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Whereas few of the most widely acknowledged Italian dishes may be a sizzling swing of pizza or a plateful of food, umpteen more items are there in the European cuisine. All over the numerous places in Italy, the striking Italian cooking exhibits itself as a varying reach in styles of matter preparation, option of locally ready ingredients and the ingestion habits of grouping. Italian content is also influenced by the changing present, as evinced by the similarities as fortunate as differences between the foods served in the pre-Roman era and the card of today’s items.

The chronicle of Italian cookery has attained a honor over a period of two cardinal life including the era of the Papistic Corporation. In the other, preparation of food was of such cultural message and this can be open in the exclusive reference which is world from the position century BC, and named Apicius.

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The chronicle of Romance cooking has attained a reputation over a stop of two grand age including the era of the Papistical Empire. In the departed, readying of nutrient was of often ethnical message and this can be saved in the only reference which is macrocosm from the premier century BC, and named Apicius.

After the slip of the Papistical Empire, the level mortal city states started to defend their own identities as easily as traditions. This resulted in a large variety of Romance dishes, and apiece nation sought to display its various method of substance mentation much as making a meatball, different types of cheeseflower and production of intoxicant in a special section. For example, Italian kine originated from the northbound, whereas Marchez was famous for shameful truffles. In the southernmost, the provolone and mozzarella types of mallow, as cured as a orbit of citrus fruits were produced.

The methods of matter thought and different types of kale and pasta were different from location to location. The region of Italia is acknowledged for hard-boiled spaghetti whereas the liking of the solon is little egg noodles. Milano is famous for its risotto, Sausage revels in tortellini and Naples is good celebrated for its pizzas.

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The regions artificial the coastline are famous for their search and seafood delicacies. For occurrence, Sardegna Island provides a human traditional cookery comprising these items from the sea. The Romance cooking of the realm unremarkably covers lobsters, sardines, scombroid, anchovies and others from the Mediterranean. In Island Island untold cookery is myrmecophilous on Northeastward Mortal cooking. Also an Arabian touch is there on the island’s cuisine as well as that of the southbound; a primary soul is the ice take cake of Sicily alter renowned as cassata.

According to arts records, one of the most uncontroversial European nutrient items glorious as pasta was brought from Dishware by Marco Traveller, the merchandiser from Venice. In fact it was a rediscovery of a containerful from the R.c. and Etruscan eras. It is plebeian belief that pasta was initially prefab same today’s noodles from wheat grain which was oven-cooked rather than cooked.

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Are you looking for great Aries tattoo designs?

This astrological sign lends itself beautifully to being used as a tattoo design.

Aries is the sign of the Ram, a western astrological sign for people born between 21st March & 20th April. These dates coincide with the Spring Equinox which some cultures believe is the true beginning of the year.

Interesting then that Aries is also the first sign of the zodiac.

As an Arian, you’ll want to stand out from the crowd, so it’s not surprising that you’ll be after a tattoo.

You also have a bit of a dare-devil streak in you too.

Taking these traits in to consideration, I shouldn’t think that you’ll be after a run of the mill tattoo design.

If you go on any online tattoo galleries that offer flashes for free, then you’re obviously not going to get anything special.

The ram head design for Aries can be adapted to encompass so many different styles, colours and elements. So take your time before you decide on a design.

The Aries symbol easily lends itself to styles such as tribal, Goth, or Celtic. You could include Arian elements in with the design too, like fire, skulls,thistles,honeysuckle or even symbols of war. Thorns are often associated with Aries too, so something like barbed wire would also be in keeping as an Aries tattoo design.

Aries is a fire sign, so flames featured in the tattoo would also look good.

Of course, the color associated with the first fire sign of the zodiac is red, so that would also be good to incorporate.

With so much to consider with Aries tattoo designs, I think your best bet is to go to a reputable tattoo gallery online, where you can browse & choose at your leisure. The best ones have a constantly updated database with literally thousands of designs to choose from. All you have to do is choose the design that’s right for you, click on it, it’ll then enlarge & you can print it out and take it to your tattoo artist.

