Life satisfaction for women, decreasing

By most objective measures the lives of women in the United States have improved over the past 35 years, yet we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women’s happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to male happiness. The paradox of women’s declining relative well-being is found examining multiple countries, datasets, and measures of subjective well-being, and is pervasive across demographic groups. Relative declines in female happiness have eroded a gender gap in happiness in which women in the 1970s typically reported higher subjective well-being than did men. These declines have continued and a new gender gap is emerging—one with higher subjective well-being for men. Our findings raise provocative questions about the contribution of the women’s movement to women’s welfare and about the legitimacy of using subjective well-being to assess broad social changes.
From this report

Subscribe to my RSS feed or learn more at Trendirama.com.

About narcissism

Once someone told me that I am narcissistic, but I cannot see myself identified in many of the traits mentioned in these paragraphs...
..........

“The characteristics and categories provide clues, but not a definitive diagnosis,” says Professor Eddie Kane, the director of the Personality Disorder Institute at Nottingham University. “While it’s clear when a person is psychotic or schizophrenic, we have to be wary in diagnosing personality disorder. Putting a label on someone’s behaviour that may have an enormous impact on their lives has to be very carefully considered.”

gives a list of nine characteristics, of which a person has to have at least five before NPD is considered.

The nine include a grandiose sense of self-importance; preoccupations with fantasies of success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love; a belief that he or she is “special”, only understood by other “special” people; a need for admiration; a sense of entitlement or unreasonable expectations of favourable treatment; exploitative, taking advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends; unwillingness to recognise or identify with the needs of others; envious of others, or thinks others are envious of him or her, and arrogance.

In its most extreme form, known as malignant narcissism, paranoia and physical aggression may also be displayed

In a paper published this May in The British Journal of Psychiatry, Professor Peter Tyrer and colleagues from the department of psychological medicine at Imperial College London wrote unequivocally: “The assessment of personality disorder is currently inaccurate, largely unreliable, frequently wrong and in need of improvement.”

narcissist’s tools of the trade – exaggeration, flattery, grandiosity and the display of fake vulnerability and self-pity to elicit sympathy

Subscribe to my RSS feed or learn more at Trendirama.com.

The beginning of the end of the human race

When I talk about this with my friends, they think I am crazy. I tell them that the world is about to change radically, since we are becoming increasingly attached to machines that don't feel anything for us. (maybe the fact that they are not really alive would explain that) I always show them my favourite robot video, but they still think I am crazy...but hey, it is not my fault if I can see the future ;) .

"the results imply that current robot technology is surprisingly close to achieving [sustained] autonomous bonding and socialization with human toddlers."

And the future is already here! Have a look yourself
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/1105/2
http://www.trendirama.tv/video/119082-introducing-zeno.html
http://www.trendirama.tv/video/7473--invertuality-a-message-from-jules.html

And finally, have a look at this article (a joke, or not a joke anymore?) from Wired:
10 reasons I'd rather marry a robot



Subscribe to my RSS feed or learn more at Trendirama.com, Trendirama.tv and Trendinews.com

"Learning to be happy for extremely competitive dummies"

This is a comment left here to this article (with video), regarding someone similar to myself.
//////
I've said it before and I'll say it again. One of the most refreshing things in this blog is to sense that Frank is able to use his money to live a high quality life, unlike the person of the video in this post's links.
The ex-owner of Paypal presents clear signs of serious psychological imbalance. I am sorry for him. His excessive competitiveness doesn't allow him to enjoy the present moment, thus he cannot enjoy life. That's why he feels sad when he is not busy.
I know what's to feel that push forward that he feels, because I am (was?) similar. I spent 10 years of my life being dominated by it. Now I fight against it, trying to live a healthier and more balanced life. And I feel better than ever.
What's all the money doing for that person? Nothing. He is not even spending it in a good chair and a good desk, for what we can see in that video. He is not unpacking his things. And he presents in his body language many clear signs of stress, although he appears calm. Isn't it odd? He seems to be very stressed out and letting his life -and possibly partner- slip away. He is not able to disconnect from his urge to win. It is just that this is not an urge to win, but just to compete. And the competition is against himself, so he can never win.
He feels he has to prove something. His life is dominated by others, and by what others think of him. His self esteem depends on the outside world.
If he is not "producing" he feels he is not doing anything useful. He works 15 hours a day or more. Once he sold his company, he felt worthless.
I am sorry for him. He should look for help as soon as possible.
Of course many of us will say -particularly thos of us that are like him and me- "what the hell do you know Javier, he is free to live his life in any way he wants!" and it is true...as long as he is happy. But he doesn't seem happy at all. Id' bet he is not. Frank seems much happier and more balanced than him. I strive to be a more balanced person myself.
There is a time when you lose contact with reality. When you cannot enjoy the smell of a flower anymore, or the beauty of a sunset...you just are here physically but you are already somewhere else mentally. Always somewhere else. Never in the present. Never really being where you are. Never enjoying quality time. You have lost perspective. It is hard for you to laugh at yourself, and at how ridiculous things can be sometimes. You are too busy for that.
He feels he hasn't learnt anything if he doesn't sell his next company for more money than the last one. But with the next company he won't be happy either, we all know that.
He only feels alive when he is working, because that disctracts him from the things he feels are wrong...it distracts him from the voice of the father critic inside him that whispers all the time behind his ear "you are not good enough".
He is looking for fulfillment in the wrong places. The best thing that can happen to him is something that brings him back to reality fast. At the moment, the only thing that differentiates him from a robot are his biological functions.
There is a time to compete. There is a time to stop. There is a time just be, and love yourself and the people that loves you because you are you, not because you sold paypal for 1.X billion. And there is a time to appreciate your life, your health, the air you breath, the food you eat and the fact that the sun came up the horizon one more day.
In one hand I admire such a strong drive in a person, and this guy's technical knowledge is clearly outstanding. But has he learn anything about life itself during his 33(?) years? I hope he does soon, otherwise he'll end up like the many of our generation (I am 32)...extremely rich...extremely lonely...extremely empty.
I hope he changes before that happens and stop making wealthy and happy everyone around him...except himself.

