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"Self-Control Relies on Glucose as a Limited Energy Source: Willpower Is More Than a Metaphor" is an interesting research published in 2007 by by Matthew T. Gailliot, Roy F. Baumeister, C. Nathan DeWall, Jon K. Maner, E. Ashby Plant, Dianne M. Tice, and Lauren E. Brewer, Brandon J. Schmeichel.
As indicated in their abstract, "their work suggests that self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source. Laboratory tests of self-control (i.e., the Stroop task, thought suppression, emotion regulation, attention control) and of social behaviors (i.e., helping behavior, coping with thoughts of death, stifling prejudice during an interracial interaction) showed that (a) acts of self-control reduced blood glucose levels, (b) low levels of blood glucose after an initial self-control task predicted poor performance on a subsequent self-control task, and (c) initial acts of self-control impaired performance on subsequent self-control tasks, but consuming a glucose drink eliminated these impairments. Self-control requires a certain amount of glucose to operate unimpaired. A single act of self-control causes glucose to drop below optimal levels, thereby impairing subsequent attempts at self-control".
Please consider that consuming sugar is not the only way to increase blood glucose levels: eating protein or complex carbohydrates offers better long-term results.
In their concluding remarks, it is stated that "It has long been known that action consumes energy. More recent evidence has indicated that some brain and cognitive processes likewise consume substantial amounts of energy—indeed, some far more than others. The "last-in, first-out rule" states that cognitive abilities that developed last ontogenetically are the first to become impaired when cognitive and physiological resources are compromised. Self-control, as a relatively advanced human capacity , was probably one of the last to develop and hence may be one of the first to suffer impairments when resources are inadequate. The present findings suggest that relatively small acts of self-control are sufficient to deplete the available supply of glucose, thereby impairing the control of thought and behavior, at least until the body can retrieve more glucose from its stores or ingest more calories. More generally, the body's variable ability to mobilize glucose may be an important determinant of people's capacity to live up to their ideals, pursue their goals, and realize their virtues".
The research is available on: http://tinyurl.com/38ktkws
We also provide a selection of comments on the research. Quoting from http://neuroanthropology.net
"Galliott et al. published a 2007 article entitled "Self Control Relies on Glucose as an Energy Source: Willpower Is More Than Self Control". Recently Vaughan at Mind Hacks and Dave at Cognitive Daily have taken up the topic with some creative posts. Vaughan writes that Resisting Temptation Is Energy Intensive, focusing on the role of attention and the prefrontal cortices. Dave posts on Practicing Self-Control Takes Real Energy, and includes a recreation of the research procedure (with video) and an informative summary. I also mentioned some of this research in a previous post on Willpower as Mental Muscle.
Diets are often marked by periods of effortful weight loss, followed by a slide back, where weight is regained. That pattern is not simply a matter of mind over matter, of willpower so we can match a cultural and cognitive ideal. It's hard for people to maintain sustained mental efforts, it costs energy, and there's little evolutionary reason to expect everybody's brains to suddenly begin cooperating with what our culture tells us we should be able to do."
Quoting from http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/03/practicing_selfcontrol_consume.php
"Research led by Roy Baumeister has found that people who've resisted eating cookies gave up sooner on a task requiring persistence compared to those who succumbed to temptation and ate the cookies. Other research has associated low blood glucose levels with poor performance on the Stroop task — another task that requires people to avoid reading. Is it literally true that the sugar in our blood fuels our ability to control our impulses?
Matthew Gailliot, along with Baumeister and six other researchers, asked 103 psychology students to fast for three hours before watching a video like the one I showed above. Half the students were told to ignore the words, while the rest weren't required to exercise any self-control. Blood glucose levels were measured before and after this task. The students exercising self-control had significantly lower glucose levels after watching the movie, while the other students did not. In another experiment, students performed the Stroop task after watching the movie. The students who had to resist reading the words performed significantly worse on the Stroop task; their lower blood glucose levels after watching the movie and avoiding reading seemed to impair performance.
In another experiment, a new group of 62 students watched the movie, again divided into groups who watched normally or controlled their attention by avoiding reading. Then everyone was offered a glass of Kool-aid lemonade. Half the lemonade was sweetened with sugar, while half was sweetened with Splenda, which does not affect blood glucose levels. Since glucose takes about 10 minutes to be absorbed by the brain, everyone was given a 10-minute distractor task, then given an 80-item Stroop task.
when the students consumed glucose, they performed just as well on the Stroop task, whether or not they had had to exercise self-control while watching the movie. But students who didn't consume any glucose performed significantly worse on the Stroop test.
Gaillot's team repeated these experiments several times, with tasks ranging from avoiding displays of racial prejudice to dealing with thoughts about death. In each case, the results supported the idea that self-control literally relies on glucose. When blood glucose is depleted, we're less able to exert self-control. The researchers say that the brain has a limited reserve amount of glucose, which allows us to handle the initial task demanding self control, whether it be watching a movie without reading accompanying text, or avoiding fattening snacks. Once that glucose supply is depleted, self control becomes much more difficult, across an array of different tasks."


