Pre-conceived Notions

What is the Horn's Effect, or the Devil's Effect, or Reverse Halo Effect?  Funny I should ask... It's referred to as one of the ten Amazing Phenomena of a Normal Human Mind. It actually comes in as #6 on the list.  But what is it, you ask??  It's when people allow one undesirable trait to influence their evaluation of other traits.  Branding.  Categorizing.  Allowing a single weak trait to influence perception of all other traits.

Basically, we get judgmental.  It's our nature.  Is this biology or learned behavior, I wonder.  I can't find the answer to this question.  Any one know?

We all have our own inherent moral compass.  If we meet someone and see they possess a trait we find unsavory, we have a tendency to naturally think they have other negative traits.  We don't even give people an opportunity.

For example.  A friend of a friend was introduced to me.  A little background, I had been previously informed this person cheated on their significant other.  So without giving them a real chance or knowing any other details than what I had been told, I came to an immediate conclusion.  Judgmental, wouldn't you say?  Here's the thing.  The more I was exposed to this person and learned more about them, the more I found I liked them.  I learned the how and why behind the 'cheating' and other things that had gravely impacted their lives.  It became more of a they made their choices, based on their life.  It had nothing at all to do with what I envision is right or wrong.  I learned an invaluable lesson.  We shouldn't allow one negative thing to become the sole reason for assuming everything else is negative.  Look at me, growing.  Being forced to look at my own mistakes and grow from them.  Just another glorious moment in my journey.

Will I always do this?  I don't know.  I'm going to try my hardest to keep it forever in my head when I meet new people or especially people I've never met, but have heard 'things'.  I think everyone deserves at least, that opportunity.  I'm going to set aside my own selfish need to judge.  Even though psychology states this is a normal function for the human mind, I'm going to pull back and try to remove any preconceived notions. 
 

How fitting!!!

You don't know the half of it.

I have a restless mind.  I do.  I can cover a lot of subject matter in a short period of time.  And it only gets worse when I'm alone with my thoughts.  I don't know if my friends and family truly understand the struggle.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not a victim (except of my own crazed thoughts) and I'm certainly not suffering in any way shape or form.  BUT - I could stand to take some vitamins that might aid my memory and slow things down a little.  Truth be told, I've never been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, and I'm no doctor - but I'm pretty sure my friends and family would confirm the possibility. 

I've been researching alternatives to medication, however.  I'd like to try some better ways to corral my thoughts, other than self-medicating.  To be Honest... I wasn't really all that surprised to find that Restless Mind Syndrome is an actual diagnosis.  I wonder how it's quantified?... but before I take off on that psychological tangent, I'm going to redirect myself.

I think friends and family find me flaky, because I can and often do get a little bajiggity.  Especially when imbibing in certain recreational activities, such as alcohol, etc... that only serves to make it appear worse.  SO now I'm much more of an idiot, though thankfully my friends and family are all very forgiving and patient.  Once upon a time, I had a photographic memory.  I was a pretty smart cookie, in my studies, in how eloquently I spoke or wrote, and could easily quote my favorite poets or excerpts from my favorite books.  I'm lucky these days if I remember what I did the day before.  You laugh, but it's that's a real true statement.  (four concussions can do that to you)

In my journey to help my brain function on a more appealing level for me - I came across an article from a blogger with HuffPost Healthy Living by: Jasmine Boussem;  "7 Ways to Get Rid of the Restless Mind Syndrome (RMS)".  As I quickly scanned the page, I found one of the seven to be very interesting, 'Kaizen'.  It's a Sino-Japanese word, that means 'change for better'.  It was one of the obvious seven, but a mystery to me - as I had never heard of it before.  I, of course began to research and was immediately intrigued. 

Nothing out of the ordinary.  Essentially speaking to the obvious.  A daily drive to self-improvement.  Small steps that ultimately lead to changes on a bigger scale.  Basically by making these tiny daily steps for the greater good it would have a hand in altering those larger things we seem unable to really get a handle on - but you're slowly chipping away at it.  How is this done?  I'm sorting through that on my own.  Obviously I'd need to plan according my life and issues.  But I feel its a positive step in the right direction.

