The Tell Live
The Tell – Live is Sparky’s Alternative News section and has come online to help us bear witness and consider our place in the ‘bigger picture’. We seek here to identify fact and real evidence despite the misinformation and distracting and damaging sensationalism that abounds.
An effort to find original sources amongst so many games of ‘chinese whispers’ that distort, distract and twist important truths, messages and public opinion.
The way it is Sparky presents a timely curation depicting the state of humanity, as witnessed by our editors, contributing writers, thinkers, designers and scientists, et al, referenced on the web, trusted media sources and scientific research and theory..
The Power of Suggestion
Whether we like it or not we are influenced by what those around us say and do, and what Google and YouTube et al, TV advertising and podcasting, device-driven social media, or even a trip to the supermarket will ‘present’ to us, it is almost continuous. It has become hard to tell truth from deceit, or fact from fiction, amidst the abuse of our ‘freedom of speech’ and overwhelming and daily news coverage and competitive, invasive delivery.
As human nature becomes even more manipulatable and events that influence our perception of life in our societies are occurring daily – the first steps in how to recognise misinformation or disruptive statement and misleading opinion are straightforward enough (1. Be more aware) it can be detrimental to allow or depend on the ‘AI’s to provide fact-checked news, well-balanced analysis, data, stats, educated opinion and proper feedback.
1. Tune in to the moment. This is good advice for just about anything. But as with so many things, awareness is required to help us identify the suggestions that are coming our way in the first place. If you are not aware of the messages you’re sending or receiving from others, it’s tough to counteract the negative suggestions you hear. So tune into what’s going on around you. Get more curious, and the suggestions that could influence you will be easier to spot. Then you can give special attention to those that are most helpful or encouraging.
2. Create a network of support. Identify the people that believe in you and stay close to them. Psychologists have shown that we are influenced by both deliberate and non-deliberate suggestions. How people talk to us—their gestures, tones, and implications—matter just as much as their words. Positive influence begets positive suggestions. Think about whom you spend the most time with, and make sure that they bring positive energy—that alone will help to create more positive outcomes in your life.
Think too about how your behavior is suggestive. When you are interacting with others (or, especially, parenting), you are making non-deliberate suggestions with your body language, attitude, and attention. These subtle suggestions can build people up and inspire them—or tear them down, all without you saying a word.
3. Maintain a flexible mindset. When we are locked into a fixed mindset we tend to take failure personally and see little opportunity for improvement. This is limiting. Better to remain open to any outcome, and when suggestions or influences come into your life, consider those that take you closer to your goals. With flexible thinking ou continue to learn, grow, and improve, and draw things into your life that will influence your progress.
4. Understand that the power of suggestion is always working. If you expect something to happen—if someone or something suggests to you a specific outcome—your expectations of that outcome play a major role in its occurrence. The expectation or suggestion alone, often unconsciously, changes your behavior and your responses to help bring into reality the outcome you are expecting
The four points on suggestion are from Polly Campbell who speaks and writes about success, resilience, and personal development. She is the author of Imperfect Spirituality.
