Alexander quiroga C

Who is ASL

Sunday, 9. August 2009, 04:18:09

History of ASL

A sign language interpreter at a presentationIn the United States, as elsewhere in the world, hearing families with deaf children often employ ad-hoc home sign for simple communications. Today though, ASL classes are offered in many secondary and postsecondary schools. ASL is a language distinct from spoken English; it contains its own syntax and grammar and supports its own culture. The origin of modern ASL is ultimately tied to the confluence of many events and circumstances, including historical attempts at deaf education; the unique situation present on a small island in Massachusetts; the attempts of a father to enlist a local minister to help educate his deaf daughter; and in no small part the ingenuity and genius of people (in this case deaf people) for language itself.

Prior sign languages

France
The French had a natural sign language, which is often referred to as Old French Sign Language (OFSL). This is already in use by the deaf cultures in their area of origin, often with additions to show aspects of the grammar of the local spoken languages. Although this language was passed down from deaf person to deaf person, it was not accepted by the educational system. The Abbé Charles-Michel de l'Épée was the first to acknowledge that signed language could be used to educate the deaf.

While visiting a parishioner, Épee noticed her two deaf daughters conversing with each other using OFSL. The mother explained that her daughters were being educated privately by means of pictures. In 1771 Épee established the first educational institution for the deaf.

Though Épee recognized that OFSL could be used for educational purposes, he did not view it as a fully developed language. Old French Sign Language was viewed this way because it contained different grammar structure than the French language and was not considered to be a different, independent language of its own. He then modified the language and taught that to his students.

United States
There is little known of sign languages in the United States before 1817. It is said that since there was little contact between communities in early America, home sign language most likely may have been used. However, there is evidence that there was a deaf community in the late 17th century that used a natural sign language on Martha’s Vineyard. Between 1690 to the mid-twentieth century there was a high rate of genetic deafness on Martha’s Vineyard caused by the founder effect. It afforded almost everyone the opportunity to have frequent contact with sign language. It was said that 1 out of 155 people on the island was deaf, which by the standards during that time in America was 1 out of 5700 people. The ancestry of the deaf community could be linked to Weald, a small area in England.

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Plains Indians
The Plains Indians used sign language as a medium to communicate between peoples of different languages. In 1688, 1740, 1805, and 1828 it was reported of a developed sign language in the lower Rio Grande. This sign language is believed to have spread northward and become what is known as Plains Indian Sign Language. It is said that this sign language was already in existence prior to the Europeans settling. Variations of this sign language varied from tribe to tribe. Plains Indian Sign Language is still in use today, although not as commonly as before. There is no evidence to show that they influenced the development of American Sign Language.

Birth of American Sign Language and American School for the Deaf
In 1815 a Protestant minister, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, left his home in Hartford, Connecticut and moved to Amsterdam. Dr. Mason Cogswell asked Gallaudet to investigate methods of teaching his deaf daughter. While in England, Gallaudet hit a roadblock when directors of the Braidwood Schools, who taught the oral method, refused to share their methods of teaching. Nevertheless, while in London, Gallaudet met with Abbe Sicard, director of the Royal Institution for the Deaf in Paris and two of his students, one of which was Laurent Clerc. Sicard invited Gallaudet to visit the school in Paris. He did not go immediately, but instead traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland where he again met the methods of Braidwoods. They refused yet again to teach him their methods. Gallaudet then traveled to Paris and learned the educational methods of the Royal Institution for the Deaf with sign language, a combination of Old French Sign Language and the signs developed by Abbė de l’Epėe. Gallaudet persuaded Clerc to return with him to Connecticut and become a teacher for the deaf. Gallaudet and Clerc opened up the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons (now called American School for the Deaf) in April 1817. Deaf students were taught French signs and brought in signs of their own, by students such as those coming from Martha’s Vineyard. Thus, it was at this school that all these influences would intermingle and become what would be American Sign Language. There are a great number of signs that are similar between French Sign Language and American Sign Language, so much so that when eighty-seven signs were compared, 58% overlapped in similarity.

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Growth and standardization

American Sign Language Convention of March 2008 in Austin, TexasInterestingly, because of the early influence of the sign language of France upon the school, the vocabularies of ASL and modern French Sign Language are approximately 60% shared, whereas ASL and British Sign Language, for example, are almost completely dissimilar.

From its synthesis at this first public school for the deaf in North America, the language went on to grow. Many of the graduates of this school went on to found schools of their own in many other states, thus spreading the methods of Gallaudet and Clerc and serving to expand and standardize the language; as with most languages though, there are regional variations.

Oralism vs. Manualism
After being strongly established in the United States there was a bitter fight between those who supported oralism over manualism in the late 1800s. Many notable individuals of high standing contributed to this row, such as Alexander Graham Bell. The oralists won many battles and for a long time the use of sign was suppressed, socially and pedagogically. Many considered sign to not even be a language at all. This situation was changed by William Stokoe, a professor of English hired at Gallaudet University in 1955. He immediately became fascinated by ASL and began serious study of it. Eventually, through publication in linguistics journals of articles containing detailed linguistic analysis of ASL, he was able to convince the scientific mainstream that ASL was indeed a natural language on a par with any other.

A living language
The language continues to grow and change like any living language. In particular, ASL constantly adds new signs in an attempt to keep up with constantly changing technology.[citation needed]

Linguistics

A group of people signing.ASL is a natural language as proved to the satisfaction of the linguistic community by William Stokoe, and contains phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax and pragmatics just like spoken languages. It is a manual language or visual language, meaning that the information is expressed not with combinations of sounds but with combinations of handshapes, palm orientations, movements of the hands, arms and body, location in relation to the body, and facial expressions. While spoken languages are produced by the vocal cords only, and can thus be easily written in linear patterns, ASL uses the hands, head and body, with constantly changing movements and orientations. Like other natural sign languages, it is "three dimensional" in this sense.[1][2] ASL is used natively and predominantly by the Deaf and hard-of-hearing of the United States and Canada.
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Iconicity
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Although it often seems as though the signs are meaningful of themselves, in fact they can be as arbitrary as words in spoken language. For example, a speaking child may often make the mistake of using the word "you" to refer to themselves, since others use that word to refer to him or her. Children who acquire the sign YOU (pointing at one's interlocutor) make similar mistakes – they will point at others to mean themselves, indicating that even something as seemingly explicit as pointing is an arbitrary sign in ASL, like words in a spoken language.

However, Edward Klima and Ursula Bellugi have modified the common theory that signs can be self-explanatory by grouping signs into three categories:

Transparent: Non-signers can usually correctly guess the meaning
Translucent: Meaning makes sense to non-signers once it is explained
Opaque: Meaning cannot be guessed by non-signers
Klima and Bellugi used American Sign Language in formulating that classification. The theory that signs are self-explanatory can be conclusively disproved by the fact that non-signers cannot understand fluent, continuous sign language. The majority of signs are opaque.

Generally, signs that are "Transparent" are signs of objects or words that became popular after the basics of ASL were established. There are, of course, exceptions to this.

Fingerspelling
Main article: Fingerspelling
In ASL, fingerspelling is used primarily for proper nouns, for emphasis (for example, fingerspelling STOP is more emphatic than signing 'stop'), for clarity, and for instruction.

The American manual alphabet in photographsASL includes both fingerspelling borrowings from English, as well as the incorporation of alphabetic letters from English words into ASL signs to distinguish related meanings of what would otherwise be covered by a single sign in ASL. For example, two hands trace a circle to mean 'a group of people'. Several kinds of groups can be specified by handshape: When made with C hands, the sign means 'class'; when made with the F handshape, it means 'family'. Such signs are often referred to as "initialized" signs because they substitute the first letter (the initial) of the corresponding English word as the handshape in order to provide a more specific meaning.

When using alphabetic letters in these ways, several otherwise non-phonemic handshapes become distinctive. For example, outside fingerspelling there is but a single fist handshape - the placement of the thumb is irrelevant. However, within fingerspelling, the position of the thumb on the fist distinguishes the letters A, S, and T. Letter-incorporated signs which rely on such minor distinctions as thumb position tend not to be stable in the long run[citation needed], but they may eventually create new distinctions in the language. For example, due to signs such as 'elevator', which may require the E handshape (depending on the sign used), some argue that E has become phonemically distinct from the 5/claw handshape.

