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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Making of Presidency

Making of Presidency


How the office has changed in more than 250 years. How has the institution of the presidency evolved since George Washington took office in 1789?

How has the presidency changed over the years?


It was created by Washington, who was very conscious that he was the first president, and that everything he did would create a precedent.If there hadn’t been a strong figure in the beginning, the office would not have evolved the way it did. The president was known then as the Great White Father.

With the exception of Washington and Lincoln, most people didn’t know what the president looked like during the 19th century. With the exception of Lincoln, the president was not the center of news until Teddy Roosevelt’s time. The institution has been accentuated by television. There is hardly a television broadcast that isn’t done from the driveway of the White House. Teddy Roosevelt was the first to put the White House on his stationary.

The creation of the presidency was discussed at the Constitutional Convention, but the details were an afterthought not formally voted upon. The term of the office wasn’t even decided. At the beginning of the 20th century, the president became known as the head of party, head of government, and chief of state.

The president also has assumed an enormous legislative role. There was less legislation during the 19th century, largely because this was before the enlargement of the country. The Montesquieu model of the Founding Fathers was seen as compartmentalized, but it didn’t work that way. We do not really have the vaunted separation of powers.

New York, Broadway. Photo by Elena

Have there been times when the president was less important?


There was a lack of preeminence in presidents between Madison and Lincoln, and during the post-Civil War period, with the exception of times of real crises in the country. Now we’re in a similar situation, but we’re not at all geared to it. Today we have a press and electronic media that are completely geared to covering the presidency and maintaining expensive staff at the white house, but it’s almost irrelevant, because all the action is in Congress. Whoever wins the election, he or she finds great frustration. The job is really not all the important, not as it has been. It’s not a question of personality.

What distinguishes the presidents of our century?


In the 20th century, the president has been expected to have a program. The New Nationalism of Teddy Roosevelt, the New Freedom of Wilson. The New Frontier, The New Deal, the Fair Deal, Prior to the 20th century, the vision thing was not something presidents were expected to have.
What influences a president’s ability to succeed?

It doesn’t not have much to do with their characteristics. It has more to do with crises and whether the president can convince the country that there was a crisis in health care. Franklin Roosevelt, on the other hand, was more successful in persuading people of the need for social security. And Teddy Roosevelt was able to convince the country that there was a crisis in conservation, so he accomplished a lot.

It also takes something else that’s lacking today: money in the bank. Eisenhower was a successful president, a builder. But not since Eisenhower have we run the kind of surpluses we ran at that time.
What makes a good president?

A president has to be both extraordinary ad ordinary in all dimensions: in his political performance, in his personal performance, in his family performance, in his television appearances. It is difficult to do. On television, he comes across as too ordinary, when he is reclusive, he is seen as too distant.

Power of articulation, believeability and credibility, and an ability to show concern are very important. Basic honesty. Does character matter? I think it does. Washington, Grant and Jackson are examples of soldiers who have been successful. Indecisiveness certainly is a great weakness in the White House. That applies to everyone.

 Presidential Statistics


    Male of the species – 42 (100.0%)
    Protestant – 38 90.5%
    Married – 41 97.6%
    Studied law – 28 – 66.5%
    Owned dogs – 22. 52.4%
    Over Six Feet – 18. 42.9%
    From Virginia – 8. 10.0%
    Named James – 6. 14.3%
    Had a beard – 5. – 12.0%
    Went to Harvard – 5. 12.0%.
    Owned pet raccoons – 2. 5.0%.

Park Avenue, New York. Photo by Elena

Electoral College

Who Really Elects the President

Just in case you forgot how the Electoral College works

The authors of the American Constitution devised the Electoral College to act as a kind of buffer between the masses and the ultimate process of selecting a president. The voter would choose electors for their state on a predetermined election day and then those individuals, along with electors from other states, would then take it upon themselves to choose the president.

Today, the Electoral College is a body of 538 people. Each state receives a number of electoral votes equal to the number of senators and representatives in its congressional delegation, and Washington, D.C., which has no congressional representation, gets three votes. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes, slightly more than a majority, to be elected president. The candidate who wins a majority of a state’s popular vote wins all of its electoral votes. As a result, the electoral vote tends to exaggerate the popular support of the winner.

If no candidate receives a majority of the votes of the Electoral College, the election will be decided by the House of Representatives. This has only happened once, so far, when in 1824 Andrew Jackson won the popular vote in a four-way race but John Quincy Adams was elected president by the House. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote but won the presidency bu a single electoral vote


Monday, May 14, 2018

Anger Management

Anger Management


The essay below suggests that while anger and frustration comprise part of life, they may be healthy ways in dealing and coping with everyday challenges. A famous social psychology professor once blatantly said in his introductory interpersonal relations lecture “anger makes you stupid”. Indeed, decisions made under the emotional influence of anger are often rash, reckless and impulsive, something one is likely to regret later on.

