Wise Words for You

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 1, 2018 is 250t-class torpedo boat . Eight 250t-class torpedo boats were built by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino for the Austro-Hungarian Navy between 1913 and 1916 for service in World War I. They were among 27 high-seas torpedo boats that undertook anti-submarine operations in the Adriatic Sea, shore bombardment missions along its Italian coastline, and convoy, and escort and minesweeping tasks. Under the terms of the post-war Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the boats were surrendered to Romania, Portugal, Greece, and the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). By 1940, 13 torpedo boats had been lost or scrapped. During World War II, the five remaining Greek boats were sunk by Axis aircraft during the German-led invasion of Greece in April 1941. The two Romanian boats that survived the war performed escort tasks in the Black Sea before being taken over by the Soviet Navy for service in the Black Sea Fleet...

Fear of failure is a significant obstacle that stands between you and your goals. But it doesn’t have to be. Fear of failure is the intense worry you experience when you imagine all the horrible things that could happen if you failed to achieve a goal. The intense worry increases the odds of holding back or giving up. Being successful relies to a large extent on your ability to leverage fear. What can you do to prevent fear of failure from setting you back? 1. Redefine failure as discrepancy Success is often hard to define. Failure is even harder. What is your definition of failure? Giving up? Never going after your goals? Not achieving a desired outcome? Not achieving the desired outcome within an expected timeline? You may think that the answer to this question is obvious. But it is important to be clear about what you consider failure, since failure is the object of your fear and the obstacle to your success. To make your goal pursuit fail-proof, switch f...

Your thoughts guide you to your destiny. If you always think the same you will always get to the same place. Think in a new way and you will be a new person. Give happiness to all and you will live in peace. Create peace in your mind and you will create a world of peace around you.

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 31, 2018 is Cape sparrow . The Cape sparrow (Passer melanurus) is a southern African bird. A medium-sized sparrow at 14–16 centimetres (5.5–6.3 in), it has distinctive grey, brown, and chestnut plumage, with large pale head stripes in both sexes. The male has some bold black and white markings on its head and neck. The species inhabits semi-arid savannah, cultivated areas, and towns, from the central coast of Angola to eastern South Africa and Swaziland. Cape sparrows primarily eat seeds, along with soft plant parts and insects. They typically breed in colonies, and search for food in large nomadic flocks. The nest can be constructed in a tree, bush, cavity, or disused nest of another species. A typical clutch contains three or four eggs, and both parents are involved, from nest building to feeding the young. The species is common in most of its range and coexists successfully in urban habitats with two of its relatives, the native sout...

The first step in caring for someone with dementia is to get the right diagnosis. Dementia is not a diagnosis. Dementia is a general term indicating that thinking and memory are impaired enough that day-to-day function is compromised, such as difficulty with grocery shopping, preparing meals, using a telephone, or balancing the check book. Saying that someone has dementia is like saying that someone has a headache—it doesn’t imply anything about the underlying cause. Headaches can, of course, be caused by things that are benign, such as muscle tension or migraines, or by things that are much more serious, such as a brain tumour or a stroke. Similarly, dementia can also be caused by things that are relatively benign, such as a vitamin deficiency or a thyroid disorder, or by more serious disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporal dementia. There are many reasons as to why it is important to get the right diagnosis. The first reason i...

The one who knows the art of connecting to others is successful. When someone is not behaving well, we tend to alter our attitude, response and behaviour toward that person. We wait for the other person to change, before changing ourselves. When I know the art of perceiving others’ specialities and connecting to them, I will always be successful. I am then not dependent on the other person’s behaviour for my own growth. I am able to see each person’s positive aspects and absorb them in myself too. Then I become richer with every interaction.

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 30, 2018 is Oviri . Oviri is an 1894 ceramic sculpture by the French artist Paul Gauguin. It depicts a Tahitian goddess of mourning, with long pale hair, large breasts, and wild eyes. She smothers a wolf with her feet, while clutching a cub in her arms. Art historians have suggested multiple complex interpretations; its alternative title, "Savage", may refer to Gauguin's own view of himself. The work's form and tone was inspired by a number of ancient sources, including Majapahit mummies and an Assyrian relief of a master of animals. Other possible influences include preserved skulls from the Marquesas Islands, figures found at Borobudur, and a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in central Java. Gauguin made three casts, each in partially glazed stoneware. The original is housed at the Musée d'Orsay, in France. It was exhibited at the 1906 Salon d'Automne where it was seen by Pablo Picasso, who used it as the bas...