Fingerspelling has also given way to a class of signs known as "loan signs" or "borrowed signs." Sometimes defined as "lexicalized fingerspelling," loan signs are somewhat frequent and represent an English word which has, over time, developed a unique movement and shape. Sometimes loan signs are not even recognized as such because they are so frequently used and their movement has become so specialized. Loan signs are usually glossed as the English word in all capital letters preceded by the pound sign(#). Loan signs are sometimes used for emphasis (like the loan sign #YES substituted for the sign YES), but sometimes represent the only form of the sign (e.g., #NO). Probably the most commonly used example of a loan sign is the sign for NO. In this sign, the first two fingers are fused, held out straight, and then tapped against the thumb in a repeated motion. When broken down, it can be seen that this movement is an abbreviated way of fingerspelling N-O-N-O. Other commonly known loan signs include #BACK, #BUS, #CAR, #JOB, #PIZZA, and #YES.

Grammar
Main article: American Sign Language grammar
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Writing systems
ASL is often written with English words in all capital letters, which is known as glossing. This is, however, a method used simply to teach the structure of the language. ASL is a visual language, not a written language. There is no one-to-one correspondence between words in ASL and English, and much of the inflectional modulation of ASL signs is lost.

There are two true writing systems in use for ASL: a phonemic Stokoe notation, which has a separate symbol or diacritic mark for every phonemic hand shape, motion, and position (though it leaves something to be desired in the representation of facial expression), and a more popular iconic system called SignWriting, which represents each sign with a rather abstract illustration of its salient features. SignWriting is commonly used for student newsletters and similar purposes.

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Baby Sign
Main article: Baby Sign
In recent years, it has been shown[by whom?] that exposure to sign language has a positive impact on the socialization of hearing children. When infants are taught to sign, parents are able to converse with them at a developmental stage when they are not yet capable of producing oral speech, which requires fine control of both breathing and the vocal tract. The ability of a child to actively communicate earlier than would otherwise be possible appears to accelerate language development and to decrease the frustrations of communication.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3G7EKV-A50&feature=related
Many parents use a collection of simplified or ad hoc signs called "baby sign", as infants do not have the dexterity required for true ASL. However, parents can learn to recognize their baby's approximations of adult ASL signs, just as they will later learn to recognize their approximations of oral language, so teaching an infant ASL is also possible. Typically young children will make an ASL sign in the correct location and use the correct hand motion, but may be able only to approximate the hand shape, for example, using one finger instead of three in signing water.

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the brain exercises

Thursday, 6. August 2009, 06:07:03

The 12 brain nerves, coming from the

Brain Training Activities

Brain Reflection Test

This is a simple but effective exercise to test the reflection of your brain, the faster the better, try to get a score of 0.20 second on the first reflection test, also there is a second Reflex Test, try to get 58 points in that one, If you do achieve these two goals then you’re very fast, and we should congratulate you!

Brain Creativity

Being creative is a good thing; in fact it’s essential if we want to make our life better. Stimulating areas of your brain is a healthy process, in this page we will try to wake up (if dormant) the brain creativity potential, this game has 25 levels, let’s see how far you could go.

Memory Test

Here you will be able to test your memory, testing it will help you improve it, this game stimulates many areas in your brain responsible for storing and retrieving information, you will be enhancing your memory while still having fun. You can also check this memory game which will check your ability of remembering faces and images … it’s a classic game but effective.

Brain Stretching

This is one way to stretch your brain, the objective is moving a number of disks from one pole/ peg to an other in a cetrain way. You will have to make an effort to arrange the disks the right way, and that in itself is a good exercise that can stretch your brain when playing.

IQ Booster

There are three games about chess that can possibly help you improve your intelligence., you can play chess which is simply the best strategy game, also this second Strategy Game called 8 Queens, and finally another Brain Game called (Chess Knight).

These are very good workouts, chess can help you gain the ability of good thinking and making creative strategies, if you don’t know how to play chess, then either check for the rules online before playing, or just jump to the next game.

This is a very good chess game that can play the role of an IQ booster, it is a good workout for the brain. Chess can help you gain the ability of good thinking and make creative strategies, if you don’t know how to play chess, then either check for the rules online before playing, or just jump to the next game. Chess is really a good way to help you better manage your life, because it teaches you how to think of the best strategies in the game, increase your spatial intelligence, enables your brain to think far, and ultimately boost your IQ.

As Intelligence is considered one of the most important factors to success, it’s extremely important to try games which can put it into the test, such as chess.

And since many people associate intelligence with a high I.Q level then it’s worth it to give it a try.

Playing Chess Instructions:

To start playing this IQ booster - chess choose the color of the CPU (your computer), if you choose “CPU White” that would mean that your pieces would be black, and vice versa. Then you can start moving your first piece in the chess board by clicking on the piece first, then clicking on the place where you want to move it. Go ahead and boost your IQ!

tabla de ajedres
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Spatial intelligence especially the ability to perceive possibilities for movement is clearly crucial to chess thinking, as is the capacity to build up a system of knowledge and experience. This system must be stored (memory) and well managed (rules), analogies and operating principles must be constantly abstracted, adapted and improved perhaps not always on a conscious level. Chess thinking often involves a complex, hierarchical structure of problems and sub-problems, and the capacity for retaining such complex structures of data not getting confused, and for keeping objectives clear and well organised, all correlate with having a high IQ.

IMG=http://files.myopera.com/Alexanderquiroga/blog/hcentra%20hj%C3%A4rna2]

IQ Range:

The following is how the world ranks as a whole on IQ tests:

140 or higher: means that you’re a genius (less than 2% of the world population).

120 to 139: means you’re far above average (approximately 10% of the population).

110 to 119: means you’re above average (approximately 15% of the population).

95 to 109: means you’re average (approximately 50% of the population).

80 to 94: means you’re below average (approximately 20% of the population).

Less than 80: honestly it means you’re far below average (approximately 3% of the population), don’t panic if you're in this category, a recent study showed that people can increase their IQ level to more than 35%, which means that if your IQ is between 80 to 94 (below average), it can change to 110 to 119 (above average) just with training and methods that are considered IQ boosters.

You might be the smartest person in the world and you may not even know it, because most of people don’t know their actual IQ.

Sudoku – Brain Stimulation

In this page you can either play Sudoku, or solve an already existing Sudoku puzzle that you have, a very nice strategy game and one of the fastest growing games of the 21 century, simple but is considered to be a good brain stimulation and training.

Spatial Intelligence

This is about Rubik’s Cube puzzle, a very challenging game, which can stimulate many parts of your brain that you usually don’t stimulate, including visual memory and spatial intelligence.

Math Problems:

It’s nice to be an athlete, but certainly it’s super nice to be a Mathlete. Well this is your chance. This is not a complicated Math Game, in fact it’s a very easy test, however the point is not just to solve the questions provided, but to solve as many questions as possible in a short time, a very good score would be 21 points in this exercise.

Brain Concentration

This brain concentration game is a little bit hard, but that’s the point, the harder the game the more stimulation you get, this can help you gain the ability to concentrate better. The game depends on the level you choose, you can start with the lowest level and as you learn the rules of the game you can pick higher levels in this concentration game.

Brain Exercise

This brain exercise is about being able to arrange the numbers in the right order in a very short time, this game depends on the level you choose, it’s a classic simple game, but a very effective exercise. Have fun and good luck!

Brain Training Activities

Brain Reflection Test

This is a simple but effective exercise to test the reflection of your brain, the faster the better, try to get a score of 0.20 second on the first reflection test, also there is a second Reflex Test, try to get 58 points in that one, If you do achieve these two goals then you’re very fast, and we should congratulate you!

Brain Creativity

Being creative is a good thing; in fact it’s essential if we want to make our life better. Stimulating areas of your brain is a healthy process, in this page we will try to wake up (if dormant) the brain creativity potential, this game has 25 levels, let’s see how far you could go.

Brain Stretching

This is one way to stretch your brain, the objective is moving a number of disks from one pole/ peg to an other in a cetrain way. You will have to make an effort to arrange the disks the right way, and that in itself is a good exercise that can stretch your brain when playing.

IQ Booster

There are three games about chess that can possibly help you improve your intelligence., you can play chess which is simply the best strategy game, also this second Strategy Game called 8 Queens, and finally another Brain Game called (Chess Knight).

These are very good workouts, chess can help you gain the ability of good thinking and making creative strategies, if you don’t know how to play chess, then either check for the rules online before playing, or just jump to the next game.

Sudoku – Brain Stimulation

In this page you can either play Sudoku, or solve an already existing Sudoku puzzle that you have, a very nice strategy game and one of the fastest growing games of the 21 century, simple but is considered to be a good brain stimulation and training.

Spatial Intelligence

This is about Rubik’s Cube puzzle, a very challenging game, which can stimulate many parts of your brain that you usually don’t stimulate, including visual memory and spatial intelligence.

