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The History Of Basketball. Where Basketball Started.

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Basketball: How it Began-Facts and Information About the Game A game that started with eighteen men in a YMCA gymnasium in Springfield, Massachusetts, has grown into a game that more than 300 million people play worldwide. The man who created this instantly successful sport was Dr. James Naismith.

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Many teams in the National Basketball Association now have foreign players, who return home to represent their native countries during the Olympic Games. The so-called Dream Team, made up of the top American professional basketball players, has represented the United States in recent Olympic Games.

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The Buffalo Germans began play in 1895, and by the time they disbanded had a 792-86 win-loss record, including a 111 game win streak from 1908-1911. The teams play was so great in the early days of basketball that in the1904 Olympic Games in St Louis, Missouri they were selected to represent the United States.

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What do you want to be when you grow up?

When you were a little tyke, how did you answer this question? The most common answers:

President of the United States

Sure, we tell kiddos -- you can be anything you want to be -- even President of the United States. But can they really?

What does it take to be a U.S. President?

Do you have to be rich? Charismatic? Smart? Male? A good public speaker? In the midst of an election year, I thought it would be interesting to do a small review on U.S. presidential personalities.

Celebrity in Chief
John F. Kennedy's father ran a Hollywood movie studio. Kennedy grew up hob knobbing with stars in his parent's home screening room and hanging around sets at the studio. In his 20s, he began to study the stars. He wanted to know what it took to get famous. Why did some actors stand out and become famous while others were merely forgotten and left behind by the silver screen? Kennedy asked himself the question:
Are you meant to play the starring role or the supporting role?
Slowly Kennedy began to cultivate his own charisma and model it after starring actors. According to presidential expert, Alan Schroeder, "Kennedy developed his charisma. He worked at it." In his book Celebrity in Chief, Alan Schroeder looks at the qualities that make up a president. Schroeder was kind enough to let me interview him about presidential personality research. Here's what he shared:
What It Takes to Be President:
What are the characteristics every president should have? These days, presidents have to deal with the media as much as they have to deal with foreign policy. They have to be a talented celebrity as much as they are an intelligent leader. Every president also needs to be the following:
1. Narcissist
A president should never eat humble pie for breakfast. A healthy dose of ego every morning would do a wannabe President good. And I don't mean ego negatively. Ego is different than arrogance. No matter how smart you are, how many good ideas you have or how many people you help, as President someone will always be upset with you. presidents are the constant target of criticism, and they are constantly beat up by the press, enemies -- and even allies. Ego is the only way to survive it.

"Being rejected is a president's full time job... in addition to running the country" -Schroeder

Sure, you get support, but you also have to own the ego to put up with the unavoidable hate that comes with power.
2. Pioneer
For presidents, the campaign trail might as well be the Oregon Trail. Those who begin the adventure might not make it to the finish line. They might die or lose a limb on the way. They will sacrifice everything for the journey. And at the end, it's still the frontier. The finish is just the start. Campaigning is physically grueling work. Just because candidates are in suits and ties, don't forget that they are athletes. They make due on little to no sleep, have back-to-back events, speak to thousands daily and travel up and down the country every few weeks. Pioneers have to be willing to sacrifice time off, family time and vacations for their greater goals.
3. (Extrovert)
This was the personality trait I had the hardest time with. I asked Schroeder directly:
Do you think an introvert could be President?
His answer: "Anything is possible, but likely? My gut tells me no." Schroeder argued that the last truly introverted president was Nixon. Much of being a successful president relies on your interactions with people. Not just public speaking, but behind doors schmoozing, political gaming and interfacing with other world leaders. Not to mention the need to rally an internal team, manage a cabinet and fundraise. As Schroeder says, "Introverts are usually weeded out because they wouldn't want to be president to start with." I think the answer is a bit more complicated. I think anyone can learn to optimize their personality to fit their goals. This idea is not something I made up; it's called:

Free Trait Theory: Our ability to change our personality to reach our goals

If a 6'5 man wanted to become a horse jockey (who are typically short), he would have to learn to ride fast as a tall person. He wouldn't cut off his feet, he would simply learn to ride another way. I believe any introvert can learn how to schmooze, chat and negotiate if their heart's desire is to be president. Just like any extrovert can learn to be a listener if they want to learn from a wise teacher. Sure, extroverts have built in qualities that will help them on the campaign trail, but I don't believe they are essential. What matters more than extroversion is 'celebrity.' Let me explain....
4. Celebrity
In our modern era, presidents have to love the limelight, not just tolerate it. Think back to the first debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney. Obama nearly blew his campaign during that debate. Why? Romney felt comfortable. He relished the stage. He didn't seem rushed or hurried, and you can tell he felt it was a privilege to be there. See my full analysis of the debate here.

Obama, on the other hand, seemed irritated and annoyed at having to be there. He came across as dismissive and superior as if he believed the debate was not worth his time and energy. It might not have been--he had other things to take care of like running a country. In that moment, he didn't need to show smarts, he needed to show celebrity. Schroeder describes this is a Showbiz Presidency. presidents of today have to be willing to go on talk shows, do reality bits and Funny or Die segments. They have to love the limelight.

"Presidents have to be comfortable in their own skin no matter what stage they are on. Any discomfort makes the audience uncomfortable." -Schroeder

Voters can confuse a candidate's lack of desire for fame as a lack of desire to run. presidents either have to love every second of it or they have to be able to fake it.
5. Performer
Reagan was once asked by a journalist about the transition from actor to president. He famously responded, "How can a president not be an actor?" No matter how much you like the spotlight, presidents still have to be able to perform on the spot. They need to be amazing at memorizing lines and full speeches. They have to be able to deliver impromptu anecdotes, they have to pretend to like people they despise and they have to be able to improvise through any situation. Acting is part of the job.
"The politicians who fail begin to resent the fact that performing is expected of them. The only way they can succeed is if they embrace it. Acting is not just a side effect of the job, it is the job." -Schroeder
Read a great essay on how all politicians are actors by the famous Arthur Miller: On Politics and the Art of Acting.

Nonverbal Power: Like actors, presidents are also nonverbally directed and scripted. In fact, bad actor candidates are often so buttoned up that they seem fake. Think about McCain's fake smile or the classic picture of President Nixon shaking hands while looking at his watch. The reason why we love watching a president's body language is because it is the only place where we might get something real. Anyone can read a teleprompter, but it is very hard to control our microexpressions and body gestures. Body language is often the only thing voters have to see truth leaks.
6. Husband (or wife)
Running for president is a couple's race. President's give up every ounce of control over their privacy and home life. Their spouse needs to not only be on board, but prepping the living room for cameras. Spouses provide crucial support on the rise to Presidency:

Social Proof: At the most basic level, a spouse shows the public that the candidate is loved. They are literally the #1 fan. When the candidate makes a joke on stage, the cameras always first pan to the spouse in the audience laughing. When the candidate makes an important speech, their husband or wife is right behind them smiling proudly. The spouse demonstrates how the public should feel about their significant other.

Refuel: On the trail, a spouse becomes the home base. She or he is the rock where the candidate lays their head. They are the honest sounding board and the source of real feedback for the candidate to recharge.

Teammate: One person can win a lot of votes, but two can win triple. You know how it's really hard to compliment yourself, but it's easy to brag about someone you love? This is even more important for presidents. Their spouses can fundraise, brag and show-off more than the president ever could.

Schroeder shared one of the best stories about spouses. According to Schroeder, Bob Dole was a very serious speaker and had a hard time remembering to smile. During debates and presentations, his team placed his wife Elizabeth Dole right in his line of sight. She would sit their the entire time with a large smile plastered on her face so that when he saw her he would remember to smile.
7. Genius
Yes, I put intelligence last. Why? Because it is the final ingredient that makes all of the others work. We have seen candidates who were incredibly charismatic and appealing on camera, but voters sniffed out the lack of intelligence. They couldn't last. This is the anchor puzzle piece. If you are missing this trait, the entire campaign falls apart. I don't believe intelligence has to be a high IQ necessarily, but it does mean being a quick learner and a strategic thinker. It means being able to learn lots of information rapidly, synthesizing it and finding the best possible answer.

What do you think it takes to be a president? I would love to know who you think is the most charismatic president in our forums. Let me know!

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How to Become President of the United States

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What do you want to be when you grow up? When you were a little tyke, how did you answer this question? The most common answers: President of the United States Sure, we tell kiddos -- you can be anything you want to be -- even President of the United States.

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Learn about the presidential election process, including the Electoral College, caucuses and primaries, and the national conventions.

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How to Become President of the United States

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Becoming the President of the United States is not an easy task and requires an incredible amount of hard work, dedication, and luck. However, if you manage to accomplish such an incredible feat, you'll earn a spot in the history books and...

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Biography about FaZe Rug Biography .Know FaZe Rug Biography educational, professional and personal life. Also know about , net worth, salary, height

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YouTube star FaZe Rug's real name is Brian Awadis and he is a director in the famous gaming group called FaZe Clan. He has an estimated net worth of $3 million mostly earned through YouTube. Apart from posting Call Of Duty videos on his channel, he also posts pranking videos with a number of them going viral. He also posts vlogs on his channel which include his brother and his parents in the videos. He started out on YouTube while still in college then made it full time after it began taking off.

Rug was born and has grown up in San Diego California in a family of four. His brother is known as Brawadis and is also a famous YouTuber. He started playing video games because he didn't make the high school basketball team. He got so addicted that it negatively affected his other aspects of his life. He dropped out of community college to do YouTube and that is when his subscriber numbers blew up.

How Much Money Does FaZe Rug Earn On YouTube?

The channel has over 8 million subscribers growing by 5,000 new ones daily and has amassed over 1.7 billion views since starting out in July 2012. The videos in the channel collectively get around 2 million views per day from different sources. The views should in turn generate an estimated revenue of around $3,600 per day ($1.3 million a year) from YouTube ads.

YouTubers get paid between $2 - $5 per 1000 monetized views after YouTube takes its cut. Monetized views range from 40% - 60% of the total views. All these are influenced by several factors like device played on, the location of the viewer, ad inventory, how many ads there are on a video, how many people skip the ads, ad engagement etc.

There is also a program known as Google Preferred where deep-pocketed companies can target ads on the top 5% most popular content. The ad rates here are higher than normal. Apart from ads, YouTubers also generate extra from YouTube Red viewers who pay a monthly fee to view premium content on YouTube plus watch videos without ads. Here they get paid based on watch time on their videos. The longer the viewers watch their videos, the more money they earn.

Brian makes more money through selling of merchandise and sponsorship deals. This is in addition to prize money earned from competitive gaming.

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How Much Money FaZe Rug Makes On YouTube - Net Worth - Naibuzz

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(Last Updated On: March 5, 2018)FaZe Rug Net Worth - $3 million YouTube star FaZe Rug's real name is Brian Awadis and he is a director in the famous gaming group called FaZe Clan. He has an estimated net worth of $3 million mostly earned through YouTube.

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Learn about FaZe Rug: his birthday, what he did before fame, his family life, fun trivia facts, popularity rankings, and more.

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One way to be successful in life is by making a plan for success, starting with making a list of things that you're passionate about. You can ask a friend or family member to help you identify your interests and values, and then set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. When it comes to making a big decision, ask yourself "Is what I'm doing going to lead me to where I want to be in life?" If the answer is no, consider a different option. Be sure to stick to your commitments and take actions every day to achieve your goals.

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Regardless of how old you are, where you live, or what your career goals are, it's likely your ultimate goals in life are to be happy and successful. To be successful means more than just having money and making your mark. It means...

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Success is a subjective notion, if there ever was one. But for simplicity's sake, let's assume the higher you are on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the better you're doing. In case you don't remember the levels from Psych 101, essentially, people can't be their best possible selves (self-actualization) until lower-level needs are met first. In other words, you can't be an ideal version of yourself if you don't have enough food and money to pay the bills, or enough love and esteem to feel good about your value as a human being. So, what can you do to move yourself up the pyramid?

Check out the findings from several studies, which shine a light on what it takes to achieve more in life.

Increase your confidence by taking action.

Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, authors of The Confidence Code, wrote a stellar article for The Atlantic on this subject. Highlighting scads of studies that have found that a wide confidence gap exists between the sexes, they point out that success is just as dependent on confidence as it is on competence. Their conclusion? Low confidence results in inaction. "[T]aking action bolsters one's belief in one's ability to succeed," they write. "So confidence accumulates--through hard work, through success, and even through failure."

Broaden your definition of authenticity.

Authenticity is a much sought-after leadership trait, with the prevailing idea being that the best leaders are those who self-disclose, are true to themselves, and who make decisions based on their values. Yet in a recent Harvard Business Review article titled " The Authenticity Paradox," Insead professor Herminia Ibarra discusses interesting research on the subject and tells the cautionary tale of a newly promoted general manager who admitted to subordinates that she felt scared in her expanded role, asking them to help her succeed. "Her candor backfired," Ibarra writes. "She lost credibility with people who wanted and needed a confident leader to take charge." So know this: Play-acting to emulate the qualities of successful leaders doesn't make you a fake. It merely means you're a work in progress.

Improve your social skills.

According to research conducted by University of California Santa Barbara economist Catherine Weinberger, the most successful business people excel in both cognitive ability and social skills, something that hasn't always been true. She crunched data linking adolescent skills in 1972 and 1992 with adult outcomes, and found that in 1980, having both skills didn't correlate with better success, whereas today the combination does. "The people who are both smart and socially adept earn more in today's work force than similarly endowed workers in 1980," she says.

Train yourself to delay gratification.

The classic Marshmallow Experiment of 1972 involved placing a marshmallow in front of a young child, with the promise of a second marshmallow if he or she could refrain from eating the squishy blob while a researcher stepped out of the room for 15 minutes. Follow-up studies over the next 40 years found that the children who were able to resist the temptation to eat the marshmallow grew up to be people with better social skills, higher test scores, and lower incidence of substance abuse. They also turned out to be less obese and better able to deal with stress. But how to improve your ability to delay things like eating junk food when healthy alternatives aren't available, or to remain on the treadmill when you'd rather just stop?

Writer James Clear suggests starting small, choosing one thing to improve incrementally every day, and committing to not pushing off things that take less than two minutes to do, such as washing the dishes after a meal or eating a piece of fruit to work toward the goal of eating healthier. Committing to doing something every single day works too. "Top performers in every field--athletes, musicians, CEOs, artists--they are all more consistent than their peers," he writes. "They show up and deliver day after day while everyone else gets bogged down with the urgencies of daily life and fights a constant battle between procrastination and motivation."

Demonstrate passion and perseverance for long-term goals.

Psychologist Angela Duckworth has spent years studying kids and adults, and found that one characteristic is a significant predictor of success: grit. "Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality," she said in a TED talk on the subject. "Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint."

Embrace a "growth mindset."

According to research conducted by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, how people view their personality affects their capacity for happiness and success. Those with a "fixed mindset" believe things like character, intelligence, and creativity are unchangeable, and avoiding failure is a way of proving skill and smarts. People with a "growth mindset," however, see failure as a way to grow and therefore embrace challenges, persevere against setbacks, learn from criticism, and reach higher levels of achievement. "Do people with this mindset believe that anyone can be anything, that anyone with proper motivation or education can become Einstein or Beethoven? No, but they believe that a person's true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it's impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training," she writes.

Invest in your relationships.

After following the lives of 268 Harvard undergraduate males from the classes of 1938 to 1940 for decades, psychiatrist George Vaillant concluded something you probably already know: Love is the key to happiness. Even if a man succeeded in work, amassed piles of money, and experienced good health, without loving relationships he wouldn't be happy, Vaillant found. The longitudinal study showed happiness depends on two things: "One is love," he wrote. "The other is finding a way of coping with life that does not push love away."

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7 Scientifically Proven Ways to Achieve Better Success in Life

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Success is a subjective notion, if there ever was one. But for simplicity's sake, let's assume the higher you are on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the better you're doing. In case you don't remember the levels from Psych 101, essentially, people can't be their best possible selves (self-actualization) until lower-level needs are met first.

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No matter how old you are, where you're from or what you do for a living, we all share something in common-a desire to be successful. Each person's definition of success is different, however, as some may define success as being a loving and faithful spouse or a caring and responsible parent, while most people would equate success with wealth, fame, and power.

