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nevver:

It’s Adult Fun, Martin Klasch

"For Orwellian Government Statement of the Month, allow me to nominate this gem from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who warned that “the demilitarization of Europe — where large swaths of the general public and political class are averse to military force and the risks that go with it [is] … an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st.” So according to our Secretary of Defense — itself an Orwellian title at this point — the greatest danger to peace (not to mention America’s ability to rule the world through mass invasions and occupations) is a desire on the part of Europeans to avoid war."

Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com (via shorterexcerpts)

satinsheets:

(via boxupallthebutterflies)

"I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim."

Frida Kahlo (via lettingoffthehappiness) (via opomegranateee) (via supernovasidra) (via eightsixteen) (via shynessisnice) (via absurdlakefront)

"Why is mental illness so closely associated with creativity? Andreasen argues that depression is intertwined with a “cognitive style” that makes people more likely to produce successful works of art. In the creative process, Andreasen says, “one of the most important qualities is persistence.” Based on the Iowa sample, Andreasen found that “successful writers are like prizefighters who keep on getting hit but won’t go down. They’ll stick with it until it’s right.” While Andreasen acknowledges the burden of mental illness — she quotes Robert Lowell on depression not being a “gift of the Muse” and describes his reliance on lithium to escape the pain — she argues that many forms of creativity benefit from the relentless focus it makes possible. “Unfortunately, this type of thinking is often inseparable from the suffering,” she says. “If you’re at the cutting edge, then you’re going to bleed."

Depression’s Upside - NYTimes.com

Hm. If I had a choice, I honestly think I’d opt to be an happy accountant over being a creative chronic depressive. But I suppose that I don’t.

(via jeanhannah)

(via shorterexcerpts)

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summersnows:

allcreatures:

A male Sundaland clouded leopard – only recently caught on camera for the first time – stalks the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Borneo. It has only been listed as a distinct species since 2008 Photograph: HO/Reuters. (via guardian.co.uk)

peterkay:

homocomix:

sugaronastick:

(via jesusislove)

^_*

Kyrie Eleison!!!

siddman:

(via jonwithabullet)

siddman:

(via jonwithabullet)

Study: Liberalism and atheism linked to higher IQ →

joemuto:

I don’t need a study to tell me that I’m smarter than conservatives and religious people, but here’s one anyway:

Political, religious and sexual behaviors may be reflections of intelligence, a new study finds.

Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on these behaviors with IQ from a large national U.S. sample and found that, on average, people who identified as liberal and atheist had higher IQs. This applied also to sexual exclusivity in men, but not in women. The findings will be published in the March 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly.

The IQ differences, while statistically significant, are not stunning — on the order of 6 to 11 points — and the data should not be used to stereotype or make assumptions about people, experts say. But they show how certain patterns of identifying with particular ideologies develop, and how some people’s behaviors come to be.

The reasoning is that sexual exclusivity in men, liberalism and atheism all go against what would be expected given humans’ evolutionary past. In other words, none of these traits would have benefited our early human ancestors, but higher intelligence may be associated with them.

“The adoption of some evolutionarily novel ideas makes some sense in terms of moving the species forward,” said George Washington University leadership professor James Bailey, who was not involved in the study. “It also makes perfect sense that more intelligent people — people with, sort of, more intellectual firepower — are likely to be the ones to do that.”

Bailey also said that these preferences may stem from a desire to show superiority or elitism, which also has to do with IQ. In fact, aligning oneself with “unconventional” philosophies such as liberalism or atheism may be “ways to communicate to everyone that you’re pretty smart,” he said.

Uh oh… That last paragraph actually hits a little close to home…

(via gatekeeper)

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