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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Federal prosecutors say an undisclosed settlement has been reached with an in-home health care provider and its owner who was accused of fraudulently obtaining more than $2 million from Medicaid.
Sixty-two-year-old Shida Jamie pleaded guilty earlier this month to a federal conspiracy charge.
The owner of Golden Heart In Home Care of St. Albans admitted altering and falsifying company records. Golden Heart provided in-home health care services to the elderly and disabled under a contract with Putnam Aging Inc., an authorized West Virginia Medicaid provider.
U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said Tuesday the settlement resolves three civil actions against Jamie and Golden Heart by recovering assets that represented the fraud's proceeds.
Jamie faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when she is sentenced Jan. 16.

subset: commoncrawl


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The unusual ways of articulating spatial depth employed by Donatello in the San Lorenzo pulpit reliefs are analyzed in the context of Quattrocento art and in relation to evolving spatial devices in medieval sculpture and painting. A source or relevant context of aesthetic experience for Donatello's spatial innovations is proposed, in fifteenth-century scenographic design. Especially in the south pulpit, the physical arrangement and narrative concept are seen as recreating the typical stage area of a Renaissance Mystery Play: a wide but shallow platform on which chronologically sequential action unfolded from one side to the other, the episodes separated by aedicules in which, or in front of which, the principal scenes were acted. Other scenographic devices and effects, and some elements of dramatic characterization, are also traced to fifteenth-century theater.
In his San Giobbe Altarpiece, Giovanni Bellini created an illusionistic high altar to honor Job, who had in effect been displaced from the actual high altar of the church by St. Bernardino of Siena. At the same time, Bellini's fictive architecture recalls the altar of St. Bernardino in San Marco, endowed by Doge Cristoforo Moro. The following aspects of Bellini's San Giobbe Altarpiece are also considered: the probable patronage (the Scuola di San Giobbe) and date (ca. 1478); Bellini's use of architecture; his ducal imagery; Franciscan spirituality; and the cults of St. Bernardino and of the Immaculate Conception.
St. Praxedis signed and dated 1655, can be firmly placed among the early works of Johannes Vermeer. This large and striking painting, now in the private collection, New York, is a close copy of a painting by the seventeenth century Florentine artist Felice Ficherelli. While Vermeer closely followed his model, he added a crucifix and gave his figure a stronger physical presence. Although no contemporary documents record the presence of Ficherelli's St. Praxedis in Delft, a number of Italian paintings, and copies of Italian paintings, were in the Netherlands around mid-century. Clearly a market for such works existed. Vermeer may have painted this subject because of his connections with the Jesuits. Technical examinations demonstrate that the paints used are consistent with Dutch practices. The ways in which Vermeer layered his paints and highlighted forms in this work parallel his painting techniques in other early works. This painting, thus, reveals much of Vermeer's working methods and clarifies aspects of h is artistic origins.
The exact measurements of the human form made by Bernard Siegfried Albinus (1747) provided the first effective alternate to Vesalian écorchés which had dominated artists' and anatomists' texts since the sixteenth century. Artists as diverse as Callot, Vien, Bouchardon, Pigalle, Van Loo, David, Hallé, and Géricault were influenced by the Albinian-Vesalian antinomy; some, like Flaxman and Houdon, preferred variants of the slender, mathematically and perspectively correct forms of Albinus; others, such as Hogarth and Samuel F. B. Morse, advocated less Neoclassical, more robust and Vesalian figures. The two patterns may be traced in the teaching of the French Academy from c. 1750 to 1793; and they had a long Nachleben in nineteenth century anatomy texts, where they were influenced by developments in architectural drawing and in photography.
The semantic background of Action Painting continues to be the subject of intense research. In my opinion the meaning of Action Painting developed from the artist's fascination with ancient myths, primitive art viewed as a "residue of myth" and trends in contemporary philosophy of culture that deal with myths and their content and that stipulate their latent presence in the mind of contemporary man. In light of the structural motives of mythology used by artists, their paintings have a common denominator: the dialectic struggle and union of contradictions in the cosmic model of the cycle of life and death, formation and decay. Chaos and Cosmos interplay continually in paintings as well as in myths. The artists evoked a layer beyond the present leading to the rediscovery of the neglected sources of man's heritage. This change in spiritual perspective reflects renewal of art in a broad anthropological, philosophical perspective.


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Hey Benjamin,
As many before I'd love to get one of your Toslink Sets, the project sounds great. Shipping would be to Germany.
Hope to hear from you.
Best wishes and have a nice week-end,
Hi everyone ! It's been a while but now, everything is working, I had to choose AIF in alsamixer to have sound on RaspbianMidask wrote:Hi ! I've just received the device and I have the same issue. The device is working on OpenELEC but not on Raspbian, same problem !perryferryjny wrote:Hi All,
Did anyone try to use BenjaminKe's or [IDC]Dragon's board on Raspberry Pi 2 B with Raspbian Jessie? I'm having trouble with getting it to work. I don't want to use OpenELEC nor any other distro - I prefer to make it working on clean Raspbian.
