Year two documentary on the Blue Brain project

The year two film of director Noah Hutton’s 10-year documentary-in-the-making on the progress of the ambitious Blue Brain Project is now online and well-worth watching.

The Blue Brain Project is often touted as aiming to ‘simulate the human brain’ but a more accurate description would probably be that it aims to create a simulation of cortical column circuits from the neuromolecular level up to the point where it’s as equally as complex as the human brain.

If the distinction isn’t clear imagine that you’re interested in how London works, so you decide to build a detailed computer simulation of suburban streets, but instead of aiming to replicate the geography of the genuine British city, you just make sure that it has as many roads as the capital itself.

Clearly, this is not an exact simulation of London, not least because the city is more than just suburban streets, but the complexity of the model would be incredibly useful in understanding the interaction between street level and city level activity at massive levels of complexity.

The same goes for neural simulation and the link between micro and macro levels of complexity is a major challenge for neuroscience. This is exactly what the Blue Brain Project aims to tackle.

However, as you can see in the film, project leader Henry Markham has the tendency to say that the project is about ‘understanding the brain’, which makes for good headlines, and takes nothing away from the impressiveness of the project, but is so broad that it doesn’t reflect the somewhat more neurobiological focus.

The project is, nonetheless, wonderful neuroscience and Noah Hutton’s film captures its progress during its second year.

Link to Noah Hutton’s ‘Blue Brain, Year Two’ film.

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Don’t Let These 4 Habits Ruin Your Conversations

Bad Habits Can Ruin Conversations

Why didn’t he call me back?  Why didn’t she laugh at my joke?  Why don’t they want to hang out again?

Do you ever get the feeling that maybe something you did or said sabotaged your conversation (or worse, your relationship!?).

In a perfect world, we could all take the Conversation Skills Assessment Aggregator 2000 and it would spit out a printed analysis of our entire communication profile.  It would detail our every strength and weakness, our every good and bad habit, and even our conversation style.  Maybe it would even make polite suggestions for you in a British accent.

Luckily, you have a good friend who always advises you on your conversation habits.  Oh, you don’t?  Neither do I.  If we are making a conversation mistake, most of us will never find out.  People will just choose not to talk to us as much.  You may not think anything of it.

You may not have a friend or a machine that can politely make suggestions, but there are very common conversation mistakes you can look out for. With a little self reflection and self awareness, you can at least ensure that you are not damaging your conversations and relationships any further.

Let’s look more closely at four of the bad habits:

Do you find yourself just paraphrasing or repeating what the other person said?  If they say, “that was a cool movie!” do you say, “Yeah, that was a really cool movie!”?  Parrots act like they are having a conversation, but in reality, they rarely actually offer anything substantive.  Parrots rely on echoing and paraphrasing others.

Suggestion:  If you find yourself just echoing what they are saying, try to offer substantive opinions or observations as well.

You may have fascinating stories and opinions to share, but if your energy cannot support the comments, people may find you hard to listen to.  Lacking energy or emotion when you talk can ruin your conversation faster than almost any other bad habit.   Good conversation is alive; good conversation flows with energy between the conversationalists.   If you are not adding to the flow of energy, then you are probably subtracting from it.

Suggestions:  Think of your voice as a roller coaster ride for your listeners.  Are you creating a flat, boring ride?  Try to make your roller coaster ride enjoyable for your particular audience; add some vocal drops, some inclines, and vary your speed.  Vary your inflections and emphasize key words as well.

Also, record your voice in private.  In fact, re-read this section in your normal voice and play it back.  If you have never recorded yourself before, you’ll be surprised by what you hear!

The Predictable Talker lives in the serious and literal world.  If they get up to use the restroom, and you ask them where they are going, they will always respond, “to the restroom.”  Everything they say is predictable; they’ll never surprise you with something unexpected.  In contrast, a Playful Talker may respond to that question with a number of unpredictable playful responses.  For example, “I thought I’d leave you with the bill,” or “I’m going to pickup that girl,” or “I’m trying to escape.”  The best conversation is playful and unpredictable; Predictable Talkers have trouble playing!

Suggestion:  Train your mind to start considering the unexpected responses.  Next time someone asks you a question or makes a comment, mentally think about what response would be unexpected or unpredictable (within reason!).  Once in a while, try one of these unexpected comments and see how you do.  You may surprise yourself.

Conversation Narcissists love nothing more than to talk about themselves.  The only reason they ask the other person a question like, “How was your weekend?” is so they can circle it back around to them again, “that’s nice…let me tell you about what happened to me…” They rarely inquire seriously about the other person or ask follow up questions.

Suggestion:  This is easy to fix, be genuinely interested in the other person.  When someone tells you something, keep the focus on them, ask follow up questions, recall previous comments the person said, etc.

Geoff Peart, M.Ed., is the author of the blog, mysocialupgrade.com, where people can learn how to improve their social skills and their lives. All of the content is free and updated weekly.

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3 Clear Reasons to Change Careers

I sat in my hospital room, anxiously twirling the strings that were not securing the gown behind me, waiting for the nurses to wheel me into surgery. My husband squeezed my hand and told me we’d be okay.

Up until that moment, it certainly looked like I had it all.

I’d spent 16 years in the military, and by all accounts, had a bright future in front of me. I wasn’t on the fast track, but my boss valued my ideas and was a gifted mentor. I was engaged with my work and liked my co-workers.

I told myself again and again how lucky I was, but I still felt a kind of euphoria every time I took a day off.

Worse, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the opportunity for the life I’d always wanted was disappearing with each passing year.

It took a tragic loss, my second miscarriage in the space of twelve months, to realize what was nagging me.

Life is too short to not spend it doing what you love.

Sure, sure, we’ve all heard it before. But as I awoke in the recovery room, my belly sore and my emotions crushed from the loss of my second baby, I resolved to find the work that made me feel alive.

I walked away from nearly a million dollars in pay and retirement benefits.

Crazy, right?  Certainly more than one person said so.

Then a strange thing happened: one person after another confided they were unhappy with their work too. Not the usual malcontents, but smart, vibrant, upward moving people, the ones who also appeared to have it all figured out.

As friends and colleagues asked for my advice about what to do, I struggled with whether they needed a new career, a new job, or just a long vacation on the beach.

Ultimately, I came up with three scenarios where I thought only a new career would do.

1. No “fire in the belly”

When I announced to my dad I wanted to be a scientist, he responded with an experiment of his own: he left copies of magazines like Discover and Scientific American lying around the house.

In two weeks, I never picked one up.  Not once.

What I’ve learned in retrospect is this: if you’re not interested enough in a subject to research it, read about it, play with it, and find others to talk about it – it’s probably not the career for you. And it’s quite possible you haven’t yet discovered the work that excites you—after all, there’s a lot you haven’t experienced.

When you have “fire in the belly,” as my dad called it, you’re willing to put in the time and effort to build your skills, even when you’re frustrated or depressed by how much you still have to learn. It’s what gets you through Seth Godin’s dip.

It wakes you up in the middle of the night with ideas, and then, bleary-eyed, makes you excited to get up in the morning.

I was successful as a scientist, but as my dad’s experiment proved, I didn’t have the fire in the belly. Trust me, it’s worth finding yours.

2. The wrong success

We think we know what success looks like, because society tells us over and over the importance of money, power, and fame. When we want to indicate someone is successful, we almost always invoke their salary or who they know to impress.

There’s nothing wrong with any of those outcomes, but it’s entirely possible they don’t mean as much as you think. If you’ve ever felt a bit empty after winning some big award, you know what I mean.

Define success for yourself, then dare to pursue a career that lets you achieve it. Maybe that means saving elephants in Africa or helping a small business hire their first employee.

