Horror Novelist Stephen King Tells The 1% To Stop Being Selfish Pricks
Preach it, Stevie. Tell it like it is, my main man.
Study: Why Republicans and Democrats Can’t Feel Each Other’s Pain
Shakespeare asked rhetorically whether Christians and Jews are not “hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal’d by the same means, warm’d and cool’d by the same winter and summer?” The same can be said of Republicans and Democrats, but if you ask people on opposite sides of the aisle to try to empathize with one another, they tend to consider their rivals as not equally human.
That’s not a mere observation of election-year political antics, but a finding from scientific research. Led by Ed O’Brien, scientists from the University of Michigan crafted a study on inter-party empathy based on prior data on the emotion, which finds that our ability to empathize is greatly affected not only by whom we’re trying to empathize with, but also by our own physical and emotional states.
Physical states, especially, are difficult to transcend. If you’ve ever packed for a tropical vacation in the dead of winter and had difficulty imagining yourself basking on a warm beach when it’s freezing at home, you’ve experienced the challenge most people face when trying to take the perspective of another — or even of your own future self. When our visceral state is overwhelming, we tend to project the same feeling onto everyone else: if I’m cold, then you must be cold too.
Studies also find that thirsty people perceive others as being equally dehydrated, and those who feel frightened similarly think everyone else must be afraid too. Even exam cheaters project their own willingness to cut corners on fellow test takers.
But this kind of empathy doesn’t always extend to everyone. History is filled with examples of warriors who were brutal to their enemies, but kind to their comrades. Biologically speaking, the hormone most associated with empathy — oxytocin — has been found to increase people’s feelings of warmth and generosity toward their friends and family while simultaneously increasing prejudice against outsiders.
Source: TIME
“If only the war on poverty was a real war, then we would actually be putting money into it.”
Source: weheartit.com
![sustainablesex:
(via Guerrilla Grafters Bring Forbidden Fruit Back To City Trees : The Salt : NPR)
“We don’t have a supermarket and we have very few produce stores [here],” she says. “What better to alleviate scarcity of healthy produce in an impoverished area than to grow them yourself and to have it available for free.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m24vyr87W81rpm4r7o1_1280.jpg)
(via Guerrilla Grafters Bring Forbidden Fruit Back To City Trees : The Salt : NPR)
“We don’t have a supermarket and we have very few produce stores [here],” she says. “What better to alleviate scarcity of healthy produce in an impoverished area than to grow them yourself and to have it available for free.”
Alternative building material - hemp, hempcrete, hemp plaster, hemp insulation. Check out Steve Allin’s hemp building website, as well as the international hemp building assoc.
Financials Lead US Stock Losses
By MATT JARZEMSKY
NEW YORK—U.S. stocks traded lower as a Friday report that employers added fewer jobs than expected last month cast doubt on the pace of the labor market’s recovery.
All 10 S&P 500 sectors retreated Monday, with financials tumbling the most. Bank of America BAC -3.09% and J.P. Morgan JPM -1.33% were among the biggest decliners among Dow components.
Nonfarm payrolls grew by 120,000 in March, the Labor Department reported. The result snapped a three-month streak of 200,000-plus job growth. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected, on average, an increase of 203,000.
Looking ahead, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is slated to speak at a conference in Georgia after the market closes. Investors are watching for signals about the prospects for more monetary stimulus efforts. Tuesday, Alcoa AA -0.36% is due to report first-quarter earnings. The aluminum maker’s report signals the unofficial start of the corporate earnings season.
Crude-oil futures slid 2.3% to $100.99 a barrel, while gold futures rose 0.7% to $1641.80 an ounce. The U.S. dollar lost ground against the yen but edged higher against the euro.
In corporate news, shares of AOL AOL +45.40% soared after the company said it agreed to sell more than 800 patents and related patent applications to Microsoft,MSFT -0.60% and grant Microsoft a license to its retained patents in exchange for $1.06 billion in cash. Microsoft shares slipped.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
It’s a bit sad when I consider that one of the kindest things humanity could do for the earth and all the things existing on earth, would be to develop virtual reality to the point that humans no long need to act upon and harm the earth to achieve all of the freedoms, experiences and luxuries we so desperately seek. I picture the Matrix, but instead of the outerworld being dreadfully decayed and infested with mechanical design, it is green and flourishing with life.
Question is, how many resources would be required to devise of , build and power such a matrix? Think it could be possible and sustainable?
(via iamfriedsushi)
Source: pleatedjeans
FACT: In 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons, but just $5.7 billion on higher education.
California has built just one college campus since 1980, but it’s created 21 prisons.
(via randomactsofchaos)
Source: CNN
If we have a few rich and powerful men on the pinnacle of fortune and grandeur, while the crowd grovels in want and obscurity, it is because the former prize what they enjoy only in so far as others are destitute of it; and because without changing their condition, they would cease to be happy the moment the people ceased to be wretched.
The 10-metre wide, helium-filled inflatable turbine, called the Airborne Wind Turbine (AWT), is able to produce more than twice the power that a conventional tower turbine can generate at the same height. Prototype by Altaeros Energies, a wind energy company formed out of MIT
This is a huge breakthrough for 2 reasons:
- The higher the altitude, the stronger the winds! As you get farther from the land the wind finds less resistance and goes at higher speeds which only means more power.
- This allows unprecedented mobility and flexibility to wind farms. You could practically chase the wind. Moreover, it would let you prevent major damage to your wind farm in case of hurricanes or severe storms. You would just have to ground your turbine-blimps and the next day you would be operating like nothing happened.
Pros and cons? What are people’s thoughts?
Just think, if you work hard, take on massive student loan debts, and crawl on the backs of countless others, you too can live in luxury (maybe, probably not, and if not, clearly you are a failure at life). /sarcasm
Class War in Congress
Source: cheappoet
Passing tests doesn’t begin to compare with searching and inquiring and pursuing topics that engage us and excite us. That’s far more significant than passing tests and, in fact, if that’s the kind of educational career you’re given the opportunity to pursue, you will remember what you discovered.
