Harry Frankfurt's "On Bullshit" One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. Another worthwhile source is the title essay in The Prevalence of Humbug by Max Black. Humbug: deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious word or deed, of somebody’s own thoughts, feelings, or attitudes. A very similar formulation might plausibly be offered as enunciating the essential characteristics of bullshit. Deceptive misrepresentation: This may sound pleonastic. Short of lying: It must be part of the point of saying that humbug is “short of lying,” that while it has some of the distinguishing characteristics of lies, there are others that it lacks. Especially by pretentious word or deed: There are two points to notice here. The point of these lines is clear.
9 Tactics for Rapid Learning (That Most People Have Never Heard Of) & Scott H Young Whenever the subject of why some people learn faster comes up, I get a whole host of common answers: Some people are just naturally smart. (Often implying you can’t improve)Everyone is “smart” in their own way. There may be some truth to these claims. Considering the upcoming launch of my rapid learning program, I wanted to share my favorite tactics to learn faster, retain information better or just enjoy the process of learning more: #1 – Pegging (or How Mental Magicians can Perfectly Recall Hundreds of Numbers) One of my favorite learning tactics, that is rarely mentioned, is pegging. The systems I’ve seen typically work with a special cheat sheet. From there, you can translate any series of numbers into a series of letters. Then, once you have your string of nouns, you just need to create a story that combines each of the nouns in a sequence. Here’s a quick way to separate the rapid learners from the average learners. Benny Lewis became fluent in eight languages in under a decade.
"Not Part of the 99%"? Youre Fooling Yourself - StumbleUpon "I'm not part of the 99%." That's the catch-phrase of a counter-protest that misunderstands the entire nature of the Occupy movement. Buying the lies that 99% activists are just a bunch of unemployed hippies looking for handouts, people like the following young student trumpet their work-ethics, and chide the rest of us for not being them. Parodying the various signs held by Occupy demonstrators, this picture epitomizes a view that misses the entire point of the protests. "The 99%" does not refer to people who want handouts; it refers to the people who pay the larger share of taxes, work the longer amount of hours, do the harder degree of work, and yet continually have our pay, jobs, health, environment and economy endangered or destroyed by the other 1%. * Having her pay or job cut so that her CEO can get a pay raise. * Losing her job or the company she works for to a badly-played gamble by one or more of her bosses. * Any combination of the above.
Appendix Probi untitled 101 Short Stories that Will Leave You Smiling, Crying and Thinking post written by: Marc Chernoff Email Since its inception eighteen months ago, our sister site Makes Me Think (MMT) has truly evolved into a remarkable online community. Every day, users share their thought-provoking life stories and vote on stories that other users have shared. As stated on the MMT About page, sometimes the most random everyday encounters force us to stop and rethink the truths and perceptions we have ingrained in our minds. I believe the 101 stories listed below perfectly fulfill that description. What do you think?
Facebook Suicide In march, at the peak of Facebook popularity, I quit. with four swift clicks of the mouse, I canceled my account. Gone was the entire online persona I had created for myself – profile pictures, interests and activities, work history, friends acquired – all carefully thought out to showcase to the world the very best version of me, all now deleted. Ironically, the decision to destroy my carefully built-up virtual image came as a result of wanting to enhance my profile. “We are what we repeatedly do.” I became despondent. Whatever the label, I was unhappy and feeling empty. In the past, my feelings toward Facebook and similar social networking sites had swung between a genuine sense of connection and community to the uncomfortable awareness that what all of our blogs, online journals and personal profiles really amounted to was serious narcissism. In the end, what does all this online, arms-length self-promotion ultimately provide? And so I quit… - Carmen Joy King
Stupid F*&#ing Lettuce! People That Come Into Your Life. Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there... to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson or help figure out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be but when you lock eyes with them, you know that every moment that you are with them, they will affect your life in some profound way. Sometimes things happen to you at the time that may seem horrible, painful and unfair, but in reflection you realize that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential, strength, will power or heart. Everything happens for a reason! Illness, injury, love, lost moments of greatness and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. The people you meet affect your life. Appreciate every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again. Break free and set your sights high.