Saturday, December 23, 2006
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Keep Walking...
Friends, I would like to share an amazing point of view -
I am faster than you, I am stronger than you
certainly I will last much longer than you,
you may think I am the future but you are wrong - you are,
if I had a wish I would wish to be a human,
to know how it feels, to fear to hope, to despair to wonder - to love
I can achieve immortality by not wearing out,
you can achieve immortality simply by doing one great thing
KEEP WALKING...
Transcript from an Original Creative Commertical
- Click here view the commercial
I am faster than you, I am stronger than you
certainly I will last much longer than you,
you may think I am the future but you are wrong - you are,
if I had a wish I would wish to be a human,
to know how it feels, to fear to hope, to despair to wonder - to love
I can achieve immortality by not wearing out,
you can achieve immortality simply by doing one great thing
KEEP WALKING...
Transcript from an Original Creative Commertical
- Click here view the commercial
Monday, October 23, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Ctrl + Alt + Del
Have you ever thought of the person who invented Ctrl + Alt + Del key combination? David Bradley - He is the one who spent 1 minute and 23 seconds in writing the source code that rescues the world's PC users for decades.
This extraordinary IBM employee retired recently after a prolong service of 29 years. His formula forces obstinate computers to restart when they no longer follow other commands. By 1980, Bardley was one of 12 people working to create the debut. The engineers knew they had to design a simple way to restart the computer when it fails to responds the users - Bradley wrote the code to make it work.
Bradley ways, "I did a lot of other things than Ctrl-Alt-Delete, but I'am famous for that one." His fame and success is achieved each time a PC user fails. He commneted his relationship with Bill GAtes by saying "I may have invented it, but Bill gates made it famous by applying my formula when ever any Microsoft's Windows operating system made by him crashes, thus I win when ever he looses".
S*T*R
If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks.
STROKE IDENTIFICATION: During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.
Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm , Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this...
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough...
RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR.
Read and Learn..! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke...
Now, doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S*
- Ask the individual to SMILE
T*
- Ask the person to TALK to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
( i.e. . . It is sunny out today)
R*
- Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks then it is an indication of a stroke...
NOTE : Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.
Sahre this information with as many as possible; you can bet that at least one life will be saved...
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz
The Eldorado model was part of the Cadillac line from 1953 to 2002.
Click on the images below for bigger version:
Car Courtesy - Naren
History - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Eldorado
Official website - http://www.1959eldorado.at | http://www.cadillac-meeting.com
"The Cadillac Eldorado was the longest running American personal luxury car as it was the only one sold after the 1998 model year."Its main competitors included the Mark Series and the lower-priced Buick Riviera. The name, Eldorado was derived from the Spanish words "el dorado", the "gilded one", the name was given originally to the legendary chief or "cacique" of a S. American Indian tribe. Legend has it that his followers would sprinkle his body with gold dust on ceremonial occasions and he would wash it off again by diving into a lake. The name more frequently refers to a legendary city of fabulous riches, somewhere in S. America, that inspired many European expeditions, including one to the Orinoco by England's Sir Walter Raleigh.
Click on the images below for bigger version:
Car Courtesy - Naren
History - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Eldorado
Official website - http://www.1959eldorado.at | http://www.cadillac-meeting.com
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Whats in the name?
NEW ZEALAND stakes its claim on the Maori name for a hill near Porangahau, Hawkes Bay, which is spelt with either 85 or 92 letters. Visitors climb the hill in four-wheel-drive vehicles. The Duke of Edinburgh Hotel invites them to buy a "Collectors' Longest Place Name Bottle of Hawkes Bay Chardonnay or Cab Merlot."
The hill used to be called Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukaka pikimaunga horonukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu (85 letters). That's a combination of the words taumata (brow of a hill), whakatangihanga (music making), koauau (flute), o (of), tamatea (name of a famous chief), turi pukaka (bony knees), piki maunga (climbing a mountain), horo (slip), nuku (move), pokai whenua (widely travelled), ki (to), tana (his), tahu (beloved).
Hawkes Bay Tourism's Internet site says that Porangahau in New Zealand's South Island, "boasts the longest place name in the world: Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu, officially entered in the Guinness Book of Records." That stretches the name to 92 letters.
It says the name means "The place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed, and swallowed mountains, known as land eater, played his flute to his loved one."
After ascending the hill, Gavin Kingsley, of Christchurch, in New Zealand's South Island, photographed a roadsign showing the name. The translation, he says, is "The brow of the hill where Tamatea, with the bony knees, who slid and climbed mountains, the great traveller, sat and played on the flute to his beloved."
With a touch of cynicism, Gavin adds "Local history has it that the part about the knees and climbing mountains was added recently to make the name more interesting." Seeking on-the-spot information, we e-mailed Winton Hall, owner of Porangahau Lodge, who replied: "Yes, we do in fact have the Longest Place Name in the World at Porangahau. It is no joke. You can check it out in the Guinness Book of Records.
"At the moment there is no real commercial use of the name but this could change in the near future. In the past I have run 4-Wheel Drive Safaris up to the summit of the hill but it has been fairly inaccessible. There is however new access proposed and the local iwi [Maori tribe] may turn it into a commercial attraction."