Math Problems:

It’s nice to be an athlete, but certainly it’s super nice to be a Mathlete. Well this is your chance. This is not a complicated Math Game, in fact it’s a very easy test, however the point is not just to solve the questions provided, but to solve as many questions as possible in a short time, a very good score would be 21 points in this exercise.

Brain Concentration

This brain concentration game is a little bit hard, but that’s the point, the harder the game the more stimulation you get, this can help you gain the ability to concentrate better. The game depends on the level you choose, you can start with the lowest level and as you learn the rules of the game you can pick higher levels in this concentration game.

Brain Exercise

This brain exercise is about being able to arrange the numbers in the right order in a very short time, this game depends on the level you choose, it’s a classic simple game, but a very effective exercise. Have fun and good luck!

Cognitive Training

This training is a lot of fun and simple but can help your cognitive and prediction sense along with your reflection skills, a good player would be someone who predicts well where the exact spot that the ball would hit and therefore have a fast reaction to be in the right spot, a good score is 2 points different than your opponent (which is the computer in this case). Cognitive training game cannot be played with a touchpad, because your reaction is way slower than a mouse when using a touchpad. So if you have a laptop you might get a mouse to play this game.

Finally you can read about Intelligence and read about the IQ or take an IQ Test if you want, please note that the tests are just for brain training purposes and don’t determine your actual level. Some games can be addictive so play responsibly.

Please enjoy the activities that are offered free of charge. Welcome to your Brain Gym and have a good workout!!!!

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Cognitive Training

This training is a lot of fun and simple but can help your cognitive and prediction sense along with your reflection skills, a good player would be someone who predicts well where the exact spot that the ball would hit and therefore have a fast reaction to be in the right spot, a good score is 2 points different than your opponent (which is the computer in this case). Cognitive training game cannot be played with a touchpad, because your reaction is way slower than a mouse when using a touchpad. So if you have a laptop you might get a mouse to play this game.

Finally you can read about Intelligence and read about the IQ or take an IQ Test if you want, please note that the tests are just for brain training purposes and don’t determine your actual level. Some games can be addictive so play responsibly.

Please enjoy the activities that are offered free of charge. Welcome to your Brain Gym and have a good workout!!!!

Intelligence
What is intelligence?
Intelligence is defined as general cognitive problem-solving skills. A mental ability involved in reasoning, perceiving relationships and analogies, calculating, learning quickly… etc. Earlier it was believed that there was one underlying general factor at the intelligence base (the g-factor), but later psychologists maintained that it is more complicated and could not be determined by such a simplistic method.

Some psychologists have divided intelligence into subcategories. For example Howard Gardner maintained that it is comprised of seven components: musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.

Other definitions are: "Intelligence is what you do when you don't know what to do." "Intelligence is a hypothetical idea which we have defined as being reflected by certain types of behavior."

Is Intelligence Inherited?
It is generally accepted that intelligence is inherited but can also be related to the environment. While studies showed that heredity is an important factor in determining intelligence; it was also suggested that environment is a critical factor in determining the extent of its expression.

An investigation done recently revealed that 70 percent of the differences in the twins' I.Q. scores were attributable to inherited traits. Previous studies had suggested that about 50 percent of the differences in scores were inherited.

Studies showed that the grey matter volume is strongly determined by genes, and reflected cognitive performance. It was also suggested that there is a strong genetic influence on IQ, verbal and spatial abilities, So in short our genes determine the quality of our intelligence, our ability to integrate and process information. The level of our intelligence determines how well we cope with changes in our environment.

It is believed that race and culture have their share in intelligence as well, but so far there is no confirmed conclusion that intelligence varies from race to race.

Environmental factors can play a role as well, but in fact they are capable of slowing down our mental processes more than enhancing it. There is no evidence to indicate that our environment can increase intelligence to a relatively high level. It is also inherently easier to degrade brain tissue than to create more complex brain tissue. Enhancements in brain structure require long periods of evolutionary selection, in addition to the availability of extraneous sources of energy. While brain degradation can happen in a relatively shorter time.

Intelligence Tests
A number of psychologists have argued that intelligence can be quantified, primarily through testing. In 1905, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon devised a system for testing intelligence, with scoring based on average mental levels for various age groups. However the German psychologist L. Wilhelm Stern was the first to coin the term intelligence quotient (IQ), a figure derived from the ratio of mental age to chronological age. Although Stern's method for determining IQ is no longer in common use, the term IQ is still used today to describe the results in several different tests. Today, an average IQ score is considered to be 100, with deviations based on this figure.

Intelligence tests do not measure creativity, character, personality, or other important differences among individuals, nor are they intended to.

While there are different types of intelligence tests, they all measure the same intelligence. Some use words or numbers and require specific cultural knowledge (like vocabulary). Others do not, and instead use shapes or designs and require knowledge of only simple, universal concepts.

Most people cluster around the average (IQ 100). Few are either very bright or very dull: About 3% of Americans score above IQ 130.

Intelligence tests are not culturally biased against any race, for example in America, IQ scores predict equally and accurately for all Americans (African Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics …), regardless of race and social class. Individuals who do not understand English well can be given either a nonverbal test or one in their native language.

The main criticism of intelligence testing is that it is difficult to insure that test items are equally meaningful or difficult for members of different sociocultural groups. Testing is often considered validated in part, however, by the finding that the quantity measured by the tests can be closely correlated in American society with career and academic achievement.
What's an IQ? (Intelligence Quotient)
IQ is a number meant to measure people cognitive abilities (intelligence) in relation to their age group. An I.Q between 90 and 110 is considered average; over 120, superior.

Roughly 68% of the population has an IQ between 85 and 115. The average range between 70 and 130, and represents about 95% of the population. A score below 70 may indicate problems in understanding the iQ questions or soem type or retardation, and a score above 130 may indicate intellectual giftedness. 1% of the population has an IQ of 136 or higher. However, an individual scoring 100 within one population can score above or below that value within another population, for example, the Japanese are supposed to have the highest average IQ in the world (115), but this 115 can only be an average of 100 within their own population.

What is the highest IQ?
The highest IQ was 228, according to Guinness Book of Records, this score belongs to the 'smartest' person in the world Marilyn vos Savant who scored it when she was 10 year old. This would, according to recent research, correspond to about IQ 185 at adult age. That score is, at least, surpassed by the chess player and champion Bobby Fisher which was 187, and Kim Ung-Yong (S. Korea) with a score over 200.

Who is the smartest person?
I don't think anyone has an accurate answer to that question; however some psychologists believe that William James Sidis reached the maximum capacity possible for a human. In the Buzan's Book of Mental World Records, the highest IQ score ever attained is assigned to the history's greatest genius Leonardo Da Vinci. The estimate is a nearly unbelievable adult IQ of 220.

How did the IQ start?
It all started with the Binet scale with one single goal in mind, to serve as a guide to identify children in the school who need special education to minimize their inferior level. Binet also reported that it's not designed to measure 'intelligence'. Later after many modifications on the original method of Binet such as Simon-Binet, or Stanford-Binet, Intelligence tests were getting more popular among the population as well as in government departments. In 1989 the American Academy for the Advancement of Science listed the IQ test among the twenty most significant scientific discoveries of the twentieth century along with nuclear fission, DNA, and flight.

Does the IQ really measure intelligence?
Well, to answer that we first need to answer one question, what is intelligence? You cannot measure something that you can hardly define. The problem is that the term intelligence has never been defined adequately and therefore nobody knows what an IQ test is supposed to measure. In spite of all this, today the future of thousands of children/ employees is determined by the results of this test, simply because it has its good share of accuracy.

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Can we Increase our Intelligence?
There are certainly ways to increase one’s intelligence, also called intelligence amplification/ enhancing, by practicing many proven cognitive tools such as mnemonics, problem-solving heuristics, creativity techniques and decision-making tools. An increase in the intelligence level can only result in a better life, health, and standard of living. Below you will find some simple intelligence boosters:

Deep thinking: in life it’s not enough to just react to events, and situations, rather we should have a conscious objective and select our actions to get nearer our objective. Also it’s important to think about consequences of our actions, to minimize the possibilities of errors and regret. Deep thinking would normally help you live better, and reach your goals.

Good reasoning: it is the key to success, especially if performed consciously and in the proper order: 1) have an objective, 2) make a general sensing about it, 3) determine your decision based on your sensing, 4) make alternate plans (along the main objective), 5) select the best response/ plan. 5) start by carrying out your plan, 6) observe results, 7) store experiences (for future reference).

