young as five can play with their parents, then?a number of more complicated games that older children can easily play on their own?a great assortment?clearly written and easy enough for many children to read on their own. Great for the parenting shelf, or pull the book out for kids on rainy or snowy days.??Booklist.

GET MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE

101 Best Family Card Games

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://uno-one.com/101-best-family-card-games/

andrew lloyd webber obscura grok cirque du freak paul pierce pope joan pope joan

Polish transsexual lawmaker loses shot at top post

WARSAW, Poland (AP) ? The before and after photos of Anna Grodzka show how much she ? and her country ? have transformed.

As a man, she once wore a thick beard. Now, Poland's first transsexual lawmaker favors big dangly earrings, her hair in a bob.

Grodzka attracted huge attention when she was elected in 2011, and earned even more recently when she became a candidate to be a deputy speaker for her leftwing party.

She lost that chance on Friday when lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to keep the incumbent in the job. Even so, the 58-year-old has already had a huge impact on the political scene, becoming perhaps the most prominent symbol of liberal change in a country that has traditionally been deeply conservative and overwhelmingly Roman Catholic.

"Certain taboos are being dismantled," said Jacek Kucharczyk, a political analyst and the president of the Institute of Public Affairs in Warsaw.

Serious news magazines have featured Grodzka on their front covers, with analytical pieces examining the role of gays and other sexual minorities in society. The tabloids zero in on more frivolous things, like the difficulty the nearly 6-foot-2 (nearly 1.9-meter) Grodzka faces finding pretty clothes. Or how she freezes in panty hose in the frigid Polish winters, but still refuses to wear pants.

Grodzka said she herself is still sometimes surprised that she garnered 20,000 votes in her conservative home city, Krakow, to win a seat in Parliament. People have attacked her office, throwing things at the windows or ripping her rainbow flags. But all in all, she feels a growing acceptance from society, she told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

She is aware she is a symbol of historic change in Poland, she said, and is trying to meet that challenge by doing the best work possible as a lawmaker.

"I am above all trying to be a normal politician, like any other person, but maybe even better. I am really trying so that people who observe me will know that transgender people are no worse in any way than any others," Grodzka said.

The social transformation has been visible in other areas too, including growing support for the state to fund in vitro fertilization, despite conservative Catholic opposition. But it is particularly notable for the new attention given to the rights of sexual minorities, an issue suppressed in communist times and after the fall of communism in 1989, as many Poles looked to the powerful Catholic church for guidance through the economic and social turmoil.

The church's role was long bolstered by its reputation for standing up to the communists and because of the authority of the late Polish Pope John Paul II. But its influence has waned since John Paul's death in 2005 and as Poland joined the EU in 2004 and became more closely integrated with the West.

A key turning point came when a new progressive party ? Palikot's Movement ? swept into power in 2011 as Parliament's third-largest force, one fighting for gay rights and against the church's traditional influence over public life. Its representatives include Grodzka and Poland's first openly gay lawmaker, Robert Biedron.

It can be an uphill battle. Last month lawmakers tackled the issue of civil partnerships, but rejected legislation that would have given unmarried couples ? gay or straight ? any legal rights.

The rise of the liberals "doesn't mean that we have suddenly become a very progressive country or that we are already on the level of West European countries in recognizing the rights of sexual minorities," Kucharczyk said. "There is still a long, long way to go and we see ... a backlash against Grodzka" getting a leadership role in Parliament, he said. "But what has changed is that we are discussing this openly and people have become visible."

Grodzka had sex change surgery in 2010 in Thailand after a lifetime of feeling she was born the wrong sex. Before the change her name was Krzysztof Begowski, and she had a wife and a son. Grodzka's son has been supportive of her through her change but the wife could not accept it and the two are now estranged.

The ruling party ? currently Prime Minister Donald Tusk's Civic Platform ? automatically gets the position of speaker of Parliament, with other parties each allotted one deputy speaker post each. Grodzka appeared to have a shot at it after the lawmaker currently holding the post for her party, Wanda Nowicka, drew the ire of its founder and leader, Janusz Palikot, for accepting a bonus of 40,000 zlotys ($13,000), along with the other deputy speakers. The bonuses have been controversial because they come as Poland's economy faces a slowdown and the government is raising taxes and forcing other austerity measures on the public.