Friday, August 04, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil
If there was an oil you could use for your daily cooking needs that helped protect you from heart disease, cancer, and other degenerative conditions, improved your digestion, strengthened your immune system, and helped you lose excess weight, would you be interested?No such oils exists you say? Not so! There is an oil that can do all this and more. No, it's not olive oil, it's not canola oil, or safflower oil or any of the oils commonly used for culinary purposes. It's not flaxseed oil, evening primrose oil, or any of the oils sold as dietary supplements. It's not rare or exotic. It's ordinary coconut oil.
But wait, isn't coconut oil a saturated fat? And isn't saturated fat bad (?) because coconut oil is primarily a saturated oil, it has been blindly labeled as bad. It is lumped right along with beef fat and lard with the assumption that they all carry the same health risks. However, researchers have clearly shown that the oil from coconuts, a plant source, acts differently than the saturated fat from animal sources. The oil from coconuts is unique in nature and provides many health benefits obtainable from no other source.
What Coconut Oil DOES NOT Do:
- Does not contain cholesterol.
- Does not increase blood cholesterol level.
- Does not promote platelet stickiness which leads to blood clot formation.
- Does not contribute to atherosclerosis or heart disease.
- Does not promote cancer or any other degenerative disease.
- Does not contribute to weight problems.
What Coconut Oil DOES Do:
- Reduces risk of atherosclerosis and related illnesses.
- Reduces risk of cancer and other degenerative conditions.
- Helps prevent bacterial, viral, and fungal (including yeast) infections.
- Supports immune system function.
- Helps prevent osteoporosis.
- Helps control diabetes.
- Promotes weight loss.
- Supports healthy metabolic function.
- Provides an immediate source of energy.
- Supplies fewer calories than other fats.
- Supplies important nutrients necessary for good health.
- Improves digestion and nutrient absorption.
- Has a mild delicate flavor.
- Is highly resistant to spoilage (long shelf life).
- Is heat resistant (the healthiest oil for cooking).
- Helps keep skin soft and smooth.
- Helps prevent premature aging and wrinkling of the skin.
- Helps protect against skin cancer and other blemishes.
As unbelievable as it sounds, the oil in coconuts has been found to aid the body in destroying dozens of harmful viruses including hepatitis C, herpes, and HIV. Coconut oil has been called the healthiest dietary oil on earth. If you're not using coconut oil for your daily cooking and body care needs you're missing out on one of nature's most amazing health products. In this book you will discover the many healing miracles of coconut oil. Each health benefit is explained and fully documented by scientific research.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
It’s Consistency vs. ‘Wow’
Original article - NYTimes
Correction Appended
When Google introduced its mapping service last year, it did something that made its competitors look antiquated. Users could click on a map and drag it to see an adjacent area, a much faster approach than those offered by rival mapping services.
But today, Google Maps still does not offer some of the pedestrian conveniences of Yahoo Maps and MapQuest from AOL. For example, while it can remember your favorite starting point, it cannot store multiple addresses.
Alan Eustace, a senior vice president for engineering and research at Google, said in an interview last week that the company had made a conscious choice to play down copycat features: “We are trying to come up with something that is new and different, that makes people say ‘Wow.’ ”
Both companies see e-mail and other services as ways to display more advertising — and, even more important, as a way to keep their brands in front of users so they stick around for more searches.
“The battle is about one thing: getting that search box in front of as many people in as many places as possible,” said Jim Lanzone, the chief executive of Ask.com, the search service owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp. Yahoo is on the defensive in the broader fight, where Web search advertising is the biggest prize.
Google is continuing to extend its lead in users and revenue from Web search, while Yahoo’s attempt to compete is foundering. Last week, Yahoo reported weak search revenue and said it would delay a critical search advertising system, sending its shares down 22 percent to a two-year low.
With AOL and MSN from Microsoft losing share and plagued by strategic confusion, Yahoo is in a position to further solidify its lead as the Web’s most popular full-service Internet portal, so any incursions by Google into areas like e-mail and maps are a threat.
Yahoo is trying to fend off its rival by emphasizing the wide range and consistent approach of its Swiss army knife of services. And since 200 million of its users have registered Yahoo accounts, it can use information about them, like their addresses and contact information, to save them time and personalize their experience.
“Our philosophy is that being part of the Yahoo network is a huge advantage and a huge competitive differentiator,” said Ash Patel, Yahoo’s chief product officer. “When we build a product that takes advantage of the Yahoo network, it doesn’t feel like an orphan.”
Google has tied some products together — for example, combining its instant messaging and e-mail services on the same Web page. But those links are often created after a product is introduced.
“There is a tradeoff between integration and speed,” Mr. Eustace said. “We are living and dying by being an innovative, fast-moving company.”
Sometimes this penchant for speed and innovation can cause Google to zoom past the basics. When asked about the lack of an address book in Google Maps in an interview last fall, Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president for search products and user experience, said it was a gap in the product. She said it was much easier to get the company’s engineers to spend time developing pioneering new technology than a much more prosaic address storage system.
There are risks in each approach. Google tends to introduce a lot of new products and then watch to see what works. This has the potential to alienate users if there are too many half-baked ideas or false starts. At the same time, Yahoo risks being seen as irrelevant if it tries to put so many features into each product that it is always months late to market with any good idea.
“Yahoo has lost its appetite for experimentation,” said Toni Schneider, a former product development executive at Yahoo who is now chief executive of Automattic, a blogging software company. “They used to be a lot more like Google, where someone would come up with a cool idea and run with it.”