Learning from past experience: it is believed that many inventions were actually re-inventions; for example Egyptians 2000-4000 years ago were using some unique techniques to build their temples, buildings… but since the early Egyptians were not good at keeping records of what they were doing, many of their inventions/ techniques were lost, and they had to be reinvented many centuries after them, which means that we had to start from point zero again because we didn’t keep records of our discoveries. You can apply that to your own life, learning from the past experience either bad or good is very beneficial, and can save you a lot of time and effort. A good way to do that is journal writing which is a useful way to develop self understanding, and to analyze events, in addition to provide a record of how we change over time.

Practice: you cannot learn swimming from a book, the same thing should be taken into consideration when dealing with “thinking”; you cannot learn to think without practicing. And as mentioned earlier, a good way to start is with cognitive tools such as brain exercises: mnemonics, problem-solving heuristics, creativity techniques, brainstorming, puzzles, brain teasing games… etc.

Intelligence Pills? Smart Drugs?
It would sure be nice if we just take a smart pill and get smarter, instead of going through all those brain teasers and problem-solving training.

In fact, scientists are indeed studying substances that may improve mental abilities. These substances are called "cognitive enhancers" or "smart drugs".

The supposed effects of these intelligence drugs can be several things, for example, it can improve memory, learning, attention, concentration, problem solving, reasoning, social skills, decision making and planning.

In most cases, smart drugs have been used to treat people with neurological or mental disorders, but there is a growing number of healthy, "normal" people who use these substances in hopes of getting smarter. However it’s arguable if the cognitive enhancers have some effects if any. Results from different laboratories show mixed results; some labs show positive effects on memory and learning; other labs show no effects.

The intelligence pills are supposed to work by increasing brain metabolism, increasing cerebral circulation, or protection of the brain from physical and chemical damage, and as a consequence they result in increased mental energy, increased alertness, decreased depression, improved memory, and improved learning ability.

There are many names in the market of these smart pills, and the number is growing bigger day after day. Many of them are made of herbal as well as chemical substances. Below is a list of some intelligence enhancers in their natural state:

Ginko Biloba extracts: apparently have vasodilatory effects, and have in some studies shown it could treat some symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. They also appear to have some effects on short term memory. But no study to confirm these results yet.

Choline: A natural amine, often classed in the vitamin B complex. There is evidence that drugs that stimulate the cholinergic systems improve certain memory tasks, and there is much speculation that adding extra choline to the diet would lead to better general memory performance.

Caffeine: caffeine acts as a mild stimulant to the nervous system, blocking the neurotransmitter adenosine and resulting in a feeling of well-being and alertness. It increases the heart rate, blood pressure. Although it’s not smart to take it as a smart drug, it is however probably relevant anyway, simple, relatively safe if not taken excessively. May be one cup or less a day is considered to be within the safe range.

Glucose: has been shown to improve memory when given in certain dosages in association with a learning task; how to exploit this to improve cognition in general is a more complex problem, because it can have negative effects as well.

Definitions related to Intelligence:

Gifted : used to describe individuals having great natural ability or talent, usually the equivalent of “intelligent”, this term is used often with children ”a gifted child”, also other possible equivalent words are “smart”, “nerd”, “brainy”, “genius”…etc.

Giftedness : is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. The fact of having a mind ahead of the physical growth, and could be simply the equivalent of “intelligence”.

Creativity: mental process of generating new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.

Superhuman:

Super-brain : also called mega-brain is used as a term to refer to machines or individuals who can perform/ process complicated tasks in a relatively faster speed.

High Intelligence Society : usually refers to a community where people with higher I.Q/ geniuses meet and exchange their ideas for the benefit of humanity, and to encourage the uses of intelligence. Usually a certain I.Q score should be obtained to join one of those societies.

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Gallery galaxies

Wednesday, 22. July 2009, 08:38:35

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this view of viewing an edge of the galaxy NGC 4013. This photo shows great detail with great clouds of dust and gas extending along the disc of this galaxy. NGC 4013 is a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way located approximately 55 million light years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major. From this picture one might think that the galaxy NGC 4013 is a galaxy quite stretched and thin, but is seen across a nearly circular spiral. As an example you can take a CD, if you see the most thin and could not see the above think that the CD is long and thin, but when you see it above, you'll see it is round and larger than at the beginning. (Photo: Hubble telescope).

A ring galactic

Someone once said that you should not necessarily rely on what your eyes can see, this is the case of the galaxy NGC 6782, this galaxy has a spiral shape nearly circular, but the photo you see above is far from showing a circular, this photo was taken by the Hubble 01 November 2001 and succeeded in this way to expose the telescope to an ultraviolet vision. As you can appreciate how to vary as I mentioned at the beginning. (Photo: Hubble telescope).

When a galaxy is twisting

The image shown above shows the galaxy ESO 510-G13, which belongs to the category of normal spiral galaxy (like our Milky Way probably) but this shot shows a new structure of the disc form this galaxy, it appears as a twisted if it had undergone major forces that have changed shape, leaving it unusual. This photograph was taken on 02 August 2001. (Photo: Hubble telescope).

Intergalactic Shock

If you look carefully you can see a fairly well-known toward the lower right corner of the photo. Can not seem to be the head of a bird in profile, "well, this is the galaxy NGC 6745 that is colliding with a much smaller galaxy. As you can see, what would be the eye of this bird is the center of this galaxy which has not yet collided. At present the two galaxies are colliding to create the blue luminosities of the contact zone, in what came to represent the bird's beak. This photograph was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on 02 November 2000. (Photo: Hubble telescope).

A spiral quite useful

The photo shows the spiral galaxy NGC 4414, which served as the "key project" for calculating the ratio of expansion of the universe. This uses the discoveries about the brightness of the stars of this galaxy. The NGC 4414 is located 60 million light years from our planet. The study provided an opportunity to know with certainty that not only speed but also expands the universe able to calculate the age. This photo was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on June 03, 1999. (Photo: Hubble telescope).

Turning to the rhythm of the clock

When astronomers placed the galaxy NGC 4622, were a great surprise, unlike the other spiral galaxies like NGC 4622 was spinning in the opposite direction to that expected, ie in the same direction they move in a clockwise. This variation in the movement has attracted a large number of additional observations, because although this galaxy to date has shown no major features that distinguish it from other galaxies in the above is striking nearly circular shape. This photo was taken on 05 September 2002.

A matter of perspective

How important might be the perspective in the appreciation of the objects in the sky ", this photograph taken 03 October 2002 shows the spiral galaxy NGC 4319 in the center and the quasar called Markarian 205, without a real perspective you could say they're close, however, we must look to space to see and think in three dimensions, the spiral NGC 4319 is approximately 80 million light years from Earth and the quasar Markarian 205 is 14 times that distance us, ie, approximately 1 billion light years from Earth

Galaxy fertile

Most galaxies form new stars so massive and not very fast, however, there is a class of galaxies known as galaxies "starbust" which have an activity in the formation of stars quite high. The galaxy NGC 3310 is one of these galaxies with high rates of star formation, groups are forming stars at a prodigious rate. NASA scientists have succeeded in identifying the nature of these stars as well as the development of this type of galaxies through the study of the colors shown in the photographs.

Stars everywhere

Nuevas fotografías del telescopio espacial Hubble están brindando a los astrónomos una visión detallada de los brazos y las nubes de polvo de la galaxia espiral Whirlpool, la cual se ha convertido en el lugar de masivos nacimientos de estrellas luminosas. Esta galaxia, también denominada M51 o NGC 5194 está teniendo un encuentro cercano con la galaxia NGC 5195. La cercanía de la NGC 5195 está provocando la interacción de fuerzas gravitatorias que provocan la creación de grupos de jóvenes estrellas brillantes.

One in every hundred

Located approximately 130 million light years from Earth, NGC 4650A is one of the 100 galaxies that have rings. His unusual ring structure has not yet been fully understood. One possibility is that these rings are the remnants of a colossal collision between two galaxies sometime in the past, probably a billion years ago. The remains of one of the colliding galaxies to become a rotating disk with red stars in the center.

While this was happening another smaller galaxy which went very close, was severely damaged or destroyed. During the collision gas were the smallest launched into space and captured by the larger galaxy, forming a new ring of dust, gas and stars which orbit around the inner galaxy almost at right angles to the old disk. What is the end is what you see in the picture, a ring galaxy.

Quite active objects

The Hubble Space Telescope has taken the following photo of a nearby galaxy known as Circinus quite active. This active galaxy belongs to the class of most spirals called Seyferts, which have a compact and is believed to contain massive black holes. Seyferts galaxies are themselves part of a long list of objects called Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN by its initials in English). These have the characteristic of removing gas from the centers of their schools expelled into outer space to very high speeds.

