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Supernatural star has six heart attacks and dies four times

<p><em>Supernatural </em>star Mark Sheppard recently shared a harrowing experience that left fans and well-wishers in disbelief.</p> <p>The 59-year-old actor disclosed that he had faced six massive heart attacks over the weekend, defying the odds by surviving – despite dying and being revived four times during the ordeal.</p> <p>Sheppard recounted the dramatic incident in an Instagram post from his hospital bed, detailing how he collapsed in his kitchen at home. Urgently rushed to the hospital, medical professionals discovered a "100 per cent blockage" in his left anterior descending artery (LAD), a vital blood vessel supplying the front of the left side of the heart, according to John Hopkins Medicine.</p> <p>The actor expressed profound gratitude to his wife, the Los Angeles Fire Department at Mulholland, and the dedicated staff at Providence California St Joseph's, saying that without their prompt intervention, his chances of survival would have been "virtually nil".</p> <p>Despite the severity of the situation, Sheppard's resilience shone through. In his Instagram post, he shared the astonishing news of being resuscitated four times after experiencing the six massive cardiac events. The actor, best known for his role as the demon and King of Hell Crowley in <em>Supernatural</em>, acknowledged the miracle of his survival and thanked the medical professionals who played a crucial role in his recovery.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C0XZqCtSYeO/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C0XZqCtSYeO/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Mark Sheppard (@realmarksheppard)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>In the midst of his health crisis, Sheppard took a moment to express his gratitude for the support and care he received. His fans, too, flooded the comment section with well-wishes and messages of relief. One fan, acknowledging the actor's miraculous survival, commented, "All the best to you and your family!" Another, an experienced emergency room nurse, exclaimed, "As a 20-year ER nurse, you are a miracle!"</p> <p>Sheppard wrapped up his post on a positive note, announcing that he is on the mend, soon to be heading home, and "feeling great".</p> <p><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

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Why do people believe in curses?

<p><em>Strictly Come Dancing</em>, the TV show which pairs celebrities with professional dancers to compete in a ballroom dancing competition, has apparently been the cause of a number of divorces, break-ups, and scandals. This “<a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-08-19/strictly-come-dancing-strictly-curse-affairs-break-ups/"><em>Strictly</em> curse</a>” is not helped by the show’s demanding schedule, long practice hours, and intimate dancing.</p> <p><em>Strictly</em> is not the only modern curse featured in the media of late. The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49125467">curse of the Tour de France</a> returned, with the failure of a French rider to win the <a href="https://usimmigrationupdate.com/french-cyclists-hit-again-by-curse-of-tour-de-france-bbc-news/">cycling race</a>. Hopes that Julian Alaphillippe would this year end the 34-year drought were dashed.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the rapper Drake has been linked to a series of <a href="https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-drake-curse-best-times-it-struck-down-sports-teams-athletes-2487702">sporting failures</a> over the years. The Drake curse <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-47947155">was broken</a>, however, when his team (the Raptors) won their first basketball championship earlier this summer. Other popular culture “curses” around James Dean’s <a href="https://sg.news.yahoo.com/curse-james-dean-porsche-550-010003800.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAF2ZVBzvFXEOzvnoMUgY8skG7UrCeRorWZqdpvaG_S4strong5uBQpsuPmuhd4IF81thP1olYYRZm2M4UM9fnKeCgNd8_vW2c4TpA8cF8uNnsXs6roX4sjdbWZXpXeiVeqN9uKxf8ToZc2suFf0VKmK7OMf6gKX2xIJWf5xKupt25V5l">car</a> and the next <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jun/07/james-bond-25-film-cursed">James Bond</a> film, have also circulated of late.</p> <p>What’s this all about? Most people these days surely don’t believe in supernatural curses. But their prevalence in the media suggests that they still have a hold on psyches, and that a good amount of people still pay credence to them.</p> <p><strong>Rational explanations</strong></p> <p>From a scientific perspective, curses have rational explanations. These clarify why people directly ascribe supernatural powers to negative events.</p> <p>For instance, belief in curses can arise from thinking style. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman has <a href="http://reflectd.co/2016/02/24/thinking-styles/">proposed</a> that there are two distinct modes of decision making. System 1 is automatic, rapid and largely unconscious. Subsequently, this system is intuitive and prone to biases and systematic errors. In contrast, System 2 is controlled, slow, effortful, and produces rational thought. So, perhaps people believe in curses because their spontaneous, subjective, System 1 thinking predominates.</p> <p>Endorsement of curses may also stem from the desire to make sense of the world; ascribe meaning to chaos. Why do people sometimes see faces in clouds or Jesus in their toast? We have a tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise: which some call <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/reality-play/201207/being-amused-apophenia">apophenia</a> and others <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/patternicity-finding-meaningful-patterns/">patternicity</a>. In the case of curses, this can cause people to see links between random events and wrongly attribute misfortune and bad luck to a magical hex rather than factors such as chance and human error.</p> <p>Those who believe in curses may also be susceptible to the <a href="http://www.howtogetyourownway.com/effects/barnum_effect.html">Barnum</a> or Forer Effect. This is where people wrongly infer that general information has specific personal relevance. In the context of curses, this might explain the tendency to associate general misfortune with particular, personally significant jinxes.</p> <p><strong>Psychological influences</strong></p> <p>A belief in curses, once it exists, is often reinforced by other psychological tendencies.</p> <p>Believers in curses may look for affirming evidence, such as potentially related bad luck, and discount contradictory data. This confirmatory bias produces coherent, but logically inconsistent narratives supporting the presumption of supernatural forces.</p> <p>This was true of the curse of Tutankhamun, for example. This derived from the general notion that a curse would befall anyone who broke into a pharaoh’s burial site. At the time of the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the archaeologists suffered no misfortune. But as a result of press coverage about “the pharaoh’s curse”, subsequent deaths and misfortunes of the archaeology team became associated with the curse. Similarly, the movies Poltergeist and The Omen have over time acquired a reputation <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/tutankhamuns-curse">as cursed</a>.</p> <p>The power of curses to influence people stems from belief in their veracity. This often arises from an external locus of control, where people feel unable to influence events. In the absence of perceived control, people become more accepting of mysterious, external forces. Psychologists refer to this as <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/moments-matter/201708/locus-control">magical thinking</a>.</p> <p>In addition, belief in curses is associated with certain personality characteristics. Particularly, tolerance of ambiguity and neuroticism. Tolerance of ambiguity describes the degree to which an individual can <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/200902/uncertainty-is-your-friend-part-i">cope with uncertainty</a>. People with low tolerance of ambiguity tend to look for closure. This manifests as the failure to critically consider evidence and to jump to conclusions. These factors can lead to indiscriminate, premature acceptance of material. Neuroticism, meanwhile, can facilitate worry, concern and rumination about curses.</p> <p>In extreme cases, belief in curses can undermine confidence in oneself and one’s future success. Psychologists refer to this as self-fulfilling prophecy. This is where belief in a curse produces the perception of inevitable misfortune. Indeed, the mere suggestion of bad luck can produce negative outcomes. Researchers call this the <a href="https://www.brainblogger.com/2009/07/15/the-curse-of-the-nocebo-effect">Nocebo Effect</a>.</p> <p><strong>Social factors</strong></p> <p>The influence of curses also originates from their grounding in culture. Specifically, through education and social narratives, the notion of curses perpetuates over time. Consequently, they become culturally acceptable and in some instances plausible. For example, the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180216-the-strange-power-of-the-evil-eye">evil eye</a> has a long tradition around the world. This derives from the belief that someone who achieves great success also attracts the envy of those around them, manifesting itself as a curse that will undo their good fortune.</p> <p>Socially, media coverage can induce the notion that curses exist. A recent example is the <a href="https://www.nme.com/blogs/what-is-momo-your-guide-to-the-horrifying-meme-billed-as-the-new-slenderman-2364215">Momo Challenge</a>. This spread via WhatsApp and involved the appearance of a creepy, Japanese sculpture accompanied by instructions to perform dangerous tasks. The communication also predicted unfortunate consequences if the receiver failed to follow instructions, or pass on the message. This story went viral and caused children and parents great anxiety.</p> <p>Although there is of course no scientific evidence to support the supernatural basis of curses, they can still have a powerful psychological influence on people. Believing in curses can undermine decision making, well-being and self confidence. In extreme cases, they can also facilitate unusual ideas, undermine critical thinking and produce <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/apr/25/the-knowledge-football-curses">odd behaviours</a>.</p> <p>Despite evidence to the contrary, some curses are compelling. So it will be interesting to see whether forthcoming contestants in <em>Strictly Come Dancing</em> avoid the bad luck associated with previous series.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121385/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em>Written by <span>Ken Drinkwater, Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Cognitive and Parapsychology, Manchester Metropolitan University and Neil Dagnall, Reader in Applied Cognitive Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University</span>. Republished with permission of </em><a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-people-believe-in-curses-121385" target="_blank"><em>The Conversation</em></a><em>. </em></p>

