Field Guide to the Loner: The Real Insiders Miina Matsuoka lives by herself in New York City. She owns two cats and routinely screens her calls. But before you jump to conclusions, note that she is comfortable hobnobbing in any of five languages for her job as business manager at an international lighting-design firm. She just strongly prefers not to socialize , opting instead for long baths, DVDs, and immersion in her art projects. She does have good, close friends, and goes dancing about once a month, but afterward feels a strong need to "hide and recoup." In our society, where extroverts make up three-quarters of the population, loners (except Henry David Thoreau) are pegged as creepy or pathetic. Loners often hear from well-meaning peers that they need to be more social, but the implication that they're merely black-and-white opposites of their bubbly peers misses the point. Contrary to popular belief, not all loners have a pathological fear of social contact. Solitary Pleasures The Unhealthy Case of the Lonely Loner
6 Weird Things That Influence Bad Behavior More Than Laws Diligent readers of Cracked already know that our brains can be tricked by just about anything: manipulated images, our birth order and shiny things. But we can also be tricked into being generous, good people by our surroundings. Of course, it goes the other way, too. Your morality at any given moment can be influenced by ... Obviously, we are more honest when someone (or a security camera) is watching us, but studies have actually shown that if any depiction of an eye is in view, even if it is cartoonish or nonhuman, it makes people less likely to cheat or to behave immorally. Put the bong down until the article is over. In one experiment, all a professor had to do to drastically influence the actions of her colleagues was change the clip art on a piece of paper. A picture of a cartoon eye was placed at the top of the reminder notice, and the amount of money left in the honesty box tripled. Just to be sure it wasn't a coincidence, the next week the eye was replaced with a flower.
10 Ways to Reexamine Your Life We humans tend to get very comfortable with our circumstances. Change is always hard so staying the same often sounds like a great choice. However not changing some things can lead to stagnation, which leads to unhappiness and boredom. 1. Are you happy with how early you are going to bed or late your are waking up? HE Advice: Set a time that you want to wake up each morning. 2. What do you want in the next week? Don’t know what you want? 3. After you have figure out what you want, you need to figure out how you should spend yout time in order achieve your goals. HE Advice: Write or type-out a concise agenda for the day with approximation for how long you will spend on each activity. 4. I grew up the son of a pastor at a mega-church in Orange County, CA. We change as we get older. 5. You know from watching every movie and TV show EVER that friends are important. This does not mean you need to kick friends that don’t make the cut out of your life. 6. Do you love what you do? 1. 2. 3. 7.
Cult Movies - Top 10 List - Top Ten List - Top 10 Films About Nonconformists - Nonconformity Quotes - Nonconformist Quotes - Nonconformists in Film - Barfly Top 10 Films About Nonconformists "This is a world where everybody's gotta do something. Ya know, somebody laid down this rule that everybody's gotta do something, they gotta be something. You know, a dentist, a glider pilot, a narc, a janitor, a preacher, all that . . . Sometimes I just get tired of thinking of all the things that I don't wanna do. All the things that I don't wanna be. "If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed." "Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. "They're not that different from you, are they? "My life, I mean . . . "Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. "I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. "Vice, Virtue. "Anybody here? "And now they're telling me I'm crazy over here because I don't sit there like a goddamn vegetable. Forgotten Movie Classics © 2015 Shelf-Life Productions LLC
How to Stop Mumbling and Speak Clearly: 13 steps User Reviewed Four Parts:Using better postureDealing with motivations for mumblingPracticing improving your claritySpeaking clearlyCommunity Q&A Mumbling is when you speak so low or skimp on enunciation to the extent that people don't understand what you're saying, and often ask you to repeat yourself. This can be an annoying habit, but chances are that you already know how to speak without mumbling. You have probably had a phone conversation when the connection was poor or spoken to somebody who was hard of hearing, and in these situations you probably spoke loudly and clearly without even thinking about it. Can you do that consciously and make it a habit? Ad Steps Part 1 Using better posture 1Stand up straight. Part 2 Dealing with motivations for mumbling 1Avoid nervousness. Part 3 Practicing improving your clarity 1Listen. Part 4 Speaking clearly 1Open your mouth wider as you talk. Community Q&A Add New Question I mumble and my mouth fills with saliva when I speak. Ask a Question Tips Article Info
Why Atheism Will Replace Religion: New Evidence Atheists are heavily concentrated in economically developed countries, particularly the social democracies of Europe. In underdeveloped countries, there are virtually no atheists. Atheism is a peculiarly modern phenomenon. First, as to the distribution of atheism in the world, a clear pattern can be discerned. The question of why economically developed countries turn to atheism has been batted around by anthropologists for about eighty years. Atheists are more likely to be college-educated people who live in cities and they are highly concentrated in the social democracies of Europe. It seems that people turn to religion as a salve for the difficulties and uncertainties of their lives. In my new study of 137 countries (1), I also found that atheism increases for countries with a well-developed welfare state (as indexed by high taxation rates). Even the psychological functions of religion face stiff competition today. Sources1. Barber, N. (2012). 2.
5 Unusual Ways to Become a Better Speaker You’ve been asked to speak at an important event. It’s a great opportunity and you should be thrilled—but since you rarely speak, especially in a formal setting, all you can think about is bombing. Unfortunately, captivating an audience is definitely a skill that takes years to develop and hone. Since you don’t have that kind of time, here are five unconventional ways to become a better speaker almost overnight: 1. Share an emotional story. Admitting a mistake is great but not when used simply to show how far you’ve come. 2. Then when you start speaking again, the audience naturally 1) assumes the pause was intentional and 2) decides you’re actually a confident and accomplished speaker. 3. 4. 5. And don’t worry that you’ll be missing out on an opportunity: When you help people make their professional or personal lives better, you’ve done all the selling you’ll need to do.
