Archive for the ‘mnp is for the children’ Category

How to Afford Anything

Extensive guide from Ken Rockwell (2008)

.:kenrockwell.com->

The Pleasures of Imagination

Why do humans prefer to be a part of unreal worlds?

One solution to this puzzle is that the pleasures of the imagination exist because they hijack mental systems that have evolved for real-world pleasure. We enjoy imaginative experiences because at some level we don’t distinguish them from real ones. This is a powerful idea, one that I think is basicallyathough not entirelyaright. (Certain phenomena, including horror movies and masochistic daydreams, require a different type of explanation.)

.:chronicle.com->

Primary Sources: No Secrets

WikiLeaks front man Julian Paul Assange and his Icelandic transformation- how did his wish to under-serve those who hold "power without accountability" lead to the disintegration of his own orchestrated press club release? This New Yorker article by Raffi Khatchadourian due out next week explores his undoings in and out of the Bunker.

"If it feels a little bit like we're amateurs, it is because we are. Everyone is an amateur in this business."

.:newyorker.com->

Lobsters and Crabs Feel Pain

‘March 27, 2009 — Ripping the legs offAlive crabsand crowding lobsters into seafood market tanks are just two of the many practices that may warrant reassessment, given two new studies that indicate crustaceans feel pain and stress.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence that virtually all animals, including fish, shellfish and insects, can suffer.

Robert Elwood, the lead author of both papers, explained to Discovery News that pain allows an individual to be "aware of the potential tissue damage" while experiencing "a huge negative emotion or motivation that it learns to avoid that situation in the future."

Both pain andAstress are therefore key survival mechanisms.

Elwood, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences at The Queen’s University in Belfast, and colleague Mirjam Appel studiedAhermit crabscollected from rock pools in County Down, Northern Ireland. All of the crabs survived the experiments and were later released back into their native habitat.

.:dsc.discovery.com->

The War of Art: Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, on virtue, resistance, going pro, slaying the dragon and Anti-tribes.

"The power is in your hands."

.:lateralaction.com->

The Three Types Of Education

Why do we measure people’s level of success on where they went to school? AIsn’t it about the person and their unique happiness? AWhile it may seem not, that is because most people assume that there is only one type of education in the world. AWe begin to believe that intelligence is defined by education. AOf course, this is not true. AIn fact, we believe that there are three levels of education:

1. Formal Education

2. Self-Taught Education

3. "The School of Hard Knocks"

.:blog.sokanu.com->

Sal Khan at Gel 2010

Sal Khan at Gel 2010 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

What started as algebra lessons for his cousins has turned into a world-changing project. Hundreds of thousands of users worldwide have benefited from Sal Khan’s friendly, accessible Youtube videos explaining math, science, and other subjects.

Sal has a vision of teaching the entire world, for free. His not-for-profit Khan Academy has the mission of "providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere." In this outstanding Gel video, Sal describes the elements of the good experience he’s trying to create.

Sign Language a 'foreign' language?

Twenty students are holding several animated small-group discussions, but no one in thisANorthern Illinois Universityclassroom utters a word.

Their fingers weave in complex patterns as they converse in American Sign Language, which the university has declared an official foreign language.

To the students, the new label is fitting: They say that American Sign Language is distinct from spoken English and that its coursework provides a new perspective akin to the cultural immersion they’d experience in French, Spanish or other traditional language classes.

"It shapes how you view the world around you," said Christine Theobold, a sophomore fromAStreamwood who is taking the most advanced sign class at NIU. "I guess it’s how you view the word 'foreign.'"

Continue reading at .:chicagotribune.com->

Leaving the Internet

One comic book writer’s quest to leave the internet….

If you want to communicate with this revolutionary he will still be accepting snail mails.