Donnie Harold Harris

Answer by Erica Friedman:

Even aside from religious communities, there are states in the US in which it is perfectly legal for a company to fire an employee for “being” gay.

A LGBTQ adult in one of these states might stay closeted to protect their job, their family, their own person from the consequences of them being found out.

I know it seems like we’re past this all… but we are nowhere near that. In 1993 a coworker was *stunned* that my wife had no right to get married. She honestly thought we were past that and gay people already had the right. She had no idea what DOMA did to families when it was passed. She stared at me in 1997 or so when it came up in absolute disbelief. She could not imagine anything like it and actually accused me of making it up.

The biggest hurdle that sexual and gender minorities (and, realistically all minorities of all kinds) face is the gentle dismissal of the majority who is “Over It” although the actual struggle is long from over.

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nice piece of work  see what I mean

Answer by Paul King:

There are several things going on when you see someone looking at you, all of which happen very quickly.

(This applies to actually seeing someone looking at you, not “sensing it” from behind or in the periphery.)

Primates (including humans) are unique in the degree to which the eyeball can move around in the eye socket. This allows visual attention to be shifted quickly without physically moving the head.

Primates and certain other mammals can tell when another animal is looking at them, but  humans are particularly good at doing this from a distance. In fact, humans have the added ability to be able to tell where someone is looking, even when it is not at them.

It is easy to see why this skill confers an evolutionary advantage: By being able to do this, you can essentially “read out” the location of another animal’s attention. If you are a social animal, and the one looking at you is a superior, you better behave. Or if it is an inferior, you are being challenged and need to respond so you don’t lose your place in the status hierarchy. For humans, knowing where another human is looking allows you to read their mind regarding what they are thinking about. This is invaluable when trying to learn language, since it allows you to pair particular words with particular objects in the environment. Pointing is also effective for this.

So, how do we do it?

Detecting the direction of gaze has to do with noticing the relative location of the dark spot of the eye (the pupil and iris) in the context of the whites of the eye. The differential size and location of the white region shows where the eye is pointed. And if the pupil is exactly in the middle with equal white regions on each side, then the eyes are looking at you. We can see this from across the room. Head direction also provides a cue, which is primarily determined by where the region of the two eyes and the nose are relative to oval face region, with hair as another reference marker. When the head is turned, the brain has to do some geometry to determine gaze direction from both head angle and relative eye angle.

Figure: Ratio of dark to light region of eye reveals direction of gaze. Bottom row: Location of facial features relative to head reveals head orientation. The visual system combines head orientation and eye orientation to calculate direction of gaze.

There is an additional effect that happens when “eyes meet”.  When you look at someone and they look back, you have the feeling that your gaze was met. This can feel uncomfortable, and the person who was “caught” often quickly looks away. This effect is caused by a feedback loop. The second person to make eye contact sees immediately that the first person is looking at them. The first person realizes they were “discovered” and responds often according to perceived relative status or confidence. There is also the mutual knowing that eyes met, which becomes a shared event establishing a transient relationship.

The meeting of gaze helps people recognize each other. You may think you recognize someone, but if they seem to think they recognize you too by not looking away, then the odds are greater that you are both correct. The visual systems of both individuals thus collaborate to establish mutual recognition. This happens quickly and subconsciously, allowing the social exchange to move forward toward acknowledging each other. If one person doesn’t acknowledge back, it becomes an awkward case of mistaken identity.

Public speakers use the illusion of eye contact to create emotional intimacy with the audience. When people learn public speaking, they are told to glance around the room as they talk. This creates the illusion of intermittent eye contact with as many people in the room as possible, which allows the audience to feel that the speaker is talking to them personally, creating a feeling of intimacy with the speaker.

When TV newscasters deliver the news, they want the audience to have the impression they are talking to them. To accomplish this, they talk to the camera lens as if it was a person. In movies, actors avoid looking at the camera so that the audience never experiences mutual eye contact with them, preserving the feeling that the viewer is invisible. To look at the camera is called “breaking the fourth wall.” (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik…).

Related
Perception: What leads us to sense that some person is looking at us?
Human Brain: When looking straight ahead, do we see our nose or does our brain just block it out for us?
Evolutionary Biology: Why do we have two eyes?
Neuroscience: How can we see images in our mind?

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Answer by Donnie Harold Harris:

equality equability

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I stop a cow that was Mooing by asking it if it could Moo in a Different Key? She Did – She Farted & Shit.

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Public Info about rocks..

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Reblogged from donnie harold harris:

I was talking to this rock the other day;i told it i wanted it to stop “Being” a rock. I told it I was going to round off this un impressive rock to something of Value and  possible use.     I decide to make a cue ball…

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