Poker Face

Most people are familiar with the term Poker Face, and after reading this article on the poker face, it got me thinking - is there really a way to tell when someone is bluffing?

Body Language is an interesting subject. The first book that captured the public's imagination was "Body Language" by Julius Fast which was published in the 1970's but was primarily centered around the idea of knowing if a woman is interested in you, and how to attract women through your own body language. Since then we've been hooked on the idea of the mysterious skill that could give us influence over others.

When it comes to poker, body language certainly plays a role but it's often the face that holds the truth of what kind of hand the player has.

Charles Darwin claimed that facial expressions are universally recognized and this was later proven by a researcher by showing photographs of people with expressions of fear, happiness etc to tribal people who had not been exposed to Westernization. As they managed to correctly describe the facial expressions it proved it's something we're simply born being able to do. However, as with most things, some people are just naturally able to do this better than others.

Poker Players are generally considered masters at being able to control emotion on their own faces, but they are also masters at reading the expressions of others. However, the greatest masters of the Poker Face are those who are able to limit Mircroexpressions.

A Microexpression is a very brief (25th of a second long), involuntary expression of one of the seven universal facial expressions that Darwin identified and that were subsequently tested with the non-westernized tribal people in proving his theory - disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise, and contempt.

As these expressions are involuntary, they are nearly impossible to fake. While most people know of the larger indications that someone is lying while speaking to them (touching the nose or face, avoiding eye contact, eyes looking towards the left while answering), very few of us know how to correctly read microexpressions.

In research conducted by the BBC for a show on lying and facial expression they tested people who are generally thought to be good at detecting lies. Specifically they tested a wide variety of law enforcement officials who one would generally regarded as having good instincts when it comes to knowing if someone is lying. The study revealed that Police Officers and other investigators only had a slightly higher than average ability to detect lies. The surprising result was that Secret Service agents were far better than anyone at detecting lies, but still only got it right 80% of the time. What was their secret? They had been specifically trained to recognise micro expressions.

So unless you have the time and patience to master your ability to disguise a microexpression, we advise giving your poker face a rest. Just let all those emotions hang out where we can see them and have a good session behind a slot machine!

Fairy Friends

"When the first baby laughed for the first time, his laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies."

J.M. Barrie in The Little White Bird

Do you believe in Fairies? They really are the most beautiful creatures and despite sightings of them, stories, poems and more- in many cultures across the world no one has ever been able to catch one. In Celtic Societies (Scottish, Irish and Welsh) Fairy's were considered to be a race of diminutive humans that lived in barrows, mounds and hills but they could also be spiritual beings from the Otherworld.

Hawthorne Trees in the British Isles were thought to mark the doorways to the Otherworld (the home of the fairies) and it is considered exceptionally bad luck to ever cut down a Hawthorne Tree, except when it is in bloom (image below). When the flowers blossom it signifies the beginning of Summer in Britain and branches are cut from the tree to decorate homes.

Do you remember the famous DeLorean car that was used in the Back To The Future movies with Michael J. Fox? The company which made the car (the DeLorean Motor Company) was based in Ireland but they eventually went bust in 1982 after many problems. While it would be normal for any business to deal with a fair amount of problems, this company seemed to have unusually bad luck - anything that could go wrong, did!

Many would simply write this off to coincidence, but the truth is that they had done something truly unspeakable. When they bought land in Ireland to build the production plant there had been many Hawthorne Trees growing there - all of which had been chopped down to make way for the construction. It is still believed today that this had angered the fairies who then created havoc where ever possible in response to the destruction of their sacred tree. The company owners must have felt desperate enough about their situation as they eventually replanted some similar trees on the property with much ceremony as a way to appease the fairies. Alas, it was too little too late and production stopped and the company closed down.

This doesn't really prove the existence of Fairy's even if it is quite an interesting story. Perhaps one of the most convincing pieces of evidence are the Cottingley Fairies - a tale so spectacular that it captured the attention of many when it happened and was later made into a movie, Fairytale: A True Story.

This exceptional tale is of two girls living in England during the first world war who took photo's of, what they claimed, were real fairies.

Think about it: could two young girls in those early day's of photography have the skills necessary to fake such photographs? Even experts were hard pressed to prove them fake. The idea that the girls were able to fake them was very remote, and to this day there are many who still believe they captured the first definitive proof that fairies are real.

Whether you believe they are real or not, you can't help but be captivated by the idea of these beautiful winged creatures who can slip into the Otherworld, a kingdom filled with celebration and happiness. Next time you find yourself out in nature, perhaps sitting under a tree on a warm spring day, take a moment to sit as still as you can and who knows? Perhaps you might catch a small glimpse of a tiny creature flying between the flowers and the toadstools!

We found this video of a very special place, called The Sulina Fairy Sanctuary which is a home for fairy's in Africa. This just goes to show that there are still plenty of people who believe in these creatures and will even open their home to them.




So how can you get the fairies to visit you? They love gifts of cake and sweets and they love a garden that is filled with birds, flowers and other wildlife. Having a water-feature or bird bath is another great thing to help attract fairies to your garden and home. But the most important thing of all is to believe that...

Fairies are Real

Best Review Ever!

I spin and spin and then spin some more

spinning the reels to my favorite Diligo slot games.
I spin so much my hand gets sore
Even a VIP member maybe I will win even more.
I spin and spin and spin some more
I go to Token Rocket to hopefully win some more
so I can spin and spin and spin some more.
Low on coins, spent all on lucky draws
just so I can hopefully
spin and spin and spin some more.

I really enjoy spinning the reels with Diligo Slot's;
I spin everyday
Wishing to hit a big win
Maybe one day my luck
will change.

by Dawn H L