i grew up with a pretty gnarly scoliosis. Body language that wasn't strained or uncomfortable was nearly impossible.
Most of us have distortion in our spines that effects who we are, how we move, and how we present. Perhaps you do not, but ignoring the physical realities of the species to pretend that how we are perceived is mostly a conscious choice, is understating the matter.


>> ^draak13:

Dude...this is what happens when physicists think they're neurologists.
You should write up a proposal on that fiend of gravity idea and send it in to NIH. You could propose an experiment to replace the actual science, real observations, and real experimental work that she went through. You could describe how the solitons traveling down the neural pathway are intercepted by the higgs field, causing the altered hormone levels and improvements in interview scores that she observed. You could then go on to say how all of that was not an idea worth spreading, because surely nobody would benefit from performing better in interviews and presentations.
Come off it, man. This was the best TED I've ever heard, and everyone who listened to it, except for you, is a better person for it.
>> ^criticalthud:
Our neurology dictates our tendencies, which includes our structure and our posture.
Amy -a good try from a psych/freudian perspective but this is probably not an idea worth spreading.
a better idea worth spreading is that your neurological system is a pressure based, fluid system that is still trying hard to adapt to being upright, and in the process must deal with a myriad of pressure distortions within that occur as the body, over time and trauma, distorts in the field of gravity.

Dude...this is what happens when physicists think they're neurologists.

You should write up a proposal on that fiend of gravity idea and send it in to NIH. You could propose an experiment to replace the actual science, real observations, and real experimental work that she went through. You could describe how the solitons traveling down the neural pathway are intercepted by the higgs field, causing the altered hormone levels and improvements in interview scores that she observed. You could then go on to say how all of that was not an idea worth spreading, because surely nobody would benefit from performing better in interviews and presentations.

Come off it, man. This was the best TED I've ever heard, and everyone who listened to it, except for you, is a better person for it.

>> ^criticalthud:

Our neurology dictates our tendencies, which includes our structure and our posture.
Amy -a good try from a psych/freudian perspective but this is probably not an idea worth spreading.
a better idea worth spreading is that your neurological system is a pressure based, fluid system that is still trying hard to adapt to being upright, and in the process must deal with a myriad of pressure distortions within that occur as the body, over time and trauma, distorts in the field of gravity.

I used the same opener in my "impromptu" speech in 9th grade speech class. I got "posture" as my drawn topic. (Only I knew my topic.) The teacher (Mr. Reekie.. Dag) was seated in a class seat as well. I started by asking everyone to look around at each other, and particularly at how the teacher was sitting. (Horrific posture all around.)

Our neurology dictates our tendencies, which includes our structure and our posture.

Amy -a good try from a psych/freudian perspective but this is probably not an idea worth spreading.

a better idea worth spreading is that your neurological system is a pressure based, fluid system that is still trying hard to adapt to being upright, and in the process must deal with a myriad of pressure distortions within that occur as the body, over time and trauma, distorts in the field of gravity.

hpqp has a similar observation of Norway's posturing, the insult to thinking Muslims the world over, etc.

"We would like to apologize.......for having to plead with those of you....with more education and a less....."traditional" Muslim worldview....to please keep the throwback contingent of assholes and douchebags who are hopelessly developmentally disabled within your ranks....IN CHECK.....and make sure that they don't break shit or burn something or kill somebody....please...and maybe teach hem how to interpret a literary work properly and maybe not takle what their fucking mulllah says for God's own truth....Shit like that, please....Allah Akbar, & Salaam a lickem'."

>> ^ReverendTed:

Y'know...Godsmack's got one angry, misanthropic song sung in a hundred ways, and MMA is so much pointless violence and senseless posturing, but here I've watched the whole thing and can't help but toss it an upvote.


i'll take it!

Xenopus, the frog in the video and darling of laboratories everywhere, is an odd frog in that it spends almost all of it's time in the water - hence, the swimming behaviour.
I'd bet that a treefrog would assume a 'gliding' posture.
NASA, wanna take me up on my bet, and make a video?

Here's my setup: http://www.users.on.net/~jamesrod/standup.jpg

The mouse and keyboard tray is sitting on some yellow pages (who knew they would come in handy some day. I always laughed at them and said "oh look, someone has printed out a very small portion of the internet for me to throw away").

I did it because i've got bad posture and lower/upper back spasms; it appears to be helping. I do find you are constantly moving, swaying about shifting weight of your feet. Every 30 minutes or so you walk away and have a bit of a stretch or sit down for a minute.

Well see if I keep it like this in the long term.

Regards,
ZDM

Y'know...Godsmack's got one angry, misanthropic song sung in a hundred ways, and MMA is so much pointless violence and senseless posturing, but here I've watched the whole thing and can't help but toss it an upvote.

I've never personally been around gorillas but I'm almost 100% sure standing up is a bad idea. A non-threatening posture such as crouching is what I've seen most guides tell people on these gorilla sight seeing tours. Not much of an attack. He just wanted him a white woman!

