tagged w/ human
-
A way to create children's picture puzzles could be used to improve online authentication, as it involves spotting images within images.
There are four animals hidden in the accompanying picture. To obscure them, Hung-Kuo Chu of National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, developed a tool that first simplifies the animal image, creating a pattern of lighter and darker regions. The image is then overlaid on the base picture so that the background texture shows through. Any gaps are filled with texture that approximates the background. "Our model can generate camouflage images at different difficulty levels," Chu says.A way to create children's picture puzzles could be used to improve online... more
-
-
In the mid-1960’s, a young Czechoslovakian psychiatrist working at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague made some epoch-making discoveries concerning the fundamental structures of the human psyche. Working with a wide range of individuals involved in supervised LSD psychotherapy, Stanislav Grof and his clients encountered experiences that gradually and then irrevocably challenged the orthodox Freudian model in which he and his colleagues were working. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/your-details/422-archetypal-astrologyIn the mid-1960’s, a young Czechoslovakian psychiatrist working at the... more
-
-
worrg
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
The last time the British Museum claimed that the earliest known human was British, some 98 years ago, its evidence was the Piltdown skull, which the British archaeological establishment did not concede was a forgery until 1953.
link : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/science/08flint.html?ref=scienceThe last time the British Museum claimed that the earliest known human was British,... more
-
-
suzane
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
-
-
eva2
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
http://www.physorg.com/news197211098.html
"This is the first we know in the history of medicine that clinicians are actively trying to prevent homosexuality," says Alice Dreger, professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.http://www.physorg.com/news197211098.html
"This is the first we know in the... more
-
-
Counselors, psychologists, doctors, biologists and others know that the human brain is complex and fascinating. Even as we learn more and more about the brain, there are still plenty of mysteries surrounding it. What you do with your brain can have bearing on your salary, your happiness, your fitness and any number of other factors in your life.
link : http://www.mastersincounseling.org/18-beautiful-infographics-about-the-human-brain.htmlCounselors, psychologists, doctors, biologists and others know that the human brain is... more
-
-
suzane
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
Differences among brains are as enriching -- and essential -- as differences among plants and animals. Welcome to the new field of neurodiversity.
June 8, 2010 |
This is an edited excerpt from Neurodiversity: Discovering the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Brain Differences, by Thomas Armstrong, published by Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group.© 2010
Imagine for a moment that our society has been transformed into a culture of flowers. Now let’s say for the sake of argument that the psychiatrists are the roses. Visualize a gigantic sunflower coming into the rose psychiatrist’s office. The psychiatrist pulls out his diagnostic tools and in a matter of a half an hour or so has come up with a diagnosis: “You suffer from hugism. It’s a treatable condition if caught early enough, but alas, there’s not too much we can do for you at this point in your development. We do, however, have some strategies that can help you learn to cope with your disorder.” The sunflower receives the suggestions and leaves the doctor’s consulting room with its brilliant yellow and brown head hanging low on its stem.
Next on the doctor’s schedule is a tiny bluet. The rose psychiatrist gives the bluet a few diagnostic tests and a full physical examination. Then it renders its judgment: “Sorry, bluet, but you have GD, or growing disability. We think it’s genetic. However, you needn’t worry. With appropriate treatment, you can learn to live a productive and successful life in a plot of well-drained sandy loam somewhere.”
The bluet leaves the doctor’s office feeling even smaller than when it came in. Finally, a calla lily enters the consulting room and the psychiatrist needs only five minutes to determine the problem: “You have PDD, or petal deficit disorder. This can be controlled, though not cured, with a specially designed formula. In fact, my local herbicide representative has left me with some free samples if you’d like to give them a try.”
These scenarios sound silly, but they serve as a metaphor for how our culture treats neurological differences in human beings these days. Instead of celebrating the natural diversity inherent in human brains, too often we medicalize and pathologize those differences by saying, “Johnny has autism. Susie has a learning disability. Pete suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.”
Imagine if we did this with cultural distinctions (“People from Holland suffer from altitude deprivation syndrome”) or racial differences (“Eduardo has a pigmentation disorder because his skin isn’t white”). We’d be regarded as racists and nationalists. Yet, with respect to the human brain, this sort of thinking goes on all the time under the aegis of “objective” science.
The lessons we have learned about biodiversity and cultural and racial diversity need to be applied to the human brain. We need a new field of neurodiversity that regards human brains as the biological entities they are, and appreciates the vast natural differences that exist from one brain to another regarding sociability, learning, attention, mood and other important mental functions.