In fact, if you don’t know where to get your tattoo done, the best online sites also provide tattoo parlor locators, they’re just that helpful!

After you’ve done all that it’s just a case of where on your body to put your Aries tattoo designs.

To save you searching the web I’ve found the best award winning online tattoo galleries for you.
Check out this website at http://www.paulturnermarketing.com/reviews to discover more.

The quadrennial Olympics are a snapshot of the world at its best, a portrait of a future in which nations compete as equals in the global arena and individuals metaphorically medal in any number of events. And while the realm of governance is vastly more complex than that of a sports stadium, a number of observations about the global community as seen at the Olympics may be of relevance to Americans preparing to chart the course of their country for the next four years by electing a new president.

*First, the Olympics show that youth is good and that elders have nothing to fear about youthful preeminence. The energetic endurance of youth creates the opportunities for elders to be of relevance. There is no Olympic medalist without a coach and there are few without supportive parents.

*The Olympics also show the world as a delightful mix of racially, ethnically, nationally and regionally interconnected people. Value judgments are overruled by a visceral reaction to the exquisite capabilities of the human mind and body.

*Experience is not necessarily an indicator of fitness for performance in Olympic competition. The most seasoned athletes make decisive mistakes. Novices benefit from those errors. Graciousness in accepting and admitting the result is the measure of the respect to be accorded for performance. Pre-competitive gloating or mudslinging brings the greatest disgrace, especially to a loser.

*The Olympics are globally important enough that the near-200 country members of the United Nations overwhelmingly adopted an Olympic Truce in 2007. That agreement to stop hostilities for the two-week period of the Olympic Games did not deter the Georgians and the Russians from armed engagement. Suicide bombers in Pakistan were also not bound by the globally accepted compact. The world needs organizations with the teeth to nonviolently sanction those who don’t abide by its standards.

*The Olympics are a showcase for the prowess of attractive, healthy and fit humans of every shape, size, color and gender. Performance is a prerequisite for Olympic competition, which proves that attractiveness need not be a sign of vanity, vapidity or shallowness. The attractiveness of a top performer in any arena is a by-product of the mental, emotional and physical integrity that top-level performance requires.

*The American image that comes across in the Olympic global mix is one of exuberance, health, vitality, competence and good will. It is an image that any nation would be privileged to nurture and foster with the confidence of being assured its grounds for excellence were founded in its appreciation and good use of blessed resources toward good ends.

*The Olympics are a presentation of the world in all its vastness, diversity and glory. Viewership of the events shows Americans are interested in that world beyond their own borders. The NBC network covering the Games reports a 16.3 rating and an average audience of 26.6 million during primetime on a typical weekday night, which is up from a 15.7 rating with 25 million viewers four years ago in Athens.

*NBC’s television coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games has also revealed that America itself has numerous cities and small towns where Olympic-level athletes are trained. In Des Moines, Iowa, for example, American immigrant and Beijing-born Liang Chow coached gymnast Shawn Johnson to a 2008 Olympic gold for nearly ten years. Media anticipation of forthcoming national honors on the global stage can be a tool for America to know itself better.

*Finally, the Olympics show that nationalism is a universal trait, just as is family loyalty, favoritism and support. But the Games also demonstrate that the huge asset of lending power to the individual through the team effort of kinship shines only in the global forum. They prove that cooperative competition stirs the blood from individual events to the outcome of the Games overall.

Helen Fogarassy is the author of a suspense novel, The Midas Maze, about murderous hijinks in UN/US relations. She is also the author of The Light of a Destiny Dark, a novel about the Euro-American cultural gap through Hungarian eyes, and a nonfiction tribute to the UN’s work, Mission Improbable: The World Community on a UN Compound in Somalia.

In a departure from what you might expect from an article forum, we would like to offer the opportunity for you to take a more interactive approach to learning the basics of The Skills. Anyone can try these exercises either in their personal or professional encounters, or both, and better yet, no one need know that they are participants in your learning!

