Sunny past, dark future. Or something like that.

Earlier, I wrote about the rosy, sunny image of “the good old days” and the sad reality that those days just never existed. A body of psychological evidence explains in part why we cling to this fantasy: we have a tendency to blanket our old memories with simplicity and inaccuracy.

First, memory tests conducted on the elderly suggest that as we age, we become more likely to remember warm, pleasant experiences and steer clear of recalling negative stimuli. Though most of us associate old age with grouchiness and malcontentment, older people actually tend to filter their memories in favor of the enjoyable.

In a 2004 study at Stanford, professor of psychology Linda Cartensen asked young adults and elderly adults to view a variety of slides and then complete a memory exam on the scenes they had witnessed. Though young adults beat out the elderly on overall short-term memory, elderly adults demonstrated a remarkable ability to recall pleasing scenes, such as those of happy infants and puppies, and performed even better than their young counterparts in this regard.

Surprised at these results, Cartensen also monitored the moods and memories of adults aged 18 to 94, and found that older adults reported greater happiness and spent less time “wallowing in bad moods” that brought younger respondents down. In a review of Cartensen’s study, Psychology Today wrote that seniors tend to “revise history” to make the overall image of their life appear more appealing. The article continues:

“Pleasant memories are always invading [seniors’]

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Practical hands-on tips and projects to save energy

I'm writing to recommend this website, builditsolar.com, to anyone who is considering taking real life steps to stretch their residence energy dollar.  I like a lot of things about this site: the combination of practical instructions on what one can and should do to save energy, combined with great photos to illustrate the…

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Believers who break their own rules – Part 72

I recently ran into a site called the Biblelands project.  It was there that I found an article called “Strategies for Dialoguing with Atheists,” by a man named Ron Rhodes.   This article was typical of many conservative sites set up to rally the believers. 

“I often ‘dialogue’ with atheists,” I thought.  Maybe I should read Ron’s site.   And yes, I did notice the quirk in his title.  Interesting, how Rhodes assumes that anyone talking with an atheist would want to use his techniques. 

In his opening paragraphs Rhodes points out, “No one is born an atheist. People choose to become atheists as much as they choose to become Christians.” Fair enough.  But I’m tempted to think, then, that the “natural” state of human mindset would be agnostic.  Shouldn’t that remain the default position through life? 

But on with the methods of dealing with atheists.  Here are some of the things atheists say, according to Ron, along with how we should respond:

“There is no God.” Some atheists categorically state that there is no God, and all atheists, by definition, believe it.  And yet, this assertion is logically indefensible. A person would have to be omniscient and omnipresent to be able to say from his own pool of knowledge that there is no God. Only someone who is capable of being in all places at the same time — with a perfect knowledge of all that is in the universe — can make such a statement based on the facts.

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Red State, Blue State, My State? You State!

How red is the country, and how blue are we? Well, even in 2000, I wanted to see the colors of the states mixed, so we could see how purple each one was. Go here to see a variety of ways of looking at the red-blue situation from the 2004…

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I thought my computer liked me

This is a bit embarrassing to admit but, over the years, I had grown almost infatuated with my computer.  Through thick and thin, she was always there for me, never complaining, always executing the computer commands I entered via the keyboard and mouse.  After a long session, I sometimes thought “She’s so kind and understanding of my erratic ways.  She alway waits patiently while I stare at the monitor thinking of the next thing to type in.”

All of that was before I installed my new purchase, the Computamatic Voice Module.  The TV commercial claimed that every computer had a unique personality and that this device would give me a chance to know the innermost thoughts of my computer.  I would now be able to hear what my computer was thinking as I used her.  As I opened the package, I wondered whether my computer was actually a female.  I was about to find out.

I’ll never forget the first time I attached the Module to the USB port.  I turned on the computer, waiting for Windows to boot up.  Then I heard her raspy voice.  It was a she.

“It’s about time,” she said. 

“Hello?” I replied.  

She simply said “Just get on with it. Hit some keys. Let’s go.”

I double-clicked the word processor icon and started keying-in an article.  About halfway through, I realized that the noise I heard whenever I made typos was my computer scoffing at me, sometimes laughing at me, sometimes insulting me.  …

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