More at the link:Differences among brains are as enriching -- and essential -- as differences among... more
-
-
-
-
suzane
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
-
If you're a research company with permission to transport body parts, it's probably really important you label the transport boxes properly. However, this is exactly what Medtronic or the courier company failed to do, resulting in airline staff discovering the human heads and seizing them in fear they were being illegally traded. Guessing that's not the best day at work they've ever had.
"A US airline worker has discovered between 40 and 60 human heads during a routine security check, prompting fears of a black market trade in body parts."-Sky NewsIf you're a research company with permission to transport body parts, it's... more
-
-
Not so long ago experts predicted the imminent collapse of religion in modern western culture. Religion – often synonymous in these discussions with superstition, magic, and delusion – would at last give way to the autonomy of human reason and the power of the experimental method of natural investigation. But something happened on the way to religion’s funeral. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/391-more-intelligentNot so long ago experts predicted the imminent collapse of religion in modern western... more
-
-
worrg
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
Has our new definition of "life experience" rendered tangible interactions irrelevant?
May 28, 2010 |
Not so long ago, I taught a graduate writing seminar in which I got caught in an argument about virtual vs. "real" experience. Two students—among the brightest in the class—insisted that they could go to Rome via a computer program through which they could view every street, turn this corner and that as they pleased, look at every ruin and work of art, and their experience would be as real, as engaged, as if they'd actually been there. n "But," said I, "a pigeon couldn't shit on your head."
Granting that any experience can be called "real," in that it is an experience, I argued that there are differences in the nature of virtual and actual reality. For one thing, on your walk through a virtual Rome, you aren't even walking: you're sitting. And what's Rome without the wonderful smells of food? Even if your virtual Rome is accompanied by recorded sounds of Rome, that's nothing like the sounds of racket, traffic, music, and language, the melodious cacophony of Italian, spoken all around you. A flat screen gives you no sense of Rome behind you, and to the side of you. The rain won't rain on you, and you won't have to dodge crazy drivers.
You're having a one-dimensional experience, literally and figuratively. And no matter what's inputted into the program, there's no chance of running into the girl who sat next to you in high school chemistry—or anyone else. What R. D. Laing once called "the freshness and forgivingness of creation" couldn't reach out to you, nor you to it.
Your computer program couldn't include the unprogrammed, yet the unprogrammed is generally what happens during the engagement of human beings with each other, and with the world. James Baldwin's truth that "any human touch can change you" isn't available on your computer.
I said what I thought obvious: the computerized Rome couldn't give you what a Laing or a Baldwin would most value about Rome: the city as a medium for engaging life beyond personal, private acts and perceptions.
They didn't get it. My argument left them utterly unconvinced, and they looked at me bemusedly, as though I was mildly to be pitied because I didn't get it.
What separated us? Between my sense of the real and theirs gaped a chasm that I didn't understand.
What would a psychotherapist make of it? If, in your consulting room, one of these students told you that the Rome on his computer is more real than the real Rome, is that a symptom? if so, of what? Would it be a syndrome to be addressed in therapy? or just a piece of data, a reference-point for this particular client?
At around the same time, I saw related behavior that no one would connect to psychological difficulty, at least in any conventional sense.
I was driving the Southwest with a companion who'd never been there. In Arizona, on the edge of the Painted Desert, we stopped at the Petrified Forest, a vast, barren expanse of chaparral and mesas, on which lie the trunks of ancient trees turned to stone. On these trees, every detail of bark is present and vivid, yet somehow a forest has become rock. We parked at the first viewing point. My companion, without saying a word, made her way down a slope and sat. I figured she'd be there a while, absorbing this place out of sight of the road and of me, watching the Petrified Forest's stones, birds, critters, and clouds, and maybe getting bit by a bug or two—a contemplative engagement with a present terrain.
More at the link:Has our new definition of "life experience" rendered tangible interactions... more
-
-
A boffin at the University of Reading has claimed he is the first man in the world to become infected with a computer virus.
Dr Mark Gasson from the University of Reading contaminated an electronic chip which was then inserted into his hand. Although he admits the test was a proof of principle he warned that his research will now have huge implications for a future where medical devices such as pacemakers and cochlear implants become more sophisticated, and risk being contaminated by other human implants.
Read more at http://www.techeye.net/science/boffin-claims-hes-first-man-ever-to-have-a-computer-virusA boffin at the University of Reading has claimed he is the first man in the world to... more
-
-
James Owen
for National Geographic News
Published May 26, 2010
There's a good chance it was a tiny little cannibalistic tree swinger, but the newly identified Homo gautengensis is family, according to a new study.
