Topic Review
Project Alpha
Project Alpha was an effort by magician James Randi to test the quality of scientific rigor of a well-known test of paranormal phenomena. In the late 1970s, Randi contacted the newly established McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research ("MacLab") with suggestions on how to conduct tests for paranormal phenomena. At the same time, two teenage boys (Steve Shaw, later known as Banachek, and Mike Edwards) independently contacted the McDonnell Laboratory and volenteered as subjects for such tests from 1979 to 1982. They quickly proved to exhibit a range of paranormal abilities far and away better than the other subjects of the experiment. The lab began leaking reports of the pair's capabilities, which were in fact simple magic tricks. When rumors of the test subjects' connection to Randi reached Peter Phillips, head of the MacLab, he instituted tighter protocols for the experiments; the two subjects' results declined sharply. In 1983, Randi held a press conference to expose the deception In the wake of Project Alpha, there were a number of controversies about the ethics of interference in scientific research and the validity of paranormal research as it then existed. It remains a watershed event in the field of parapsychology.
  • 572
  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Social Innovation Design
Social innovation design uses social resources and knowledge to meet the needs of society and put forward innovative schemes.
  • 572
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Troll 2
Troll 2 is a 1990 horror film directed by Claudio Fragasso (under the pseudonym Drake Floyd) and starring Michael Stephenson, George Hardy, Margo Prey, Connie McFarland, Deborah Reed, and Jason Wright. Produced under the title Goblins and conceived as a horror film with elements of comedy, the American producers and distributors were skeptical about its chances to succeed, and decided to market it as a sequel to the 1986 horror film Troll. However, the two films have no connection, and this movie features no trolls. The plot concerns a family pursued by vegetarian goblins who seek to mutate them into plants so that they can eat them. Production was rife with difficulties, largely due to the language barrier between the Italian-speaking crew and English-speaking cast, and producer Joe D'Amato's approach to low-budget film making. The resulting film is considered by some as one of the worst movies ever made. In subsequent years, the film gained a cult following and garnered a large fanbase. Though generally viewed as a poorly made horror, the filmmakers stated that it was "always intended to be a comic film". In 2009, Stephenson, the child star of the film, directed a critically acclaimed documentary about its production and subsequent popularity, humorously titled Best Worst Movie.
  • 572
  • 07 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Temple of the Five Immortals (Shiyan)
The Temple of the Five Immortals or Five Immortals Temple (Chinese: 五仙庙, p Wuxianmiao) is a Daoist temple located in Shiyan's Zhangwan District in China 's Hubei Province. The temple is situated on the Heavenly Horse (天马, Tianma) peak of White Horse Mountain (白马山, Báimǎ shān) in the Wudang Mountains. The Wudang Mountains are home to a famous complex of Taoist temples and the monasteries and associated with the god Xuan Wu. The Temple of the Five Immortals is one of the very few temples in the Wudang mountain range which is still maintained by real Daoist monks who dedicate their life to explore the great Dao. Wudang was named a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1994.
  • 571
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
The World (Descartes)
The World, also called Treatise on the Light (French title: Traité du monde et de la lumière), is a book by René Descartes (1596–1650). Written between 1629 and 1633, it contains a nearly complete version of his philosophy, from method, to metaphysics, to physics and biology. Descartes espoused mechanical philosophy, a form of natural philosophy popular in the 17th century. He thought everything physical in the universe to be made of tiny "corpuscles" of matter. Corpuscularianism is closely related to atomism. The main difference was that Descartes maintained that there could be no vacuum, and all matter was constantly swirling to prevent a void as corpuscles moved through other matter. The World presents a corpuscularian cosmology in which swirling vortices explain, among other phenomena, the creation of the Solar System and the circular motion of planets around the Sun. The World rests on the heliocentric view, first explicated in Western Europe by Copernicus. Descartes delayed the book's release upon news of the Roman Inquisition's conviction of Galileo for "suspicion of heresy" and sentencing to house arrest. Descartes discussed his work on the book, and his decision not to release it, in letters with another philosopher, Marin Mersenne. Some material from The World was revised for publication as Principia philosophiae or Principles of Philosophy (1644), a Latin textbook at first intended by Descartes to replace the Aristotelian textbooks then used in universities. In the Principles the heliocentric tone was softened slightly with a relativist frame of reference. The last chapter of The World was published separately as De Homine (On Man) in 1662. The rest of The World was finally published in 1664, and the entire text in 1677.
  • 569
  • 19 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Tall Tale
A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it in!" Other tall tales are completely fictional tales set in a familiar setting, such as the European countryside, the American frontier, the Canadian Northwest, or the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Events are often told in a way that makes the narrator seem to have been a part of the story; the tone is generally good-natured. The line between legends and tall tales is distinguished primarily by age; many legends exaggerate the exploits of their heroes, but in tall tales the exaggeration looms large, to the extent of dominating the story.
  • 569
  • 09 Nov 2022
Biography
Thomas Hill Green
Thomas Hill Green (7 April 1836 – 15 March 1882), known as T. H. Green, was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Like all the British idealists, Green was influenced by the metaphysical historicism of G. W. F. Hegel. He was one of the thinkers behind the philosophy of social liberalism. Green was born at Birkin, i
  • 569
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Psychological Effects of Digital Companies’ Employees during COVID-19
The ways people use words online can furnish psychological processes about their beliefs, fears, thinking patterns, and so on. Extracting from online employees’ reviews on the workplace community websites, the psychological effects of employees during the phase of the COVID-19 pandemic can be quantified. Affected by the pandemic after 2020, although the overall evaluation of digital companies employees was tending to be better, were work–life balance, culture and values, senior management, career opportunities, and salary and benefits, which were still getting worse. 
  • 568
  • 07 Mar 2022
Topic Review
The EU's Green Deal
In December 2019, the European Union introduced its Green Deal in which the ecological crisis is prioritized. In doing so, the EU seems to be breaking with its traditional green growth discourse. Does it? In this article, we seek to find out whether and to what extent the EC indeed has such a revolutionary cultural, economic and political agenda in mind with its Green Deal. While the green growth discourse presumes a growth-based economy that must become greener, the degrowth discourse questions the growth model and perceives it as ecologically irresponsible. If the European Green Deal represents a third alternative, then it will somehow succeed in prioritizing ecology without welfare loss. To ascertain to what extent the European Green Deal is that third alternative, three preliminary steps need to be undertaken. The first step consists in a brief exposition of the key features of the traditional green growth discourse, as propounded by the EC and its various allies. Thereafter, the overlaps between the green growth discourse and the European Green Deal are noted. In the third section, the latter’s divergences from that previous model are highlighted. In the final section, the main question of the article is answered. It is also suggested that specific interpretations and implementations of the European Green Deal could possibly turn the original communication into an alternative to both green growth and degrowth.
  • 567
  • 20 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Scholarly Interpretation of Gospel-Elements
Scholars have given various interpretations of the elements of the Gospel-stories.
  • 567
  • 28 Nov 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 134
Video Production Service