Do you trust what you see? Do you trust what you read?

In the Internet communities we all have usernames, we all haven't seen each others ever (of course there're some exceptions) and our judgement on each other is based on our observation skills, and it depends on everything that others want to let us know about themselves.

Do you trust it? Do you believe every story people talk about themselves? Every experience they have gone through? Is everything really happened? Are blog entries true life stories or are they colorful tales of productive imagination?

Are we really those persons what we are in real life? Or are we those who we want to be? Facts or fables?

Have you ever wondered, how much your culture may influence the way you understand people of different background? Sometimes when somebody uses too beautiful words, "what a flatterer", can cross our minds, when one don't understand our words we have repeatedly said, we can think: "Is he/she stupid or what?", and sometimes when one sounds too straightforward, we can feel yourself mad and insulted. Was this all intended? Or is there some influences we didn't know to consider?

If you are European (don't know about Americans though), how would you feel when somebody says to you: "You are walking like an elephant!". If you are European, you can feel yourself very insulted and think: "Am I really so clumsy and fat, that you have to say this to me?". But guess ...

Having a coffee (ok, tea) break. There's a text on tea bag: "Flying Dragon". Does it mean I gonna have wings and breathe fire?

Another interesting video on TED.com: Steven Pinker talks about how the words we use express the workings of our minds.

Steven Pinker: The stuff of thought

Well, not me. Smiley face.

Today is 25th anniversary of SMILEY FACE!

Scott Elliot Fahlman is a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, USA. He is credited with originating the first "smiley" or "emoticon," which he thought would help people on a message board at Carnegie Mellon to distinguish serious posts from jokes. He proposed the use of :-) and :-( for this purpose, and the symbols caught on. The original message board post from which these symbols originated was posted on September 19, 1982. It was retrieved in 2002 by a team of computer specialists seeking to validate the claim, which is still disputed.

This was the message:

19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-)From: Scott E Fahlman

I propose that the following character ...

Every person is a miracle, everyone has its gifts, its quirks. Some leave their mark in the world, some leave it in the hearts of loved ones. Everyone is remembered for a shorter or longer time. Everyone is special. I'd like to highlight some great photographers and artist, I've had a chance to get to know personally or through their work. Here's the one, who have done so much for photography.

Harold Edgerton - The Man Who Made Time Stand Still(1903-1990)

Dr. Harold Edgerton was born in Freemont, Nebraska on April 6, 1903. He was raised in Aurora, Nebraska, then entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1926. He was one of the most significant inventors of the 20th century. Among his inventions was the strobe light, a fast-blinking electronic light that seemed ...