I added HiFi Berry to device tree and disabled default audio card in /boot/config.txt:
I see HiFi Berry in aplay:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: sndrpihifiberry [snd_rpi_hifiberry_digi], device 0: HifiBerry Digi HiFi wm8804-spdif-0 []
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
When I play flac file with mplayer over hdmi it is ok. But when I disable on-board sound and load HiFi Berry mplayer plays file but my AMP does not see digital signal on input. I don't have oscilloscope at home to check if anything is transmitted. But anyway I think it migth be raspbian configuration issue. dmesg show this output:
[ 4.839301] systemd-udevd[108]: starting version 215
[ 5.350307] gpiomem-bcm2835 3f200000.gpiomem: Initialised: Registers at 0x3f200000
[ 5.558976] snd-hifiberry-digi sound: ASoC: CPU DAI (null) not registered
[ 5.559058] snd-hifiberry-digi sound: snd_soc_register_card() failed: -517
[ 5.692065] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): re-mounted. Opts: (null)
[ 6.195203] bcm2835-rng 3f104000.rng: hwrng registered
[ 6.195658] snd-hifiberry-digi sound: ASoC: CPU DAI (null) not registered
[ 6.195689] snd-hifiberry-digi sound: snd_soc_register_card() failed: -517
[ 6.199150] snd-hifiberry-digi sound: ASoC: CODEC DAI wm8804-spdif not registered
[ 6.199190] snd-hifiberry-digi sound: snd_soc_register_card() failed: -517
[ 6.203286] bcm2708_i2c 3f804000.i2c: BSC1 Controller at 0x3f804000 (irq 79) (baudrate 100000)
[ 6.203657] snd-hifiberry-digi sound: ASoC: CODEC DAI wm8804-spdif not registered
[ 6.203690] snd-hifiberry-digi sound: snd_soc_register_card() failed: -517
[ 6.433326] wm8804 1-003b: revision E
[ 6.440736] snd-hifiberry-digi sound: wm8804-spdif <-> 3f203000.i2s mapping ok
I'm not sure if there are issues here. Does last line mean that wm8804 is operational?
Anyone have an idea how to debug it further?


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Course Information
DANC 2334 001 Beginning Ballet Fall 2008 Monday/Wednesday 12:30-1:45pm
Course Description
In this class, students will study ballet technique at a beginning level. Ballet will be taught through the practice
of technique, supplemented with attendance at performances and viewing of videos.
Students will be able to analyze live performances from specific criteria given to them in class.
Students will compare and recognize variables within the art form after exposure to various styles and
techniques of Ballet through classroom participation, video viewing, and live performance attendance.
Students should value the art form, discipline, and dedication needed to excel in dance by participating in the
structure of the technique, recognizing its demands of the physical body, and the experience of the execution of
a complete movement phrase.
Grading Policy
Grade Value
40% Class participation
20% Attendance
20% Performance attendance and written analysis
20% Skills and vocabulary
Grade Scale
A+ 98-100 B+ 88-89 C+ 78-79 D+ 68-69 F 59 & below
A+ will only be awarded for regular class requirements. Extra credit assignments do not count towards an A+.
Performance Analysis: You are required to see two live dance productions, write an analysis for at least one, and submit
a ticket and program for the second. All performances must be dance concerts approved by the instructor. Analysis or
the ticket/program will be due on March 4th and April 29th. The analysis must include detailed descriptions of no more
than 2 dance pieces from the program you attended. If you do not choose the first or last piece of the program for your
analysis, you must also include a brief summary for those pieces. 3 points will be deducted for the omission of each.
When writing the critique include these points
1. Did it tell a story, show a particular emotion, or make you feel a certain way? After each one of these questions
then ask yourself why and explain.
2. What was the music? List title and composer. Did the choreography go with the music? How?
3. Did you like it? What made you like or dislike it?
4. What was the movement like? What did the dancers do through movement to help you come to conclusions from
the previous questions?
5. How did the sets, costuming, and lighting affect the piece?
6. Give the title and choreographer of the piece selected.
Write the critique assuming I did not see the dance and would understand what it was about and what it looked like
from your description. 3 points may be deducted for the omission of each point mentioned above.
Extra Credit
Extra credit may be received by attending other dance performances. You may receive 5 points by just turning in a
ticket and program or 10 if accompanied by a critique. The credit will be added to the final total of points accrued for
the course at the end of the semester, not a specific category.
The University of Texas at Dallas administers student discipline within the procedures of recognized and established due process. Procedures are
defined and described in the Rules and Regulations, Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, Part 1, Chapter VI, Section 3, and in Title
V, Rules on Student Services and Activities of the university's Handbook of Operating Procedures. Copies of these rules and regulations are
available to students in the Office of the Dean of Students, where staff members are available to assist students in interpreting the rules and
regulations (SU 1.602, 972/883-6391).
