I Want To Believe

The Internet is buzzing with the story of a new study that today's students are so gullible they will believe anything they see on the Internet, and are even willing to believe in the existence of an elusive tree octopus when shown the website for this "endangered species." (The website states it is linked to the "Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society.")

The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) is a mythical creature invented in 1998 by Lyle Zapato, but the story circulating on the Internet this week often mistakenly has it that Professor Donald J. Leu, director of the New Literacies Research Laboratory at the University of Connecticut, invented the tree octopus and designed its website to test the gullibility of today’s “digital native” students, who are known for their online savviness.

One problem with the story is that it is not news. According to the University website the experiment was done on 25 students in 2006. Dr Leu also reported on a similar experiment with 53 7th grade students and the tree octopus website at the Research Conference of the International Reading Association in Toronto, Canada in 2007.

There is nothing about new research on this topic on the New Literacies Research Laboratory website, and the information on which the current batch of stories is based is a Pearson press release, which announces a talk by Dr Leu in Texas, at which he talked about the research and its implications.

The Tree Octopus and Dog Island websites are among spoof sites included in Dr Leu’s handout: New Literacies for New Times: Preparing our Students for the 21st Century. The sites are suggested as good resources for teaching students how to work out that websites contain false or misleading information.

Dr Leu has said that students need to learn to critically evaluate what they read on the Internet, because his studies have shown that students are gullible and do believe the tree octopus story and other hoax websites, and they are unskilled in discriminating good sources of information from unreliable sources on the Internet.

Dr Leu spoke about the research at the Texas Association of School Administrators Conference at the end of January.

© 2010 PhysOrg.com

"Press release reveals journalists believe everything they see on the Internet." February 9th, 2011. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-reveals-journalists-internet.html

WARNING: Mannitol

Mannitol, the active ingredient in Aridol, acts as a bronchoconstrictor and may cause severe bronchospasm.

Bronchial challenge testing with Aridol is deliberately done for diagnostic purposes, and is conducted by persons familiar with the management of acute bronchospasm. Medications (such as short acting inhaled beta-agonist) and equipment to treat severe bronchospasm must be present in the testing area because Mannitol can cause such severe reactions. In plants, it us used to induce osmotic stress. Mannitol increases water and Na⁺ excretion, thereby decreasing extracellular fluid volume.

So what's it doing being used as a food additive? “Made from fruits” isn't really reassuring in itself because cyanide can be made from fruits and I don't want that in my dinner. “Occurs naturally in many plants” isn't comforting either because it doesn't occur in its synthetic, processed, hydrogenated form in plants (or it may well kill them).

If severe bronchospasm occurs in diagnostic testing it can be treated immediately by administration of a short acting inhaled beta-agonist, but because of this potential, Mannitol is in no way safe as a food additive.

It's now being used as a sweetener in 'diet' products and in processed foods, and as a 'piggyback' molecule to get medications across the blood brain barrier.

For those with bronchial problems already or those who have taken respiratory suppressants (e.g., alcohol, benzodiazepines, morphine, codeine & other opiates), Mannitol could cause death.

If you think you may be developing asthma, have started 'wheezing' or have more difficulty breathing than formerly, check the contents of your chewing gum.

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious, it is the true source of art, science, and friendship." - Albert Einstein

“What is a friend?

- One intelligence distributed across more than one body.” - MJN

What are you going to do with this year? What did you do with the last one?

I spent many years fully immersed in The Matrix while fully aware of what it was, for the most sensible of reasons -- to learn -- but I dropped out of it again for the most sensible of reasons -- to preserve and develop my intelligence.

This is the real difficult thing if you are unusual enough to want to explore your full potential -- you have to grow enough courage to give up your fantasy world of simulated reality, take a leap into the unknown, and step onboard the Nebuchadnezzar.

I thought that was the biggest step into the unknown I'd probably ever take, but I was wrong. Life is of course a series of steps into the unknown, and size of event is only one parameter. Duration of event is another, and it is that which currently leads me on ever further down the rabbit hole.