Maybe friends and family will find me less flaky??  Maybe they won't.  It's really not about them anyway, it's about me.  My journey, my road to self-improvement. 

I have a restless mind.  It wanders in and out the open doors of the great oblivion.  Just as quickly as you think I'm here - I'm gone.  My mind it travels fast, I'd wager faster than the speed of light at times. I struggle to sleep - I can't shut out my thoughts or shut off my mind.  It's like a black hole.  Except everything bounces off and boomerangs back at me.  Things are forever lost and then 'poof' it there - just wrong place, wrong time.  My brain could drown in how quickly it's flooded, I can't process it all at the same time.  This is when it's best for me to keep my lips closed and not make a fool of myself.  It's also quite often when I think I'm on the brink of genius and then I'm just as surprised as everyone else by what does come out of my mouth.  Sometimes it's good.  Sometimes.

I long for the quiet.  I long for sleep.  I long for the ability to process thoughts intimately and individually.  I long to put them in pecking order and in a place where I can quickly draw and call upon them, when they're actually needed. I want to let go of the propensity to project negativity when I can't do this.  I'd love for all the other thoughts that hit me at cosmic speed to slow down on approach.  I'd like to not muddle a current event with sexual thought or innuendo.  Okay - no, I find that entertaining, so yeah - never-mind on the last sentence.

I don't really need to make sense of every single solitary thought I have.  Maybe it's just who I am.  Maybe I am all over the map.  Maybe I did care but now I've sorted it some of it out writing and now I really don't care.  Or maybe... squirrel.  

How fitting!

 

Appreciate a Veteran!!

What is a Veteran?

"A 'Veteran' - whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his/her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of 'up to and including his/her life'.  That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country today, who no longer understand that fact."

My Father is a Veteran, my Grandfather, my son, my brother, my great-Uncle and countless friends.  I believe these men and women should be honored every day, not just one day of the year.  It takes someone very special to be willing to sacrifice and give of their lives for their country, for our freedom. 

History of Veterans Day

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

Veterans Day is an official Federal Holiday here in the United States, observed annually on November 11.  It also coincides with Armistice Day and/or Remembrance Day.  But should not be confused with Memorial Day.  Veterans Day is celebrating the service of ALL men and women in the Armed Forces, while Memorial Day is specifically for honoring those that gave their lives or perished. 

The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, requesting that President Calvin Coolidge issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies.^[2] A Congressional Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday: "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."^[3]  Congress amended the bill on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with "Veterans," and it has been known as Veterans Day since.^[5][6]

Non-essential federal government offices are closed. No mail is delivered. All federal workers are paid for the holiday; those who are required to work on the holiday sometimes receive holiday pay for that day in addition to their wages.

To be a soldier is one of the most Honorable things any person can do.  Whether it's for our country or for another country.  These men and women are brave and self-less.  Visit the VA.gov, you'll find wonderful and amazing stories of men and women that fought for our freedoms. 

"A soldier is a man or woman who selflessly devotes their life to ensure that all citizens of their country can sleep with peace of mind and live out day to day without fear. A soldier gives you your freedom, and asks nothing in return. A soldier is the highest type of citizen. A soldier is what most of you are scared to be." 

"Soldier

In a war, soldiers are the people who do the fighting, on the ground, in planes, or from boats. Soldier is also a verb that means to serve in the military, or to continue on through difficult times."

 

"The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war." Douglas MacArthur

 

"On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, let it be our pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind." Dan Lipinski

 

"To be a soldier one needs that special gene, that extra something, that enables a person to jump into one on one combat, something, after all, that is unimaginable to most of us, as we are simply not brave enough." Rupert Everett

 

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men and women that died.  Rather we should thank God that such men and women lived."  Gen George S. Patton

 

 

What is Sexy????