A student at the university neither loses the rights nor escapes the responsibilities of citizenship. He or she is expected to obey federal, state, and
local laws as well as the Regents' Rules, university regulations, and administrative rules. Students are subject to discipline for violating the
standards of conduct whether such conduct takes place on or off campus, or whether civil or criminal penalties are also imposed for such conduct.
Academic Integrity
The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility and academic honesty. Because the value of an academic degree depends upon
the absolute integrity of the work done by the student for that degree, it is imperative that a student demonstrate a high standard of individual
honor in his or her scholastic work.
Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, statements, acts or omissions related to applications for enrollment or the award of a degree,
and/or the submission as one's own work or material that is not one's own. As a general rule, scholastic dishonesty involves one of the following
acts: cheating, plagiarism, collusion and/or falsifying academic records. Students suspected of academic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary
Plagiarism, especially from the web, from portions of papers for other classes, and from any other source is unacceptable and will be dealt with
under the university's policy on plagiarism (see general catalog for details). This course will use the resources of turnitin.com, which searches
the web for possible plagiarism and is over 90% effective.
Email Use
The University of Texas at Dallas recognizes the value and efficiency of communication between faculty/staff and students through electronic
mail. At the same time, email raises some issues concerning security and the identity of each individual in an email exchange. The university
encourages all official student email correspondence be sent only to a student's U.T. Dallas email address and that faculty and staff consider
email from students official only if it originates from a UTD student account. This allows the university to maintain a high degree of confidence
in the identity of all individual corresponding and the security of the transmitted information. UTD furnishes each student with a free email
account that is to be used in all communication with university personnel. The Department of Information Resources at U.T. Dallas provides a
method for students to have their U.T. Dallas mail forwarded to other accounts.
Withdrawal from Class
The administration of this institution has set deadlines for withdrawal of any college-level courses. These dates and times are published in that
semester's course catalog. Administration procedures must be followed. It is the student's responsibility to handle withdrawal requirements from
any class. In other words, I cannot drop or withdraw any student. You must do the proper paperwork to ensure that you will not receive a final
grade of "F" in a course if you choose not to attend the class once you are enrolled.
Procedures for student grievances are found in Title V, Rules on Student Services and Activities, of the university's Handbook of Operating
In attempting to resolve any student grievance regarding grades, evaluations, or other fulfillments of academic responsibility, it is the obligation
of the student first to make a serious effort to resolve the matter with the instructor, supervisor, administrator, or committee with whom the
grievance originates (hereafter called "the respondent"). Individual faculty members retain primary responsibility for assigning grades and
evaluations. If the matter cannot be resolved at that level, the grievance must be submitted in writing to the respondent with a copy of the
respondent's School Dean. If the matter is not resolved by the written response provided by the respondent, the student may submit a written
appeal to the School Dean. If the grievance is not resolved by the School Dean's decision, the student may make a written appeal to the Dean of
Graduate or Undergraduate Education, and the deal will appoint and convene an Academic Appeals Panel. The decision of the Academic
Appeals Panel is final. The results of the academic appeals process will be distributed to all involved parties.
Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office of the Dean of Students, where staff members are available to assist
students in interpreting the rules and regulations.
Incomplete Grade Policy
As per university policy, incomplete grades will be granted only for work unavoidably missed at the semester's end and only if 70% of the course
work has been completed. An incomplete grade must be resolved within eight (8) weeks from the first day of the subsequent long semester. If
the required work to complete the course and to remove the incomplete grade is not submitted by the specified deadline, the incomplete grade is
changed automatically to a grade of F.
Disability Services
The goal of Disability Services is to provide students with disabilities educational opportunities equal to those of their non-disabled peers.
Disability Services is located in room 1.610 in the Student Union. Office hours are Monday and Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday and
Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Essentially, the law requires that colleges and universities make those reasonable adjustments necessary to eliminate discrimination on the basis
of disability. For example, it may be necessary to remove classroom prohibitions against tape recorders or animals (in the case of dog guides) for
students who are blind. Occasionally an assignment requirement may be substituted (for example, a research paper versus an oral presentation
for a student who is hearing impaired). Classes enrolled students with mobility impairments may have to be rescheduled in accessible facilities.
The college or university may need to provide special services such as registration, note-taking, or mobility assistance.
It is the student's responsibility to notify his or her professors of the need for such an accommodation. Disability Services provides students with
letters to present to faculty members to verify that the student has a disability and needs accommodations. Individuals requiring special
accommodation should contact the professor after class or during office hours.
The student is encouraged to notify the instructor or activity sponsor as soon as possible regarding the absence, preferably in advance of the
assignment. The student, so excused, will be allowed to take the exam or complete the assignment within a reasonable time after the absence: a
period equal to the length of the absence, up to a maximum of one week. A student who notifies the instructor and completes any missed exam or
assignment may not be penalized for the absence. A student who fails to complete the exam or assignment within the prescribed period may
receive a failing grade for that exam or assignment.
