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400 Writing Topics - Prompts and Suggestions for Paragraphs, Essays, and Speeches - Essay Topics. If getting started is the hardest part of the writing process, close behind it (and closely related to it) may be the challenge of finding a good topic to write about. Sometimes, of course, an instructor will solve that problem for you by assigning a topic. But at other times you'll have the opportunity to choose a topic on your own. And you really should think of it as an opportunity--a chance to write about something you care about and know well. So relax. Don't worry if a great topic doesn't immediately spring to mind. Be ready to play with a number of ideas until you settle on one that truly interests you. To help get you thinking, we've prepared some writing suggestions--more than 400 of them, in fact. We've organized the suggested topics into 11 broad categories, loosely based on some of the common ways of developing paragraphs and essays.

Now follow the links to our 400 topic suggestions and see where they take you. Top 10 Most Famous Thought Experiments. Thought experiments are mental concepts or hypotheses, often resembling riddles, which are used by philosophers and scientists as simple ways of illuminating what are usually very dense ideas. Most often, they’re used in more abstract fields like philosophy and theoretical physics, where physical experiments aren’t possible. They serve as some hearty food for thought, but given their complex subject matter, it’s not unusual for even the thought experiment itself to be nearly incomprehensible. With this in mind, here are ten of the most famous thought experiments, along with explanations of the philosophical, scientific, and ethical ideas they work to explain: 10. The Trolley Problem One of the most well known thought experiments in the field of ethics is the “Trolley Problem,” which goes something like this: a madman has tied five innocent people to a trolley track.

An out of control trolley car is careening toward them, and is moments away from running them over. What it Means: 9. 8. 7. Top 10 Strange Phenomena of the Mind. Humans The mind is a wonderful thing – there is so much about it which remains a mystery to this day. Science is able to describe strange phenomena, but can not account for their origins. While most of us are familiar with one or two on this list, many others are mostly unknown outside of the psychological realm. This is a list of the top ten strange mental phenomena. We have all some experience of a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before, in a remote time – of our having been surrounded, dim ages ago, by the same faces, objects, and circumstances – of our knowing perfectly what will be said next, as if we suddenly remember it!

– Charles Dickens Déjà vu is the experience of being certain that you have experienced or seen a new situation previously – you feel as though the event has already happened or is repeating itself. Déjà visité is a less common experience and it involves an uncanny knowledge of a new place. How to tell in 15 minutes whether someone likes you - by Bridget Webber.

Bridget Webber's image for: "Body Language that Shows when someone of the Opposite Sex Fancies you" Caption: Location: Image by: Wouldn't it be great to be able to tell within fifteen minutes whether someone likes you or not? There are subtle clues people inadvertently give that can let you know if they feel favorably about you or not. The Eyebrow Raise The eyebrow raise is generally reserved for members of the opposite sex who like what they see, and it happens straight away. The Smile Although smiling can be faked, a genuine smile can easily be separated from a false one.

A smile that is more of a grimace, or is delivered with lips firmly shut tight and downward turning corners of the lips, is a concerted effort rather than an indication that someone likes you. The Lean. If you are sat with a person who likes you, he or she is likely to lean in toward you as you converse. If you are standing, a person will stand close to you if he or she likes you, and give you full attention. Feet. Touching. How to Read Someone’s Mind | Reading someone's mind Reading someone’s mind through telepathy has a long and legendary history. But if you want to have this ability too, you may have to rethink what mind reading is.

If you envision closing your eyes and having someone from across a stage project their thoughts into yours, so that you can “hear what they’re thinking,” you are out of luck. People claim to be able to do this but they don’t teach their methods to anyone. However, mind reading is still open to you, and everyone, really, through a technique called Cold Reading. Cold Reading is actually a set of techniques developed to give the appearance of reading someone’s mind. In fact what you’re reading are signals your subjects, i.e. the people whose minds you intend to read, are subconsciously giving you without their knowledge. Sounds pretty cool, huh? The next step is to profile your subject. Telepathy Most of the time, your subjects will supply more information than necessary from these question-statements.

How to Read Someone’s Mind | Cold reading. Basic procedure[edit] Before starting the actual reading, the reader will typically try to elicit cooperation from the subject, saying something such as, "I often see images that are a bit unclear and which may sometimes mean more to you than to me; if you help, we can together uncover new things about you. " One of the most crucial elements of a convincing cold reading is a subject eager to make connections or reinterpret vague statements in any way that will help the reader appear to make specific predictions or intuitions. While the reader will do most of the talking, it is the subject who provides the meaning. After determining that the subject is cooperative, the reader will make a number of probing statements or questions, typically using variations of the methods noted below.

