I love the sound of rain when it’s hitting a surface outside and you’re inside. That kinda splatter pitter latter thing. Properly calming.

ikenbot:

Memory Myths

As a lifelong user of human memory, you probably feel you’ve got a good idea of how it works, right? To test your understanding of memory, we compare several commonplace conceptions with insights from psychology.

by Christian Jarrett

Memory acts like a video recorder

In a US survey published in 2011, 63% of 1,838 respondents said they believed “strongly” or “mostly” that memory works like a video camera, “accurately recording events we see and hear so that we can review and inspect them later”. Memory is, in fact, a creative, fallible process, highly prone to suggestion and other distorting influences.

Some people have photographic memories

An extension to the memory as video recorder myth is the idea that some people have a “photographic memory”; that they can take a snap shot of a scene or a page in a book, and then bring it to mind whenever they want to.

It’s tempting to invoke such an ability to explain the achievements of celebrated memory champions such as Lu Chao. In 2005, he set a new world record (as recognised by the Guinness World Records) by reciting the first 67,890 digits of pi entirely from memory. However, studies of memory champions reveal that they depend on mnemonic devices and thousands of hours of practice.

A related concept is eidetic imagery, in which a person claims to “see” a detailed visual scene that is no longer visible. However, tests of “eidetikers” find their memory of images to be no more accurate than control participants. It seems they just feel as though the image is vivid and still “out there” rather than in their heads.

Forgetting occurs gradually

Some memory misconceptions have serious consequences for the way eye- (and ear-) witness testimony is treated in court. For example, many people, including psychologists (according to a recent Norwegian survey), believe that forgetting occurs gradually, as if memories decay like an ageing reel of film. In fact, most forgetting occurs immediately after an event.

Confidence is a reliable indicator of memory accuracy

While it’s true that accuracy and confidence can correlate within a single person’s repertoire of recollections, confidence is a poor marker of accuracy when judging a single act of recollection or when comparing across witnesses. One reason is that some factors, such as repeated questioning, can boost confidence without increasing accuracy. Also, we all vary in our baseline levels of memory confidence. So when judging a single witness, we don’t know if their confidence is high by their standards. In the legal system, when convicted people are exonerated by DNA evidence, confident testimony from an eye witness is the most common reason they were originally found guilty.

A related myth is that emotional events lead to more ingrained, accurate memories. Memories for dramatic events often feel more vivid and people feel more confident in these memories, but, in fact, they are just as prone to being forgotten as ordinary memories. Furthermore, if an event is stressful, this is likely to interfere with remembering details of that event.

Traumatic memories can be repressed and “recovered” years after they occurred

While subscribing to the erroneous idea that memories of emotive events are highly accurate, many people also often hold the somewhat paradoxical belief that traumatic memories, such as of abuse in childhood, are prone to repression. A related belief is that such memories can be “recovered” later in life, dug out with the help of a skilled therapist, or perhaps a hypnotist.

In fact, studies of child abuse victims suggest strongly that they usually do not forget their experiences. Moreover, research has shown that memories of abuse “recovered” in therapy are far less likely to be corroborated by third parties, or other evidence, than abuse memories recalled later in life outside of therapy, or never-forgotten abuse memories.

The consensus of the American Psychological Association on child abuse memories says that “most people who were sexually abused as children remember all or part of what happened to them, although they may not fully understand or disclose it”.

Hypnosis can be used to retrieve forgotten memories

Many people believe that hypnosis can be used to unearth not only past traumas but all manner of long-forgotten memories, including recollections way back to the womb or even to past lives.

In a way, it is a belief that is consistent with the “memory as a video recorder” myth; the mistaken rationale being that because everything we experience is stored, we just need to find a way to reach it. In fact, nearly all the evidence suggests that hypnosis fails to aid recall, but instead has the potentially harmful effect of increasing people’s faith in their memories, whether or not they are accurate recollections of events.

Amnesiacs forget who they are

A persistent myth is the idea that people suffering from amnesia have lost their long-term memory, including any recollection of their identity. In fact, amnesia caused by illness or brain damage typically manifests as an inability to lay down new memories. Specifically what is broken is the ability to convert short-term memories into long-term memories. An amnesiac will usually be able to tell you who they are and share stories about their earlier lives, but they won’t be able to tell you what they had for breakfast.