If you live your life trying to achieve someone else’s definition of success, you’ll always feel a bit of a sham, no matter how high you go.

3. Trapped behind a mask

Even superheroes like Superman and Spiderman got tired of leading a double life.

One of the things I hear a lot is that people want to be their true selves at work. For example, the military culture demanded I establish my authority and demonstrate my place in the hierarchy. But I’m an egalitarian at heart—I hated treating people differently based on rank alone.

If you’re tired of holding back your true opinions, if you’re tired of working long hours for outcomes you don’t really care about, then it’s time to remove the mask and revel in who you really are.

Some people resist change until a near death experience reminds them they may not have the luxury of waiting until the time is “right.” Others won’t change until they are laid off, admitting they never liked their career anyway.

A friend of mine recently led a workshop for financial executives. He asked them to reveal one thing they were proud of. As he noted, “Not one of them mentioned the size of their office or the make of their car.”

You don’t have to change careers tomorrow. But you should start spending some time figuring out what really matters—to you—today.

It’s not always easy. You’ll have to battle the fear and the voices that want to keep you mired in mediocrity.

I spent 16 years wondering, “what if?”

Letting fear make your decisions, instead of owning what you really want, is a lousy way to live.

Now I can say unconditionally: Ignite that “fire in the belly.” Make yourself proud. Choose courage over comfort.

And when people call you crazy for pursuing your dreams of fulfilling work, remind them what R.D. Laing said, “Madness need not be all breakdown.  It may also be break-through.”

Jennifer Gresham is the founder of the No Regrets Career Academy, which offers a free mini-course in career change.  She’s on a mission to help people make Monday their favorite day of the week.

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The Psychologist on Milgram and the shock of the old

The August issue of The Psychologist is an open-access special edition on Stanley Milgram and his obedience studies that continue to cast a dark shadow over our understanding of human nature.

The issue has articles that look back on the legacy of his obedience studies, his treatment by historians and a personal view written by his widow, Alexandra Milgram, on the man himself.

But a particular highlight is a piece on his pioneering and almost cinematic use of film in his appropriately dramatic studies:

…in the popular imagination, Obedience and the ‘obedience to authority’ trials have become conflated and are now one and the same, despite the fact that the film only provides substantial documentation of one condition out of more than 20 that were investigated. Milgram’s documentaries and thoughtful writings on film, television and photography point to the value of narrative and audio-visual methods of research. The Obedience footage, however, does not support his claim that people ‘mindlessly follow authority’. On the contrary, it provides detailed audio-visual evidence that people experience considerable strain and anguish in following orders that conflict with their own consciences.

All the articles are free to read as is the rest of the issue. Enjoy.

Link to August edition of The Psychologist.

Declaration of interest: I’m an unpaid associate editor and occasional columnist for The Psychologist. The editor has not yet needed to use electric shocks on me.

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Unexpected Ways The Library Can Save You Money

The Library of Congress

When I say “library” most of you are going to picture books. Getting books from the library is the most inexpensive way to read books. But there are unexpected ways that libraries can save you money:

I love buying music. Unforatunately I have often bought CDs only to find out that I didn’t like the album, or only liked one song.  This means the music languishes in the library, unplayed. Even previewing snippets online doesn’t entirely get rid of this problem, since so many songs change after the first thirty seconds.

At the library I can borrow CDs and give them a full listen before deciding to buy them. This saves me from spending money on things I will listen to once.

This also allows me to try genres outside of my usual listening fare. I have listened to world music, opera, old-time blues and something that I could only classify as Scandinavian Tolkein death metal.

I like magazines. They are great information sources and provide lots of light reading. My reading tastes vary and I love everything from archaeology to cooking to crafting to software development to political commentary. While I like magazines, I have neither the time to read everything, nor the interest to read every issue.

There are two general ways to get magazines: buy them at the newsstand or subscribe. Buying at the newsstand allows you to pick the issues you want to read, but costs many times more than a subscription. Subscriptions are less expensive, but if you don’t get to reading the magazines, it is wasted money. They also pile up around the house, waiting for a time when you “can get to them”. In my case, this can mean six months of back issues, depending on how busy I am.

Most libraries still carry a wide variety of magazines and even have back issues. You can read as much as you wish, when you want to,  for free. This method has the added bonus of not having to dispose of the magazines once they are read. They are shared with others who wish to read them.

Note: If your local library doesn’t carry a favorite, ask them to. They subscribe based on popularity.

Most public libraries have large meeting rooms where they hold activities and lectures. These are usually free or low-cost, and cover a wide variety of interests. My local library had presentations on henna, fishing and quilting one week this month.

Some community groups will also meet at libraries, and provide public outreach informational programs in exchange for the meeting space. Our local astronomy club gave a demonstration of telescopes at the library one Saturday afternoon, allowing children to examine telescopes, and then see a presentation on constellations inside.

There are many ways to see movies at a price lower than the movie theater. I used to love renting movies, but I could never manage to get them back the next day. Getting movies from the library gets around this, and movies from the library are generally free. They might not have hundreds of copies of the recent release, but if you are willing to wait a week, you can get them. Plus, with multi–week check out, you don’t have to worry about getting them back the next day!

Almost all libraries these days have their catalog and reservation system online. This means that you can place a hold on an item anytime, from any computer and the item will be pulled and waiting for you to pick up. How great is it to browse the library catalogs at midnight? Items can be reserved even before they arrive at the library, making it possible to get new books and movies the moment they are released.

Libraries often have inter-library loan programs as well, so if your local library doesn’t have an item, they can probably arrange to have it borrowed from another library.

Even though I read mostly e-books these days I am spending more time at my library. I read magazines, investigate new music and pick out movies. Do you have anything you use your library for that saves you money? Share below.

LJ Earnest is a computer programmer by day, productivity geek all the time. Using the principles of productivity and simplicity at SimpleProductivityBlog.com, she helps people get through the stuff they have to do so they can get to the stuff they want to do. She can also be found at Twitter and Facebook. Remember, a productive life doesn't have to be complicated.

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DNA clues to our inner Neanderthal: Svante Pääbo on TED.com

Sharing the results of a massive, worldwide study, Svante Pääbo shows the DNA proof that early humans mated with Neanderthals after we moved out of Africa. (Yes, many of us have Neanderthal DNA.) He also shows how a tiny bone from a baby finger was enough to identify a whole new humanoid species. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2011, July 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Duration: 17:02.)

Watch Svante Pääbo’s talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 1000+ TEDTalks.

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Seven Secrets of Highly Productive People

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Bad riot neuroscience: cite the power

The Guardian Notes and Theories blog has a fantastic article on media science distortion by brain researchers whose study got falsely reported as showing a link between rioting and ‘low levels of a brain chemical’.

The actual study, which you can read online as a pdf, did not mention rioting and did not investigate it, but it got widely spun as giving an explanation for the recent looting in the UK based on the function of a neurotransmitter.

…we found that people who had lower levels of GABA in a part of their frontal lobe also reported higher “rash impulsivity”. People who score higher on rash impulsivity tend to act more rashly in response to strong emotions or urges. Our results tallied with recent genetic findings that linked GABA to alcoholism and drug abuse: disorders in which high rash impulsivity is a common feature. We wrote up our study for publication in a scientific journal and, as standard, we were encouraged by our university to issue a press release.

As the riots unfolded, news stories based on our research began appearing. On Tueday 9 August, a newswire story by the Press Association announced that “Brain chemical lack ‘spurs rioting’”, with ‘spurs rioting’ printed mischievously in quote marks, falsely implying these were our words. In a further creative leap, The Sun heralded a “Nose spray to stop drunks and brawls”, and that a “cure could be developed in the next ten years”.