Just as the highest tower needs a deep foundation, so too our higher thinking is based on going deep within.

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 29, 2018 is Baltimore railroad strike of 1877 . In the Baltimore railroad strike of 1877, at least ten people were killed and more than 150 were injured. The unrest in Baltimore, Maryland, was part of a national railroad strike, following the global depression and economic downturns of the mid-1870s. On July 16, when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) scheduled 10 percent wage reductions, strikes broke out. Violence erupted in Baltimore on July 20, and police and soldiers of the Maryland National Guard clashed with crowds of thousands gathered throughout the city. In response, President Rutherford B. Hayes ordered federal troops to Baltimore, local officials recruited as many as 500 additional police, and two new national guard regiments were formed. Peace was restored two days later. Negotiations between strikers and the B&O were unsuccessful, and most strikers quit rather than return to work at reduced wages. The company easily...

My husband recently developed an interest in the long-standing cartoon show,  The Simpsons  . I have enjoyed watching in the past, and marveling at how the writers can create clever, engaging humor year after year. As someone with an expertise in the psychology of humor, I am also amazed at how, even when the jokes seem to be about superficial foibles and character flaws (Homer is dumb and fat, Lisa is vain, Nelson is a bully, Chief Wiggum is a corrupt and lazy cop), the humor often has a deeper element. While it's perfectly fine to just enjoy the humor at the superficial level, if you think about  why  it's funny that Homer is dumb, or  why   it's funny that Nelson is a bully, you realize that humor is very often a sneaky way to engage with cultural and moral issues that would meet with resistance if they were discussed in a more serious way. In the psychology of humor, researchers have coined the term "the comedic fr...

See every problem as something small and turn a mountain into a paper tiger.

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 28, 2018 is Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi . Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi is a fourth-century Latin poem arranged by Faltonia Betitia Proba after her conversion to Christianity. A cento rearranges verses written by other poets; this one repurposes Virgil to tell stories from the Old and New Testament of the Christian Bible. Much of the work focuses on the story of Jesus Christ. The poem was widely circulated, eventually being used in schools to teach the tenets of Christianity, often alongside Augustine of Hippo's De Doctrina Christiana. Although the poem was popular, critical reception was mixed. A pseudonymous work purportedly by Pope Gelasius I disparaged the poem, deeming it apocryphal, and St. Jerome may have written negatively of it, and of Proba. Other thinkers like Isidore of Seville, Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio wrote highly of her, and many praised her ingenuity. During the 19th and 20th centuries the poem ...

Although there can be many reasons for insomnia, ranging from anxiety to medical disorders, many of us experience difficulty sleeping at some point. An all-too-common solution is to turn to prescription or over-the-counter sleep aids. Of course, the problem with this strategy is potential dependency — your insomnia can actually worsen when you stop taking the drug. Moreover, many of the more powerful prescription sleep aids come with side effects, such as a morning “hangover.” Following are some simple behavioural and cognitive techniques that you can try instead when you can’t sleep: Behavioural  Strategies 1. Get Into a Routine.  Sleep experts agree that when it comes to sleep, try to stick to a routine — going to bed and waking up at the same time each day. If you lay in bed awake for an hour before going to sleep, consider going to bed an hour later. Also, if you had a bad night’s sleep, don’t try to ...

In the wake of #MeToo, many question the inaction of some who find themselves in a situation where they are physically or sexually threatened and/or violated. Without discussing particular situations or recent news reports, the problem is not men or women that have been assaulted and do nothing, the problem is that the vast majority of people lack a comprehensive grasp of the multi-dimensional aspects of a fear response. We talk extensively and almost exclusively about fight or flight, as if those are the only options. But there are others, and we, like other species, benefit from having a variety of strategies in our fear-response toolkit. So let’s discuss the lesser-known responses to fear: freeze and friend. Some people are of the mistaken belief that how one responds in a threatening situation has to do with the strength, physical, mental, or emotional, of the individual. Then what of the mightiest of sharks, the top of the food chain, the most feared creature in the oce...