While Yahoo’s processes have become too bureaucratic, it is still attracting an audience, Mr. Schneider said. “Google’s products may be more innovative, but at the end of the day, Yahoo is pretty good at nailing what the user really wants.”
Read more - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/technology/24yahoo.html?pagewanted=2
Correction Appended
When Google introduced its mapping service last year, it did something that made its competitors look antiquated. Users could click on a map and drag it to see an adjacent area, a much faster approach than those offered by rival mapping services.
But today, Google Maps still does not offer some of the pedestrian conveniences of Yahoo Maps and MapQuest from AOL. For example, while it can remember your favorite starting point, it cannot store multiple addresses.
Alan Eustace, a senior vice president for engineering and research at Google, said in an interview last week that the company had made a conscious choice to play down copycat features: “We are trying to come up with something that is new and different, that makes people say ‘Wow.’ ”
Do Internet users prefer services that are consistent and predictable, like those offered by Yahoo, or are they more interested in Google’s wow factor?These two approaches define a pivotal front in the battle for online loyalty between the major players in the Internet search business.
Both companies see e-mail and other services as ways to display more advertising — and, even more important, as a way to keep their brands in front of users so they stick around for more searches.
“The battle is about one thing: getting that search box in front of as many people in as many places as possible,” said Jim Lanzone, the chief executive of Ask.com, the search service owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp. Yahoo is on the defensive in the broader fight, where Web search advertising is the biggest prize.
Google is continuing to extend its lead in users and revenue from Web search, while Yahoo’s attempt to compete is foundering. Last week, Yahoo reported weak search revenue and said it would delay a critical search advertising system, sending its shares down 22 percent to a two-year low.
With AOL and MSN from Microsoft losing share and plagued by strategic confusion, Yahoo is in a position to further solidify its lead as the Web’s most popular full-service Internet portal, so any incursions by Google into areas like e-mail and maps are a threat.
Yahoo is trying to fend off its rival by emphasizing the wide range and consistent approach of its Swiss army knife of services. And since 200 million of its users have registered Yahoo accounts, it can use information about them, like their addresses and contact information, to save them time and personalize their experience.
“Our philosophy is that being part of the Yahoo network is a huge advantage and a huge competitive differentiator,” said Ash Patel, Yahoo’s chief product officer. “When we build a product that takes advantage of the Yahoo network, it doesn’t feel like an orphan.”
Google has tied some products together — for example, combining its instant messaging and e-mail services on the same Web page. But those links are often created after a product is introduced.
“There is a tradeoff between integration and speed,” Mr. Eustace said. “We are living and dying by being an innovative, fast-moving company.”
Sometimes this penchant for speed and innovation can cause Google to zoom past the basics. When asked about the lack of an address book in Google Maps in an interview last fall, Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president for search products and user experience, said it was a gap in the product. She said it was much easier to get the company’s engineers to spend time developing pioneering new technology than a much more prosaic address storage system.
There are risks in each approach. Google tends to introduce a lot of new products and then watch to see what works. This has the potential to alienate users if there are too many half-baked ideas or false starts. At the same time, Yahoo risks being seen as irrelevant if it tries to put so many features into each product that it is always months late to market with any good idea.
“Yahoo has lost its appetite for experimentation,” said Toni Schneider, a former product development executive at Yahoo who is now chief executive of Automattic, a blogging software company. “They used to be a lot more like Google, where someone would come up with a cool idea and run with it.”
While Yahoo’s processes have become too bureaucratic, it is still attracting an audience, Mr. Schneider said. “Google’s products may be more innovative, but at the end of the day, Yahoo is pretty good at nailing what the user really wants.”
Read more - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/technology/24yahoo.html?pagewanted=2
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Lebanon
This post is dedicated to the beautiful country and the people of Lebanon
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT LEBANON
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT LEBANON
- Lebanon has 18 religious communities
- It has 40 daily newspapers
- It has 42 universities
- It has over 100 banks (that is banks and not branches of a bank)
- 70% of the students are in private schools
- 40% of the Lebanese people are Christians (this is the highest percent all the Arab countries)
- There's 1 doctor per 10 people in Lebanon (In Europe & America, there's 1 doctor per 100 people)
- The name LEBANON appears 75 times in the Old Testament
- The name CEDAR (Lebanon's tree) appears 75 times too in the Old Testament!!
- Beirut was destroyed and rebuilt 7 times (this is why it's compared to The Phoenix).
- There's 3.5 Million Lebanese in Lebanon
- There's around 10 Million Lebanese outside Lebanon!!!
OTHER INTERESTING FACTS:
- Lebanon, the country, was occupied by over 16 countries:
(Egyptians-Hittites-Assyrians- Babylonians- Persians- Alexander the greats Army- the Roman Empire Byzantine- the Arabian Peninsula-The Crusaders- the Ottoman Empire- Britain-France- Israel- Syria) - Byblos (city in Lebanon) is the oldest, continuously living city in the world.
- Lebanon's name has been around for 4,000 yrs non- stop (it's the oldest country/ nation's name in the world!)
- Lebanon is the only Asian/African country that doesn't have a desert.
- There are 15 rivers in Lebanon (all of them coming from its own mountains)
- Lebanon is one of the most populated countries in its archeological sites, in the world!!!