The researchers reflect on how the media handles neuroscience and the hidden assumptions on the role of our brain in behaviour that pervade press reporting

In parts it’s a lament, in parts a media critique, and definitely worth reading in full.

Link to article ‘Riot control’.

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Nutraceutics Pro Endorphin

Use these as the perfect ice breaker for the start of the school year all while sharpening students writing skills.

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5 Ways to Stop Psyching Yourself Out of Your Goals

And because of this I start to talk myself out of everything that I have any ideas about.

Let me introduce you to someone. Her name is the critic, and if you are a knowledge worker or creative you know her quite well. She is the one that pipes up and tells you that you aren’t very good at something and because of that you should give up on everything.

Sound familiar?

The inner critic is something that we all experience and can lead talented and creative individuals to give up on their ideas without even trying them.

Personally, I have been visited by the critic too many times to count. And many of those times she has stopped me dead in my tracks on some idea about a website, article, or piece of software that I would like to create. Remember, the critic is sneaky; not only will she try to stop you dead in your tracks and force you to give up, she will sneak her way into your plans and and todo lists in the form of non-clarified next actions, forcing you to procrastinate on your goals and dreams.

Luckily there are some ways that you can battle the Inner Critic and take over.

Define exactly what you want to accomplish – also what you don’t want to accomplish
There is nothing worse than having a project or goal that is poorly defined. The Inner Critic loves this kind of “amorphous blog of undoability” and with it tells you that, “you don’t even really know what you want in ‘life/project x/goal x’, therefore you might as well give up”.Instead, identify exactly what being done looks like and also what is outside of the scope of what you are trying to accomplish. This will ease your mind and allow you to accept that you can actually get something done.Share your thoughts with others
One of the fastest ways to shut down the Inner Critic is to run your ideas and dreams by others. There is something about getting out of your own head; it allows you to more clearly see what you are trying to accomplish as you get instant feedback from a third-party.This type of response can prove to you that you ideas are actually good and that you can do something with them.Make constant progress
There is nothing that the Inner Critic hates more than you actually progressing on your dream projects and goals. This type of action turns into a snowball effect where you can’t help but finish what you have started.If what you are doing is something creative, make sure to allot a certain amount of time per day to the task. No matter what give yourself this time and move forward on your project.Write, journal, diary, mindmap
This sort of goes back to the idea of getting things out of your head. A plan that isn’t defined or at least out of your head is doomed to fail. Writing things down can help you clarify what you are trying to accomplish and can subsequently help you find what you need to do next.Also, writing every once in a while about your fears of what you are doing (or not doing) will help keep the Inner Critic at bay and allow you to concentrate on the tasks at hand.Iterate
If you can’t seem to accomplish your tasks or keep thinking that you don’t have the skills to do so, then split them up even further, accomplish a small portion, and then come back to the next part later. Also, instead of making something perfect right-off-the-bat, make it good and then come back to it again and make it better. Keep doing this until you have accomplished what you were set out to do.Iterating in the manner can help you stave off procrastination and fear as you finish your project in smaller increments and with less stress.

The Inner Critic can take hold of your internal talk and make you think that you are not good enough. Just remember that it has nothing to do with being “not good enough” and everything to do with not giving yourself the support that you need to move towards accomplish what you need and want to get done in your life. Use these 5 tricks to shut down the Inner Critic at first blush and move towards getting things done.

Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity and creativity and how to utilize technology to get more things done. Check out his tech writing at androinica.com where he writes about Android.

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Playlist: TEDActive’s Finest

(TED is on its annual two-week vacation. During the break, we’re posting playlists from the TEDTalks archive. We’ll be back with new talks on August 29th.)

Today’s playlist are some of our favorite TEDTalks to come out from TEDActive in sunny Palm Springs, California.

Sebastian Wernicke shares a hilarious statistical analysis of TEDTalks to come up with a metric for creating “the optimum TEDTalk”.

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Mick Ebeling shares how he and a team of collaborators built an open-source invention that gave a paralyzed street artist the means to make art again.

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Even when our lives appear fine from the outside, locked within can be a world of quiet suffering, leading some to the decision to end their life. At TEDYou, JD Schramm asks us to break the silence surrounding suicide and suicide attempts, and to create much-needed resources to help people who reclaim their life after escaping death.

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Rives tells a typographical fairy tale that’s short and bittersweet

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Designer Jessi Arrington packed nothing for TED but 7 pairs of undies, buying the rest of her clothes in thrift stores around LA. Her talk is a meditation on conscious consumption — wrapped in a rainbow of color and creativity.

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Tom Morello aka The Nightwatchman of Rage Against the Machine, came out to TEDActive’s Grand Party in the desert and pulled out all the stops on the first song.

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Playlist by the TEDActive team.

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How to Steep a Perfect Cup of Tea Every Single Time

I love tea. It’s one of my favorite drinks. And I’m not alone in this affection. There’re millions of us all around the world. Furthermore, you are more than welcome to join the tribe. And here’s what you need to do to steep a perfect cup of tea every single time.

Some of the most popular ones are: black tea, green tea, Oolong, white tea, red tea, yellow tea, Rooibos (which isn’t really a tea), Honeybush, Yerba Mate (which isn’t really a tea either).

Each of these types should be handled differently. And by differently I mean: different temperatures of water, different steeping times, and different amounts of the tea itself.

But first, let me give you some…

Steeping tea is actually very simple. All you need to do is pour some water over some tea leaves. But there are still some main rules to follow:

Always use cold, fresh water for boiling. Don’t re-boil old water.Pour the water over the tea directly into the cup. Not the other way around – don’t throw the tea to a cup already filled with hot water.If you’re using tea in teabags, don’t squeeze the teabags after the steeping is done.Always cover the cup with something (e.g. a small plate) for the entire time of steeping.When steeping is done remove the leaves immediately.Don’t let the tea to cool down, drink it while it’s warm.

First, let me address the pink elephant in the room. What about the standard tea that comes in teabags from your local supermarket? There’s no rocket science in this case. That tea should be prepared in the exact way that has been described on the package. So you might as well stop reading here. BUT remember, the general rules still apply.

Now, let’s quickly go through the most popular types of tea and their perfect steeping conditions.

Black tea: 0.5 teaspoon per cup; water temperature 96°C (205°F); steep for 3 minutes.Green tea: 1 tsp/cup; temp. 65-80°C (150-175°F); 3-4 minutes.Oolong: 0.5 tsp/cup; temp. 90°C (195°F); 3-6 minutes.White tea: 1 tsp/cup; temp. 80-85°C (175-185°F); 7-9 minutes.Red tea (Pu-erh): 0.5 tsp/cup; temp. 96°C (205°F); 3-7 minutes.Yellow tea: 1 tsp/cup; temp. 90°C (195°F); 3 minutes.Rooibos: 1 tsp/cup; temp. 96°C (205°F); 3-5 minutes.Honeybush: 1 tsp/cup; temp. 96°C (205°F); 5-8 minutes.

How do you know what kind of tea you have? Once you have some experience you can tell by the way tea smells and looks like, but the easiest way for a newbie is to ask the salesman to write this down on the package.

One more thing, as you’ve noticed not all numbers are precise in the table above. That’s because some types of tea can be steeped for various amounts of time using different temperatures of water. It’s up to you to find the perfect combination for the specific tea you want to enjoy.

There’s a number of different ingredients you can add to a cup of tea to make it taste even better (well, maybe not better, but differently).

