It is the reflection of our true selves.
Its roots are inwards, but its fruit is outward.
It is our best friend, or our worst enemy.
It is more honest and more consistent than our words.
It is a future outlook based on past experiences.
It draws people to us, or repels them.
It is never content until it is expressed.
It is the librarian of our past.
It is the speaker of our present.
It is the prophet of our future.
That's attitude.
John C Maxwell
Author, Pastor, Leader
King of the Birds, Lord of the Skies
Gather ye rose buds while ye may, old time is still a flying;
and this same rose that you see today, tomorrow will be dying.
CarpeDiem: Seize the Day!
- Dead Poets Society
Monday, December 17, 2007
A Right Idea
Santa has the right idea: Visit people just once a year, and you'll always be welcomed.
Richard Lederer
Richard Lederer
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Gift of Attention
It's not just polite to let people say what they wish, it's seductive. The best gift you can give is your attention.
Chris Matthews
in "Life's a Campaign"
Chris Matthews
in "Life's a Campaign"
Saturday, December 15, 2007
My Birth Month
What my Birth Month Says About Me:
MARCH:
Attractive personality.
Affectionate Shy and reserved.
Secretive.
Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic.
Loves peace and serenity.
Sensitive to others.
Loves to serve others.
Easily angered.
Trustworthy.
Appreciative and returns kindness.
Observant and assesses others.
Revengeful.
Loves to dream and fantasize.
Loves traveling.
Loves attention.
Hasty decisions in choosing partners.
Loves home decors.
Musically talented.
Loves special things.
Moody.
Is is True?
MARCH:
Attractive personality.
Affectionate Shy and reserved.
Secretive.
Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic.
Loves peace and serenity.
Sensitive to others.
Loves to serve others.
Easily angered.
Trustworthy.
Appreciative and returns kindness.
Observant and assesses others.
Revengeful.
Loves to dream and fantasize.
Loves traveling.
Loves attention.
Hasty decisions in choosing partners.
Loves home decors.
Musically talented.
Loves special things.
Moody.
Is is True?
Last Christmas I Gave You My CARD!!!
George Michael (previously known as WHAM) sang in the pop song 'Last Christmas' with this line: "...last Christmas, I gave you my card..."
In this holiday season many Singaporeans are celebrating Christmas, while others are suffering from the stress of:
A. Figuring out what gifts to buy;
B. Not having enough cash to buy them, and ...
C. Worrying about this on top of "everything else."
By 'everything else', I'm referring to the coming taxi-fare hike, the higher inflation forecast next year, the slow down in economy around the world in 2008.
Agreed?
Hey, the world doesn't stop during the holidays, you know. The instalments, the rent, the mobile phone bill and the PUB bill "keep on keepin' on" while we're pretending like they don't - and keeping this observation silently to ourselves so as not to freak - kill yourself and everyone's holiday cheer.
Is that you?
Well, heck, no matter how fortunate you are, the stress of "the holidays" can get to everyone. I know quite a few friends who scramble at the last minute to find gifts so they don't let their loved ones down only to discover they've maxed out their cards.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Good luck my friends.
But take it easy my friends. Next year's economic forecast isn't that rosy. Don't spend your last dime. Don't make this your last Christmas, okay?
Merry Christmas!!!
In this holiday season many Singaporeans are celebrating Christmas, while others are suffering from the stress of:
A. Figuring out what gifts to buy;
B. Not having enough cash to buy them, and ...
C. Worrying about this on top of "everything else."
By 'everything else', I'm referring to the coming taxi-fare hike, the higher inflation forecast next year, the slow down in economy around the world in 2008.
Agreed?
Hey, the world doesn't stop during the holidays, you know. The instalments, the rent, the mobile phone bill and the PUB bill "keep on keepin' on" while we're pretending like they don't - and keeping this observation silently to ourselves so as not to freak - kill yourself and everyone's holiday cheer.
Is that you?
Well, heck, no matter how fortunate you are, the stress of "the holidays" can get to everyone. I know quite a few friends who scramble at the last minute to find gifts so they don't let their loved ones down only to discover they've maxed out their cards.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Good luck my friends.
But take it easy my friends. Next year's economic forecast isn't that rosy. Don't spend your last dime. Don't make this your last Christmas, okay?
Merry Christmas!!!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Christmas is ...
Christmas is a time when everybody wants his past forgotten and his present remembered.
Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller
Monkey Business
Chimps Beat Humans in Memory Tests
By Rowan HooperSource: New Scientist
Young chimps can beat adult humans in a task involving remembering numbers, reveals a new study. It is the first time chimps – and young ones, at that – have outperformed humans at a cognitive task. And the finding may add weight to a theory about the evolution of language in humans, say the researchers.
