Freedom… a sweet concept. We all want to be free. But what is freedom?
An official definition says that freedom is “the state of being free, of not being imprisoned or enslaved”. My definition is a bit different.

Truly free people should be allowed to rape, loot, pillage, slaughter each other in the streets, shoot bears in national parks, take hostages, or do anything else they may want to do, without restrictions. Even with one restriction, my definition of freedom is destroyed.

Laws are maps that define the boundaries of freedom. Now if we think that America, between the federal and state levels, has enough laws so that one will need a few good years to read them all, I think it’s safe to say that the freedom is so restricted that it just ain’t freedom anymore.

The United States of America - Land of the free and home of the brave. Yeah right.

If you’re being told all your life that you’re free, it’s natural to start believing so. It’s a brainwashing process, and if in this moment you believe that you’re free, I suggest you take a second thought.

The governments were initially created to protect certain fundamental rights (freedom of speech, press, and privacy), but these days they are breaking each and every one of those rights. Continue Reading �

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I was thinking… I have learned a lot of things from many bloggers, but what have I done to thank them? E-mails and comments just aren’t enough for the amount of high quality information they’ve thought me (and not only me). So here I am, writing a top 5 list of my favorites. These are bloggers which inspire me for the better, both in my life and work.

A big “Thank you!” to all of them

1. Darren Rowse. The father of problogging. I have a lot of respect for Darren. I love what he’s doing for the blogging community, I love his articles (learned a lot from him), and I also love the writing style he has. It’s warm, comfortable and personal. I feel I can easily relate to it. I also love the fact that he’s putting a lot of soul into what he’s doing. I consider him to be my on-line father. Let’s have a big round of applause for Darren!
2. Yaro Starak. This may seem a surprising choice, but it’s motivated. He is a relatively new figure in the blogging world, and has grown really fast into a respectable blogger. He’s on my second position because the number one was already reserved for Darren… just joking. Seriously now, he occupies this position in my top because his style is much like Darren’s (warm, personal, comfortable), and also because he’s my blogging mentor (through the Blog Mastermind program). He managed to gain a lot of knowledge about the blogging field over a short period of time. Skilled, talented guy. Continue Reading �

According to Wikipedia, the handshake definition is this: a short ritual in which two people grasp their right or left hands, often accompanied by a brief shake of the grasped hands. It is initiated when the two hands touch. Handshaking is commonly done upon meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, or completing an agreement.

The purpose of a handshake is to convey trust, balance, and equality.

Many of us use it very often on a daily basis, but only a few know that a handshake holds many secrets…

For instance, handshaking can offer clues about the country provenience of a person. Handshakes differ in many cultures.

In Africa for example,a handshake is done using very little energy and can last for up to a few minutes (time used to exchange attentions and talk about their relatives). In western Africa, handshakes include ornamental gestures, such as snapping the fingers as the hands part.

The evolution of handshaking in the Afro-American population is mostly an effect of the central role played by it in the African communities.

Although the English exported this gesture in many parts of the world, in the XVII-century it was used solely for sealing agreements. Only later it became a greeting and started to spread in other countries.

The handshake is a gesture exported by the English to France, where it became known as “le handshake” (according to Theodore Zeldin, author of “The French”). Today’s french people are very attached to this gesture.

The Germans and the British tend to use handshakes very rarely, but the french shake hands multiple times daily, and so do the Russians, Italians and Spanish people.

The french handshake is a short energetic shake, while the Italian one lasts longer.

The social rules that assign who shakes who’s hand differ from country to country. If in France handshake used by both sexes, in England it is used mostly by males, and less times between females or males and females.

There are 8 types of handshakes:

1. Vice. Strong grasp of the other person’s hand. It’s often used unconsciously, but most of the times it has the intention to express power. People who want to Show that they’re not weak and inefficient as others may believe often use it as a form of compensation.
2. Dead hand. The opposite of the vice, a totally relaxed hand. The ones who employ this type of handshake don’t connect to the other person. Their attitude, just like their hand, remains passive. Often met at persons with big egos, but also at people who have to shake lots of hands. It’s also influenced by the cultural background (African handshake). Still, the dead hand is often used for other reasons: women wanting to leave the impression of languishing femininity or by strong men use to underline their power (Mike Tyson had a dead hand handshake). Continue Reading �

Music and science may seem to have nothing in common. But that’s only at the first look.
Recent neuroscientific studies show that there are very strong connections between music and science.

Here’s an interview with professor Norman M. Weinberger, Ph.D., who teaches and studies neurobiology and behavior at the University of California at Irvine.
The interview was taken by Nancy K. Dess, Ph.D., who is a professor of psychology at Occidental College and senior scientist at the American Psychological Association in Washington, D. C..

Interview source: Psychology Today

Nancy K. Dess: Is music in our genes?

Norman M. Weinberger: Music exists in every culture, and infants have excellent musical abilities that cannot be explained by learning. Mothers everywhere sing to their infants because babies understand it. Music seems to be part of our biological heritage.

NKD: So our brains evolved to process it?

NMW: Not in the sense that a particular chunk of brain is musical. It’s complex, because music has many elements–rhythm, melody and so on. For example, certain cells in the right hemisphere respond more to melody than to language.

NKD: Music’s complex representation in the brain must make it hard to study.

NMW: It does. One tack is to start with basics. For example, a fundamental aspect of music perception is recognition of a melody in different keys; each note’s meaning depends heavily on its context. In one study, we exposed animals to three simple melodies with the same middle tone. Almost every neuron responded differently to that middle tone in the different contexts. This type of research helps us find out how musical processes with deep evolutionary roots differ from those appearing later in life–culture-specific preferences, for instance.

NKD: Are sound patterns recognized innately, or are they learned?

NMW: Neurons learn to prioritize some sounds. When a tone becomes important–because it signals food, for instance–the cells’ response to that tone increases. This finding revolutionized thinking about brain organization by showing that learning is not a “higher” brain function but rather one that occurs in the sensory systems themselves.

NKD: Does musical experience shape the human brain? Continue Reading �

Is it good to gamble or play the lottery?

No! Definately not. And I will motivate my opinion.

Gambling isn’t good because there is only one winner (or maybe a few), and many players.

To enter, everybody needs to spend some money, and they all expect to win in return.

But since there’s only one winner, there are many losers - and they tend to get angry, become frustrated, depressed, and sometimes curse the ones who win… all these things are leading to even more negative effects.

Money won by gambling or playing the lottery aren’t good money because they don’t require any work. Each one of the participants dreams to get extremly rich, just by luck.

These easy-earnings lead only to some really bad things.

Gambling is a serious addiction for some. There are some gamblers who are so hooked on their vice that it can even lead them to suicide.

More, gambling fosters a “something for nothing” attitude and promotes materialism and destroys the work ethic.

The gambling’s get-rich-quick appeal is mocking capitalism’s essential values: disciplined work habits, thrift, prudence, adherence to routine, and the relationship between effort and reward. Gambling replaces these values with greed and selfishness.

Gambling is also a major cause of family neglect. Continue Reading �