If a student or an instructor disagrees about the nature of the absence [i.e., for the purpose of observing a religious holy day] or if there is similar
disagreement about whether the student has been given a reasonable time to complete any missed assignments or examinations, either the student
or the instructor may request a ruling from the chief executive officer of the institution, or his or her designee. The chief executive officer or
designee must take into account the legislative intent of TEC 51.911(b), and the student and instructor will abide by the decision of the chief
executive officer or designee.
Off-Campus Instruction and Course ActivitiesOff-campus, out-of-state, and foreign instruction and activities are subject to state law and
University policies and procedures regarding travel and risk-related activities. Information regarding these rules and regulations may be found at
the website address given below. Additional information is available from the office of the school dean. (http://www.utdallas.edu/Business
These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor.


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ON THE WATER: Women's Rowing Blog with Maeghan Pardy
By ODU Athletics
April 15, 2011
|Maeghan Pardy
Maeghan Pardy is a sophomore on the Old Dominion women's rowing team who will be checking in with ODUSports.com throughout the spring season giving insight into the Lady Monarchs' third season varsity season.
Last weekend, the Lady Monarchs were at the Knecht Cup in New Jersey where ODU placed two boats in the Grand Final. ODU's Varsity Eight placed third, while the Varsity Four took eighth.
I am currently writing to you from a super awesome smelling bus full of super awesomely clean girls... not. Although in our defense, we literally just escaped the mud pit that was the race ourse for the 2011 Knecht Cup, after what was a ridiculously awesome weekend of racing. Ok, I think that I've worn out my use of the word awesome for today, but I only speak the truth.
After racing Miami, it's safe to say that we were all slightly shocked. I mean, we all knew that we worked our butts off this winter and that our team as a whole had some amazing improvements. However after saying all winter that our hard work would eventually pay off, we were finally seeing it...and it felt good.
|ODU's Varsity 8 held a 10.7 margin of victory over Miami two weeks ago
Although, in my biased opinion, deserved, it's as though we've stolen speed that we now want to protect with everything we have. However everyone and their dog are after the exact same thing. We're finally in the fight and we're going for everything. Look into any of our girls' eyes and you'll see it - the hunger, the drive, the determination.
And none of that drive was missing this past weekend at the Knecht Cup. However it was accompanied by a feeling that only seems to spark around race day. It was that feeling of millions of butterflies swarming your stomach, making you nauseous and determined that racing will be impossible.
Anyways, before the final on Sunday, after a long day of heats and semis on Saturday, we strutted around the racecourse looking rather dapper in our spandex and rain boots. No joke. Short, short spandex. Tall, tall rain boots of various colors and patterns. We're a classy bunch. Mind you, it was better that than wearing sandals that would instantly get consumed by the mud. That's right, consumed because it was that deep.
So, nerves were running wild and butterflies were taking over, but Coach Milne stopped me on my way over to the racecourse and said something to me that I don't think I will ever forget - "Embrace the butterflies. Let their wings help you fly."
Now, not only is this phrase incredibly adorable and Hallmark-esque, but it also helped settle my stomach. Assured me that the nerves were good. Coach Garbutt unknowingly followed it up later by telling us to "bottle up all of our nerves, and unleash them on the racecourse."
And I think we did just that. Good day. Great racing.
I'm pretty sure that I'm speaking for the whole team when I say that we are extremely proud of the insane amount of progress that we've made in three short years. That being said, you may see our results and be proud of us as well, but please know that we are not yet satisfied. But I suppose this isn't really a sport where you can ever be satisfied - ask anyone on this team! You take an inch, you want another. You take another inch and you want a foot. You take a foot and you want it all. We want it all and will fight for however long it takes to get it because that's who we are.
Look out for us, it's going to be a good year.
The Old Dominion women's rowing team returns to action this weekend in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania taking on host Bucknell and Colgate on the Susquehanna River.


text:
Flat rate shipping usa only $6 - Orders over $75 ship free
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Add bright color to your next Mexican fiesta with our colorful papel picado banners! Perfect for Cinco de Mayo, Mexican theme parties, weddings, and birthday parties. You will receive over 60 feet of decorating goodness!
*Made from tissue paper.
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*This listing is for 5 banners and each banner has 10 flags.
* All items are sent via registered mail with a USPS tracking number. Thanks!
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text:
Praxis (process)
Praxis (Ancient Greek: πρᾶξις) is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realized. "Praxis" may also refer to the act of engaging, applying, exercising, realizing, or practising ideas. This has been a recurrent topic in the field of philosophy, discussed in the writings of Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Immanuel Kant, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Paulo Freire, Ludwig von Mises, and many others. It has meaning in the political, educational, and spiritual realms.
|So, I tried to do a kind of semantic clarification in which praxis — if not on the thither side of this divide—was perhaps somehow between the theoretical and the practical as they are generally understood, and particularly as they are understood in modern philosophy. Praxis as the manner in which we are engaged in the world and with others has its own insight or understanding prior to any explicit formulation of that understanding...Of course, it must be understood that praxis, as I understand it, is always entwined with communication.