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How a Ouija board really works

<p><span>Can Ouija boards actually function as spirit portals?</span><br /><br /><span>Well, the existence of ghosts is always up for debate.</span><br /><br /><span>But what researchers have learned is what really happens when you and your friend are having the “you’re pushing the pointer,” “no you are” argument. </span><br /><br /><span>As it turns out, anyone whose hand is on the Ouija board pointer could be making it move without even knowing it.</span><br /><br /><span>According to Dr. Scott G. Eberle of <em>Psychology Today</em>, there are two basic principles that get the Ouija board to work.</span><br /><br /><span>First, the game is influenced by just how much each person playing is willing to suspend their disbelief of the unusual, improbable, or supernatural.</span><br /><br /><span>The more someone leaves themselves open to believing the extraordinary, the more they unconsciously will it to happen.</span><br /><br /><span>Once that is factored in, it all becomes about something called the ideomotor effect: This is a phenomenon in which your body moves according to your unconscious will.</span><br /><br /><span>Usually, when we’re awake the actions we make are intentional — ”I want to pick up this pencil, so I will move my hand.”</span><br /><br /><span>But the brain thinks and communicates with the rest of the body even when we’re not consciously aware of it.</span><br /><br /><span>For example, a stressed or angry person might ball their hand into a fist without even realizing it at first, because their unconscious is sending signals to the body on how to react.</span><br /><br /><span>Similarly, the will to believe in the Ouija board and the wish for something to happen unconsciously influences how a person interacts with the Ouija board pointer.</span><br /><br /><span>A team of researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark observed and tested how people in pairs used the Ouija board and came to the following conclusion: “It appears that participants in the ‘Ouija condition’ generally underestimate their own contribution to the joint interaction.”</span><br /><br /><span>Basically, you’re unaware of how much of an effect you’re having on the game. So when you’re arguing with your friend over who is really pushing the pointer, you might want to try pointing the finger at yourself. </span></p> <p><em>Written by <span>Taylor Markarian</span>. This article first appeared in </em><span><a href="http://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/thought-provoking/how-ouija-board-really-works"><em>Reader’s Digest</em></a><em>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, </em><a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_campaign=RDSUB&amp;keycode=WRA87V"><em>here’s our best subscription offer.</em></a></span></p> <p><img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" /></p>

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