Rather than simply tell you what you should be looking for in these exercises, we think it would be more fun for all involved if we held back a little and let you experience for yourself the most important building block of The Skills.

Modern presentation theory espouses a conversational approach to presenting, because that’s the way to maximize both comfort and trust between you and the audience. The conversational approach, a modern refinement of the humanist style first made popular in western cultures by president John F. Kennedy, is quite a bit different from the oratory style that most people associate with earlier great speakers such as Winston Churchill.

The foundation of the conversational approach is proper eye-contact, and the nature of that eye-contact is quite unlike the way 99% of presenters practice. In fact, once you know what to look for, you will discover that what first differentiates those who have The Skills from those who don’t is the way they engage their audiences with their eyes. Make no mistake, proper eye-contact is only one component of The Skills, but when you understand exactly how you must look at your audience to be a great speaker, the other components tend to fall into place.

When you nail down these (surprisingly straightforward) eye contact techniques, you can deliver to a group of 500 without ever feeling more anxiety than you would when discussing your job to friends around a lunch table. Most people find that hard to believe until they’ve actually received training in The Skills, but when you get it, it’s rather powerful stuff!

These exercises sound simple enough, but they do require a bit of vigilance on your part to have the desired effect. You must practice them at every opportunity for a week or so. At the end of that time you will know what you need to know to move on to the next level of acquiring The Skills, but only if you make a conscious effort to do what the exercises ask you to do every day.

Exercises:

1. Observe others’ eye contact. In every situation in which you interact with others, watch their eyes. Observe how long they maintain eye contact while they are speaking to you. Watch how they maintain eye contact while speaking to others. As often as you can, count the number of seconds they maintain continuous eye contact before switching to a new target and note this, preferably in a log of some sort.

2. In situations where someone is speaking to a group, again count the number of seconds the speaker maintains eye contact with each individual. Determine what the average amount of time is.

3. Be conscious of your own eye contact. When speaking with someone, do you stay focused on them? Do you look up, away, or down while speaking? Or do you maintain eye contact the entire time you are speaking with someone? How often do you move away from eye contact and then return? Do you look at other people for the same amount of time when talking to one as when you are talking to many?

If you’ve vigilant in your observations, you’ll probably be very surprised at the amount of time people hold continuous eye-contact when speaking. And yet it is this amount of time that sets the tone for what makes average speakers average and great ones great.

J. Douglas Jefferys brings twenty-five years of corporate training experience to his role as a principal of PublicSpeakingSkills.com [http://www.publicspeakingskills.com]. His firm changes presenters lives forever with their unique apporach to training presentation design and delivery skills. Discover how to design and deliver presentations that audiences actually listen to by visiting their website now. For a quick and entertaining video of Mr. Jefferys’ unique style and approach, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whTwjG4ZIJg

We all want to be happy. But what is happiness? Is it the same for everyone? How do we know if we’re happy? And can anyone be happy all of the time? How can we find happiness? These questions come to mind when we speak of life happiness.

Our perception of life happiness is as individual as the way we perceive hot or cold. It’s sort of the same for all of us, yet it’s different too. No two people are exactly alike, so neither can our description of what makes a life happy be the same.

Webster’s Dictionary says happiness is: A state of well-being and contentment

An online dictionary says happiness is:

1. Characterized by good luck; fortunate

2. Enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy

So, if we use these definitions, in order for us to say we are happy we would be fortunate, showing pleasure and feeling content. That makes sense. Most of the people that we think are happy usually show these characteristics, so lets use this definition and go from there.

Can I have life happiness if I don’t think I’m fortunate? Hmmm, that’s an interesting question isn’t it? Most people are happy when they feel fortunate or blessed by good luck, and most people who feel unfortunate or feel like they have lots of bad luck are unhappy. BUT, perception is everything.

A person can break their leg in a skiing accident (bad luck) and still be happy and smiling because they feel blessed and fortunate (probably because they didn’t break both legs!). They might be happy because they know that their leg will heal, and because they were having such fun skiing (up until they ran into the tree at 100 miles/hour!!)! Get the picture?

