Our Steam Sale Confessions Steam sales are the best and worst thing about playing games in the modern age. It turns out that when hundreds of games go on sale for ludicrously cheap prices, we can't help but buy ALL OF THEM, even when we know we have no chance of playing them. It's comfort-buying. In an effort to make ourselves (and perhaps you) feel better about our purchases, we're baring our Steam sale shame for all to see, and giving some recommendations along the way. Feel free to share yours in the comments. Keza MacDonald What did you buy? How much of it will you actually play? Any recommendations? Total Spent: £90 ($150) in the most recent Winter sale. Mitch Dyer What did you buy? How much of it will you actually play? Any recommendations? Total Spent: I don't want to talk about it. Meghan Sullivan What did you buy? How much of it will you actually play? Any recommendations? Total Spent: I don’t want to know. Brian Albert What did you buy? How much of it will you actually play? Any recommendations? Jon Ryan
The Bayeux Tapestry Animated We had to do it. We had to bring back a wonderful little animation of The Bayeux Tapestry -- you know, the famous embroidery that offers a pictorial interpretation of the Norman Conquest of England (1066) and the events leading up to this pivotal moment in medieval history. Currently residing in France, the tapestry measures 20 inches by 230 feet, and you can now see an animated version of the story it narrates. The clip above starts roughly halfway through the historical narrative, with the appearance of Halley's Comet, and it concludes with the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The video created by David Newton began as a student project at Goldsmiths College. P.S.
Think You're Thinking? 6 Reasons to Think Again 1. I base my decisions on facts. A special shout-out to Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and the late Amos Twersky for giving us the “availability heuristic,” which explains the quick and ready answers and facts that pop in our heads which, alas, have nothing to do with thinking and are the ones we’re most likely to rely on when we make a choice or decision. The bottom line is that this mental shortcut —which highlights the most recent, most often repeated, and most mentally available “facts”—results in our overestimating the importance of certain bits of information and lures us into thinking that good things as well as bad ones are more probable than they actually are. This kind of fast “connect the dots” thinking was valuable in human evolutionary history when dangers and perils—as well as rewards— were largely physical and required fast responses. Quick quiz here: The animal most likely to kill an American? 2. Not true, either. 3. Probably not. 4. 5. 6. The upshot of all this?
Introverts -- Portrait of an Introvert People don’t outgrow introversion, so the introverted adult was once an introverted child. What is true of one is true of both. Contrary to popular opinion, introverts are not asocial, nor are they friendless loners who lack social skills. They simply have different social needs and preferences. Friendships Sebastian Pfuetze/Taxi/Getty Images It is not easy for introverts to make new friends because getting to know someone takes so much energy. Social Preferences Introverts need a lot of personal space. Preferred Activities Introverts enjoy activities they can do alone or with just a few others. Social Behavior Introverts tend to be quiet and subdued. Social Interaction While introverts may appear to lack social skills or be antisocial, neither is true. Verbal Expression If given a choice, introverts would rather express their ideas in writing than in speech. Emotions and Emotional Responses Introverts become emotionally drained after spending time with others, particularly strangers.
15 Years of Cutting-Edge Thinking on Understanding the Mind by Maria Popova What mirror neurons have to do with Abu Ghraib, the science of religion, and how happiness flourishes. For the past 15 years, literary-agent-turned-crusader-of-human-progress John Brockman has been a remarkable curator of curiosity, long before either “curator” or “curiosity” was a frivolously tossed around buzzword. His Edge.org has become an epicenter of bleeding-edge insight across science, technology and beyond, hosting conversations with some of our era’s greatest thinkers (and, once a year, asking them some big questions.) Last month marked the release of The Mind, the first volume in The Best of Edge Series, presenting eighteen provocative, landmark pieces — essays, interviews, transcribed talks — from the Edge archive. While there’s no doubt about the value of online presentations, the role of books, whether bound and printed or presented electronically, is still an invaluable way to present important ideas. Iconic neuroscientist V. What is the self?