• Dr Christian Jarrett is author of The Rough Guide to Psychology. He blogs for the British Psychological Society at bps-research-digest.blogspot.com and is currently writing Great Myths of the Brain (Wiley-Blackwell). Follow him on Twitter at @Psych_Writer

• This article was corrected on 16 January 2012 because it said Hideaki Tomoyori set a new world record for reciting the first 67,890 digits of pi entirely from memory. Lu Chao set this record.

(via scinerds)

astrotastic:

the-star-stuff:

It’s Official: Mars Was Habitable

Long ago, Mars had the conditions and ingredients to support life.

That conclusion—the first ever made about another celestial body—was announced today by the Curiosity rover team after a wildly successful drilling campaign into what may have once been the bed of a Martian lake. 

“We have found a habitable environment,” said John Grotzinger, project scientist for the Curiosity mission. “The water that was here was so benign and supportive of life that if a human had been on the planet back then, they could drink it.”

Read the article here.

A feat for humanity to discover.

(via project-argus)

ikenbot:

NASA Deforestation Image Debunked

Thousands of you guys have probably seen this image floating round the intertubes which shows the supposed deforestation from a 1978 Earth to a 2012 one. While It is a reality that things like pollution, overconsumption, overproduction, poor use of resources and technologies and lack of corporate liability all lend a helping hand to the deforestation of lands but the image provided to illustrate the effects of that carelessness is a false claim. Here’s Facts from Fiction to explain this in details:

Claim - “NASA recently released imagery showing the deforestation of America …in just 34 years” with a picture showing two earths, one from 1978 and the other from 2012.

Verdict - False, Misleading

I am not trying to argue about the effects our industrial civilization has had on our planet, or the damage we may or not be causing to it., but when people, if even for the best intentions, make and spread misinformation to further the causes they believe in, it tends to damage the credibility of that cause. Recently circulating around social media sites and blogs is an image that claims “NASA recently released imagery showing the deforestation of America …in just 34 years.”

Earth. Going bald, or just a bad case of fleas? Maybe it looked too exaggerated, or maybe it was the lack of information behind it, but something didn’t seem quite right about the image. A Google search turned up a lot of results, but little explanation or information behind it. Searching Nasa’s site didn’t turn anything recent about deforestation, but i did find the separate images while going through the picture galleries. It wasn’t long and all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. It turns out, our planet has an interesting phenomena that some of you may have heard about before called “seasons.”

As a result, a picture of the earth is only going to be as green as the season it was taken in. An image taken in July for instance will naturally look greener than one taken in January after the majority of trees have shed its leaves, The picture on the left is claimed to be from 1978, but in reality was taken by a multiple picture process by Nasa from June through September 2001, and was slightly edited to look slightly greener than the original. (Source) The second image on the right was taken by Nasa on January 4th, 2012 (Hi Res). According to Wikipedia, Most of the Deforestation in North America happened prior to 1910. Since then, forest resources have remained about the same, largely due to planting new trees to replace the ones that were removed.

While there may be no truth to the picture, it may still for a worthy enough cause. Old growth Forests around the world are still getting steamrolled by progress. In North America alone around 10,000 square kilometers (6213 miles) of old growth forests are harvested every year spelling disaster for countless species of plants, animals, and the people that rely on them to survive. Loggers go in and clean out the forests, and tree planters come in behind them and reseed the areas so they can be logged again in the future. In the meantime, all the plants and animals that used to depend on the forest no longer have a home, and many end up being crowded out , or simply dying off.

(Fact from Fiction)

(via scinerds)

carleh-rae:

I loved every single word, bravo.

Falling asleep to the sound of rain is unimaginably soothing.

fuckyeahfluiddynamics:

Lenticular clouds, such as the one shown above, are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form over a mountain or range of mountains. Moist air is deflected up over the mountain, and, if the temperature at higher altitudes is below that of the dew point, the water vapor in the air can condense, forming a cloud that sits over the peak of the mountain. Once the air traverses the mountain and reaches warmer, lower altitudes on the far side, it will often transition back to a gaseous state. Lenticular clouds are sometimes also called UFO clouds, due to their distinctive shape and the way they seem to hover over a peak. (Photo credit: James Woodcock, Billings Gazette via Associated Press)

lulz-time:

Do you remember this picture?

