Reinke Faces Life

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/women_shealth/7809871/Why-pregnant-women-cant-get-a-seat-on-the-bus.html

Why pregnant women can’t get a seat on the bus

Pregnant women are being left standing on public transport because commuters are too afraid to offer their seat in case they are simply overweight, researchers claim.

By Nick Collins

Published: 7:30AM BST 08 Jun 2010

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The majority of expectant mothers cannot find a seat on buses and trains because their fellow passengers cannot distinguish between a pregnant woman’s bump and the figure of an obese woman, it was claimed.

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May I suggest that standees are, in an accident, both at risk and a risk to other passengers?

When I visited London (a long time ago) on a mixed business pleasure trip, saw two buses accidents in a week. A lot of ambulances and police at both scenes. No idea of the casualties if any. (In NYC, bus accidents magically attract additional passengers seeking a payoff. I assume similar happens there. And, everyone is “hurt”?)

So shouldn’t it be required that ALL passengers have a seat? You might even require all to belt in.

“My” commuter bus company between NYC and a NJ suburb REQUIRES every passenger to have and take a seat. Otherwise, the driver is instructed not to move the bus. Granted that this route travels on a “high speed” route. (What you’d call a motorway, we call a limited access expressway. Or turnpike. Or parkway. A rose is a rose is a rose.)

In an accident, even at low speeds, a body in motion tends to remain in motion. A body (i.e., standee) motions until it’s stopped by something (i.e., windshields, seats, other passengers). Hard to imagine a worse scenario for a standee?

So perhaps, instead of worrying about pregnant standees, you should be worried about ALL standees. If everyone has to take a seat, then by definition we’ve “solved” the “pregnant standee” problem. Of course, it may require more and better hardware, but that’s a different problem.

I never understood the Japanese Rail passengers crammed in like sardines. What happens in an accident with them?

Nope everyone should take a seat, and hold on for dear life. It might make commuting a lot less stressful.

Just a suggestion from across the pond.

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http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/201005/washing-your-hands-reduces-cognitive-dissonance

May 6, 2010, Anxiety
Washing Your Hands Reduces Cognitive Dissonance
Soap reduces the effects of postdecisional dissonance.
By Matthew Hutson on May 6, 2010

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Some decisions just leave you gutted. Your iPad 3G or your finger. Your son or Sophie Jr. Paper or plastic. The only way to alleviate the anxiety that results from saying no to something you want is to convince yourself you didn’t really want it in the first place. Now there’s a way to reduce the effects of cognitive dissonance: Wash your hands.

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Previous research linking disgust and moral purity has shown that recalling an unethical act increases the desire to atone and that this increase is attenuated by hand-washing. Lee and Schwartz suggest that that Lady Macbeth effect and their own results might both be subcases of a broader “clean slate effect”: washing may expunge the emotional power of past acts–perhaps even good ones–from the mental record.

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I tried to explain to my friend about this “finding”. He listened patiently and added an interesting aspect. In the Gospel According to Matthew, Pontius Pilate washes his hands of Jesus and reluctantly sends him to his death

Hey, I didn’t even think of that!

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http://www.impactlab.com/2010/05/30/scientists-believe-a-near-death-experience-is-the-last-gasp-of-a-dying-brain/

May 30th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Scientists Believe a Near-Death Experience is the Last Gasp of a Dying Brain

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A Dutch study published in The Lancet in 2001 found around one in five cardiac arrest victims underwent a near-death experience. They found these patients tended to feel happier, more altruistic and less afraid of death later on.

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We know so very little about everything?

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100506141601.htm

Wash Away Your Doubts When You Wash Your Hands

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ScienceDaily (May 7, 2010) — Washing your hands “wipes the slate clean,” removing doubts about recent choices.

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“It’s not just that washing your hands contributes to moral cleanliness as well as physical cleanliness, as seen in earlier research” said Lee, a doctoral candidate in social psychology. “Our studies show that washing also reduces the influence of past behaviors and decisions that have no moral implications whatsoever.”

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What interesting people the Creator made. How weird is our wiring? I’m not sure to make of this, but I’m going sure start washing my hands more often.

OCD?

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http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-1005.html

Crypto-Gram Newsletter
May 15, 2010
by Bruce Schneier
Chief Security Technology Officer, BT

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Worst-Case Thinking

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Remember Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s quote? “Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” And this: “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” Ignorance isn’t a cause for doubt; when you can fill that ignorance with imagination, it can be a call to action.

