Rant!

One of the most exciting things I did during Critical Literacy class was rant. I ranted about Bieber Fever and how this “disease” is getting more and more annoying as time passed by. It was a good experience overall. It was my first impromptu speech that I have to talk about something that I’ve always wanted to rant about.

What is a rant?

(n.) High-sounding language, without importance or dignity of thought; boisterous, empty declamation; bombast; as, the rant of fanatics.

(v. i.) To rave in violent, high-sounding, or extravagant language, without dignity of thought; to be noisy, boisterous, and bombastic in talk or declamation; as, a ranting preacher.

To rant, you have to find an issue you’re most passionate about or something you hate the most and how you’re so passionately annoyed by it. You have to be good at sarcasm and use your WIT. It sounds simple but it’s not. Prepare to be laugh at.. well, that’s the main purpose of a rant. So, get your brain moving and start to rant! You’d feel like a thousand tons weight has been lifted off your shoulder. Either rant on blogs or orally, it works both ways.

I found one video about this man who ranted about Justin Bieber and from my point of view, what he said is all true. Enjoy!

stop & reflect your thoughts.

The human mind is full of mysteries. Cognition, the act or process of thinking, enables us to process vast amounts of information quickly. You may be consciously thinking about one particular thing, but you brain is processing thousands of subconscious ideas. Unfortunately, our cognition is not perfect, and there are certain judgments errors that we tend to make, known in the field of psychology as cognitive biases. This situation happens to everybody regardless of age, gender, education, intelligence, or other factors.

Now, I will throw in some information into your ever so lovely smart brain about ten common faults in human thoughts. Starting from number 10, let's do the countdown!

10. Gambler’s Fallacy

The Gambler’s fallacy is the inclination to think that future probabilities are altered by past events, when in reality, they are not. Certain probabilities, such as getting a heads when you flip a (fair) coin, are always the same. The probability of getting a heads is 50%, it doesn’t matter if you’ve gotten tails the last 10 flips. Thinking that the probabilities have changed is a common bias, especially when gambling. This may sound obvious, but this bias has caused many a gambler to lose money thinking the probabilities have changed.

9. Reactivity

Reactivity is the tendency of people to act or appear differently when they know that they are being observed. In the 1920s, Hawthorne Works (a manufacturing facility) commissioned a study to see if different levels of light influenced employees’ productivity. What they found was incredible, changing the light caused productivity to soar! Unfortunately, when the study was finished, productivity levels decreased to their regular levels. This obviously shows that the change in productivity was not due to the light levels, but to the employees being watched. This reveals a form of reactivity; when individuals know they are being watched, they are motivated to change their behaviour, generally to make themselves look better.

8. Pareidolia

Pareidolia is when random images or sounds are perceived as important. Some common examples of pareidolia are seeing clouds in the shapes of dinosaurs, Jesus on a hot pocket, or hearing messages when a record is played backward. The common element is that the stimulus is neutral, it does not have intentional meaning; the meaning is in the viewer’s insight.

7. Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Self-fulfilling prophecy is engaging in behaviours that gain results that confirm existing attitudes. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that causes itself to become true. For example, I believe that I am going to do poorly in school, so I decrease the effort I put into my assignments and studying, and I end up doing poorly, just as I thought. This is a powerful tool used by “psychics” – they instil an idea in your mind, and you in due course make it happen because you think it will.

6. Halo effect

The Halo effect is the inclination for an individual’s positive or negative trait to “spill over” to other areas of their personality in others’ perceptions of them. This bias happens a lot in employee performance appraisals.

Interesting Fact: The Physical Attractiveness Stereotype is when people assume that attractive individuals possess other socially desirable qualities, such as happiness, success and intelligence. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when attractive people are given privileged treatment such as better job opportunities and higher salaries.

5. Herd Mentality

Herd mentality is the tendency to take on the opinions and follow the behaviours of the popular beliefs to feel safer and to steer clear of conflict. Also known as “Mob Mentality,” this is, at its most familiar form, peer pressure. Herd mentality clarifies why fads get so popular. Things like clothes, cars, hobbies, styles and etc., all it takes is a group of people who think something is cool, and it catches on.

4. Reactance

Reactance is the urge to do the reverse of what someone wants you to do out of a need to defy a perceived attempt to limit your freedom of choice. This is frequent with rebellious teenagers, but any attempt to resist authority due to perceived threats to freedom and/or choice is reactance. The individual may not have a need to do the particular behaviour, however the fact that they cannot do it makes them want to.

Interesting Fact: “reverse psychology” is an attempt to manipulate people using reactance. Tell someone (particularly children) to do the opposite of what you really want, and they will rebel and actually end up doing what you want.

