Polar bears in the Arctic near the North Pole with the USS Honolulu - Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
President Obama's hand gesturesFrom Denny: Are you right or left hand dominant? President Obama is left hand dominant and when he wants to discuss his favorite things he favors using his left hand to gesture. Left hand dominant people studiedScientists have studied the left-hand dominant like the President. Researchers discovered that left-handers tend to favor their left hand when discussing any subject of which they feel positive. Left-handers use their right hand to gesture when they feel negative about a subject. Are you a right-hand dominant? Then the results are the opposite: you use your right hand to gesture when you feel positive and your left hand when you feel negative.Researchers studied last two presidential election candidatesThis study was published in PloS ONE. Scientists studied tapes from the final American presidential debates from 2004 and 2008. They were wondering if they could spot a right or left hand bias gesture from the candidates. A curious fact here: in the 2004 election both candidates were right hand dominant. In the 2008 election both candidates were left hand dominant.We talk with our handsYou know what they say, "Americans talk with their hands, especially politicians - and angry women." Politicians unconsciously telegraphed their true feelings by use of their hand gestures. An interesting observation from this study about candidate Obama was that when he spoke about health care passionately he used his left hand to gesture, indicating he felt positive about the subject. When talking about the Iraq War he gestured with his right hand, indicating he felt negative about the subject.President George Bush is right hand dominant. When he felt positive about a subject he favored his right hand. When he felt negative about a subject he favored his left hand.Positive associations with our dominant hand, negative with our less dominant handWhat's funny about this study is that it also revealed that people tend to have negative or positive associations with which hand is dominant. If you are right-hand dominant you are more inclined to believe things on the right are "good," while anything oriented to the left like people or images are "bad." With left-hand dominant people the opposite is true.Amusing findings from volunteer studyHere's what was really amusing during the study. The study volunteers were shown a drawing. In this drawing was a group of space aliens sitting side by side. The perception reached? Those who were right hand dominant concluded that those aliens on the right end of the picture were supposedly smarter, happier, more honest and more attractive than the aliens on the left side of the picture. Left hand dominant folks preferred the aliens on the left side of the picture, viewing them in the same positive light."Overall, the data support the idea that people associate good things with the side of the body they can use most fluently – dominant is fluent, and fluent is good," says the study’s lead author Daniel Casasanto of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, Netherlands."It’s a good example of how our bodies influence the way we think without our ever knowing anything about it," says Diane Halpern, a professor of psychology at Claremont McKenna College.Body language observation a handy quick lie detectorTalk about an easy quick and handy lie detector. Think of all the situations it could be used: political campaigns, a cheating spouse or your boss. The next time you get an evaluation at work, pay very close attention to their hand gestures to know their true feelings. And as far as knowing for whom to vote, well, that should be obvious now that you know their true feelings.*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates! *** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:The Social Poets - news, politicsThe Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychologyVisual Insights - photos, art, musicBeautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophyPoems From A Spiritual Heart - poetryThe Healing Waters - health newsDennys People Watching - people in the newsDennys Food and RecipesDennys Funny Quotes - humor
White House tone deaf to the Gulf residents and Dems political survivalFrom Denny: Apparently, I'm not the only one who sees politics as the driving force behind the Gulf oil spill pie charts. The political guys at the White House - yet again - have made a really bad call, both on timing and substance. When tone deaf news reports like this barf out of the White House it always has Axelrod's fingerprints on it. What does the President see in this guy?Oil spill report is bad science and just political posturingOn to the oil spill report trumpeting how there is hardly any oil left in the Gulf. This report is based on speculation "modeling and extrapolation and very generous assumptions" and that cannot be tested. People that ain't science; it's politics. How insensitive can this White House be to the Gulf residents? BP Claims Fund still empty and not paying Gulf residentsFeinberg still doesn't have a choke hold on BP, screaming "Show me the damn money!" to fill the coffers of the Claims Fund. The White House still refuses to give a date as to when the Gulf residents can expect their long awaited reimbursements. Yet, suddenly, the White House has this neatly pie-charted report all ready to go as soon as BP yells out of the bedroom how they have achieved static kill orgasm, "The cement is down the pipe!" And Axelrod declares, "OK, release the document hounds and let's put this environmental disaster to bed before the November elections."Plight of Louisiana's seafood industry Is he really that bonehead stupid to think the people of Louisiana and the Gulf coast are going to forget about this shabby treatment? Putting out a report to declare all is well in the Gulf is fantasy thinking. The fishing industry here is decimated and so is tourism as it relied heavily upon the Louisiana slogan of the state as "The Sportsman's Paradise" - a lot of deep sea fishing. The seafood fished here are mostly bottom and filter feeders like shrimp, crabs and oysters. Who is going to dine on this seafood that is ingesting the tar balls lying on the bottom of the ocean? So what if they are dispersed smaller tar balls? Tar balls are tar balls. Toxic is toxic. You can't change that reality no matter how many cute reports you feed to the media.Obama should be winning hearts and minds in Republican country instead of angering themThis disaster was Prez Obama's prime time to win some hearts and minds back into voting for Democrats in this Republican territory. Instead, all he's done is piss them off to the maximum with these delaying tactics and trust in BP's consistent outrageous lying. Why doesn't the President start yanking BP federal contracts to start getting things done on all these matters? Money talks and all the rest of the bullshit walks.From the science community criticizing this report: "This is a shaky report. The more I read it, the less satisfied I am with the thoroughness of the presentation," Florida State University oceanographer Ian MacDonald told The Associated Press. "There are sweeping assumptions here.""A lot of this is based on modeling and extrapolation and very generous assumptions,” said Samantha Joye, a marine scientist at the University of Georgia who has led some of the most important research on the Deepwater Horizon spill. “If an academic scientist put something like this out there, it would get torpedoed into a billion pieces."Gulf oil spill not 'gone' -- close to half may still lurk in GulfA White House adviser said Wednesday that the 'vast majority' of the Gulf oil spill is gone. But a summary of the report she cited leaves some questions unanswered.Gulf oil spill biggest ever, could cost BP $21 billion in finesA new estimate suggests that the Gulf oil spill blowout gushed 4.9 million barrels of oil before BP capped it, making it the largest accidental oil spill in history.Oil Spill Calculations Stir Debate on Damage - The Obama administration’s latest report on the Gulf of Mexico disaster set off a war of words Wednesday among scientists, Gulf Coast residents and political pundits about what to make of the Deepwater Horizon spill and its aftermath.Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates! *** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:The Social Poets - news, politicsThe Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychologyVisual Insights - photos, art, musicBeautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophyPoems From A Spiritual Heart - poetryThe Healing Waters - health newsDennys People Watching - people in the newsDennys Food and RecipesDennys Funny Quotes - humor