Western Art Making
In these posts and articles we want to explore what affect art can have in our lives when we can appreciate, enjoy and see the extra value in life, with the promise that there is so much more to living and being than we can understand, ‘I feel something ….’ is the expession and experience that the artist wants to share …. * * * What drives an artist to make art. Art is a higher form of communication, closer to emotional experience than structured application and perceived reality ….. Make full screen to fully enjoy. These videos are from […]
Captured Sounds
Sparky collects ambient sounds and moods from different environments. Good for meditation or creating atmosphere – or just for the fun of it. AmbientSounds, also known as field recording or backgrounds and atmospheres noun – the relaxed ambience of the cocktail lounge: atmosphere, air, aura, climate, mood, feel, feeling, vibrations, echo, character, quality, complexion, impression, flavour, look, tone, tenor, spirit; setting, milieu, background, backdrop, frame, element; environment, conditions, circumstances, situation, context; vicinity, locality, habitat; informal vibes. Ambience and ambience are different spellings of the same word, referring to the special atmosphere or mood of a particular environment. While some dictionaries list ambience as the standard spelling, the ambience is far more common in all main 21st-century varieties of English. It’s worth noting, though, that ambience tends to take precedence in contexts relating to art and design, but this is by no means […]
Letter from Alaska II
“One good man in a hundred is a freak, a man lit up by a light from within. The other ninety-nine are just what the social order makes them”. - George Russell This is another excerpt from an upcoming book of letters from Arnold Marsh 1890 to 1977, this one to his sister Sylvia. It's wartime (WWI) and Arnold speaks about England, America and the Social Order - strange comparisons can be made and social ethics and social conscience are still needing our 'global' attention, one hundred years later our problems have gotten far worse instead of far better. ___________ Juneau | […]
Godspeed Stephen
Godspeed Stephen Professor Stephen Hawking (1942 – 2018). Widely regarded as one of the world’s most brilliant minds, Stephen Hawking, who died this week at the age of 76, was known throughout the world for his contributions to science, his books, his television appearances, his lectures and through biographical films. He leaves three children and three grandchildren. All of us at Cambridge University will miss him greatly. Published by Cambridge University on YouTube Mar 13, 2018
Big Think – Think Big
SURPRISING SCIENCE – PERSONAL GROWTH – MIND & BRAIN – SEX & RELATIONSHIPS – TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION – CULTURE & RELIGION – POLITICS & CURRENT AFFAIRS
On Being Podcasts
On Being is a Peabody Award-winning public radio conversation and podcast, a Webby Award-winning website and online exploration, a publisher and public event convener. On Being opens up the animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live? We explore these questions in their richness and complexity in 21st-century lives and endeavors. We pursue wisdom and moral imagination as much as knowledge; we esteem nuance and poetry as much as fact. SaveSave
Millennials Observed
Making Sense: Were you born in the last 30 years or so – Listen up! Excerpt of Simon Sinek from an episode of Inside Quest. 15 minutes worth watching and 27 million plus views on Twitter, and over 7 million on YouTube. http://www.insidequest.com/ This clip published on YouTube Oct 29, 2016 Millennials From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Generations – Lost Generation – G.I. Generation – Silent Generation – Baby boomers – Generation X – Millennials – Generation Z • Millennials (also known as Generation Y) are the demographiccohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends. Demographers and researchers […]
The Age of Stupid
Emotional Hygiene
How to practice emotional hygiene | Guy Winch | TEDxLinnaeusUniversity • This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. We have medicine cabinets for common physical injuries like cuts and colds but no toolkits for common psychological injuries such as failure, rejection, guilt, and loss. In his inspirational talk, Guy Winch tells us that “you can’t treat a psychological wound if you don’t know you’re injured”. Guy teaches us a lesson on why it is so important to practice emotional hygiene. Guy Winch PhD is a psychologist, speaker, and author whose books have […]
The Theory of Beauty
TED collaborates with animator Andrew Park to illustrate Denis Dutton’s provocative theory on beauty — that art, music and other beautiful things, far from being simply “in the eye of the beholder,” are a core part of human nature with deep evolutionary origins. • Uploaded on YouTube Nov 16, 2010
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot with English & Arabic Subtitles • Waiting for Godot (/ˈɡɒdoʊ/ god-oh[1]) is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait for the arrival of someone named Godot who never arrives, and while waiting they engage in a variety of discussions and encounter three other characters.[2] Waiting for Godot is Beckett’s translation of his own original French play, En attendant Godot, and is subtitled (in English only) “a tragicomedy in two acts”.[3] The original French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949.[4] The premiere was on 5 January 1953 […]
