Author: Merrik Metcalf

How are you feeling?

Spot the Fake Smile

Results

You got 13 out of 20 correct

Look at the labels below each image to see which smiles are genuine and which are fake.

Ticks and crosses show which smiles you got right and wrong.

Click on the image if you want to see the smile again.

incorrect correct incorrect incorrect correct
correct correct incorrect correct correct
incorrect correct correct correct incorrect
correct incorrect correct correct correct

(Above courtesy of http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/index_22.shtml?

gender=&age=&occupation=&country=&education=&outlook=2&confidence=5&programme=&Q01=fake&Q02=

fake&Q03=genuine&Q04=genuine&Q04=genuine&Q06=genuine&Q07=fake&Q08=fake&Q09=fake&Q10=genuine&

Q11=fake&Q12=fake&Q13=fake&Q14=fake&Q15=fake&Q16=genuine&Q17=fake&Q18=fake&Q19=genuine&Q20=

fake&part=eyebrows)

So, I took the “Spot the Fake Smile Test” from BBC and discovered that I am not nearly as inept at pointing out fake smiles as I originally thought. I attempted to use the technique explained by Daniel Pink in his section entitled “Empathy” where he describes a fake smile with higher eyebrows than a real smile in which the eyebrows are lowered by an involuntary muscle.

I found it very hard to tell whether the eyebrows were being lowered or not while the person was smiling. I guess I need to work harder at determining how people feel because after all, part of empathy is being able to read a person’s facial expressions.

I believe that it would take a lot of practice focused directly on people’s facial expressions in order to master this technique. Until then, I will have to continue to worry whether someone is genuinely smiling at me or if it is a fake smile that I cannot read. After taking this test, I do not feel as confident with my abilities to determine people’s emotions around me. I used to think I was pretty good at it to be honest. Now I wonder how many people’s emotions I have truly misread based on their facial expressions.

Only further experience in life will allow me to better my skills at reading people’s feelings and being more empathetic. For now, I will continue to do the best I can, but hopefully in the future my skills will improve.

What truly matters?

After reading Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, I discovered that in the section entitled “Meaning” there truly is more importance to life than certain material things. I decided to attempt his exercise that required me to picture my life as if I were 90 years old. I did this for thirty minutes or so, and the results were tremendous. I couldn’t believe how much I would change my life if I looked at it from the perspective of being 90 years old.

As I thought of my life coming to a close, I began to look back on all of the things I have done. I began to realize the important things in life, love and happiness. I quickly gained a better understanding of what has truly made me happy throughout my life and what has only made me happy for a temporary moment in time. It was these temporary moments of happiness that I began to realize are insignificant in the essence of life.

I came to the conclusion that sports have a huge meaning in my life. I have a very competitive personality and sports allow me to fulfill the need to compete. It is not only in the moment that sports have made me happy but also the memories serve to provide me with a sense of comfort. Without sports, I would not have truly been happy throughout my life.

I also realized that family is truly important. There have been times throughout my life that I have failed to realize this, and if I was 90 years old, I would regret those moments. From this point on, I will cherish every moment I am able to spend with my family and those who love me. After all, love is what drives me to work hard and accomplish things in life.

While looking at my life from the perspective of a 90 year old, I also came to realize that when you find someone who truly loves you for who you are then you need to hang on to that person. I would regret letting someone who loves me slip away and out of my life. This goes for both friends and girlfriends. Anyone that truly loves you for who you are and is there for you will make your life better.

While looking at my life from the perspective of a 90 year old, I also came to realize that there are things in my life that are ultimately insignificant. It doesn’t matter what car I drive or how much money I have. Both of these are material things. As I imagined myself at 90 years old, nothing material truly mattered anymore. Yes, it may make me temporarily happy, but it doesn’t provide me with the love or happiness that will allow me to have an amazing life.

Thus, after viewing my life as if I were 90 years old, I was able to develop a better understanding of what truly has meaning in my life. Love and happiness are what truly matters. Without these, my life would not be complete. I will now try to emphasize these things in life and attempt to focus on what truly matters. This exercise was truly eye-opening for me.

