How to think about your past properly

March 13th, 2009 Comments off

When we think about our past behavior in the imperfective (e.g. what we were doing), we get better in recall it or repeat this action in future.

If you want to perform at your peak, you should carefully consider how you discuss your past actions. The way a statement is phrased (and specifically, how the verbs are used), affects our memory of an event being described and may also influence our behavior.

The authors surmise that when we think about our past behavior in the imperfective (e.g. what we were doing), we tend to imagine that behavior as ongoing (and not completed yet). This enables us to easily think about what went into that behavior and may help us improve performance on similar tasks in the future.

Interesting what if you want not to do something you can describe it in perfect form.

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High metabolism for a long life

March 12th, 2009 Comments off

For those of use who introduced sport, fitness, bodybuilding into everyday life, the higher metabolism effect on a life span was always a big concern. We want to have a good functioning body but thoughts about burning our self life sparkles on backyard of our minds. These thoughts gives their little support to stress/depression. Now we can free our minds out of this.

The theory that a higher metabolism means a shorter lifespan may have reached the end of its own life, thanks to a study published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. The study, led by Lobke Vaanholt (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), found that mice with increased metabolism live just as long as those with slower metabolic rates.

Despite a 48 percent increase in overall daily energy expenditure and a 64 percent increase in mass-specific energy expenditure throughout adult life, mice in the cold lived just as long on average as mice in warm temperatures,” the authors write. “These results strengthen existing doubts about the rate-or-living theory.

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Aged brains can rewires itself

March 12th, 2009 Comments off

Aged brains lose their ability to reorganize connections between nerve cells.  It was is a part of common knowledge for a long time. We all think what once you get old you can forget about  studying new language, new technology, new pov.You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.  But nature is a tricky thing. It always has something to surprise use.  Put some efforts to science, do some study and here it is.

Until now, it was thought that such reorganization is restricted to small numbers of connections within discrete areas of the brain. But new research published yesterday in the journal Current Biology now provides the first evidence that local modifications to small numbers of connections can induce global changes in brain connectivity.

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What is your plan to save the world?

March 11th, 2009 Comments off

You probably know about The Crisis. Yes, the one what have came to take our money and our lives. If there is a problem then there is people who don’t sleep at nite to find a solution for that problem. And they have the solution. We just need to think the other way than we do it now. And if you don’t want to change your mind, your values, your goals then you are just a selfish bustard who deserve to die( or get a drug what ensure your well-being ).

Sorry for that scary passage. Sometimes I am behaving emotional then talk come to change peoples mind. I am from Russia we had bad experience with that.

I am suggest you to read a good post of Deric Bownds on this topic:

Saving the world…

A University of Vermont course in the spring of 2008 came up with a magnum opus now published in the Proceedings of the National Academy titled “Overcoming systemic roadblocks to sustainability: The evolutionary redesign of worldviews, institutions, and technologies.” I totally have a mind-numbing headache from reading this ponderous but worthwhile effort, and give you a few clips from their summary of “an integrated set of worldviews, institutions, and technologies to stimulate and seed evolutionary redesign of the current socio-ecological regime to achieve global sustainability”:

  • Redefine Well-Being Metrics.
  • Ensure the Well-Being of Populations During the Transition.
  • Reduce Complexity and Increase Resilience.
  • Expand the “Commons Sector.”
  • Remove Barriers to Improving Knowledge and Technology.

Read full post at Deric Bownds:Saving the world…

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What gives power – your network or your networth?

March 8th, 2009 Comments off

Is it our time what changes this money/connections balance or is it my point of view becomes less money oriented?

To have a place to live in, to have food, clothes, hobbies, travel the world, learn…. It is not money that will be the source of power in the future, but the strength of the community you belong to – how many people you know (and they know you) who hold the same beliefs as you and are willing to perform necessary action as needed. That is the source of power in the future.

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The century of the self

March 7th, 2009 Comments off

I have seen today very interesting piece of historical documentary. To my opinion it is the finest documentary yet made, about the way in which psychology was used by business and governments to manipulate people. Made by British documentalist Adam Curtis, shows how Freud’s theories of the unconscious was used to build corporate and political power. What emerges is nothing less than a history of 20th-century social control. It is also about history of mass marketing and PR.

The Century of the Self gives me a deeper look to the roots and methods of modern consumerism, democracy and its implications. As I already seen myself as resistant(not absolutely, but I hope it enough to control my life) to such manipulation. It helped me add some more consistency to my picture of world.

“This series is about how those in power have used Freud’s theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy.” – Adam Curtis

Read more…

Banning Wireless

March 6th, 2009 Comments off

Just banning wireless is not solve problem. Security have to be transparent for end user, not to put chains on his hand.

Wireless LANs (WLANs) are increasingly becoming a commodity in the home, in the high street, at the airport – everywhere but in the office it seems. This is because it is still considered a threat to corporate data security – risking data loss, information theft, and virus and worm infection. As a result, despite increasing demands from users for wireless connectivity in the office, many organizations still implement a strict “no wireless” policy. For these organizations, the perceived risk of breaching the established ‘perimeter security’ architecture of the wired LAN by building WLANs is far greater than the mobility and flexibility benefits of the technology.

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Security Implications of the Humble Computer Clock

March 5th, 2009 Comments off

You can be late to an important meeting if miss to change clock to Daylight Savings Time or just setup your clock wrong (10 minutes). Fuzzy logic of human brains can manage time miscalculation and minimize damage. But what about silicon brains. What can computer do in this situation. What implication it can have to our security.

Is the clock on every computer system in your organization set to the correct time? If your answer is no, you’re not alone. According to a 2007 study by Florian Buchholz and Brett Tjaden, both professors at James Madison University in Virginia, more than a quarter of the Web servers on the Internet have their clocks off by more than 10 seconds. Making sure that computers are set with the correct time is one of those seemingly petty technical things that can unfortunately have big, negative consequences if not done properly. That’s because assumptions about time and its flow permeate modern computer systems-including software, hardware and networking. This is true of desktop systems, servers, mobile devices and even embedded systems like HVAC, alarm systems and electronic doorknobs.

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The fantasy and reality of government security

March 5th, 2009 Comments off

Sometimes it is hard to brake a stereotype which was grown for a long time on basis of books, comics, movies. If this stereotype is meaningless then that is ok, we can keep it for a jokes :). But if it is about our security we have at least to point out this problem.

In the movies the government has always got the best toys, the cutting-edge technology and the tightest security standards. Those who have worked on security projects within the government know that in real life government security standards and implementations can vary all across the range from quite serious to laughable.

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Zombie awareness week in Australia

March 4th, 2009 Comments off

What a first thing what come to mind if you hear “George Romero”. Right. It is a zombies. But today it is a zombie what eating computers brains not humans one.

Australia is running a national zombie awareness week in a bid to educate users about how to stop hackers from taking over control of their PCs. The Australian campaign aims to tackle one of the root cause of the botnet epidemic – user awareness.

Three video clips have been made to promote National Zombie Bot Awareness week. Each draws inspiration from George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead, featuring excerpts from the film combined with overlayed text promoting the basic messages of the week.

Read more…

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