What's All This Then?

Well this is what am doing to make my month more challenging. Challenge me in the comment section either here or on YouTube in the last week of the month, you'll be able to vote from a short list of challenges to decide what I'll be doing next month!

JUNE 2011 : Photos

AUGUST: Re-run

JULY: ??

JUNE: Listen to Nina Simone

MAY: Learn about the emotion fear

APRIL: Find an object and take a photo of it every day in different locations

MARCH: Create a stop motion animation

FEBRUARY: Keri Smith's 'This Is Not A Book' book

Monday, May 31, 2010

The Facts On Nina Simone

Born: 21st of February 1933

Name: Eunice Kathleen Waymon

Birthplace: Tryon, North Carolina

Died: 21st of April 2003 (aged 70)

Last Public Performance: Poland, July 2002

Children: Simone Kelly (and 3 grandchildren)

First Album: 'Little Girl Blue' 1958 on Bethlehem Records included 'I Loves You Porgy'

Releases: released over 37 albums between 1958 and 1993

Instruments: Piano, vocal

Little known: she suffered from bipolar disorder, also diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and schizophrenia

Degrees: Two honorary degrees in music and humanities from the University of Massachusetts and Malcolm X College. Honorary degree by the Curtis Institute.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Come On, Don't be Scared to Vote!

If you feel fear at the mention of an online vote, face your fears and vote here and now. We will support you, and we don't judge. There is no wrong answer here.

Don't be scared to vote, just scroll up, look right, and vote. We believe in you! You can do it! Vote!

Some Wacky Facties

  • Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words.
  • The majority of women count snakes as their biggest fear. For men, it's being buried alive.
  • Only 11% of people who admit to having a phobia have actually sort professional help.
  • In a laboratory study, rats whose amygdalas had been damaged showed no fear when in the presence of a cat.
  • The term for someone experiencing a heart attack brought on by intense fear IE: getting scared to death is 'The Baskerville Effect.'
  • According to Robert Leahy, president of the International Association for Cognitive Psychotherapy, the average child today, has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950s.
  • US teenagers were surveyed about their fears and the top ten in order were: terrorist attacks, spiders, death, being a failure, war, heights, criminal or gang violence, being alone, the future, and nuclear war.
  • According to Qigong Energy Healing, fear is stored in the kidneys.

Have You Voted Yet?

No, you haven't? Well get to it! Look right and up. Your vote is only 2 clicks away!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Small Apology

Just a quick note to apologise for how little time I have spent on May's challenge. May's personal challenge has included a lot of hours at work and being slightly overwhelmed with, well everything. But we still learnt a few things. Like what an amygdala is. And where an amygdala is.

So June's challenge is going to be something I can tie in a little better. Yeah, yeah I promise and I promise and what do I deliver? Not a whole lot! But I promise this one'll be different! June's challenge is going back to my first love. Back to the one and only that holds my heart and interest like nothing else can. Music. I need to discover a new artist and you will decide who.

#1 Led Zeppelin

#2 Bob Dylan

#3 Queen

#4 Eric Clapton

#5 Eminem

#6 Elvis Presley

#7 Nina Simone

#8 AC/DC

#9 Nirvana

#10 Radiohead

These are all bands/artists that I am familiar with but would like to know more on. Be prepared for reviews, bios, best covers, discographies and anything other tid bit I can find. So if there is one on that list you want to know more about, or if there is one on that list that you are shocked I don't know enough about, vote for it!

Fear On The Brain

The timeline of fear is mapped in the brain as such: the thalamus collects information from your senses. When you see or hear etc a possible threat the thalamus sends the information to the sensory cortex and the amygdala. The amygdala reacts to the information by triggering the physiological response that we experience and call fear. The amygdala communicates with necessary regions of the brain to release hormones and change respiratory and motor functions. This is when the heart races, the hands shake, the body sweats etc. At the same time the information is being assessed by the cortex in greater detail. If it needs a response from the body, the amygdala has already prepared the body for action. However if the cortex perceives the information to be non-threatening and therefore no action is required, we feel a sense of relief as our body returns to normal.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

The Who, What, Where and Why

Who? – Everyone experiences fear! From around the age of 7 months we show signs of feeling fear. Poor little things not only experience fear, they tend to fear more than grownups and experience these fears to a greater degree. Don't downgrade the extent of the boogie man's scare power. Apparently, the middle child, too busy thinking 'Marcia, Marcia, Marcia', experience less fear than their siblings do. But yes, we all experience fear, some of us even like it, some of us make a lot of money from it, think of the extreme sports industry and roller coasters!

What? – Fear is experienced on two levels, biochemical and emotional. The biochemical reaction is the one we don't control, it controls us. It's the sweating, increased heart rate, increased adrenaline levels, increased breathing rate that we feel in the first seconds of experiencing fear. This physical response is better known as 'fight or flight'; it is the body getting ready to fight for itself or to run for its life. It is what keeps us alive in sticky situations. Whether you need to fight or flee, your body will need all of its resources so it prepares by releasing hormones to cause changes to heart rate, digestive system, the nervous system and more. I must admit this part intrigues me and I will have more on this part later. The emotional side is personalised and differs from person to person. Think back to the adrenaline junkies who do crazy things just to feel fear. Then are those you will do anything to avoid it, and develop debilitating and prolonged phobias in response to experiencing fear. Again, there will be more on this later.

Where? – Your brain! Like almost everything else, it starts at the top. Your nervous system will release hormones that change your heart rate, that's why you feel it in your chest. Blood is diverted from where it is not needed to where it is (i.e.: your middle) which is why your hands go cold, the blood rushes from your face and you may even faint.

Why? – We have already touched on the why and why not? The why is tied into the what. When you are in situation that may cause you harm, your body reacts. It wakes itself up, dusts itself off and says 'right what's going on here?' Then it gets ready to survive. Whether that is to fight or to run, it will still result in a large effort and to put that effort in, the body does the previously mentioned hormone business. Keep in mind that fear is different to anxiety. Fear is the specific and sudden response to danger. Anxiety is often out of proportion to the threat perceived. And a phobia is the lasting effects of fear, not fear itself.

Well, that's all the basics done, I think. Class, any questions?


 


 

Saturday, May 1, 2010

The May Challenge Begins!

It is the merry month of May and we going to learn about a not so merry topic of 'The emotion fear' thanks to Camilla for challenging this month. Camilla: challenge accepted! Big thank you to everyone who voted! Check out the first vlog for this challenge here:

30th of April


30th of April: Beautiful Sydney, how could I not photograph this view? Birchgrove, Sydney, NSW.



29th of April


29th of April: It's always Happy Hour somewhere and it's always bin night somewhere. Concord West, NSW.

28th of April


28th of April: Just outside the train station, yeah I'm all about trains now. Concord West, Sydney, NSW.

27th of April


27th of April: Sitting on the train, and the train was moving so it's a little blurry, sorry. Going past MacDonaldtown station, Sydney, NSW.