3. Hyperbolic Discounting

Hyperbolic discounting is the tendency for individuals to prefer a smaller, immediate payoff over a larger, delayed payoff. Delay time is a big factor in choosing an alternative. Most people would choose to get 20 dollars today instead of getting 100 dollars one year from today. Normally it makes sense to choose a greater amount of money immediately than less in the future, as the value of a dollar is worth more today than it is tomorrow.

2. Escalation of Commitment

Escalation of commitment is the tendency for people to continue to support previously unsuccessful actions. With all the decisions people have to make, it is unavoidable that some will be unsuccessful. Of course, the logical thing to do in these instances is to change that decision or try to reverse it. However, sometimes individuals feel compelled not only to stick with their decision, but also to further invest in that decision because they have sunk costs.

1. Placebo Effect

The Placebo effect is when an ineffectual substance that is believed to have healing properties produces the desired outcome. Especially common with medications, the placebo effect has been observed when individuals given a sugar pill for a real ailment report improvement. Placebos are still a scientific mystery. It is theorized that placebos cause an “Expectancy Effect”, (In cases of uncertainty, expectation is what is most likely to happen) individuals expect the pills to cure their ailments, so they feel cured. However, this does not explain how the ineffectual pills actually cause a reduction in symptoms.

Death of a dictator.

Who is Julius Caesar and why was he assassinated?

Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC to Aurelia and Gaius Julius Caesar, a patrian family. The name "Julius" comes from Iulius, the family name. This comes from Iulus, the name of Venus' son. Julius made his way to praetorship by 62 BC and many of the senate felt he was a dangerous, ambitious man. Because of this, they deprived him of a triumph after his praetorian command in Spain somewhere between 61-60 BC, they also did their best to keep him out of consulship. He finally became consul in 59 BC.

He was a brilliant military leader and lead many campaigns, which included; The Helvetic Campaign in 58 BC, The Belgic Campaign in 57 BC, The Venetic Campaign in 56 BC, and many others. The whole point of these campaigns was to get high public and political acclaim, he wrote about all the campaigns and sent the books to Rome so people knew and remembered his name. Aside from being a "brilliant military leader," Julius believed Rome needed him alive and in charge, if peace was to continue.

He once said:

"It is more important for Rome than for myself that I should survive. I have long been sated with power and glory; but should anything happen to me, Rome will enjoy no peace. A new civil war will break out under far worse conditions then the last."

While in pursuit of Pompey, Julius fell in love with Cleopatra. Who happened to be Pompey’s sister. Julius and Cleopatra met by a dramatic introduction that Cleopatra had set up. It was, she had herself wrapped in a carpet and delivered by a friend to Julius, and unrolled at his feet. He was 52 and she was 21, but her intelligence, allure and wit was what fascinated Julius. With Julius' support, Cleopatra position as queen of Egypt was secured. Julius had all the fame he could hope for and the triumph to back it up, but to get the position he felt his achievements deserved, he had to take his troops across the River Rubicon and in doing so declare civil war on the state and Pompey. Pompey, the person who had got Julius to where he was, was sent to prevent him but failed. General Pompey fled to Egypt while Julius entered Rome in triumph as Dictator. The battle for Rome continued for five years of bloody fighting.

He was assassinated by a group of senators, who stabbed with a dagger in the back, on the Ides of March 44 BC below a statue of Pompey, possibly in support of Pompey. Julius had convened the senate so that it would grant him the authority to be known as king in the lands outside of Rome, but the assignation took place before Julius could claim the new title for himself.

History channel aired a show called "Ancients behaving badly"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBqC3GdJKGw

He is a world changer.

Steve Jobs is one of the most famous names in the fast paced world of technology. A college dropped out turned billionaire.

Sadly, he passed away at the age of 56 due to cancer but his legacy lives on. Jobs’ vision, leadership, and creativity changed computers, lives, industries, and ultimately the world. Jobs are unquestionably an icon and a world changer, as he is the inspiration of many old and rising entrepreneurs and companies. One of the ways his legacy lives on is by his infamous 2005 Stanford commencement speech. This speech is an eye-opening to who Steve Jobs really was. Keep in mind, for many years, Steve Jobs was extremely unwilling to converse about his family background out in the open. He was asked about it in the famous Playboy interview in 1985, for instance, and refused point-blank to go into it. But in this speech, he mentions about his past and how he moves on from it.

Jobs also talked about death and it certainly has open my eyes as I, myself, experiences eureka moment. So many questions went through my mind when he approached the subject of death, but at the same time I was thinking, a person shouldn’t even bring up the subject in a formal event like this but Jobs had his own agenda. The reason why he talked about death is because he wanted the world to share his view on death and how it is the destination all of us shared regardless of our status and position in this world. Death also became one of his motivations to do even better things in the future and never settle for less. His speech really moved me and changes my perspective on how I view my own life. His words struck me like a lightning.

• The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.
• "If you live each day as if it was your last, some day you'll most certainly be right."
• Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice and, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

So let’s hear one of the most inspiring men our industry has known speak for himself, in his own words about life, death, and his undying love of technology.

