I ran across this interesting post recently on Deltoid concerning a list of (supposedly) 650 "scientists" who deny Global Warming is real (or at least, that it's our fault in any way). Inhofe, of course, is Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, champion of one of the brightest red states in…
Are you looking for a really unusual gift idea? I found one at a non-profit Mennonite store in University City, Missouri, Plowsharing Crafts. I spotted this object in the musical instruments section of the store. It looked like an animal's jawbone. The proprietor told me that it was, indeed, "a…
We are about to do a 180 on government attitude toward science. Barack Obama specifically singles out the "scientific process," and urges that we need to listen to scientists "especially when it's inconvenient." [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMlXNrBxM0g&eurl=http://bite-dose.com/science/obama-abandoning-science-fiction-as-he-announces-%E2%80%9Cscience-team%E2%80%9D/[/youtube]
We've had alternating freezing and melting here in St. Louis, producing this pattern on a brink patio in my back yard. The sheets of ice were quite thin, supported by the "girders."
Psychologist Philip Zimbardo asks the following question:
What if your attitudes toward time could explain why you are chronically late, why you’re likely to fight for rainforest preservation, or why you might be predisposed to addictions?
Zimbardo has written a new book explaining the psychology of time. In his opinion, the secret power of time is not about “clock time,” but rather about subjective time. His analysis has numerous real-world consequences. For instance, he takes on many addiction recovery programs such as D.A.R.E., accusing them of “useless propaganda. The problem is that these programs “only work for future-oriented people,” whereas addicts are “present-oriented.” addiction prevention programs all too often fail to recognize that the audience is not helped by lectures about future consequences. The real problem is that societal forces trap and tempt these present-oriented people, and they need lots of role-playing to deal with the problem at a point where it matters.
If Zimbardo’s name sounds familiar, it might be because of the famous Stanford Prison Experiment he conducted in 1971.
People divide the flow of human experience in various ways, and it affects the way they live their lives. For instance, time-orientation affects our decisions to give in to temptation or to delay gratification. Many people live in the present, and they focus on the here and now. Alternatively, other people are oriented to the past, and they bring the past to their present, in both helpful and unhelpful ways. Future-oriented people constantly weigh the costs versus benefits–in …