On the 8 Spot

Nice article on trying to save someone from committing suicide. I found the don’t dos more useful than the dos.

1. Don’t say, “I know how you feel.”

“You don’t know how I feel,” Moore says. “Even if you’ve been suicidal, you don’t know how I feel, because everyone’s situation is different.”

Sharing your own experiences of psychological distress isn’t helpful, either, she says.

“The last thing anyone in that situation wants to hear is someone else’s story,” she says.

2. Don’t say, “Just snap out of it.”

If they could, they would.

3. Don’t say, “There was an earthquake in Haiti. Your situation isn’t that bad.”

You might think you’re encouraging your depressed friend to realize how fortunate he or she is, but you’re probably not succeeding, Rappaport says.

“The idea of counting your blessings does help, but it’s hard to hear,” she says. “It can feel like you’re diminishing the psychic pain someone is in.”

via How to save a friend from the brink | ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

Hey Jude Times Square Subway Station from 39forks on Vimeo.

If the various churches don’t get their act together we are going to have a century that is defined with tension between religous groups and between theist and non-theist. I ‘ve said this before but I feel that the line is about even that religions of any kind would one day be treated as simple organizations such as corporations and non-profits, and religiosity of any kind would be viewed more as a mental disability like alcoholism , or any form of substance abuse.

Neurosurgical patients get closer to God

Category: Neuroscience • Religion
Posted on: February 27, 2010 3:58 PM, by Mo

REMOVAL of specific parts of the brain can induce increases in a personality trait which predisposes people to spirituality, according to a new clinical study by Italian researchers. The new research, published earlier this month in the journal Neuron, provides evidence that some brain structures are associated with spiritual thinking and feelings, and hints at individual differences that might make some people more prone than others to spirituality.

via ScienceBlogs.com here

Wow. this was really really frank. Pass Healthcare Reform NOW!!!!

Harry Gives ‘Em Hell

Wow. Harry Reid’s letter to Mitch McConnell.

As you know, the vast majority of bills developed through reconciliation were passed by Republican Congresses and signed into law by Republican Presidents – including President Bush’s massive, budget-busting tax breaks for multi-millionaires. Given this history, one might conclude that Republicans believe a majority vote is sufficient to increase the deficit and benefit the super-rich, but not to reduce the deficit and benefit the middle class. Alternatively, perhaps Republicans believe a majority vote is appropriate only when Republicans are in the majority. Either way, we disagree.

As Ezra says, this can be summed up as: Reconcile this.

found this web comic through bea. found this nice!!!

http://www.darcomic.org/2004/07/30/mischas-flower/

See the pic here

Express Your Soul
I believe two truths to be self-evident:

1. We have a soul.
2. That soul needs to be expressed.

And before we die, # 2 needs to be taken care of.

Yes, it’s easier to pretend that #1 & #2 don’t matter, that they’re both untrue, that somehow status and “stuff” will fill the void.

It’s a very expensive mistake to make… I’m very lucky, most of my readers and customers don’t make this mistake very often.

Read the whole list here  http://littlemiss.tumblr.com/post/431613368/how-to-get-inside-a-guys-mind.

1. He Says: “We should hang out sometime.”
He Means: “I’m afraid you’ll say ‘no’ if I ask you out.”
Of course, actions speak louder than words. Find out if he’s hitting on you by decoding his body language.

8. He Says: “That’s not what I meant.”
He Means: “That’s totally what I meant, but now that I see you’re mad, I wish I hadn’t said it out loud.”

9. He Says: “It’s fine.”
He Means: “It’s not actually fine, but I’m in no mood to discuss it.”

from here http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-introverts-corner/201003/the-solo-team-player ::

The take-home I’m working towards here is more of a take-to-work, since it can apply to succeeding in our jobs In our culture, we are often exhorted to be a “team player”–and that often implies face-to-face collaboration. But being a team player can mean different things for different people. If we require solitude to reach flow, and I think we do, then we are justified in asserting our need for enough space to formulate our ideas and therefore contribute most effectively to the team’s common goals.

A number of people here have commented on how much they hate team-building exercises. Perhaps our extroverted culture has a too-narrow definition of what working as a team means. What would a team-building exercise look like that takes into account the needs and strengths of both extroverts and introverts?

I so so so so so so so so so so so LOVE this song.

Jon Brion writes songs so well suited to the music in a lyrical sense primarily but the song is really a song.  not a tune with slapped on lyrics, or poetry pretending to be a song.

Makes one wonder how jon brion composes. does he do it while or after watching a film. does the words come first?

I so love this verse. It’s sooo true.  I feel that the reason I liked Punch Drunk Love sooo much is that I see myself in Adam Sandler’s character.

You’ve gotta hope that there’s someone for you
As strange as you are
Who can cope with the things that you do
Without trying too hard

Here We Go

You’ve gotta hope that there’s someone for you
As strange as you are
Who can cope with the things that you do
Without trying too hard

Because you can bend the truth
Until it’s suiting you
These things that you’re wrapping all around you
You never know what they will amount to
And your life is just going on without you
It’s the end of the things you know
Here we go

You’ve gotta know that there’s more to this world
Than what you have seen
Because we all have a limited view
Of what we can be

As we move along with our blinders on
Each one of us feels a little stranded
And you can’t explain or understand it
Each one of us on a different planet
And amidst all the to and fro
Someone can say hello
Here we go

The feeling that someone really gets you
It’s something that no one should object to
It could happen today
So I suggest you skip your habit of laying low
It’s the end of the things you know
Here we go

Because someone can say “Hello,
You old so and so, here we go”

things to ponder…. hmm mismo???

The woman who was apparently selectively hard to get, i.e. easy for you but hard for everyone else was the runaway winner for the men. Not only that but men thought the selectively hard to get woman would have all the advantages of the easy to get woman with none of the drawbacks of the hard to get woman. They thought she would be popular, warm and easygoing, but not demanding and difficult.

via Does Playing Hard to Get Work? | PsyBlog.