Latest news with #Marina
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
What you see first in optical illusion can tell if you're 'logical or creative'
What you see first in this optical illusion, a duck or a rabbit, can help determine whether you are a 'logical' or 'creative' person, according to a psychologist Some people believe certain optical illusions can be used to reveal hidden personality traits you might have. These personality tests involve looking at an image that can be viewed as several different things, and see what you see first. These tests, which are based on psychology, are a fun way of learning more about yourself. Take this one below, this has actually been used for more than 100 years. The optical illusion has recently caused a debate online again, after it was shared by psychologist Marina Neuralean on TikTok. She shared the famous sketch, and asked whether people saw a rabbit or a duck in the image first. If you see a rabbit first, she explains it's more likely your left brain hemisphere is "more dominant". This could mean your "mathematical abilities" and "talent for logical step-by-step thinking are often admired by others". She continued: "You excel at tasks requiring precision, such as writing, reading and calculating and you possess outstanding analytical skills." In addition, the psychologist claims those who see the rabbit first value "clarity and structure" and love solving "complex problems" and enjoy finding "clear answers". Meanwhile, if you saw a duck first, Marina says your "right brain hemisphere is probably more dominant". According to the psychologist, this means you're a "creative person with strong intuition" and have a "vivid imagination". She continued: "You love to express emotions through visuals, and love to dream and explore new ideas. You're inspired by music, painting and other forms of self-expression that allow for creative thinking." She also said you find joy in "unconventional solutions" which bring "vibrancy to everyday life". In the comment section there were a mix of people who saw the rabbit and the duck first - and those who could only see one of the animals. "There is no rabbit I swear," said one person. "I'm still searching for the rabbit!!" added another. Another wrote: "I saw a duck first then the rabbit," and similarly someone else commented: "I could see both, but first the duck." This duck-rabbit drawing was first used by American psychologist Joseph Jastrow in 1899. He wanted to make a point that perception is not just what a person sees, but also a mental activity. He suggested the faster you can see the second animal, and the faster people can change their perception of the drawing and switch between the two animals, the quicker your brain works - and the more creative you are.
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Marina softball beats Westlake to win first CIF title in 30 years
IRVINE — Mia Valbuena had offered up nothing short of sheer dominance in the circle during the postseason for the Marina softball team. So it wasn't going to take much offensively for the Vikings to feel good about their chances in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 championship game. The production came early, and then it came often. Avi Valbuena and Eva Mazzotti each drove in four runs, as Marina beat Westlake 8-1 on Friday at Deanna Manning Stadium to deliver the program's first section title in 30 years. The Vikings had taken the lead before Mia Valbuena, the Michigan-committed right-hander, had thrown her first pitch. It was her twin sister whose two-out, bases-loaded double scored two runs in the top of the first. Shelly Luth, who co-coaches the Vikings with Dan Hay, called striking first in the contest 'huge.' First baseman Ava Kim had an infield single, Mia Valbuena also singled and center fielder Rachel Ruiz walked before Avi Valbuena, the designated player, laced the ball inside the left-field line. 'It just sets the pace for [Mia Valbuena],' Luth said. 'She's such a fierce competitor, and that's just insurance for her to go out there. Mia tends to think that she has to do it all on her own, and she knows it's not true, but you know, that's the funny thing about pitchers. You know, they wear it, and so we've been working really hard. … 'We have a mental coach for all of them that we brought in. She's been amazing for all of them to reset. One pitch. Don't make it bigger. Be present. Be in the now.' Avi Valbuena said her sister gave her 'a really hard high-five' after the first-inning hit. She added a single to drive in two runs in the third inning. When she returned to the dugout, she said she received 'an even harder high-five.' Marina (19-13) won its sixth CIF championship overall and first since 1995, when the Vikings completed a set of back-to-back Division I titles against Foothill and Mater Dei. Luth was the Vikings' bench boss then, too. 'I've been to the championship game once with Canyon,' Hay said. 'We fell short. [I have] been to the semifinals five or six times. This is my first championship, and I couldn't have written the script any better than doing it with Shelly. 'We came back out of retirement together and thought we'd be here two or three years, and this is our eighth season with Marina. Coaches strive to have their teams peak at the right time, especially at the end of the year in playoffs, and this team started to peak the minute playoffs began.' Mia Valbuena's postseason numbers epitomized that peak performance. She allowed a total of two runs across five games in bracket play, racking up 56 strikeouts over 33 innings pitched. The junior ace struck out 13 batters in the championship game. When the final out was recorded, the Marina bench emptied out onto the field. In short order, Mia Valbuena was crowned with a Viking helmet. 'That was me,' Avi Valbuena said. 'I brought it out and put it on my sister.' Pride was on the mind of Mia Valbuena when asked her thoughts on ending the extended section title drought for Marina. 'Our entire school is really proud,' she said. 'It's really amazing to have this feeling right now.' Avi Valbuena and Mazzotti (two doubles), the Vikings' sophomore shortstop, each had three hits. Catcher Gabby DiBenedetto had two hits and a run scored. Left fielder Halle Piramo scored two runs, and Ruiz reached base safely three times and scored twice. Marina will not compete in the CIF State Southern California regional playoffs, Hay said. Westlake (19-14) broke up the shutout in the sixth inning on a double by first baseman Lily Barrett. After the Vikings completed their postgame engagements, their fans wrapped them in hugs as they ascended the stairs out of the stadium down the right-field line. 'It was crazy to see a crowd like that for us,' Mazzotti said. 'I'm only 15. I haven't seen a crowd like that anywhere. It was amazing. Being able to see our team come together from the beginning of the season and producing this on the field, it was awesome.'