Euphemistic & Dysphemistic

This task of finding Euphemism and Dysphemism language was given by my lecturer. I have to search for 5 euphemisms or dysphemisms words in one of the article in TIME magazine.

1. During World War II, it began screening draftees for effeminate behaviour and body features.

• Effeminate behaviour in this context means the descriptive of feminine appearance of behaviour in a male.

2. Despite opposition from military officials and the public, President Bill Clinton attempted to unilaterally repeal the ban after taking office in 1993.

• President bill Clinton attempted to remove the law by himself.

3. The effort foundered.

• Foundered in this context means fail utterly.

4. More than any other research, it was a study published in the British medical journal the Lancet in 1998 that helped foster the persisting notion that childhood vaccines can cause autism.

• Persisting notion mean a wrong idea that continues to be believed despite the evidence to the contrary..

5. Another deception cited by the Lancet editors.

• Deception means lies, to cover the real truth behind an issue.

"Euphemism is a euphemism for lying. - Bobbie Gentry"

Pity our brain.

Thinking Thinking Thinking. Aren’t you tired of it? Aren’t you tired of being so stressed out because you keep thinking and putting thoughts in your head, therefore resulted in you, being over thinking? According to Eckhart Tolle, thinking is bad. Thinking could make you lose focus in yourself and what’s important, thus you let your mind controls you and you become “one” with the mind instead of two separate beings. The mind is a very powerful tool in helping us to make decision and making correct judgements.

BUT.

Here’s a new term for you, ANALYSIS PARALYSIS. (sounds like something a professor would say, huh?) Let me invite you to the world of this new term (for most of you, reading this)

"The term "Analysis Paralysis" or "Paralysis of Analysis" refers to over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation, so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome."

This means, an individual might look for the "perfect" solution and dread making any decision that could lead to an unknown wrong outcomes to get the better solution. Afraid of making decisions leads to over-thinking and making the problem even harder to find its solution, thus no action will be taken.

This particular phrase describes circumstances where the opportunity cost of decision analysis surpass the benefits that could be gained by enacting some choice where the sheer quantity of analysis overpower the decision-process itself, thus preventing a conclusion to be made. Analysis Paralysis could occur in these particular situations such as;

• software development.
• workplace.
• sports.
• board games.

From my point of view, we apply analysis paralysis in daily basis, even in choosing what to eat for lunch. It’s unavoidable, especially for me. Sure, decision will be hard to make but to me, it makes my mind active when I think. Thinking is good for you, you just have to know when to put a limit. Control your brain, and not the opposite.

pack and start this conquest!

Anything you're good at contributes to happiness - Bertrand Russell.

I wanted to write about Jews, Adolf Hitler or even Steve Jobs but I don’t know why my mind keeps telling me to write about it while my heart keeps “screaming and yelling” at me, telling me to write about The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell. I hope what I put in here triggers your mind to somehow muse about what makes you truly happy. Here we go fellas.

Bertrand Arthur William Russell. Just by looking at his picture (above), you could envision him as a very well educated man, a bit eccentric from the look of his hair ( or maybe he just like his hair the way it was), his face shows wrinkles but not just any old wrinkles, it shows that he have lots of experiences in life. He won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950. He wrote The Conquest of Happiness which is about (in my opinion) how an individual defines happiness is different from how others define it. Such as, a mathematician might feel the happiest when he comes up with a new theory or a new way to solve a mathematic problem meanwhile a farmer might feel the happiest when he holds one of the fruits he successfully produced after months of watering and taking care of the crops. This book is divided into two halves: the causes of unhappiness and the causes of happiness.

From my point of view, this book can relate to everyone who is in a conquest to search for happiness. I agree with Bertrand when he proposed the idea of “different people, different definition of happiness”. A professor and a clerk couldn’t share the same happiness, right? Same goes to you and I. We don’t define happiness in the same way. Happiness is subjective and there are many answers to it. Biased or not, it’s how a person sees it. According to Bertrand, most people in civilized countries suffer from unhappiness. Why does this happen? Bertrand largely believes that the causes of unhappiness are caused by mistaken views of the world, mistaken ethics, mistaken habits of life and etc.

If you are unhappy with your life right now, is it because on how you view the world? Does happiness means you have to enjoy each day with a big smile on your face and not a care about the world? What about the so- called educated people? The individuals that thinks too much, coming up with new theories and etc? What makes them truly happy?

I, myself, will admit that one of the causes of unhappiness I feel was mentioned by Bertrand, which is fear of public opinion. I’ve been unhappy for some time and I feel the need to get the approval of my family and friends in how I should live my life in order for me to be happy.

Bottom line is, after reading this book, you know happiness is not something impossible. It’s something that everyone can achieve if they follow the right track in their life. In simple words, happiness is within reach.

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.