We all want to achieve success so we could live a comfortable life-have financial freedom, drive a nice car, and live in a beautiful house. However, although success can be achieved, it does not come easy.

There are a lot of tips and strategies out there on how to be successful in life, but I am still a firm believer that there is no better way to succeed than to follow that footsteps of those who have already done so. Here are 13 success tips from some of the world's most successful and renowned people:
From Michelangelo Buonarroti, Great Renaissance Artist: "The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." From Oprah Winfrey, Media Mogul: "You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job and not be paid for it." From Phil Knight, CEO of Nike Inc.: "There is an immutable conflict at work in life and in business, a constant battle between peace and chaos. Neither can be mastered, but both can be influenced. How you go about that is the key to success."
2.Find what you love to do and do it.
From Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motors: "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."
3. Learn how to balance life.
From Colonel Sanders, Founder of KFC: "I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know." From Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance Genius :"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things."
4. Do not be afraid of failure.
From Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of America: "The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." From Mark Twain, Famed Author: "A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds."

From Walter Disney, Founder of Walt Disney Company: "If you can dream it, you can do it."
5. Have an unwavering resolution to succeed.
From Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of America: 16th President of America: "Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed." From JC Penny, Founder of JC Penney Inc.: "Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average man, you are just not cut out for positions at the top." From Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple Inc.: "Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."
6. Be a man of action.

7. Avoid conflicts.

8. Don't be afraid of introducing new ideas.

9. Believe in your capacity to succeed.

10. Always maintain a positive mental attitude.

11. Don't let discouragement stop you from pressing on.

12. Be willing to work hard.

13. Be brave enough to follow your intuition.

Featured photo credit: Portrait of smart young business executive via Shutterstock

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How To Be Successful In Life - 13 Tips From The World's Most Successful People

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No matter how old you are, where you're from or what you do for a living, we all share something in common-a desire to be successful. Each person's definition of success is different, however, as some may define success as being a loving and faithful spouse or a caring and responsible parent, while most people would equate success with wealth, fame, and power.

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Tim White is standing with a group of restless men atop a ridge in the Afar desert of Ethiopia. A few of them are pacing back and forth, straining to see if they can spot fragments of beige bone in the reddish-brown rubble below, as eager to start their search as children at an Easter egg hunt. At the bottom of the hill is a 25-foot-long cairn of black rocks erected in the style of an Afar grave, so large it looks like a monument to a fallen hero. And in a way it is. White and his colleagues assembled it to mark the place where they first found traces, in 1994, of "Ardi," a female who lived 4.4 million years ago. Her skeleton has been described as one of the most important discoveries of the past century, and she is changing basic ideas about how our earliest ancestors looked and moved.

More than 14 years later, White, a wiry 59-year-old paleoanthropologist from the University of California at Berkeley, is here again, on an annual pilgrimage to see if seasonal rains have exposed any new bits of Ardi's bones or teeth. He often fires up the fossil hunters who work with him by chanting, "Hominid, hominid, hominid! Go! Go! Go!" But he can't let them go yet. Only a week earlier, an Alisera tribesman had threatened to kill White and two of his Ethiopian colleagues if they returned to these fossil beds near the remote village of Aramis, home of a clan of Alisera nomads. The threat is probably just a bluff, but White doesn't mess with the Alisera, who are renowned for being territorial and settling disputes with AK-47s. As a precaution, the scientists travel with six Afar regional police officers armed with their own AK-47s.

Arranging this meeting with tribal leaders to negotiate access to the fossil beds has already cost the researchers two precious days out of their five-week field season. "The best- laid plans change every day," says White, who has also had to deal with poisonous snakes, scorpions, malarial mosquitoes, lions, hyenas, flash floods, dust tornadoes, warring tribesmen and contaminated food and water. "Nothing in the field comes easy."

As we wait for the Alisera to arrive, White explains that the team returns to this hostile spot year after year because it's the only place in the world to yield fossils that span such a long stretch of human evolution, some six million years. In addition to Ardi, a possible direct ancestor, it is possible here to find hominid fossils from as recently as 160,000 years ago-an early Homo sapiens like us-all the way back to Ardipithecus kadabba, one of the earliest known hominids, who lived almost six million years ago. At last count, the Middle Awash project, which takes its name from this patch of the Afar desert and includes 70 scientists from 18 nations, has found 300 specimens from seven different hominid species that lived here one after the other.

Ardi, short for Ardipithecus ramidus, is now the region's best-known fossil, having made news worldwide this past fall when White and others published a series of papers detailing her skeleton and ancient environment. She is not the oldest member of the extended human family, but she is by far the most complete of the early hominids; most of her skull and teeth as well as extremely rare bones of her pelvis, hands, arms, legs and feet have so far been found.

With sunlight beginning to bleach out the gray-and-beige terrain, we see a cloud of dust on the horizon. Soon two new Toyota Land Cruisers pull up on the promontory, and a half-dozen Alisera men jump out wearing Kufi caps and cotton sarongs, a few cinched up with belts that also hold long, curved daggers. Most of these clan "elders" appear to be younger than 40-few Alisera men seem to survive to old age.

After customary greetings and handshaking, White gets down on his hands and knees with a few fossil hunters to show the tribesmen how the researchers crawl on the ground, shoulder to shoulder, to look for fossils. With Ethiopian paleoanthropologist and project co-leader Berhane Asfaw translating to Amharic and another person translating from Amharic to Afariña, White explains that these stones and bones reveal the ancient history of humankind. The Alisera smile wanly, apparently amused that anyone would want to grovel on the ground for a living. They grant permission to search for fossils-for now. But they add one caveat. Someday, they say, the researchers must teach them how to get history from the ground.

The quest for fossils of human ancestors began in earnest after Charles Darwin proposed in 1871, in his book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, that humans probably arose in Africa. He didn't base his claim on hard evidence; the only hominid fossils then known were Neanderthals, who had lived in Europe less than 100,000 years ago. Darwin suggested that our "early progenitors" lived on the African continent because its tropical climate was hospitable to apes, and because anatomical studies of modern primates had convinced him that humans were more "allied" with African apes (chimpanzees and gorillas) than Asian apes (orangutans and gibbons). Others disagreed, arguing that Asian apes were closer to modern humans.

As it happened, the first truly ancient remains of a hominid-a fossilized skullcap and teeth more than half a million years old-were found in Asia, on the island of Java, in 1891. "Java man," as the creature was called, was later classified as a member of Homo erectus, a species that arose 1.8 million years ago and may have been one of our direct ancestors.

So began a century of discovery notable for spectacular finds, in which the timeline of human prehistory began to take shape and the debate continued over whether Asia or Africa was the human birthplace.

In 1924, the Australian anatomist Raymond Dart, looking through a crate of fossils from a limestone quarry in South Africa, discovered a small skull. The first early hominid from Africa, the Taung child, as it was known, was a juvenile member of Australopithecus africanus, a species that lived one million to two million years ago, though at the time skeptical scientists said the chimpanzee-size braincase was too small for a hominid.

In 1959, archaeologist Louis Leakey and his wife Mary, working in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, discovered a bit of hominid jawbone that would later become known as Paranthropus boisei. The 1.75-million-year-old fossil was the first of many hominids the Leakeys, their son Richard and their associates would find in East Africa, strengthening the case that hominids indeed originated in Africa. Their work inspired American and European researchers to sweep through the Great Rift Valley, a geologic fault that runs through Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia and exposes rock layers that are millions of years old.

In 1974, paleoanthropologists Donald Johanson and Tom Gray, digging in Hadar, Ethiopia, found the partial skeleton of the earliest known hominid at the time-a female they called Lucy, after the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," which was playing in camp as they celebrated. At 3.2 million years old, Lucy was remarkably primitive, with a brain and body about the size of a chimpanzee's. But her ankle, knee and pelvis showed that she walked upright like us.

This meant Lucy was a hominid-only humans and our close relatives in the human family habitually walk upright on the ground. A member of the species Australopithecus afarensis, which lived from 3.9 million to 2.9 million years ago, Lucy helped answer some key questions. She confirmed that upright walking evolved long before hominids began using stone tools-about 2.6 million years ago-and before their brains began to expand dramatically. But her upright posture and gait raised new questions. How long had it taken to evolve the anatomy to balance on two feet? What prompted some ancient ape to stand up and begin walking down the path toward humanness? And what kind of ape was it?

Lucy, of course, couldn't answer those questions. But what came before her? For 20 years after her discovery, it was as if the earliest chapter of the human story were missing.

One of the first teams to search for lucy's ancestor was the Middle Awash project, which formed in 1981 when White and Asfaw joined Berkeley archaeologist J. Desmond Clark to search for fossils and stone tools in Ethiopia. They got off to a promising start-finding 3.9-million-year-old fragments of a skull and a slightly younger thighbone-but they were unable to return to the Middle Awash until 1990, because Ethiopian officials imposed a moratorium on searching for fossils while they rewrote their antiquities laws. Finally, in 1992, White's graduate student, Gen Suwa, saw a glint in the desert near Aramis. It was the root of a tooth, a molar, and its size and shape indicated that it belonged to a hominid. Suwa and other members of the Middle Awash project soon collected other fossils, including a child's lower jaw with a milk molar still attached. State-of-the-art dating methods indicated that they were 4.4 million years old.

The team proposed in the journal Nature in 1994 that the fossils-now known as Ardipithecus ramidus-represented the "long-sought potential root species for the Hominidae," meaning that the fossils belonged to a new species of hominid that could have given rise to all later hominids. The idea that it was a member of the human family was based primarily on its teeth-in particular, the absence of large, dagger-like canines sharpened by the lower teeth. Living and extinct apes have such teeth, while hominids don't. But the gold standard for being a hominid was upright walking. So was A. ramidus really a hominid or an extinct ape?

White joked at the time that he would be delighted with more fossils-in particular, a skull and thighbone. It was as if he had placed an order. Within two months, another graduate student of White's, Ethiopian paleoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie, spotted two pieces of a bone from the palm of a hand-their first sign of Ardi. The team members eventually found 125 pieces of Ardi's skeleton. She had been a muscular female who stood almost four feet tall but could have weighed as much as 110 pounds, with a body and brain roughly the same size as a chimpanzee's. As they got a good look at Ardi's body plan, they soon realized that they were looking at an entirely new type of hominid.

It was the find of a lifetime. But they were daunted by Ardi's condition. Her bones were so brittle that they crumbled when touched. White called them "road kill."

The researchers spent three field seasons digging out entire blocks of sedimentary rock surrounding the fossils, encasing the blocks in plaster and driving them to the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. In the museum lab, White painstakingly injected glue from syringes into each fragment and then used dental tools and brushes, often under a microscope, to remove the silty clay from the glue-hardened fossils. Meanwhile, Suwa, today a paleoanthropologist at the University of Tokyo, analyzed key fossils with modified CT scanners to see what was inside them and used computer imaging to digitally restore the crushed skull. Finally, he and anatomist C. Owen Lovejoy worked from the fossils and the computer images to make physical models of the skull and pelvis.

It's a measure of the particularity, complexity and thoroughness of the researchers' efforts to understand Ardi in depth that they took 15 years to publish their detailed findings, which appeared this past October in a series of 11 papers in the journal Science. In short, they wrote that Ardi and fossils from 35 other members of her species, all found in the Middle Awash, represented a new type of early hominid that wasn't much like a chimpanzee, gorilla or a human. "We have seen the ancestor and it's not a chimpanzee," says White.

This came as a surprise to researchers who had proposed that the earliest hominids would look and act a lot like chimpanzees. They are our closest living relatives, sharing 96 percent of our DNA, and they are capable of tool use and complex social behavior. But Ardi's discoverers proposed that chimpanzees have changed so dramatically as they have evolved over the past six million years or so, that today's chimpanzees make poor models for the last common ancestor we shared.

In his lab at Kent State University, Lovejoy recently demonstrated why Ardi is so unusual. He gently lined up four bones from Ardi's hand on his lab bench, and he showed how they fit together in a way that allowed Ardi's hand to bend far backward at the wrist. By comparison, a chimpanzee's wrist is stiff, which allows the animal to put its weight on its knuckles as it moves on the ground-knuckle walking. "If you wanted to evolve Ardi's hand, you couldn't do it from this," he said, waving a set of bones from a chimpanzee hand in the air. If Lovejoy is right, this means Ardi-and our upright-walking ancestors-never went through a knuckle-walking stage after they came down from the trees to live on the ground, as some experts have long believed.

As evidence that Ardi walked upright on the ground, Lovejoy pointed to a cast of her upper pelvic blades, which are shorter and broader than an ape's. They would have let her balance on one leg at a time while walking upright. "This is a monstrous change-this thing has been a biped for a very long time," Lovejoy said.

But Ardi didn't walk like us or, for that matter, like Lucy either. Ardi's lower pelvis, like a chimpanzee's, had powerful hip and thigh muscles that would have made it difficult to run as fast or as far as modern humans can without injuring her hamstrings. And she had an opposable big toe, so her foot was able to grasp branches, suggesting she still spent a lot of time in the trees-to escape predators, pick fruit or even sleep, presumably in nests made of branches and leaves. This unexpected combination of traits was a "shocker," says Lovejoy.

He and his colleagues have proposed that Ardi represents an early stage of human evolution when an ancient ape body plan was being remodeled to live in two worlds-in the trees and on the ground, where hominids increasingly foraged for plants, eggs and small critters.

The Ardi research also challenged the long-held views that hominids evolved in a grassy savanna, says Middle Awash project geologist Giday WoldeGabriel of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Ardi researchers' thorough canvassing-"You crawl on your hands and knees, collecting every piece of bone, every piece of wood, every seed, every snail, every scrap," White says-indicates that Ardi lived in woodland with a closed canopy, so little light reached grass and plants on the forest floor. Analyzing thousands of specimens of fossilized plants and animals, as well as hundreds of samples of chemicals in sediments and tooth enamel, the researchers found evidence of such forest species as hackberry, fig and palm trees in her environment. Ardi lived alongside monkeys, kudu antelopes and peafowl-animals that prefer woodlands, not open grasslands.

Ardi is also providing insights into ancient hominid behavior. Moving from the trees to the ground meant that hominids became easier prey. Those that were better at cooperating could live in larger social groups and were less likely to become a big cat's next meal. At the same time, A. ramidus males were not much larger than females and they had evolved small, unsharpened canine teeth. That's similar to modern humans, who are largely cooperative, and in contrast to modern chimpanzees, whose males use their size to dominate females and brandish their dagger-like canines to intimidate other males.

As hominids began increasingly to work together, Lovejoy says, they also adopted other previously unseen behaviors-to regularly carry food in their hands, which allowed them to provision mates or their young more effectively. This behavior, in turn, may have allowed males to form tighter bonds with female mates and to invest in the upbringing of their offspring in a way not seen in African apes. All this reinforced the shift to life on the ground, upright walking and social cooperation, says Lovejoy.

Not everyone is convinced that Ardi walked upright, in part because the critical evidence comes from her pelvis, which was crushed. While most researchers agree that she is a hominid, based on features in her teeth and skull, they say she could be a type of hominid that was a distant cousin of our direct ancestor-a newfound offshoot on the human family tree. "I think it's solid" that Ardi is a hominid, if you define hominids by their skull and teeth, says Rick Potts, a paleoanthropologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. But, like many others who have not seen the fossils, he has yet to be convinced that the crushed but reconstructed pelvis proves upright walking, which could mean that Ardi might have been an extinct ape that was "experimenting" with some degree of upright walking. "The period between four million to seven million years is when we know the least," says Potts. "Understanding what is a great ape and what is a hominid is tough."

As researchers sort out where Ardi sits in the human family tree, they agree that she is advancing fundamental questions about human evolution: How can we identify the earliest members of the human family? How do we recognize the first stages of upright walking? What did our common ancestor with chimpanzees look like? "We didn't have much at all before," says Bill Kimbel, an Arizona State University paleoanthropologist. " Ardipithecus gives us a prism to look through to test alternatives."

After Ardi's discovery, researchers naturally began to wonder what came before her. They didn't have long to wait.