Further, Elizabeth Cornwell, a doctor, and Matthew Cornwell, a neurosurgeon, wrote a book on the subject of stress, anger, and other negative emotions’ impact on well-being. Thus, one of the key areas they discuss, is transfer of feelings onto material belongings. For instance, if a patient was particularly frustrated with a task, they could suggest throwing a branch or kicking dirt. Similarly, a person may transfer their feelings onto material possessions and get rid of them in a subconscious attempt to remedy the situation. Whether that works or not is a different story.

Sometimes you just can't manage your anger. Illustration by Elena

Alternatively, another excerpt discussed refers to cognitive dissonance, a well-known theory in cognitive psychology. Cognitive dissonance stems from a dissimilarity of one’s beliefs and convictions with one’s actions and behaviour. According to psychologists, the mental construct causes individuals to experience stress. Also, stress management skills include meditation and other relaxation techniques. As per this theory, people then rationalize their behaviours to match their personal views.

Similarly, social support helps with almost everything, including common colds. Interestingly, a psychological study has shown that people who had more social connections were less likely to a catch a cold, develop the symptoms and got well quicker, than their more isolated counterparts. However, psychologists often warn that quality of interpersonal relationships is more often than not much more important than quantity of said relations per se. Therefore, the paper above outlines some of the theoretical suggestions concerning stress alleviation, anger, frustration, coping skills and psychology.

Behavioural Science

Behavioural Science


Behavioural science constitutes another fancy name for psychology. Psychologists, like other social scientists, study human behaviour. For example, sociology focuses on societies, while political science discusses nations, states and international relations. Psychology concentrates on the study of the mind and social interactions.

Depending on the university, students majoring in psychology may do in both the Arts and Science faculties. However, to this day, criticism remains abundant of whether psychology warrants being sees as a science per se. Of course, unlike physics or mathematics, psychology theories are often based on conclusions from social experiments, and experimenters often diverge on the results obtained.

Most psychological literature stems from academic or peer-reviewed articles, usually structured in the following sections: literature reviews, introduction, methods, results and discussion. A good research paper will not only present arguments from previous similar experiments on the topic, but also inform the reader of contrary arguments. Also, a thorough discussion section includes limitations of the experiment conducted. To illustrate, a study conducted on members of certain group may not warrant generalizing the results to other populations. As such, results must have the following attributes: reliability, replicability, validity and generalizability. To achieve these, methods employed involve random sampling, when applicable.

Could a blindfolded crayfish pick stocks by throwing darts on Wall Street as well as some of the best brokers do? Photo: © Megan Jorgensen  (Elena)

Many branches exist in psychology, including social, personality, health and abnormal psychology, among others. Abnormal psychology is the branch most closely related to psychiatry, but the two greatly differ. Indeed, psychiatrists are doctors in the medical sense and are licensed to prescribe medication, while the same cannot be said about psychologists.

Reality being defined as a social construct, psychiatry and psychology have been criticized in the literature. Since psychology does not constitute a medical field, the importance, validity and reliability of psychological experiments continue to be debated. In fact, many people believe psychology is just literary fluff. Nonetheless, studying psychology may appeal to undergraduates precisely because of the cognitive stimulation stemming from seeing social events from dissimilar angles. For instance, while neuroscience (a likely core program course in psychology degrees) may be more serious, social psychology makes for lighter reading and appears a more interesting subject to explore, although such preferences depend on personal choice and taste.

Further, understanding neuroscience requires a solid foundation in biology, physics and chemistry, since lectures and textbooks cover fairly technical details. Therefore, admission to a psychology program in a respected university, more often than not requires the completion of introductory courses in both psychology and biology.

A Guide to the Fruits of Hawaï’i

A Guide to the Fruits of Hawaï’i

By Alaya Dawn Johnson


The remaining nineteen residents are divided into four units, five kids in each, living together in sprawling ranch houses connected by walways and gardens. There are walls, of course, but you have to climb a tree to see them. The kids at Grade Gold have more freedon than any human she’s ever encountered since the war, but they’re as bound to this paradise as she was to her mountain.

The vampires who come here stay in a high glass tower right by the beach. During the day, the black-tinted windows gleam like lasers. At night, the vampires come down to feed. There is a fifth house in the residential village, one reserved for clients and their meals. Tetsuo orchestrates these encounters, planning each interaction in fine detail: this human with that performance for this distinguished client. Key has grown used to thinking of her fellow another, stranger veneer. The vampires who pay so dearly for Grade Gold humans don’t merely want to feed from a shunt. They want to be entertained, talked to, cajoled. The boy who explained about Key’s uncanny resemblance juggles torches. Twin girls from unit three play guitar and sing songs bu the Carpenters. Even Rachel, dressed in a gaudy purple memaid dress with matching streals on her hair, keeps up a one-way, laughing conversation with a vampire who seems too astonished – or too slow – to reply.

