Lance

New Scientist June 9 2018 MOZART and Beethoven are both said to have had it. The same is said of Mariah Carey. Now a study suggests that some adults may be able to learn perfect pitch in just a few weeks of training. Many musicians can identify notes in relation to a reference note. For instance, if they hear the note C and are told it is C, they will be able to identify G. But only a few have absolute pitch – also known as perfect pitch – which is the ability to identify any note without a reference note. "It is a tremendous advantage," says musician Rick Beato. People with absolute pitch can play or write down any tune they hear, or just sit down and compose music without needing an instrument. It is thought that only around 1 in 10,000 people have this ability, and that if a person doesn't learn perfect pitch before the age of around 8, they never will. However, when Stephen Van Hedger of the University of Chicago and his colleagues attempted to train six people in absolute pitch, two of them improved considerably (bioRxiv, doi.org/cqjn). The training – which took four hours a week, for eight weeks – involved listening to notes, trying to identify them and finding out if the guesses were correct. At the start, the two people who showed most improvement scored under 40 per cent on tests of absolute pitch. By the end they scored 98 per cent or more. One of them scored 100 per cent. "He passed the strongest test we could throw at him," says Van Hedger. But some are sceptical. The two volunteers who improved had music lessons in childhood, notes Seung-Goo Kim at the University of Cambridge. "In other words, this study shows that absolute pitch can be refined in some adults by training if they already have 'latent' absolute pitch." "There are a lot of people who don't know they have perfect pitch," says Beato. This article appeared in print under the headline "You really can make yourself pitch perfect" Michael Le Page

New Scientist June 9 2018 DREAMING helps us learn new information, and the boring dreams we have during the deepest stages of sleep may be the most important. As we drift off, our brainwaves slow and we enter progressively deeper stages of sleep, before returning to lighter sleep and entering a rapid eye movement (REM) stage. This cycle is typically repeated several times a night. Until recently, we thought dreams only occurred during REM sleep. We now know that is not the case, although REM dreams are the vivid, story-like ones we tend to remember. Those we have during deeper, non-REM sleep appear to be simpler and vaguer. For example, when you recall being chased down the street by a dinosaur, that is from an REM dream, says Björn Rasch at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. To investigate the role of sleep in replaying memories and learning, Rasch and his colleagues recruited 22 volunteers. They were all asked to learn a list of 100 words that were each linked to a picture, for example, the word tree with a picture of a child sitting on a chair. That night, the researchers used electrode caps to track what stage of sleep each person was in. Throughout the night, the team regularly woke participants up and asked them what they had been dreaming about. The next day, the volunteers were tested on the word-picture pairs. Those who saw more of the pictures in their non-REM dreams did best. There was no such link when it came to REM sleep (bioRxiv, doi.org/cqjp). Another night, the volunteers were given a new memory task and then allowed to sleep undisturbed. The following morning, they described the dreams they could remember – and none contained pictures from the task. This is the first hint that dreaming about things in non-REM sleep might be more important than doing so in REM sleep, says Rasch. This article appeared in print under the headline "You forget your most important dreams" Clare Wilson

Ya right.... 😊😊😳 If you have such a strong urge .... look on eBay I am sure someone has a few for sale

Selective interpretation...😎

As for reporting things to authorities it is a judgement call ... if we find out someone robbed a bank as a opposed to someone not paying back a loan... two different things.. Elders are not commissioned to enforce Caesars laws... Again if in doubt they will contact the branch..

I have found that even reporting an abuse is a “form of liberation”..... it is no longer your secret. The other person is put on notice and groundwork laid if and when other facts come to light or other occurrences.... I have known some individuals that all they wanted was an apology and they would of forgiven the perpetrator .... but not even a simple “I am sorry “ was forth coming. One thing is for sure healing is possible with the help of loving friends....experienced counselors and developing a spiritual perspective on the evils of this old world.

I agree it is raw data .... It dosn’t take into account unreported numbers, which we will more than likely never know. It is true that 65,000 versus 23 million is huge difference in sample size .. That being said 65,000 is a huge sample when it comes to averages ... Psychological mental health forecasts are conducted on a far smaller sample to indicate trends in population health and welfare. On top of that, these raw averages hold up over many decades... So we are not taking a sample from one discrete year in time. So the bottom line is that Jehovah’s Witnesses are multiple times less tolerant to sexual abuse issues than the average population. That dosn’t make JW’s perfect or without fault. It does show we are aware and we are cognizant of dealing with the issues. From my personal experience we as an organization are proactive in dealing with the issues and assisting the victims in whatever way we can.