Reblog>Click the picture> And see what happened!  YOU’LL BE SURPRISED! 

ounww

Lovely :’)

yayyyyy

god bless that ladyy

At first:

Then I reblogged and clicked the picture:

That lady deserves a medal.

god bless you miss <3

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

OMNGGGAEGADHGKJ

Sunday 29th July: After a 5 hour journey on the train from Budapest to Vienna, followed by two underground trains and the realisation that our hostel was miles from the city centre, you might think we would have cut our losses and retired early yet again. But it was not to be. The lure of Vienna Travel Shack proved to be too strong. Whilst it wasn’t quite what was promised (an international backpacker bar full of loose morals, beautiful people and cheap booze; more like a relatively quiet, male heavy moderately priced booze hangout for mostly locals) I’d like to think we made the best of it. Two fire shots, a snuff shot, and a beer bong later, and escorting our newest member Joe, who we’d rendezvoused with at the hostel earlier, home, I’m feeling like my wallet might be a fair bit lighter than I’d planned for it to be after our first night (not even a full day!) in Vienna, but hey!

Monday 30th July: Again, feeling brutally bad after the excesses of the previous night, this was a day that really rose from the ashes. Starting off at Naschmarkt, I got what can only be described a one of the nicest kebabs ever from a street vendor, and all for only 3 euros. Walking up to Stephanplatz to see the cathedral, we climbed the tower and were met with stunning views all over Vienna. Awesome stuff. This was followed by a visit to one of the traditional coffee houses Vienna is reknowned for: apple strudel, green tea, English newspapers; what more could an 18 year old boy interrailing ask for? Couple that with stumbling upon a bookshop that had one of the best collection of records I’ve ever seen and it made for a good day! But we still weren’t finished. Despite Patrick’s inability to ride, we decided to rent bikes, and spent the next hour or so exploring the rest of the eastern side of the inner stadt by bike, which, in the summer sunshine, was pretty sweet, to say the least. And all of that for no charge! Still feeling last night, we returned to the hostel, and stayed up late watching a mixture of the Olympic ceremony and some Austrian love show (I have literally no idea). Who says interrailing isn’t mental!

Tuesday 31st August: Our train wasn’t till 6 so we had a fair while to explore the Imperial palace, and the grand stately homes that typify in my mind what Vienna best looks like. Stunning stuff! Though unfortunately bike rental was no longer an option (the entire system was down or something) walking through the gardens proved to be a pretty sweet time filler before our train. A quick stop on a bench coupled with an altercation involving crumbly waffles meant we were soon surrounded by birds, so tame they even ate out of Joe’s hand. Once their numbers eclipsed 30 however, we thought it best to make a sharpish exit! Walking around the Hofsburg, it was striking just how massive these buildings were! Managed to find a cafe in  the museum quartier, and, with some more apple strudel under my belt, we headed to the station. Paranoia brought about by our previous travel mishaps meant we got to the station a full 3 hours before our train. A lengthy stay in McDonalds ensued!

Thursday 26th July: Just arrived in Budapest. First time this journey where some aspect of us getting from A to B hasnt messed up somehow! Long may that continue! Got to Ljubljana with plenty of time to spare, Patrick (I reckon, though Im yet to be proved right) condemned himself to a bout of the squits by opting for the burek for breakfast (burek being a flaky pastry greasy monstrosity filled with cheese, that, whilst delicious, leaves a notable mark on your digestive system). A very long train journey ensued, softened by the fact that halfway through we realised all the seats in the 6 seater cabin could be pulled out to make the entire cabin into some quasi-mattress. Made sleeping far easier and the journey far more bearable, which is always nice. Despite being about 50 billion degrees (at a conservative estimate) we all managed to sleep for a couple of hours at some time or the other. Settled in at the hostel, and about to head out for goulache, more to come. Goulache eaten, we walked up and down the river, looking for stuff to do. Needless to say, the lights of Budapest and its bars were no match for this tiny, what I can only assume to be some sort of art installation, that we found just after this bridge. A whole bunch of basically glorified computer, swivel chairs. Either way, being the 5 year olds that we are, we proceeded to spin far too fast and for far too long on them, resulting in what can only be described as feeling like “my stomach is punching my stomach”. Pizza and tequila sunrises (2 for 5 euros, what a deal!) creating some kind of nasty whirlpool/vortex monstrosity in my stomach, we all headed home.