- The first alphabet was created in Byblos (city in Lebanon)
- The only remaining temple of Jupiter (the main Roman god) is in Baalbeck, Lebanon (The City of the Sun)
- The name of BYBLOS comes from the BIBLE!!!
- Lebanon is the country that has the most books written about it.
- Lebanon is the only non-dictatorial country in the Arab world (Yes, we do have a President!)
- Jesus Christ made his 1st miracle in Lebanon, in Sidon (The miracle of Turning water into wine).
- The Phoenicians (Original People of Lebanon) built the 1st boat, and they were the first
to sail ever! - Phoenicians also reached America long before Christopher Columbus did.
- The 1st law school in the world was built in Lebanon, in Downtown Beirut.
- People say that the cedars were planted by God's own hands (This is why they're called "The Cedars of God", and this is why Lebanon is called "God's Country on Earth."
"People who regard themselves as highly efficacious act, think, and feel differently from those who perceive themselves as inefficacious. They produce their own future, rather than simply foretell it." -Albert Bandura
May the people of Lebonon have strength to overcome the crisis, world prays for you ...
Also visit Lebanese Political Journal - http://lebop.blogspot.com
Content Credits - Nathalie.Friday, July 14, 2006
United Stand
Minds worked, times set, hearts kept aside
Lives used, fright set, familes tore apart
Bombay once, Mumbai since, people suffer
Are we there, will be shared, all thats' fair
Helping hands, opted pain, will survive
Back to normal, we all choose, shall they learn
Spirit alive, who can dare, they can only scare
Only threat, reckless kings, kick them out
Friends, Mumbai came to a shocking standstill on July 11 when serial blasts ripped through its local trains, killing and wounding hundreds. But the city of dreams stood fearless and fighting fit.
Salute Mumbai's never-say-die spirit and Light a Candle for those who succumbed to the blasts or got injured. For every candle you light, CNN-IBN and Channel 7 will donate Re 1 for the relief of the victims.
http://clients.ibnlive.com/features/mumatt/index.php
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Why I Have No Free Will
I have no free will, and it’s great.
My brain is what controls my behaviour. It is, like all matter, composed entirely of chemicals. It is extraordinarily complicated, with many many working parts, all interconnected in a fiendish and as-yet unfathomed pattern. No matter how complicated a thing is, however, it remains true that at any given instant in time, it is in a particular state. The chemicals are joined in particular combinations, and energy and matter are moving around in particular directions.
Some stimulus comes into my brain from outside. It is sensed by my senses and the signal is sent to my brain. That signal interacts with my brain, changes the physical and chemical state of my brain, and the result is some behaviour from me. My body follows what my brain instructs it to do. Where was the free will? There wasn’t any.
Someone tells a joke. I hear the joke. The sounds of the joke come into my brains through my ears, and are translated into electro-chemical activity. The language parts of my brain recognise what the words I hear mean. The joke relies on my understanding that the sound of "big ears" can mean both large ears, and the name of the fictional character Noddy’s best friend. I already know this, from previous life experience, and so I am able to get the joke*. My brain registers the humour of the joke, and I laugh. I do not decide to laugh consciously. The stimulus got a response: my laughter.
A few minutes later, I hear the same person tell the same joke to someone else. This time, I don’t laugh. I don’t laugh because I have heard the joke before. My brain has been chemically altered by the first telling, and now the sounds I hear are interacting with a different brain.
Sometimes, though, it seems to me that I do make decisions. I am in a shop, and am tempted to buy a pair of glow-in-the-dark sunglasses, but can’t decide whether they are really worth the money I must pay. I dither and agonise over the decision, and then leave the shop without buying them, and walk home, all the time wondering whether I have done the right thing. Still, no free will is involved, merely the illusion of it.
I was always going to decide not to buy the glasses. My brain was in a particular chemical state when the opportunity to buy the glasses arose, and given the particular combination of circumstances (the mood I was in, the light in the shop, my knowledge of my bank balance) I was always going to decide against the investment. My conscious mind didn’t know what the final decision would be, however, and what I consciously experienced was the agony of decision. Such difficult decisions are very rare.
Some people rebel against the conclusion that we have no free will. They claim that it is for some reason depressing. I have never been told by anyone, despite my having asked many times, why I should be depressed to realise that I have no free will. That I have no free will seems a logical conclusion which must be drawn from the simple facts that my brain is made of matter and that it interacts with the world through the senses.
This is how I see it:
The world I live in is a very large and complicated place. Consequently, though it has a certain and comforting degree of predictability, I do not ever know for certain what stimuli I am going to experience next. Also, since I do not have conscious access to everything my brain is doing, even if I could predict what is going to happen to me next, I still could not predict how I would react. Life is an interesting three-dimensional experience, with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings. Why should I complain that I have no free will, when I have the perfect illusion of it, and the world is so marvellous? How would having free will make me any happier?
People talk about how amazing it is that we have evolved free will. Some people consider free will to be so amazing that it convinces them that a god must have created humans, and that free will is some special magic that humans have. In fact, we have not evolved free will at all. Instead we have evolved a consciousness, and the illusion of free will. Often, to us, it really seems as though we could have decided to act some other way from the way we did act.