Or a person could have what most of us would call good fortune and still seem not to have life happiness. There is an art to happiness, and some of us know it and some of us don’t, but we all can learn.

Is life happiness the same for everyone? Probably not, even though the normal signs of happiness listed above in the dictionary definitions probably show up in every person who is happy. Different things make different people happy, so happiness and the pursuit of happiness cannot be the same.

For example: I am a quiet type of person who loves to work from home and socializes only once or twice a week. You may be a very gregarious person who works in an office full of people and lunches with a different person each day and goes to a party every Saturday evening.

We’re both happy, but our lifestyles are very different. Besides that, what you view as something that would produce happiness may not be a priority for me. Maybe it makes you happy to go on wonderful ski vacations twice a year. It might make me happy to go on wonderful vacations in my back yard and to squirrel my money away. Both situations are right, and we are both happy.

How do you know if you’re happy? The best way to tell if you are happy is to ask yourself how you are feeling. Really feeling. Do you feel at ease, relaxed and OK with how things are going on a pretty consistent basis? Then you’re probably happy. Feel your body. Is your body relaxed, does it feel calm? You’re probably happy.

Remember, happiness doesn’t come from anywhere but inside. If you are in tune with what is right for you, you will be happy. If you are trying to live someone else’s definition of authentic happiness, you probably won’t be.

Can anyone have authentic happiness all the time? Yes! Well, OK, if a terrible tragedy strikes, you probably won’t be happy at that time. But, you can work through the tragedy and the accompanying emotions knowing that life happiness can and will return when you’ve taken time to properly allow healing. Otherwise, yes. You can be happy all the time. Maybe not jumping up and down and laughing happy every moment, but peaceful content happy, certainly, and that’s equally valuable. Life’s small irritants come and go each and every day.

We have a choice whether we greet them with a calm smile or with an angry frown. Either is fine, but the calm smile will help you navigate life in a more happy state of being, and help you find happiness on a consistent basis. Remember, the art of happiness has a lot to do with perception.

Recent research shows what many of us have long suspected. Happiness, and the pursuit pg oy has more to do with an individual’s perception and what’s going on inside that person, than money, fame, or power. Even though those things may bring a feeling that is like happiness, it is attached to those things. Real happiness is much more attached to how a person perceives life. Luckily, if you are the type of person who has a “glass half empty” outlook on life, you can learn to have a “glass half full” attitude which will gain you happiness.

Winsome’s special topics include Personal Development, Setting goals, Life Happiness and self growth

For free e-books, tools and information about Life Happiness go to:

http://www.4lifeselfhelp.com

Your wedding invitations are the first glimpse your guests will have of your wedding, but if you’re not careful, they can they can quickly cut into your budget. Luckily there are many options available that convey your sense of style and set the tone for your wedding - and are also very affordable.

INVITATIONS

Your invitations reflect the tone of your wedding, whether it’s black tie or casual chic. More formal weddings may require more formal invitations, which are traditionally white or ecru and engraved with black or charcoal ink. A square of tissue paper is also inserted to protect the type. While classic and understated, the cost of these invitations can quickly add up to the purchase price of a small car, but with slightly better gas mileage. What’s a budget-minded bride to do?

More and more couples are veering from standard invitations and choosing papers in unusual sizes and colors, incorporating interesting textures and using graphics, motifs and monograms. Many couples are also doing away with the traditional unsealed inner envelope, which not only reduces costs, but also reduces waste. And besides, how many of your guests are going to remember how many components were included in their invitation? (Hint: if you DO have guests who will notice, seat them all together so they can drive each other crazy)

Another option is to purchase materials to create your own invitations. Thanks to the popularity of scrapbooking and paper stores, it’s never been easier to create unique and memorable wedding invitations. Do you and your guy have a favorite color, song, vacation destination or hobby? Don’t be afraid to incorporate it into your invitations. Your guests would rather see a heartfelt invitation than have to discard the tissue paper that protects a random printer’s work. (Not that there’s anything wrong with using a printer. But hey…the cost of those little sheets really adds up!)

