Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: The Expert Mind — [ PSYCHOLOGY AND BRAIN SCIENCE ] — Studies of the mental processes of chess grandmasters have revealed clues to how people become experts in other fields as well
The preponderance of psychological evidence indicates that experts are made, not born. And Motivation is the key.
Month: August 2006
South Beirut Before & After
Ceasefires and Peacetalks: A Satire
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » Ceasefires and Peacetalks: A Satire
Talks Between Confederacy and Union Collapse; Sherman Reissues State of Emergency
The London Times
May 22, 1889
Representatives of the Confederate States of America walked out of London peace talks yesterday after the United States negotiator refused to guarantee that Washington would recognize the legality of slavery in any new federation. The talks, the first of their kind in more than two decades, were considered by many to be the last best hope for a permanent peace solution in the continent in a standoff which is now approaching its fourth decade. Continue reading “Ceasefires and Peacetalks: A Satire”
What We Won’t Talk About in the Israel-Lebanon Conflict
What We Won’t Talk About in the Israel-Lebanon Conflict — New York Magazine
Richard Cohen wrote in his Washington Post column last week,
“Israel itself is a mistake . . . an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable [but which] has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now.”
Sixty years on, there can be no revising or reversing that mistake—and when the choice is Israel versus unaccommodating Islamist fanatics, we must be for Israel. Is there any more inconvenient truth?
So it was no surprise that as Israel waged its retaliatory war against Hezbollah and Hamas (zealots, Fascists, nihilists, pawns of Iran and Syria, all of the above), the blogospheric liberals, usually promiscuous with opinions, were averting their eyes, changing the subject, punting—like Republicans are inclined to do about global warming. Continue reading “What We Won’t Talk About in the Israel-Lebanon Conflict”
Another Man’s Honor, Or Why MidEast Peace Will be Difficult
Project Alberta :: View topic – Another Man’s Honor, Or Why MidEast Peace Will be Difficult
In the West we’ve redefined “honorable” as being virtuous, fair, truthful and sincere, but that’s not the traditional meaning. Honor meant simply the respect of the local “honor group” — the family, the extended clan, the tribe, the religious sect. It meant maintaining a reputation for courage and loyalty, not being charitable to enemy civilians. Telling the truth was secondary to saving face.
This “tyranny of the face” continually frustrates Westerners trying to understand the Middle East. When I interviewed villagers in Iraq, I discovered we usually had separate agendas: I wanted the facts, but the villager wanted to avoid embarrassing either of us. So he would tactfully search for the answer that would both please me and not dishonor his family.
When American tanks rolled into Baghdad, Western television viewers were astonished at the sight of the Iraqi information minister steadfastly denying that anything was going wrong. But it made sense from a traditional honor system. The only thing worse than being defeated is the shame of admitting defeat. Continue reading “Another Man’s Honor, Or Why MidEast Peace Will be Difficult”
Would You Have Invested?
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Would You Have Invested?
In December 1978, Microsoft had just completed its first million-dollar sales year, and the decision was made to decamp from the company’s Albuquerque, New Mexico, headquarters and relocate to bigger and better digs in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington. The formal studio photograph displayed above was taken on 7 December 1978, shortly before that move, and captured all but a couple of the current Microsoft staff. While this picture has been around the Internet for awhile, snopes.com has the stories of what happened to those pictured. Just click on the link above this photo.
Satellite dishes help lift Cuba’s veil of secrecy
MiamiHerald.com | 08/05/2006 | Satellite dishes help lift Cuba’s veil of secrecy
But in Cuba, TV satellite dishes are illegal without an almost impossible-to-obtain government permit. So people here build their own and often sell the signal to neighbors through homemade nets known as telarañas — spiders’ webs.
The small electronic components usually are smuggled in from the United States, and the dishes are built here. If the signals are encoded, relatives abroad can pay for the service as though it were for their own use, obtain the proper decoding procedures and pass them to Cuba. Continue reading “Satellite dishes help lift Cuba’s veil of secrecy”
Hill fries free to be French again
Hill fries free to be French again — The Washington Times
The fries on Capitol Hill are French again.
So is the breakfast toast in the congressional cafeterias, with both fries and toast having been liberated from the appellation “freedom.”
Three years after House Republicans trumpeted the new names to get back at the French for snubbing the coalition of the willing in Iraq, congressmen don’t even want to talk about french fries, which are actually native to Belgium, and toast.
Candy Addict » Gum Artist Roundup
Candy Addict » Gum Artist Roundup
Today we’re bringing you a whole gaggle of artists that work in our favorite artisitic medium …. candy. Specifically, gum. Ok, it’s only 3, but there’s not that many of them out there!
If you’re interested in making your own gum art, there is Chew By Numbers, which provides kits and instructions on how to make your own gum masterpiece. Priced at $13 each, they offer 3 different kits to let your inner gum artist out. Each kit includes instructions, preprinted artboard, and of course, gum. Sounds like that would be a blast to do with kids!
Why the French Foreign Minister is in Tehran, not Damascus
Across the Bay
And there’s something else that people who think the solution lies in Damascus should bear in mind. The relationship between the son and Hezbollah is different to the relationship that existed between the father and Hezbollah. For Hafez al-Assad, Hezbollah was a tool in his hand to remind Israel that if they didn’t negotiate the return of the Golan Heights, he could hurt them in Lebanon. And he used that—it was like a tap that he could turn on and off.
The relationship between Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah is very different. He is dependent on Hezbollah to maintain Syrian influence in Lebanon because he no longer has the troop presence that gave him control of Lebanon. He is dependent on Hezbollah to defend against an Israeli ground attack through Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley into Syria. And therefore, his ability to curb Hezbollah is much more limited, if it’s there at all.
Translation by ThreatWatch from Le Figaro from the French Foriegn Minister after his trip to Tehran:
“..the French respond that it is preferable to address the issue with the true decision-maker, more so than its Syrian vassal.”
…the hostility of Tehran to the deployment of troops with the objective of neutralizing Hizballah along the border with Israel. This Iranian veto would be in any case negotiable, in exchange for Western concessions in regard to the nuclear issue. Tehran has made no secret in practice of its intention to relate the crisis in Lebanon to that arising from its nuclear ambitions…