Why is self defense or MMA about being a badass? Football is far more violent for example. Are people trying to look like a badass if they wear football related clothing? I don't fight for fun, I calm people down so they don't fight. You are imagining a whole story out of very little information when it comes to me and when it comes to people's fashion choices. It pays to get to know people rather than just assuming shit based on nothing.

(edit) PS. oh, and threatening people is against the law. That is where breaking the law comes in...

>> ^KnivesOut:

"Why is self defense or MMA about being a badass?" LOL look at these role models! And no, wearing football clothing isn't the same thing, because just wearing your team's jersey isn't a statement to the world that you might tackle them at any minute.
FWIW, I've seen my share of guido douchebags adorned in TAPOUT gear posturing like schoolyard bullies.
Going out in your TAPOUT hoodie is telling the world "I fight, so watch out for me." In my book, it's basically equivalent to putting martial arts patches on your jeans jacket in 1988.
So what's up, are you training to be a cage figher?>> ^swedishfriend:
Why is self defense or MMA about being a badass? Football is far more violent for example. Are people trying to look like a badass if they wear football related clothing? I don't fight for fun, I calm people down so they don't fight. You are imagining a whole story out of very little information when it comes to me and when it comes to people's fashion choices. It pays to get to know people rather than just assuming shit based on nothing.
(edit) PS. oh, and threatening people is against the law. That is where breaking the law comes in...

"Why is self defense or MMA about being a badass?" LOL look at these role models! And no, wearing football clothing isn't the same thing, because just wearing your team's jersey isn't a statement to the world that you might tackle them at any minute.

FWIW, I've seen my share of guido douchebags adorned in TAPOUT gear posturing like schoolyard bullies.

Going out in your TAPOUT hoodie is telling the world "I fight, so watch out for me." In my book, it's basically equivalent to putting martial arts patches on your jeans jacket in 1988.

So what's up, are you training to be a cage figher?>> ^swedishfriend:

Why is self defense or MMA about being a badass? Football is far more violent for example. Are people trying to look like a badass if they wear football related clothing? I don't fight for fun, I calm people down so they don't fight. You are imagining a whole story out of very little information when it comes to me and when it comes to people's fashion choices. It pays to get to know people rather than just assuming shit based on nothing.
(edit) PS. oh, and threatening people is against the law. That is where breaking the law comes in...

The very first video I ever submitted to VideoSift was a discussion by Scott Ritter and Seymour Hersh primarily about the US posture towards Iran, taped on 10/26/06. It's still available on FORA.tv, and despite everything that happened since then, it's still worth watching.

For the last 20 or so years, my family has owned a yellow-naped Green Amazon parrot. He's finicky, and very territorial around his cage. He's quite a bit larger than these Caiques, but smaller than a Macaw. When we let him out of his cage, he's not nearly this... playful. He usually just wants to hide in a corner until he feels safe enough to explore. If you handle while they're still very young, then they can be this playful. It really depends on how their raised.

In general, social animals, that is to say, animals that flock or group with animals from the same or even similar species (the birds on Telegraph Hill in SF come to mind, they're not a homogeneous flock) tend to make better pets than animals that lead solitary lives in the wild (cats, reptiles, etc). They tend to have a more defined personality, and have more capability to read social cues and take training.

The things is, birds know they're fragile - most of their bones are only paper-thin. So they posture up, get defensive and territorial around their cages. To train them, you usually have to take them out of their place of power, that is, their cage, to another space that they don't have as much familiarity or control.

The Amazon my family has kept for 20 years, as I said, is very finicky. But 20 years of trust built up has made him a little more friendly to me, at least. He tolerates my mom, and used to be outright hostile to my dad (the bird would kick grit from the bottom of his cage at him, lunge to bite at him if he got close to his cage. But I'm the only one he'll let pet him on a consistent basis, and even then, if he's in a mood he might lunge at me. He also hasn't had much training at all, and to handle him by hand is to risk getting bit HARD. No one else in the family has attempted it, and I usually get bit in the process His jaws put out a LOT of force. Usually he tries to play with my earrings or hair, but winds up chomping my ear or scalp. I don't hold it against him, he's probably trying to figure out how to climb to the top of my head. If you want to handle animals, you have to accept that getting bit or scratched will be an inevitability.

My wife's family took care of a Grey Amazon that found his way to their home about 20 years ago. You could say the bird adopted them. One of his legs was busted - he likely broke it himself to break free of what chained him down, and he still managed to fly away with clipped wings. Most birds keep their beak ground and well-kept, but he let his beak over-grow, curving to one side of his upper beak and hooking upwards in a manner that looked threatening. His cage was left open frequently so he could bop around, but usually he'd just want to climb up someone's leg all the way up to their shoulders. He was very rough around the edges, likely because of the constant pain of a disfigured leg, but eventually warmed up to me and let me scratch his head. He passed away a couple years ago, around Christmas time. He is missed.