Starting in 1997, Haile-Selassie, now at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, found fossils between 5.2 million and 5.8 million years old in the Middle Awash. A toe bone suggested its owner had walked upright. The bones looked so much like a primitive version of A. ramidus he proposed these fossils belonged to her direct ancestor-a new species he eventually named Ardipithecus kadabba.

In 2000, Martin Pickford of the College of France and Brigitte Senut of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris announced their team had found an even older hominid-13 fossils representing a species that lived six million years ago in the Tugen Hills of Kenya. Two of the fossils were thighbones, including one that provided the oldest direct evidence of upright walking in a hominid. They named this creature Orrorin tugenensis, drawing on a Tugen legend of the "original man" who settled the Tugen Hills. Informally, in honor of its year of discovery, they called it Millennium man.

Hot on the heels of that discovery came the most surprising one of all-a skull from Chad, about 1,500 miles west of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa where many of the most ancient hominids have been found. A Chadian student named Ahounta Djimdoumalbaye picked up a ball of rock on the floor of the Djurab Desert, where windstorms blow sand dunes like waves on a sea and expose fossils buried for millions of years. When Djimdoumalbaye turned over the stone, he stared into the vacant eye sockets of an ape-like face-the skull of a primate that lived six million to seven million years ago on the shores of an ancient lake. It had traits that suggested it was a hominid-a small lower face and canines and a skull that seemed to sit atop its spine, as in upright walkers. Paleontologist Michel Brunet, then of the University of Poitiers in France, introduced it as the oldest known hominid, Sahelanthropus tchadensis. (Its nickname is Toumaï, which means "hope of life" in the Goran language.) But proving that a skull walked upright is difficult, and questions linger about whether Sahelanthropus is a bona fide hominid or not.

Taken together, fossils discovered over the past 15 years have provided snapshots of several different creatures that were alive in Africa at the critical time when the earliest members of the human family were emerging. When these snapshots are added to the human family album, they double the time researchers can see back into our past-from Lucy at 3.2 million years to Toumaï at almost 7 million years.

One of the most sought-after fossils of that distant era was Lucy's direct ancestor. In 1994, 20 years after Lucy's skeleton was discovered, a team in Kenya led by Meave Leakey (the wife of Richard Leakey) found teeth and parts of a jaw as well as two pieces of shinbone that showed the creature walked upright. The fossils, named Australopithecus anamensis, were 4.1 million years old.

"This has been a fascinating 40 years to be in paleoanthropology," says Johanson, "one of the great times to be in this field." But, he adds, "there's still enormous confusion" about the murky time before 4 million years ago.

One thing that is clear is that these early fossils belong in a class by themselves. These species did not look or act like other known apes or like Lucy and other members of Australopithecus. They were large-bodied ground dwellers that stood up and walked on two legs. But if you watched them move, you would not mistake them for Lucy's species. They clung to life in the trees, but were poised to venture into more open country. In many ways, these early species resemble one another more than any fossils ever found before, as if there was a new developmental or evolutionary stage that our ancestors passed through before the transition was complete from ape to hominid. Indeed, when the skulls of Toumaï and Ardi are compared, the resemblance is "striking," says paleoanthropologist Christoph Zollikofer of the University of Zurich in Switzerland. The fossils are too far apart in time to be members of the same species, but their skulls are more like each other than they are like Lucy's species, perhaps signaling similar adaptations in diet or reproductive and social behavior.

The only way to find out how all these species are related to one another and to us is to find more bones. In particular, researchers need to find more overlapping parts of very early fossils so they can be compared directly-such as an upper end of a thighbone for both Ardi and Toumaï to compare with the upper thighbone of O. tugenensis.

At Aramis, as soon as the clan leaders gave the Middle Awash team their blessing, White began dispatching team members like an air traffic controller, directing them to fan out over the slope near Ardi's grave. The sun was high in the sky, though, making it hard to distinguish beige bone among the bleached out sediments. This time, the team found no new hominid fossils.

But one morning later that week, the team members drove up a dry riverbed to a site on the western margin of the Middle Awash. Only a few moments after hiking into the fossil beds, a Turkish postdoctoral researcher, Cesur Pehlevan, planted a yellow flag among the cobbles of the remote gully. "Tim!" he shouted. "Hominid?" White walked over and silently examined the molar, turning it over in his hand. White has the ability to look at a tooth or bone fragment and recognize almost immediately whether it belongs to a hominid. After a moment, he pronounced his verdict: "very good, Cesur. It's virtually unworn." The molar belonged to a young adult A. kadabba, the species whose fossils began to be found here in 1997. Now the researchers had one more piece to help fill in the portrait of this 5.8-million-year-old species.

"There's your discovery moment," said White. He reflected on the fossils they've bagged in this remote desert. "This year, we've got A. kadabba, A. anamensis, A. garhi, H. erectus, H. sapiens." That's five different kinds of hominids, most of which were unknown when White first started searching for fossils here in 1981. "The Middle Awash is a unique area," he said. "It is the only place on the planet Earth where you can look at the full scope of human evolution."

Ann Gibbons is a correspondent for Science and the author of The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors.

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Tim White is standing with a group of restless men atop a ridge in the Afar desert of Ethiopia. A few of them are pacing back and forth, straining to see if they can spot fragments of beige bone in the reddish-brown rubble below, as eager to start their search as children at an Easter egg hunt.

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En Español: Cinco Maneras de Honorar a Tus Ancestros

We all have ancestors, both of blood and of spirit, and each of our lives rests firmly on the foundation of their sacrifice. They are as near to us as our breath and bones, and when related with in conscious ways, they can be a tremendous source of healing, guidance, and companionship. The ancestors we choose to honor may include not only recent and more distant family but also beloved friends and community, cultural and religious leaders, and even other-than-human kin such as companion animals. Our ancestors bring vital support to fulfill our potential here on Earth, and, through involvement in our lives, also further their own growth and maturation in the spirit realms.

Like the living, spirits of the deceased run the full spectrum from wise and loving to self-absorbed and harmful. Physical death is a major event for the soul, a rite of passage we will all face, and the living can provide critical momentum for the recently deceased to make the initiatory leap to become a helpful ancestor. Once the dead have become ancestors, part of their post-death journey may include making repairs for wrongs committed while here on Earth. For their sake and for ours, it's good to spend a little time now and again feeding our relationships with the ancestors. The five suggestions below, none of which require belief in any specific tradition or dogma, are safe and effective ways to assist our beloved dead and to welcome the ongoing support and blessings of the ancestors in our everyday lives.
Fulfill Your Soul's Purpose as an Ethical and Loving Person
The most important and most challenging way to honor our ancestors is to fulfill our personal potential and life's purpose here on Earth. Many cultures maintain that we each have a unique destiny or karma to fulfill and that we ideally make it a high priority to remember these original instructions and do what is necessary to express our gifts, our true will, and our most authentic selves. The ancestors are seen as allies in this process of remembering and a reservoir of power and backing to help us embody our potential in this lifetime. Conversely, when we have lost touch with a sense of greater purpose, if we are fortunate, the ancestors may bring about life changes aimed to jar us into greater contact with our soul's longing and increased awareness of the agreements made before our birth.

Talk of destiny and calling is all well and good; however, in reality it's difficult to actualize our full potential until our life and relationships are more or less in order. This gradual and ongoing work of being a conscious person may include things like learning how to express emotions in healthy ways, committing to tell the truth in relationships, reaching out for necessary support to get sober, seeking education to better ourselves, taking better care of our bodies, and generally accepting greater responsibility for becoming a loving and reliable human being. Whatever helps us to become more ethical, balanced, and open-hearted people is one of the most powerful and sincere offerings we can make to our ancestors.

Ironically, the very things that would drag us down are often part of our inheritance from family ancestors. Alcoholism, patterns of physical and sexual abuse, emotional cruelty and dysfunction, religious extremism, racism, sexism, wounds related to money and poverty, predisposition to physical and mental illness, and a thousand and one other poisons can all be passed down along the bloodlines where they lay, seeds in our karmic profile that, if watered with the right conditions, may grow into full-blown dysfunction. If properly understood these challenges may implicitly point us in the direction of the antidote, often an internal resource that we also carry as a dormant ancestral inheritance. For example physical violence can be a distortion of the gift of healthy warriorship, fear of scarcity may mask an unhealed wound in a lineage of strong providers, or addiction could be a way of numbing the sensitivity required of healers, artists, and lovers. In this way, the ancestors can be both the source of the hardship and the remedy, yet every time we make the right choices when faced with these inherited patterns, we elevate both ourselves and their spirits.
Dedicate Positive Actions in the Name of the Ancestors
Nearly all traditions have some way of recognizing the spiritual benefit of good deeds and generosity. Charity in Christianity traditions, sadaqah in Islam, tzedakah in Judaism, and dana in Buddhism and Hinduism are but a few religious expressions of a nearly universal theme of practicing generosity and affirming our inter-relatedness with and care for others. Traditional, indigenous ways of life also tend to emphasize the need for sharing wealth and the blessings that flow from living a helpful, service-oriented life. Mongolian shaman Sarangerel, a friend and teacher who passed suddenly in 2006, half-jokingly described shamanism as the science of engineering hiimori or "windhorse," and wrote that:
This force is housed within the chest and will vary in size according to how one uses and accumulates it. Very strong windhorse allows one to think clearly and analytically and see through deception. Windhorse is the power which allows shamans and other powerful people accomplish what needs to be done simply and easily....Use of one's personal power toward harmful ends or to upset the balance of the universe depletes windhorse...Windhorse can be increased by actions to restore balance in the universe and through religious practice.[1]
In this way, engaging in loving and truly helpful actions results in the accumulation of tangible and usable energy in the energetic field or body of the one taking the action.

Most people instinctively grasp a related principle that the energetic effects of actions can, at least to some degree, be directed or linked to others who did not carry out the actions themselves. To illustrate this, imagine someone privately donating ten million dollars in your name toward feeding and housing the homeless in your area. Compare this with someone doing a private ritual to dedicate an impending act of genocide in your name; clearly less cool. In neither case are you the one carrying out the actions themselves. This principle is already widely applied through the practice of making charitable contributions in the name of the recently deceased by their loved ones.

Having a clear focus, a meaningful activity, and personally connecting with the process of elevating the consciousness of your beloved dead all help to enhance the effectiveness of this practice. For example, if you have the sense that your grandmother's spirit is not at peace or if she is well and you just wish to celebrate her life and spirit, consider specifically dedicating a positive action to her rather than to all your ancestors in general. The more specific the target of the offering, the more concentrated the effects. Also, try to choose a type of service or action that fits the recipient's unique life and spirit. If your father was racist or engaged in domestic violence, you might donate to a charitable organization working for racial healing or a battered women's shelter. Likewise, if the deceased loved local wildflowers, a dedicated day of service to the Native Plant Society can enhance the intimacy, emotional charge, and effectiveness of the offering. Finally, taking the time to set clear intent and emotionally connect to the process can help insure the positive energy generated actually reaches the intended target.

Although more involved acts of service are fantastic, more simple dedications can also be powerful. For example, let's say that I have a disturbing dream about my grandfather who died last month, and I'm left with the nagging sense that he may not have transitioned yet to the realm of the ancestors. Later in the morning I find myself at yoga class and the teacher invites us to dedicate our session of yoga to some specific intent. Remembering the dream, I pause and voice internally or quietly aloud, "I dedicate the positive energy from this session of yoga to the well-being of my grandfather; may his spirit be at peace and united with our loving ancestors." Throughout the class I periodically hold him in my awareness, seeing him surrounded by love and light, and in this way reaffirm the link between me and the focus of my prayer. Finally, at the close of the class, I take a moment to visualize a sphere of light, the windhorse accumulated from this focused spiritual practice, and I envision this light surrounding the spirit of my grandfather, bringing him happiness and well-being. In this way, I couple the power of focused intent with the usable energy generated from a simple positive action in a way that is helpful and uplifting for my grandfather's spirit. The dedication of merit from good deeds large and small is an especially effective practice for those ambivalent about the reality of the ancestors or who are not interested in direct spirit contact but still wish to honor the memory of their loved ones.

Stay Open to Direct Communication from the Ancestors

Direct contact with the spirits of the ancestors can be cultivated through ritual practices; however, communication may also happen spontaneously in forms such as dream contact, waking encounters, and synchronicity. When we have a framework to receive their outreach, their work is made easier and we are open to the enjoyment of conscious, ongoing relationship.

Talking or even just listening to dead people, even if they're your beloved dead people, tends to raise a few eyebrows, and some of the concerns may be legitimate. With respect to hearing voices, the experience of communication with the deceased is almost never an indicator of a psychotic process or break with reality. If you or those around you have any doubts about whether or not you're coming unglued, consider reaching out for support from a grounded ancestor specialist, spiritually-oriented psychotherapist, supportive mentor, or friend. The more common concern centers on distinguishing mental chatter from direct spirit contact, a refinement that I've found only comes with a balance of faith and healthy skepticism combined with practice over time.

Another important concern is making sure that you're mostly engaging with loving, evolved ancestors and not with conflicted or even manipulative ghosts. If you have guides that you work with in spirit, call upon them to provide a second opinion on the ancestors contacting you to help insure they're trustworthy. However, evolved and helpful ancestors may still lead with tough love and express themselves in rowdy and enigmatic ways, and telling the difference between the two again is something that comes with practice. Simply taking a moment to consult your personal instinct is often sufficient to determine if any spirit is basically loving and well-intended. As a general guideline, if your relationship with an ancestor is not helping you to be a more empowered, ethical, and loving person, seek a second opinion.
Dream Visitation
The ancestors can often reach even the most skeptical of descendants with a well-placed, emotionally charged dream. Not all dreams of the dead necessarily involve direct spirit contact, and discerning when an ancestor is actually trying to get through is not always easy; however, contact dreams are often accompanied by the felt sense of actually meeting with the deceased loved one. These dreams may include receiving a message or some kind of healing around the loss that accompanied the loved one's death. If the dream has the quality of contact and the deceased seems in distress, you may offer direct prayer, healing ritual, and positive energy toward their elevation and happiness. If the ancestor seems well in spirit, simply being open to their visit supports future dream contact and other forms of relationship.
Waking Encounters
Sometimes, at the strangest moments, even for those who don't believe in spirits or seek out contact with the ancestors, the dead just appear. They may come at times of crisis or intensity like near-death experiences or four hours into a strong acid trip, but more often they come in everyday moments; while driving, laying in bed before sleep, or out walking the dog. Sometimes these visitations can be subtle, and if we're not careful we can easily dismiss them as mere imagination or fantasy. For most people these encounters are not visual and they may not even be auditory; usually there's just a sense of someone being present for a moment, a direct knowing. For those with a formal practice of ancestor reverence or a strong link with the unseen realms, such encounters may be relatively common and are not necessarily charged with any more meaning than a phone call from a friend. Even if we never seek direct contact from our side, just keeping an open mind about the possibility of our beloved contacting us during our everyday life is a great way to honor our unbreakable bond with the ancestors and the other world.
Synchronicity
First popularized by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, synchronicity refers to two or more events that are meaningfully related, but which otherwise would be unlikely to occur. Although a complex process to explain in logical terms, the implication is that the ancestors may also speak through events themselves. Suppose that your deceased partner loved lilacs and on the anniversary of her death you're on the front porch having a drink and feeling particularly sad. At that moment your new neighbor walks over to share with you, out of the blue, that she's thinking of planting a lilac bush and asks your opinion on the matter. You feel a chill pass through your body and a sense that something magical is happening, a temporary drawing close of the worlds. After the conversation, you're left with a sense, against all logic, that your partner has reached out to comfort you. Meaningful songs on the radio, written signs and messages, and spontaneous animal encounters are but a few of the ways in which the ancestors shamelessly make use of our surroundings to generate meaningful events and get their point across.
Establish a Physical Place to Honor the Ancestors
In my weekend ancestor trainings, I've often joked that if you don't have an ancestor altar, you become the altar. Having a place to honor the dead can function as a kind of depossession. The underlying principle is that of letting go of an unconscious identification with the ancestors and assuming instead a stance of relationship. When we designate a physical place to honor our ancestors, they are externalized in this process, and their sanctified place then serves to remind us of the ongoing relationship. The physical place may become a location for in-dwelling, a spirit house, a sacred space in this world for the ancestral spirits, much in the same way that a crucifix, a statue of Krishna, or a copy of the Qur'an becomes infused with holy meaning both through our perception and also presumably through the agency of God, the gods, or the ancestors directly.

