Nothing Is Real, And Nothing Is Not Real. There Is Only The Perception Of An Experience, And Its Interpretation.

moon over the poppy field

7 Ways to Be An Ally to Native Peoples This Thanksgiving

In the United States, so much of what Americans are thankful for — our families, homes, the foods we enjoy — are the products of ongoing colonization. We might feel grateful for the place we grew up, but that place exists on stolen land. Coming together with family can be challenging, as we all have different ideas of what “America” is. Yet, if there’s one thing many folks can agree on, it’s that in the history of this country, Native people were wronged.

With the arrival of European settlers, an estimated 90% of the millions of Indigenous peoples — a number debated to be between 20 and 100 million — died. It wasn’t just from disease: The colonizing settlers enacted genocide of Indigenous peoples through starvation, torture, and massacres. It may be true that the “first Thanksgiving” was a peaceful gathering of Pilgrims and Wampanoag people, who together celebrated the Pilgrims’ first harvest in 1621. But given the massive genocide their ancestors experienced at the hands of European colonizers, it’s hard for Indigenous folks to see this holiday as anything other than a national day of mourning.

“What’s wrong with Thanksgiving is not so much the celebration as it is the American mythology that surrounds it,” Alaina Comeaux, an Ishak activist who works to decolonize history, tells Teen Vogue. “It allows for a certain whitewashed fantasy that erases the devastating impacts of colonization that persist to this day.”

Native peoples continue to fight for their lands and sovereignty while facing exceptional rates of poverty, suicide, and sexual violence, so it’s way past time for more Americans to acknowledge the difficult truths at the heart of Thanksgiving. If you’d like to do your part to help rewrite the story at your gathering this year, here are some ways you can start working toward a more just future.

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📸: Getty Images

Energy Converters Absorb Power of Waves

Authored by Kenny Walter, Digital Reporter, R&D Magazine

Researchers may have found a new way to capture wave energy that can be used to make electricity.

A team from Sandia National Laboratories are working on designing, modeling and testing a new control system that may double the amount of power a wave energy converter can absorb from ocean waves by applying a classical control theory, robotics and aerospace engineering design principles to improve the converter’s efficiency.

Read more: https://www.rdmag.com/article/2017/10/energy-converters-absorb-power-waves

“Give me five minutes to explain taxes to you: The top marginal tax rate is currently 39.6 percent, which remember, is an altogether different thing from the effective tax rate that wealthy people end up actually paying after taking advantage of various tax loopholes. What does that even mean - a ‘marginal tax’ rate of 39.6 percent? Does it mean the average person pays 39.6% in taxes? No. Does it mean that the income earners in the top one percent pays 39.6% in taxes? NO! Here’s what a marginal tax rate of 39.6% means: First, as of 2013 the top tax rate for individuals currently doesn’t begin unless you earn $406,750 dollars. Actually, that tax rate doesn’t even take effect until you make $406,750 + $1 dollar. Got that part? That’s important. Here’s the tricky detail that most people miss: the 39.6% tax rate is only applicable on anything OVER $406,750 dollars. So if you made $406,752 dollars, then only two ($2) of those dollars will be taxed at the highest rate of 39.6%…and the other $406,750 is not. Of course, this does not take into account the numerous tax loopholes that I alluded to earlier. Thus, if the top marginal tax rate is 39.6 percent, then after using any number of tax loopholes, write offs and various other cheats, it’s entirely possible earn over $406,750 dollars per year and still pay even less in taxes than a working class American earning much less. SN: this applies only to people who do actual work for a paycheck. If, on the other hand, your primary income is from inheritance or stock investments and you pay all your bills off of that interest (aka “capital gains”), then your taxes work differently altogether (hint: they’re even lower). Take multi-billionaire Mitt Romney, for example. In 2010 he only paid an effective (real) tax rate of 13.9 percent, odds are that’s much lower than the tax rate you (or your parents) just paid. Here’s the last thing you should remember: Only one percent of Americans make $400,750 a year or higher. Stated differently, the top income tax rate effects around 3.5 million —out of 350,000,000 Americans. And that’s only on the dollars ABOVE $400,750. BOO HOO right? Approximately 3.5 million Americans might, maybe, perhaps *possibly* have to pay the top federal income tax rate…but only on anything above $406,750 dollars…and only if they refuse to take advantage of ridiculously huge tax loopholes so big you could fly a jumbo jet through them. THAT is what conservatives are crying about when they complain about the top tax rate. That’s it.”

— This is why whining about the top tax rate is a joke and Republicans are the party for the Greedy One Percent (and the deluded suckers “future millionaires“ who repeatedly vote for them)

Nice sky always on the opposite side of your prime scene (by CoolbieRe)

Scientists Find Biomarker for Alzheimer’s Early Detection

Authored by Kenny Walter, Digital Reporter, R&D Magazine

A new early test for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) may soon be on the way.

Researchers from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have found a peptide in mice that could pave the way for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease for humans.

Read more: https://www.rdmag.com/article/2017/11/scientists-find-biomarker-alzheimers-early-detection

Can you recommend any YouTube channels that discuss neuroscience or anything similar to what you post thanks!

Actually I pretty much learn most of the stuff I talk about here on youtube so hopefully this helps!

1. Psych2GoTV (I also occasionally upload for them) 

2. Crash Course Anatomy and Physiology 

3. BrainCraft

4. AsapSCIENCE

5. SciShow

6. Veritasium

7. 2 Minute Neuroscience

8. Human Behavioural Biology (LOVE this, its a lecture series by Stanford)

9. Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience

10. TED-Ed (I live for their videos)

11. The School of Life (more philosophy/life coaching stuff but I love them)

12. Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell 

13. Life Noggin

14. Osmosis

Theres probably a few that I’ve forgotten but these channels really are amazing, I’ve learned so much from them.