disturbing truths

add this one to the list:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071015/lf_nm_life/gossip_power_dc;_ylt=AokojhY1SPHNhhAPvOD5d04DW7oF

Gossip more powerful than truth, researchers say

By Michael KahnMon Oct 15, 5:01 PM ET

Gossip is more powerful than truth, a study showed on Monday, suggesting people believe what they hear through the grapevine even if they have evidence to the contrary.

Researchers, testing students using a computer game, also found gossip played an important role when people make decisions, said Ralf Sommerfeld, an evolutionary biologist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, who led the study.

"We show that gossip has a strong influence... even when participants have access to the original information as well as gossip about the same information," the researchers wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Thus, it is evident that gossip has a strong manipulative potential."

In the study, the researchers gave the students money and allowed them to give it to others in a series of rounds. The students also wrote notes about how others played the game that everyone could review.

Students tended to give less money to people described as "nasty misers" or "scrooges" and more to those depicted as "generous players" or "social players," Sommerfeld said.

"People only saw the gossip, not the past decisions," he said in a telephone interview. "People really reacted on it."

The researchers then took the game a step further and showed the students the actual decisions people had made. But they also supplied false gossip that contradicted that evidence.

In these cases, the students based their decisions to award money on the gossip, rather than the hard evidence, showing such information is a powerful tool, Sommerfeld said.

"Rationally if you know what the people did, you should care, but they still listened to what others said," he said.

"They even reacted on it if they knew better."

Researchers have long used similar games to study how people cooperate and the impact of gossip in groups. Scientists define gossip as social information spread about a person who is not present, Sommerfeld said.

In evolutionary terms, gossip can be an important tool for people to acquire information about others' reputations or navigate through social networks at work and in their everyday lives, the study said.

One example could be using gossip to learn that a potential mate had cheated on others, something which could make that person an undesirable match, Sommerfeld said.

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Earth Action at home with sick ones

Home with 2 sick little ones today (pink eye and ear infection) so enjoying the chance to be with and watch them grow together. Took a moment to put some love into Lena's baby journal. Been wondering about how to tell her about these last few months, but today it was clear. She is wonderous and wonderful and pure loving joy, so what more would I write?


I love this journal - it goes well with Earth Action Blog Day what with all the berry picking and leaf raking, stick gathering and the hanging of the linens on the line. A wonderful artist (Nikki McClure) who chooses to pay homage to this place we call home with images of the work we do here for the bounty we receive. Especially thoughtful baby journal in that it allows free form jottings instead of the pointed questions typical of such books. It prompts for all the warm activities that we naturally do to celebrate our earthly presence. And the simplicity of the cut paper lines reflects her attraction to the basic good in life. A baby shower recommendation for your earthy friends~
http://www.buyolympia.com/q/Item=first1000days

browser friendly

so, who doesn't love window shopping. . .

Stumbled on to this, oh library lovers. http://bookstoretourism.blogspot.com/

Have to think, what with ACPL's niches and Hyde Bros, we have the makings for a really swell tour right here.

Still, to see what else is out there! Reminds me of a great audiobook I listened to in the spring: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Read quite dramatically by some Brits who fully capture the damp of the countryside and really the whole book plot is just captivating. Must look into working in books. . . .

Really?

"But, you did nothing wrong."~ a loving coworker offered me this gem on Thurs when I started pointing at the differences between grief, grieving and mourning. I sort of want to believe her.

But a large part of me still retraces my steps, looking again for where it fell apart. I know from all of the fine examples of upstanding citizenry around me that life goes on. I will sleep again.

For now, add blogging to the list of what to do when you can't sleep at 2 am.

Also, big thanks to the 2.0 genuises. And who knew, spilling your guts to the world could help?

HOLY COW!

In case you all missed this in the news, thought you might get as much enjoyment out of those thighs as I do. MMmmm good! What a chub! And a 10 pounder was my upper limit! LOL, this baby could eat Lena (and judging by those thighs, has already started nibbling her big sis too!) Mmm, much love out to sweet cheeks.

Checkout the caption:
REFILE - CORRECTING MOTHER'S FAMILY NAME Baby girl Nadia, who weighed 7.75 kg (17.1 lbs) after birth, is seen in a maternity ward in the Siberian city of Barnaul September 26, 2007. One Siberian mother has done more than her fair share to heal Russia's dire population decline. Tatyana Khalina shocked her husband by giving birth to a 7.75 kg (17.1 lbs) baby girl this month, her 12th child. Picture taken September 26, 2007. REUTERS/Andrey Kasprishin

Eventually

i will stop thinking of them altogether.

Wow, so my friend Jon Frinke and I were discussing Shaun Tan's beautifully amazing new book The Arrival and its potential Printz worthiness, though, in fact, it is a wordless story. . . when our conversation stumbled onto an old Chicago acquaintance of his, Wesley Willis. It seems Jon was one of the thousands? who on occasion lined up for the ceremonial head bang blessings. See more here.

It truly is a beautiful life and makes for some striking callouses.

Speaking of which, while dealing with an all too recent almost amicable divorce wherein he clearly moved on long before I delivered our sweet second child, I have become enamored of books on grief. Started with Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup and found her voice quite soothing, yet strong; warm and brave, as I am sure many of her wardens would say about her. Now I am into Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking and really digging it. I can relate even though he isn't dead and loves someone else, I find myself trying to think him back into my life and wanting the future I thought we were having. Make sense? Well, to Didion, perhaps. I feel like the last reader on the planet to get to this one, but hey, all in due time (and seemingly without warning but strong foreshadowing).

Well, I am looking forward to Amy Cohen's The Late Bloomer's Revolution. My dear friend has that now and I can see that soon I will seize the day and love the fact that the father of my children left me for his assitant while I was still post partum. Ah, here's to someday. Why not now? I'll tell you. Because every night that I have my children to tuck in, the nights when they are not staying in my big beautiful old warm house, with their strong, handsome daddy and his new, fresh, beautiful love, every night that I get to read their bedtime tales and snuggle them in beside me, I see his dark Italian eyes looking back at me. And that is the heart of divorce with children. The struggle to separate, the search for closure is just out of reach. Maybe not always. I see little signs of hope. But right now, it is the fall and I am remembering just how we fell together. And I am loving how we fell so hard so fast so strong once that I didn't notice who let go first.