The location and nature of an ancestor-honoring place may vary widely according to tradition and personal style. Insofar as the bones of the dead can function as a kind of spirit house or energetic link with the soul of the deceased, places that house human remains (e.g., cemeteries, tombs, reliquaries, burial mounds) are natural points of physical contact with the ancestors. Specific trees, mountains, rivers, and other natural features may be culturally or personally related with as places of heightened connection with the ancestors. Ancestor veneration may also occur in places such as community temples and shrines, public monuments to the heroic dead, sacred groves, and other types of ritual spaces specifically consecrated for work with the dead. The most common type of place for honoring the spirits of the ancestors is likely the individual or family-level shrine, typically located in or near one's place of residence. By anchoring the presence of the ancestors somewhere outside our bodies yet still in the physical world, we both externalize the dead and create conditions that support ongoing relationship.

If you feel guided to establish a personal ancestor altar in your home as a way to enhance your relationship with your beloved dead, remember that the shrine itself will ideally grow into a place where their energy dwells in a more concentrated way. For this reason, you may prefer to locate the shrine in a different room than where you sleep and somewhere out of the way or even contained like inside a cabinet, especially if your share your home with young children or rowdy pets. The altar may be a small table or shelf and can include images of the ancestors, stones, candles, colorful fabrics, incense, inherited objects from the deceased, inspired artwork, religious items familiar to your ancestors like a Bible or rosary, and other physical offerings. Some prefer to avoid having images of the living on their ancestor shrine, and although I personally follow this guideline, most important is to allow the ancestors themselves to guide you on where and how they want their place of honoring to be established.

Once the place of honoring is physically prepared, I recommend a simple ceremony of calling on the ancestors to activate and energize the shrine (see practice of "spirit feast" below for one example). Once activated, the altar becomes a place that exists in both worlds, a point of contact and heightened communion with your beloved dead. This does not mean the ancestors only dwell at the shrine any more than God only lives in churches, merely that the altar serves as a consecrated, physical declaration of relationship with the ancestors. From this beginning, the process of tending to these relationships can then be amplified and deepened.

If you ever decide that you no longer wish to work with the shrine, take a moment to explain to the ancestors your choice and to then mindfully undo what was done, gently closing through ritual action the gateway between the worlds that was opened when the altar was established. If you have specific traditions of ancestor reverence that inspire and instruct you on how to tend to an ancestor shrine, that's fantastic, and from my perspective, the only "right way" is whatever truly helps you to have a sustained and heart-centered relationship with those that ancestors you honor at your personal altar.
Make Offerings to the Ancestors
Human lovers tend to appreciate a blend of respect, passion, kindness, and quality time with each other. Plants enjoy a nice balance of sun, moisture, and healthy soil. The Buddha seems to have a taste for incense while the love goddesses may favor honey, flowers, and all things sweet. Just as we feed our human relationships with particular kinds of attention, engagement, and gifts, so can relationships with the ancestors be fed through the practice of making intentional offerings. Acts of ritual feeding may underscore a request we are making of our ancestors, convey gratitude for support already received, or just be a way of sustaining the intimacy of ongoing relationship.

As a general progression, it's a good idea to first determine what kind of offering is called for. Then present the offering along with your intention, after which you may inquire as to whether the offering has been received well. Finally stay open to guidance or ripple effects such as intuitive communications, messages in dreams, or other signs from the ancestors. Physical offerings may include food, drink, coins, cloth, tobacco, ash, tears, stones and other found objects, flowers, fire, and creations made with our hands. Offerings to the ancestors may also take less physical forms such as song, dance, prayer, practices of healing and forgiveness, release of a pattern or relationship that no longer serves, and commitments undertaken for personal or collective good.

One specific practice that expresses the importance of making offerings is that of the spirit feast or ritual meal shared with the ancestors. After you have identified where you will share this meal with your beloved dead (e.g., a special place in nature, your ancestor shrine, at a cemetery) and what type of food and drink offerings they would enjoy from you, you are then ready to call them to be present. Again, the only "right way" to invoke your ancestors is whatever works for you. Traditional methods often include some combination of calling their names, spirited prayer, rattling, and heart-felt song. Unless you have more experience with ancestor work, I suggest only calling to the well-off and supportive dead; for the less-well dead, allow the helpful guides to relay the energy from any offerings to those in need.

Once you sense the loving and supportive ancestors to be present, let them know what's on your mind and share the meal you have prepared with them by placing their food offering on your shrine, the earth, or whatever location you have designated. After the offering has been presented, some traditions use divination techniques to determine if it was well received, and if so, if there are accompanying messages that wish to be conveyed from the ancestors. In lieu of an established practice of divination, simply take a moment to feel whether or not the meal you prepared has been received. If something feels off, stay with the process and be curious about what else may need to happen or be conveyed. Sometimes they may just want a little space to savor what you have brought them, other times they may wish to convey all sorts of information. In general, it's good to stay receptive and curious in the period of time following an offering to the ancestors. After a period of time, usually at least a day, the food and drink offerings can then be returned to the earth in the most mindful and ecologically friendly way possible.
Conclusion
You don't have to be an indigenous shaman or ghost whisperer to have a direct, intimate, and healthy relationship with your ancestors. We all have loving ancestors who want us to fulfill our destiny as happy and well-adjusted people, and in my experience, our ancestors are the ideal guides for family healing as they are invested in seeing their future generations thrive.

Just as in any meaningful relationship, our bonds with the ancestors call for care and renewal. By proactively engaging in simple actions to honor and feed these relationships, our ancestors can become a tremendous source of healing, empowerment, and nourishment in our everyday lives. Fortunately, these practices of tending are relatively simply and can be carried out by anyone with sincere intent.

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Five Ways to Honor Your Ancestors En Español: Cinco Maneras de Honorar a Tus Ancestros We all have ancestors, both of blood and of spirit, and each of our lives rests firmly on the foundation of their sacrifice.

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Honoring ancestors is a common and natural impulse across cultures and religions. It's easily understood by most people even if they don't actively practice it. Most adults have a grandparent, parent, or other relative they knew in this life who is now an ancestor - remembering and honoring Grandma instinctively strikes them as a good and proper thing to do. This is a point of honest commonality across many religions.

I see four categories of ancestors. We may honor them differently, but they are all worthy of our respect and devotion.
Ancestors we know
We begin by honoring the ancestors we know. These are the people we knew in life, those we've been told about or who we found through genealogical research. We have pictures of these ancestors, or stories about them, or a bit of biographical data. We can honor their memory because we have memories of them.

I knew my maternal grandmother very well. She came to live with us when I was 9 and lived till I was 28. I have pictures of her, but I don't need pictures to remember her: I remember her face and her form, her voice and her hair. I remember the foods she liked to cook. Most importantly, I remember how she loved me and our whole family, and how she went out of her way to care for us, over and over and over again. I knew her well, and it's easy for me to honor her.

My father's family traces our history in this country through James Beckett, who was my great-great-great-grandfather. There are no pictures of him. We know he was born in Ulster around 1750, moved to North Carolina after the American Revolution, and died around 1820. That's it. But that's enough to honor his courage and determination to cross the ocean and provide opportunities for his descendants - opportunities that have benefitted me. I can call his name because I know his name.
Ancestors we don't know
We knew a few ancestors in this life and we know more through history. But we all have many, many more ancestors who are beyond the reach of historical records. I know James Beckett's name, but I have 15 other great-great-great-grandfathers and 16 great-great-great-grandmothers whose names I do not know. They are also worthy of my honor and respect.

Mainstream history is helpful here. Many early immigrants to the Southeastern United States were Scots-Irish, meaning it is highly likely many more of my ancestors came here from Scotland by way of Ireland. I can visualize ancestors who were Irish, Scots, Celts, and Picts. I can go back further and further to ancestors who lived in places further south and further east, though I cannot know exactly where or when. At some point tens of thousands of years ago, I had an ancestor who walked out of Africa.

I don't know these ancestors, but if they hadn't lived, I wouldn't be here. I cannot call their names - I can't even visualize enough placeholders for all of them. But I can acknowledge their gifts and honor their lives.

When we honor these ancestors, we subtly affirm an important fact: most of them weren't Christians. If I assume my ancestors in the British Isles converted to Christianity in 500 CE (it could have been earlier - it also could have been much later) then I've got about 50 generations of Christians in my heritage. While the "out of Africa" migration date is highly contentious, even using the conservative date of 70,000 years ago I've got about 2300 generations of non-Christian ancestors - and that's in addition to thousands more generations of human ancestors who lived in Africa.

Yes, in leaving Christianity I have rejected the religion of some of my ancestors. But I'm working to restore the polytheist, animist, and pantheist religions of many, many more.
Ancestors of spirit
While biologically we are all related at one level or another, there are people who have influenced us to whom we are only tangentially related by blood. Some of these we knew in life: teachers, neighbors, spiritual leaders. Others we knew by their work: authors, scholars, activists. As a Druid, OBOD founder Ross Nichols is my spiritual ancestor and it is proper that I honor him, even though I never knew him and never heard of him before he died.

Because of my ancestors of blood, I have physical life. Because of my ancestors of spirit, I have spiritual and religious life. I have built my practice on the foundations laid by those who came before me.

People in other religions who are unused to ancestor work are likely to understand the importance of honoring civic heroes. We have Presidents' Day - I'm old enough to remember when it was Washington's birthday. We have federal holidays honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. and (for better or worse) Christopher Columbus. There are countless statues honoring war heroes, civic leaders, and sports stars... and don't forget The Apotheosis of Washington, the painting on the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building which depicts George Washington becoming a God.

We're all familiar with the faces on Mount Rushmore and the famous monuments in and around Washington DC, but go to any small town square and you'll see statues of people you likely don't know. Local ancestors are just as worthy of honor as national ancestors: they may be less-famous ancestors, but they're our ancestors.
Ancestors most ancient
It is proper to honor our ancestors because we are in debt to them - if it weren't for them we quite literally wouldn't be here. Their lives and their work laid the foundations on which we build our lives.

We intuitively understand the need to honor our parents and grandparents, and it doesn't take much thought to extend that back to the first ancestor who came to the land where we live. A little more thought brings up ancestors further and further back: those who survived war, famine, and plagues, those who crossed mountains and rivers, those who overcame constant obstacles of a life far different from our own. Keep going back and eventually you reach the first modern humans - the first of our species.

But our ancestry does not stop in East Africa 200,000 years ago. Homo erectus, Homo habilis, and Australopithecus are also our ancestors. If they were here we could not speak with them because they did not have the capacity for language (we think). But as with our more recent ancestors, if it weren't for them we wouldn't be here, and it is right that we honor them.

We don't stop here, either. We have ancestors who were long-extinct mammals and even-older vertebrates. We have ancestors who were smaller and simpler creatures stretching back to the first life. Each of us must decide for ourselves how much importance we place on honoring these ancestors most ancient, but never forget they are our ancestors.
The urgent need to honor our ancestors
One of the core problems of modern society is our unwillingness to consider the needs of future generations. So what if we burn up all the oil and change the climate to something inhospitable for humans? I won't be here - why should I care?

But when we honor our ancestors we realize we are the beneficiaries of their lives and their work. Because of them, we are here.

Because of us, future generations will be here. Will they look back on us as mighty ancestors who left them a healthy world and a thriving culture? Or will they look back on us as we look back on ancestors who owned slaves and slaughtered the buffalo?

How do you want to be remembered?

* * * * * * * * *

For a solitary ritual of communion with your ancestors, excerpt or adapt the Main Working from this Samhain ritual.

For a group ancestor ritual - particuarly with a religiously mixed group - try this Ancestor Communion Ritual we led at a Sunday service at Denton UU last year.

There are many other ways to honor and commune with your ancestors - find the one that works for you.

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When we honor our ancestors we realize we are the beneficiaries of their lives and their work. Because of them, we are here. Because of us, future generations will be here. Will they look back on us as mighty ancestors who left them a healthy world and a thriving culture?

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There is no doubt America is a nation of animal lovers. In 2012, more than 62% of American households included at least one pet. But while most of us are aware of the numerous benefits of pet ownership, are you aware of its risks to human health?

Though pets can offer a wide range of health benefits to humans, they can also pose a number of health risks.

Those of you who have a cat, dog, bird or any other animal in your household will likely consider that pet to be member of your family, and rightly so.

Pets offer comfort and companionship, and we can't help but love them. In fact, when it comes to dogs, a recent study found the famous "puppy dog eyes" glare triggers a whopping 300% increase in owners' oxytocin levels - the "love hormone" involved in maternal bonding.

What is more, pets offer a number of benefits to human health. In December 2014, Medical News Today reported on a study that associated household pets with stronger social skills in children with autism. And in May 2013, a study published in the journal Circulation linked pet ownership to reduced risk of heart disease.

But while pets can benefit our health in a number of ways, they also have the potential to spread infection and cause human illness. In this Spotlight, we take a look at the some of the health risks associated with ownership of many of the nation's most-loved animals.

Campylobacteriosis

Most of us have heard of Campylobacter. The bacterium is one of the most common causes of diarrhea in the US, estimated to affect more than 1.3 million people annually.

As well as diarrhea, infection with Campylobacter - called campylobacteriosis - can cause cramping, abdominal pain and fever within 2-5 days of exposure to the bacteria.

While most cases are caused by exposure to contaminated food - particularly meat and eggs - and water, it can also be contracted through exposure to stool of an infected animal - including dogs and cats.

According to PetMD, around 49% of dogs and 45% of stray cats carry Campylobacter and shed it in their feces. It is most common in puppies and kittens younger than 6 months.

It should be noted that infection with Campylobacter is rarely life-threatening, though individuals with weak immune systems, young children and the elderly are most at risk.

Tapeworm, hookworm and roundworm

Dipylidium caninum is the most common tapeworm in both dogs and cats in the US. It is caused by ingestion of fleas that carry the tapeworm larvae. This can happen when the animal grooms itself.

D. caninum can be passed to humans, though the risk of infection is very low. It most commonly occurs in young children who accidentally swallow an infected flea.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), flea control is the best way to reduce the risk of D. caninum infection in both pets and humans.

Hookworm infection in humans most commonly causes a skin condition called cutaneous larva migrans, in which the hookworm larvae penetrate the skin.

Ancylostoma brazilense, A. caninum, A. ceylanicum and Uncinaria stenocephala are just some of the species of hookworm that can infect cats and dogs.

The hookworm parasite can be shed in the feces of animals, and humans can contract it by coming into contact with infected feces or contaminated soil and sand where such feces have been.

Hookworm infection in humans most commonly causes a skin condition called cutaneous larva migrans (CLM), in which the hookworm larvae penetrate the skin. This causes a red, itchy and sometimes painful rash.

In rare cases, specific strains of hookworm can infect the intestines of humans, causing abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Toxocariasis is an infection caused by the transmission of Toxocara - parasitic roundworms - from dogs and cats to humans. According to the CDC, almost 14% of Americans have Toxocara antibodies, indicating that millions of us have been exposed to the parasite.

In dogs and cats infected with Toxocara, eggs of the parasite are shed in their feces. Humans can contract the parasite by accidentally swallowing dirt that has been contaminated with these feces.

Though it appears human exposure to Toxocara is high, most people infected with it do not develop symptoms or become sick. In the rare cases people do become ill from toxocariasis, the condition may cause inflammation and vision loss in one eye (ocular toxocariasis), or abdominal pain, fever, fatigue and coughing due to damage to various organs (visceral toxocariasis).

Salmonellosis

Though not as cute and fluffy as kittens and puppies, reptiles - such as turtles, snakes and lizards - are owned by around 3% of households in the US.

There is no doubt reptiles are interesting creatures and can make brilliant pets, but they are also a carrier of Salmonella - a bacteria responsible for salmonellosis. Humans can contract the bacteria simply through touching a reptile and ingesting the germs.

According to the CDC, more than 1 million people in the US become ill from Salmonella infection each year. Of these illnesses, more than 70,000 are caused by contact with reptiles.