Tom I looked at your numbers and how you came to that conclusion... and why you are concerned with some aspects of them. You are comparing apples to apples so that is fair comparison with the numbers presented.. So in 2017 there were 67,418 publishers in Australia with 12 non historical reported cases of abuse which means .0178 percent rate of abuse In 2017 there were 23,968,973 Australians with 27,058 reported cases of abuse which .means .1129 percent rate of abuse So the bottom line you are over 6 times safer in a congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses then in the world. Also a major difference, all the cases of Jw’s were in a familial setting and no elder was involved. So our rate of abuse amoung elders or “leaders in the church” was zero .. The churches do not track parishioners who are involved in a abuse but we do. As we all know “one abuse is one too many” ... but these numbers do show our vigilance

Tom “Data uncovered by the Australian Royal Commission suggests that a child is up to six times safer in the JW community than in the overall Australian world. ” I assume that this conclusion was reached by the rate of occurrence in the general population versus the rate of occurrence within Jehovah’s Witnesses of Australia... ? Do you have the numbers, because this is very quotable factoid.?

Whitney That is a very good article... it gets at the core of the issue when it comes to doing battle with opposers..

From New Scientist Magazine May 26 2018 Hit red link to go to article.. PEOPLE in a minimally conscious state have been "woken" at home for the first time, using brain stimulation therapy delivered by their family. Some of those in the trial could respond to questions from their loved ones, having been unresponsive for years. "They were more present... laughing when someone was telling a joke or crying when they heard sad news," said one family member. "It was nice to see them laugh at funny scenes on the TV." People with severe brain trauma often fall into a coma. This can improve to a state of minimal consciousness, where they might show fluctuating signs of awareness but remain unable to communicate. In 2014, Steven Laureys at Liège University Hospital in Belgium and his colleagues discovered that people in a minimally conscious state could be temporarily roused using mild electrical stimulation. The people in his trial were able to respond to commands and answer questions for a few hours before drifting back into an uncommunicative state. Last year, Laureys and his team showed they could extend the period of awakening to a week by applying the stimulation over five consecutive days. Now, they have taken the therapy out of the lab and into the patient's own home by teaching their family members or carers to use the stimulation device. The study involved 27 people, one of whom had been in a minimally conscious state for 33 years (Brain Stimulation, doi.org/cp3j). Each received a 20-minute session of stimulation every weekday for four weeks, or a sham treatment. Eight weeks later, they received the other therapy. No one directly involved was aware of the treatment order. When the team tested the participants one to two days after the real treatment had finished, a fifth showed improvements in awareness that were not observed at the end of the placebo sessions. A few people regained the ability to answer questions, such as "Am I touching my nose?". To communicate, each patient was taught a code based on how responsive they were, including thumbs up or down, or even just blinking to signify yes or no. All those in the trial were in a chronic minimally conscious state, meaning they had shown no improvement for several years. "We'd expect even better results for people with more recent brain injuries," says co-author Géraldine Martens, also at Liège University Hospital. The study involved a technique called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which uses a tiny amount of electricity to make neurons more or less likely to fire. The stimulation device is placed over the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in higher cognitive functions such as consciousness and decision-making. This area is also linked to neural "hubs" that help direct information around the brain. In conscious people, electrical activity spreads around the brain like a wave. Increasing the activity in the prefrontal cortex using tDCS is thought to partly recreate this wave of communication. The device was configured to apply 2 milliamps of stimulation. "We think that a longer protocol with higher current might have better or more long-lasting results," says Martens, "but these people can't communicate pain so we have to be really careful about possible side effects." The team acknowledges that it can be difficult for families to see improvements in such a trial, only for their relative to return to their previous state. In light of this, an ethics board allowed the families to keep the device after the trial. They have been told not to use it more than once a day, and never at weekends. "They've had it for about a month, so we'll be catching up with them soon to see what has happened," says Martens. "This is a great step forward," says Joseph Fins, chief of the medical ethics division at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York. But how therapeutically meaningful it is still has to be assessed, he says. Fins and his colleagues previously used deep brain stimulation to temporarily awaken a man who had been in a minimally conscious state for six years, after which he was able to form short sentences and interact with his family. After stimulation ends, the individual does gradually return to their pre-treatment state, says John Whyte, director of the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute in Pennsylvania. "However, there is reason to hope that the therapy could be continued indefinitely to maintain the improved performance." This article appeared in print under the headline "Woken up with a brain zap" Helen Thomson