|— Calvin O. Schrag[1]
In Ancient Greek the word praxis (πρᾶξις) referred to activity engaged in by free men. The philosopher Aristotle held that there were three basic activities of man: theoria (thinking), poiesis (making), and praxis (doing). Corresponding to these activities were three types of knowledge: theoretical, the end goal being truth; poietical, the end goal being production; and practical, the end goal being action.[2] Aristotle further divided the knowledge derived from praxis into ethics, economics and politics. He also distinguished between eupraxia (εὐπραξία, "good praxis")[3] and dyspraxia (δυσπραξία, "bad praxis, misfortune").[4]
Young Hegelian philosopher August Cieszkowski was one of the earliest philosophers to use the term praxis as meaning "action oriented towards changing society" in his 1838 work Prolegomena zur Historiosophie (Prolegomena to a Historiosophy). The 19th century socialist Antonio Labriola called Marxism the "philosophy of praxis".[5][6] This description of Marxism would appear again in Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks[7] and the writings of the members of the Frankfurt School.[8]
Hannah Arendt
In The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt argues that Western philosophy too often has focused on the contemplative life (vita contemplativa) and has neglected the active life (vita activa). This has led humanity to frequently miss much of the everyday relevance of philosophical ideas to real life.[9][10] For Arendt, praxis is the highest and most important level of the active life.[10] Thus, she argues that more philosophers need to engage in everyday political action or praxis, which she sees as the true realization of human freedom.[9] According to Arendt, our capacity to analyze ideas, wrestle with them, and engage in active praxis is what makes us uniquely human.
In Maurizio Passerin d'Etreves's estimation, "Arendt's theory of action and her revival of the ancient notion of praxis represent one of the most original contributions to twentieth century political thought. ... Moreover, by viewing action as a mode of human togetherness, Arendt is able to develop a conception of participatory democracy which stands in direct contrast to the bureaucratized and elitist forms of politics so characteristic of the modern epoch."[11]
Praxis is used by educators to describe a recurring passage through a cyclical process of experiential learning, such as the cycle described and popularised by David A. Kolb.[12]
Paulo Freire defines praxis in Pedagogy of the Oppressed as "reflection and action directed at the structures to be transformed."[13] Through praxis, oppressed people can acquire a critical awareness of their own condition, and, with their allies, struggle for liberation.[14]
In the Channel 4 television documentary "New Order: Play At Home",[15][16] Factory Records owner Tony Wilson describes praxis as "doing something, and then only afterwards, finding out why you did it".
Praxis may be described as a form of critical thinking and comprises the combination of reflection and action. Praxis can be viewed as a progression of cognitive and physical actions:
- Taking the action
- Considering the impacts of the action
- Analysing the results of the action by reflecting upon it
- Altering and revising conceptions and planning following reflection
- Implementing these plans in further actions
This creates a cycle which can be viewed in terms of educational settings, learners and educational facilitators.
Scott and Marshall (2009) refer to praxis as "a philosophical term referring to human action on the natural and social world". Furthermore, Gramsci (1999) emphasises the power of praxis in Selections from the Prison Notebooks by stating that "The philosophy of praxis does not tend to leave the simple in their primitive philosophy of common sense but rather to lead them to a higher conception of life". To reveal the inadequacies of religion, folklore, intellectualism and other such 'one-sided' forms of reasoning, Gramsci appeals directly in his later work to Marx's 'philosophy of praxis', describing it as a 'concrete' mode of reasoning. This principally involves the juxtaposition of a dialectical and scientific audit of reality; against all existing normative, ideological, and therefore counterfeit accounts. Essentially a 'philosophy' based on 'a practise', Marx's philosophy, is described correspondingly in this manner, as the only 'philosophy' that is at the same time a 'history in action' or a 'life' itself (Gramsci, Hoare and Nowell-Smith, 1972, p. 332).
Praxis is also key in meditation and spirituality, where emphasis is placed on gaining first-hand experience of concepts and certain areas, such as union with the Divine, which can only be explored through praxis due to the inability of the finite mind (and its tool, language) to comprehend or express the infinite. In an interview for YES! Magazine, Matthew Fox explained it this way:
- Wisdom is always taste—in both Latin and Hebrew, the word for wisdom comes from the word for taste—so it's something to taste, not something to theorize about. "Taste and see that God is good," the psalm says; and that's wisdom: tasting life. No one can do it for us. The mystical tradition is very much a Sophia tradition. It is about tasting and trusting experience, before institution or dogma.[17]
According to Strong's Hebrew dictionary, the Hebrew word, ta'am, is; properly a taste, that is, (figuratively) perception; by implication intelligence; transitively a mandate: advice, behaviour, decree, discretion, judgment, reason, taste, understanding.