2 comments

Bing Bang

Tuesday, 14. July 2009, 12:59:24

The Big Bang is the cosmological model of the initial conditions and subsequent development of the universe that is supported by the most comprehensive and accurate explanations from current scientific evidence and observation.[1][2] As used by cosmologists, the term Big Bang generally refers to the idea that the universe has expanded from a primordial hot and dense initial condition at some finite time in the past, and continues to expand to this day.

Georges Lemaître proposed what became known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe, although he called it his "hypothesis of the primeval atom". The framework for the model relies on Albert Einstein's general relativity and on simplifying assumptions (such as homogeneity and isotropy of space). The governing equations had been formulated by Alexander Friedmann. After Edwin Hubble discovered in 1929 that the distances to far away galaxies were generally proportional to their redshifts, as suggested by Lemaître in 1927, this observation was taken to indicate that all very distant galaxies and clusters have an apparent velocity directly away from our vantage point: the farther away, the higher the apparent velocity.[3] If the distance between galaxy clusters is increasing today, everything must have been closer together in the past. This idea has been considered in detail back in time to extreme densities and temperatures,[4][5][6] and large particle accelerators have been built to experiment on and test such conditions, resulting in significant confirmation of the theory, but these accelerators have limited capabilities to probe into such high energy regimes. Without any evidence associated with the earliest instant of the expansion, the Big Bang theory cannot and does not provide any explanation for such an initial condition; rather, it describes and explains the general evolution of the universe since that instant. The observed abundances of the light elements throughout the cosmos closely match the calculated predictions for the formation of these elements from nuclear processes in the rapidly expanding and cooling first minutes of the universe, as logically and quantitatively detailed according to Big Bang nucleosynthesis.

Fred Hoyle is credited with coining the term Big Bang during a 1949 radio broadcast. It is popularly reported that Hoyle intended this to be pejorative, but Hoyle explicitly denied this and said it was just a striking image meant to emphasize the difference between the two theories for radio listeners.[7][8] Hoyle later helped considerably in the effort to understand stellar nucleosynthesis, the nuclear pathway for building certain heavier elements from lighter ones. After the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964, and especially when its spectrum (i.e., the amount of radiation measured at each wavelength) sketched out a blackbody curve, most scientists were fairly convinced by the evidence that some Big Bang scenario must have occurred.

1 comment

Ancient Skywatchers

Monday, 6. July 2009, 20:47:23

Based on an excerpt from National Geographic, March 1990, Ancient Skywatchers
Art and text revised for web by Sharon Mooney

Pre-Columbian Americans left no definitive charts of the universe. Clues are in the iconography, ethnology and archaeology guided the reconstructions. For each of these cultures, the universe was encompassed by the sky, earth and an underworld. Each viewed celestial bodies as living beings that influenced man and could be affected by them. Each held the belief people came from the earth and dwelled in the center of the universe.

Mayan Cosmos

The universe of the Maya were centered on a tiered pyramid, and rest upon a crocodillian cosmic sea. Each quarter of the earth was associated with color, and the center of the earth was a "fifth direction". Four sacred beings supported the dome of heaven, illustrated as a two-headed dragon, which had a body as a sky band of celestial symbols. It is arched over the moon goddess, who is holding the rabbit discerned in the moon's face, and a skeletal Venus, and the sun god. Pleides, is a star cluster and a rattlesnake tail. Creation of both sun and probably the planet Venus was explained with a legend of Hero twins who vied with the Lords of Death during a series of ball games. The victorious twins became these celestial bodies.

Navajo Cosmos

The Navajo Cosmos was portrayed as a sand painting, the world view of Diné-- "the people," as Navajo referred to themselves, centering on the family hogan. The first hogan was built in the place the ancestors emerged, and travelled through three previous words before arising from a hollow reed into this "glittering" place. The four quarters of the world is characterized with color, holy mountain, time of day, and a sacred person. The rainbow god is a guardian, and the sky sparkles with constellations (the Milky Way) symbolized by a band of crosses. Young warriors carry the blue sun and white moon. Beyond the sky is a land in which the Big Wind (yellow) and Big Thunder rule.

Inca Cosmos

The king of the Inca believed he was the son of the sun, and the cosmos was centered on the Sun Temple at Cuzco, Peru. In one origin myth the Inca people came from three caves; in another myth they arose from Lake Titicaca. The straight red lines are ceques, symbolizing connections to sacred places. The major ceques formed borders of the four-quarted Inca world. The Milky Way blended into the underworld and brought dark, fertile mud to the sky upon its return, which formed patches that resemble animals, like the snake (at top) toad, tinamou bird, mother and baby llama, fox and a second tinamou. The sun is portrayed as a male god, and the moon as a female.

Original paintings by Ken Dallison, Principal Consultants; Original Article by John B. Carlson, Center for Archaeoastronomy (Maya); Trudy Griffen-Pierce, University of Arizona (Navajo); Gary Urton, Colgate University (Inca).

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exoplaneter

Monday, 29. June 2009, 03:27:48

PLANETE
which should not be
For over ten years ago found the first planets outside our own solar system. To the astronomer's surprise planets revolved not around a normal star. Instead low otippat whole planets in orbit around a lethal pulsar. These hard-torn planets have since remained something of a mystery. Then their star dukade over and became a pulsar, the fact should have taken all their planets with them in the grave. But now scientists believe that they finally found a solution to the mystery of the planets that should not exist.

In the early 1990s we did not to any other planets than our own solar system planets. But 1991 would be a historic year. Then went the concept exoplaneter namely from being science-fiction into scientific fact.
During a reconnaissance for new pulsars, the Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan namely found something he had not expected, the pulse is trilskna PSR 1257 +12.
Pulse is named after the fact that the emitting regular radio pulses. These volatile but recurrent signals sent out by the usually very short and extremely regular intervals. Pulse The striking regularity can be compared with a clock ticking, strenuous, and the fact is that the precision is quite comparable with the best atomic clocks.
However, this was not the case with the pulse is PSR 1257 +12. Small deviations in the time interval between pulses immediately aroused suspicions. It was not long before Wolszczan found that the pulse's quirky IRREGULARITY due to the two planets circle around itself.
To begin with, the many astronomers no more than skeptical about the discovery. It was, after all, a very unexpected place to find the planets. Moreover, British astronomers recently expired with the news that they have found a planet around a pulsar, a claim that they soon had to withdraw when their estimates turned out to be incorrect.
In 1994, it was however confirmed that there was not a mistake this time. The planets around PSR 1257 +12, which are both similar to Earth in size, was eminently fair. Moreover Wolszczan discovered another planet, inside the first two, which was not much bigger than Earth's moon.
Later, it has also found indications that the system has an asteroid belt. This asteroid belt would be outside the three inner planets, about the same location as the asteroid belt in our solar system.
On the whole, One could say that the planet system around pulse is PSR 1257 +12 is really pretty much like our own solar system. But with a crucial difference - instead of to revolve around a life-giving sun, so circuits planets around a pulsar, a dead star that does not spread other than the death around him.

Med rymdteleskopet Spitzers hjälp har amerikanska astronomer kunnat identifiera en stoftskiva kring pulsaren 4U 0142+61. Stoftskivan liknar de stoftskivor kring nykläckta stjärnor där planeter normalt sett föds. Detta är första gången som man kunnat hitta tecken på planetformation kring en död stjärna. Kanske har processen till och med redan startat i och med att mindre asteroider börjat ta form i stoftskivan. Hur som helst ger upptäckten oss lösningen på en över tio år gammal fråga: Hur kan det finnas planeter kring en pulsar? Bild: Nasa/JPL-Caltech

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Efter över två och ett halvt år i omloppsbana kring solen har det infraröda Spitzer-teleskopet hunnit leverera ett stort antal viktiga upptäckter. Bland annat har teleskopet kunnat lära oss en hel del om hur det går till när planeter föds ur stoftet kring unga stjärnor. Den senaste upptäckten i raden pekar nu på att liknande fenomen kan förekomma även kring avlidna stjärnor. Bild: Nasa/JPL-Caltech

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Denna sammansatta bild, skapad med hjälp av data från Hubble-teleskopet, Spitzer-teleskopet och Chandra X-ray Observatory, visar efterdyningarna av en supernova. Supernovan i fråga inträffade i stjärnbilden Cassiopeja, 10 000 ljusår bort, och spektaklet kunde beskådas från jorden för inte mer än 320 år sedan. Detta betyder att stjärnan med astronomiska mått mätt exploderade ganska nyligen, vilket gör att kvarlevorna ännu inte hunnit svalna. De heta rester som kastades ut vid explosionen lyser därför fortfarande klart. I centrum av de färgstarka spillrorna, synlig endast som en liten turkosaktig prick, ligger den neutronstjärna som lämnats kvar efter den ursprungliga stjärnans död. Bild: Nasa/JPL-Caltech/STScI/CXC/SAO

