reflective

Milgrams Experiment on Obedience to Authority Gregorio Billikopf Encina University of California Why is it so many people obey when they feel coerced? Social psychologist Stanley Milgram researched the effect of authority on obedience. He concluded people obey either out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative--even when acting against their own better judgment and desires. Milgram�s classic yet controversial experiment illustrates people's reluctance to confront those who abuse power. It is my opinion that Milgram's book should be required reading (see References below) for anyone in supervisory or management positions. Milgram recruited subjects for his experiments from various walks in life. Respondents were told the experiment would study the effects of punishment on learning ability. They were offered a token cash award for participating. Although respondents thought they had an equal chance of playing the role of a student or of a teacher, the process was rigged so all respondents ended up playing the teacher. The learner was an actor working as a cohort of the experimenter. "Teachers" were asked to administer increasingly severe electric shocks to the "learner" when questions were answered incorrectly. In reality, the only electric shocks delivered in the experiment were single 45-volt shock samples given to each teacher. This was done to give teachers a feeling for the jolts they thought they would be discharging. Shock levels were labeled from 15 to 450 volts. Besides the numerical scale, verbal anchors added to the frightful appearance of the instrument. Beginning from the lower end, jolt levels were labeled: "slight shock," "moderate shock," "strong shock," "very strong shock," "intense shock," and "extreme intensity shock." The next two anchors were "Danger: Severe Shock," and, past that, a simple but ghastly "XXX." In response to the supposed jolts, the "learner" (actor) would begin to grunt at 75 volts; complain at 120 volts; ask to be released at 150 volts; plead with increasing vigor, next; and let out agonized screams at 285 volts. Eventually, in desperation, the learner was to yell loudly and complain of heart pain. At some point the actor would refuse to answer any more questions. Finally, at 330 volts the actor would be totally silent-that is, if any of the teacher participants got so far without rebelling first. Teachers were instructed to treat silence as an incorrect answer and apply the next shock level to the student. https://theaquariusbus.com

The first car telephones connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network in the United States were put into service in 1946, as a response to the growing mobility of the American population in the postwar years. Initial design of the mobile telephone itself was undertaken by the Western Electric Corporation, the prime supplier of telephone sets to the nation's Bell System operating companies, while Bell Laboratories itself designed the overall system and set the specifications for the equipment. At the same time, the independent telephone companies were developing their own equipment, to be supplied by Automatic Electric. The Bell System equipment built upon an already existing mobile radio set, Western Electric's 1945 vintage Type 38 or 39 VHF FM police radio equipment, adding a telephone style handset and a selective calling decoder, which rang a bell in the automobile when that phone's unique number was signaled. The selective calling decoder consisted of a small wheel in a glass enclosure, with pins located at certain points around its circumference. The decoder had been developed in the 19th century for railway right-of-way signaling, was later used in ship to shore radio telephone installations in the 1930's, and was a proven concept. This decoder was labeled "102." Western Electric and the Bell companies thus did not draw up an entirely new concept for a car telephone in 1946; they used proven components of other systems to create the new public car telephone service.

This small lake outside Stockholm, Sweden, emits otherworldly sounds as Mårten Ajne skates over its precariously thin, black ice. “Wild ice skating,” or “Nordic skating,” is both an art and a science. A skater seeks out the thinnest, most pristine black ice possible—both for its smoothness, and for its high-pitched, laser-like sounds. Black ice is recently frozen, and can be as thin as 2 inches and still support the weight of a skater. Like a dome or arch, the support comes from the sides rather than the top, and the water underneath prevents the ice from breaking. But, experience and careful advance planning are key. Factors including temperature, atmospheric conditions, and even satellite images of the Earth’s surface are considered. It’s complicated, but appealing to mathematicians like Ajne. Even with preparation, there’s a risk of falling in… So it’s best done in groups, for safety. https://theaquariusbus.com

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What do pirates of the Caribbean have to do with the Federal Reserve? Jordan Maxwell shares information he has collected which suggests that the United States of America has been established as a federal corporation, and that we are all it assets. What he has found ties our current economic system with the old law of the sea and symbols used by the seafaring industries, including piracy. This includes the establishment of the Federal Reserve and the IRS. https://theaquariusbus.com

We are facing a unique crisis as our renewed vigor for attaining enlightenment clashes with our materialist based economy and fear-based politics. Is there a way we can reconcile our current systems with the new spiritual paradigms? If not, how can we reform them? Daniel Pinchbeck explores the cultural benefits of enlightenment with comedian Russell Brand and playwright Eve Ensler. https://theaquariusbus.com