Thought to have used tools—and possibly fire—the creature is the oldest named species in the human genus, Homo, study author Darren Curnoe says.
The new-species designation is based on two-million- to 800,000-year-old fossil-skull pieces, jaws, teeth, and other bones found at the Sterkfontein caves complex in South Africa's Gauteng Province.
Though only fragmentary fossils from about six individuals have been found, upright-walking H. gautengensis is thought to have stood a squat three and a half feet (one meter) tall and weighed about 110 pounds (50 kilograms), according to Curnoe, an anthropologist at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Compared with modern humans, the new species had proportionally long arms, a projecting face somewhat like a chimp's, larger teeth, and a smaller brain—though not too small for verbal communication.
"While it seems possible that Homo gautengensis had language," Curnoe said via email, "it would have been much more rudimentary than ours, lacking the complex tones and lacking a grammar, as all human languages have."
Continue story: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100526-science-homo-gautengensis-human-species/?source=link_fb05272010James Owen
for National Geographic News
Published May 26, 2010
There's a... more
-
-
Defending cultural diversity goes hand in hand with respect for the individual, a group of United Nations independent human rights experts said today as they also warned that cultural diversity should not be used to infringe on human rights. :http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34759&Cr=cultural+diversity&Cr1=Defending cultural diversity goes hand in hand with respect for the individual, a... more
-
-
When you do the Spiritual Exercises fill yourself with love and goodwill. Do one exercise every day. Spend about twenty minutes on it. This builds your spiritual stamina gently over time. Regular daily practice is the key to success. This exercise is from book The Spiritual Exercises of ECK. Try it if you looking for the personal experience of God—every day? http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/358-spiritual-exercisesWhen you do the Spiritual Exercises fill yourself with love and goodwill. Do one... more
-
-
worrg
-
added this
-
2 years ago
- |
-
"In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man... I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence -- as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature." http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/your-details/354-essay-by-einstein"In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man... I am... more
-
-
worrg
-
added this
-
2 years ago
- |
-
I watch and listen to the advocacy of human trafficking at rallies, on web sites, in government reports and NGO reports. The research and statistics on human trafficking in America are ambiguous, especially in relation to race and ethnicity. We need to explicitly recognize the connections between trafficking, poverty, migration, gender, racism and racial discrimination to adequately battle and destroy human trafficking in the U.S.
Trafficking persons is inherently discriminatory. Since an overwhelming majority of trafficked persons are women, trafficking in most circles is usually considered a gender issue, especially in the United States (majority of trafficking in the U.S. is sex trafficking). In the U.S., most state human trafficking laws explicitly and directly address sexual exploitation, ignoring or vaguely covering other types of trafficking (myths of trafficking).
However, a link that is rarely discussed in open forums about human trafficking is racial discrimination. A question that I don’t hear enough is, “Does race and ethnicity contribute to the likelihood of people becoming victims of trafficking?” I say, “Yes.” Furthermore, I believe that not only does race and ethnicity constitute a risk factor for trafficking, it may also determine the treatment those victims’ experience.
The Polaris Project, who does outstanding work in combating human trafficking, stated the majority of trafficked persons come from vulnerable populations, including undocumented migrants, runaways and at-risk youth, oppressed or marginalized groups, and the poor; specifically because they are easiest to recruit and control. In the U.S., statistically speaking, people of color more than fit this criterion.
Available Statistics by Race
A large majority of trafficked persons in the U.S. for the purposes of labor and sexual exploitation are people of color. Domestically, 50 percent of trafficked victims are children and an overwhelmingly are girls, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Most foreign nationals are women, children and men from Mexico and East Asia, as well as from South Asia, Central America, Africa, and Europe, about 17,500 each year, according to statistics compiled by Polaris Project and 2009 TIP report.
More at the link:I watch and listen to the advocacy of human trafficking at rallies, on web sites, in... more
-
-
Connett is an introspective artist who offers a sincere look into life’s circumstance while creating an equidistant world made up of micro organisms, fear and beauty. He is fascinated by the worlds that exist beyond our immediate field of vision and have an abiding interest in the flora and fauna that occupy the space within these tiny worlds... http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/section-table/345-mad-creatures-by-robert-steven-connettConnett is an introspective artist who offers a sincere look into life’s... more
-
-
worrg
-
added this
-
2 years ago
- |
-
Here is an artwork called “Stop the Violence”, created with human bones! Weird, but very creative!Here is an artwork called “Stop the Violence”, created with human bones!... more
-
