Why police shootings are often misjudged.

Once more we have a police shooting. This time in Minnesota. 

It is very understandable why people get angry when they hear about it.

It seems like the police shootings increase and people don't feel safe at all. 

They feel let down and used by the system that is supposedly there to protect them. 

What goes wrong with so many police interventions?

Police officers are often assigned to a district that has people from different backgrounds than where the officer lives. This creates an environment of mistrust between the civilians and the police. 

When conflicts arise tribal bias can overtake the necessity to try to understand the person in front of you. 

When things get really dangerous or is perceived as dangerous the level of adrenaline rises and our perception of time changes. 

Remember that time when you heard about a gunfight the police had. It could be a page long.

In reality, that could happen in the timespan of  a few seconds time. All the decisions have to be made in fractions of a second. Judging a situation and reacting to it needs to happen in a fraction of a second. 

Perceptions can be skewed in drastic manner. 

Police need some serious training that changes the reflexes and snapshot judgments in high adrenaline situations. Also maybe learn how to lower their adrenaline so their state is more stable when they enter high risk situations. 

All this doesn't mean that those police shootings can be  just excused. 

Something needs to happen. 

The problem is on different levels at once: Organisational, Political, Educational and Personal. 

Change needs to happen on all those levels before any good change can stick. 

Have a great day. 

Why Oprah Winfrey's speech could be dangerous advice.

Image source

Although she inspires people she is really vague in how you should achieve that.

She uses big fluffy words like: dream, energy, ext..

People like to dream. Maybe even the American dream.  

It sounds like Deepak Chopra and his big words that hold no ground in science at all.  

"You’re responsible for the energy you put out into the world.” she said.  

But what does that mean? Energy is a metaphor and not a physical thing in the real world. 

Although I do believe that following your bliss or as she said it "The magic is to surrender to God’s dream for you" that doesn't mean that it's going to be easy once you know what it is.

It most likely means that you are going to face more difficult choices and challenges in your life. So I want you to be prepared instead of being with your head in the clouds. 

The concept of returning energy that you put in the world or what people think is karma doesn't repay you equally for what you did. The universe is chaotic and random, what doesn't mean that there can't be kindness. 

To think that karma is justice is an injustice to karma.
The web trembles as you move it does not care why you move.

She seems to give the impression that it's all in your hands but it often depends on where you start too. It depends on the privileges you have to start with and the people around you, your social network.

Here the Matheus effect is good to remember: Those who already have much find it easier to accumulate even more but those who have little will be taken more resources from (or are less protected against it). 

People who have much (or have more privileges) find it easier also to ask for favors from others but those who have little often don't find the courage to ask for help. 

So what to do? 

1.     Remember that this is a non-linear world. 

2.     Count your blessings. 

3.     Learn how to leverage what you have disproportionally. (scalebility)

4.     Calculate unexpected setbacks in your plan.

5.     Start with a "good enough" plan.

6.     Take the first step.

7.     Learn what feedback is useful and what is not. 

8.     Be willing to change your plan if necessary. 

9.     Create habits instead of relying on willpower. 

10? Ok 10. Be suspicious of advice of so called "experts" or celebrities.

Of course I am not expert myself. But anyway, don't take my word.

Test. Test. Test! 

Have a great day. 

Short - Wimbledon, a hit and miss.

Are you going to Wimbledon?

It's far from all hotels and you have to stand in queues for queues.

You can also pay to watch it on a big screen. 

So, not really something I enjoy but if this is your jam....plan!

Make sure that you spend your time well.

Black Lives Matter making a point.

Mark Blinch/Canadian Press

We have seen the rise of many groups that don't have a singular leader that started it guides it.
These are organizations like Anonymous and Black Lives matter.

When there are so many different groups all fighting to be heard and to be seen sometimes they collide. 

When the Pride Parade was in Toronto they got held up by a Black Lives Matter group. 

There isn't freedom achieved for everybody yet. 

“Folks are forgetting that we haven’t all made it to the point of queer liberation. That not all communities who participate in Pride are actually able to be free in that celebration,” Williams said ahead of the parade.

But does that mean that freedom cannot be celebrated at all when others fight for their freedom?

Maybe we can use that opportunity of freedom to put a spotlight on those who are in need and those who are still fighting. 