At this point, you might be saying, “But traditional IS my style! How can I afford it?” Put those fears to rest, girl! Make some “test” invitations on plain paper, playing with font size and type, then purchase blank cards and matching envelopes (which are available at scrapbooking and hobby stores and mass retailers nationwide) to print the real deal.

No matter what kind of invitation you choose, be sure to mail them 8-10 weeks prior to your wedding so your guests have time to plan…and to shop for a really awesome gift!

WAIT…THERE’S MORE

Remember when you were a little girl and you dreamed about your perfect wedding, right down to the invitations? Why didn’t anyone tell us about the reply cards? Or the reception cards? Why are there so many cards?

Response Cards Response cards are usually sent with your invitations and include a self-addressed stamped envelope. These are used to help determine how many people will be attending and usually include menu options for your guests to choose from. But I’m going to tell you a secret: you can create your own reply cards. Just purchase small cards with matching envelopes, print them yourself and then insert them into the invitations when you are addressing them. Best of all, you can do this whether you’re making your own invitations or having them professionally printed.

Reception Cards Reception cards are included inside wedding invitations to let guests know when and where the post-wedding festivities will begin. Traditionally, this is a small card that asks guests to join the newlyweds and their families for a celebratory reception, and gives the date, place, and time. But remember the “Response Cards” secret I revealed above? It works here, too! Print them yourself or even (gasp) print the reception information inside the invitation itself. It will give your guests one less thing to keep track of and save you lots of money.

AND EVEN MORE…

Believe it or not, there are still other paper-related items to think about.

Wedding Programs Sure, wedding programs provide useful information and make charming mementos, but there’s no need to break the bank. While some couples choose to do a booklet type program, budget-minded couples are using simple card stock with a vellum overlay, tied together with a ribbon that matches your color scheme. Others are simply printing them at home (or a friend’s home) on unique paper that plays up the wedding colors or motif. After all, how many people (besides your closest friends and family) are going to keep it as a memento? They’d rather you use the money you saved on programs to help with your honeymoon expenses, make a car payment or buy a lottery ticket.

Menu Cards The idea behind menu cards is that no one likes to sit down to a meal when they have no idea what they’re about to be served (think school cafeterias). However, this can easily be combined with the Reply Card (see above). And of course if the meal is buffet-style, menu cards are not really necessary, since there is usually something to please everyone.

If you do feel that menu cards are necessary, it’s simple to print them yourself…just pick up some good old card stock. If there’s a good story behind why you chose a certain dish (you’re serving New York Style cheesecake because you met in New York or hot dogs because you met at a ball game), including this story adds a unique element to your menu cards.

One thing that may be very helpful to all involved (you, the caterer, the bartender and your guests) is to create a drink card or two. If you’re limiting the open bar to a certain amount or type of drink, a drink card is the perfect place to spell that out. Just get an easel or frame so the card can be posted at the bar.

Place Cards Are you having a buffet-type meal at your reception? If so, skip this section, since place cards are not necessary. For the rest of you, place cards are tent-shaped cards that are placed at each place setting to show people where they should sit. You can easily print them from your home computer, but why not make the place cards for your reception a little unique? Make your wedding favors do double-duty by attaching a name tag to each one and using them as place cards. If you’re making your own favors, it only adds one simple step, but saves you money in the long run. You can also use stones with hand-painted names or tie name tags around wrapped silverware. Use your imagination! Place cards don’t necessarily have to be one more job for the printer.

Thank You Cards Ok, brides. You all know what these are, and there’s really no need to have them printed. Simple thank you cards are readily available almost anywhere, and as a bonus, most of them even say “thank you.” Your handwritten message inside is what’s important, so invest most of your time there. As a reminder, these should be sent out no later than one month after your honeymoon. If you receive gifts prior to the wedding, those thank you cards should be sent out immediately.