 


Warfare

While reading Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, I came across the activity of creating a story out of an image. I thought this was interesting because it provided a good opportunity to use creativity and imagination. I found an image and began….

At the dawn of the New Age, a time when nuclear warfare was a true threat and nations around the world researched and produced atomic weapons each and every day, there was one country in particular that dominated and distilled fear into the rest of the world. Little had the world known due to its neutral status that in the year 2020 Switzerland would reveal its entire nuclear stockpile to the world and threaten nuclear warfare on a global scale. Switzerland had been manufacturing nuclear weapons and developing technologies far more advanced than any other nation in the world. All of this went unnoticed and allowed them to gain a major advantage.

At this point, Switzerland held more firepower in each major city than any other country held throughout its entire nation. To worsen the situation, a man named Joseph Abel had risen as the supreme military dictator of this now “world superpower”. This man had no intention of peace. He desired complete world domination and the destruction of anyone who opposed him. In 2025, after threatening the lives of everyone for 5 years, he began his mission.

His largest opposition being Russia, Abel ordered a full scale nuclear strike on Russia. The destruction was unimaginable. Millions of people lost their lives and Russia remains uninhabitable to this very day. Abel had made his point clear. Nothing would stand in his way. He began to coordinate the invasion and occupation of various lands in Europe in order to expand his countries boundaries.

In the meantime, the United Nations knew that they could not let this occur. There was only one option, a full scale nuclear launch upon the small country of Switzerland. This would simply wipe Switzerland off of the map. As the United Nations coordinated this precision military strike, attempting to minimize imminent collateral damage, Abel continued his campaign taking over northern Africa.

On March 19, 2027, the time came. The United Nations commenced their strike. In less than five minutes, every nuclear bomb from the nations had hit Switzerland. The entire nation was blown away. Smoke, dust, and radiation filled the air. The world’s worst dictator and all of his central resources were wiped out. This mission was a success.

Now, the world can live in peace without the fear of nuclear warfare on such a large scale. Switzerland will never be able to inhabit life again, but this is a small price to pay for the safety of Earth as people know it.

 

(image courtesy of http://talklikeaphysicist.com/2008/motionless-monday-amazing-pictures-of-nuclear-blasts/)

 


“Teach Me How To Study”

After thinking for quite sometime about what I could possibly do to design my own homework assignment, I came to the conclusion that I should take this time to learn and hopefully implement better study habits. I have constantly found myself struggling to find good and effective ways to study for tests with large amounts of material.

I started out with this video:

So maybe there is something to this “studying” thing…

I decided to do some research regarding good college study habits and how to implement them. At http://www.wikihow.com/Develop-Good-Study-Habits-for-College, I found various ways to help improve my study habits. Here are a few of the things I could do as stated by the wikiHow website :

 

  • 1

    Review the lesson plan prior to class. Skim through the textbooks. Try to buy your textbooks a few weeks before the semester begins for a glimpse of your classes.

  • 2

    Take quick notes in class.

  • 3

    If you read the material before class you will have an idea of what doesn’t make sense, and concentrate of your professor’s explanation. Why are you buying the textbook for it to collect dust? They have textbooks and lab manuals for a purpose. You will be graded mostly on the book because this is mainly the bulk of the class. Professors are usually here to interpret and clarify the text, and sometimes give their opinion; you are to learn most of the material yourself.

  • 4

    Don’t make notes on what’s already in the book, it wastes your time and attention. Highlight the parts emphasized, and listen to the way your professor relates it to what you’ve already learned. Remember that the professor may be biased so if you tend to not agree with the professor, just stick to the facts.

  • 5

    If it’s repeated more than twice it’s going to be on the test.

  • 6

    Study for at least a total of an hour everyday before the next class. For each lecture hour you should expect at least 1-3 hours needed for study- more if it’s a challenging class. Studying could involve reading the book, checking out your notes, assignments, using the DVD with the book, browsing the web for information on your class, etc. Many colleges have online learning tools and assignment portals that help you learn your stuff.

  • 7

    Don’t let social activities take priority before studying. If you have to be social, it is great to have a study group. More shy college students benefit with this.

