The sky is not falling. It’s just the end of this ice age. Extreme weather events are not related to each other. The climate is not a global system of feedback loops. Ecology is spin from tree-hugging, granola-eating hippies. Ice melts. The global insurance industry is only talking about climate
Continue readingTag: Psychology
Politics, Re-Spun: What Do We Do About Those Pesky, Apathetic Non-Voters?
I have heard lots of people blaming the following people for why we didn’t get a positive change in government in BC three weeks ago: apathetic, nihilistic young people apathetic people who don’t follow politics apathetic people who simply don’t vote bad people who generally don’t care about a better
Continue readingThings Are Good: Be Optimistic by Learning About It
The book Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Dr. Martin Seligman is not new, but it is to me. For others who have not heard about it before, it looks like an uplifting read. The central thesis of the book is to essentially learn what
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Free Speech and the Privatization of Public Space
Donald Smith was protesting a sign at Glenmore Landing in Calgary’s southwest Sunday that bans political demonstrations. [CBC] The privately owned parking lot near the prime minister’s constituency office asserts that protesting is prohibited. On the surface, this looks like the prime minister is impeding the constitutional rights of expression
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Geography of Emotions, A Conversation with Colin Mills
Saturday night, I spent almost two hours discussing the Geography of Emotions with Colin Mills. We explored the ubiquitousness of emotions, the male crisis around emotions, how emotions relate with cognition, and the betweeness of emotions. It was a fascinating conversation about a topic with wide implications for society, culture,
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: How are Psychology PhDs doing on the job market?
I am a reformed and rehabilitated ex-academic. In my previous life, I aspired to be a professor of Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Science. I described my experiences in the academic stream in a series entitled The Grad School Gospels. In The Grad School Gospels I have been pessimistic about the
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: Don’t We All Hear Voices? A Mindfulness-Informed View of Schizophrenia and the “Normal” Mind
The hallmark of schizophrenia is perceiving things that are not there. Auditory hallucinations, including “hearing voices”, is particularly common. What if this clinically distinguishing feature of schizophrenia differs from the cognitively distinguishing feature? What if, cognitively speaking, what distinguishes schizophrenia is not the presence of voices, but rather how one
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: The Grad School Gospels – Part 4: On Grad School Goggles and the Cult-Like Nature of Grad School
The Grad School Gospels is a series of posts inspired by Dirk Hayhurst‘s The Bullpen Gospels. In the Bullpen Gospels, Hayhurst tells stories from his struggle to self-actualize through professional baseball. Inspired by Hayhurst and the many commonalities I noticed between the minor league track to the Majors, as he
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: The Grad School Gospels – Part 3: Academe Can’t Be Your Everything
The Grad School Gospels is a series of posts inspired by Dirk Hayhurst‘s The Bullpen Gospels. In the Bullpen Gospels, Hayhurst tells stories from his struggle to self-actualize through professional baseball. Inspired by Hayhurst and the many commonalities I noticed between the minor league track to the Majors, as he
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: The Grad School Gospels – Part 2: Passion, Fear and Indifference
In The Grad School Gospels: On Professional Baseball, Academia, and My Shared Experience with Dirk Hayhurst, I juxtaposed Hayhurst‘s pro baseball journey – which he recounts in his first book, The Bullpen Gospels – with my journey through academic psychology. Several factors conspired to make our situations alike. We both
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: The Grad School Gospels: On Professional Baseball, Academia, and My Shared Experience with Dirk Hayhurst
In The Bullpen Gospels, author and former professional baseball player, Dirk Hayhurst, takes readers through his lived experience in the cut-throat world of professional baseball. As I read Hayhurst’s story, I find myself impressed by his talent as a writer, sympathetic to his hardships as professional baseball player, and connected
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: “Female Characters Are Still Sidelined, Stereotyped, and Sexualized in Popular Entertainment Content”
If you think popular media is still chauvinist or even misogynist, but you didn’t know about the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, you should look into them. I found out about their latest research study, Gender Roles & Occupations: A Look at Character Attributes and Job-Related Aspirations in Film and Television, and was not […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: No, Taylor Swift. No.
[Here is what some of us have been wanting to say about Taylor Swift, but didn’t because A. Lynn did it first, and perhaps best, reposted her with her kind permission. Thanks to Jarrah Hodge for pointing us to this piece of brilliance! Enjoy! – seb] I’ve been mentally composing this blog for forever and […]
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Go Back To Sleep America, At Your Own Peril
I never reprint other people’s writings, no matter how good – but I will make an exception for this. This article is a true must-read. Please, take the time to read it. Then act. Good morning America. It’s time for a new day. Kudos and warm thanks to Jill Dalton
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Beautiful Women More Likely To Conform: Study
A recent study by the Open University of Israel and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, suggests that women who have been labeled “beautiful” by their peers are more likely to conform to social norms. They’re likely to put their own interests before the interests of others. And, apparently, “beauty and
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: The Psychology of Liberals and Conservatives
Wired: It’s election season in the U.S., and the campaigning between the Democrats and Republicans is fiercer than ever. Now, here at GeekDad, we prefer to steer clear of partisan politics, so this posting is not going to tap-dance into that minefield; instead, we’re going to take a look at
Continue reading350 or bust: What Does It Take To Get People To Change?
Apparently standing on the brink of global disaster, economically and environmentally, isn’t enough to get the majority of people to demand real change from their political leaders, and move away from their fossil fuel lovin’ ways. So what will it take? This video from 14 year old Hyrum Grenny (with
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2012-07-12 21:30:00
DRIVING AROUND WINNIPEG:PERCEPTUAL EXPECTANCY As you drove over the Slaw Rebchuk bridge from downtown Winnipeg to the North End you were greeted for years by the “Welcome To The North End: People Before Profit” sign on the roof of the Nippon Auto building at the north foot of the bridge.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Springtime for Hitler in Ottawa
Last week, our favourite sweatervest hoarding Prime Minister made the world’s laziest Nazi/Hitler invocation during Question Period. This is the latest in a string of Hitler references made by sundry politicos in Ottawa during 2012, and we’re not even half way through the year. His gaffe brought jeers and
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Challenging Homophobic NHL Fans
Having spent some time recently examining the NHL’s and NHLPA’s collective negligence about headshots, I was inspired to address the homophobia that surrounds hockey fandom last night. Sure the Canucks lost, but before that, someone called them a bunch of faggles in Twitterland. How did that all go down, and
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