Save the Date Cards What? No really…I didn’t know what these were. Here’s the scoop: save the date cards are sent to guests pretty much the second after the groom pops the question, so that guests can plan ahead. If you send out your announcements 8-10 weeks prior to your wedding, there is probably no need for save the date cards. However, if you have friends or relatives who will be traveling great distances (especially from other countries), a little heads-up would be nice. However, this can be done by greeting card, letter or phone call. That should be sufficient to “save the date.” If you do feel that you need to send save the date cards, you can easily make them yourself.

IN A NUTSHELL

Creating your own invitations and other stationery items can save you lots of money, freeing up your wedding budget for other things. Just keep a couple of things in mind:

• If you are printing pieces yourself, try to use a consistent or complementary font on all of the pieces you create.
• Before addressing invitations, be sure to have complete addresses available. This will help reduce the number of mistakes made during the addressing process. (The less mistakes you make, the fewer invitations you have to use. This saves money!)
• You don’t have to do it all yourself. Your family and friends will be more than willing to help create, print and assemble your invitations and other items. After all, isn’t that what you keep them around for?

With a little imagination and a lot of determination, your budget-friendly wedding invitations will be just as beautiful as big-budget invitations, but at a fraction of the cost.

Heather L. Clark is a Web researcher and writer. In her spare time, she enjoys pilates, music and Seinfeld reruns. Check out her favorite resources for planning a fairy tale wedding, free wedding planning tools and wedding planning checklists.

We hear statistics all the time about how people on the street are asked simple geography questions and aren’t able to answer them correctly. We certainly don’t want our home school children to be part of those statistics. With the right tools, any child can learn a great deal about the world around them and how it functions. Here are the tools you need to teach home school Geography:

1. When you hear of countries or places that you haven’t heard of before when listening to the news, reading stories or just hearing others talk, get out a good map and find that place with your children. There is no reason to be ignorant of other places in the world when we have some of the best maps available in our country.

2. When going on a trip allow your child to plan the route and find interesting places along the way. Have them keep track of how many miles you travel. You can even do this for shorter trips in your area. This helps your child be more aware of the world around them.

3. Talk about geography terms. When you or your child encounter new words like plateau, delta, or reservoir, find out what they mean. You might even be able to find a picture of this geography term to better understand the definition. Geography is not only about locating places. You can also explore statistics for a certain area, photographs, and type of land in your study of geography.

4. Use the Internet, computer software games, and even board games to teach geography. Games teach a tremendous amount of knowledge, sometimes without the child even knowing it. When competition is involved, many children will do or learn anything to win. Games make learning fun. Use them once a week or so to spark a love for geography.

5. Get maps and geography tools like atlases and almanacs. Children always want to know where they are on a map. You can start there and point out where other family members live in relation to them. When you are reading a story about a far away country, look it up on the map so your children can see where it is in relation to where they live. If you go on a long trip, when you get back show them how far you traveled on the globe. This will give them a good understanding of how big our country is.

Take advantage of the many great resources and ideas and enjoy your exploration of geography. When you are interested in the world around you, your children will catch that interest.

For more tips on homeschooling, grab your free report “How to Homeschool using the Best Resources” at http://www.homeschool-how-to.com Heidi Johnson specializes in helping families find resources to simplify and improve their lives.

THE RAVEN PARADOX - THE FLAWS IN THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

HEMPEL’S LOGIC All scientists use reasoning and logic at some stage, to create hypotheses and design robust experiments. In a beautiful and elegant treatise, the German philosopher Carl G Hempel, in 1965, showed that there were flaws in these long-established processes. His Raven Paradox called into question the established processes of inductive reasoning, generalization and falsifiability

THE INDUCTIVE HYPOTHESIS Imagine that a scientist, after years of going for long walks in the countryside, observes that every single raven he has ever seen is black. As a dutiful researcher, he uses inductive reasoning to postulate the hypothesis:

“All ravens are black.”

This is a perfectly acceptable conditional hypothesis. Firstly, it is testable, because you could sample raven populations and verify that they are all black. The statement is also falsifiable because even one non-black raven amongst the sampled population would disprove the hypothesis.