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
A statue of Stalin is unveiled in the Moscow subway as Russia tries to revive the dictator's legacy
Passengers walk in front of a monument to Soviet leader Josef Stalin at the Taganskaya subway station in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File) A monument to Josef Stalin has been unveiled at one of Moscow's busiest subway stations, the latest attempt by Russian authorities to revive the legacy of the brutal Soviet dictator. The sculpture shows Stalin surrounded by beaming workers and children with flowers. It was installed at the Taganskaya station to mark the 90th anniversary of the Moscow Metro, the sprawling subway known for its mosaics, chandeliers and other ornate decorations that was built under Stalin. It replaces an earlier tribute that was removed in the decade following Stalin's 1953 death in a drive to root out his 'cult of personality' and reckon with decades of repression marked by show trials, nighttime arrests and millions killed or thrown into prison camps as 'enemies of the people.' Muscovites have given differing responses to the unveiling earlier this month. Many commuters took photos of the monument and some laid flowers beneath it. Aleksei Zavatsin, 22, told The Associated Press that Stalin was a 'great man' who had 'made a poor country into a superpower.' 'He raised the country from its knees,' he said. But another resident who identified herself only as Marina recalled her grandmother saying 'the whole country was living in fear' under Stalin. Activists from a Russian political movement that voices pro-democratic and nationalist views, protested by placing posters at the foot of the monument that quoted top politicians condemning the dictator. One poster, featuring President Vladimir Putin, cited him as bemoaning Stalin's 'mass crimes against the people,' and saying his modernization of the USSR came at the price of 'unacceptable' repression. The unveiling came weeks after Putin signed a decree renaming the airport in Volgograd as Stalingrad — as the city was called when the Soviet Red Army defeated Nazi German forces there in one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. Volgograd itself briefly reverted to its former name on May 8-9 for Victory Day celebrations and will be temporarily renamed five more times this year to mark related wartime anniversaries. Putin has invoked the Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted five months and saw up to two million soldiers and civilians killed, as justification for Moscow's actions in Ukraine. Russian political analyst Pyotr Miloserdov said the Kremlin has used a broader drive to embrace Stalin's legacy to justify both the conflict in Ukraine and crackdown on dissent at home. 'Stalin was a tyrant, a despot, and that's what we need,' he told AP. Authorities want to revive Stalin's image to popularize the idea of strongman rule, he added, and paint violence and repression as justified under extraordinary circumstances. 'This can lead to justifying any senseless, forceful actions. Under Stalin, this was allowed, there was a war. ... So, here is our special military operation, and now this is allowed too. This is simply an attempt to justify the use of force on people,' Miloserdov said. Moscow, The Associated Press
The Independent
3 days ago
- General
- The Independent
A statue of Stalin is unveiled in the Moscow subway as Russia tries to revive the dictator's legacy
A monument to Josef Stalin has been unveiled at one of Moscow 's busiest subway stations, the latest attempt by Russian authorities to revive the legacy of the brutal Soviet dictator. The sculpture shows Stalin surrounded by beaming workers and children with flowers. It was installed at the Taganskaya station to mark the 90th anniversary of the Moscow Metro, the sprawling subway known for its mosaics, chandeliers and other ornate decorations that was built under Stalin. It replaces an earlier tribute that was removed in the decade following Stalin's 1953 death in a drive to root out his 'cult of personality' and reckon with decades of repression marked by show trials, nighttime arrests and millions killed or thrown into prison camps as 'enemies of the people.' Muscovites have given differing responses to the unveiling earlier this month. Many commuters took photos of the monument and some laid flowers beneath it. Aleksei Zavatsin, 22, told The Associated Press that Stalin was a 'great man" who had 'made a poor country into a superpower.' 