Переводчик Кормилицын Николай

IN nearly all cases of imperfect sight due to errors of refraction there is some object, or objects, which can be regarded with normal vision. Such objects I have called "optimums." On the other hand, there are some objects which persons with normal eyes and ordinarily normal sight always see imperfectly, an error of refraction being produced when they are regarded, as demonstrated by the retinoscope. Such objects I have called "pessimums." An object becomes an optimum, or a pessimum, according to the effect it produces upon the mind, and in some cases this effect is easily accounted for.
For many children their mother's face is an optimum, and the face of a stranger a pessimum. A dressmaker was always able to thread a No. 10 needle with a fine thread of silk without glasses, although she had to put on glasses to sew on buttons, because she could not see the holes. She was a teacher of dressmaking, and thought the children stupid because they could not tell the difference between two different shades of black.
She could match colors without comparing the samples.
Yet she could not see a black line in a photographic copy of the Bible which was no finer than a thread of silk, and she could not remember a black period. An employee in a cooperage factory, who had been engaged for years in picking out defective barrels as they went rapidly past him on an inclined plane, was able to continue his work after his sight for most other objects had become very defective, while persons with much better sight for the Snellen test card were unable to detect the defective barrels.
The familiarity of these various objects made it possible for the subjects to look at them without strain that is, without trying to see them. Therefore the barrels were to the cooper optimums ; while the needle's eye and the colors of silk and fabrics were optimums to the dressmaker. Unfamiliar objects, on the contrary, are always pessimums, as pointed out in the chapter on "The Variability of the Refraction of the Eye."
In other cases there is no accounting for the idiosyncrasy of the mind which makes one object a pessimum and another an optimum. It is also impossible to account for the fact that an object may be an optimum for one eye and not for the other, or an optimum at one time and at one distance and not at others.

India is the largest democracy in the world with over one billion people. India is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 29 states and 7 union territories. A pluralistic, multilingual, and multi-ethnic society. The Indian economy is the world's seventh-largest by nominal GDP and third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing major economies; it is considered a newly industrialized country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, inadequate public healthcare, and terrorism. India was a British colony until 1947.
The Indian Civil Service is massive bureaucracy is maintained at huge cost by the country's taxpayer whose average income is among the lowest in the world. But the public perception about the members of the civil services is that they are `burdensome low-performers' heading a highly bloated bureaucracy, which is, often, perceived to be corrupt and inefficient in governing the country. After independence India has gone through many reforms in order to make the Civil Service more efficient including cutting down patriotism and building a system based on Merit, but there have been many drawbacks due to India’s cast system, corruption, and lack professionalism.

Because I work in a university hospital, and because I'm, well, different, I get approached by college or med students at least once a week for Ritalin or amphetamine prescriptions. Every one claims to have "ADD." (NB: I don't give them out.)

They want the Ritalin to help them study. I get it. I'm not advocating it, but if you are going to use Ritalin you should probably do it intelligently, to maximize the gains.

First, a disclaimer: you should only get Ritalin for indicated disorders by prescription from a physician. Ok? Because the doctor will rigorously apply artificial and unreliable diagnostic categories backed up by invalid and arbitrary screens and queries to make a diagnosis. So after this completely subjective and near useless evaluation is completed, your doctor should be able to exercise prudent clinical judgment to decide if Ritalin could be of benefit. In other words, he will ultimately decide based on little else but his own prejudices and/or consult the Magic 8 Ball. That'll be $250, please. Cash appreciated.

That said, the key to amphetamines and Ritalin is to stop thinking of them as stimulants, and to think of them as reinforcers.

Let's conceptualize how these drugs work. Imagine getting a brain scan while you are performing a task. The parts of your brain you are using for the task will light up, brighter than those you aren't using.

Now you drink coffee (1). The whole brain lights up brighter, proportionally.

Now you take amphetamines. The parts of your brain that you are using light up brighter, but the parts you aren't using go darker. Get it? Caffeine is a global brain stimulant, while amphetamines focus your attention, reducing distraction.

This is entirely selective and controlled by you. You have to decide what you want to focus your attention on. If it's reading, the reading parts of your brain will be brighter. But if you stop reading and decide to talk to your friend on the phone, you know, the hot one with the hotter roommate, then you'll be more focused on that (obviously). Attention is always decreased when it is split among several tasks.