Subtle cues such as changes in facial expression or body language can indicate whether a particular line of questioning is effective or not. Other techniques[edit] Shotgunning[edit] Warm reading[edit] Opt-Out Of Automated Welcome Messages » SocialOomph. As you know, SocialOomph users can automate their Twitter accounts to automatically send welcome DMs to their new followers. As a past or potential recipient of those DMs, SocialOomph offers you a super-easy way to opt-out and never again receive an automated welcome DM sent by SocialOomph. Please follow the steps below: 1) Log in to Twitter. 2) Follow @OptMeOut. 3) Wait for @OptMeOut to follow you back. @OptMeOut will send you a DM to tell you it has followed you. 4) Then send a DM to @OptMeOut. 5) After sending the DM, unfollow @OptMeOut. SocialOomph will, within a few minutes of you sending your DM, stop sending you any further automated welcome DMs. TWITTER BACKGROUNDS. ManageFlitter - Work faster & smarter with Twitter.

The Tweeted Times - personal newspaper generated from your Twitter account. The Most Astounding Fact (Neil DeGrasse Tyson) Neil DeGrasse Tyson y los OVNIS (subtitulado).flv. Terry Pratchett "The Importance of Being Amazed about Absolutely Everything" Aldous Huxley. English writer and philosopher (1894–1963) Aldous Leonard Huxley ( AWL-dəs; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher.[1][2][3][4] His bibliography spans nearly 50 books,[5][6] including novels and non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems.

Born into the prominent Huxley family, he graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with an undergraduate degree in English literature. Early in his career, he published short stories and poetry and edited the literary magazine Oxford Poetry, before going on to publish travel writing, satire, and screenplays. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death.[7] By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times,[9] and was elected Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962.[10] Early life[edit] Career[edit] Arthur C. Clarke Quotes. Clarke's three laws. Clarke's Three Laws are three "laws" of prediction formulated by the British science fiction writer Arthur C.

Clarke. They are: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Origins[edit] Clarke's First Law was proposed by Arthur C. The second law is offered as a simple observation in the same essay. The Third Law is the best known and most widely cited, and appears in Clarke's 1973 revision of "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination". A fourth law has been added to the canon, despite Sir Arthur Clarke's declared intention of not going one better than Sir Isaac Newton.

Snowclones and variations of the third law[edit] and its contrapositive: See also[edit] References[edit] Arthur C Clarke predicting the future in 1964. 30 Challenges for 30 Days. Did you know that it takes 30 days to form a new habit? The first few days are similar as to how you would imagine the birth of a new river. Full of enthusiasm it gushes forth, only to be met by strong obstacles. The path is not clear yet, and your surroundings don’t agree. Old habits urge you to stay the same. But you need to stay determined. This starting phase is the hardest. So, take a moment to reflect on the question ‘Who do I want to be in 5 years?’ Check out this short TED talk first to get inspired: Now pick one or more challenges and stick with them! However, be cautioned, picking too many challenges at the same time can easily result in a failure of all of them. #1 Write a I-Like-This-About-You note/text/email each day for someone (Easy) This is the perfect way to let someone else know you care.

. #2 Talk to one stranger each day (Hard) This is a great one to cure approaching anxiety. . #3 Take one picture each day (Hard) #4 Re-evaluate one long-held belief each day (Intermediate) 25 Beautifully Illustrated Thought-Provoking Questions. A question that makes you think is worth asking… At the cusp of a new day, week, month, or year, most of us take a little time to reflect on our lives by looking back over the past and ahead into the future. We ponder the successes, failures and standout events that are slowly scripting our life’s story. This process of self reflection helps us maintain a conscious awareness of where we’ve been and where we intend to go.

It is pertinent to the organization and preservation of our dreams, goals and desires. If you would like to maximize the benefits of self reflection, our new sister site, Thought Questions, is for you. A new illustrated thought question is posted daily. Remember, these questions have no right or wrong answers. Here’s a sample of 25 recent thought questions posted on the site: Thought Questions is updated daily. Title photo by: Oberazzi For all other photo credits please refer to ThoughtQuestions.com Related 6 Questions that Will Save Your Relationships May 21, 2014 In "Life" An Essay by Einstein -- The World As I See It - StumbleUpon. "How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy.

A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving... "I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. "My political ideal is democracy.