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Från utomjordingar till stupade stjärnor
Den första pulsaren upptäcktes år 1967 av de brittiska astronomerna Jocelyn Bell Burnell och Antony Hewish. Eftersom de radiopulser man tog emot från det nya objektet var så extremt regelbundna, så tvivlade man till att börja med på att pulserna uppkommit på naturlig väg. Således drog man slutsatsen att det skulle kunna röra sig om en utomjordisk civilisation.
Nu vet vi emellertid att pulsarer i själva verket är allt annat än levande. En pulsar är nämligen kvarlevorna av en död stjärna, ett kadaver som lämnats kvar efter en våldsam supernovaexplosion.
Då en större stjärna når slutet av sin livscykel går den inte ur tiden i tysthet. Om en stjärna är tillräckligt stor slutar den nämligen sina dagar med en gigantisk supernovaexplosion.
Det lilla som blir kvar av stjärnan efter explosionen kollapsar sedan under sin egen gravitation. I de mest extrema fallen bildas då ett svart hål. Om kollapsen inte är fullt så total, bildas istället en neutronstjärna, som kan sägas vara steget under ett svart hål.
En neutronstjärnas gravitation är så stark att inte ens atomer pallar att stå emot trycket. I vanliga fall består en atom mestadels av tomrum. Den har en kärna av positivt laddade protoner och neutrala neutroner, omgiven av negativa elektroner. Men mellan atomkärnan och elektronerna är det tomt. I en neutronstjärna har emellertid allt tomrum eliminerats. Atomerna har rasat samman, och alla protoner och elektroner har slagits ihop till neutroner. Allt som återstår är i princip en enda stor atomkärna, en boll av tätt packade neutroner, därför kallas den också neutronstjärna.

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Kosmiska fyrtorn
Neutronstjärnornas extremt kompakta sammansättning gör att de inte är mer än 10 till 20 kilometer stora, trots att deras massa är större än solens. Om man kunde skopa upp en tesked material ur en neutronstjärna, så skulle detta väga omkring två miljarder ton.
Den drastiska storleksminskningen gör också att neutronstjärnor roterar med oerhörd hastighet kring sin egen axel. Principen är densamma som när konståkare på isen drar in armarna till kroppen för att snurra fortare då de gör en piruett. Slutresultatet blir att den långsamma rotation som stjärnan hade då den levde, förvandlas till en rotation på flera hundra varv per sekund.
Neutronstjärnor har även våldsamt kraftiga magnetfält. Från dessa magnetfälts båda poler strömmar stora mängder strålning ut i rymden. Strålningen, som bland annat kan bestå av radiostrålning, bildar två koner som skjuter ut åt varsitt håll. Då neutronstjärnan roterar sveper dessa strålningskoner fram över himlen, ungefär som ljuskäglorna från ett fyrtorn.
Om en neutronstjärna är orienterad så att strålningskonerna under sin vilda färd genom rymden råkar passera jorden, så tar vi emot en radiosignal varje gång strålningen från neutronstjärnan träffar oss. Detta är vad vi brukar kalla en pulsar.
Eftersom mellanrummet mellan signalerna är direkt kopplat till neutronstjärnans rotationshastighet, kommer pulserna både tätt och väldigt regelbundet. Åtminstone så länge det inte finns några planeter som kan rubba den perfekta timingen.

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Ur askan i elden
Än så länge har det inte bildats några planeter kring den pulsar som Chakrabarty och hans kollegor studerat, men däremot har mindre asteroider kanske redan börjat framträda runtom i stoftskivan. Dessa asteroider är i så fall början på något helt nytt.
Med tiden kommer troligtvis en ny generation planeter att ta form kring röntgenpulsaren 4U 0142+61. Ett nytt, mer exotiskt planetsystem, liknande det som upptäcktes av Wolszczan kring pulsaren PSR 1257+12, kommer att dyka upp i det krossade planetsystemets ställe.
Planeter av det här slaget kallas ibland för Fenix-planeter, eftersom de precis som mytologins Fågel Fenix reser sig på nytt ur askan.
Men de pånyttfödda planeterna får ett allt annat än angenämt mottagande. Istället för att bada i en stjärnas ljus och värme, kommer de ständigt att bombarderas av intensiv och dödlig strålning från pulsaren.
Även om de pulsarplaneter vi känner till är stenplaneter av jämförbar storlek med jorden, så är liv i vanlig mening därför helt otänkbart på dessa planeter. Strålningen gör dem oundvikligen till fullkomligt sterila himlakroppar.
Hur det ser ut för övrigt på en pulsarplanet kan astronomerna egentligen bara gissa sig till. Eftersom en pulsar är en död stjärna, som inte längre ger ifrån sig mycket till värme, är det emellertid rimligt att anta att det är ordentligt kallt på en pulsarplanet.
En pulsar förser inte heller sina planeter med värst mycket ljus. Sedd från planeternas yta är pulsaren nämligen inte mycket mer än en prick på himlen. Däremot är det mycket möjligt att den strålning som regnar ner över planeterna ger upphov till norrskensliknande fenomen som lyser upp den annars mörka himlen på dessa djupfrysta, livlösa världar.
Den efterlängtade upptäckten av en stoftskiva kring en pulsar bevisar visserligen att de svåra förhållandena inte lyckas hindra nya planeter från att bildas, vilket är uppmuntrande, men mörkret, kylan och strålningen gör det definitivt inte lätt för dem.

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1 comment

AGROGLIFOS

Tuesday, 23. June 2009, 14:46:13

Agroglifos: What is hidden in a field?
Sixto Paz dispels doubts and explains the evolution of the phenomenon of strange geoméricas figures appeared in the camps, which started in Australia in the late'70s and today are spread all over the world.

by Sixto Paz Wells

"Faced with the constant visits by extraterrestrial ship, deny science, then hesitate and finally say: It is true! And our wisdom is behind us.
¡Centuries look down on us and watch. "
(Benjamín Solari Parravicinni, Prophecies, 1959)

At the end of the 70 first appeared in Australia or Circles Crop Circles Crop Fields. Circular tracks were on the ears of wheat, where the common pattern was that the plants appeared to be no lying down flat, spiraling toward the center of the figure. The stems of these were intact, and with greater vitality than the plants out of the figures.

At the beginning of these 80 circles began to appear on the fertile fields of southern England, in Wiltshire, Hamshire, and Salsbury, among other places, always very close to the famous megalithic monuments such as Stonehenge, Avebury and Sillbury Hill; and also very close to figures in the prehistoric landscape, in designs where there are tremendous people and horses covered with limestone, at an angle to be visible from the sky as in the case of the famous Nazca Lines. These circles were already known in the Middle Ages when it appeared in harvest season, and were called "Circles of the Fairies", as it appeared inexplicably from time to time with a strange buzz in the air. Warning people of the danger posed to someone going in these magic circles, as a prisoner could disappear and be in the world of gnomes, fairies and elves.

While at the club were three to eight meters in diameter circles gradually gave way to more complex shapes, beautiful and enigmatic, they appear one day to another, or suddenly with perfect symmetry. Have been launched a number of explanations, such as that might be the product of natural phenomena or terrestrial geomagnetism weather. This would explain some circles, but what about triangles, squares or more complex forms? And there is no way be confused with a fraud perpetrated by pranksters, as in real cases the vegetation appears affected by a strange radiation, suffering grains within the ears of the figures unexplained disorders, such as changes in the crystals of the grains.
As for the figures they always appear in fields of cereals such as wheat, barley and oats. But the phenomenon evolves, suffer with the passage of time changes in designs, from simple circles, circles within circles, circles connected with lines, Celtic crosses, up to complex and elaborate three-dimensional pictograms. Said that many planetary-like orbits, some of which have been associated with the orbits of comets such as Hale Bop and the orbits of Jupiter's moons, which could warn of danger or estarnos pointing their origin.

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One of the most important researchers in the design, and who discovered his condition message
One of the most important researchers in the design, and who discovered his condition was transcendent message of British engineer Colin Andrews. But they have also investigated in depth figures Omar Fowler, Pat Delgado and Michael Hesemann.Las figures have been increasing not only throughout Europe but also Asia and now America. They started with three figures a month, and now reach hundreds per month, with sizes up to 240 m in diameter. In some cases it has made to observe and film the moment they appear strange luminous spheres or metallic (caneplas), hovering over the area, and revising figures or trained with magnetic energy, as in fractions of a second figure is printed in the landscape. All this accompanied by a loud noise in the environment.
The Politics of Concealment
As we said many have been attempts to explain the circles that are the result of eddies of wind, magnetic forces of earth, or as the scientist said Terence Meade "plasma whirlwinds." But none of these explanations convince anyone, since there were ever more complex and elaborate shapes.