Type in 'what is sexy' next time you're on Google, and you'll have pages of advice and articles of what men think is sexy and a few from women on what's sexy.  Put it to images and then beautiful women fill the pages, mostly models - of course.  Make no mistake, it's all sexy!!  We all love sex.  We all love skin.  We all love seeing beautiful people.  We are a society that thrives on sex, skin and beauty.  And every PR company and advertising agency in the world knows it.

So the first thing to pop up is Victoria's Secret's list of 'what is sexy'.  Or should I say 'who' and the best part is, you can contribute by voting. (nice interactive touch)  Next article is "the science of sexy: 5 things that can make you irresistible'.  The following nine articles are an exchange of what men think is sexy about women.  That's just page one!!  As I quickly scan the page, one of the article statements stands out; 'sexy should be what stirs a man's private parts'.  Yep, that's exactly what it said and I couldn't help but let out a giggle - we trust and read these articles.  We read them and soak them in and absorb all the sordid details we can.  So eager to appeal, so eager to impress, so eager to conform to being what every man thinks is sexy.

How many women, men, girls, and boys read this stuff?  How often?  How much is too much?  How little is too little?  Can just anybody post an article about what's sexy?  What quantifies the legitimacy of these statements?  Who was surveyed or polled?  Did they look for specific demographics?  Are they married or single?  I'm certain many of these writers are legit, with a masters in journalism or such, with articles from Esquire, Cosmopolitan or Huffington Post.  I say legit, because these are magazines we all buy and read, multi-million dollar magazines that have been in circulation forever.  So they must be legit, right?  Could it be that the author wrote what he/she found to be sexy?  Maybe they polled a bunch of personal friends?  Did they go to a college campus?  I have questions.  I want answers. 

I know what I know to be sexy or what I find to be appealing.  I stopped reading stuff like this when I became comfortable with myself.  I know what I like, I know what I want.  I do what makes me happy and makes me feel sexy.  I'm a confident woman.  However, I am also raising young men and a young lady, I have nieces, nephews, god-children and friends with kids.  This stuff still has the potential to confuse any guidance I try to cultivate in the youth I'm surrounded by.  And I'd be a liar to not admit, yes I still peruse and often enjoy reading these types of articles.  Some of this stuff is salacious, funny and intriguing.  I occasionally even learn something.  But I tend to follow myself now, a gut feeling. 

What could make their articles so compelling that we are willing to give ourselves over so easily?  Is it because these are multi-million dollar magazine companies?  Is it that they put beautiful actors/actresses and/or just beautiful people all over the articles, commercials and such??  If all you have to do is put a boy's favorite football player on the cover, he's going to read every word his idol says in print.  Your favorite band - consider any written word completely absorbed.  We find their faces familiar or we think they're beautiful, so we immediately trust the messages.  Am I saying it's all good stuff?  No.  Am I saying it's all bad?  Absolutely not!  But, they are selling something,  and we are obviously buying it.  It's up to us to arrive at our own conclusions. 

There are so many things that appeal to us as women.  For starters, for me personally, if I put on sexy matching bra and panties - it can set the tone of my day.  I feel like a Goddess, I exude confidence just because my undergarments are sexy - even if I'm the only one that knows it.  Follow that with a great hair day and flawless make-up and the right outfit.  I can feel so sexy and confident, nothing can shake it.  Smiling a lot helps, finding humor in everything is sexy.  Do any of these articles discuss what we think is sexy?  Or are we really only going to hear what men have to say?  Don't get me wrong.  Their opinion matters.  Even to feminists - though you'll probably never get a confession from one.  I think we put a lot of focus on what men think is sexy.  And yes, while it's important, I think it's more important for women to feel sexy for themselves.  If they exude sexiness, men will think they're sexy, right?  I don't know.  I want to impress myself these days.  Yes, it's wonderful to be complimented, it strokes the ego.  We need to feel good about ourselves and not worry so much what everybody else thinks. 