Education for Change
In this talk from RSA Animate, Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools’ dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. An important, timely talk for parents and teachers. This RSA Animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA’s Benjamin Franklin award. The RSA is a 258 year-old charity devoted to driving social progress and spreading world-changing ideas. Follow the RSA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RSAEvents Like the RSA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rsaeventsoff… Listen to RSA podcasts: https://soundcloud.com/the_rsa See RSA Events behind the […]
The Responsibility of Intellectuals
Noam Chomsky (Credit: Getty/William B. Plowman) – Noam Chomsky’s Essay – February 23, 1967 • Noam Chomsky’s “Responsibility of Intellectuals” after 50 years: It’s an even heavier responsibility now Written amid rising opposition to the Vietnam War, Chomsky’s greatest essay has added resonance in the age of Trump TOPICS: 1960S, DONALD TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP RESISTANCE, FOREIGN POLICY, GEORGE W. BUSH, IRAQ WAR, LEFTISTS, NOAM CHOMSKY, THE LEFT, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY, VIETNAM WAR, POLITICS NEWS • There are determining events, especially when we’re young and formulating our sense of the world: Times when we learn how to take ourselves, where to stand, how to move forward in a fresh way. For me, a key moment was […]
Ai Weiwei • Sunflower Seeds
Ai Weiwei • Sunflower SeedsFour years ago Ai Weiwei, a leading conceptual artist, exiled from and at one point imprisoned in China, for being an outspoken social commentator, installed an exhibit in the Tate Modern by carpeting the Turbine Hall with millions of porcelain sunflower seeds, each one intricately painted by hand by 1600 artisans.In this film he talks about his motivation, and goes back to the Chinese city of Jingdezhen to meet with some of the people who created the seeds for him._________from TatePLUS on Vimeo - 2013
The Original Christians
A fresco inside the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome, November 2013. The catacomb was used for Christian burials from the late 2nd through the 4th century CE. Photo by Reuters/Max Rossi Christians were strangers The Roman empire became Christian during the fifth century CE. At the century’s start, Christians were – at most – a substantial minority of the population. By its end, Christians (or nominal Christians) indisputably constituted a majority in the empire. Tellingly, at the beginning of the century, the imperial government launched the only sustained and concerted effort to suppress Christianity in ancient history – and yet by […]
Start with the Why
Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership — starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers ... https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action•Simon Sinek recommendsThe leadership expert shares books and films that illuminate the qualities that make a great leader — and tips on how you can become one. Man’s Search for MeaningViktor E. FranklBeacon Press, 2006This is essential reading for anyone interested in the topic of purpose. Because Frankl’s personal experience was so extreme, the lessons are that much more stark. And, most importantly, his lessons are universally applicable to […]
The Great Dictator
Are you safe online?
For more like this subscribe to the Open University channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXsH… For more like this subscribe to the Open University channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXsH… Are you a safe sharer or a menace to society? Take the test now: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science… — DESCRIPTION Oversharing on the internet can be hazardous. This animation from the fictional Ministry of Sharing outlines the dangers of sharing ‘too much information’ and how this can attract cyber criminals. Free learning from The Open University http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science… (Part 1 of 1) Transcript – http://podcast.open.ac.uk/feeds/3263_… Study free at the Open University http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science… — Study Computing and IT http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/qualifi… — Follow us on OUFreeLearning Twitter https://twitter.com/OUFreeLearning […]
Easy Joy
Happiness is habit-forming Chade-Meng Tan, a former engineer, joined Google in 2000 as employee number 107. Though he played an instrumental role in building Google’s mobile search function, among other technological feats, he’s better known for the mindfulness classes he later led for employees. The role earned him the job title of Jolly Good Fellow (Which Nobody Can Deny), which he parlayed into a mindfulness institute geared toward corporate types. • • • In his latest book, Joy on Demand, the Google veteran describes his path from someone who was “constantly miserable” to a much happier guy. How did he get there? […]
Rose Uniacke at home in London
Inside interior designer Rose Uniacke’s impeccably decorated Neo-Georgian London home.Read the full feature on NOWNESS: http://bit.ly/1QNBsao