All posts tagged: Speaking

Unexpected mental cycle found in both Buddhist meditation and Christian speaking in tongues

Unexpected mental cycle found in both Buddhist meditation and Christian speaking in tongues

Published by José

Two spiritual practices that appear vastly different on the surface – the quiet focus of Buddhist jhāna meditation and the emotionally expressive Christian practice of speaking in tongues – may share a common underlying mechanism for achieving deep states of joy and surrender, according to a new study published in American Journal of Human Biology. Researchers discovered that both practices seem to utilize the same mental feedback loop, which they term the “Attention, Arousal and Release Spiral,” to create profound experiences. This finding suggests a surprising commonality between seemingly disparate spiritual traditions in how humans can cultivate intense focus and emotional release. Buddhist jhāna meditation and the Christian practice of speaking in tongues are, at first glance, strikingly dissimilar. Jhāna meditation, rooted in Buddhist tradition, is characterized by seated stillness, quiet focus, and an outward appearance of profound calm. Practitioners meticulously train their attention, often focusing on the breath, to achieve deep states of absorption marked by stability, peacefulness, and even bliss. Detailed instructions within Buddhist texts guide this practice. In contrast, speaking in tongues, …

Canvassers for Elon Musk’s America PAC Were Fired and Stranded in Michigan After Speaking Out

Canvassers for Elon Musk’s America PAC Were Fired and Stranded in Michigan After Speaking Out

Published by skeptic

“Our subcontractors never should have driven their canvassers in a U-Haul van and those involved were immediately reprimanded,” Tim Pollard of Blitz Canvassing tells WIRED. On Wednesday, October 30, Muldrow and her fellow door knockers were fired hours after the publication of the WIRED story. At first, some people had trouble logging into Campaign Sidekick, the glitchy app used by America PAC for canvassing. There was confusion before they were finally told it was over: “Everyone is fired,” said Jones, who served as the door knockers’ manager, in a GroupMe chat, according to screenshots obtained by WIRED. Jones did not reply to a request for comment. Muldrow thought Jones might be joking about everyone getting fired, but some of the door knockers noticed they had been locked out of Campaign Sidekick, according to the group chat. “I called my mom immediately,” Muldrow says. “My mom told me I was overreacting because, it’s [my] cousin, so she was like, ‘Oh, maybe she’s playing a joke on you guys. Don’t take it literal.’ And my mom was …

‘So uniquely her’: where did Kamala Harris’s self-help speaking style come from? | Kamala Harris

‘So uniquely her’: where did Kamala Harris’s self-help speaking style come from? | Kamala Harris

Published by skeptic

“What can be, unburdened by what has been” is a phrase Kamala Harris uses so often there are minutes-long supercuts available to watch on YouTube. It even has its own Wikipedia page. In other speeches, Harris has also expressed a belief in “the significance of the passage of time” and a desire to “honor the women who made history throughout history”. Since becoming the presumptive nominee, Harris has invigorated the Democratic party. It’s not only that she’s a much younger candidate than Biden; she also has a stump speech style that embraces metaphor and a new age vernacular not often heard in national politics. The meme accounts love to quote it. It’s even led some to draw comparisons with Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s portrayal of Selina Meyer, the frothy politician in Veep. (In one episode, Meyer stumbles through a speech saying: “We are the United States of America because we are united … and we are states.”) Although she has proven herself to be one of the most detail-oriented and precise speakers in the Democratic party, Harris …

‘It’s the brand speaking to you’: the scent firms making smells for Subway, Abercrombie and more | Retail industry

‘It’s the brand speaking to you’: the scent firms making smells for Subway, Abercrombie and more | Retail industry

Published by skeptic

When Dallas Pratt worked at an outpost of Aesop in an outdoor shopping mall outside Chicago, one of her and her co-workers’ favorite ways of drawing in new customers was making a concoction they called “sidewalk tea”. They would put a few drops of scented lotion in a cup of hot water, and then they would pour it on to the slab of concrete outside the shop. As the water evaporated, the smell of the lotion would fill the air. “It drew people in,” Pratt tells me. “They asked questions. They spent time.” And, crucially, they bought stuff. This isn’t a novel marketing trick: stores that sell items with distinctive smells, such as perfumeries and bakeries, have been pumping smells out into streets and shopping malls probably since the beginning of retail. But starting in the 1990s, sense marketing became a more organized discipline, and now dozens of firms exist to help store owners develop distinctive custom smells. But sidewalk tea, for Pratt, was also about creating an experience: “It was about hospitality more than …

Hostess Was Lectured By A Customer For Saying ‘You Guys’ While Speaking To A Table

Hostess Was Lectured By A Customer For Saying ‘You Guys’ While Speaking To A Table

Published by skeptic

After a young hostess politely tried to send a couple off after their meal, the woman decided a lecture was in order instead. Apparently, she took offense to being acknowledged as “you guys,” a term widely and commonly used as a casual form of address. The hostess filmed herself being lectured by a customer for using the term ‘you guys.’ The host, Jade, who goes by no_one_important900 on TikTok, posted the video to share the reality of what it’s like to deal with specific customers’ bizarre complaints in the service industry, which she described as an “everyday occurrence” in the caption. In the video, Jade addressed the couple as they exited the restaurant without an ounce of attitude or disrespect. “I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your day, and I hope you guys enjoyed your meal,” Jade told the customers with a broad smile. RELATED: Woman Claims She Was Denied Service At A Restaurant Because She Was With A ‘Non-Tipping’ Friend The woman then approached Jade, placed her hand on the young woman’s …