When ordered to surrender a significant portion of money on the recommendation of the British Parliament for the investigation of the subject, in the event that this is a symbolic language and geometric from probable extraterrestrial intelligence, appeared suddenly two elderly British retirees called Doug Bower and Dave Chorley Southampton, saying it took them fifteen years to the figures. The year was 1991 and, according to their statements, they had been building because they wanted to make fun of information on UFOs, and for this, what setting of the figures.

How could it be that these retired old lady in iban throughout southern England, entering the fields of other farmers, the dark night, and did not just circles, but complex figures of extraordinary beauty, some hundreds of meters to find that risk, and that farmers did not share his sense of humor?. It is very unlikely that this explanation is true, as they were asked to make an old design compared to cameras, and what you could do after endless hours of work crushing spikes, a circle was wrong and nothing else . And that was that day.

Again we have a policy of concealment, as many people heard of these elders confessed, and gave him a further investigation closed. What explanation then was that the same figures were appearing simultaneously in France, Turkey, Afghanistan, Japan and Australia?.

I had the opportunity to be several times in the south of England and contemplating Agroglifos, and really are like giant "Mandalas", ie, activators of human consciousness, a kind of patterns that trigger information recorded in the subconscious or the unconscious. Although no one knows clearly what they mean, feel inexplicable intensity representing a lot and that has to do with the moment of humanity and planetary changes. Interesting detail is that when one goes to places where they occur, feel currents of energy that would not be extraordinary that other lines of force of the planet, showing that it is no coincidence that appear on any site.
Emblematic cases

In 1996 in the town of Oliver Castle, a group of researchers that are constantly scanning the landscape, groups achieved a VCR strange luminous spheres that were circular and spiral, hovering over the wheat fields, and in fractions of a second printed the appears in the form of atom and as large. These areas appeared suddenly as if coming from another dimension, while in the air was heard a noise like metal, probably the ship that was in place but invisible to the naked eye.

In 2000 the designs were found to be a colossal figure a few hundred fifty meters from the Chilbolton radio telescope. This is part of the huge antenna-Seti Project Ozma search for extraterrestrial life, and is located in Hampshire. There, in the face of the same scientists and military appeared a design composed of concentric circles and the other side would be cut tangentially symbolizing the theory of quantum physics of the "wormholes," a sort of channels through which interdimensionales theoretically travel through time space by folding the universe. There was no doubt that there was a fraud because his clothing alone would have demanded the effort of many people for several days, which could not be hidden by the proximity to the plant sciences.

The following year in the first week of August, appeared at Milk Hill Hill design largest to date and bringing together the largest number of circles. A figure of 240 meters diameter and 409 circles in a spiral galaxy that reminds us the image of a spiral nebula in the harmony of the spheres.

Subsequently, August 17 appeared again in the vicinity of the Chilbolton radio telescope two unreleased figures. A giant face of a three-dimensional, and the other contained a coded rectangle. The face was just visible from the sky and high altitude, most curious resemblance to the Face of Sidonia, an apparent face carved in a mountain discovered by the Viking probe in 1976 in the area of Martian Sidonia.

the other figure was the response to a message sent from Earth on November 16, 1974. That year, Frank Drake's Project Ozma, using the great Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico sent a radio message in binary code to the M13 the Great Nebula of Hercules, only 24.000 light years away. And knowing that the radio waves travel at the speed of light, almost 300.000 km / sg. A message of this type take 24,000 years to go back in time and as if someone hurries up, so the answer would come to our world in 48,000 years. And who will be for that time? If we really wanted to contact extraterrestrial civilizations whose only merit was that before we start, why not look for other ways to connect. Distances are vast in space, and wanting to communicate using radio signals as it is today in the age of cellular, Internet or fax a hurry to look for signs of letting humo.No would make sense. There must be another way and in fact there is. "
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There must be a way that allows us to send a message that arrives before it is sent. Is this possible? Absolutely! Only we enter the strange and delicate field of Parapsychology or extrasensory perception.

1 comment

Rostros del Cosmos

Tuesday, 16. June 2009, 05:38:21

In the previous post to see how it should be a journey through the worlds of the Solar System, as the current space probes. Now I will go further: how could it be a journey between the stars, or better yet, one galaxy to another?

Above all it should be noted that features such a trip will be vetoed, at least for the next one hundred years (perhaps a thousand or more in the second case, or may not ever reach). But obviously this, and suppose that we acquired the technology (and also a new psychology to deal with them) to them, or better yet, we suppose an alien civilization. What do feel when you look through our bull's eye?

Vastness, emptiness, vertigo, yes. Are the stars closer to us quickly and disappear almost instantaneously? No. At least not if you travel with the technological means at our disposal, but with other more sophisticated forms of transportation, who knows, perhaps the science fiction films do not walk so misleading about how it should be a walk in the Milky Way. It is not helpful to enter into technical details about it, just imagine, so let's take some liberties.

Suppose that part of our planet (as Earth or anything else, no matter). Galactic space is extremely large: we could spend entire lives without traveling ever encounter with a star, they are indeed as tiny flecks of land between a giant ocean. Guided by technology, we could pass through our solar system, go to the interplanetary space, leaving unknown stars appear before our eyes and other never seen before, to escape the galactic plane and have a look at our galaxy from the outside, as we see a other islands of similar stars (such as NGC 1365, shown above).

Can that our galaxy is organized and divided into quadrants, sectors, sites or districts, as imagined by the writers of science fiction? Possibly. What is the policy, no longer a world in a solar system, but of an entire galaxy? How could I achieve a lasting and perpetual peace between the countless planets and civilizations, to be sure, must complete the Cosmos? Will there be a kind of galactic government to preserve stability in space and time?

Can we imagine what would be, moreover, their modes of thought, of existence? Mental systems may have advanced so that their actions have no physical reality to us, or are so subtle that it lacks the ability to detect sensory. Will religions, music, live according to moral rules, or this is excluivo heritage of mankind?

From there, will there be a stellar list of how many stars have planets with life around them and within which there are intelligent beings, as in the short story "stupid Donkeys" by Asimov? Are we about to enter it, we? You have already done, or ever will have the privilege not to respond to standards of "humanity" among us, with our brothers for showing us aggressive, vile and despicable, as could see the eyes of everyday people truly evolved?

Should we imagine they already know about us? Or, conversely, traveling between stars are difficult to perform even for them? Perhaps the physical and mental development can be faster than the technology at a certain limit, beyond which any progress is slow and gradual. Is it feasible, in order, travel between the stars?

I imagine that yes, should be. There were thousands of millions of planets, for sure. In a life has taken root, and it is enough that the evolution has brought them the intelligence and consciousness. It is logical that there are worlds where life evolved, but by the same rule can have a much greater development. And therein, perhaps, some day get the spark of ingenuity required to overcome the barriers of relativity and to make travel between a distant star everyday.

Four hundred years ago a boat trip from Spain to the New World employed several months, today we do in a few hours. Admittedly, we speak of a completely different space-time, and that the impediments of the physical limitations are very important not had the time, but what counts is that in these past centuries contemplábamos travel thousands of miles in a few hours impossible. Why can not we dream that the difficulties we see now for a journey between the stars will be resolved some day?

We need to go there, get in deep contact with the Cosmos. We are doing this on Earth, or venturing out beyond the skin, for some lucky (and wealthy) human, but that is a surface contact. We must penetrate the gap and find out what awaits us there. We need to know the unimaginable, and discover the true face of the universe. Maybe this century, which has already traveled almost a decade, give us the key to achieving this.

A fabulous collection of galaxies wild

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A fabulous collection of galaxies wild
The largest collection of images from the Hubble Space Telescope have been released to the public as a whole: 59 new images of galaxy collisions.

Galactic interactions are found throughout the Universe, sometimes as dramatic collisions that trigger the formation of stars, and other occasions are stealthy mergers that result in new galaxies.
A series of 59 new images of galactic collisions have been released for several terabytes of archive footage of the Hubble Space Telescope as a way to remember the 18th anniversary of the launch of the telescope. It is the largest collection of Hubble images released to the public simultaneously.

You can see in the Image Gallery of mergers of galaxies by Hubble

Mergers of galaxies, which were more common in the early universe that the current is thought to be the main source of cosmic evolution, turning on quasars, frenzied awakening births and explosive stellar deaths of stars. Even apparently isolated galaxies show signs in their internal structure have experienced one or more mergers in their past. Each of the several mergers in this series of images is a shot of a different instant in the long process of interaction.