  • 8

    Plan your breaks in the short and long term. If you must make the Saturday night party, know you’ll have to spend the afternoon at the library. If you’re spending the day hitting the books, plan an hour off at suppertime, and a treat for dessert.

  • 9

    Study groups help some remember material, and clarify difficult points and is a great way to have a social life in college at the same time as studying.

  • 10

    If your friends are in different courses plan on getting together for stress busting periods, especially during exam week. Midnight power walks make great memories.

  • 11

    If you are not the person to concentrate, try to lighten your load of classes. 12 credits is a good amount of credits to schedule for each semester. That will ensure up to 12-24 hours of studying, assuming that each class has at least 1 hour of studying per credit.

  • 12

    Always memorize bolded vocabulary words in the textbook. These might not be covered by the professor because he’ll assume that you’re already reading the text. So beware, even things not lectured on may appear on the test.

  • 13

    Pretend each test you take in college is going to be a make it or break it test for your job. This is not high school, where you can just get on the honor roll. The grades you get may affect the amount of money you get in your paycheck, or the chances of even getting a job in this economy

I decided to implement some of these tactics today as I studied to my Calculus II test that is 5 days from now. I found a few people in my class and created a group to study with. We went over all of the material that will be on the test and decided what we need to focus the most on. After reviewing this material, we concluded that there were certain things we should ask our professor and TA prior to the exam. I believe that doing this helped me gain a better understanding of the material and what I do and do not understand. Now I will have an opportunity to further review the material and ask others for help with the material I do not understand. This will help me do better on an exam for which I normally would have tried to cram for at the last minute.

Influence on a Massive Scale

Throughout the world of real-estate, there are many people and companies who have had a major influence on not only the business of real-estate but also in our lives. These people range from top executives in some of the world’s largest real-estate companies to the world’s top economists. Here are a few of the most influential people in real-estate:

Ben Bernake

As the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, he ultimately controls the country’s money supply. This alone makes him one of the most influential people in nearly every aspect of people’s lives. He has a major impact on real-estate through his ability to raise and lower interest rates on various buildings through altering the economy and money flow. As a man with so much power, it is essential that he knows exactly what he is doing. Thus, he is one of the most knowledgable and powerful men in real-estate.

Richard B. Clark

As the CEO of Brookfield Properties, Clark is the top executive of the world’s largest commercial real-estate manager by market capitalization. This company owns, operates, and develops assets in many of the worlds largest cities. Since he became CEO in 2002, Brookfield Properties has seen a steady rise in profits, now controlling $7.5 billion worth of assets. He has been a huge influence on how commercial real-estate companies and leaders have come to manage themselves.

Stephen A. Schwarzman

Schwarzman is the CEO and co-founder of Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private equity group. Blackstone Group manages over $98.2 billion worth of assets around the world. Due to such a large amount of assets controlled by this company, they seem to have perfected the field of real-estate on a massive scale. They manage and develop these assets in many different ways to make money. Schwarzman is truly a genius when it comes to commercial real-estate and developing various properties. It would be very interesting to gain further insight into his thoughts regarding his business.

All of these people have had a major impact in the field of commercial real-estate. This has led to them controlling huge amounts of assets. I would be very interested in being able to just sit down and pick the minds of some of these real-estate geniuses.

http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=23718001#1


Love your job…

Have you ever looked at the Atlanta skyline and been amazed? Well, ever since I was a child I have been fascinated with the city and all that it has to offer. I used to stare at all of the huge buildings and wonder who was in them and how they got to live in there (at the time I just assumed people lived there). As I grew older, I was able to gain a better understanding of downtown Atlanta and how these businesses came to reside within this amazing skyline.

My father has been a huge influence on my life as I have grown up. He has shown me everything that it means to be a man and how to live life. As a result, I think I am slightly bias when I say that I believe he has the best job anyone could possible have. He is a commercial real estate broker for Jones Lang LaSalle in downtown Atlanta. For those of you who don’t know what that is, a commercial real estate broker represents either the tenant or the seller when a building is looking to be occupied. He works for one side of the deal and tries to get the best deal for whichever side he represents.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I aspire to be a commercial real estate broker because I am really interested in being a part of what businesses occupy the buildings that everyone sees. It would be amazing to know that as a child I stared in wonder at the buildings, and now as an adult I am able to help businesses occupy these buildings.