The unknown I am exploring now is the emergence of intelligence in life on earth; an event that's been going on for a very long time (with robust disregard for anything in its way I might add). I haven't personally witnessed all of it, but that's just fuel for curiosity.

During exploring this over the past year I have also been aware that 2010 has been one of the happiest years of my life so far. That doesn't mean that lots of shit didn't happen -far from it. It does mean that I navigated through this year's shit with relative ease, because I'm finally getting the hang of how to fly this starship mind. The joy this brings is worth every hour of practice flying time accumulated in the past, and gives me great optimism for the future. What lies there I don't know, but all ahead full.

I'm probably the sort of person your parents warned you about -- telling you to be your real self and follow your creative dreams, when what society wants is for you to do what you're told, remain dependant, and make the most insecure ones feel less anxious for a little while by making them richer.

It's all part of the business. But humans are not part of the business; we ARE the business. Your choices are about how you are going to spend this one single precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to be Mr. Anderson; society's ideal self, perpetuating the illusion that you have no personal power to deal with life's events and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste reality, enjoy it, find out the truth about what you really are and become all that you were meant to be.

Temet Nosce – Know Yourself – First of all it means accept that you are human. You don't know how long you're going to live, and you don't have a clue whether there's anything more after this bit. Imagine if this year were our last, and we were aware of that; how would we change our lives? Would we suddenly jump into being our real selves if we knew this really was our last shot at it?

I've tried out a lot of things that society promised would make me whole and fulfilled -- all the things that we are indoctrinated from preschool onward to believe will quiet the splinter of anxiety inside our minds -- but I found out from experience that The Matrix lies. It is fake. It has nothing that can satisfy real human needs in real life; nothing to give life meaning and passion and joy.

Fortunately I also did what many of you do. You do what is necessary; what intelligent people have always done. You carry your own little candle and you look out for companion lights, out there in the murky fog of confusion.

Real friendship is one of the most subversive acts of all, as far as The Matrix is concerned. If society seems hell-bent on you breaking your balls to become its ideal brainless pet citizen, turn to your allies. Resistance is not at all futile; in fact it's fun. And I'd like to take this opportunity to say 'thanks' to the many of you who have been good friends in years past and also to new ones more recently met. Consider yourselves appreciated.

So happy new year. Will you spend it slaving on The Matrix hamster wheel, or at the helm of starship mind?

We make a big noise about infringements on our freedom, our personal and civil liberties, so why should we sit back docile and take it in the balls when our right to sanity is violated?

We are all capable of lives of great joy and meaning. It's what we are meant to be.

So for 2011 I wish you everything you wish yourselves.

Be excellent to one another, and party on dudes.

AR

Linford Wood

Dec 2010

Dear and highly regarded dudes,

coming back from a stay at the UK Embassy, I'm feeling like providing you with a slight adaptation of some old british verses, written as the opening tune of a really groovy (even if a bit geeky) BBC series of the 70s (early 80s in France), called "Here Come the The Double Deckers", and following the adventures of a lighthearted "school-dodging" gang of youngsters, spending their days in a disused and elegantly customized double decker London bus.

The buoyant and mischievous spirit of these younglins will linger in my memory as one of my eternal shining beacons over the dark ocean we're sailing on. Their opening anthem-like theme has a cool touch and great lyrics that didn't require a lot of modifications to fit our own community's spirit. I warmly recommend youtubing it, of which opening credits and even some episodes are accessible, besides it is said that a DVD (with all the 17 episodes produced) should be released in October this year (and anyway, *cough* *cough*, remember there might be other means to find them...).

And it goes like this:

Get on board! Get on board!

Come and play with the neurohackers,

Take a ticket for a journey

On the neurohackers magic bus!

Ring the bell! Toot the horn!

When you ride with the neurohackers,

Fun and laughter is what we're after

On a freakin' loony neurohackers bus!

You can consider this as a token of gratitude towards the spirit of our community being applied in real life situations (from the best to the very worst...), which is what Homeworld is all about.

Have fun dudes!

PS: And never forget "The Glade"...