It is a sign of wisdom to be able to set goals and then, having done so, to let them go. All that is required for success is a vision of the destination. The journey itself will reveal the means to take you there.

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 27, 2018 is Finnish Civil War . The Finnish Civil War (27 January – 15 May 1918) marked the transition from the Grand Duchy of Finland, part of the Russian Empire, to an independent state. Arising during World War I, it was fought between the Reds, led by the Social Democratic Party, and the Whites, led by the conservative Senate. In February 1918, the Reds carried out an unsuccessful offensive, supplied with weapons by Soviet Russia. A counteroffensive by the Whites began in March, reinforced by the German Empire's military detachments in April. The decisive engagements were the battles of Tampere and Vyborg, won by the Whites, and the battles of Helsinki and Lahti, won by German troops, leading to overall victory for the Whites and the German forces. The 39,000 casualties included political terror deaths. Although the Senate and Parliament were initially pressured into accepting the brother-in-law of German Emperor William II as the K...

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.                             —Carl Jung What happens when we put something out of our minds? What happens when we shut down that “negative” emotional state and get on with the day without giving it another thought? There is a tension between models of personal change that emphasize focusing on positive, constructive thoughts and moving away from negative thoughts, and those which counsel that engaging with ostensibly negative and unpleasant thoughts is necessary for personal development. Can we "get rid" of thoughts? What happens when we believe we are throwing away mental garbage? It's one thing to stop ourselves from engaging in futile masochism or interrupt obsessive thoughts. It's another thing entirely to try to ignore important parts of oneself, joyful or melancholy. Like t...

Where there is the power of purity, there is automatically happiness and peace. Purity is the mother of happiness and peace. Pure souls can never be unhappy.

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 26, 2018 is Australian Defence Force . The Australian Defence Force (ADF) comprises all of the country's armed forces, including the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, and Royal Australian Air Force. With a strength of just under 80,000 full-time personnel and active reservists, it is supported by the Department of Defence and other civilian agencies. During the first decades of the 20th century, the Australian Government established the armed services as separate organisations, each with an independent chain of command. In 1976, the government made a strategic change and established the ADF to place the three services under a single headquarters. The degree of integration has increased over time, and tri-service headquarters, logistics and training institutions have supplanted many single-service establishments. Technologically sophisticated, the ADF is the largest military in Oceania, with approximately 58,000 full-time active-du...

​ “To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own.”  –Jack Kornfield Holding on to pain doesn’t fix anything. Replaying the past over and over again doesn’t change it, and wishing things were different doesn’t make it so. In some cases, especially when it comes to the past, all you can do is accept whatever it is you’re holding on to and then let it go. That’s how everything changes. You have to let go of what is hurting you, even if it feels almost impossible. Deciding to hold on to the past will hold you back from creating a strong sense of self — a self that isn’t defined by your past, but rather by who you want to be. Oddly enough, painful feelings can be comfortable, especially if they’re all you know. Some people have trouble letting go of their pain or other unpleasant emotions about their past, because they think those feelings are part of their identity. In some ways, they ma...

There is an immaculate eternal and constant space within you hidden under different appearances. In that space there is only peace, love and wisdom. Let go and free yourself from the layers that cover that space and you will uncover the secret of a life of fullness.

Science uses an empirical approach. Empiricism (founded by John Locke) states that the only source of knowledge comes through our senses – e.g. sight, hearing etc.   This was in contrast to the existing view that knowledge could be gained solely through the powers of reason and logical argument (known as rationalism).  Thus, empiricism is the view that all knowledge is based on, or may come from experience. The empirical approach through gaining knowledge through experience quickly became the scientific approach and greatly influenced the development of physics and chemistry in the 17th and 18th centuries. The idea that knowledge should be gained through experience, i.e. empirically, turned into a method of inquiry that used careful observation and experiments to gather facts and evidence. The nature of scientific inquiry may be thought of at two levels: 1. that to do with theory and the foundation of hypotheses. 2. and actual empirical methods of inqu...