Our own Milky Way contains the remains of many smaller galaxies it has encountered and devoured in the past and is currently absorbing the dwarf elliptical galaxy Saggitarius. In turn, the Milky Way appears to be part of our giant neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, resulting in an elliptical galaxy.

The pull of the Moon that produces the upward and downward oceans illustrates the nature of the tide. This force between galaxies is much more harmful for two main reasons. Firstly, stars in galaxies, are together only by force of gravity. Second, because the galaxies can pass much closer to each other, relative to their size, the Earth and Moon. The billions of stars in each galaxy interaction move individually, following the pull of gravity of all the other stars, so the tidal forces can produce the most intricate effects.
An amazing atlas of galactic interactions that produce a remarkable variety of intricate structures

3 comments

draw faces

Thursday, 11. June 2009, 06:16:21

How To Draw Faces You Can Believe!
So you think learning how to draw faces is difficult?

Wrong!
1
All faces are made up of simple shapes like anything else. Have a look at the article on using just five basic shapes to draw anything by clicking here.

In the basic steps that follow, you'll be able to draw believable faces from any angle or position, in no time at all.

When learning how to draw faces, you'll find that you can get the face to 'look right' from the start if you're aware of some standard measurements that apply to most people's faces.

1Once you realise this and practice using them, your sketches of faces will improve no end. Indeed, this is a vital first step if you want to move onto doing portraits.

Remember, practice is everything when learning how to draw faces. Copy examples from photos, newspapers and magazines or of course, you can use the examples in this tutorial.

Get as wide a range of sketches as you can of men, women, young adults, the elderly, children, racial and ethnic backgrounds and so on.

Draw faces from as many different angles and lighting conditions as possible. It's surprising how the same face can look quite different in contrasting lighting conditions.

However, one step at a time. Let's get used to drawing a 'general' face that has all the relevant bits in the right place!

Oh yes. And one other point.

The 'standard measurements' I've just mentioned are only a guideline, not an absolutely rigid formula that must be adhered to. So use them as a valuable tool. Don't become a slave to them!

1How to Draw Faces - Stage 1
All we start with is a basic oval in Sketch A. Draw this in lightly and don't worry if it's not perfectly symmetrical.

Few people have a head shape or features that are identical on both sides of their face.

And here's the first standard measurement - I'll call these SM from now on to save space.

The centre of the eyes are placed halfway down the oval - not about a third of the way as you may think. Also, the ears are attached to the head on line with the eyes.

The bottom half of the oval can now be split in two again to fix the position of the tip of the nose. The remaining space below this is also divided in two and the imaginary line here positions the mouth.

Even though Sketch B shows this with the eyes & ears, nose and mouth only very simply defined, you can see how everything 'looks right' already

1How to Draw Faces - Stage 2
Now another couple of SM's to help you. In Sketch C, the distance between the centre of the eyes and the tip of the nose invariably works out an equal-sided (equilateral) triangle.

In fact many portrait artists start with this triangle to position the eyes and nose on the canvas or paper before even constructing the head shape. Now look closely at the dotted lines that drop down from the centre of the eyes. Notice that they meet the outer edges of the mouth.

How to Draw Faces - Stage 3
Moving onto the side view of the face, you can see that in Sketch D the oval shape is still there, except that it has been tilted slightly to the right, with one side, (the jaw area) being slightly flattened.

In Sketch E another SM comes into play. People's ears tend to be further back on their head than may at first appear.

So the distance from the outer edge of eye to the back of the ear is usually the same as the distance from the eye to the chin.

1How to Draw Faces - Stage 4
Right, you now have the basic shape of your face from both the front and side views. Now comes my favorite bit when we make the head three-dimensional. Let's go back to the basic oval for a minute (Sketch F).

The dotted lines are still there but the big difference is that they have been slightly rounded.

Compare this to Sketch A to see what I mean. See what happens in Sketch F?

Even though there are no features on the face, the dotted lines on a curve give the clear impression of a rounded solid object. In this case, it's a head, but it could be a ball, an egg, a cushion or whatever.

Now add some basic features following the curved dotted lines as in Sketch G and suddenly, with no effort, you have a 3D head. It's that easy!

Again, compare Sketch G to Sketch B. Remember, the features must follow the curved lines to achieve this effect.

How to Draw Faces - Stage 5
Now that we know how to draw faces that are three-dimensional, it's only a small step to learning how to move the position of the head, both from side to side and looking at it from above and below as well.

In Sketch H I've made the dotted lines curve quite sharply upwards to the right of the head, whilst the dotted line for the centre line of the head is almost at the left hand edge.

Now as soon as I put the basic features along these lines, they are automatically positioned with the face looking downwards and to the left. In Sketch I, I've done the opposite with the dotted lines so the face is now looking upwards to the right.

The only extra mark I've added is a hint of the chin. The best way to really get to grips with this is to put your curved dotted lines in all sorts of positions on the head without at first trying to fix a facial position.

Then add the features and see which way your face is looking. You'll soon get the hang of where the curves should go for any angle at which you want your face to be set.

How to Draw Faces - Stage 6
Having achieved a 3D effect we now know how to draw faces with the head at the correct angle. Now it's time to add some shadows and highlights to create the essential character of the face.

If we go to the front-on face position as in Sketch J, you can see where some simple shadows have been created by 'hatching'. In this case, I've assumed the light is coming from the right, so most of the shadows are on the left side of the face.

Although all the shadows are important, I want you to note three areas in particular that do more than anything to suggest to the viewer that features are protruding from or set into the face.

Firstly, the shadows immediately above both eyes - even the right eye which is getting some direct light - tells us that the eyes are recessed into the eye sockets.

Second, look how the shape of the nose and the impression that it comes forward from the face, is defined by no more than the shadow on the left hand side and the flattened 'V' representing the nostrils, with a little more shadow underneath.

Thirdly, Note that the bottom lip is not always drawn in full. It often looks better if its presence is suggested by a little shadow underneath. This shadow then immediately fades away and the highlight below it tells us that this is the front of the chin protruding slightly.

1How to Draw Faces - Stage 7
Adding hair styles is very straightforward. You can be as creative as you like here, both for men and women. The examples in Sketch K give you some ideas.

How to Draw Faces - Stage 8
Finally, we bring the whole tutorial together to produce two 3D faces, complete with hair, shadows and highlights.

Let's start with the two photos of the faces we'll be using. The view of the woman is from below and to the left whilst that of the man is above from the left.

You can see from the photos how the guidelines I've super-imposed confirm what I've said about things like the eyes being half-way down the head and the tip of the nose being halfway between the eyes and the chin, etc.

From there, I've used the principles outlined earlier to create these two sketches. Although I think they're a reasonable likeness, they're only really a couple of practice sketches, designed to prove the theories I've mentioned actually work.

Notice also how I've added shading to bring out the shapes of different parts of the face. The shadows under the nose, chin, around the eyes and the bottom lip are particularly important in creating the bone structure of the subject.

1At the early stages of learning how to draw faces, don't beat yourself over the head if the exact likeness doesn't happen the first few times.

It does take practice until bringing all these ideas together starts to become automatic. A bit like learning to drive a car or a honing a golf swing.

Remember, a few quick sketches, each produced in a few minutes, will bring on your skills very quickly.

You don't need to set a whole evening to one side. In fact, sketching faces like this is not much more than creative doodling. However, it's an excellent means of developing your style and drawing confidence in small, bite-sized chunks of time.

If you've ever been stuck in a boring meeting (in my case, hundreds of them in my previous life) then the agenda papers and minutes are ideal to practice on!

With a bit of effort, you can easily produce these faces (hopefully even better!) in not much more time than it takes you to read this article. So go on - have a go and surprise yourself!

2 comments

The astonishing 3D murals painted on the sides

Sunday, 31. May 2009, 07:01:40

At first glance, it looks as if some natural disaster has shaken away the walls of these buildings to reveal architecture hidden for thousands of years.
And at second and third glance, it looks like that too.
But these spectacular images are not the unexpected result of an earthquake

Artist's impression: John Pugh hard at work. He is currently working on murals for a police station in California and a recreation centre in Calgary, Canada
He said: 'They say "wow did you see that. I thought that was real."
Public art can link people together and stimulate a sense of pride within the community.
These life-size illusions allow me to communicate with a very large audience.
It seems almost universal that people take delight in being visually tricked.'
Mail online newspapper
Off the wall: The astonishing 3D murals painted on the sides of buildings by a trompe l'oeil artist