Freedom is not something that comes free. When we stop fighting for it we lose it. 

We can celebrate freedom; we can celebrate the victories in our fight for freedom, 

But we cannot forget, we may not forget that it is not done. It is never done. 

There will always be groups with good intentions that collide.

Maybe we can learn to listen well and to integrate different calls for help and calls for action in the spotlight instead of fighting for the spotlight. 

There are so many things that demand our attention and time. 

Let's make the best of our time....together. 

Are Hooters corrupting the scouts boys?

Photograph: Screengrab/hooters.com

Imagine sending your 7-year-old to the scouts camp as you always do and at the end of the day you see that he is surrounded by Hooters. Hooters with more covering clothes, but still.

This was not what you had in mind for your 7-year-old.

That was what a mother of a 7-year-old boy in Denver experienced. She was outraged.

If it was the father I could understand that more. I would be a little bit jealous too maybe. *laughs*

Well, both the parents were outraged to be correct.

Does it corrupt kids to be exposed to some sexy ladies?

Maybe they might become more aware of their sexuality and are becoming more curious about sexuality.

We have seen through history that restricting curiosity about sexuality and trying to remove and condemn every impulse that could cause arousal causes unnecessary mental and biological stress that could even lead to physical and mental illness.

In the middle ages they thought these mental illnesses were possessions.
It led to witch hunts and killing many innocent people.

So, it doesn't seem a good idea to punish natural biological processes to me.

What does seem helpful is teaching kids how to deal with these new emotions and to learn that these are all natural and give them a place.

Let's get rid of the unhealthy shame culture and get back to a more wholesome approach to guide the development of our youngsters and our society by extension because in the end these parents were just concerned about their kid and we all are concerned about the youngsters because they represent the future of our society.

Why Fergie and Kim Kardashian MILF$ song is already a success.

Fergie's new song MILF$ together with Kim Kardashian is a pop song as so many pop songs already.

But that is not a bad thing if you want to make money.

Pop songs have become more and more general over the years and that's not all due to the artists.

We look for and buy more generic songs too so we keep this cycle going.

Music artists have used more formulas to make music that people like and if a formula works there is no reason to do something else. It are the hits that brig the money in so you are better of making a safe bet then taking risks.

Zipfs law states that the probability of occurrence of words (or other items) starts high and tapers off. Thus, a few occur very often while many others occur rarely.

When formulas are used in lyrics the fewer and fewer words are used.

So it comes down to algorithms in the end.

Some other reasons why pop music could sounds more and more the same is because the number of good musicians and producers goes down and the number of artists they produce music for goes up.

The musicians also tend to learn to make about the same music and the more same music is made the more of the same musicians seem to be needed.

In other words: because the same people make it.

Experimentation is pushed to the margins and algorithms and formulas of success take over.

Have a great day.

Feeling down or depressed? The solution may be less complicated than you think.

We all have moments of feeling down or depressed.

Maybe we try to think about would have caused it and try to come up with a logical reason why it happened.

Maybe we think back to our childhood and look for something that may have caused it.

We think about what it means and what it tells about ourselves and what it means for our future.
Maybe we think about how other people perceive us and what our self-worth is.

Could it be something neurological maybe or something genetic even?

All those questions can arise when we are feeling down or depressed yet the solution can be easier than you think sometimes.

The way we use our body influences how we feel.
The way we sit, stand and walk all changes how we feel.

How much have you walked outside lately?

Walking stimulates our brain often much more than all those brain exercises and games.
Too much sitting down makes our body less active.

Sunlight influences our biorhythm.
Too little natural light can make us feel down.
Too much (and/or bright) light from screens late in the evening can make us sleep less well.

Just taking care of basic human needs like enough light, exercise and water can change a lot.

We all know that the body exists out of 60% water and that we need to drink a lot of water.
Seriously, I don't think experts agree on how much exactly but simply drinking more water daily could make you feel much better in your day.

Having more meaningful social interactions could improve your mood too.
We all need human interaction to stay healthy. We are social creatures.
Communication trough social media and smartphone doesn't replace meeting people face to face.

Another, what overlooked, way to feel better it to focus on making other people feel better.

Try them out and maybe you could feel even better than ever before with just a few simple habits to add in your life.

Enjoy and have a great day.