Within 12-72 hours of being infected with Salmonella, people may experience diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps that last around 4-7 days. While most people fully recover without treatment, others may need to be hospitalized.

Turtles are a main culprit of Salmonella infection in the US. The sale of turtles less than 4 inches was even banned by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1975 because of their high disease risk - particularly among young children, the elderly and people with weak immune systems.

Rabies

Rabies is one of the most severe diseases that humans can contract from dogs and cats, as well as smaller animals such as ferrets. A recent study reported by MNT found the disease kills around 59,000 people worldwide every year.

Rabies is a disease that infects the central nervous system (CNS). Caused by a bite from an animal infected with rabies virus, the disease causes fever, headache and weakness, before progressing to more severe symptoms - including hallucinations, full or partial paralysis, insomnia, anxiety and difficulty swallowing. Death normally occurs within days of more serious symptoms appearing.

According to the CDC, domestic animals accounted for 8% of all rabid animals reported in 2010.

In the US, the most common way domestic animals can contract rabies is through a bite from infected wild animals, particularly foxes, raccoons, skunks and bats. Symptoms normally occur 1-3 days after infection and include excess salivation, paralysis and unusual shyness or aggression.

If an owner suspects their pet may have been bitten by a rabid animal, they must take them to a veterinarian for care immediately, even if they have been vaccinated against the virus. Any person who believes they may have been bitten by a rabid animal must seek immediate medical care.

Parrot fever

Despite its name, parrot fever does not only occur in parrots - all birds can be affected. However, human transmission of the disease most commonly involves parrots, parakeets, macaws, cockatiels and poultry - particularly turkeys and ducks.

Also known as psittacosis, parrot fever is a bacterial disease caused by a bacterium called Chlamydia psittaci that humans can contract through inhalation of birds' secretions, including urine and feces.

If a person becomes infected with C. psittaci, symptoms usually appear around 10 days after exposure. These may include fever, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, chest pain and shortness of breath.

In more severe cases, infection with C. psittaci can cause inflammation of the brain, liver and other internal organs. It can also reduce lung function and cause pneumonia.

It is important to note, however, that parrot fever in humans is very rare in the US. According to the CDC, fewer than 50 people a year are infected, and this has been the case since 1996.

Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by a single-celled parasite - Toxoplasma gondii. It is most commonly contracted in humans through ingestion of undercooked or contaminated meat.

Cats shed T. gondii in their feces.

However, humans can also contract T. gondii by coming into contact with cat feces or any area or object contaminated with cat feces, as felines are carriers of it. T. gondii cannot be absorbed through skin, but infection can occur if the parasite is accidentally ingested.

It is estimated that more than 60 million people in the US are infected with T. gondii. However, very few people become ill from the infection as the human immune system is normally able to fight it.

If the infection does present symptoms, these may include swollen glands and muscle aches and pains. In very severe cases, T. gondii infection may cause damage to the brain and other organs, or eye damage.

Pregnant women, elderly individuals, young children and people with weakened immune systems are at highest risk of developing symptoms from T. gondii infection.

Cat-scratch disease

Although our cute little kitties very rarely mean to scratch us, it does happen. And while many of us think nothing of a small graze from a cat's claw, it has the potential to cause more damage than you may think.

Cat-scratch disease (CSD) is caused by a bacterium called Bartonella henselae, which around 40% of cats carry at some point in their lifetime, though most show no signs of illness.

B. henselae is most common in kittens under the age of 1 year, and since kittens are more likely to scratch during playtime, they are most likely to spread the bacterium to humans.

An early sign of CSD can be an infection at the site of the scratch around 3-14 days after it occurred, characterized by swelling, pain and tenderness. Headache, fever, loss of appetite and fatigue may also present, and in very rare cases, CSD can affect the brain, heart and other organs.

Children under the age of 5 years and individuals with weakened immune systems are most likely to experience severe symptoms from CSD.

What can be done to prevent pet-related infections?

It is clear pets can harbor an abundance of germs that can be passed to humans, but there are a number of ways pet-related infections can be prevented:

Wash your hands - hygiene is key for preventing the majority of pet-related infections. After coming into contact with pets, their saliva or feces, hands should be washed thoroughly with warm, soapy water. A scratch or bite from a pet should also be cleaned immediately

Pick up and dispose of feces - quickly disposing of your pet's feces, particularly in areas where children may play - can prevent the spread of disease to humans and other animals

Avoid scratches and bites - the best way to avoid infections from pet bites and scratches is to avert them in the first place. If you are scratched by a cat, dog or other animal, clean the wound immediately with warm, soapy water. A cat or dog bite may require medical attention due to the risk of rabies or other serious infection

Get your pet vaccinated and routinely evaluated - visit a veterinarian regularly to ensure your pet is healthy and to prevent infectious diseases. Also, ensure your pet is up-to-date with the required vaccinations.

It is important to note that the likelihood of a person catching a disease from their pet is low, particularly if the correct precautions are taken. With this in mind, there is no reason why the millions of pet owners in the US can't enjoy the companionship and joy their animals provide.

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Pets: are you aware of the risks to human health?

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There is no doubt America is a nation of animal lovers. In 2012, more than 62% of American households included at least one pet. But while most of us are aware of the numerous benefits of pet ownership, are you aware of its risks to human health?

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Studies have shown that just watching cat videos on the internet can boost a person's energy and create positive emotions-so it's no surprise that actual cat ownership has a number of benefits. Here are a few.

1. OWNING A CAT IS BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.

If you're worried about your carbon footprint, it's better to own a cat than a dog. A 2009 study found that the resources needed to feed a dog over the course of its life create the same eco-footprint as that of a Land Cruiser. Meanwhile, cats-which eat less in general and are more likely to eat fish than corn- or beef-flavored products-only have the approximate carbon footprint of a small hatchback.

2. THEY'LL HELP YOU COPE ...

Losing a loved one is incredibly painful, but one of the best ways of coping is to own a pet. Cats have been shown to help people get over their loss more quickly, and show less physical symptoms of pain, like crying. Despite the fact that they are only animals, cats serve as a social support during difficult times. People in mourning report talking to their pet to work out their feelings, since it is often easier to talk to something that won't respond and can't judge than to another human being.

3. ... AND FIND A SIGNIFICANT OTHER.

If you're a single guy and you can't seem to get a date, get a cat! A British poll found that 82 percent of women agreed they are more attracted to men who like animals. And while having a dog will do wonders for your dating life, a whopping 90 percent of single women said that men who own a cat are " nicer " than other guys. Listing that you own a cat on your dating profile could do wonders for the number of responses you get-but remember, a cat is for life, not just until you find a partner.

4. CAT OWNERS ARE SMART.

A 2010 survey of British pet owners by the University of Bristol found that people who owned cats were more likely to have college degrees than their dog loving counterparts. In 2014, a researcher in Wisconsin surveyed 600 college students and found that cat owners were actually more intelligent as well. (But it's probably not the cat itself making the owner smarter: The researchers conducting the Bristol survey said that smarter people tend to work longer hours, and since cats require less attention than dogs, they are a better choice for the busy intellectual.)

5. YOU'LL HAVE A HEALTHIER HEART.

Owning any pet is good for your heart. Cats in particular lower your stress level-possibly since they don't require as much effort as dogs-and lower the amount of anxiety in your life. Petting a cat has a positive calming effect. One study found that over a 10-year period cat owners were 30 percent less likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than non-cat owners (although this might just be because cat owners are more relaxed and have lower stress in general).

6. THEY FULFILL YOUR NEED FOR COMPANIONSHIP.

The stereotype that dogs are more affectionate than cats is just that: a stereotype. In fact, it turns out that cats can be just as good of companions as dogs, especially for women. An Austrian study conducted in 2003 found that having a cat in the house is the emotional equivalent of having a romantic partner. As well as initiating contact much of the time, studies have shown cats will remember kindness shown to them and return the favor later.

But cats really do have the upper hand in these relationships. After thousands of years of domestication, cats have learned how to make a half purr/half howl noise that sounds remarkably like a human baby's cry. And since our brains are programmed to respond to our children's distress, it is almost impossible to ignore what a cat wants when it demands it like that.

7. THEY CAN TELL YOU (AND OTHERS!) A LOT ABOUT YOUR PERSONALITY.

Your choice of pet reveals something about your personality. While dog lovers tend to be the life of the party, cat owners are quieter and more introverted. However, they score very highly when it comes to how trustworthy they are and how much they trust other people. Cat owners are also less manipulative and more modest.

8. YOU'LL SLEEP BETTER.

Several studies and polls in the UK have found that people (especially women) prefer to sleep with their cats than with their partners, and they even report sleeping better with a cat than with a human. A recent study from the Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine indicates that they might be on to something: 41 percent of the people in that study indicated that they slept better because of their pet, while only 20 percent said that it led to disturbances.

9. CAT OWNERSHIP MEANS FEWER ALLERGIES.

Sadly, it's too late for you, but if you have a child on the way, it might be time to get a cat. In 2002, the National Institutes of Health released a study that found children under a year old who were exposed to a cat were less likely to develop allergies-and not just pet allergies. According to Marshall Plaut, M.D., chief of the allergic mechanisms section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, "high pet exposure early in life appears to protect against not only pet allergy but also other types of common allergies, such as allergy to dust mites, ragweed, and grass." And while the cat parasite Toxoplasma gondii is a threat to young children, experts say that by changing your cat's litter box every day and keeping the animal indoors, you should be safe and allergy free!

10. THEY CAN QUITE LITERALLY SAVE YOUR LIFE.

Cats have a reputation of being aloof and not caring about their humans, but they have saved countless lives over the years. One cat in the United Kingdom warns her human when he's about to have an epileptic seizure, while a cat in Montana woke up its two humans when a gas pipe started leaking. Firefighters told the couple that the house could easily have exploded if not for cat's intervention.

One cat has even received the highest medal available to military animals. Simon the cat was onboard the HMS Amethyst, which was sailing up the Yangtze in 1949 when a shell hit the ship, killing several marines and severely injuring Simon. (The event marked the beginning of the 101-day siege of the ship, which would become known as the Yangtze Incident.) Simon was fixed up, and despite being injured, performed his ship duty and started catching the rats that were threatening the ship's food supply, as well as providing moral support for the surviving sailors. Simon died not long after the ship returned to the UK, but he was posthumously awarded the UK's Dickin Medal, recognized as the animal Victoria Cross, for "behaviour [of] the highest order, although the blast was capable of making a hole over a foot in diameter in a steel plate."
All images via iStock unless otherwise noted.

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10 Scientific Benefits of Being a Cat Owner

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Studies have shown that just watching cat videos on the internet can boost a person's energy and create positive emotions-so it's no surprise that actual cat ownership has a number of benefits. Here are a few. 1. OWNING A CAT IS BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.

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"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats." - Albert Schweitzer

Last year I covered 5 unusual studies on the psychology of dogs and their owners. This kicked off a comment thread which discussed how dogs act as ice-breakers, how they might mediate the tension between couples and how long after you died they would wait to feast on your flesh.

Apparently dogs wait longer than cats although I'm pretty sure there's no experimentally controlled evidence for this.

But what about cat-lovers and research into the psychology of cats? Inspired by MindHacks, I've uncovered a small literature on cats' effects on human mood, their ability to become attached to their owners, their personalities and our relationships with them.

Can cats improve your mood?

Cats are frequently accused of being selfish, but it's humans who are often being a little selfish when they get a cat - they hope it will give them pleasure. But do cats really consistently improve mood - was Albert Schweitzer right?

Research carried out by anthrozoologists suggests he was. A recent Swiss study recruited 212 couples with cats and compared how both their cat and their partner affected their mood.

Their results showed that, in line with previous studies, cats could alleviate negative moods but were unlikely to promote positive moods. People's positive moods were more associated with their partners.

So it's a cautious thumbs-up for cats - they might not make you burst into song, but they'll take the edge off a bad day.

Is your cat really attached to you?

The reason that cats can alleviate negative moods is often attributed to attachment - the emotional bond between cat and owner. But cats are well-known for being fickle so do they really become attached to their owners?

Remarkably there's actually been a quite sophisticated study on cat attachment behaviour towards their owners.

The classic procedure for investigating attachment in humans is the ' strange situation '. It tests how infants react to their mother (or father) leaving the room and then returning.

Well, this Mexican research used a similar procedure, but on cats. Analysis of the cats' behaviour suggested they were indeed emotionally attached. While the cats were with their owners they appeared more relaxed and were more likely to explore their environment.

This is pretty good ammunition for all cat-owners who are fed up with being told by cat-haters that cats don't care about...well...anything other than food and catnip.

What is your cat's personality?

So it seems that cats can alleviate negative moods and become attached to humans, but do they actually have personalities of their own?

Most cat-owners would say yes. Indeed in this study owners were asked to rate their cats on 12 items and when these were analysed, four dimensions of cat personality emerged. These were the extent to which their cat was:

1. Active, clever, curious, and sociable.

2. Emotional, friendly and protective.

3. Aggressive and bad-tempered.

4. Timid.

Remember these aren't categories but rather dimensions, so that a cat might receive a rating on each of these four dimensions which altogether would make up their personality.

With a bit of imagination these four factors can be superimposed on the widely agreed five factors of human personality: the first factor is like extraversion, the second could be neuroticism, the third factor agreeableness and the last factor openness to experience.

Obviously the final human factor, conscientiousness, has no place in the psychology of cats - whoever heard of a conscientious cat?

One legitimate criticism of this research is that people are just imagining or projecting personalities onto their cats. But these dimensions do line up with previous research on cat personality which has been carried out by people rating cats they didn't know.

How to develop a good relationship with your cat

Like any relationship, that between a cat and a human seems to require give and take, especially since cats are so independent.

Dr Dennis Turner from the Institute for Applied Ethology and Animal Psychology has carried out a series of studies investigating how humans and cats interact (e.g. this one).

From his research Dr Turner argues that the best relationships between cats and humans are found when humans respect a cat's independence.

Of course anyone who actually owns a cat hardly needs to be told that!

Random cat psychology facts

Here are some other random cat facts I uncovered:

Fat cat facts: Owners of obese cats can't see how fat their cats really are. Also, unlike the owners of fat dogs, owners of fat cats tended not to be overweight themselves.

Cats sent off to quarantine are friendlier, more affectionate and more timid when they return home.

Cats lack a sweet taste receptor - so there's another reason, along with the fact that it can seriously harm or kill them, not to feed them chocolate.

→ Explore PsyBlog's ebooks, all written by Dr Jeremy Dean:

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Human-Cat Psychology: Do Cats Improve Our Mood and Become Attached to Us? - PsyBlog

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"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats." - Albert Schweitzer Last year I covered 5 unusual studies on the psychology of dogs and their owners. This kicked off a comment thread which discussed how dogs act as ice-breakers, how they might mediate the tension between couples and how long after you died they would wait to feast on your flesh.

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It seems everyone is seeking happiness. For me, I prefer to look at it as the search for peace and joy in life, as I find happiness can be too conditional, and anytime we have to look for or chase something, we are looking outside of us. Surely some of this is just semantics, but happiness is, in my view, a state of being that comes from within and doesn't shift with circumstance.

I came across this great article about the science of happiness and how researchers have been able to discover that we can adjust various things in our daily lives to bring more happiness to our state of being. Though, again, I believe happiness happens over the longterm. It's not short spurts of emotion that we chase, but something that is born within and sustained naturally in our being.

1. Exercise more - 7 minutes might be enough

You might have seen some talk recently about the scientific 7 minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. So if you thought exercise was something you didn't have time for, maybe you can fit it in after all.

Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it's actually been proven to be an effective strategy for overcoming depression. In a study cited in Shawn Achor's book, The Happiness Advantage, three groups of patients treated their depression with either medication, exercise, or a combination of the two. The results of this study really surprised me. Although all three groups experienced similar improvements in their happiness levels to begin with, the follow-up assessments proved to be radically different:

The groups were then tested six months later to assess their relapse rate. Of those who had taken the medication alone, 38 percent had slipped back into depression. Those in the combination group were doing only slightly better, with a 31 percent relapse rate. The biggest shock, though, came from the exercise group: Their relapse rate was only 9 percent!

You don't have to be depressed to gain benefit from exercise, though. It can help you to relax, increase your brain power and even improve your body image, even if you don't lose any weight.