Sugar – some people like to add sugar to every type of tea. Personally, I don’t like to do it because it changes the taste of the tea in a much wider scope than just making it sweeter.Milk – goes best with classic black teas. Teas like: Assam, Ceylon or traditional English Breakfast.Lemon – best with Chinese teas. But add only a little if you don’t want to ruin it (it’s somewhat similar to adding salt to a dish – if you add just a little it improves the taste, if you add too much the dish becomes uneatable).

In a nutshell, the essence of this post can be found in points #2 and #3. It’s all you need to remember in order to steep a perfect cup of tea. Enjoy! … It’s almost 5PM where I’m sitting so it’s time to prepare my afternoon drink.

Now it’s your turn to share. Do you have any interesting tea-related advice? Don’t hesitate to speak up.

Karol K. is founder of NewInternetOrder.com. Contrary to what you might think, he hates doing business, and that's precisely why he blogs about productivity, online business design, and shares his journey through Web2.0 life. A young entrepreneur from Poland and a grad student at the Silesian University of Technology. Loves to train Capoeira in the evenings, and likes to be stalked on Twitter (@carlosinho). Tune in to get his advice on starting an online business.

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Two lightweight new ways to download TEDTalks

If you’re on a low-bandwidth or spotty internet connection, sometimes it’s easier to download a TEDTalk than to watch online through our streaming video player. This week we’ve rolled out two new ways to find and download our smallest, lightest — but still very crisp and watchable — video files for your favorite talks.

First, we’ve added the “Low-res video (MP4)” option on every Talk page. Clicking on the small “Download” button below the video player (circled in the graphic above) brings up this menu of options, which also include our regular-size download and our ultra-crisp but larger 480p high-res file.

Second, we’ve built this lightweight, text-only Quick List to let you bypass the individual Talk page and download a bunch of talks at once. The Quick List contains every downloadable TEDTalk in low, regular and high def. (If you’re curious why the number at the top of this list isn’t 1,000+, our Best of the Web series is streaming only. You won’t find Steve Jobs or JK Rowling on the Quick List, but you can watch them online anytime right here.)

We built these tools in response to feedback from TED fans around the world. And we always welcome your suggestions — hit the comments below.

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Ecstasy for war trauma: a flashback to earlier treatments

Mother Board has a completely fascinating article on the current ongoing trial testing whether MDMA or ‘ecstasy’ could be useful in treatment combat trauma.

The piece is interesting as much for what it doesn’t say, as for what it does, and for how it ties into the history of psychological treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

The trial is testing whether MDMA can assist in psychological treatment for the condition, in which a traumatic event leads to a sense of current threat and intrusive sensory impressions that are maintained by a pattern of avoiding reminders.

The most effective tried-and-tested treatments for the condition are types of therapy that are ‘trauma-focused’ that involve, among other things, a mental revisiting of the traumatic memories to ‘take the sting out of their tail’.

But this is exactly what most people who arrive in psychologists’ offices don’t want to do. This makes sense from the perspective of someone who is troubled by these memories and wants to stop thinking about them, but the avoidance actually helps maintain the problem.

This is, in part, because the person never learns to adjust to the anxiety (they don’t habituate in technical terms) and the memories remain as fragmented impressions that don’t fit into a coherent narrative, making them more likely to intrude into the conscious mind.

In other words, most people with PTSD initially arrive for treatment wanting a better form of avoidance because their current methods simply aren’t working. The mental health professional has the unenviable task of explaining that treatment involves exactly the opposite and reliving the event and experiencing the anxiety will be key.

It is so key, in fact, that anti-anxiety drugs like benzodiazapines (e.g. vallium) may reduce the effectiveness of treatment because they dull the experience of stress that the person needs to adjust to.

The MDMA trial is interesting in this regard, because ecstasy is, for many, a remarkably effective anti-anxiety drug.

So how does the drug facilitate the psychotherapy? Here’s the description from the article:

MDMA’s effects typically manifest themselves 30-45 minutes after ingestion, so it doesn’t take long for rhythms to develop in Charleston. Sessions at the clinic oscillate between stretches of silent, inward focus, where the patient is left alone to process his trauma, and unfiltered dialogue with the co-therapists. “It’s a very non-directed approach,” Michael Mithoefer told me. This allows subjects to help steer the flow of their trip. They are as much the pilots of this therapy as their overseers. “Once they get the hang of it,” Mithoefer explained, “sometimes people will talk to us for a while and then say, ‘OK, time to go back inside. I’ll come report when I’m ready.’”

That said, patients understand that if no traumas emerge, the Mithoefer’s must coax them out. But they’ve never had to. The traumas always emerge, and by now there have been over 60 sessions between an initial, smaller Phase 2 study and the present trials. Horrors are bubbling up naturally, patient after patient.

This harks back to a more psychoanalytic or Freudian-inspired idea of trauma and treatment. The goal of the therapy is to understand the inner self while the drug is intended to help us overcome psychological defences that prevent us from seeing things as they really are. In fact, this is a central assumption of the therapy.

This approach is not new. ‘Narcoanalysis’ was used widely in mid-20th Century where a range of drugs, from ether to sodium pentathal, were applied to patients with ‘war neurosis’ for exactly this purpose. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful and abandoned.

So this is why the MDMA treatment is a gamble. All known effective psychological treatments for PTSD involve not only confronting the memories of what happened to make sense of them, but also re-experiencing the associated anxiety. A treatment with a drug that removes anxiety will, by current predictions, have limited effectiveness.

But this is also why the approach is interesting, because if it is shown to be genuinely effective, we might have to rethink our ideas about PTSD and its treatment.

Link to Mother Board article on the MDMA PTSD trial.

View the original article here

Housekeeping: Getting in Front of VIPs and Building Schools

Banksy grafitti close to the Roundhouse, Camden Town, London (Photo: CanonSnapper)

Just two quick housekeeping items, then back to our regular programming — some fun content coming — next post.

First, how you can get your product or service in front of 200 influencers this week; second, an update on the overwhelmingly successful school campaign.

The “Opening the Kimono” event is fully booked, and — my goodness — what an audience it will be! Top bloggers, highest-followed Twitter users, authors of 20 or so New York Times bestsellers, the team that engineered virality for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, top executives from huge companies that are household names, and many more.

If you have a product or service you’d like to get in a gift bag for this 200-person group, please fill out this form ASAP. First responders get priority. Note that, if you’d like to do this, all physical products would need to be shipped to Napa, California to arrive no later than this Friday, August 19th…

I am speechless about your birthday donations to Room to Read. I’ll have much more to say on this, but here are the basics:

- Of a target $20,000, you raised more than $30,000. Absolutely incredible.

- I will therefore match $30,000 instead of $20,000, for a total of $60,000, which means we can build THREE schools! Those schools will be built in Cambodia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, to be completed in spring of 2013.

- Instead of 20 names on plaques, we’ll therefore have 30 names (10 per school): 27 top donors, and the three top commenters/fundraisers, as voted on my all of you below. The #1 voted commenter will also get the promised round-trip ticket described in the last post.

Please vote on the below commenters, choosing the person you think was most effective as a fundraiser:

David Turnbull
Bjorn Karlman
Melissa Rachel Black
Rachel Rofe
MK

Please see each of their comments below this voting box, and vote on your favorite here! I cannot thank you all enough. Much more soon…

What does education mean to you?

Education, to me, is the opportunity for life to change for the better. It’s the one thing that can be consumed, but then reused forever. Once something is taught, its with the student for the rest of their life. It’s a long tail benefit with an enormous impact for both current and future generations.

