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Showing posts from September, 2019

Are You Easily Distracted? Don't Trust Your Perceptions

I used it to get my toddler to stop fussing and it worked every time (now that he's 18, not so much).  But now a new study says that distraction is not always such a good thing. Distraction, it claims,  might change our perception of what’s real, making us believe we saw something different from what we actually saw. Even more troubling, the study suggests people might not realize their perception has changed – to the contrary, they might feel great confidence in what they think they saw, according to newswise.com. I guess maybe this is what Trump is suggesting when he says things on tape that he later says he never said.  Anyway. "We wanted to find out what happens if you’re trying to pay attention to one thing and something else interferes,” newswise quotes  Julie Golomb , senior author and associate professor of   psychology at The Ohio State University . “Our visual environment contains 'way too many things for us to process in a given moment, so how do we

9/11 Is Never Over - Stamford Advocate

9/11 Is Never Over https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/opinion/article/Deborah-DiSesa-Hirsch-9-11-is-never-over-14436154.php?fbclid=IwAR06ddHUvwesuf9BPT0QxriFbtU8rigMP1Y3KDqbFgeNN-A-uSDKRvvvci8

Maybe Trump Knows What He's Doing with his Talk of 'Illegals' and 'Muggers' and 'Rapists'? Nah

Now, I'm not one to always mind when people are politically incorrect  but there are times when I find it, well, a little abhorrent. Does using the term "fat" come to mind when it's better to say, "overweight" or maybe, "pleasingly plump?"  Though I do admit that, with the shows about the people 600 pounds and over, it might be a little incorrect to call them chunky. In any event, a new study says that  using politically incorrect speech brings some benefits: It’s a powerful way to appear authentic , according to newswise.com.   I guess that's some of the "charm" (yes, I'm being politically correct) of the president.  When he calls immgrants "illegals," and neo-Nazis some "fine people," many of his supporters says he's just being authentic. But there's authentic and then there's just plain spitefulness, at least to my way of thinking.  But some experts disagree.. “The cost of political in

Guess Who's Listening Now? Just About Anyone, on Your Devices

I remember being at a friend's house recently and she said, "Alexa, play 'Uh Oh,'" and it (she?) did, and I thought, hmm, I wonder who else is listening in? Turns out your devices are. " We have become accustomed to carrying our mobile phones and tablet devices everywhere we go," says newswise.com. The mobile phone has essentially become an extension of our bodies, helping us to communicate, make payments and socialize.  Unfortunately, the web site goes on, the smart devices of today are equipped with many different types of sensors that may be listening in on our conversations. The heat gets turned on in our homes by a computer.  Cameras scan our property.  Our billing is often handled electronically.  Don't you think the people behind these machines are listening, and recording our lives, too? “In reality, we have threats from two directions — malicious apps that hijack the phone sensors to spy on us, and otherwise benign apps secretly