Running Shoes Infographic: How to Choose the Right Running Shoes for You The information in our How to Choose Running Shoes infographic can help you make the right decision when choosing running shoes—we'll lead you through the bigger details to consider when it's time to buy. Shopping at the store? Print out the infographic and bring it along! Add this infographic to your website by copying the code below: <p><a href=" src=" alt="Running Shoes Infographic: How to Choose the Best Running Shoes" title="Running Shoes Infographic: How to Choose the Best Running Shoes" /></a></p><p>Check out REI's wide selection of <a href=" shoes</a></p> Blog Archive » 6 Surprisingly Effective Treatments for Depression Click here for the live-updated, interactive version of this infographic, with all the dots labeled. This is how it happened. When my amazing CureTogether co-founder Daniel Reda flipped his screen around to show me this infographic, my excitement at how beautiful it looked was quickly replaced by my curiosity for what it showed. I knew exercise, sleep, and therapy were popular and effective treatments for depression. But a few things surprised me. Where did this data come from? To thank everyone for sharing with us, we’re releasing this result back to the community for free. This is the first of a line-up of infographics we’ll be releasing over the coming weeks.
How We Can (Actually) Change The World – Pt. 3/3 Now you know what we’re missing, and the best ways to incite REAL change. (If not, check out Part 1 and Part 2). So what can you do about it? Right now? In the grand scheme of things, not much. Sure, you could attempt to see your friends more often, make conversation with strangers and/or spend less time in faux-communities online. This is why I am extremely excited to announce a new initiative: the creation of true community on a global scale. The Mission I have teamed up with visionary Marc Coppola from Why? Mission Statement: “To bring attention to a variety of social issues by highlighting the inefficiencies of today’s socio-economic practices and acting upon them to establish a one hundred percent sustainable community. Vision Statement: Our vision is simple – if it isn’t sustainable or rational and doesn’t lead to 100% self-sufficient community then it doesn’t belong. The Surface Details: – The initial 60 acre plot can be expanded up to 500+ acres when needed 1) Epicenter of Change How?
Overcoming Serious Indecisiveness Opportunity or Problem Recognition: A person discovers that a new opportunity exists or a problem needs resolution. Thirty-five years ago an entrepreneurial leader, Robert Cowan, recognized a new opportunity and asked, "Why do business meetings have to be conducted in person? Why can't they connect through television images?" Immersion: The individual concentrates on the problem and becomes immersed in it. Incubation: The person keeps the assembled information in mind for: a while. Insight: The problem-conquering solution flashes into the person's mind at an unexpected time, such as on the verge of sleep, during a shower, or while running. Verification and Application: The individual sets out to prove that the creative solution has merit. Overcoming traditional sequential thinking is so important to creative thinking that the process has been characterized in several different ways. A basic principle of learning is that practice is necessary to develop and improve skills.
5 Psychological Experiments That Prove Humanity is Doomed Cracked.com's new book is now on sale. What follows is one of 22 classic articles that appear in the book, along with 18 new articles that you can't read anywhere else. Psychologists know you have to be careful when you go poking around the human mind because you're never sure what you'll find there. A number of psychological experiments over the years have yielded terrifying conclusions about the subjects. Oh, we're not talking about the occasional psychopath who turns up. The Asch Conformity Experiment (1953) The Setup: Solomon Asch wanted to run a series of studies that would document the power of conformity, for the purpose of depressing everyone who would ever read the results. Subjects were told that they would be taking part in a vision test, along with a handful of people. The Result: Questions the subjects were asked were like the puzzle shown here: All they had to do was say which line on the right matched the one on the left. ... and make sure you conform to it perfectly. C.
The Danger Triangle of the Face Try wrapping your head around this: Your face is a picking time bomb. Of all the crude, pitiless eccentricities of the human body, the danger triangle of the face is arguably the most disconcerting of the lot in that, under rare and perfect conditions, this fleshy trinity can allow retrograde infections to creep from the front of your face to the recesses of your skull, where they lay waste to your brain. In so many words. The blood supply to this zone — a pyramid peaking at the bridge of the nose, with sides extending down to the corners of the mouth — is unique (see: rich), for one. But it’s also able to course freely between the facial vein and cavernous sinus by way of ophthalmic veins (these drain the eyes), flowing out from the skull and then back in, draining through the internal jugular vein. Has this poor girl unknowingly become the face of the danger triangle of the face? This is some serious triangle (Agayez/Yilmaz/Istanbul Faculty of Medicine/New England Journal of Medicine)
Depression Infographic - Treatment Effectiveness vs Popularity Depression (11,742 members) StatsSurveyDiscussInfographic This infographic is based on a total of 30,359 treatment effectiveness ratings. Read the blog post for this infographic or Take the survey yourself Notes x-axis = fraction of respondents who tried a given treatment y-axis = average rated effectiveness of a given treatment vertical blue line = average fraction of respondents who tried each treatment horizontal blue line = average rated effectivenss of all treatments Treatments in the upper-left quadrant have below-average usage, but above-average effectiveness, so presumably more people should be trying these.