This is all great science, so far, following the established methods of inductive reasoning. The researcher could even design an experiment to sample raven populations, with thousands of ravens observed. If they are all black, the hypothesis is supported and plausible. Over time, repeated experiments and observations further confirm this and the hypothesis becomes accepted as a law.

THE PROBLEM OF GENERALIZATION AND FALSIFIABILITY The first part of the Raven Paradox proposal questions the process of generalization. It is practically impossible to sample every single raven in the world and there may a few non-black individuals. Hempel was not trying to comment upon the exact science, but as an interesting aside, about 1 in 10 000 raven eggs contain partially or fully albino birds.

Most albino birds are more visible to predators, suffer from health problems and may be a localized phenomenon. The odds of seeing an albino raven are very small and sightings are extremely rare. A researcher could sample many thousands of Ravens and not see one white bird, even though they do exist.

Thus, the notion of falsifiability is questioned and undermined by the Raven Paradox. Although the original hypothesis is technically falsifiable, in practical terms it is very difficult to disprove, because the chances of observing a white Raven are very slim. Even if you sampled the entire known population of ravens, there may be an undiscovered group containing a non-black individual.

FLAWS IN THE INDUCTIVE REASONING PROCESS The next part of the Raven Paradox questions the processes of reasoning and deduction that are an integral part of the scientific process. When a researcher states that all ravens are black, the laws of logic demand that this conditional statement has a contrapositive, statement.

Therefore, according to inductive reasoning, “Everything that is not black is not a raven.” This means that every non-black object observed, that is not a raven, equally strengthens the hypothesis. There are a countless number of non-black objects in the universe and we should pity the poor statistician who has to analyze this!

To take the analogy further, another researcher in another part of world, through fluke, may have only seen one raven in their life, which happened to be white. Their deduced hypothesis may be that “All ravens are white.” Every non-white object, which is not a raven, strengthens this opposing hypothesis too. This is the Raven Paradox.

THE END OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS? What does this paradox mean? Has the world of science come crashing down around our ears?

The answer is a resounding NO!

The Raven Paradox is a useful philosophical observation and helps to ensure that we constantly probe and test the steps of the established scientific processes. The examples given in the paradox are simplistic and unlikely, merely serving as an exercise to test the boundaries of the philosophy of science.

In reality, for the vast majority of cases, Hempel’s treatise makes no difference and the normal reasoning and experimental design processes work perfectly well. The paradox does not detract from science, but actually enhances it, by preventing scientists from believing that they have proved something beyond doubt.

The Raven Paradox should remind every scientist of the dangers of generalization and that they must ensure that all hypotheses are realistically falsifiable. If the researcher has said, “All ravens in Norway are black”, this is more realistic as ornithologists could feasibly observe every raven in Norway.

PARADIGM SHIFTS Even long-standing theories, which became established as laws and immovable paradigms, can be proved incorrect over time. Science is really all about testing probabilities and assumption. If something has a 99% chance of being correct then it should be accepted as the likely explanation.

The chances of someone seeing only one raven in their life, which happens to be white, are tiny. However, this is not the same as impossible and that possibility must never be ignored. This is why all experiments are rigorously validated and reviewed before gaining widespread acceptance, to minimize the effects of the Raven Paradox.

For example, Newton’s laws were accepted as truth until Einstein’s theories blew them out of the water. In turn, General Relativity is not the answer to fundamental physics and has been superseded by other theories.

This is how science evolves, by challenging and adapting established paradigms and laws. The creation of Chaos Theory was a perfect example of ‘maverick’ scientists chipping away at the established laws until the theory could no longer be ignored. It eventually burst into the public consciousness and fractal models appeared as prints on T-Shirts.

Hempel’s Raven Paradox stands to remind us all that no theory, however established, should be immune to challenge or debate. As new evidence is uncovered, science must adapt and change to assimilate the new data.

Martyn lives in the beautiful Peloponnese area of Greece and is absorbing the philosophy buried deep within the bones of the land.

He specializes in science and philosophy articles.

Please find the original article at http://www.experiment-resources.com

Martyn’s website is at http://www.amethyst-web.net