Lawmakers, however, voted overwhelmingly Friday against a proposition put forward by Palikot to dismiss Nowicka, a prominent activist who has worked for women's causes for many years.

Nowicka then addressed the assembly, saying she was encouraged by their support and that she would not resign. Nowicka said there was no merit to the case against her and that she still had work to do for women and her constituents.

Grodzka, who has expressed admiration for Nowicka's work, was among those who voted to keep Nowicka in place. After the vote, she said she was not upset by the outcome.

"I don't regret it ? believe me," she said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/polish-transsexual-lawmaker-loses-shot-top-post-093120122.html

andrew bynum the time machine michelin tires michelin tires rett syndrome where the wild things are josh smith

Tonik, dog with human face, up for adoption

Tonik, a Shih Tzu/poodle who some say has a remarkably humanlike face, is up for adoption at a shelter in Indiana. Why is it that Tonik appears so human to some people?

By Eoin O'Carroll,?Staff / February 6, 2013

Tonik, a poodle/Shih Tzu mix, was rescued from a kill shelter in Kentucky. He is now available for adoption from the Homeward Bound Animal Welfare Group Inc., Mishawaka, Ind.

Petfinder.com

Enlarge

Tonik, an 11-pound, 1-year-old dog available for adoption from the Homeward Bound Animal Welfare Group in Mishawaka, Ind., is looking for a loving and responsible household, preferably without children. He is part poodle, part Shih Tzu, and, if his photo is any indication, part human.?

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

Yes, it's true: Tonik's face, at least in this photo, looks very much like that of a mildly peeved Homo sapiens.?Indeed, the resemblance is striking enough to prompt a writer for The Huffington Post to lead a story with, "It's just one of those things that are like, 'Whoa, dude.'"?

But how, exactly, did Tonik's face get so ... dude-like? Well, it's true that humans and dogs do share some genes: Our two species likely have a common ancestor dating back to the Cretaceous period. And it's also true that Shih Tzus have been bred for their flat faces (many Shih Tzus have trouble breathing because of this). But Tonik's humanoid visage?has much less to do with canine physiology than it does with human psychology.

Anthropomorphism, the tendency to ascribe human traits to animals and objects, was first described by the traveling Greek poet Xenophanes of Colophon. Xenophanes, who lived in the 5th and 6th century BC, criticized the polytheism of his contemporaries, noting that?Ethiopians?described their gods as snub-nosed and black, while the Thracians described theirs as blue-eyed and red-haired. If horses and oxen could draw pictures, Xenophanes scoffed,?they would draw deities that resemble horses and oxen.?

Anthropomorphism is universal. Even the most hard-nosed rationalists among us cannot stop themselves from doing it. But in 2007, psychologists?Adam Waytz, Nicholas Epley, and John T. Cacioppo?found that people who feel socially isolated are more likely to anthropomorphize. They write:

"From the elderly person who treats his or her cat as a bit too much like a spouse to cinematic depictions such as 'Cast Away'?in which the shipwrecked protagonist (Tom Hanks) anthropomorphizes a volleyball (named Wilson) after being marooned on an island, those who are lacking human connection appear to seek it out in nonhuman connections."

Perhaps even more universal than our tendency to ascribe human traits to nonhumans is our tendency to detect human faces in all manner of things. Anthropoid mugs constantly present themselves to us not just in all phyla of animals, but also in clouds, tree stumps, coffee stains, the moon, grilled cheese sandwiches, and anything else that can plausibly display a pair of ovals for eyes and a line for a mouth.

Psychologists use the term "pareidolia"?to describe our tendency to perceive random stimuli as significant, and when it comes to faces, pareidolia is deeply ingrained. In fact, our brains have a specific area ?(right near the bottom, in case you were wondering) specialized to recognize faces. Brain-mapping studies show that it is one of the first parts of the brain to get to work when presented with something that looks like a face, but not with other objects. Neurons in this area fire in well under a fifth of a second, well before the conscious mind can begin to process the information. We are also adept at very quickly determining the emotions of the face, and we tend to pick out faces with threatening expressions faster than those with benign ones.?