A study in the Journal of Health Psychology found that people who exercised felt better about their bodies, even when they saw no physical changes:

Body weight, shape and body image were assessed in 16 males and 18 females before and after both 6 × 40 mins exercise and 6 × 40 mins reading. Over both conditions, body weight and shape did not change. Various aspects of body image, however, improved after exercise compared to before.

We've explored exercise in depth before, and looked at what it does to our brains, such as releasing proteins and endorphins that make us feel happier, as you can see in the image below.

2. Sleep more - you'll be less sensitive to negative emotions

We know that sleep helps our bodies to recover from the day and repair themselves, and that it helps us focus and be more productive. It turns out, it's also important for our happiness.

In NutureShock, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman explain how sleep affects our positivity:

Negative stimuli get processed by the amygdala; positive or neutral memories gets processed by the hippocampus. Sleep deprivation hits the hippocampus harder than the amygdala. The result is that sleep-deprived people fail to recall pleasant memories, yet recall gloomy memories just fine.

In one experiment by Walker, sleep-deprived college students tried to memorize a list of words. They could remember 81% of the words with a negative connotation, like "cancer." But they could remember only 31% of the words with a positive or neutral connotation, like "sunshine" or "basket."

The BPS Research Digest explores another study that proves sleep affects our sensitivity to negative emotions. Using a facial recognition task over the course of a day, the researchers studied how sensitive participants were to positive and negative emotions. Those who worked through the afternoon without taking a nap became more sensitive late in the day to negative emotions like fear and anger.

Using a face recognition task, here we demonstrate an amplified reactivity to anger and fear emotions across the day, without sleep. However, an intervening nap blocked and even reversed this negative emotional reactivity to anger and fear while conversely enhancing ratings of positive (happy) expressions.

Of course, how well (and how long) you sleep will probably affect how you feel when you wake up, which can make a difference to your whole day. Especially this graph showing how your brain activity decreases is a great insight about how important enough sleep is for productivity and happiness:

Another study tested how employees' moods when they started work in the morning affected their work day.

Researchers found that employees' moods when they clocked in tended to affect how they felt the rest of the day. Early mood was linked to their perceptions of customers and to how they reacted to customers' moods.

And most importantly to managers, employee mood had a clear impact on performance, including both how much work employees did and how well they did it.

Sleep is another topic we've looked into before, exploring how much sleep we really need to be productive.

3. Move closer to work - a short commute is worth more than a big house

Our commute to the office can have a surprisingly powerful impact on our happiness. The fact that we tend to do this twice a day, five days a week, makes it unsurprising that its effect would build up over time and make us less and less happy.

According to The Art of Manliness, having a long commute is something we often fail to realize will affect us so dramatically:

... while many voluntary conditions don't affect our happiness in the long-term because we acclimate to them, people never get accustomed to their daily slog to work because sometimes the traffic is awful and sometimes it's not. Or as Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert put it, "Driving in traffic is a different kind of hell every day."

We tend to try to compensate for this by having a bigger house or a better job, but these compensations just don't work:

Two Swiss economists who studied the effect of commuting on happiness found that such factors could not make up for the misery created by a long commute.

4. Spend time with friends and family - don't regret it on your deathbed

Staying in touch with friends and family is one of the top five regrets of the dying. If you want more evidence that it's beneficial for you, I've found some research that proves it can make you happier right now.

Social time is highly valuable when it comes to improving our happiness, even for introverts. Several studies have found that time spent with friends and family makes a big difference to how happy we feel, generally.

I love the way Harvard happiness expert Daniel Gilbert explains it:

We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends.

George Vaillant is the director of a 72-year study of the lives of 268 men.

In an interview in the March 2008 newsletter to the Grant Study subjects, Vaillant was asked, "What have you learned from the Grant Study men?" Vaillant's response: "That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people."

He shared insights of the study with Joshua Wolf Shenk at The Atlantic on how the men's social connections made a difference to their overall happiness:

The men's relationships at age 47, he found, predicted late-life adjustment better than any other variable, except defenses. Good sibling relationships seem especially powerful: 93 percent of the men who were thriving at age 65 had been close to a brother or sister when younger.

In fact, a study published in the Journal of Socio-Economics states than your relationships are worth more than $100,000:

Using the British Household Panel Survey, I find that an increase in the level of social involvements is worth up to an extra £85,000 a year in terms of life satisfaction. Actual changes in income, on the other hand, buy very little happiness.

I think that last line is especially fascinating: Actual changes in income, on the other hand, buy very little happiness. So we could increase our annual income by hundreds of thousands of dollars and still not be as happy as if we increased the strength of our social relationships.

The Terman study, which is covered in The Longevity Project, found that relationships and how we help others were important factors in living long, happy lives:

We figured that if a Terman participant sincerely felt that he or she had friends and relatives to count on when having a hard time then that person would be healthier. Those who felt very loved and cared for, we predicted, would live the longest.

Surprise: our prediction was wrong... Beyond social network size, the clearest benefit of social relationships came from helping others. Those who helped their friends and neighbors, advising and caring for others, tended to live to old age.

5. Go outside - happiness is maximized at 13.9°C

In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor recommends spending time in the fresh air to improve your happiness:

Making time to go outside on a nice day also delivers a huge advantage; one study found that spending 20 minutes outside in good weather not only boosted positive mood, but broadened thinking and improved working memory...

This is pretty good news for those of us who are worried about fitting new habits into our already-busy schedules. Twenty minutes are a short enough time to spend outside that you could fit it into your commute or even your lunch break.

A UK study from the University of Sussex also found that being outdoors made people happier:

Being outdoors, near the sea, on a warm, sunny weekend afternoon is the perfect spot for most. In fact, participants were found to be substantially happier outdoors in all natural environments than they were in urban environments.

The American Meteorological Society published research in 2011 that found current temperature has a bigger effect on our happiness than variables like wind speed and humidity, or even the average temperature over the course of a day. It also found that happiness is maximized at 13.9°C, so keep an eye on the weather forecast before heading outside for your 20 minutes of fresh air.

The connection between productivity and temperature is another topic we've talked about more here. It's fascinating what a small change in temperature can do.

6. Help others - 100 hours a year is the magical number

One of the most counterintuitive pieces of advice I found is that to make yourself feel happier, you should help others. In fact, 100 hours per year (or two hours per week) is the optimal time we should dedicate to helping others in order to enrich our lives.

If we go back to Shawn Achor's book again, he says this about helping others:

...when researchers interviewed more than 150 people about their recent purchases, they found that money spent on activities-such as concerts and group dinners out-brought far more pleasure than material purchases like shoes, televisions, or expensive watches. Spending money on other people, called "prosocial spending," also boosts happiness.

The Journal of Happiness Studies published a study that explored this very topic:

Participants recalled a previous purchase made for either themselves or someone else and then reported their happiness. Afterward, participants chose whether to spend a monetary windfall on themselves or someone else. Participants assigned to recall a purchase made for someone else reported feeling significantly happier immediately after this recollection; most importantly, the happier participants felt, the more likely they were to choose to spend a windfall on someone else in the near future.

So spending money on other people makes us happier than buying stuff for ourselves. What about spending our time on other people? A study of volunteering in Germany explored how volunteers were affected when their opportunities to help others were taken away:

Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall but before the German reunion, the first wave of data of the GSOEP was collected in East Germany. Volunteering was still widespread. Due to the shock of the reunion, a large portion of the infrastructure of volunteering (e.g. sports clubs associated with firms) collapsed and people randomly lost their opportunities for volunteering. Based on a comparison of the change in subjective well-being of these people and of people from the control group who had no change in their volunteer status, the hypothesis is supported that volunteering is rewarding in terms of higher life satisfaction.

In his book Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, University of Pennsylvania professor Martin Seligman explains that helping others can improve our own lives:

...we scientists have found that doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well-being of any exercise we have tested.

7. Practice smiling - it can alleviate pain

Smiling itself can make us feel better, but it's more effective when we back it up with positive thoughts, according to this study:

A new study led by a Michigan State University business scholar suggests customer-service workers who fake smile throughout the day worsen their mood and withdraw from work, affecting productivity. But workers who smile as a result of cultivating positive thoughts - such as a tropical vacation or a child's recital - improve their mood and withdraw less.

Of course it's important to practice "real smiles" where you use your eye sockets. It's very easy to spot the difference:

According to PsyBlog, smiling can improve our attention and help us perform better on cognitive tasks:

Smiling makes us feel good which also increases our attentional flexibility and our ability to think holistically. When this idea was tested by Johnson et al. (2010), the results showed that participants who smiled performed better on attentional tasks which required seeing the whole forest rather than just the trees.

A smile is also a good way to alleviate some of the pain we feel in troubling circumstances:

Smiling is one way to reduce the distress caused by an upsetting situation. Psychologists call this the facial feedback hypothesis. Even forcing a smile when we don't feel like it is enough to lift our mood slightly (this is one example of embodied cognition).

One of our previous posts goes into even more detail about the science of smiling.

8. Plan a trip - but don't take one

As opposed to actually taking a holiday, it seems that planning a vacation or just a break from work can improve our happiness. A study published in the journal, Applied Research in Quality of Life showed that the highest spike in happiness came during the planning stage of a vacation as employees enjoyed the sense of anticipation:

In the study, the effect of vacation anticipation boosted happiness for eight weeks.

After the vacation, happiness quickly dropped back to baseline levels for most people.

Shawn Achor has some info for us on this point, as well:

One study found that people who just thought about watching their favorite movie actually raised their endorphin levels by 27 percent.
If you can't take the time for a vacation right now, or even a night out with friends, put something on the calendar-even if it's a month or a year down the road. Then whenever you need a boost of happiness, remind yourself about it.

9. Meditate - rewire your brain for happiness

Meditation is often touted as an important habit for improving focus, clarity and attention span, as well as helping to keep you calm. It turns out it's also useful for improving your happiness:

In one study, a research team from Massachusetts General Hospital looked at the brain scans of 16 people before and after they participated in an eight-week course in mindfulness meditation. The study, published in the January issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, concluded that after completing the course, parts of the participants' brains associated with compassion and self-awareness grew, and parts associated with stress shrank.

Meditation literally clears your mind and calms you down, it's been often proven to be the single most effective way to live a happier life. I believe that this graphic explains it the best:

According to Shawn Achor, meditation can actually make you happier long-term:

Studies show that in the minutes right after meditating, we experience feelings of calm and contentment, as well as heightened awareness and empathy. And, research even shows that regular meditation can permanently rewire the brain to raise levels of happiness.

The fact that we can actually alter our brain structure through mediation is most surprising to me and somewhat reassuring that however we feel and think today isn't permanent.

We've explored the topic of meditation and it's effects on the brain in-depth befor e. It's definitely mind-blowing what this can do to us.

10. Practice gratitude - increase both happiness and life satisfaction

This is a seemingly simple strategy, but I've personally found it to make a huge difference to my outlook. There are lots of ways to practice gratitude, from keeping a journal of things you're grateful for, sharing three good things that happen each day with a friend or your partner, and going out of your way to show gratitude when others help you.

In an experiment where some participants took note of things they were grateful for each day, their moods were improved just from this simple practice:

The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.

The Journal of Happiness studies published a study that used letters of gratitude to test how being grateful can affect our levels of happiness:

Participants included 219 men and women who wrote three letters of gratitude over a 3 week period.

Results indicated that writing letters of gratitude increased participants' happiness and life satisfaction, while decreasing depressive symptoms.

Quick last fact: Getting older will make yourself happier

As a final point, it's interesting to note that as we get older, particularly past middle age, we tend to grow happier naturally. There's still some debate over why this happens, but scientists have got a few ideas:

Researchers, including the authors, have found that older people shown pictures of faces or situations tend to focus on and remember the happier ones more and the negative ones less.

Other studies have discovered that as people age, they seek out situations that will lift their moods - for instance, pruning social circles of friends or acquaintances who might bring them down. Still other work finds that older adults learn to let go of loss and disappointment over un-achieved goals, and hew their goals toward greater wellbeing.

So if you thought being old would make you miserable, rest assured that it's likely you'll develop a more positive outlook than you probably have now.
Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below! Source http://blog.bufferapp.com/10-scientifically-proven-ways-to-make-yourself-happier http://www.social-consciousness.com/2013/10/ten-simple-things-you-can-do-today-that-will-make-you-happier-backed-by-science.html

We interviewed David about what is happening within the cabal and disclosure. He shared some incredible insight that is insanely relevant to today.

So far, the response to this interview has been off the charts as people are calling it the most concise update of what's happening in our world today.

Watch the interview here.

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How The Simple Act Of Singing Changes Your Brain & Treats Depression

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I consider myself a fairly happy person in my day-to-day life, and as I recently discovered, this may be in part due to my constant (and apparently annoying) singing. Whether it's in the car or in my apartment, I jump at the chance to sing whenever I can.

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All types of singing have positive psychological effects. The act of singing releases endorphins, the brain's "feel good" chemicals. Singing in front of a crowd, a la karaoke, naturally builds confidence, which has broad and long-lasting effects on general well-being. But of all types of singing, it's choral singing that seems to have the most dramatic effects on people's lives.

A study published in Australia in 2008 revealed that on average, choral singers rated their satisfaction with life higher than the public -- even when the actual problems faced by those singers were more substantial than those faced by the general public [source: MacLean]. A 1998 study found that after nursing-home residents took part in a singing program for a month, there were significant decreases in both anxiety and depression levels [source: ISPS]. Another study surveying more than 600 British choral singers found that singing plays a central role in their psychological health [source: ISPS].

But why? Could you just start belting out a tune right now in order to make yourself feel happy?

It's possible. Some of the ways in which choral singing makes people happy are physical, and you get them whether you're in a chorus or in a shower -- as long as you're using proper breathing techniques during that shower solo. Singing can have some of the same effects as exercise, like the release of endorphins, which give the singer an overall "lifted" feeling and are associated with stress reduction. It's also an aerobic activity, meaning it gets more oxygen into the blood for better circulation, which tends to promote a good mood. And singing necessitates deep breathing, another anxiety reducer. Deep breathing is a key to meditation and other relaxation techniques, and you can't sing well without it.

Physical effects, while pretty dramatic, are really just the beginning. Singing causes happiness for other reasons that have less of a biological basis.

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All types of singing have positive psychological effects. The act of singing releases endorphins, the brain's "feel good" chemicals. Singing in front of a crowd, a la karaoke, naturally builds confidence, which has broad and long-lasting effects on general well-being. But of all types of singing, it's choral singing that seems to have the most dramatic effects on people's lives.

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Group singing has been scientifically proven to lower stress, relieve anxiety, and elevate endorphins

Getty Images

When you sing, musical vibrations move through you, altering your physical and emotional landscape. Group singing, for those who have done it, is the most exhilarating and transformative of all. It takes something incredibly intimate, a sound that begins inside you, shares it with a roomful of people and it comes back as something even more thrilling: harmony. So it's not surprising that group singing is on the rise. According to Chorus America, 32.5 million adults sing in choirs, up by almost 10 million over the past six years. Many people think of church music when you bring up group singing, but there are over 270,000 choruses across the country and they include gospel groups to show choirs like the ones depicted in Glee to strictly amateur groups like Choir! Choir! Choir! singing David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World.

As the popularity of group singing grows, science has been hard at work trying to explain why it has such a calming yet energizing effect on people. What researchers are beginning to discover is that singing is like an infusion of the perfect tranquilizer, the kind that both soothes your nerves and elevates your spirits.

The elation may come from endorphins, a hormone released by singing, which is associated with feelings of pleasure. Or it might be from oxytocin, another hormone released during singing, which has been found to alleviate anxiety and stress. Oxytocin also enhances feelings of trust and bonding, which may explain why still more studies have found that singing lessens feelings of depression and loneliness. A very recent study even attempts to make the case that "music evolved as a tool of social living," and that the pleasure that comes from singing together is our evolutionary reward for coming together cooperatively, instead of hiding alone, every cave-dweller for him or herself.

