Submission, also known as Islam

Thu, 25 Nov 2004 17:46:26 GMT

Watch it courtesy of iFilm: Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh (yes, that van Gogh) was killed November 2, 2004, by a 26-year-old extremist Muslim of Dutch-Moroccan descent. The current theory is that he was taken down for his critical look at the treatment of Muslim women. It's not a documentary, but a metaphorical look at the harsh realities of their lives. (In English with Dutch subtitles.)

The film's screenwriter, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, grew up an upper-class Muslim in Somalia. In '92 she escaped to the Netherlands, mastered the language and attended university to study political science. Now a politician, she has received death threats for numerous stances she's taken and activities she's undertaken. But as a self-proclaimed ex-Muslim, she has taken it upon herself to make the plight of oppressed Muslim women known to the West--and to hopefully end their suffering.

Stress situations improve memory recall, and impair problem-solving

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 22:50:21 GMT

Researchers at Ohio State University report: ... Students performed better on the memory test one to two days prior to the exam, when their stress levels were presumably at their peak, and worse on the problem-solving tests. A week after the exam, students were given a similar round of cognitive tests. This time, the students did slightly worse on the memory test, but had improved on the word and shape tests. ...

There's an argument to try to schedule different types of exams on separate days, or weeks (we always argued about this with our high-school teachers). Also, relaxation techniques should only be used if the tasks at hand are not purely parrot-like.

Jinn of Quality and Risk

Submission, also known as Islam

Stress situations improve memory recall, and impair problem-solving