The ever-fleeting present

Even the moment you read this phrase is part of a lifetime that will never return. 

Remember this well.

Toe-curling mortification

Embarrassment comes from trying to control how other people perceive you.

Stereotypes

A great example of in-groups versus out-groups.

In a study from 1942, Americans were asked to describe the top two features of Russians. And they described them as 'brave and hard-working'. In 1948, during / coming to the end of the Cold War, they were asked the same question. They described them as 'cruel and conceited'. The Russians didn't change, what changed was their relationship to them over the intervening years. They went from being part of a group that they were, to being part of the out-group.


~ Paul Bloom 'The Psychology of Everything'

I'll see you when I get my new glasses...

Have a look.

 

The Explanation: 

 

Inattentional blindness, a phenomenon known as "the failure to notice an unexpected stimulus that is in one’s field of vision when other attention-demanding tasks are being performed." This phenomenon is classified as a psychological attentional error - and you'll be relieved to know -  not the result of visionary deficits. The main reason for this lack of attention is the overload of stimuli surrounding us; in order to be able to focus on the intended things, we learn to disregard many others and be unaware of the unattended stimuli. There have been a large number of experiments demonstrating that this phenomenon has a significant effect on people’s perception...and now this one with you.

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"What we see depends mainly on what we look for." ~ John Lubbock

The Cracked Jar

An Indian legend tells of a man who carried water to his village every day, in two large jars tied to the ends of a wooden pole, which he balanced on his back. One of the jars was older than the other, and had some small cracks; every time the man covered the distance to his house, half of the water was lost.

For two years, the man made the same journey. The younger jar was always very proud of its performance, safe in the knowledge that it was up to the mission it had been made for, while the other jar was mortified with shame at only fulfilling half of its allotted task, even though it knew that those cracks were the result of many years hard work.

It was so ashamed that one day, while the man got ready to fetch water from the well, it decided to speak to him: ''I want to apologize, but because of the many years of service, you are only able to deliver half of my load, and quench half of the thirst which awaits you at your home''.

The man smiled, and said: ''When we return, observe carefully the path''. And so it did. And the jar noticed that, on its side, many flowers and plants grew. ''See how nature is more lovely on your side? commented the man, I always knew you were cracked, and decided to make use of this fact. I planted flowers and vegetables, and you have always watered them. I have picked many roses to decorate my house with, I have fed my children with lettuce, cabbage and onions. If you were not as you are, how could I have done that?''

''All of us, at some point, grow old and start to acquire other qualities. We can always make the most of each one of these new qualities and obtain a good result.''

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Pareidolia

This is the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist, as in considering the moon to have human features or why you might see an animal figure in the clouds above. Derived from the Greek (para, ''amiss, wrong'') + (eidōlon, ''image''), it is a psychological phenomenon that causes some people to see a vague or random image as something significant.

 

The famous Rorschach inkblot tests (right) use pareidolia in an attempt to gain insight into a person's mental state and for personality assessments.

A prime example of pareidolia is in connections to religious themes and images. From the Shroud of Turin, a cloth bearing the image of a man - which some believe to be Jesus; to Jesus on burnt toast; to tealeaves Jesus peering up  from someone's cup, pareidolia has had people far and wide screaming miracles.

 

Research shows that a brain region called the fusiform face area is important in recognizing and distinguishing faces. So we're pretty much "hard-wired" from birth to identify the human face - with minimal detail or effort.

Now you know it, prepare to be watched...from all angles.



''A 10 hour sleep and I still get hit across the head''



They had heard of the good
stuffing Mrs. Red had received



''Ladies ladies...Please!!
Form an orderly queue''



He hadn't seen him in a week...this wasn't going to be pretty

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''What we see depends mainly on what we look for''
                                                                                ~ John Lubbock
 

Typoglycemia

This refers to a neologism given to a purported recent discovery about the cognitive processes behind reading written text. The word does not refer to any actual medical condition related to hypoglycaemia. The word appears to be a portmanteau of "typo", as in typographical error, and "hypoglycaemia". It is an urban legend/Internet meme that appears to have an element of truth to it.

 

The legend, propagated by email and message boards, purportedly demonstrates that readers can understand the meaning of words in a sentence even when the interior letters of each word are scrambled. As long as all the necessary letters are present, and the first and last letters remain the same, readers appear to have little trouble reading the text.

 

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

 

 

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''Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.'' ~  Søren Kierkegaard