All of this is the result of eons of hard-won evolutionary programming, and it was in our ancestors' best reproductive interests not to be overly strict in excluding would-be faces.?The costs of missing a human face are far greater than the costs of seeing one where none exists. ?

That brings us back to Tonik. Chances are, with all this media scrutiny, he's already got plenty of prospective?adopters. But, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,?about 5 million to 7 million cats, dogs, and other pets enter animal shelters nationwide each year, and approximately 3 million to 4 million of them are euthanized.?If a little bit of evolutionarily ingrained cognitive misattribution will render these animals worthy of your compassion, and if you can responsibly take care of a pet, then feel free to?anthropomorphize away. ?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/q8t6kaqoIRA/Tonik-dog-with-human-face-up-for-adoption

radar weather morosini death jacoby ellsbury jacoby ellsbury lionel richie kenny rogers avatar the last airbender

Reading on Tablets Easier for Older Eyes

People young and old prefer reading paper books to tablets and e-readers, but older individuals could find themselves reading faster and with less effort on a tablet. The news came from a small study released this week in PLOS ONE from researchers at the historic epicenter of the printed word ? Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany.

Among 360 readers ages 21 to 34, no difference in reading speed or brain effort was detected between reading via a book, a Kindle e-reader and an iPad. But big differences were recorded among 21 users ages 60 to 77 when they read the same text on paper instead of the devices. In fact, using an iPad improved speed and reduced effort compared to paper and e-readers. Researchers measured eye movements and brain activity from EEG readings to determine ease of reading.

Traditional ereaders were no help: Reading a short page of text on a Kindle took the older group about 28 seconds, the longest of the three. Switching to the printed book shaved 1.5 seconds off the time. But reading on an?iPad?took just 24 seconds, that's 2.5 seconds faster than reading on paper. While that may not represent a big timesaver when skimming news headlines, it could save hours reading "War and Peace."

The researchers concluded that the iPad's backlighting, which was adjusted to the?brightest setting , made the difference. All tablets use backlighting, while e-readers use what's called an E Ink display that provides less contrast than a brighter tablet (although it allows people to read in bright sunlight).

But despite the physical findings, older adults and their younger counterparts said they got more pleasure reading from a paper book. The?researchers?said this was evidence of a cultural bias against digital books rather than a cognitive phenomenon.

It seems that for older individuals, at least, tradition trumps ease of use.

This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reading-tablets-easier-older-eyes-141338856.html

manu ginobili sports illustrated swimsuit 2012 aretha franklin whitney houston paul williams paul babeu kevin costner budweiser shootout

Justin Bieber's Mom: Keep Me Out of Abortion Debate!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/justin-biebers-mom-keep-me-out-of-abortion-debate/

bishop eddie long madonna give me all your luvin video roseanne barr president green party day 26 new hunger games trailer sasquatch

Senate grills CIA chief nominee (Reuters)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/283445159?client_source=feed&format=rss

andrew shaw hologram pulitzer prize winners nfl 2012 schedule gmail down tim lincecum ryan oneal

Twitter search upgraded to pull in results older than last week

The ease of dumping our historic/inane messages into Twitter has fueled the service's growth so far, but the ability to retrieve relevant ones later has, until now, lagged behind. CEO Dick Costolo promised last year that the company was working on "architecting search" to allow access to the archives, and today the company announced its search feature is finally able to include tweets that are more than a week old. That follows the release of archive dumps that allow users to mass download and search through their own tweets. Expanding the search function's memory from goldfish to elephant size is going to roll out across the web and mobile apps -- already sporting a freshly redesigned search -- over the next few days. For now, Engineer Paul Berstein explains in a blog post that results will slowly continue to grow to include a greater percentage of tweets ever sent, with search results weighted by elements like number of favorites, retweets and clicks.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile

Comments

Source: Twitter Blog

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/w4O_C2JD1-k/

autism awareness angelman syndrome total recall troy tulowitzki katie couric good morning america the rock vs john cena acm awards 2012