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“We don’t know what we don’t know”

In the dikw (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom) meme the elements explode into: Data is the elemental atom of the paradigm. Information is data in context. Knowledge is actionable information. Wisdom is knowing the implications of knowledge.

Wisdom is that “don’t know what don’t know” area.

Where is the edge of the flat earth?

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http://www.careerhubblog.com/main/2010/04/17-tips-for-dealing-with-volcanos-change-and-uncertainty.html

17 Tips For Dealing With Volcanos, Change and Uncertainty

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Ever-changing technology, globalisation and hyper-competition have conspired to make most of our professional lives an ever-changing landscape. Add to that a changeable economic climate, political uncertainty and a sprinkling of volcanic ash and voila – you have the makings of constant change and unpredictability.

While your ability to create and execute detailed plans may have served you well in the past, in today’s economy and work place, it’s your ability to operate in a much more fluid environment that determines your progress.

Regardless of whether you’re currently trying to lead a team through change or attempting to navigate your own career through a turbulence, here are 17 tips which may help.

1. Focus on clear outcomes instead of detailed plans

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(0) Check your paradigms and memes. Change is a delta based on a previous perception. What if that perception is wrong? Our memes shape our perceptions and vice versa. Sunset is the other side of sunrise. Both are unique changes but they are inexorably linked. Are they one? Similarly, we have so many blind spots about some many things (i.e., time; culture; distance; interpretation). Those paradigms and memes might be wrong. Worse yet they can be silently invalidated by changes over time without us perceiving that change. So, very carefully, examine and reexamine your paradigms and memes. Challenge what you think is true. Test it. Don’t depend upon it without reexamination. It can bite you in the a double q.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/1201-glasses_help_parkinsons_patients.htm

Science Video
Glasses Help Parkinson’s Patients
Podiatrist Invents Device To Make Walking Easier For Parkinson’s Sufferers
December 1, 2007

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The augmented reality glasses simulate an effect called kinesia paradoxa: the triggering of normal walking behavior in akinetic Parkinson’s patients by the placement of physical obstacles at their feet. Sometimes such cues exist naturally, such as black and white tiles placed evenly on a floor. The black tiles appear as objects to avoid, or as guides, and trigger a reflex of landing the feet between the black spaces. Walking up regularly spaced objects like stairs triggers the same effect, and can “un-freeze” a person who otherwise has problems walking with a normal gait. Presenting virtual objects and abstract visual cues moving through the patientýs visual field at speeds that emulate normal walking can also achieve this effect.

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When I read this i had a “Great Brother Jasper’s Ghost!!!” moment.

My Mom has just past. As she aged, she suffered terribly with Parkinson’s.

Growing up, she had spent a lot of money on black and white tiles through out the apartment. Maybe it was her way, even without knowing it, that she was compensating.

Wish I could tell the author. It might help him to another breakthrough.

I find this an interesting explanation.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7556429/Scrabbles-makers-to-allow-proper-nouns.html

Scrabble’s makers to allow proper nouns
By Stephen Adams
Published: 7:00AM BST 06 Apr 2010

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The games company said it would be introducing the rule change – the first in the game’s 62 year history – to “enable younger players” to get involved.

This could cause a power shift between the generations, with those possessing a keen knowledge of the top 40 singles’ chart legitimately able to cite such high-scoring examples as singers N-Dubz (17 points) and Jay-Z (23 points).

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“There is no dictionary for proper nouns as such so provided the word played is an accepted spelling, rather than just a cheeky one made up by the player it would be acceptable,” she said.

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Argh! Is this change for the sake of change.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100324094640.htm

Science News
Great Apes Know They Could Be Wrong, Research Suggests
ScienceDaily (Mar. 24, 2010)

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Dr. Call concludes: “The current results indicate that the looking response appears to be a function of at least three factors: the cost of looking inside the tube, the value of the reward and the state of the information. The combination of these three factors creates an information processing system that possesses complexity, flexibility and control, three of the features of metacognition*. These findings suggest that nonhuman animals may possess some metacognitive abilities, too.”*Metacognition: cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing.

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Sigh, I thought I was smart, but I could be wrong. Can some one explain this to me?

My tool set stopped at “thinking about thinking” with DeBono.

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