The benefits of singing regularly seem to be cumulative. In one study, singers were found to have lower levels of cortisol, indicating lower stress. A very preliminary investigation suggesting that our heart rates may sync up during group singing could also explain why singing together sometimes feels like a guided group meditation. Study after study has found that singing relieves anxiety and contributes to quality of life. Dr. Julene K. Johnson, a researcher who has focused on older singers, recently began a five year study to examine group singing as an affordable method to improve the health and well-being of older adults.

It turns out you don't even have to be a good singer to reap the rewards. According to one 2005 study, group singing "can produce satisfying and therapeutic sensations even when the sound produced by the vocal instrument is of mediocre quality." Singing groups vary from casual affairs where no audition is necessary to serious, committed professional or avocational choirs like the Los Angeles Master Chorale or my chorus in New York City, which I joined when I was 26 and depressed, all based on a single memory of singing in a choir at Christmas, an experience so euphoric I never forgot it.

If you want to find a singing group to join, ChoirPlace and ChoralNet are good places to begin, or more local sites like the New York Choral Consortium, which has links to the Vocal Area Network and other sites, or the Greater Boston Choral Consortium. But if you can't find one at any of these sites, you can always google "choir" or "choral society" and your city or town to find more. Group singing is cheaper than therapy, healthier than drinking, and certainly more fun than working out. It is the one thing in life where feeling better is pretty much guaranteed. Even if you walked into rehearsal exhausted and depressed, by the end of the night you'll walk out high as a kite on endorphins and good will.

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Group singing has been scientifically proven to lower stress, relieve anxiety, and elevate endorphins When you sing, musical vibrations move through you, altering your physical and emotional landscape. Group singing, for those who have done it, is the most exhilarating and transformative of all.

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8,000 B.C. The Neolithic Revolution and an agriculture way of life is discovered in the Fertile Crescent/Middle Eastern area. Cows and sheep were domesticated and crops where manipulated and tended. (interesting fact: first domesticated dog ever was found in Idaho, USA 8400 BC).

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Man evolved with powerful brains, precise language and a knack for preserving information. This makes us the most powerful species on the planet.

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Yes, we know - it's an argument fit for the playground or the pub. It's a pointless, futile exercise that puts gamer's backs up and inevitably upsets someone. But you're still here to see what we've included, aren't you?

With the latest generation of consoles settling into their new homes under televisions, we felt it was an appropriate moment to reminisce; which were the greatest games machines to ever occupy the space now filled by your PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Wii U?

Have we given our selection a ranking order? No, that would just cause fights - we've listed the consoles chronologically. Do handhelds count? You bet - with the exception of modern quirks like the iPhone, which sells more "video games" than any other platform.

Based on technical achievements and significance on advancing the gaming industry, these are the ten greatest video games consoles of all time. Please feel free to disagree in the comments below.

Magnavox Odyssey

Year of release: 1972

Units sold: 350,000
Notable games: Table Tennis, Shooting Gallery, Interplanetary Voyage
The grandfather of all video game consoles, the Magnavox Odyssey was where home gaming all started. While the potential of video games had been demonstrated on vast PCs since the 1950s, it was the Odyssey that brought the experience into people's living rooms. Costing $100 ($564/£375 in today's money), it deserves a place in our list as it was the first machine to allow two friends to sit side-by-side and bond over a pixelated experience. It even boasted the first ever "light-gun", starting the gaming obsession with pointing at blocky shape and pulling a trigger. From sports simulators to space adventures, modern gaming can find its DNA in this grey box.

Atari VCS/2600

Year of release: 1977

Units sold: 30 million

Best-selling game: Pac-Man (7 million)

If the Odyssey started the home console movement, the Atari VCS (renamed the 2600 in 1982 once Atari released its successor, the 5200) popularised the experience. It was among the first consoles to run games on cartridges, opening the door to third-party groups creating titles for a variety of hardware formats. Arcade hits like Space Invaders and Pac-Man gained console ports, transforming the video game industry from a one-time fad into a billion-dollar industry (Atari raked in over $2 billion in 1980). The 2600 was a crucial leap forward for the video game industry, both in terms of its tech and in convincing kids to pester their parents for a new cartridge.

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive

Year of release: 1988

Units sold: 40 million

Best-selling game: Sonic the Hedgehog (15 million)

In the early 90s, UK gamers sat on two sides of a tense divide: you were either a Nintendo fan, eagerly waiting to get your thumbs on the coloured buttons of the SNES, or you splashed out on one of these. The Mega Drive (known as the Genesis in the US) is the most successful system Sega ever launched, but the reason it's gained our favour isn't due to its technical prowess or commercial success. The Mega Drive was important in that it was the first console to actively court an adult market. Yes, there had been adult titles before the Mega Drive, but Sega's 16-bit console looked to separate itself from Nintendo's offerings with a collection of blood-soaked, mature titles like Mortal Kombat and Night Trap, and graphically superior sports simulators, like NHL '94, Sensible Soccer and John Madden Football '92. Slick, fast titles like Sonic and Echo the Dolphin even gave a new edge to the platforming genre. The Mega Drive proved that gaming wasn't just for kids.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)

Year of release: 1990

Units sold: 49 million

Best-selling game: Super Mario World (20 million)

No, we haven't included the NES. Yes, it was fundamental to rebuilding the industry after the gaming crash of the late 70s, yes, it brought colour to gaming - but it was the SNES that perfected everything the NES set out to do, making it for want of a better word, Super. It was the system that saw video games move from scrolling, jumping classics to life-consuming adventures - complex worlds like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger still set a bar for modern titles. Yes, the NES was important, but its the volume of legendary, technically impressive titles ( Star Fox, Mario Kart, Mega Man X, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy IV, Donkey Kong Country) squeezed into its cartridges that makes the SNES one of the best video game consoles of all time.

PlayStation

Year of release: 1994

Units sold: 102.5 million

Best-selling game: Gran Turismo (10.85 million)

The dawn of the Sony era didn't start with a bang or a whimper, but with a glorious whir. Going head-to-head with Sega's CD-wielding Saturn, the fight was a short one: Sega eventually conceded defeat in 1998, binning their grey/black box after losing out to the PlayStation in the all-important US market. Every aspect of the PlayStation was a triumph, from the continued improvement of its controller design to the quality of its 3D graphics, the faster loading times to its quality first and third-party games. It was the first console to top the 100 million mark, a number which saw Sony continue to make games for this little grey box until as late as 2006 - a staggering 11 years after it was first launched.

Sega Dreamcast

Year of release: 1998

Units sold: 10 million

Best-selling game: Sonic Adventure (2.5 million)

Bad timing. Stiff competition. Poor games. CDs over DVDs - there are plenty of excuses as to why Sega's final console failed. Launching way ahead of its rivals (it arrived two years before the PlayStation 2, three ahead of the Xbox and GameCube), the bells and whistles of the Dreamcast weren't enough to prise gamers away from their relatively-new Nintendo 64s and PlayStations. So why is it one of the best consoles ever made? Because it was the first to successfully demonstrate the potential of online gaming in the living room. It was a gamble that didn't pay off. It was different, it was bold, and amongst its games were some of the most interesting titles of recent years (if you've never experienced Shenmue - shame on you). It's the console you should have owned.

PlayStation 2

Year of release: 2000

Units sold: 155 million
Best-selling game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Forget online connectivity. Forget entertainment tricks. The PlayStation 2 had both of these (it was the first DVD player many gamers owned) , but the reason Sony's second console deserves a spot in any console list is that staggering number indicated above. No, not the year. The popularity of this console ensured that gaming remained a lucrative market, capable of seeing games studios make more money than the movie business. While rival consoles established new technical legacies, the PS2 produced more classic titles than any other machine in our list - developers just loved making games for it, a process Sony only stopped as recently as 2013. We're willing to bet every gamer reading this has a memory associated with the PS2 - whether it was the excitement of unboxing it in the millennial year or avoiding a deadline to play just one more game of Fifa. This will be the console you'll dig out of the attic to show your grandchildren what you wasted your youth on.

Xbox 360

Year of release: 2005

Units sold: 84 million

Best-selling game: Kinect Adventures (18 million)

Sony's PlayStation 2 embarrassed the Xbox 360. If this was a list based on numbers, the PS2 would be top of the pile, outselling Microsoft's rival system almost two-to-one. But where Sony delivered more of the same, Microsoft risked everything by putting online at the heart of its console vision - and it worked. A PC in disguise, the 360 championed the now-standard digital media distribution and online multiplayer experience. Even the subtle addition of its game achievement award system breathed new life into titles, giving gamers a new incentive to replay their games. The controller was a palm-hugging marvel, while the Kinect is still the fastest-selling 'electronics device' in history. In all, a more important, more influential console than the better-selling PlayStation 2.

Nintendo Wii

Year of release: 2006

Units sold: 101 million

Best-selling game: Wii Sports (82.5 million, thanks to being included in a console bundle)

If Microsoft's Xbox 360 was influential in shaping the online future of consoles, Nintendo's Wii was equally important for proving that gaming didn't have to be about guns and muscles. Having failed to outsell competition with its N64 and Gamecube, Nintendo went back to the drawing board for its "seventh generation" console entry. Its unique take on interacting with a game environment was almost its undoing, baffling third-party game developers who had predicted the quirky console would ultimately fail. While Microsoft and Sony looked to attract gamers with their shiny graphics, Nintendo went after the "casual" crowd - and it worked. The Wii is one of the best games consoles ever made simply because it managed to gather old and young alike around a TV to flap at golf balls. It made gamers out of people with no interest in gaming.

Nintendo 3DS

Year of release: 2011

Units sold: 45 million

Best-selling game: Pokémon X and Y (12 million)

Remember the argument we went with for why the SNES was better than the NES? Good - it's the same one we're using for why the 3DS is better than the DS and the original Game Boy. While 3D was something of a fad for the TV and cinema industry, Nintendo has finally given a technology it fell in love with back in the 1980s a fitting home in its 3DS. With online gaming and streaming services bundled in, an array of innovative game titles and an evolving design (the new model is set to clean up when it arrives next month), the 3DS is the most complete handheld experience in console history.

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The 10 Best Video Game Consoles Of All Time

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skip to main content Yes, we know - it's an argument fit for the playground or the pub. It's a pointless, futile exercise that puts gamer's backs up and inevitably upsets someone. But you're still here to see what we've included, aren't you?

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CLOSE

For the video game industry, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

About half of all video game hardware, software and accessory sales take place during the holiday season starting with Black Friday, according to research firm NPD Group. Two years in, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One remain popular gifts. The Consumer Technology Association says video game consoles will be the top gifts to give this season.

"Many families are still upgrading to the latest generation consoles and it appears they will be using Black Friday and the surrounding shopping period to do so," says Shawn DuBravac, Ph.D., the CTA's chief economist and senior director of research.

This year might be the best time to jump off the fence and join the new generation of game consoles, as more bargain-priced bundles packaging games such as Halo 5: Guardians and Star Wars Battlefront with game systems can be found on store shelves this year.

"We've had bundles for year and years in video games but these are very, very stylized," says Steve Koenig, CTA's senior director of market research. "I think Star Wars is going to be a huge hook around gaming this holiday."

Choosing a console will depend on the preferences of the users. Let's break down the advantages of all three.
PLAYSTATION 4
Developer: Sony

Price: Starts at $299
Four reasons to buy a PS4:
- Great controller. The PS4's DualShock 4 controller remains the best - hands down. It's the ideal size, features quick access to important features and includes a speaker to incorporate interesting uses of ambient sound or other effects.

- Easy sharing. With one press of the Share button on the PS4 controller, players can quickly broadcast their exploits on Twitch or YouTube, fire off a screenshot on Twitter or spread their digital adventures on other social networks. No need to navigate multiple menus and setting up social accounts is straightforward.

- A bright future. The first-party lineup looks a bit thin, but 2016 and beyond is really strong between a new chapter in the Uncharted series and the long-awaited action game The Last Guardian. Players will also finally get their hands on PlayStation VR, Sony's upcoming virtual reality headset, while cloud TV service PlayStation Vue will likely continue its push to more national markets.

- Early access. If the gift recipient is into games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, PS4 owners will gain early access to expansions launched throughout the year. Sony also struck similar content deals for Destiny: The Taken King.

The Xbox One. (Photo: Microsoft)
XBOX ONE
Developer: Microsoft

Price: Starts at $299
Four reasons to buy an Xbox One:
- Backward compatibility. Hang on to that Xbox 360 library. Many of those games will work on an Xbox One, either appearing among digital downloads or available by inserting the disc into the console. New buyers will have immediate access to their older games as they slowly build up their Xbox One library.

- Broad selection of apps. As an all-in-one entertainment device, Xbox One has an edge with a larger selection of apps as well as new accessories allowing the console to pick up over-the-air HD TV signals. It might be the closest we have to a cable box replacement.

- Strong first-party lineup. The library overall is strong between games from third-party publishers such as Fallout 4 and Star Wars: Battlefront, but its first-party lineup with titles including Forza Motorsport 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Halo 5: Guardians is really impressive.

- Elite upgrades. For consumers who want to splurge, there's a $499 Elite bundle including a 1 TB Solid State Hybrid Drive - which is expected to improve performance - and Elite controller with interchangeable thumbsticks and directional pads.

WII U

The Nintendo Wii U. (Photo: Nintendo)

Developer: Nintendo

Price: Starts at $249
Four reasons to buy a Wii U:
- Lower price. Nintendo's home console enters with the best price for consumers looking to stay on a budget. With that cut in price comes drawbacks including less horsepower than PS4 or Xbox One, as well as missing features such as a game DVR.

- Family-friendly game selection. It's tough to beat an ally like Mario. The company's icon delivers some of the console's best family fare, including Super Mario 3D World and the latest Mario Kart. Between that and new titles including Splatoon, Yoshi's Woolly World and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Wii U boasts a variety of quality family titles.

- Virtual Console. For consumers who want to go back to the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Virtual Console feature boasts several old-school video games including Donkey Kong and the original Super Mario Bros. Most games cost $5-$10.

- Access to Wii library. Holding on to all those video games from Nintendo's lucrative Wii era? They're accessible on the Wii U, too. Also, all those Wii controllers work on the Wii U.

Important note on Wii U. There is one huge caveat when considering the Wii U: Nintendo has started work on its successor. The company says it will reveal details on the Nintendo NX console at next June's Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1jjj35G

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Finding the best video game console for you

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CLOSE For the video game industry, it's the most wonderful time of the year. About half of all video game hardware, software and accessory sales take place during the holiday season starting with Black Friday, according to research firm NPD Group. Two years in, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One remain popular gifts.

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Best Gaming Console 2018 - Top Video Game Systems to Buy

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There are consoles that fit any type of gamer. We break down the basics and recommend the best console for a variety of gaming needs.

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Cats and dogs are the most popular pets in the world. Cats are more independent and are generally cheaper and less demanding pets. Dogs are loyal and obedient but require more attention and exercise, including regular walks. How to choose When choosing b

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I'm in the middle of a national book tour for " Your Cat: The Owner's Manual." This time last year, I toured for the companion book, "Your Dog: The Owner's Manual." I'm often asked if I'm a "dog person" or a "cat person," and as a veterinarian, I have to say I haven't any preference.

On our Almost Heaven Ranch in north Idaho, in fact, the score is dead even: four dogs, four cats.

But I don't see cats and dogs as being the same. They need different things from me as a veterinarian, and they behave very differently from each other. For example, the tendency of cats to hide their illness is one reason why they don't go to the veterinarian as often as they should; their unhappiness at leaving their home is another.

Just for fun, I decided to think about how dogs and cats differ in terms of a competition. If we had pet Olympics, would dogs take home the most gold, or would cats?

Rate the Competitors

To determine which is the "better" pet, let's see how cats and dogs stack up in five categories: vision, smell, speed, endurance and intelligence.

Vision. Cats win this one. Both animals are predators, which means their visual acumen stresses movement over detail. Neither cats nor dogs are going to read the type on road signs, and their color vision isn't as strong as ours, but a quick movement will get noticed even if it's minor. But give the gold to the cats for their ability to see in far less light. When the mousies come out to play at dusk, the cats are ready for them. A twitch of a whisker or a tiny movement in the leaves can be seen in near-darkness.