And here’s what I’ve done:

1. I have a YouTube channel with over 33,000 subscribers. In the two recent videos I’ve dedicated a significant amount of time talking about this charity drive. You can find the videos below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6OlN2vy3MI (Skip to 3:00 for the relevant bit)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF4vg3tAhhk (Skip to 2:58 for the relevant bit)

2. I also have a blog that receives upward of 20,000 visitors per day. I have done two blog posts where I mention this charity drive. At the moment, both of these are on the home page and probably will be for the next 24 hours.

You can find these blog posts here:

http://nintendo3dsblog.com/video-nintendo-loses-money-and-an-entirely-unrelated-call-to-action

http://nintendo3dsblog.com/video-street-fighter-atv-wild-ride-spyro

3. I have a Twitter account with just under 5000 followers. I’ve sent out two tweets asking for retweets. You can find them here:
http://twitter.com/#!/Nintendo3DSBlog/status/97159620669341697

http://twitter.com/#!/Nintendo3DSBlog/status/97618243363155968

I have also tracked the clicks from all of these sources, along with the retweets. You can find the details here: http://bit.ly/davidturnbull+ (make sure you include the + symbol at the end of the url).

Grattis på födelsedagen, Tim! (happy bday in my native Swedish).

Education to me is quite simply the leverage that allows individuals and societies to improve and grow. It is absolutely critical and I truly believe that the lack of it lies at the root of the majority of global problems. I ABSOLUTELY support Room to Read’s efforts to promote literacy and education.

As the Third Culture Kid of overseas nonprofit worker parents that invested over a decade of their lives to working on public health, education and medical projects in Africa and Asia, you definitely caught my attention with the Room to Read library building project.

I want to make a positive, international, sustainable and SMART impact for education in developing countries using today’s tools so your ephilanthropy ideas are like music to my ears. I officially work in health care philanthropy and I can say that you are miles ahead of most of the sector’s stateside fundraising professionals.

Here’s my stab at supporting your project (I share numbers/measurement backup sheepishly as I am only starting out in my quest to do good online and you and several of your readers are clearly already demigods in the arena):

1) I made an online donation
2) I tweeted from different angles about the project to my (wait for it…) 345 followers
3) I posted to both my personal page (with a very international and well-traveled 1135 friends) and my blog fan page on Facebook 317 fans
4) I wrote a blog post focusing on the importance of doing what REALLY matters and including multiple links for people to give to your project. (I am working hard on expanding the blog and currently it has a worldwide Alexa world wide ranking of #678,322 and stateside #54,940. It ranks as “relatively popular” (#140) in the Chico-Redding, CA area where I live and in San Francisco (#20,403). Alexa estimates the positive 3-month increase in global reach for the blog at 960%. I am trying to employ MED rules to keep this momentum going while avoiding burnout)
5) Emailed my blog subscribers (AWeber results show a 50% + opening average on the emails I send to them)
6) Posted two links (one directly to the cause page and one to my post) to my other accounts: (Google Buzz, Gtalk Status, MySpace, LinkedIn, Identi.ca, FriendFeed, Flickr)
7) Sold my wife on the cause and the donation :)

Alright, that about covers it. I am drawing inspiration from the following 4HWW passage about the Princeton undergrads that you urged to compete for the RT trip ticket to anywhere in the world:

“It was a difficult challenge, perhaps impossible, and the other students would outdo them. Since all of them overestimated the competition, none of them showed up.”

So this is me showing up. But regardless of the outcome, Happy Birthday again and thanks for using your platform in a uniquely meaningful way. You’ve convinced me of what CAN be done:)

“What does education mean to me?” Great question and one that has certainly influenced my life.. that was the exact one I answered in a scholarship application essay in 2006 which won me a four-year fully paid tuition at the University of California. My answer then was “a combination of learning and doing” and thinking about it now, it still rings true.

I might be deep deep deep in debt if it weren’t for that opportunity.

Without reading I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today–growing my muse doing what I love designing and printing gangster-rap greeting cards, while living abroad. Literacy is an amazing skill and definitely one that should be available to all.

Going to spread the good word every way I can. I would be honored to win the trip (currently planning an epic adventure with my great friend) but I’m here to support no matter what.

Thanks Tim.

[SECOND COMMENT]

I replied to “What is education” in my previous comment, and just decided that even though there’s not much time left and I have a smaller audience than many of the other contributers, I would tell the silly little fearful part of myself who said my idea was stupid and that it wouldn’t make a difference to kindly SHUT UP. :)

1. Created a new card in my muse shop dedicated to Room to Read & this fundraiser. http://etsy.me/q7zS1o
2. Uploaded photos of it on flickr with a description & link to the donation page (57,790 views on my account)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissarachelblack/5993502241/in/photostream
3. Initiated a store-wide sale and will donate 50% of all income to Room to Read before 11:59 PST
http://www.etsy.com/shop/melissarachelblack
4. Shared a link to your donation page on my muse’s fanpage (92 fans)?
http://www.facebook.com/YeOldeGangster
5. Shared a link to your donation page on my facebook (874 friends)
http://www.facebook.com/meltr0n
6. Tweeted a link to your donation page on twitter (96 followers)
http://twitter.com/milkandcooties
7. Shared a link to your donation page on google+ (In 20 circles)
https://plus.google.com/106136978045494527771/posts
8. Shared a link to this blog post in our 4-Hour-Workweek Berlin meetup group (61 people)
http://www.facebook.com/groups/146524318752855/?ap=1
9. Sent a link to your donation page in my muse business’ newsletter (88 people)

For measurability:

Donation page: https://bitly.com/oQYQoM+
This blog post: https://bitly.com/nZpofR+

Viel Erfolg!

[THIRD COMMENT]

Forgot to mention–if I win the round-the-world ticket, I’m going to Australia, Fiji, & New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, and more with one of my best friends, and we’re going to continue the Room to Read mission… we will make a book!

She (from Britain) and I (from USA) will co-create a book called EATSRALIAN! with the help of local chefs & creatives to celebrate & examine the different food cultures of the big 3 English-speaking countries. We will organize food parties with local eateries and include their recipes, and invite designers, photographers, and illustrators we meet along the way to contribute imagery.

Food, art, friends, reading, and travel… an epic adventure. Nothing finer in my book.

And even if I don’t win, I’m glad to have participated in any small way. Thanks & happy birthday.

What does education mean to me?

Education, to me, is the highest leverage thing we can possibly do to solve the world’s problems.

When people are empowered with education, there is hope. People can take education and they can do things with it. They can look for new solutions to problems in the world. They can learn to stand up for themselves. They can make change.

Most importantly, they can learn there’s another way instead of what they have now.

If you think about it, life is one huge white circle of possibility. So many people have problems that cause them to be hyper-focused on one tiny black speck in this HUGE infinite white circle, when they could be looking at such a bigger picture.

Education opens someone’s eyes to all of the infiniteness.

I know this because I went through it personally. I’ll give you a little bit of my back-story, not to get sympathy, but because it formed the reason why education is so huge for me. The quick version is: just a few years ago I was 100 pounds overweight, broke, and totally despondent.

I was sexually and physically abused throughout my childhood, hated myself so much that I wouldn’t brush my teeth or shower for weeks, and grew up thinking it was normal to be raped by my father. (This is EXTREMELY vulnerable for me to be sharing, by the way.)

When I was 14, my little 11 year old sister called me crying. She saw my father throw my mother’s head into a wall. Then he told my sister how she wasn’t really his daughter (untrue), and he tried to drive her and my mother into oncoming traffic. My sister had to reach through the center console and turn the wheel around.

I’m trying to keep this short, so I’ll just say things didn’t get better from there.