So why did we evolve the illusion of free will? Well, partly this is to do with the phenomenon of consciousness, but also to do with self-deception. If I can fool myself into thinking that I’m a nice guy, then I’m going to be much better at fooling you into thinking the same. Actually, deep down, our every instinct is self-serving. I am only nice because in the long term it suits me to be nice. If I become convinced to my core that I truly am nice, then I will not yield to the temptation to be nasty for short-term advantage. I will be consistently nice, and the benefits of niceness are far greater if one acts that way. The illusion of free will makes me feel that I am deciding to be nice, and if I am deciding to be nice, having the option of being nasty, then I must be a truly nice guy, right?
People who have been hypnotised to shout “Basingstoke!” at the tops of their voices whenever anyone uses the word “sponge” will, when asked why they just shouted Basingstoke, give totally spurious reasons. They do what they do despite not knowing why. The illusion of free will protects us from our true motives. Evolutionary psychology is largely the study of subconscious motives. Those of us who study it notice again and again that our motives just happen to coincide with the strategy which would maximise the number of genes we might pass on. Men do not decide to find twenty-year old women sexier than eighty-year olds, they just do. It just so happens that men who feel this way pass on more genes, because eighty-year olds cannot get pregnant. This is no coincidence. Similarly, people who are wronged several times by their siblings are far more likely to be forgiving than those wronged by non-relatives. The siblings share the genes of the potential forgiver, and so there is shared genetic interest. The wronged man may feel that he has the option of not forgiving his brother, and of forgiving his friend, but he has not. The illusion of free will prevents him from realising the truth, and so he acts more effectively in the service of his genes. If he knew the truth, he might start acting against the interests of his genes. Perhaps some people in the past started doing this, but they probably did not become our ancestors (and even then, they still didn’t actually have free will).
So, I have no free will, and I can sit back and enjoy the roller-coaster ride of life. Even I don’t know what I’m going to do next. Exciting, eh?
Originally found on Nikolas Lloyd's website http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/evolve/freewill.html.
My brain is what controls my behaviour. It is, like all matter, composed entirely of chemicals. It is extraordinarily complicated, with many many working parts, all interconnected in a fiendish and as-yet unfathomed pattern. No matter how complicated a thing is, however, it remains true that at any given instant in time, it is in a particular state. The chemicals are joined in particular combinations, and energy and matter are moving around in particular directions.
Some stimulus comes into my brain from outside. It is sensed by my senses and the signal is sent to my brain. That signal interacts with my brain, changes the physical and chemical state of my brain, and the result is some behaviour from me. My body follows what my brain instructs it to do. Where was the free will? There wasn’t any.
Someone tells a joke. I hear the joke. The sounds of the joke come into my brains through my ears, and are translated into electro-chemical activity. The language parts of my brain recognise what the words I hear mean. The joke relies on my understanding that the sound of "big ears" can mean both large ears, and the name of the fictional character Noddy’s best friend. I already know this, from previous life experience, and so I am able to get the joke*. My brain registers the humour of the joke, and I laugh. I do not decide to laugh consciously. The stimulus got a response: my laughter.
A few minutes later, I hear the same person tell the same joke to someone else. This time, I don’t laugh. I don’t laugh because I have heard the joke before. My brain has been chemically altered by the first telling, and now the sounds I hear are interacting with a different brain.
Sometimes, though, it seems to me that I do make decisions. I am in a shop, and am tempted to buy a pair of glow-in-the-dark sunglasses, but can’t decide whether they are really worth the money I must pay. I dither and agonise over the decision, and then leave the shop without buying them, and walk home, all the time wondering whether I have done the right thing. Still, no free will is involved, merely the illusion of it.
I was always going to decide not to buy the glasses. My brain was in a particular chemical state when the opportunity to buy the glasses arose, and given the particular combination of circumstances (the mood I was in, the light in the shop, my knowledge of my bank balance) I was always going to decide against the investment. My conscious mind didn’t know what the final decision would be, however, and what I consciously experienced was the agony of decision. Such difficult decisions are very rare.
Some people rebel against the conclusion that we have no free will. They claim that it is for some reason depressing. I have never been told by anyone, despite my having asked many times, why I should be depressed to realise that I have no free will. That I have no free will seems a logical conclusion which must be drawn from the simple facts that my brain is made of matter and that it interacts with the world through the senses.
This is how I see it:
The world I live in is a very large and complicated place. Consequently, though it has a certain and comforting degree of predictability, I do not ever know for certain what stimuli I am going to experience next. Also, since I do not have conscious access to everything my brain is doing, even if I could predict what is going to happen to me next, I still could not predict how I would react. Life is an interesting three-dimensional experience, with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings. Why should I complain that I have no free will, when I have the perfect illusion of it, and the world is so marvellous? How would having free will make me any happier?
People talk about how amazing it is that we have evolved free will. Some people consider free will to be so amazing that it convinces them that a god must have created humans, and that free will is some special magic that humans have. In fact, we have not evolved free will at all. Instead we have evolved a consciousness, and the illusion of free will. Often, to us, it really seems as though we could have decided to act some other way from the way we did act.
So why did we evolve the illusion of free will? Well, partly this is to do with the phenomenon of consciousness, but also to do with self-deception. If I can fool myself into thinking that I’m a nice guy, then I’m going to be much better at fooling you into thinking the same. Actually, deep down, our every instinct is self-serving. I am only nice because in the long term it suits me to be nice. If I become convinced to my core that I truly am nice, then I will not yield to the temptation to be nasty for short-term advantage. I will be consistently nice, and the benefits of niceness are far greater if one acts that way. The illusion of free will makes me feel that I am deciding to be nice, and if I am deciding to be nice, having the option of being nasty, then I must be a truly nice guy, right?