See also
- Christian theological praxis
- Lex artis
- Praxis Discussion Series
- Praxis (disambiguation)
- Praxis intervention
- Praxis school
- Praxeology
- Practice (social theory)
- Orthopraxy
- ↑ Ramsey, Ramsey Eric; Miller, David James (2003). Experiences between philosophy and communication: engaging the philosophical contributions of Calvin O. Schrag. SUNY Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-7914-5875-4. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- ↑ Smith, M. K. (1999, 2011). 'What is praxis?' in the encyclopaedia of informal education. Retrieved: 11/28/2016
- ↑ Aristotle, NE, VI, 5, 1140b7.
- ↑ Krancberg, Sigmund (1994), A Soviet Postmortem: Philosophical Roots of the "Grand Failure", Rowman & Littlefield, p. 56.
- ↑ Joseph Francese, Perspectives on Gramsci: Politics, Culture and Social Theory, Routledge, 2009, p. 59.
- ↑ Marx alluded to this concept in his Theses on Feuerbach when he stated that "philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it."
- ↑ Joseph Francese, Perspectives on Gramsci: Politics, Culture and Social Theory, Routledge, 2009, p. 2.
- ↑ Max Horkheimer (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
- 1 2 Yar, Majid, "Hannah Arendt (1906—1975)", The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- 1 2 Fry, Karin, "Arendt, Hannah" in Women-philosophers.com.
- ↑ d'Entreves, Maurizio Passerin (2006), "Hannah Arendt", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- ↑ Kolb, D., "David A. Kolb on experiential learning", Informal Education Encyclopedia.
- ↑ Freire, P. (1970), Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Bloomsbury Academy, p. 126.
- ↑ Freire, P. (1986), Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, p. 36.
- ↑ http://www.mojo4music.com/4831/new-orders-naked-80s-art-experiment/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyk5FwrbcgQ
- ↑ Holy Impatience: an interview with Matthew Fox, YES! Magazine.
Further reading
External links
- The dictionary definition of praxis at Wiktionary
- Entry for "praxis" at the Encyclopaedia of Informal Education
- Der Begriff Praxis


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Ok, we're done with judging and have the finalists selected!! Here they are in no particular order.
Winners in bold
Pillar Man, Pillar Man By Leland Lacey
Hunter on Fire By Kiet Huynh
Blood and Iron By James Poulette
Inhumanity By BecauseImBored1
Space Pirate Captain Harlock By Joseph Croasdaile
Dark Side By Brad Demoss
oh no… By Amy Boyter
Merry Nightmare By Erik Norelus
A Drop of Hope By Matthew Gutierrez
Hearts & Houses By Dean Seirafi
Honest Trailors - K-On!: The Movie By Spillio
50 Ways for your Partner to Die By Tsu
Don't Lick the Icing By Drew Brisco
A Feel Good Video By thewiredknight
Orgasmic Moonfall By Samuel Santoro
The Hero You're Dreaming Of By Jeremiah Soria
Thought I Lost You By Erik Norelus
Alone By Julian Marin
Slice of Life By Noelle Nichols
Flashes of Light By Joseph Croasdaile
39 Degrees Fahrenheit By Leland Lacey
Cute and Cuter By Erika Thompson
Magi, the Dayman By Matthew Gutierrez
Glam Jam By GuntherAMVs
8th Grade Goober Syndrome By Samuel Santaro
Judge favorite: Don't Lick the Icing by Drew Brisco
Special judge award: Honest Trailors - K-On!: The Movie By Spillio
Best in Show: Magi, the Dayman By Matthew Gutierrez
Congratulations to all our finalists! A REMINDER: If you attend the con, even if you are not in the finals you are eligible for the special judge's award. Find me at any of the AMV shows to check in and confirm your eligibility. Thanks!
Good luck!
John Galietta III – AV AMV Coordinator
Victoria Galietta – AV AMV Assistant Coordinator


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Food Artisans: P&H Soda
A different New York artisan every week.
If you associate cream soda with the kind of heavy, cloying sweetness that leaves you needing another drink to wash it down, you might be pleasantly surprised by P&H Soda's cream soda syrup. When mixed with seltzer, the resulting beverage "will actually quench your thirst," says founder and president Anton Nocito. The secret to the surprisingly sophisticated, complex flavor: caramelized sugar and plenty of vanilla bean, the latter readily visible as dark, floating flecks in the bottle. "People sometimes ask if it's dirt," Nocito says, "but it's just vanilla."
A chef who dreams of owning a soda shoppe one day, Nocito is the one-man force behind P&H, doing everything from developing flavors to capping the bottles himself. The company's name is a nod to his wife's letterpress stationery company, Pumpkin & Honey Bunny, the pet names of the diner-heist couple in Pulp Fiction.
The full line of P&H syrup flavors includes hibiscus, lime, ginger, and seasonal flavors like quince or Meyer lemon. While they are a natural fit with one of this past holiday season's most popular gifts, home soda makers like the SodaStream, regular store-bought seltzer will work just fine.
Visit pnhsodaandsyrupinc.com for cocktail recipes and a full list of stockists.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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About 1.700 exhibitors from over 40 different countries present their products and services. The exhibition spectrum is complemented by an attractive supporting programme, including high-quality congresses and lectures about topics dealing with forest and wood.