Key has never seen anything like this before. She thought that most vampires regarded humans as walking sacks of food. What pleasure could be derived from speaking with your meal first? From seeing it sing or dance? When the first went with Tetsuo, the other vampires talked about human emotions as if they were flavors of ice cream. But at Grade Orange she grew accostomed to more basic parameters: were the humans fed, were they fertile, did they sleep? Here, she must approve outfits; she must manage dietary preferences and erratic tempers and a dozen other details all crucial to keeping the kids Grade Gold standard. Their former caretaker has been shipped to the work camps, whicj leaves Key in sole charge of the operation. At least until Tetsuo decides how he will use his dispensation.

Barbies vampires. Photo by Elena

Key’s thoughts skitter away from the possibility.

« I didn’t know vampires liked music, », she says, late in the evening, when some of the kids sprawl, exhausted, across couches and cushions. A girl no older than fifteen opens her eyes but hardly moves when a vampire in a gold suit lifts her arm for a nip. Key and Tetsuo are seated together at the far end of the main room, in the bay window that overlook a cliff and the ocean.

« It’s as interesting to us as any other human pastime. »
« Does music have a taste?»

His wide mouth stretches at the edges; she recognizes it as a smile. « Music has some utility, given the right circumstances. »

Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, edited by Rich Horton, Prime Books, 2015.

Icelandic Names

Icelandic Names


Icelandic naming traditions have not changed much, and most Icelanders still follow the ancient tradition of deriving their last name from their father’s first name, although some like to use the mother’s name. Therefore, the children of someone called Gunnar Jónsson, are likely to have the surnames Gunnarsson and Gunnarsdóttir (Gunnar’s son and Gunnar’s daughter), and are not characterised by a common family name. Interestingly, Icelanders do not address each other by the last name under any circumstances, and doing so would seem unusual. In the case of marriage, Icelandic women do not take their husband’s name, and therefore Icelandic families generally have a mixture of names, with mum, dad and children all having their unique and individual patronymic or matronymic names.


Top Ten in Iceland


Breathtaking landscapes, glaciers, waterfalls and hot springs; the Viking heritage and rich medieval culture, or the vibrant nightlife and abundance of creative artists. Whatever reason brought you to Iceland there are several things above others that will make your stay unforgettable. We have listed a few of Iceland’s treasures that no visitors should miss.

  •     The Golden Circle
  •     Thermal Swimming Pools
  •     Glacier or highland jeep tour
  •     Historic and heritage museums
  •     Whale- and birdwatching
  •     Sightseeing flights
  •     The Blue Lagoon
  •     Art museums and galleries
  •     Hiking and riding tours
  •     Fine dining


Icelandic backyard. Photo - Elena

Words and Phrases


Advice on pronunciation: ð as ‘th’ in ‘the’ // Þ,þ as ‘th’ in ‘thunder’ // Æ,æ as ‘i’ in ‘high’. For more information see www.visitorsguide.is

Here are some indispensable words and phrases translated from English and German to Icelandic.

English – German – Icelandic


    Yes – Ja – Já
    No – Nein – Nei
    Maybe – Vielleicht – Kannski
    Good morning – Guten Tag – Góðan dag
    Good evening – Guten Abend – Gott kvöld
    Goodbye – Auf wiedersehen – Bless
    Thank you – Danke – Takk fyrir
    Trip – Ausflug – Ferð
    The weather is good – Das Wetter ist gut – Veðrið er gott
    It rains – Es regnet – Það rignir
    Are you cold? – Ist dir kalt? – Er þér kalt?
    This is beautiful – Das ist schön – Þetta er fallegt
    Mountain – Ein Berg – Fjall
    Glacier – Ein Gletscher – Jökull
    Landscape – Landschaft – Landslag
    Food – Essen – Matur
    Drinks – Getränke – Drykkir
    Beer – Bier – Bjór
    I am a Viking – Ich bin ein Vikinger – Ég er víkingur
    I´m on vacation – Ich bin auf – Urlaub Ég er í fríi
    You are cute! – Du bist süß! – Þú ert sæt(ur)!
    What is your name? – Wie heißt du? – Hvað heitir þú?
    Where do you live? – Wo wohnst du? – Hvar átt þú heima?
    What’s your telephone number – Telefonnummer? – Wie ist deine Hvað er síminn hjá þér?