'He raised the country from its knees,' he said. But another resident who identified herself only as Marina recalled her grandmother saying 'the whole country was living in fear' under Stalin. Activists from a Russian political movement that voices pro-democratic and nationalist views, protested by placing posters at the foot of the monument that quoted top politicians condemning the dictator. One poster, featuring President Vladimir Putin, cited him as bemoaning Stalin's 'mass crimes against the people," and saying his modernization of the USSR came at the price of 'unacceptable' repression. The unveiling came weeks after Putin signed a decree renaming the airport in Volgograd as Stalingrad — as the city was called when the Soviet Red Army defeated Nazi German forces there in one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. Volgograd itself briefly reverted to its former name on May 8-9 for Victory Day celebrations and will be temporarily renamed five more times this year to mark related wartime anniversaries. Putin has invoked the Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted five months and saw up to 2 million soldiers and civilians killed, as justification for Moscow's actions in Ukraine. Russian political analyst Pyotr Miloserdov said the Kremlin has used a broader drive to embrace Stalin's legacy to justify both the conflict in Ukraine and crackdown on dissent at home. 'Stalin was a tyrant, a despot, and that's what we need," he told AP. Authorities want to revive Stalin's image to popularize the idea of strongman rule, he added, and paint violence and repression as justified under extraordinary circumstances. 'This can lead to justifying any senseless, forceful actions. Under Stalin, this was allowed, there was a war. ... So, here is our special military operation, and now this is allowed too. This is simply an attempt to justify the use of force on people," Miloserdov said.
Associated Press
3 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
A statue of Stalin is unveiled in the Moscow subway as Russia tries to revive the dictator's legacy
A monument to Josef Stalin has been unveiled at one of Moscow's busiest subway stations, the latest attempt by Russian authorities to revive the legacy of the brutal Soviet dictator. The sculpture shows Stalin surrounded by beaming workers and children with flowers. It was installed at the Taganskaya station to mark the 90th anniversary of the Moscow Metro, the sprawling subway known for its mosaics, chandeliers and other ornate decorations that was built under Stalin. It replaces an earlier tribute that was removed in the decade following Stalin's 1953 death in a drive to root out his 'cult of personality' and reckon with decades of repression marked by show trials, nighttime arrests and millions killed or thrown into prison camps as 'enemies of the people.' Muscovites have given differing responses to the unveiling earlier this month. Many commuters took photos of the monument and some laid flowers beneath it. Aleksei Zavatsin, 22, told The Associated Press that Stalin was a 'great man' who had 'made a poor country into a superpower.' 'He raised the country from its knees,' he said. But another resident who identified herself only as Marina recalled her grandmother saying 'the whole country was living in fear' under Stalin. Activists from a Russian political movement that voices pro-democratic and nationalist views, protested by placing posters at the foot of the monument that quoted top politicians condemning the dictator. One poster, featuring President Vladimir Putin, cited him as bemoaning Stalin's 'mass crimes against the people,' and saying his modernization of the USSR came at the price of 'unacceptable' repression. The unveiling came weeks after Putin signed a decree renaming the airport in Volgograd as Stalingrad — as the city was called when the Soviet Red Army defeated Nazi German forces there in one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. Volgograd itself briefly reverted to its former name on May 8-9 for Victory Day celebrations and will be temporarily renamed five more times this year to mark related wartime anniversaries. Putin has invoked the Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted five months and saw up to 2 million soldiers and civilians killed, as justification for Moscow's actions in Ukraine. Russian political analyst Pyotr Miloserdov said the Kremlin has used a broader drive to embrace Stalin's legacy to justify both the conflict in Ukraine and crackdown on dissent at home. 'Stalin was a tyrant, a despot, and that's what we need,' he told AP. Authorities want to revive Stalin's image to popularize the idea of strongman rule, he added, and paint violence and repression as justified under extraordinary circumstances. 'This can lead to justifying any senseless, forceful actions. Under Stalin, this was allowed, there was a war. ... So, here is our special military operation, and now this is allowed too. This is simply an attempt to justify the use of force on people,' Miloserdov said.