I'm 5'8" and I'm voluptuous. (oh she's a fat girl, calling herself voluptuous no - honey, I'm very proud of my body I'm not skinny and I'm not the athlete I once was) but my curves are beautiful and feminine, I feel sexy in my skin and I love being a woman.  I'm not petite, or blonde or blue-eyed or tan or a model.  I'm a tall brunette with an hourglass shape, porcelain fair skin and hazel eyes.  Genetically speaking I've been told I'm blessed, that I'm cross-gender and cross-species sexy, that my confidence and my smile (yes I have a small gap between my front teeth) is amazing.  But like I said, I stopped listening to everyone else and started loving myself some time ago. 

Personally what works for me, may not work for others.  I get it.  Maybe some are more comfortable following trends.  I just think that with how often we are affected by change and how often fashion and trends change, so does sexy - maybe we should look in the mirror and find something to like, learn to love ourselves.  It seems we can be so critical of each other and ourselves.  Funny thing is, what you may find to be something that needs improvement or something you wish you didn't have - someone may find it beautiful and sexy.

Point is - confidence never goes out of style.  I can be having a bad hair day, it's not what I want, but I carry myself with grace and flash a big bright smile and it seems no one notices my hair.  I'm not faking it until I make it either.  If I smile at you, trust it's genuine.  Confidence is SEXY!!  Love yourselves, ladies.  Men will find it sexy.


 

Just a theory...

Yes, I'm an Aries.  I need to clarify a few things, before launching into this post though.  I don't follow cheesy horoscopes.  I truly believe the planetary alignments affect human nature.

I believe, because physicists and mathematicians also believe there is scientific proof that it is possible.  You see there are four forces at work with planetary movement (gravity, electromagnetism, nuclear-strong and nuclear-weak) - however, only two of the four have the potential to affect us. Gravity and electromagnetism can affect things over distances. So, that being said if the planets have any affect on us, it would be one or both of these forces. 

The Moon's gravity obviously greatly affects our tides, but it's electrical field is essentially zero. Not exactly zero - but effectively, thus making the magnetic field non-existent because it's so random and scattered. Gravity is much more powerful than the electromagnetic fields, no matter how tiny the impact is between planets - it's still enough to create a domino effect. 

***"The Moon’s gravity causes tides, but effectively nothing else. The Sun’s gravity has about 40% of the Moon’s influence and Jupiter, which completely dwarfs the effects of all of the other planets combined, has about 1 two-hundred-thousandth of the Moon’s tidal effect.  Point is, our understanding of the known forces of the universe preclude the idea of the planets and stars having any direct influence on people."  So to be fair, nothing is conclusive, science likes to be exact." 

Though the evolution of all things scientific and/or researched and proven, begins with theory ...

***"So the better question isn’t “can so-called ‘science’ explain astrological effects?” but instead “are there astrological effects?”. There has been a lot of research into astrological phenomena, but so far all of the results have been negative or unrepeatable (science talk for “this isn’t a thing”).  Since the 18th or 19th century the scientific community has pretty much stopped looking, but they were at it for a very long time. There aren’t many scientific papers that seriously investigate this sort of thing, partly because the results are well-known, and partly because the experiments involved are easy enough that they tend to show up in middle-school science fairs relatively often (this is also why there are no articles in Nature about baking soda and vinegar volcanoes)."


"That said, I’d like to provide some point on what I see as a flawed take on the subject. You see, my formation is as a Philosopher, and when studying Classic, Medieval and Renascence philosophies, there’s no working around the need to obtain at least some theoretical understanding of Astrology, as those older thinkers used to take it into account or at least talk about it. And in so doing, one of the most interesting realizations at which one arrives is that the actual theoretical basis for Astrology had almost nothing to do with Physics. In fact, Physics entered the picture (and the discussion) more or less at the time it began showing its many awesome results, circa 17th century or so. Before that, however, nope, it’s nowhere to be seen. Furthermore, due to Physics not being part of it, it also wasn’t thought that the planets influenced people directly, and much less that such direct influence happened by way of some kind of energy field, force or the like, concepts that simply didn’t exist back then.
So, what did Astrology (and astrologers) actually believe? In something called “analogy” (not to be confused with the literary concept). The notion was more or less this: given that the universe and you form a single whole, it comes that “you” equals “universe minus everything that isn’t you”, or, put another way, that there’s a correlation between whatever happens with you and whatever happens to everything else. So, if you could find a regularity “out there”, that would correspond to a regularity “in here”. And what are the only absolute regularities we find in a world otherwise completely random? The planetary movements. Thus, by studying the planetary movements then correlating the “analogous” internal movements they revealed with a person’s specific, individual characteristics, you’d be able to get some insights on her past and current standing, as well as on where she was going. It should be noted, in addition, that this study of a person’s individuality should be made in person, not by merely figuring where and when she was born, because any number of life facts, up to and including what you did in the morning, influenced how you were to interpret the analogy." (Alexander Gieg, BA in Philosophy)

