| Research finds that culture is key to interpreting facial expressions
The University of Alberta study reveals that in cultures where emotional control is the standard, such as Japan, focus is placed on the eyes to interpret emotions. In cultures where emotion is openly expressed, such as the United States, the focus is on the mouth to interpret emotion.
Across two studies, using computerized icons and human images, the researchers compared how people from Japanese and American cultures interpreted images, which conveyed a range of emotions.
"These findings go against the popular theory that the facial expressions of basic emotions can be universally recognized," said Dr. Takahiko Masuda a U of A professor in the Department of Psychology. "A person's culture plays a very strong role in determining how they will perceive emotions and needs to be considered when interpreting facial expression"
These cultural differences are even noticeable in computer emoticons, which are used to convey a writer's emotions over e-mail and text messaging.
What I bought - 18 April 2007
Not a bad week in the comics world, but once again I am called upon to defend the one purchase I make that makes everyone's brain hurt. Luckily, I'm up to the task! Birds of Prey #105 by Gail Simone, Nicola Scott, and Doug Hazelwood. $2.99, DC. Hmmm. I purchased this based on the recommendations of the readers, because several suggestions tied for most votes. I didn't get DMZ because I wasn't impressed with it the first time around, and I figured if I ever get curious about it I can read a trade to see if it's gotten any better. Meanwhile, I figured I would wait until next issue to read Manhunter and I couldn't find a copy of Love & Rockets. C'est la vie! I've been hearing good things about Ms. Simone's little book that could, so I figured I would give it a try.
Unwrapping Middle East youth - and failing to see what's there
BEIRUT: Amid the mass demonstrations in Lebanon in the spring of 2005, the first round of post-Saddam elections in Iraq and Kuwait giving women the right to vote, BBC producer Allegra Stratton traveled to the Middle East to tell a different story - about the preoccupations of young Arabs and the culture by which they choose to define themselves. Titled like a one-hit wonder, "Muhajababes: Meet the New Middle East, Cool, Sexy and Devout" is Stratton's first book, published in London eight months ago and a visible fixture at Beirut bookstores now. It opens with her realization that the population of the Middle East is younger and more educated than ever, but due to economic stagnation across the region, there simply aren't enough jobs to go around. In one of the many sound bites filling "Muhajababes," Stratton describes this this phenomenon as "a collective quarter-life crisis." As Stratton portrays it, "the space between the video-clipper and the veiled-again" is diminishing as popular stereotypes of both the East and West meet.
ABC Poll Finds Twice as Many Blame Culture Over Guns, But 'World ...
ABC News polling chief Gary Langer, in a posting buried on ABCNews.com, revealed that a poll taken Sunday discovered that when “asked the primary cause of gun violence, far more Americans blamed the effects of popular culture (40 percent) or the way parents raise their children (35 percent) than the availability of guns (18 percent)." ABC's World News on Monday devoted nearly two minutes to results of ABC's survey, but didn't get to that finding which shows the public does not share the media assumption that gun availability is to blame for the murders at Virginia Tech. Although George Stephanopoulos did point out how “a strong majority of Americans, 52 to 29, prefer enforcing existing laws to passing new laws," anchor Charles Gibson led with a widely-held view, how “a new ABC News poll finds 83 percent of Americans say states should do more to report mentally ill people to the federal gun sales registry." He went how to highlight that “61 percent of the people in this country say they favor stronger gun control laws, although people are split right down the middle as to whether stricter gun control laws would actually curb any kind of violence, 49 percent saying yes, 50 percent saying no." The full text of the question, as listed in the PDF of the poll results, a PDF linked at the end of Langer's summary report: “7.
Roar talent
PINK is giving me a guided tour of her tattoos. And she has a few (more than 20 at last count). To her, they're all a monument to good times and bad. There’s the frog on her foot, and the dragon that covers much of her left thigh, both of which the singer had done in Melbourne (one of her favourite places to add to her artwork). There’s the guardian angel that spreads its wings across one shoulder, the barcode she had copied from her 16-million-selling album, Missundaztood, which sits at the base of her neck and, her favourite, the quote: "What goes around, comes around" (the closest thing to a personal philosophy she lives by), which snakes around her right wrist. Her most recent inking was not a happy addition. It’s a drawing of her much-loved bulldog, Elvis, who drowned in her pool in January.
Stay order on smooching actress to travel abroad!
If you are prominent, it could cause problems. Or if you get into problems, you could become prominent. Shilpa Shetty belongs to a third category. She was already popular and became more popular because of issues. After she was humiliated on the 'Big Brother' TV reality show, she became so popular, she actually won the contest and earned millions and many more fans. Her latest claim to fame is when Holllywood actor Richard Gere kissed her at an Aids awareness program in New Delhi. Conservative cultural organizations raised slogans about whether this function was an Aids awareness function or a function to spread Aids. They lament that Shilpa has brought shame to Indian culture. A lawyer from Rajasthan has filed a case against Shilpa in this connection on various counts like kissing in a public place, degrading our culture and so on.
Gold Rush Goes Hollywood Announced By AOL
AOL announced that Gold Rush is making its return this fall, exclusively on AOL. As with the original, “Gold Rush Goes Hollywood" is co-produced by legendary TV pioneer Mark Burnett. The groundbreaking interactive game lets players turn their pop culture smarts into real gold. The original Gold Rush attracted nearly 11 million users and five blue chip sponsors. .
Early builders used local materials, common-sense design
The average modern home is constructed of materials gathered, manufactured and imported from all over the world. From space-age electronics to synthetic insulations and exotic woods from distant jungles, homebuilders have virtually unlimited construction choices. The options were much more limited for the earliest builders in the Methow. Yet with the most basic tools, they managed to construct functional shelters from locally available materials. According to Sally Portmans history of the Methow, The Smiling Country, pit houses were the first homes constructed in the valley when the Indians arrived here some 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. Pit houses were large circular, square or rectangular excavations approximately five feet deep with roofs consisting of grass mats and branches. At five feet below ground level, the earth is around 55 degrees year-round.
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