10 Mind-Blowing Theories That Will Change Your Perception of the World Reality is not as obvious and simple as we like to think. Some of the things that we accept as true at face value are notoriously wrong. Scientists and philosophers have made every effort to change our common perceptions of it. The 10 examples below will show you what I mean. 1. Great glaciation is the theory of the final state that our universe is heading toward. 2. Solipsism is a philosophical theory, which asserts that nothing exists but the individual’s consciousness. Don’t you believe me? As a result, which parts of existence can we not doubt? 3. George Berkeley, the father of Idealism, argued that everything exists as an idea in someone’s mind. The idea being that if the stone really only exists in his imagination, he could not have kicked it with his eyes closed. 4. Everybody has heard of Plato. In addition to this stunning statement, Plato, being a monist, said that everything is made of a single substance. 5. 6. Enternalism is the exact opposite of presentism. 7. 8. 9. 10.
The Pirate Bay The Pirate Bay is the largest torrent website in the world. According to the RIAA, it rates somewhere between Nazi Dinosaurs and The League of Extraordinary Evil on the Global Threat Scale. &&(navigato Just The Facts No matter how you cut it, The Pirate Bay is ultimately just a collection of thieves. Cracked on the Pirate Bay Pirate Bay, huh? Wait, that's not The Pirate Bay; this is the Pirate Bay: So overall, it's less swashbuckling anti-hero than it is Swedish metal fans who are good with computers. So if you don't truly grasp the concept of intellectual property or only read up to the seventh commandment, you can use these things to download tons of music for free. The continuing operation of The Pirate Bay is chiefly a triumph for enemies of the RIAA, which, by our last count, is everyone who isn't the RIAA. Legal Issues As long as the Pirate Bay has been active, moral issues have been a concern.
Graphic Artifacts from Down Under Graphic Artifacts from Down Under Michael Fitzjames was born in Melbourne in 1948 and studied at the Tasmania School of Art. Since 1980, he has exhibited his graphic work and paintings in Melbourne, Sydney, and Berlin. I asked Michael to describe his methods and influences: From rough pencil drafts I refine an image that will "take a silhouette" or be capable of working in a positive-negative way and be bold on the page. I then tend to make a fairly finished outline drawing over the roughs...I erase anything extraneous and ultimately have my finished shapes that can be realised in black and white. tracing onto smooth watercolour paper on a lightbox and then draw an ink line around the areas to be black. I like to have an artifact, a final image which has evolved a little at each stage of the process. The images and the styles and forms that so obviously inform them speak pretty clearly of my many and various influences...but it was a little book of icons that set the ball rolling.
Who Connects Best Online, and Why Diego Cervo / Shutterstock Psychologists have long been interested in the concept of attachment, which has its origins in our childhood experiences, primarily with those who raised us. Being raised in a family where nurturance is combined equally with structure creates what are called secure parent-child (or caregiver-child) attachments. The secure child, in turn, is likely to grow into an adult who is unafraid to venture into the world and who is also capable of forming and sustaining relationships. But what happens if something goes awry? Anxiety and Avoidance in Real-World Relationships There are two variations on so-called insecure attachment styles that can emerge from developmental years that are characterized by a great deal of rejection, ambivalence, or abuse. They are described well in an article published by R. Where Do You Fall? Answer each item as it describes you as follows: 0 = Not at all / 1 = Describes me a little / 3 = Describes me a lot ___ I often feel unlovable.
16 Realistic New Year Resolutions. Try These Hilarious Life Changes And Never Be A Failure Again. | Viral Circus A new year resolution is something that everyone has but never actually follow through with. They don’t work because change takes more than an overnight decision. Some resolutions, however, have a higher degree of success, so why not go for those ones? source: imgur.com Architecture Without Architects: What Ancient Structures Reveal About Collaborative Design by Maria Popova From Rome’s theater districts to China’s underground cities, or what pleasure has to do with utility. The mythology of the sole genius underpins most contemporary creative disciplines, but it is particularly pronounced in architecture, where the image of the visionary diva-architect endures as the gold standard of the discipline’s success. I believe that sensory pleasure should take precedence over intellectual pleasure in art and architecture.” ~ Bernard Rudofsky Underground city near Tungkwan (China) Anticoli on the Sabine Mountains (near Rome) Rudofsky was concerned with the cultural bias of architectural history, so he took a special interest in the vernacular architecture of non-Western communities. Architectural history, as written and taught in the Western world, has never been concerned with more than a few select cultures. Cliff dwellings of the Dogon tribe (Sudan) Marrakech (Morocco) Donating = Loving Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter. Share on Tumblr