I honestly had no idea there was any other way besides the life I was living. I was focused on that black speck, not knowing about the huge infiniteness of possibilities in this world. I thought I’d forever be fat, with low self esteem, and no idea about how to stand up for myself.

EDUCATION is what saved my life. I came across a book called Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind. I never knew about personal development before and this totally shook my world up. The book led me into a 3 day seminar, and then a Warrior Camp, and countless more books.

That education taught me that it was possible to change my story.

I honestly didn’t know I could before that.

I learned that I could do anything I wanted to.

Since educating myself, I changed my life around completely. I’ve lost the 100 pounds, traveled to many places, and quit my dead-end retail job and started working for myself. I was a cover story in a magazine for my weight loss, was featured in a few magazines for my entrepreneurial skills, and wrote a book about meditation.

I’ve had so many people from my school days find me on Facebook and tell me they were blown away at the things I’ve accomplished. I think most people don’t know how much things can change. That’s why education is so crucial.

Of course, education isn’t just for people like me. Educating people in poor countries is literally their key to enhancing their lives and opening them up to other opportunities besides the ones they’re currently open to.

For example, a lot of little boys in Afghanistan aren’t able to go to school. They’re too busy trying to raise money for their family. Many boys end up entering the Taliban not because they believe in it, but because it pays.

That’s a TRAVESTY.

And that’s just one example. I’ve read so many stories about children who are forced to play small and live small lives… and also so many about the exceptions, with people who DID get to educate themselves and make their worlds so much better.

All of this to say… I am EXTREMELY passionate about education.

And since talk is cheap, I should point out that 2 weeks ago a friend and I raised $50,000 for underprivileged children in a school in an Indian Reservation in Arizona. I am so proud to know that the people who donated and I helped possibly re-write a child’s entire life.

You can read about it here if you like:
http://rachelrofe.com/how-we-raised-50k-in-less-than-10-hours-for-charity

I found out a little late about this contest but I still did my best to do several things to get the word out.

I wrote a blog post. I told my friends. I emailed it. I posted to Twitter, Facebook, my Facebook Page, Google Buzz, GTalk, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, and Flickr. I posted about it in an online forum.

I also ran a campaign and paid people $.30 per click to come over and check it out. I figured this would be a way to broaden my reach and hopefully get others spreading the word too. Hopefully the money I spent translated into thousands of dollars for the library.

You can track how many clicks I’ve been able to bring over by going to this specific link: https://bitly.com/donateforlibrary+ (make sure to keep the + at the end). That link will give you stats on how many people came, and from where. I sent most people to my blog post first.

Thank you very much for this opportunity, happy birthday, and congratulations for raising all the money you did. :)

To me, education means freedom. And that came, mostly, from reading (although I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to attend great schools and to acquire a degree or two along the way).

Reading, though, was at the core of it all: I grew up in a library (literally, my mum worked as a librarian when I was a kid) and I have been an avid reader ever since. I believe the ability to read from an early age is crucial to an inner sense of freedom and empowerment—and to upward social mobility (it definitely has been for me, as I hail from a so-called “developing” country).

It’s a great initiative, Tim, and I hope you keep up the good work!

Here’s what I’ve done so far:
* Tweeted to my 280+ faithful followers:
“It takes $20,000 to build a library. Donate to Room to Read to help build one now: http://t.co/O7zBq6z #Reading = freedom!”

* Posted a question on my Facebook feed:
“What does reading mean to you?” with a link to the donation page

* Messaged my librarian friend, explaining the project to her and asking her to forward the message to her colleagues. She’s one of the most social-media-savvy librarians I know, so I expect that to make quite an impact. ;)

* Added a donation link to our Shopify store (we’ve been featured in today’s Shopify New Store Fridays blog post, so we expect a spike in traffic :)

* And much more to come!

Posted on August 14th, 2011

View the original article here

Got any Charlie?

A brief scene from the 1936 Charlie Chaplin classic Modern Times where he accidentally eats cocaine hidden in a salt shaker by a fellow jail inmate.

The smuggled “nose powder” makes Chaplin go a bit strange and causes him to accidentally prevent a jailbreak, making him a hero.

In fact, the episode is a central plot device in the film, presumably before such comical treatment of drug use became politically incorrect.

Link to cocaine scene from Modern Times (via Fluxo Do Pensamento).

View the original article here

Microloans

Recently I started getting into microloans. A microloan is a small sum loaned to an individual or group, usually in a developing country, that they can use to help complete projects that are important to them, start or expand a business, and more.

One thing that encouraged me to take a look into this was when I learned of people who can’t lift themselves out of poverty because they don’t have a nickel. Imagine being in debt for the rest of your life and watching your kids go hungry for the lack of a few pennies.

In some countries the lack of access to capital is the main limiting factor in creating prosperity. I heard one story where a combined loan of $42 would have been enough to lift 27 people out of poverty (that’s only $1.56 per person).

Microloans, as opposed to pure charity, are more in alignment with my principles. I want to empower people to help themselves, not to “help” them in ways that disempower them and perpetuate an endless cycle of poverty.

Fortunately there are microloan companies that make it easy to help out. Last time I checked, more than 100 million people have already been helped by microloans — the kinds of loans that traditional banks won’t do.

I recently started using Kiva to make microloans to people. So far I’ve made loans to people in Lebanon, Peru, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Benin, the Philippines, Tajikistan, and more. Sometimes I loan the minimum of $25, and sometimes I loan more. It’s very easy to loan people money this way — really just a few clicks.

Most of the loans I’ve seen have repayment terms in the range of 9 to 18 months. I intend to keep recycling the money in my account, so as it gets repaid, I’ll loan it back out again. This way some of my money will always be working to help others. I haven’t been using the service very long, but if I like what I see, then I can add to my account over time and keep a good chunk of cash supporting other people’s goals at all times.

You can loan as little as $25 to someone, paid via PayPal. According to kiva.org, 98.79% of their loans are repaid, and when you get paid back, you can re-loan the money to someone else. I don’t think you earn any interest on your loans, but it’s a good way to put some of your extra cash to good use. It’s also a good way to shift your vibe. It’s hard to feel down when you’re helping others.

Most of the time, you’re funding loans collectively with many other contributors, so it’s not just one funder per loan. There may be a dozen or more people contributing to any given loan.

I like that you can review the details of each loan and make loans in alignment with your values. I wouldn’t fund a slaughterhouse operation, but I’m happy to help a farmer upgrade the irrigation system for his fruit trees. Most of the people I’ve funded so far have fruit-related businesses and need money to expand. It was easy to find these businesses just by doing a search on “fruit” on the site. This isn’t the only thing I care about, but it was an easy place to get started making loans that I feel good about.

Another thing I like is that your microloan money doesn’t go towards overhead. There’s some complexity based on how they pre-fund the loans — feel free to read through the text on their site if you want to know how it works from start to finish — but the bottom line is that 100% of your loan goes to support the people receiving the loan. You can make a separate donation to Kiva each time you make a loan, but that’s optional. Kiva has other supporting partners like major corporations and foundations (Google, Microsoft, etc.), so you can simply make loans without donating to Kiva directly if you so desire.

Microloans can’t solve all the world’s problems, but they do make a positive difference in the right situations. The originator of this idea won a Nobel Prize for it. Personally I think it’s a wonderful concept, and I’m happy to lend my support to it.

I encourage you to look into microloans, whether via Kiva or some other outlet. It only takes a few minutes to select and make your first loan, and the second time it’s even faster. A small action on your part makes a positive difference for someone else, and it certainly feels good to help people in this way. After doing 14 loans so far, I can literally find and make a new loan in about 60 seconds. The site is very easy to use.