SYNOPSIS: Zeitgeist: The Movie (2007) is a treatment on Mythology and Belief in society today, presenting uncommon perspectives of common cultural issues. Chapter 1, “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, presents historical data relating to the astronomical/astrological origins of the Judeo-Christian theology (which can be extended to Islam as well), along with the understanding that these respective stories, beliefs & traditions are really an adaptation-extension of prior Pagan beliefs. Chapter 2, “All the World’s a Stage”, presents a controversial view of the events of Sept. 11th 2001. It describes how the event has been transformed into a sacred, near religious act and to challenge the orthodox view, regardless of the quality of the contrary arguments, is considered blasphemy and rejected. Chapter 3, “Don’t Mind the Men Behind The Curtain “, presents a shotgun tour through the subjects of Central Banking, War Pretexts, Banking Panics, the Military Industrial Complex, Media Culture and ultimately the mental neurosis and deadly addiction known as “Power.” The central theme is how society is often misled when it comes to certain pivotal historical events, what those events serve in function, along with how the overall social conditioning patterns we see today function to create values and perspectives which support and perpetuate the static, established order/power structure, as opposed to fluid social change and productive evolution for the betterment of the society as a whole. https://theaquariusbus.com

The life of a pampered gentleman is seamlessly automated by machines, but his orderly existence is thrown into chaos when he chooses to pursue a free-spirited woman, against the advice of his robot butler.

In Highland, Texas, in 1998, Beavis and Butt-Head accidentally burn down their high school science fair. Believing them to be at-risk youth, a Judge sends them to space camp at the Johnson Space Center. Beavis and Butt-Head become engrossed in a docking simulator. Impressed, NASA astronaut Captain Serena Ryan invites them to train as astronauts, which they mistake as an offer for sex. They undergo training and board the Space Shuttle Endeavor to study a micro black hole. In space, the boys create a catastrophe. When Serena volunteers to sacrifice herself, the boys mistake this for another offer of sex. Beavis and Butt-Head don their spacesuits and watch Serena through a window as she prepares to change. Enraged, Serena uses the shuttle controls to fling Beavis and Butt-Head into space, where they are sucked into the black hole. Beavis and Butt-Head emerge in Galveston in 2022. The Pentagon detects their arrival and begins tracking them; Serena, now governor of Texas, vows to kill them to cover up her attempted murder. Beavis and Butt-Head meet intelligent versions of themselves from another universe, Smart Beavis and Smart Butt-Head, who explain that they have two days to enter a portal on top of Mt. Everest to prevent the destruction of the multiverse. Beavis and Butt-Head acquire an iPhone and accidentally activate Siri, which they mistake for Serena; Beavis develops feelings for her. When Siri offers to set up their smart home, they believe Serena is waiting for them in Highland. After Beavis becomes trapped in a port-a-potty, he and Butt-Head are transported to a university. Smart Beavis and Smart Butt-Head urge them to enter the portal moved nearby, but instead they wander into a gender studies class, where the professor lectures them on white privilege. Taking this to mean they have the right to do whatever they want, they steal a police car and are arrested. In jail, Beavis takes pills given to him by an inmate, transforms into his hyperactive alter ego Cornholio, and incites an uprising. The warden discovers that the boys seemingly died in 1998. A fan of Touched by an Angel, the warden concludes that Beavis is an angel sent from heaven and releases them both. The boys arrive home, expecting to find Serena, but find it has been placed for sale. They blame each other and separate, but are quickly abducted by government officials. Serena's downtrodden lieutenant, Hartson, covertly frees the boys, saying he knows what Serena did to them. Smart Beavis and Butt-Head urge them to enter the portal, but the boys ignore them. All parties arrive at Beavis and Butt-Head's house. As Serena is about to shoot them, she realizes they are not her enemies, only foolish teenagers. Smart Beavis and Smart Butt-Head urge Beavis and Butt-Head to enter the portal, but Hartson is accidentally sucked in instead, closing the rift and saving the multiverse. As Beavis attempts to express his love to Serena, Smart Beavis interrupts and offers to show her the cosmos; she leaves with him and Smart Butt-Head. In exchange for their silence, the government gives Beavis and Butt-Head their home back in its original condition. In another universe, the assembled alternative Beavis and Butt-Heads applaud Smart Beavis for becoming the first Beavis to have sex.

Even after 80 years of one of the most horrible wars that humanity had to suffer, we are still uncovering the layers of atrocities that were committed in the name of nationalism, science, and progression. World War II had a creepy, cringe, horrid side of it that you wouldn’t learn about in the history textbooks. https://theaquariusbus.com