It makes sense to me.  I believe there's so much more to sun signs than the silly horoscope interpretations.  I have found most people, individually possess the characteristics inherent to each sun sign, that they are born under.  There's got to be something to that, alone.  There's just more theory than anything applied here.  Not a great deal of science.  I ask you to consider the amount of research and work that goes into natal/birth charts, planetary alignments - astrologically speaking, surely, it must mean something?  Yes, some of it can be incredibly general and skeptics may say we apply what speaks to us individually because we want something to believe in.  We want celestial involvement.  I would recommend if any of this is intriguing to read up a little on the Theory of Astrology.  I'm no scientist, I'm not a professor, I have no claims of being an astrologer and my formal education is limited to less than an AA.  I haven't read a birth chart in over 20 years.  Nor would I, because there's so much more to the process now and it's such a specific and definitive chart based on your true date of birth, not just the date, but the time, the year, etc...  I know I get way to squirrelly to stay focused. 

Because I like to include information to support my own thoughts or beliefs or sometimes the written word behind what's inspired the post - I'm going to include some negativity that refutes Astrology.  Published in 1985 in Nature, (one of the world's leading scientific publications) was The Carlson Double-Blind Study.  To date, it is still one of the strongest indictments against Astrology.  An article by Ken McRitchie points out the flaws of this study.  "These flaws include: no disclosure of similar scientific studies, unfairly skewed design, disregard for its own stated criteria of evaluation, irrelevant groupings of data, rejection of unexpected results, and an illogical conclusion based on the null hypothesis. Yet, when the stated measurement criteria are applied and the data is evaluated according to normal social science, the two tests performed by the participating astrologers provide evidence that is consistent with astrology (p = .054 with ES = .15, and p = .037 with ES = .10). These extraordinary results give further testimony to the power of data ranking and rating methods, which have been successfully used in previous astrological experiments. A critical discussion on follow-up studies by McGrew and McFall (1990), Nanninga (1996/97), and Wyman and Vyse (2008) is also included."

I digress.  I still like the idea that the galaxy beyond us can have such a substantial impact on our everyday little lives.  Perhaps, I just want something to believe in, it doesn't really matter, I honestly just wanted to share.  

Aries, as characterized by various astrologers ;  are bold, energetic, adventurous, pioneering, courageous and brave, enthusiastic, confident and on occasion quick-witted.  Selfish at times, quick-tempered, self-sacrificing for others, impulsive and impatient.  Will boldly go where no one is willing to tread.  I'm the first sign on the zodiac, so innately we think we have to be first (translates to selfish - which contradicts self-sacrificing) fiercely competitive, fiery by nature, love a challenge and all about new beginnings and freedom.  We do like our space. We are incredibly loyal to the people we love and care for and will fight to the death for them, as well as our principles and beliefs.  We want to lead, we do NOT like being told what to do and often find it offensive that someone wants us to obey them.  Mostly because we are more fully capable of leading and truly despise the idea of following, we're also very headstrong and independent.  We are frank, direct and often candid.  That's not always well received and some may find it difficult to relate to us.  However, we are exciting and others like to be around our energy and humor. 

I like to think I am unique, even if only in my own head.



***Ask a Mathematician / Ask a Physicist, Posted on November 18, 2012 by The Physicist