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POPS6 Key Social Skills Obvious? Perhaps not - judging by how people often respond in social situations - where 'me' is the most important subject
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POPSToo much commitment may be unhealthy for relationships It also factors into one or more partners developing manic, obsessive (or needy) behaviors with regard to love. RCSE might place one at risk for serious mood changes after break-ups, divorce or threats to one's relationship. Identifying it during the early stages of a relationship can prevent such negative outcomes or help partners recognize that they are incompatible.
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POPSDelayed gratification and the science of self-control: "This and subsequent research has led us to believe that the ability to delay gratification for better rewards in the future is a fundamental skill in success, probably because it looks at how emotions and motivations interact with a more rational appproach to reasoning. We know what's best, but can we keep temptation at bay to reach it?" The article is a compelling exploration of this key ability and the subsequent research that has sprung up around it to help explain how we manage to keep those cheap instant hits at bay.
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POPSIn Defense of Distraction Probably the best article you will read on the subject of internet, the infoflow and attention, superb writing, and of course I totally agree with the last lines, but you will have to read all of it and reach the zen state brought to you courtesy of over-stimulation
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POPS10 Strategies for dealing with negative people My favorite is #3: “Now tell me something positive.” I'm going to try to use this one--on other people and on myself. "Right after they've finished telling you some tragic story, say to them, "now tell me a positive story". Some people have no idea how negative they’ve become. That's what they're surrounded by day in and day out so it’s just become a way of life for them. By being given the reminder, they may actually realize that being negative isn't the kind of person they want to be and may start to work on becoming more positive. Or, they may decide it's not worth telling you their horror stories because you'll ask them to think of something positive. Sob sisters (always whining, feel the world is against them, feel they're victims) will probably not find you very attractive anymore."
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POPSWhat We Need. the hell with all the division.... we need healing....we need to reconnect.... get started today, now......with the next person you see.
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POPSSense of identity What researchers are finding is that there is no single “identity spot” in the brain. Instead, the brain uses several different neural regions, working closely together, to sustain and update the identities of self and others. Learning what makes identity, researchers say, will help doctors understand how some people preserve their identities in the face of creeping dementia, and how others are sometimes able to reconstitute one.
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POPSNarcissistic People Most Likely To Emerge As Leaders It is important not to confuse narcissism with high self-esteem, she said. “A person with high self-esteem is confident and charming, but they also have a caring component and they want to develop intimacy with others,” Brunell explained. “Narcissists have an inflated view of their talents and abilities and are all about themselves. They don’t care as much about others.”
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POPSThe Paradox of Temptation "There is a saying in many addiction recovery programs that goes like this: “If you keep going to the barber shop, eventually you’ll get a haircut.” Translated that means, stay away from temptation. Hanging around saloons or chocolatiers or raves or racetracks—name your poison—just increases the odds that your self-control will fail you someday. But is this true? Does the mere availability of something tempting weaken the will to resist?"
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POPSOffended Muslim Syndrome In order to guard against OMS, health officials warn individuals who are at risk to make sure that the objective reality they are exposed to does not: * Make them aware of the outside world * Trigger curiosity about the Western notions of "logic" or "rationality" * Make life more enjoyable * Cause them to question the need for martyrdom * Have side effects such as independent thinking and longing to live as a productive individual * Create an illusion that communication with infidels is possible without hostage-taking
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POPSWhy is pleasure so suspicious? "The best sort of life, says Epicurus, is one that is free from pain in the body and from disturbance in the mind. That sounds a rather negative credo for a 21st-century devotee of the good life. Were he writing self-help books today, Epicurus would probably acknowledge that you can aim a little higher than that. He might point out in his own defence that health and peace are essential preconditions of happiness, and are easy to belittle if you are lucky enough to have them. But perhaps his most useful observation for the discerning hedonists of today, when such an intoxicating variety of gratifications are dangled before them, is a reminder of caveat emptor: "No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves."
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POPSProgrammers say the craziest things in their code With the new Google Code Search tool suddenly exposing millions of lines of previously obscure code to the public, I decided to try to find the most embarrassing comments possible that are now out in the open for all to see. Even knowing what types of comments developers leave in their code, I was still a bit mortified to find out just what shameful secrets Google has exposed overnight. (And you should see the R-rated examples.) One blogger compared Google Code Search to reading the great "bathroom wall" of programming. Feel dirty? embryo-0.9.0/src/bin/embryo_main.c 3: /* This is ugly code! don't look at it please! i am embarrassed! i need to */ /* cleanit up! */
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POPSWhy Google bought reCAPTCHA (you'll never guess this) I had no idea that the collective entries people made were self - validating and educating computers on what the letters were...that makes reCAPTCHA about 100x more innovative than i ever realized it to be. For anyone who doesn't know, ReCAPTCHA is the thing you have probably seen many times when you sign up for a new service - when you're asked to enter the scribbled letters in a box.
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POPSWhy White People Are Afraid I think this is what's fueling the dramatic increase in the right wing fear, fear mongering, chicken little clips lately. I seems like the internet version of the red faced little man that almost had a stroke at the mccain rally. FEAR is the fuel behind that. FEAR of retribution. FEAR of loss. I can't help but chuckle at these cowards.