The interesting and informative links and resources thread.

[Dialga_Palkia]

unbelievable.

http://newsvoice.se/2011/12/02/us-senate-declares-the-entire-usa-to-be-a-battleground/

 

[Lord J Esq]

Hey! That means I can call myself up from the Selective Service, commission myself as my own war battalion, and legally arrest Karl Rove for crimes against humanity!

Right? Right?

[Sajainta]

I believe this is a highly informative picture.

[Dialga_Palkia]

Aside with the American government trying to corrupt America, this is even worrisome.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8936797/Irans-Revolutionary-Guards-prepare-for-war.html

[tushantin]

Aside with the American government trying to corrupt America, this is even worrisome.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8936797/Irans-Revolutionary-Guards-prepare-for-war.html

And a related link:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/03/world/corruption-perceptions-index/index.html

[Ramsus]

http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/08/google-nabs-square-enix-and-other-game-developers-to-do-native-chrome-games/

Square Enix has agreed to develop games for the Chrome Web Store using Google's new Native Client architecture.

[Lord J Esq]

Wow. Awesome. It's going to take me a little bit of work to adapt my conception of what a web browser is to imagine myself playing those kinds of games on it. Sounds dumb, but I think of browser environments as "open," and large-scale games environments as "closed." I guess the closest demonstration of what I mean is that I use a browser to do multiple things simultaneously and often run other applications along with it, but with hardcore games I shut down everything else on the computer and focus purely on that.

Speaking of which, I may have trouble using Chrome to play high-end games if I don't shut down 70 or 80 tabs...

[Radical_Dreamer]

I'd heard about that program. I know that the Moai game engine supports the native client plugin. It's kind of brilliant on Google's part, in that it turns around and makes the Chromebook make sense for more than a few fringe users.

[Dialga_Palkia]

in case you're worried about the internet at stake, december 15th is the deadline whether or not the bill is passed in the senate.

http://americancensorship.org/

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-3261

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Forums/index.php/topic,9620.0.html

[Kodokami]

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/2011/12/11/led_by_the_child_who_simply_knew/?page=full

[Lord J Esq]

Kodokami, this is definitely not a snipe at your link. You just happen to be the most recent contributor to the thread. Of all the threads on General Discussion, this one is perhaps the most under-utilized and even misused in terms of potential and scope. I hope everyone who uses it will hold themselves to a higher standard moving forward.

[tushantin]

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-to-quickly-and-easily-improve-performance

Hmm...

Four experiments explored whether 2 uniquely human characteristics—counterfactual thinking (imagining alternatives to the past) and the fundamental drive to create meaning in life—are causally related. Rather than implying a random quality to life, the authors hypothesized and found that counterfactual thinking heightens the meaningfulness of key life experiences. Reflecting on alternative pathways to pivotal turning points even produced greater meaning than directly reflecting on the meaning of the event itself. Fate perceptions (“it was meant to be”) and benefit-finding (recognition of positive consequences) were identified as independent causal links between counterfactual thinking and the construction of meaning. Through counterfactual reflection, the upsides to reality are identified, a belief in fate emerges, and ultimately more meaning is derived from important life events.

Source: "From what might have been to what must have been: Counterfactual thinking creates meaning." from Journal of Personality and Social Psychology - Vol 97, Iss 5

I believe storytelling is part of our minds. We like order, not randomness. It's why we believe in lucky numbers and "hot hands." It's why we balk at believing how much power context has over us. Knowing your own story is key.

Related link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1438509480?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1438509480

Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome from 121 to 180. Marcus Aurelius believed that human happiness arises in part from man's acceptance of his duties and responsibilities. He believed that one should accept calmly what cannot be avoided and perform one's duties as well as possible. From the introduction " By the irony of fate this man, so gentle and good, so desirous of quiet joys and a mind free from care, was set at the head of the Roman Empire when great dangers threatened from east and west. For several years he himself commanded his armies in chief. In camp before the Quadi he dates the first book of his Meditations, and shows how he could retire within himself amid the coarse clangour of arms. The pomps and glories which he despised were all his; what to most men is an ambition or a dream, to him was a round of weary tasks which nothing but the stern sense of duty could carry him through. And he did his work well. His wars were slow and tedious, but successful. With a statesman's wisdom he foresaw the danger to Rome of the barbarian hordes from the north, and took measures to meet it. As it was, his settlement gave two centuries of respite to the Roman Empire; had he fulfilled the plan of pushing the imperial frontiers to the Elbe, which seems to have been in his mind, much more might have been accomplished. But death cut short his designs."

[tushantin]

Source: "Think of Capable Others and You Can Make It! Self-Efficacy Mediates the Effect of Stereotype Activation on Behavior" from the journal "Social Cognition"

Previous research has shown that activating a stereotype can influence subsequent behavior in a stereotype-consistent way. The present research investigates the role of self-efficacy beliefs in this effect. Specifically, we demonstrate that being primed with the stereotype of professors increases knowledge confidence compared to being primed with a less educated profession (Experiments 1 and 2), and that these higher self-efficacy beliefs result in higher performance at a general knowledge test (Experiment 2). These findings are corroborated in Experiment 3 that shows that participants primed with the stereotype of athletes show higher persistence in a physical exercise than participants primed with a stereotype less associated with persistence. Again, behavior was mediated by self-efficacy beliefs. The findings are in line with the active-self account (Wheeler & Petty, 2001; Wheeler, DeMarree, & Petty, 2007) that proposes that priming with a stereotype influences a person's behavior through altered self-representations.

[tushantin]

Large Hadron Collider discovers 'particle':
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/22/lhc-discovers-particle-starts-repaying-back-that-five-billion/
http://www.newser.com/story/135966/large-hadron-collider-observes-first-new-particle.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16301908
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iFRCZYEwaYwmqHAAGFxYMUPWDqLQ?docId=CNG.78c73682b558419552bd2994ad74b935.741
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2011/12/20111222144841704162.html

The $5 billion project has finally found something previously unseen, according to the BBC. ATLAS has picked up Chi-b 3P: a Boson (building block of nature) comprised of a "beauty quark" and a "beauty anti-quark," bound together with a strong nuclear force -- believed to exist in nature, but never seen until now.

[Radical_Dreamer]

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/12/tsa-insanity-201112

Security researchers point out the uselessness of the TSA. These people are lying to the American people in order to justify robbing people, giving people cancer and molesting children. It's time to end this naked wickedness.