People who have been hypnotised to shout “Basingstoke!” at the tops of their voices whenever anyone uses the word “sponge” will, when asked why they just shouted Basingstoke, give totally spurious reasons. They do what they do despite not knowing why. The illusion of free will protects us from our true motives. Evolutionary psychology is largely the study of subconscious motives. Those of us who study it notice again and again that our motives just happen to coincide with the strategy which would maximise the number of genes we might pass on. Men do not decide to find twenty-year old women sexier than eighty-year olds, they just do. It just so happens that men who feel this way pass on more genes, because eighty-year olds cannot get pregnant. This is no coincidence. Similarly, people who are wronged several times by their siblings are far more likely to be forgiving than those wronged by non-relatives. The siblings share the genes of the potential forgiver, and so there is shared genetic interest. The wronged man may feel that he has the option of not forgiving his brother, and of forgiving his friend, but he has not. The illusion of free will prevents him from realising the truth, and so he acts more effectively in the service of his genes. If he knew the truth, he might start acting against the interests of his genes. Perhaps some people in the past started doing this, but they probably did not become our ancestors (and even then, they still didn’t actually have free will).
So, I have no free will, and I can sit back and enjoy the roller-coaster ride of life. Even I don’t know what I’m going to do next. Exciting, eh?
Originally found on Nikolas Lloyd's website http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/evolve/freewill.html.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Not So 'Priceless'
Creative Roundtable: Not So 'Priceless'
by Gavin O'Malley, May 2006 issue
Published on - http://publications.mediapost.com
FOR THE LATEST INCARNATION OF its "Priceless" campaign, MasterCard hired McCann-Erickson, New York, and its sister company MRM Worldwide to develop an all-encompassing destination site. The "Priceless" site (http://www.priceless.com/) is laden with content that reflects the credit card brand's affluent and upscale lifestyle positioning, offering loads of Web links and opportunities for visitor interaction.
The "Priceless" site offers editorial oddments divided by broad stroke categories including "Eat," "Live," "Hear," "Play," and "Wear," surrounded by stock photography, an innocuous color palette, and promotional deals with MasterCard partners. Visitors can also think up their own ad copy for two "Priceless" commercials, which MasterCard debuted during the Academy
Awards broadcast in March.
To assess this odd meeting of detached corporate mien with new media ideals, I brought in three crack creatives, including Organic's Troy Young, Lars Bastholm from AKQA, and Renny Gleeson of Carat Fusion. We met in the elysian bar of the Modern inside the Museum of Modern Art, an ideal location for critical thinking. Restaurateur Danny Meyer's Modern seemed, in the right light, like the true masterpiece of the night. Indeed, I was sure its distinct elements -- from the tactilely assuasive 46-foot marble bar to German artist Thomas Demand's wall-size photo of a lush forest -- helped keep this month's Roundtable stimulated.
Of course, I'm not comparing our task to the work of Calder, Miró, and Picasso, which lay just outside among the other masterpieces in the museum's sculpture garden. Even so, a walk through the shining, portal-like white entrance and into the clean, Scandinavian-inspired interior of the Modern is enough to ignite anyone's muse. The group first tackled the "Priceless" site's promotions, which include hotel getaways, and the street value of ad copy.
Bastholm: I started out as a copywriter, and that kind of stuff is known as copywriter hell, because there are only two people who are going to read it: the writer writing it and the client approving it.
Young: I think the other people reading the copy are the hotel owner and MasterCard's other corporate partners, who are being promised this potentially great reach. If they manage that properly, there's benefit in that for everybody. And if someone offered me an upgraded room somewhere for the price of a regular room, it would be of value to me.
Bastholm: I'm oversimplifying, but I think of this stuff like the brochures and things a company will put out. Does anyone read that stuff?
Gleeson: I have an AmEx card, and I certainly don't go to the AmEx Web site to see if they have any special deals or discounts that day. If I'm at a hotel and using a card, that's a different story. I understand a company needs an online brand presence to support the overall promise that's being made, but...
Young: Maybe if there's real value.
Bastholm: There are obviously bigger bargain hunters out there than you or I might be, so the discounts and partnerships might work, but here's the problem: A company like this is thinking, "We need a site that complements the TV ads, but we don't know who's going to come there, so we need something for everybody." So they just put a gazillion things there and confuse the crap out of everybody.
Young: Interesting that you bring up AmEx, because to me they have a much clearer brand image than MasterCard. Anybody can get a MasterCard, so it's not a point of pride to have one. I don't know what MasterCard's brand means, and this site doesn't help me understand. I see here a generic credit card company that hopes it can use generic content to give it an identity.
Bastholm: They completely missed the mark with the "create your own ad" thing. That was clear when I saw that you couldn't send it to a friend once you made it. That's the whole point of this user-created stuff. When you don't even open yourself up to the potential for viral, you're just not on top of it. [MasterCard asks consumers to submit their ads for a contest.]
Gleeson: It's such a controlled version of user-generated media, which seems to take out all the potential for something really interesting to happen.
Bastholm: They were afraid of profanity. They didn't want to lose control of the message and have those things out there on the Web.