Three adult female chimps, their three 5-year-old offspring, and university student volunteers were tested on their ability to memorise the numbers 1 to 9 appearing at random locations on a touchscreen monitor.
The chimps had previously been taught the ascending order of the numbers. Using an ability akin to photographic memory, the young chimps were able to memorise the location of the numerals with better accuracy than humans performing the same task. During the test, the numerals appeared on the screen for 650, 430 or 210 milliseconds, and were then replaced by blank white squares.
Photographic memory
While the adult chimps were able to remember the location of the numbers in the correct order with the same or worse ability as the humans, the three adolescent chimps outperformed the humans. The youngsters easily remembered the locations, even at the shortest duration, which does not leave enough time for the eye to move and scan the screen. This suggests that they use a kind of eidetic or photographic memory.
In rare cases, human children have a kind of photographic memory like that shown by the young chimps, but it disappears with age, says Tetsuro Matsuzawa, at the primate research institute at Kyoto University, Japan, who led the study. He suggests that early humans lost the skill as we acquired other memory-related skills such as representation and hierarchical organisation.
“In the course of evolution we humans lost it, but acquired a new skill of symbolisation – in other words, language,” he says. “We had to lose some function to get a new function.” 'Humbling' discovery
The finding challenges human assumptions about our uniqueness, and should make us think harder about ourselves in relation to other animals, says anthropologist Jill Pruetz of Iowa State University, Ames, US.
“Observing that other species can outperform us on tasks that we assume we excel at is a bit humbling,” she says. “Rather than taking such findings as a rare example or a fluke, we should incorporate this knowledge into a mindset that acknowledges that chimpanzees – and probably other species – share aspects of what we think of as uniquely human intelligence.”
The results are “absolutely incredible” says Frans de Waal, at the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, US. He says that chimp intelligence is chronically underestimated, and one reason is that experiments stack the deck against the chimps.
In the wild, this memory skill might be useful for memorising fruit locations at a glance, or making a quick map of all the branches and routes in a tree, he says. Matsuzawa emphasises that the chimps in the study are by no means special – all chimps can perform like this, he says.
“We underestimate chimpanzee intelligence,” he says. “We are 98.77% chimpanzee. We are their evolutionary neighbours.”
By Rowan HooperSource: New Scientist
Young chimps can beat adult humans in a task involving remembering numbers, reveals a new study. It is the first time chimps – and young ones, at that – have outperformed humans at a cognitive task. And the finding may add weight to a theory about the evolution of language in humans, say the researchers.
Three adult female chimps, their three 5-year-old offspring, and university student volunteers were tested on their ability to memorise the numbers 1 to 9 appearing at random locations on a touchscreen monitor.
The chimps had previously been taught the ascending order of the numbers. Using an ability akin to photographic memory, the young chimps were able to memorise the location of the numerals with better accuracy than humans performing the same task. During the test, the numerals appeared on the screen for 650, 430 or 210 milliseconds, and were then replaced by blank white squares.
Photographic memory
While the adult chimps were able to remember the location of the numbers in the correct order with the same or worse ability as the humans, the three adolescent chimps outperformed the humans. The youngsters easily remembered the locations, even at the shortest duration, which does not leave enough time for the eye to move and scan the screen. This suggests that they use a kind of eidetic or photographic memory.
In rare cases, human children have a kind of photographic memory like that shown by the young chimps, but it disappears with age, says Tetsuro Matsuzawa, at the primate research institute at Kyoto University, Japan, who led the study. He suggests that early humans lost the skill as we acquired other memory-related skills such as representation and hierarchical organisation.
“In the course of evolution we humans lost it, but acquired a new skill of symbolisation – in other words, language,” he says. “We had to lose some function to get a new function.” 'Humbling' discovery
The finding challenges human assumptions about our uniqueness, and should make us think harder about ourselves in relation to other animals, says anthropologist Jill Pruetz of Iowa State University, Ames, US.
“Observing that other species can outperform us on tasks that we assume we excel at is a bit humbling,” she says. “Rather than taking such findings as a rare example or a fluke, we should incorporate this knowledge into a mindset that acknowledges that chimpanzees – and probably other species – share aspects of what we think of as uniquely human intelligence.”
The results are “absolutely incredible” says Frans de Waal, at the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, US. He says that chimp intelligence is chronically underestimated, and one reason is that experiments stack the deck against the chimps.
In the wild, this memory skill might be useful for memorising fruit locations at a glance, or making a quick map of all the branches and routes in a tree, he says. Matsuzawa emphasises that the chimps in the study are by no means special – all chimps can perform like this, he says.
“We underestimate chimpanzee intelligence,” he says. “We are 98.77% chimpanzee. We are their evolutionary neighbours.”
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