Putin taunting the West and targets hotel housing ‘English speaking mercenaries’ | World | News

Putin taunting the West and targets hotel housing ‘English speaking mercenaries’ | World | News

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Russia used nine drones in an overnight blitz against a hotel that the Kremlin alleged housed ‘English-speaking mercenaries’. These claims of foreign fighters, which the Russians cited from their ‘underground troops,’ have not been verified. An onslaught of Iranian-made Shahed drones blew up the hotel in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. The region’s governor Vitaly Kim confirmed that the hotel was “heavily damaged” as photos emerged of firefighters attending the scene. Mr Kim said: “The enemy attacked the city with an unmanned aerial vehicle of the ‘Shahed-131/136’ type. As a result, a hotel building was heavily damaged and a fire broke out, which was quickly extinguished. There are no casualties.” It is not the first time that Russia has claimed it had targeted English-speaking mercenaries. Earlier this year, Russian strikes on hotels in Kharkiv targeted mercenaries but it was later revealed that the missiles had injured foreign journalists and local staff. The latest barrage of missiles comes as Russia continues to take strides in the war against Ukraine. Russian troops have advanced near the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka …

Google’s new ‘Speaking practice’ feature uses AI to help users improve their English skills

Google’s new ‘Speaking practice’ feature uses AI to help users improve their English skills

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Google is testing a new “Speaking practice” feature in Search that helps users improve their conversational English skills. The company told TechCrunch that the feature is available to English learners in Argentina, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Venezuela who have joined Search Labs, its program for users to experiment with early-stage Google Search experiences. The company says the goal of the experiment is to help improve a user’s English skills by getting them to take part in interactive language learning exercises powered by AI to help them use new words in everyday scenarios. Speaking practice builds on a feature that Google launched last October that is designed to help English learners improve their skills. While the feature launched last year allows English learners to practice speaking sentences in context and receive feedback on grammar and clarity, Speaking practice adds in the dimension of back and forth conversational practice. The feature was first spotted by an X user, who shared screenshots of the functionality in action. Speaking practice works by asking the user a conversational question …

Speaking to Millennial Moms’ Anxiety

Speaking to Millennial Moms’ Anxiety

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‘Everyone but Myself’ by Julie Chavez Source: Zibby Books, used with permission While postpartum depression and anxiety are becoming more well-known and understood, many mothers struggle with anxiety and depression later on in their parenting journey, often due to burnout from trying to do it all with so little support. Balancing career obligations, growing children, and a wide range of emotions that often get neglected can trigger an overwhelming mental health crisis in some moms. In author Julie Chavez’s case, debilitating panic attacks stopped her in her tracks, waving a red flag that her mental health was suffering in the midst of what her therapist described as a “mid-mom crisis.” Chavez is not alone. In fact, one study found an increase in generational rates of persistent generalized anxiety disorders and a range of less persistent disorders in millennial moms (Najman et al., 2021). While it is not clear whether this finding reflects actual changes in symptom levels over a generation or whether there has been a generational change in the recognition of and willingness to …

His story inspired ‘Hotel Rwanda.’ Now he’s speaking out against the government

His story inspired ‘Hotel Rwanda.’ Now he’s speaking out against the government

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Paul Rusesabagina in 2019. Nicolas Maeterlinck/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Nicolas Maeterlinck/AFP via Getty Images Paul Rusesabagina in 2019. Nicolas Maeterlinck/AFP via Getty Images From April to July 1994, the world watched as genocide unfolded in Rwanda. A million people died as neighbors brutally attacked their neighbors with clubs and machetes. Thirty years later, the horror of the Rwandan genocide endures, but so does the humanity and bravery of Paul Rusesabagina, whose story that was captured in the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda. The real Rusesabagina recounted some of the details when he talked to All Things Considered host Juana Summers recently from his home in San Antonio. “I happened to be a hotelier in 1994, and I had 1,268 people who happened to come to hide in my hotel — Hutus and Tutsis. And none of them was killed. None of them was beaten in the hotel from the beginning to the end,” he said. The trailer for Hotel Rwanda. YouTube Fast-forward to present day and Rusesabagina’s story has changed drastically. He …

Apple workers are speaking up in solidarity with Palestine

Apple workers are speaking up in solidarity with Palestine

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Nearly 400 Apple workers have signed an open letter asking for Apple executives to “end their silence” on Palestinian suffering amid the war on Gaza. The group also alleged that employees who have expressed solidarity with Palestine have been “actioned against” or “wrongfully terminated.” The letter, addressed to CEO Tim Cook and members of Apple leadership, was published by a group called Apples 4 Ceasefire, which includes hundreds of Apple employees, past and present. They stated that Cook had addressed “the loss of innocent Israeli lives” following the Oct. 7 attacks, but that Apple leadership has failed to acknowledge the violence against Palestinians in the days and months following. The daily death rate of Palestinian civilians in Gaza is higher than any other major conflict in the twenty-first century, with over 33,000 known casualties including 13,000 children. Apples 4 Ceasefire began their movement last week on social media and with the publication of the letter. The signatories range from retail workers to technical experts to operations specialists, working at Apple branches and offices globally: current …