Smell. Dogs even the score with their sense of smell. There's a reason why you don't see drug-sniffing cats, and it's not just because cats aren't exactly amenable to clocking in for a 9-to-5 shift at the police station. While cats have a better sense of smell than humans do - really, we're pretty worthless in the nose department - the canine sense of smell is nothing short of astonishing. Most dogs have a face that's really nothing but nose, and their ability to detect and distinguish odors is in the range of four times better than a cat's.

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Dogs vs. Cats: Which Pet Is Better for You?

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I'm in the middle of a national book tour for " Your Cat: The Owner's Manual." This time last year, I toured for the companion book, "Your Dog: The Owner's Manual." I'm often asked if I'm a "dog person" or a "cat person," and as a veterinarian, I have to say I haven't any preference.

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When we see that children everywhere are required by law to go to school, that almost all schools are structured in the same way, and that our society goes to a great deal of trouble and expense to provide such schools, we tend naturally to assume that there must be some good, logical reason for all this. Perhaps if we didn't force children to go to school, or if schools operated much differently, children would not grow up to be competent adults. Perhaps some really smart people have figured all this out and have proven it in some way, or perhaps alternative ways of thinking about child development and education have been tested and have failed.

In previous postings I have presented evidence to the contrary. In particular, in my August 13 posting, I described the Sudbury Valley School, where for 40 years children have been educating themselves in a setting that operates on assumptions that are opposite to those of traditional schooling. Studies of the school and its graduates show that normal, average children become educated through their own play and exploration, without adult direction or prodding, and go on to be fulfilled, effective adults in the larger culture. Instead of providing direction and prodding, the school provides a rich setting within which to play, explore, and experience democracy first hand; and it does that at lower expense and with less trouble for all involved than is required to operate standard schools. So why aren't most schools like that?

If we want to understand why standard schools are what they are, we have to abandon the idea that they are products of logical necessity or scientific insight. They are, instead, products of history. Schooling, as it exists today, only makes sense if we view it from a historical perspective. And so, as a first step toward explaining why schools are what they are, I present here, in a nutshell, an outline of the history of education, from the beginning of humankind until now. Most scholars of educational history would use different terms than I use here, but I doubt that they would deny the overall accuracy of the sketch. In fact, I have used the writings of such scholars to help me develop the sketch.
In the beginning, for hundreds of thousands of years, children educated themselves through self-directed play and exploration.
In relation to the biological history of our species, schools are very recent institutions. For hundreds of thousands of years, before the advent of agriculture, we lived as hunter-gatherers. In my August 2 posting, I summarized the evidence from anthropology that children in hunter-gatherer cultures learned what they needed to know to become effective adults through their own play and exploration. The strong drives in children to play and explore presumably came about, during our evolution as hunter-gatherers, to serve the needs of education. Adults in hunter-gatherer cultures allowed children almost unlimited freedom to play and explore on their own because they recognized that those activities are children's natural ways of learning.
With the rise of agriculture, and later of industry, children became forced laborers. Play and exploration were suppressed. Willfulness, which had been a virtue, became a vice that had to be beaten out of children.
The invention of agriculture, beginning 10,000 years ago in some parts of the world and later in other parts, set in motion a whirlwind of change in people's ways of living. The hunter-gatherer way of life had been skill-intensive and knowledge-intensive, but not labor-intensive. To be effective hunters and gatherers, people had to acquire a vast knowledge of the plants and animals on which they depended and of the landscapes within which they foraged. They also had to develop great skill in crafting and using the tools of hunting and gathering. They had to be able to take initiative and be creative in finding foods and tracking game. However, they did not have to work long hours; and the work they did was exciting, not dreary. Anthropologists have reported that the hunter-gatherer groups they studied did not distinguish between work and play-essentially all of life was understood as play.

Agriculture gradually changed all that. With agriculture, people could produce more food, which allowed them to have more children. Agriculture also allowed people (or forced people) to live in permanent dwellings, where their crops were planted, rather than live a nomadic life, and this in turn allowed people to accumulate property. But these changes occurred at a great cost in labor. While hunter-gatherers skillfully harvested what nature had grown, farmers had to plow, plant, cultivate, tend their flocks, and so on. Successful farming required long hours of relatively unskilled, repetitive labor, much of which could be done by children. With larger families, children had to work in the fields to help feed their younger siblings, or they had to work at home to help care for those siblings. Children's lives changed gradually from the free pursuit of their own interests to increasingly more time spent at work that was required to serve the rest of the family.

Agriculture and the associated ownership of land and accumulation of property also created clear status differences. People who did not own land became dependent on those who did. Also, landowners discovered that they could increase their own wealth by getting other people to work for them. Systems of slavery and other forms of servitude developed. Those with wealth could become even wealthier with the help of others who depended on them for survival. All this culminated with feudalism in the Middle Ages, when society became steeply hierarchical, with a few kings and lords at the top and masses of slaves and serfs at the bottom. Now the lot of most people, children included, was servitude. The principal lessons that children had to learn were obedience, suppression of their own will, and the show of reverence toward lords and masters. A rebellious spirit could well result in death.

In the Middle Ages, lords and masters had no qualms about physically beating children into submission. For example, in one document from the late 14th or early 15th century, a French count advised that nobles' huntsmen should "choose a boy servant as young as seven or eight" and that "...this boy should be beaten until he has a proper dread of failing to carry out his masters orders."[1] The document went on to list a prodigious number of chores that the boy would perform daily and noted that he would sleep in a loft above the hounds at night in order to attend to the dogs' needs.

With the rise of industry and of a new bourgeoisie class, feudalism gradually subsided, but this did not immediately improve the lives of most children. Business owners, like landowners, needed laborers and could profit by extracting as much work from them as possible with as little compensation as possible. Everyone knows of the exploitation that followed and still exists in many parts of the world. People, including young children, worked most of their waking hours, seven days a week, in beastly conditions, just to survive. The labor of children was moved from fields, where there had at least been sunshine, fresh air, and some opportunities to play, into dark, crowded, dirty factories. In England, overseers of the poor commonly farmed out paupers' children to factories, where they were treated as slaves. Many thousands of them died each year of diseases, starvation, and exhaustion. Not until the 19th century did England pass laws limiting child labor. In 1883, for example, new legislation forbade textile manufacturers from employing children under the age of 9 and limited the maximum weekly work hours to 48 for 10- to 12-year-olds and to 69 for 13- to 17-year-olds [2].

In sum, for several thousand years after the advent of agriculture, the education of children was, to a considerable degree, a matter squashing their willfulness in order to make them good laborers. A good child was an obedient child, who suppressed his or her urge to play and explore and dutifully carried out the orders of adult masters. Such education, fortunately, was never fully successful. The human instincts to play and explore are so powerful that they can never be fully beaten out of a child. But the philosophy of education throughout that period, to the degree that it could be articulated, was the opposite of the philosophy that hunter-gatherers had held for hundreds of thousands of years earlier.
For various reasons, some religious and some secular, the idea of universal, compulsory education arose and gradually spread. Education was understood as inculcation.
As industry progressed and became somewhat more automated, the need for child labor declined in some parts of the world. The idea began to spread that childhood should be a time for learning, and schools for children were developed as places of learning. The idea and practice of universal, compulsory public education developed gradually in Europe, from the early 16th century on into the 19th. It was an idea that had many supporters, who all had their own agendas concerning the lessons that children should learn.

Much of the impetus for universal education came from the emerging Protestant religions. Martin Luther declared that salvation depends on each person's own reading of the Scriptures. A corollary, not lost on Luther, was that each person must learn to read and must also learn that the Scriptures represent absolute truths and that salvation depends on understanding those truths. Luther and other leaders of the Reformation promoted public education as Christian duty, to save souls from eternal damnation. By the end of the 17th century, Germany, which was the leader in the development of schooling, had laws in most of its states requiring that children attend school; but the Lutheran church, not the state, ran the schools [3].

In America, in the mid 17th century, Massachusetts became the first colony to mandate schooling, the clearly stated purpose of which was to turn children into good Puritans. Beginning in 1690, children in Massachusetts and adjacent colonies learned to read from the New England Primer, known colloquially as "The Little Bible of New England" [4]. It included a set of short rhymes to help children learn the alphabet, beginning with, "In Adam's Fall, We sinned all," and ending with, " Zaccheus he, Did climb the tree, His Lord to see." The Primer also included the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and various lessons designed to instill in children a fear of God and a sense of duty to their elders.

Employers in industry saw schooling as a way to create better workers. To them, the most crucial lessons were punctuality, following directions, tolerance for long hours of tedious work, and a minimal ability to read and write. From their point of view (though they may not have put it this way), the duller the subjects taught in schools the better.

As nations gelled and became more centralized, national leaders saw schooling as means of creating good patriots and future soldiers. To them, the crucial lessons were about the glories of the fatherland, the wondrous achievements and moral virtues of the nation's founders and leaders, and the necessity to defend the nation from evil forces elsewhere.

Into this mix we must add reformers who truly cared about children, whose messages may ring sympathetically in our ears today. These are people who saw schools as places for protecting children from the damaging forces of the outside world and for providing children with the moral and intellectual grounding needed to develop into upstanding, competent adults. But they too had their agenda for what children should learn. Children should learn moral lessons and disciplines, such as Latin and mathematics, that would exercise their minds and turn them into scholars.

So, everyone involved in the founding and support of schools had a clear view about what lessons children should learn in school. Quite correctly, nobody believed that children left to their own devices, even in a rich setting for learning, would all learn just exactly the lessons that they (the adults) deemed to be so important. All of them saw schooling as inculcation, the implanting of certain truths and ways of thinking into children's minds. The only known method of inculcation, then as well as now, is forced repetition and testing for memory of what was repeated.
With the rise of schooling, people began to think of learning as children's work. The same power-assertive methods that had been used to make children work in fields and factories were quite naturally transferred to the classroom.
Repetition and memorization of lessons is tedious work for children, whose instincts urge them constantly to play freely and explore the world on their own. Just as children did not adapt readily to laboring in fields and factories, they did not adapt readily to schooling. This was no surprise to the adults involved. By this point in history, the idea that children's own willfulness had any value was pretty well forgotten. Everyone assumed that to make children learn in school the children's willfulness would have to be beaten out of them. Punishments of all sorts were understood as intrinsic to the educational process. In some schools children were permitted certain periods of play (recess), to allow them to let off steam; but play was not considered to be a vehicle of learning. In the classroom, play was the enemy of learning.

A prominent attitude of eighteenth-century school authorities toward play is reflected in John Wesley's rules for Wesleyan schools, which included the statement: "As we have no play days, so neither do we allow any time for play on any day; for he that plays as a child will play as a man."[5]

The brute force methods long used to keep children on task on the farm or in the factory were transported into schools to make children learn. Some of the underpaid, ill-prepared schoolmasters were clearly sadistic. One master in Germany kept records of the punishments he meted out in 51 years of teaching, a partial list of which included: "911,527 blows with a rod, 124,010 blows with a cane, 20,989 taps with a ruler, 136,715 blows with the hand, 10,235 blows to the mouth, 7,905 boxes on the ear, and 1,118,800 blows on the head"[6]. Clearly, that master was proud of all the educating he had done.

In his autobiography, John Bernard, a prominent eighteenth-century Massachusetts minister, described approvingly how he himself, as a child, was beaten regularly by his schoolmaster [7]. He was beaten because of his irresistible drive to play; he was beaten when he failed to learn; he was even beaten when his classmates failed to learn. Because he was a bright boy, he was put in charge of helping the others learn, and when they failed to recite a lesson properly he was beaten for that. His only complaint was that one classmate deliberately flubbed his lessons in order to see him beaten. He solved that problem, finally, by giving the classmate "a good drubbing" when the school day was over and threatening more drubbings in the future. Those were the good old days.
In recent times, the methods of schooling have become less harsh, but basic assumptions have not changed. Learning continues to be defined as children's work, and power-assertive means are used to make children do that work.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, public schooling gradually evolved toward what we all recognize today as conventional schooling. The methods of discipline became more humane, or at least less corporal; the lessons became more secular; the curriculum expanded, as knowledge expanded, to include an ever-growing list of subjects; and the number of hours, days, and years of compulsory schooling increased continuously. School gradually replaced fieldwork, factory work, and domestic chores as the child's primary job. Just as adults put in their eight-hour day at their place of employment, children today put in their six-hour day at school, plus another hour or more of homework, and often more hours of lessons outside of school. Over time, children's lives have become increasingly defined and structured by the school curriculum. Children now are almost universally identified by their grade in school, much as adults are identified by their job or career.

Schools today are much less harsh than they were, but certain premises about the nature of learning remain unchanged: Learning is hard work; it is something that children must be forced to do, not something that will happen naturally through children's self-chosen activities. The specific lessons that children must learn are determined by professional educators, not by children, so education today is still, as much as ever, a matter of inculcation (though educators tend to avoid that term and use, falsely, terms like "discovery").

Clever educators today might use "play" as a tool to get children to enjoy some of their lessons, and children might be allowed some free playtime at recess (though even this is decreasing in very recent times), but children's own play is certainly understood as inadequate as a foundation for education. Children whose drive to play is so strong that they can't sit still for lessons are no longer beaten; instead, they are medicated.

School today is the place where all children learn the distinction that hunter-gatherers never knew-the distinction between work and play. The teacher says, "you must do your work and then you can play." Clearly, according to this message, work, which encompasses all of school learning, is something that one does not want to do but must; and play, which is everything that one wants to do, has relatively little value. That, perhaps, is the leading lesson of our method of schooling. If children learn nothing else in school, they learn the difference between work and play and that learning is work, not play.

In this posting I have tried to explain how the history of humanity has led to the development of schools as we know them today. In my next posting I will discuss some reasons why modern attempts to reform schools in basic ways have been so ineffective.

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And now, what do you think about this? ... This blog is, in part, a forum for discussion. Your questions, thoughts, stories, and opinions are treated respectfully by me and other readers, regardless of the degree to which we agree or disagree. Psychology Today no longer accepts comments on this site, but you can comment by going to my Facebook profile, where you will see a link to this post. If you don't see this post at the top of my timeline, just put the title of the post into the search option (click on the three-dot icon at the top of the timeline and then on the search icon that appears in the menu) and it will come up. By following me on Facebook you can comment on all of my posts and see others' comments. The discussion is often very interesting.
1. Quoted by Orme, N. (2001), Medieval children, p 315.
2. Mulhern, J. (1959), A history of education: A social interpretation, 2nd edition.
3. Again, Mulhern (1959).
4. Gutek, G. L. (1991), An historical introduction to American education, 2nd edition.
5. Quoted by Mullhern (1959, p 383).
6. Again, in Mullhern (1959, p 383).
7. From "Autobiography of the Rev. John Bernard," Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3rd Ser., 5 [1836]: 178-182. Extracted in J. Martin (Ed.) (2007), Children in Colonial America.

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When we see that children everywhere are required by law to go to school, that almost all schools are structured in the same way, and that our society goes to a great deal of trouble and expense to provide such schools, we tend naturally to assume that there must be some good, logical reason for all this.

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Historical Timeline of Public Education in the US

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Learn more about the history of public schools in the U.S. with this timeline.

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Hundreds of years ago, most learning happened at home. Parents taught their children or, if their families could afford it, private tutors did the job. The Puritans were the first in this country to point out the need for some kind of public education. They established schools to teach not just the essentials-reading, writing and math- but also to reinforce their core values.

After the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson argued that the newly independent nation needed an educational system, and he suggested that tax dollars be used to fund it. His pleas were ignored, however, and the idea for a public school system languished for nearly a century.

By the 1840s, a few public schools had popped up around the country in the communities that could afford them. However, that smattering of schools wasn't good enough for education crusaders Horace Mann of Massachusetts and Henry Barnard of Connecticut. They began calling for free, compulsory school for every child in the nation.

Massachusetts passed the first compulsory school laws in 1852. New York followed the next year, and by 1918, all American children were required to attend at least elementary school.

Next came the movement to create equal schooling for all American children, no matter what their race. At the turn of the 20th century, schools in the South, and many in the North, were segregated. The 1896 Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the legality of segregation. Finally, in 1954, the Supreme Court overturned its ruling with the landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education, and public schools became open to people of all races.

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Hundreds of years ago, most learning happened at home. Parents taught their children or, if their families could afford it, private tutors did the job. The Puritans were the first in this country to point out the need for some kind of public education.