Category Archives: Science

What is Social Media and How is it Changing our Lives?

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This article explores the extraordinary phenomenon called social media and its influence on our lives. I will give you some definitions from relevant sources, as well as my own definition, and I will highlight examples of its influence on our day to day lives. One of the arguments I am making in this article is that social media facilitates collaboration, social change and social influence.

Part I: The Definition of Social Media

In order to define what social media is, I feel it is necessary to define what it is not, due to the many misconceptions people have about it.

Social media is not defined as

  • Forums for socializing online (chit-chat, gossip, opinion, personal stories/images).
  • A place to sell your products and services to millions of people.
  • The latest fads in online communication technology. Continue reading →

Fear: a Curse Upon Me

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Rutger at the Ready by Barry Shaffer on Flickr

Rutger at the Ready by Barry Shaffer on Flickr

This is an essay about overcoming fear and anxiety using different techniques such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. The following topics are covered:

  • What is Your Worst Possible Outcome?
  • A Curse Upon Me: Fear
  • My Journey with Fear
  • Magical Thinking
  • Facing the Worst Possible Outcome
  • The Techniques:
    1. Decatastrophizing
    2. Finding the Good
  • Further Reading

What is Your Worst Possible Outcome?

We spend a lot of our time and energy doing whatever we can to avoid the worst possible outcome, but what if we embraced it instead? What if, instead of running, we turned around and looked it in the eye? What would happen if we embraced the fact that we’re going to die, and it might be cancer, it might be a heart attack and it might be a big accident? What if we make peace with the possibility that our husband or wife could very well leave us one day (yikes!), or maybe we forgot to lock the door, or here’s a big one: we could lose everything we own–to a stock market crash, a fire, or we could get fired from our job. Continue reading →

It’s Time for Accountable Content on Blogs

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Frustration, by Sybren A Stuvel

Frustration, by Sybren A Stuvel

Information Overload

We live in what is called the ‘information age’ and the world has been called the ‘Content Nation‘; people are now able to create content at rates that were truly unreachable even 20 years ago, and share that with people on the other side of the world.  It’s amazing–and very overwhelming.  Pete Cashmore (of Mashable) predicted that ‘content curation’–organization and sharing of the ‘best’ content online–would be one of the biggest web trends of 2010. Continue reading →

The single biggest predictor of obesity is low income

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This evening I watched the documentary, Food, Inc., which exposes huge flaws in our food system and explains why unhealthy food is cheaper than healthy food (see this in-depth post).

Fast Food for Fast Living, by Imaging Dissent, on flickr

Somewhere near the middle of the documentary, they flashed the statement, “the largest predictor of obesity is low income” and it made a lightbulb go on in my head.  Was it true?  I immediately logged onto my university library website and did some research to confirm if there was evidence to support this theory. There is and, in fact, there is so much and it is so conclusive that it is disturbing I hadn’t heard of it before (see here for lots of links). Continue reading →

Book Review: The Story of B, by Daniel Quinn

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During my research on spiritual fiction, I was recommended to read Daniel Quinn’s books, Ishmael and The Story of B.  At my local new-and-used bookstore, Companion Book, I found a cheap copy of The Story of B and I was pleasantly surprised while reading it.  Continue reading →

Quantum Connections: Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku

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"Sierpinsky Galaxy" by ChrisDlugosz on Flickr

Michio Kaku’s book, Physics of the Impossible, has helped me to understand a subject that I thought I never would: quantum physics.  Ever since my first year of college in 1997, when my philosophy of religion instructor, Dr.Katz, talked about atoms being mysteriously connected, I wanted to understand this process and became curious about quantum mechanics.

Like many, I had avoided physics and chemistry because I found the technical aspects boring. Continue reading →