It is all about time ... we have a number of people who are very passionate about discussing the refined policies of the organization, that certain things are written down in absolute black and white... and that is ok to point... What I have found that those polices have been practiced for the last 30 years even though not clearly written down in a step by step procedure. The over arching policy or principle we have is do the “ loving thing”. For the world that is too vague... for the majority of JW’s they get it and do it... So if we needed a clearly defined marching orders to act .. good now we have them, but it still boils down to go out and help those in need ... As for beating every false claim etc... We have some who come to this forum to sharpen their skills and gather information to do battle with the Pharisees and Saducces of this world ... How do we know that .. by the exact same phrases and questions used by opposers...your average brother or sister would not be using the same terminology or discriptors. It becomes an intellectual game or debate to prove those Pharisees wrong and a great deal of time and effort goes into the world of trolldom... We notice that Christ who is the head of the congregation has not directed the slave to gather a whole bunch of “internet pioneers” or “internet publishers” to wage battle with the trolls of this system of things. So if we are passionate about this ... I get it... my passion is helping individuals directly... one on one .. or if I know someone needs help. I arrange it that they can get help. We only have so much time in our limited life span...we all to have use it in manner that brings glory to Jehovah and in his direction during these last days...

I understand.... but we easily can spend “ a lot of time” and effort being “keyboard warriors” with great fire and zeal in our belly beating down every apostate and every false claim on the internet. For the most part those individuals are not the ones who need our time and attention. Those individuals can easily suck us dry and distract us from our main commission. Jesus was not “sent”to the scribes and Pharisees... But to bind up broken hearted ones.. ones with a desire to know the truth.. These issues need more then lawyerly prose and point and counter point... they need a kind loving heart that can help abused and traumatized people.

I read all of this and I wonder how many of you have actually gone through the whole process ... of discovery ..maybe family denial .. years going by .. court cases .. denials ....sexual activity among siblings and close relatives..add as many words and descriptors as you want... Helping the victims ... supporting the family of the abuser... more court cases.... At times a judgement ... but many times no justice from the courts.... enormous amount damage...... at times personal freedom from the revelation... understanding the differences between a victim and survivor I have numerous times.... I loose a part of me every time it happens. It seems that everyone thinks they have clear idea that all these situations are clear cut ... do this ... do that and problem is handled and settled.. We banter back and forth over exact words or phrases, if they were ever used and how much better this sentence is now.... yep ... so much better..... Each and every situation I have been involved in last 30 years and all the participating elders....have been for the protection and aid of the person who says they were victimized... period ... At times even taking the victims into our home.Each situation the branch was involved with , sometimes to a great extent and others just a notification if it was a situation of an abuse reported by an adult about a deceased abuser. Will the explicit guidelines help ?... absolutely Has all these inquiries and court cases drawn attention to the need to come forward and deal with the criminal sin and assault ..? yes Can this give the families in the congregation a clear mandate , to be proactive in protecting their children ...?. yes But by far the majority of situations are not what has happened in the congregation but by what has happened before anyone was a Jehovah’s Witness... Our role more often is to offer comfort, help them get some professional help with the side effects and residual effects of the trauma .. often times it is with our brothers and sisters from war torn countries... So I guess my bottom line is ..debate over words and phrases are interesting and beneficial .. but what is needed is Godly principles and love,that has to be “actively shared “with all victims of abuse and horrific trauma ... just go help someone . Bind up the broken hearts and lives of so many of our brothers and sisters...Please ... just a suggestion ... less debate more action. We know what has to be done... Isa 61 He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,To proclaim liberty to the captivesAnd the wide opening of the eyes to the prisoners, 2 To proclaim the year of Jehovah’s goodwillAnd the day of vengeance of our God,To comfort all who mourn,

Wedding... what wedding? Missed it again..🙈😳 Sort of hard to miss, every news channel trying to dissect it and it’s meaning for the House of Windsor ... and who wore what. But at the very least marriage is still honoured by some and that is a good thing ... 😊