Gleeson: If you don't give people the freedom to be creative... If the creative ideas are only coming from one side, you're guaranteeing that the exchange is going to be nothing special.
Young: Are we talking about wimping out? That's basically what you have to expect when a company approaches something untested like the Web five years ago, and now Web 2.0. When the choice has to be made whether to go all the way or just splash your toes in the water, they're going to wimp out every time.
[The guys are put to the test: What exactly would they have done differently?]
Bastholm: Definitely let people send their ads to a friend and give them more freedom with the creative. The ads look like a finished product before someone even adds their captions -- that's so bad.
Young: They look better without the user input!
[Laughter.]
Bastholm: The editorial and the way it's labeled are so dry.
Gleeson: I couldn't believe how dry it was. And does anyone really sort ideas like that -- "Live," "Hear," "Play"? Who does that?
Bastholm: How about taking the emphasis off the editorial and onto the deals that you can get using MasterCard?
Young: If you highlighted those savings and made it very clear that this is the site where I can go regularly for that sort of thing... They probably thought that hiding the deals in with the editorial would be less offensive or something, but a clearer explanation of the deals could really add value to the site.
Gleeson: A credit card company should do what it does best and leave the editorial to people in the editorial business.
Young: I think I'll stick with my AmEx.
by Gavin O'Malley, May 2006 issue
Published on - http://publications.mediapost.com
FOR THE LATEST INCARNATION OF its "Priceless" campaign, MasterCard hired McCann-Erickson, New York, and its sister company MRM Worldwide to develop an all-encompassing destination site. The "Priceless" site (http://www.priceless.com/) is laden with content that reflects the credit card brand's affluent and upscale lifestyle positioning, offering loads of Web links and opportunities for visitor interaction.
The "Priceless" site offers editorial oddments divided by broad stroke categories including "Eat," "Live," "Hear," "Play," and "Wear," surrounded by stock photography, an innocuous color palette, and promotional deals with MasterCard partners. Visitors can also think up their own ad copy for two "Priceless" commercials, which MasterCard debuted during the Academy
Awards broadcast in March.
To assess this odd meeting of detached corporate mien with new media ideals, I brought in three crack creatives, including Organic's Troy Young, Lars Bastholm from AKQA, and Renny Gleeson of Carat Fusion. We met in the elysian bar of the Modern inside the Museum of Modern Art, an ideal location for critical thinking. Restaurateur Danny Meyer's Modern seemed, in the right light, like the true masterpiece of the night. Indeed, I was sure its distinct elements -- from the tactilely assuasive 46-foot marble bar to German artist Thomas Demand's wall-size photo of a lush forest -- helped keep this month's Roundtable stimulated.
Of course, I'm not comparing our task to the work of Calder, Miró, and Picasso, which lay just outside among the other masterpieces in the museum's sculpture garden. Even so, a walk through the shining, portal-like white entrance and into the clean, Scandinavian-inspired interior of the Modern is enough to ignite anyone's muse. The group first tackled the "Priceless" site's promotions, which include hotel getaways, and the street value of ad copy.
Bastholm: I started out as a copywriter, and that kind of stuff is known as copywriter hell, because there are only two people who are going to read it: the writer writing it and the client approving it.
Young: I think the other people reading the copy are the hotel owner and MasterCard's other corporate partners, who are being promised this potentially great reach. If they manage that properly, there's benefit in that for everybody. And if someone offered me an upgraded room somewhere for the price of a regular room, it would be of value to me.
Bastholm: I'm oversimplifying, but I think of this stuff like the brochures and things a company will put out. Does anyone read that stuff?
Gleeson: I have an AmEx card, and I certainly don't go to the AmEx Web site to see if they have any special deals or discounts that day. If I'm at a hotel and using a card, that's a different story. I understand a company needs an online brand presence to support the overall promise that's being made, but...
Young: Maybe if there's real value.
Bastholm: There are obviously bigger bargain hunters out there than you or I might be, so the discounts and partnerships might work, but here's the problem: A company like this is thinking, "We need a site that complements the TV ads, but we don't know who's going to come there, so we need something for everybody." So they just put a gazillion things there and confuse the crap out of everybody.
Young: Interesting that you bring up AmEx, because to me they have a much clearer brand image than MasterCard. Anybody can get a MasterCard, so it's not a point of pride to have one. I don't know what MasterCard's brand means, and this site doesn't help me understand. I see here a generic credit card company that hopes it can use generic content to give it an identity.
Bastholm: They completely missed the mark with the "create your own ad" thing. That was clear when I saw that you couldn't send it to a friend once you made it. That's the whole point of this user-created stuff. When you don't even open yourself up to the potential for viral, you're just not on top of it. [MasterCard asks consumers to submit their ads for a contest.]
Gleeson: It's such a controlled version of user-generated media, which seems to take out all the potential for something really interesting to happen.
Bastholm: They were afraid of profanity. They didn't want to lose control of the message and have those things out there on the Web.
Gleeson: If you don't give people the freedom to be creative... If the creative ideas are only coming from one side, you're guaranteeing that the exchange is going to be nothing special.
Young: Are we talking about wimping out? That's basically what you have to expect when a company approaches something untested like the Web five years ago, and now Web 2.0. When the choice has to be made whether to go all the way or just splash your toes in the water, they're going to wimp out every time.