Friday 27th July: Woke up about half an hour ago, we’ve been warded off the most popular tourist baths in Budapest by the americans we’re sharing a dorm with, but to be honest, we’d been dubious about going to them in the first place. Instead, my book recommends either these “stunning” art nouveau batzhs (quite expensive) or these “atmospheric” turkish baths. Both are a but a stone’s throw away, so we’re gonna check out both! Back from the baths, actually incredible. We opted for the cheapest of the three recommended in my book, so I was a bit wary, but it lived up to everything I hoped they would be: not a tourist in site, and full of old Hungarian men just sitting around. Complete with 4 immersion pools, one massive pool, a sauna and a steam room, we spent ages in there, pruning nicely, and getting properly clean after too many days of long travel and inefficient showers. Now to visit Pest itself. Oh, and all of that pool and sauna-ing for 6 euros. Decent. National museum was a bit of a disappointment, seeing as half their rooms were closed, and the other half were a bit on the light side with regards to info, given that this is the NATIONAL museum. More than made up for though by the next museum we visited: called the “House of Terror” it delves into life for the people of Hungary during the Nazi occupation, and the subsequent Soviet dealings. Harrowing, and disgusting what happened back then. Incredible museum, most probably the best I’ve ever been to. Left me feeling incredibly sad, but couldn’t have asked for more from a museum. Finished up by visiting the massive basilica and seeing St Stephen’s hand, whose authenticity I was dubious about, and still am, but hey. Night came, and we decided we’d better paddle in the Danube, which was slippery, but surprisingly fun! Follow that with 3 half litre bottles of vodka, one incredibly set of antsy boys, and one set of spinny chairs, and let’s just say that when we finally did make it back to the hostel, I slept like some sort of weird log/baby fusion.

Saturday 28th July: We visited Buda, on the other side of the river, which involved trekking up what could have been one of the most painful hills in what can only be described as some of the nastiest heat I’ve experienced! Up there though it was plain to see it had been worth it. Incredible views across the entire city, Jamie got to hold a golden eagle, and we just walked around for hours, exploring the other side of Budapest. Feeling the effects of last night a bit, and coupled with the tiresome nature of the day we retired early to the hostel. Budapest must have been one of my favourite cities ever. Cheap booze, incredible baths, beautiful sites, and all within walking distance of our hostel!

Tuesday 24th July: Got up, made the coach getting part of the train station with bags of time to spare. Following an hour spent doing nothing, and with said coach now 10 minutes “late” I went up to find out what was wrong:

Charlie: Do you know when the coach to Villach for Ljubljana is gonna get here?

Random Italian train station employee: (Despite the sign on the wall advertising the VERY service we were meant to be getting) Not from here. You want ……-mumble- DDR, outside the station itself.

One sprint later and our bus has been missed. However some stilted German-English hybrid speaking on the part of Paul and somehow we manage to procure a minibus to Ljubljana, that will get us there a couple of hours before our other journey was even meant to. Silver linings and all that.

So yeah, arrived in Ljubljana, lovely hostel. I had my reservations about the city, as there is a dearth of suggestions for things to do in my book on Europe, but I take them all back. Beautiful city, with a castle up a hill that provides an incredible view, as well as a pretty awesome church and an abundance of second hand book shops, with an impressive stocking of English titles (managed to get hold of a couple of volumes making up Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley, continental copyright edition from way back when, with strict instructions on the front”do not not introduce into America, or the British Empire” to give you an idea of how old they are! There was also a copy of “Mein Kampf”with a Swastika on the front but I steered clear of that one. A thunderstorm ensued, and, later, rocking my oversized blue poncho, we continued to explore the city, had dinner and then called it a day.