If you want to, you can see the loans I’ve made via my Steve Pavlina Kiva page. If your values are similar to mine, feel free to piggyback on my choices and help fund one or more of the loans I’ve chosen.

Update: I just started a community lending group on Kiva called Team Pavlina, so please join our group if you’re on the site. This will allow us to see what kind of difference we’re making collectively. The team page doesn’t account for previous loans you may have already made, but it should track all the new ones.

Another Update: In our first two hours, Team Pavlina has already funded $350 in fresh microloans. That’s awesome!

Yet Another Update: A few hours later, our team has funded $1125 across 40 new microloans. We’re actually one of the fastest growing teams on Kiva.

Please join us in helping people help themselves. $25 isn’t a lot for you, but it can make a big difference to someone else.

View the original article here

Real Safety Solutions for Kids Growing up in a Virtual World

From dpape on flickr

We live in a period where evolution is constant; where new technologies make their way into our lives ever so often, where online trends rise and fall and where almost everybody with access to the Internet is enthralled by the possibilities of the digital world.

And that includes your children.

The World Wide Web has opened up a host of possibilities for young minds. Children can turn learning into fun with the added element of exploration and discovery; connecting with interesting peers and understanding cultures from around the world is now possible like never before. Unfortunately, the net is also a landmine of risks for impressionable minds.

There are two areas that could potentially upset children’s lives: inappropriate websites related to subjects like pornography and graphic violence, and online social networking, where all kinds of people establish and lead digital lives, including cyber bullies, scammers and sexual predators.

If you have young children or family members, it’s very important for you to understand the internet. How will you know about the dangers that Facebook poses if you’re not on it? Using the internet will help you discover the potential threats that lurk on the web. By setting up online accounts, participating in forum discussions and also mimicking your children’s online habits occasionally, could give you an insight into the what their online lives are like and how you could protect them from the dangers there.

Besides, being an active user will give you the kind of technical prowess you need to monitor your children’s internet usage.

Over the last few years, online trends have changed and continue to change rapidly. From social networking to microblogging, you never know what’s going to be the next in-thing. As a busy parent, whose profession may or not involve using the internet, it will be hard for you to know what’s new out there and how it could affect your child’s life, unless you make a conscious effort to keep tabs.

Dangerous cyber threats have emerged over the last few years with serious online consequences. Our schools have turned into battle fields with hierarchical structures, where the most popular or extroverted kids hold sway; as a result, fitting-in is top priority for most kids. These days, almost 90% of the children who are bullied at school, experience some form of online bullying by the same classmates too. In addition, unrelated cyber bullies prowl the web, pestering children to reveal passwords or battering their self-confidence. Besides, there are hundreds of online forums where unpleasant behavior is encouraged, like physical violence, eating disorders, self-harm and so on.

Child grooming, where sexual predators befriend children, earn their trust with the intention of abusing them, has taken an ugly online form. Most public chat rooms for young children and teenagers are frequented by predators. They will almost always lie about their age to earn the child’s trust and try to get to the most vulnerable in the group.

Parents should join online parent networks or vigilance groups, take part in discussions with other parents on the web or subscribe to newsletters that dispense information about dangerous online trends. Staying in-tune with what’s going on, on the web, can help you watch out for signs of trouble or warn your kids about the same.

As parents you can take the following precautions:

Limit the number of hours your kids spend on the internetEncourage physical activities and hobbies that do not involve the computerDo not permit computers in rooms of very young childrenWatch out for signs like children switching off monitors or switching screens in your presenceLook out for other unrelated signs like withdrawal, unprecedented secrecy, long-distance calls to unknown numbers, calls from unknown adults and so on.

However, there’s a limit to the amount of monitoring you can do and your monitoring efforts should be complimented with a healthy, trustworthy relationship with your child.

You should encourage chats about online safety, the sites your children might have visited and what they learnt from surfing the net that day or a new game they might have tried out.

These regular conversations could keep you updated about their digital lives, which remain invisible to most parents. Just as you would ask them about their school, ask them if they met anyone new on Facebook that day. In an environment of open, healthy interaction about the internet, children may volunteer information if they have met people who are acting strange or are being bullied online.

Most youngsters, especially teenagers today, are growing up in a world where there’s little value for privacy. With status updates, photo albums, blogging and other forms of online self-expression, most of them do not understand the importance of restraint. Help your children understand why privacy is important. Also, illustrate how online identities can be uncovered, addresses and phone numbers discovered, so they do not take risks on the web.

With the unfortunate evolution of online predators and unsuitable sites, technology has evolved too. Thankfully, parents can maintain some control over young children’s online habits with tools devised for this purpose. Family settings are available for internet use, online gaming and video viewing. With family settings, parents can control which games their children play, which movies they watch and even the duration that they can spend on specific activities like gaming or chatting.

Similarly, parent control software can help parents block adult sites, public chat rooms and set timers for surfing the net.

Sometimes, it is not just kids but adults too who could be at risk. Ensure that your child does not have your bank details, passwords or other sensitive information. Sometimes, scammers and cheats can try to get to your finances through your kids. Help your children understand what online scams, phishing emails and identity threats are all about.

Preetam Kaushik is a writer and consultant based in India. He is an offshore journalist and writes mostly on Business, Technology and Productivity. Preetam is a web 2.0 and E-Commerce Expert and a journalist covering the Entrepreneurship section at The International. Additionally, he is a contributor to The Business Insider, YFS Magazine and YoungEntrepreneur.com.

View the original article here

A response to the Baroness

The Independent have just published a letter I wrote to them in response to their recent opinion piece by Susan Greenfield.

She claims that computers are at risk of causing ‘mind change’ while scientists are ignoring the issue. Needless to say, I was not impressed.

I was interested to read Professor Susan Greenfield’s opinion piece “Computers may be altering or brains – we must ask how” (12 August), where she laments that other scientists are refusing to debate the issue of how the internet and computer technology are affecting the mind and brain. She also claims that other scientists are dismissing her concerns by saying “there’s no evidence”.

This is clearly nonsense. There are over 3,000 scientific studies on the effect of technology on the mind and brain and a scientific community actively engaged in this debate, all of which Greenfield chooses to ignore in favour of her own alarmist conclusions. I am sure this is not simple unawareness, because Professor Greenfield specifically invited me to present the evidence to her at a debate on this topic at the House of Lords. The transcript is available on her own website. [You can download it as a pdf]

If Professor Greenfield wishes to engage in the debate about the impact of technology she is more than welcome to join the research community and discuss the evidence behind her concerns. So far, this evidence does not suggest that children’s or anyone else’s brains are being damaged by mobile phones, email, or Facebook. We know each has its own balance of effects, positive and negative, like all other media (newspapers included).

But instead of engaging with the evidence, Greenfield uses her media profile to communicate her ill-informed concerns to the public at large. This is neither helpful to science nor to concerned parents attempting to understand how they can best help their children use technology to their benefit.

The professor clearly has good intentions, but to become genuinely helpful she needs to be aware about what we actually know about the impact of technology. I would welcome her informed contribution to the debate.

Although I won’t be holding my breath.

Link to Independent letters page for 18th August.

View the original article here

London Riots and Our Need to Develop Emotional Intelligence

From The Atlanta Post

When I was watching the London riots on the news, the song called ‘London Calling’ by the band The Clash started playing in my head.  That tune and its associated music video had the same type of anger that the London rioters were displaying.  What was happening in London was of course yet another global event that we can call a crisis and we get enough of those on TV on a regular basis.

However, despite the occurrence of these horrible events, there are some important lessons from them for us to learn.  All we have to do is look at how some of the people from each of these events behaved.

