The Italian term fascismo is derived from fascio meaning a bundle of rods. (Wikipedia) I'm a little late on the commentary here, and it really isn't Utah-specific, but I have plenty of unoriginal thoughts that, perhaps, I might put together in an appealing way. More importantly, somebody made the above cartoon for me, and it seemed like it would be a terrible waste to not air it a little. (It has been posted elsewhere, but it was made for me, and I love it.) You're welcome to share the image around if you are so inclined. My impression of Gi**ette's ad was negative from the start. I was disgusted with the extremely negative view of men in our society (ie. western masculinity), and by use of a clip from the Young Turks (a panel of radical leftist commentators). The message has often been portrayed, by those who like the ad, as a sort of "we can do better, men; look how great you can be" sort of message. That's an interesting interpretation, b
Assorted Flowers Today's blog post is a bit technical. My intention is to explain some of my thoughts on how people behave unconsciously (and sometimes even consciously). At its heart, this is about group psychology, and applying the ideas of classical conditioning . I really came to this understanding from a different direction, however; one informed more by my experience with computer science and physics than by psychology. Image by BruceBlaus . Obtained from Wikimedia Commons . To begin with, I need to describe the humble neuron . Neurons are the basic unit that makes up the brain. They are cells. By themselves, neurons are relatively simple things. The basic feature that makes neurons special is the way they link up and pass signals to one another. A typical neuron is made up of a cell body with an axon and dendrites. The axons and dendrites are basically like tentacles. Typically, the axon of one neuron will connect to one or more dendrites of other neurons. The de