Ligna Hannover - Hotels, Private Rooms, Service:
- Messegelände
- 30521 Hannover
- Kort
- Tidstabel
- Website
- Flere detaljer


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Runkeeper was one of the original iOS apps. It started off simply: turn it on and it would monitor how far and fast you ran. But the really interesting stuff began once Runkeeper opened up beyond the phone.
As Runkeeper began to support more devices it released a public API, and suddenly it was sitting on top of a mountain of health and fitness data. Tracking diet and exercise is just the spear tip. We chatted with the company founder Jason Jacobs to find out where fitness tracking is headed, how next generation sensors are going to track your every movement, and why data is about to become prescriptive.
What's Runkeeper?
Runkeeper is a mobile fitness platform. We started with a mobile app that enabled people to turn their phone into a fitness tracking device to track their runs, walks, hikes, and bike rides and built up a large community of millions of users. We found they didn't just want to track their running and activity, but a bunch of different things related to their health and that's the way we're heading.
When did you launch?
We founded the company in 2008, and we launched in August 2008. It was one of the first 200 apps in the iTunes App Store.
How can it make me a better athlete?
We have coaching built in, so that as you do your activity you can set a target pace and in your headphones if can tell you if you're ahead or behind. We also have a program where we've partnered with well-known coaches and taken their programs and placed them online. It will push your lessons out to your mobile devices each day—for example if there's an interval workout it will tell you when to walk and when to run. Your phone is serving as a personal trainer as you are doing your activity. If you follow a program—we have everything from 5k classes to marathon classes with set time goals—you can actually be grouped with a group of people doing a same goal at the same time. You can be reprimanded or encouraged just by seeing that you do it. All you have to do is so what your phone says. You don't need to think, if you do what it says it will help you meet your goals.
You can also broadcast your activity live as you're doing it. We have a live tracking feature called runkeeper live that simulates the social interaction of running a race. You can set it to notify people on Facebook and Twitter that you're running live as you're doing it. When you get back you can see all the comments from your friends and loved ones, or take pictures and they're geotagged as you go.
Why did you expand past the phone?
We built up a big community of people using our system. While they were using us for running, there were all these other things coming out for health—like wifi body scales that will automatically upload to the cloud, things that could track how you sleep, and applications that track your diet, weight, diabetes management even. They were using Withings scales, Fitbits, various heart rate monitors and Garmin watches. We decided to support that. We saw clearly that our users were using more of this third party stuff and wanted to keep it in one place.
The more aspects of a health they were tracking, the more engaged they were and the more results that got from our platform. Once we had integrated with 4-5 devices we thought it was really big. We decided to open our API. It lets people keep things on their Runkeeper profile—in the health graph API. It's not just about apps and devices to send us information, it's also for people looking to build on top of data. Corporate wellness departments, for example, can just integrate once and access all the data. In the last 9 months our userbase has tripled, and the API has 40 integrations, most are ones that come inbound to us.
For example, Earndit. Before the health graph Earndit was integrating with fitness APIs and all kinds of services like Nike Plus data—going through one device at a time. With the health graph they could integrate once and then get everything. They can tie in and access all kinds of devices, users and data.
Is there an inherent benefit to tracking all this stuff?
There's no inherent benefit to tracking. Tracking is the ticket to admission. It's only really taken off in the last three years. The reason it's taken so long has been all the friction. Devices were big and clunky and expensive and not very accurate and you couldn't get the data off them easily. What's happened over the last three years is we've started down the path of the friction going away. In the last three years you've had devices like Fitbit, Withings, Jawbone UP and swim tracking watches coming out. And what's happening is that these sensors keep getting lighter, smaller, more accurate, and easier to use. It's not mainstream yet but its getting there.
What will it take to become mainstream?
If you start looking out five to ten years you're not going to have to do anything to collect this information. It's going to be passively collected. It's going to be baked into phones and even the clothing that you wear. It's going to be everywhere.
And the data will get better You're going to see ways to make your data actionable. The most exciting stuff idswhen this data starts getting prescriptive. When you've got all your data in one place—sleep, diet, hydration levels, previous exercise, everything—if all that stuff is there and the system knows all your information and your goals these systems can start being prescriptive.
When you have the phone wiht you everywhere you go, why isn't hat phone telling you what to do.
To date, the only people who had access to that kind of data are people who put it into their own Excel files. There's no way the mainstream would have the patience for that. It's like cars. The mainstream regular person doesn't want to know how to fix the engine, they want to know where a good mechanic is. Today you have to look under the hood to do fitness maintenance. Where this is going is that when this stuff gets truly mainstream, even if you don't look under the hood you will still be able to drive a reliable car.
You can keep up with Mat Honan, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
Fitmodo runs every Wednesday, covering the world of personal fitness technology. You can play along on our Fitocracy group or the Fitmodo Forum. Each week, in an effort to encourage readers to do the same, I'll post my fitness stats here on Fitmodo.
Vital Stats Week Five
Weight: 174 lb
Fat Mass: 19 percent