Regards,

Javier Marti
Trendirama.com


Subscribe to my RSS feed or learn more at Trendirama.com.

Love is for sale, and you have to work for it

(she is not a little girl anymore. She's just been promoted to "potential lifelong consumer" and "parent influencer")
Other worrying embedded messages kids are getting are "you have to work to get money", "crappy jobs are ok", "you need to work to make money to consume" and "if you don't have money, you are not important (and people love you less)". Oh, and of course, the addictive power of social networks thrown in, just in case...

1. Love is for sale: Turns out what mom said was bogus. On Webkinz, the user can buy love. Every time the Webkinz owner logs in, the pet communicates by using thought bubbles, most often loaded with positive comments. If you feed or nurture the pet in some way, it will most likely send a virtual heart or utter something sweet.

From the article at http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9717999-1.html


Subscribe to my RSS feed or learn more at Trendirama.com.

Objects are just objects. What is inside you?

Yes. It is beautiful, isn't it?
But it is also just an object.
There will always be a better car, a better phone, a better anything...always a better material object to struggle for.
There will always even be someone more attractive, stronger, faster, more efficient...than you.

But what it matters, is what's inside you. What's about your mental power? How developed is your sensibility? Your intuition? Your people skills? How well do you feel within yourself? Are you happy? That's all that really matters.

In the meantime, objects are nice, and human beauty is attractive to the eye to see. But this will also fade with time.
The only thing that will remain, is your essence...what you did...who you are...what you gave to the world.
And you are still on time to work on that.
Objects are just objects. Metal, plastic, rubber... joined together. Yes, they are nice.
But there are more important things to strive for...

>>>>>If you like this posting, subscribe to my rss feed for more. Thanks!
If you want to learn more interesting stuff, visit Trendirama.com. You can also write there!

Life is built on bricks of persistence

You have a nice day. And you do what you have to do. You have a bad day. And you do what you have to do. You have your birthday. And you do what you have to do. You have holidays. And you do what you have to do...every day the same. Rubbing your face against failure, you carry on. You try to stay positive. And you do what you have to do. You doubt. But you do what you have to do...again.
But then...one day...after all that work an all those dissapointments...after all those hard times...after all those opportunities you missed for working so hard on "your thing"...after pursuing your ideals for so long...after studying, and working so hard, and trying, and trying, and trying yet again...then...one day...when you start thinking that it is not worth it...when your knees can't keep you in the battle anymore...when you think you will never reach your goal...then...

YOU DIIIIIEEEE!
And in that moment, you realize how much of a stupid you have been and how much easier life could have been. And you die feeling...pretty stupid. And a failure, of course.
You die like a stupid failure.
And life in the world carries on, without you. And everyone forget you. And people love other people. And people talk about other people (alive). And nobody cares about who you were...or what you did. Or why.
Because life is made out of bricks of persistence. And failure. And bets that may never pay off.
Great fun, isn't it? Such is reality. Such is life.
Don't tell this to your children...

>>>>>If you like this posting, subscribe to my rss feed for more. Thanks!
If you want to learn more interesting stuff, visit Trendirama.com. You can also write there!

My life - Islam?

I have been quite busy sending emails around to promote trendirama.com. Particularly, I am inviting potential authors to come and write for the project. We are a few already.
Something interesting: in a period of two days I have been having casual chats with two girls at work. They are muslim, so I got to learn more about islam, how they see the world, relationships, etc. Today I opened several windows in google video, with documentaries I planned to watch. I left them all in "pause" and silence, as I did other things, but after a few mins, one of them activated itself, so the sound caught my attention. What was it about? You guessed it..."Islam, Empire of Faith". What does it all mean?


Want to learn interesting stuff? Visit Trendirama.com!
niquel757mylife

Closer to my dream of flying!

Today I saw this video. I've been dreaming all my life with this (literally), so when the time comes, I'll be pleased to try it! The sensations must just be soooooooo good!

niquel757technology niquel757forfun