[The guys are put to the test: What exactly would they have done differently?]
Bastholm: Definitely let people send their ads to a friend and give them more freedom with the creative. The ads look like a finished product before someone even adds their captions -- that's so bad.
Young: They look better without the user input!
[Laughter.]
Bastholm: The editorial and the way it's labeled are so dry.
Gleeson: I couldn't believe how dry it was. And does anyone really sort ideas like that -- "Live," "Hear," "Play"? Who does that?
Bastholm: How about taking the emphasis off the editorial and onto the deals that you can get using MasterCard?
Young: If you highlighted those savings and made it very clear that this is the site where I can go regularly for that sort of thing... They probably thought that hiding the deals in with the editorial would be less offensive or something, but a clearer explanation of the deals could really add value to the site.
Gleeson: A credit card company should do what it does best and leave the editorial to people in the editorial business.
Young: I think I'll stick with my AmEx.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Connections
The Organs of your body have their sensory touches at the bottom of your foot, if you massage these points you will find relief from aches and pains as you can see the organs are on right and left foot, the heart is on the left foot.
It is indeed correct since the nerves connected to these organs terminate here. So when we walk, we will always be pressing these pressure points and thus keeping these organs activated at all times. Keep walking...
For a change - http://www.wholehealthmd.com
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Sneekers from my left brain
Love!
Blind is not; the heart which falls
Give more; the heart seeks
Passion involved; kills them both
Dead are they; life which was not
State of mind; numb
Bodies white; they worshiped
Ashes grey; they scattered across
Blazing fire; burnt knowledge
Unlearnt lessons; void...
Time!
A galaxy of minute sand crystals,
Gushing through the void of infinite actions, unexplainable
Strands of sensitive links ingrained to each crystal,
Every crystal counts, we believe
Broken strands scorched with desires,
Fragile ones lynching in hope, we thrive
But the one that links unknowingly,
Seizes the entire load, we live
Brainwave : IntenseWords and LadyVirtualA
Blind is not; the heart which falls
Give more; the heart seeks
Passion involved; kills them both
Dead are they; life which was not
State of mind; numb
Bodies white; they worshiped
Ashes grey; they scattered across
Blazing fire; burnt knowledge
Unlearnt lessons; void...
Time!
A galaxy of minute sand crystals,
Gushing through the void of infinite actions, unexplainable
Strands of sensitive links ingrained to each crystal,
Every crystal counts, we believe
Broken strands scorched with desires,
Fragile ones lynching in hope, we thrive
But the one that links unknowingly,
Seizes the entire load, we live
Brainwave : IntenseWords and LadyVirtualA
Sunday, April 02, 2006
The Dream
one day you had a dream.
a profound dream.
in that dream, you dreamt yourself.
you dreamt your life.
you are the dream.
your life is a dream.
one day you had a dream.
a profound dream.
in that dream,
you dreamt yourself.
-Gautam Buddha
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Things Work Out
Because it rains when we wish it wouldn't,
Because men do what they often shouldn't,
Because crops fail, and plans go wrong-
Some of us grumble all day long.
But somehow, in spite of the care and doubt,
It seems at last that things work out.
Because we lose where we hoped to gain,
Because we suffer a little pain,
Because we must work when we'd like to play-
Some of us whimper along life's way.
But somehow, as day always follows the night,
Most of our troubles work out all right.
Because we cannot forever smile,
Because we must trudge in the dust awhile,
Because we think that the way is long-
Some of us whimper that life's all wrong.
But somehow we live and our sky grows bright,
And everything seems to work out all right.
So bend to your trouble and meet your care,
For the clouds must break, and the sky grow fair.
Let the rain come down, as it must and will,
But keep on working and hoping still.
For in spite of the grumblers who stand about,
Somehow, it seems, all things work out.
With regards to whoever wrote this, I pass on the credit to Rehana Shikari who passed on this thought to me.
Because men do what they often shouldn't,
Because crops fail, and plans go wrong-
Some of us grumble all day long.
But somehow, in spite of the care and doubt,
It seems at last that things work out.
Because we lose where we hoped to gain,
Because we suffer a little pain,
Because we must work when we'd like to play-
Some of us whimper along life's way.
But somehow, as day always follows the night,
Most of our troubles work out all right.
Because we cannot forever smile,
Because we must trudge in the dust awhile,
Because we think that the way is long-
Some of us whimper that life's all wrong.
But somehow we live and our sky grows bright,
And everything seems to work out all right.
So bend to your trouble and meet your care,
For the clouds must break, and the sky grow fair.
Let the rain come down, as it must and will,
But keep on working and hoping still.
For in spite of the grumblers who stand about,
Somehow, it seems, all things work out.
With regards to whoever wrote this, I pass on the credit to Rehana Shikari who passed on this thought to me.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
A Generation Awakens
“I always believed there are two kinds of men in this world. One who go to their deaths screaming. One who go their deaths silently. Then I saw the third kind.”
"When I reached there, I remember my grandfather's words - India, it's Love at first sight"
No big deal - go ahead watch it - it is an improvement and yes you will be surprised that you start looking at Hindi movies from a different persective.
"When I reached there, I remember my grandfather's words - India, it's Love at first sight"
No big deal - go ahead watch it - it is an improvement and yes you will be surprised that you start looking at Hindi movies from a different persective.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)