I am still unsure of the best route to take in order to get to this point in my life. From research that I have done, there seem to be many people with engineering degrees as well as business degrees in commercial real estate. Which route is the best to take though? I am still debating this. Only time, further research, and possibly talking with current workers in the field will help me to gain a better understanding of what I need to do while in school.

I look forward to wherever my life leads me.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

-Confucius


A Creation Never Ending

After collaborating as a group and finally collecting numerous pieces of creation from Georgia Tech students, we finally got to present our idea that TECH IS CREATIVE to the public. We set up our computers revealing our Facebook group, “Creativity at Georgia Tech” (http://www.facebook.com/groups/177915475620354/), a poster showing various pieces of creativity, and a Prezi that included our process and rap video!

The rap video reveals some creativity within ourselves and gives a good overview of our Invention Mob process with a little bit of added humor!

After presenting our idea to many professors and students, I know that we were able to prove to them that Tech is full of creativity. If you still don’t think that Georgia Tech has a ton of creativity or that you are someone who can contribute to our cause, check out our Facebook page.

While the Invention Mob process is sadly over, we hope that our project will continue beyond the realm of the project. We will continue to keep the Facebook group up and running in hopes that the word about our page will be spread and more people will show their creations and interact with one another.


Playing with fire?

As my group and I began this Invention Mob project, we wondered if we could possibly be playing with fire. Could Georgia Tech students really not be creative like the stereotype proposes? Would our project fail? Could we ever prove that Tech students had a creative side?

Well our concerns about playing with fire were quickly put out the past few days by a student named Mason Marceau who literally plays with fire. Yes, that’s right. He plays with fire.

Check out this picture of him spinning a flaming rope inches from his chest.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw it either. Is there really a student here at Georgia Tech that plays with fire?

I actually didn’t truly understand the true creation in this art until I saw this video:

Yes, not only is he dangerously swinging fire around his body, but he turns it into a form of art. This fire dance is truly a spectacle to see. If this does not show that Tech students are creative then I don’t know what will.

We are still looking for people with crazy creations to help us prove that Tech students are creative!

Check out our Facebook page to see more of Mason plus numerous other amazing artists!


Creation flows…

When we started our invention mob project, we came up with the simple problem that people believed that Georgia Tech students were not creative. This was a stereotype that we wished to do away with.

Our initial solution was to create a collage of various pictures of Tech students doing creative things, but we soon realize that still images alone could not capture all of the creativity hidden within the student body of Georgia Tech.

We decided to create a Facebook group called “Creativity at Georgia Tech” in which students could post videos, music, pictures, etc. of their various creative acts. We thought the page might start off a little slow, but we couldn’t have been more wrong. People immediately started joining our group.

We then decided to do an “artist of the day” for each day that people posted their creations.

Here is some of what was posted on day one…

This is from the Artist of the Day 1:

Ralf Popescu

 

Yes, wow, this was a great way to kick off our Facebook page. It didn’t stop their though. People from Tech seemed determined to make their creations known.

Here is a piece of art from our Artist of the Day 2:

Donovan Shuman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there are plenty more pieces of amazing work being contributed to the Facebook page.

Feel free to contribute your creations for all to see. Whether it be video, pictures, paintings, music, or anything creative go ahead and share it. Be a solution to the stereotype that has been laid upon Tech students.

Keep it up everyone! We are doing great!

Visit our Facebook page!!!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/177915475620354/

Here^^^^^


To all of you on Facebook!

Hey guys help us out please!

“Georgia Tech has a reputation that we’re not creative at all. We’re trying to prove to everyone that it’s not true! Post pictures, videos, or anything showing how creative you are. Tell everyone you know at Tech to join this group and show their creative side! Maybe you aren’t creative, then take a picture of your friend doing something creative! Whatever you do, it can show to everyone that Tech is creative”

http://www.facebook.com/groups/177915475620354/

“The things we fear most in organizations — fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances — are the primary sources of creativity.”

- Margaret J. Wheatley