For example, the riots in London and other UK cities were sparked by a shooting of a crime suspect by police.  Rioters responded by turning over cars and setting them on fire.  They also smashed windows and looted store merchandise.  The offenders were obviously caught up in the emotions of the original police shooting plus the current local economic climate in general.  They decided to take their anger and frustrations out on the city.  Many were caught on camera and video with some even willingly showing how proud they were of their actions.  They were obviously not thinking about the consequences of these actions as the police soon started multiple raids arresting suspects at their homes.

This is an example of very low emotional intelligence.  The rioters were not able to manage their actions brought on by their emotions.  As a result, many will be punished and tainted with criminal records.

Now let’s look at another terrible world event which brought on a totally different reaction from the people affected.  The tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan devastated that country.  The damage to property and loss of life also created high emotions.  However, in contrast to what happened in London, the Japanese remained orderly and calm.  People, including those in the same age range as the London rioters, patiently waited in lines for food and supplies rations.  There were no riots, no windows smashed, no cars set on fire and no businesses were looted despite such immense losses.

Here is an example of very high emotional intelligence.  The Japanese managed their actions well despite the emotions from such a gigantic tragedy.  Compare this to the London rioters who used a single police incident they don’t have any direct connection with, as an excuse to let loose and cause trouble.

The Japanese survivors will recover and move on with their lives faster while the hooligans in London will either be in jail or in trouble with the law again in the future. Here we have two world events that showed two opposite ends from the emotional intelligence spectrum.  What can we learn from these?

I would suggest that we will be more successful in many areas of life if we develop higher levels of emotional intelligence.  We will be able to interact better with others in both our careers and personal lives.  We will also be able to handle the various peaks and valleys that come our way with far more effectiveness, because we can respond to our emotions better.

It is estimated that only 15% of society is of high emotional intelligence (Nelson Mandela would be a clear example in this group).  That means the majority of us can still improve in this area.  For example, think of all the daily road rage out there.  Think of all the fights among youths that end up with somebody getting knifed or shot.  These are all results of low emotional intelligence.

Unlike standard intelligence which is thought to be genetic, emotional intelligence is something that can be developed with training.   Many corporations have sent their executives to seminars on emotional intelligence. I was such an executive during my corporate years and made it a personal commitment to develop my own emotional intelligence ever since.

What about you?  What are your thoughts on emotional intelligence?  Feel free to share your experiences with this area.

Clint Cora is a motivational speaker, author & Karate World Champion based near Toronto, Canada. Get his FREE 3-part Personal Development Video Series on how to expand your comfort zone and finally conquer even your most daunting goals in life.

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Out of Mind online

Paul Broks is a British neuropsychologist who wrote a brilliant and insightful column on the brain and its disorders for Prospect magazine in the early 2000s, all of which are now freely available online.

The ‘Out of Mind’ column ran for the best part of five years. Alternately whimsical, profound and poetic, it recounted ephemeral scenes from meetings with brain altered individuals and spun them into reflections on the science and philosophy of human nature.

From July, 2004:

The bespectacled skeleton speaks. “Yes, I’m fine,” she says. Her jaw drops and rises squarely like a ventriloquist’s dummy. But where are the words coming from? All I can see are bones and electrodes. The view shifts and there’s the smoky shape of the heart. The tip of the catheter now appears at the bottom of the screen. This was inserted at the groin and is nudging upward, through an invisible artery, into the rib cage. The radiologist is deft and reaches the carotid in no time: base camp for the brain. He is ready now to squirt the drug into the cerebral blood vessels. Next scene: the inside of Julie’s head. There is nothing much to see.

You may recognise Broks from Into the Silent Land: Travels in Neuropsychology, quite possibly one of the most beautiful books ever written on the brain. His Prospect columns swim in the same deep blue waters.

Link to ‘Out of Mind’ column archive from Prospect Magazine.

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Exercises for the Terminally Busy

I’ve been out walking all day in New York City with my daughter, and haven’t found any time for my usual workouts in between museums and fabulous restaurants.

And yet fitness doesn’t require hours of your time every day.

I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite quick exercises. It’s not meant to be a complete fitness program, but something to sneak in when you’re too busy to get a longer workout or a visit to your gym.

If you’re working hard, or stressing out over all the things you have to do for your family, don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.

If any of these exercises is too easy, rest for 30-60 seconds and do a second one. If that’s still too easy, add something with weight.

1. Bodyweight squats. These are some of my favorites. Sit back, then squat down like you’re sitting on a toilet seat, until your thighbones are about parallel to the ground. Stand up and flex your glutes, repeat as many times as you can. Rest 20-30 seconds, do a second set, then another. If that’s too easy …

2. Jump squats. Same as above, but explode into a jump as high as you can from the squat position. Land lightly on the balls of your feet and go straight back into the squat. Do as many as you can — aim for 20-30 reps, 3-5 sets.

3. 300 lunges. You can do walking lunges if you have space, or just alternate legs and stay in the same spot. Try to rest as little as possible. If this is too easy, do 400 meters of lunges. If this is still too easy …

4. Jump lunges. Same as lunges, but jump up and switch legs in the air, land lightly on the balls of your feet, go right into the lunge. 200 reps, in as little time as you can. If you’re not in good shape, start with 50 or 100 reps.

5. Pushups. If you’re in decent shape, see how fast you can do 100 pushups. Last time I tried I barely did it in under 5 minutes. You might be much faster. If pushups are too hard, do some of them on your knees. You can also just do sets of 10-20, and repeat this througout the day as you can find time.

6. Stairs. Walk up the stairs as often as you can. If this is too easy, run up them 2-3 stairs at a time. Go up and down and do several sets if you can.

7. Burpees. Squat, put your hands on the ground, thrust your feet out behind you so that you’re in pushup position, do a pushup, jump your feet so that you’re back in squat position, jump up in the air as high as you can. Repeat. See if you can do 20 or 30, or at least 10 if you’re not in great shape. Do 3-5 sets.

8. Pullups. Set up a pullup bar in your house, or find a tree branch outside you can reach. Do as many as you can, do 3-5 sets. Or just do as many as you can every time you walk by the bar. If you can’t do pullups, try jump pullups. Or do negatives — use a chair to get yourself at the top of the pullup position (chin above bar), then lower yourself to the bottom position (arms fully extended) as slowly as you can, and repeat as many times as you can.

19. Hindu squats and Hindu pushups. You’ll have to do a Youtube search to find the method for these, but they’re excellent. I also love dive bomber pushups, Spiderman pushups, and mountain climbers. Again, do as many reps as possible, 3-5 sets.

10. Jumps. Mark a spot on the wall about a foot higher than your highest reach, then jump and touch that spot as many times as you can. Repeat 3-5 sets.

11. Bounds. Run by bounding (leaping as far as you can). Alternate this with jumps and squat jumps.

12. Handstand pushups. Stand with your back to the wall, put your hands on the ground about 6 inches from the wall, then walk your feet up the wall until you’re in a handstand position, but with your feet leaning on the wall. Try to do a pushup so that your head almost touches the ground, and push your arms straight again. See how many reps you can do, repeat for 3-5 sets. If you can’t do a full rep, just do a partial rep — bend your arms a little. You’ll get stronger with practice.

13. If you have the equipment, other good workouts would include kettlebell swings, dumbbell snatches, sandbag throws and sandbag cleans, and fireman’s carries of your spouse.

14. Rounds. If you find the above exercises easy, try combining several exercises in as many combinations as you can — for example, do 15 squats, 10 pushups, 5 pullups. That’s one round. See how many rounds you can do in 5 or 10 minutes. There are tons of ways to combine the above exercises.
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