Wednesday 25th July: Off to see some UNESCO world heritage site caves. More on this later. And here we go: after walking across some train tracks (yes we are that far east) we boarded a train to Divaca, at no cost thanks to those handy interrail passes, and an hour and a half later, we were on a minibus to the caves. And they were absolutely spectacular. Jamie said that he had seen his fair shares of caves in his time (I added an undue amount of innuendo into this in person) and that they were the most impressive. I guess places arent made world heritage sites for no reason. But yeah, 2 hours of breathtaking scenery later, we emerged, and proceeded to wait for the coach back. And with that, just as with the day before, the heavens opened, and had it not been for my trusty poncho, a soaking would almost certainly have ensued. Arriving back at the train station, and safely onboard, we saw that the only carriage free contained a scary, feet out, possibly french, guy. Needless to say, we sat on the floor next to the bikes in the luggage section, and got unduly aggressive over RISK on Jamie’s iphone. One seemingly longer than previously train journey later, and a couple of what I can only assume were attempts at humour on the part of a couple of old Slovenian men, and we were back in Ljubljana, wolfing down burek from a local takeaway: Id seriously recommend it! Despite our presence causing a frenzy amongst the local pigeon population (Patrick thought it wise to feed them), it was all actually pretty pleasant! About to head out, more to come.

Lovely evening at the castle, looking out over the city with a bottle of rum amongst us for comfort. Castle climbing, too much hill walking and an empty bottle later we headed back home. Couldnt have asked for more from the city I was originally dubious about going to.

Sunday 22nd July: Arrived sweating and able to smell myself, which tells you just how bad that stench was. Got settled into the hostel, and then managed to find a bus going straight into the centre of Venice (purely by chance and actually we only became certain of the destination when it actually arrived there). Coupled with the fact that, for reasons I still don’t really understand, we didn’t have to pay for tickets, and this was turning out to be pretty useful indeed. After shitting ourselves for a good 10 minutes, as we were not what you’d call certain that this bus even went to Venice, Patrick and I got into the main part of Venice. We walked around for ages, exploring Venice by night, I got what must have been the best ice cream Ive ever had and then we headed back home, given how late it was. Got a different bus this time, still shaky as ever as to which stop we should get off at, but, somehow, we made it.

Monday 23rd July: Met Jamie and Paul as they arrived, and, despite promising that I wouldn’t, proceeded to let myself and everyone fall asleep for another two hours. Woke up at 9 and after loads of goading and harrying, left the hostel and got the bus to Venice (again). Saw some massive church (del Frari?) and then went to the Da Vinci exhibition (words cannot describe how incredible that man was). Went across the Ponte di Rialto (which was touristy and nastily busy but hey), and then covered the square of Saint Mark. Went to the furthest point on the south side of the island (the view was incredible, just wish Id been able to see a sunrise or sunset off of that bad boy). And to top it off, we found a couple of absolutely stunning nooks and crannies, tiny dead ends with awesome views out onto the canals, perfect places to just sit at. Got drink, got dinner, found a bridge, made dinner. Drank drink. Then proceeded to wander around Venice (minus the map this time) under the influence, climbed into a boat, managed to peer pressure Paul into walking the plank, and then did the same ourselves and then revisited the furthest point and just sat there for an hour or so.

lifethroughgeologictime:

Living Fossils - Opossum

Let’s talk about these little garbage diggers. I, personally, think they are quite cute, when they aren’t all hostile or splattered on the road. 

Opossums, commonly and wrongfully referred to as possums, are omnivorous marsupials of the western hemisphere. The Virginia Opossum (pictured above) was the first to be named an opossum, it’s name comes from the Virginia Algonquian word aposoum, meaning “white dog,” or “white beast/ animal.”  They belong to the Family Didelphidae, in the order Didelphimorphia, which are marsupials that are about the size of a house cat at the largest, and at the smallest, about the size of a mouse. They tend to be partially arboreal and, again, omnivorous, though there are always exceptions. Most have long snouts and a narrow braincase, along with a prominent sagittal crest. They are plantigrade, and have an opposable digit on their hind feet with no claw. They have prehensile tails, quite like lemurs. Like all marsupials, the females have a pouch, and all of their fur is made up of awn hair. 

Pictured Above: Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana)

By Cody Pope (Wikipedia:User:Cody.pope) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

(via scinerds)

climateadaptation:

This is a drawing with charcoal. My brain is melting.

shinyslingback:

Shelby Shadwell

www.shelbyshadwell.com

Untitled 12 - charcoal on paper2011 - 80” x  64” 

benetta:

vvolare:

“City of Shadows” was taken during the winter of the collapse of the Soviet Union by Alexey Titarenko

This is so eerie…