Monthly Archives: January 2006

Plasma and Ozone

Yesterday, on my way home, partly inspired by reading more about Felix Hess, I bought a plasma globe. I have wanted one since childhood. Now that I am a bona-fide mad scientist, it is almost obligatory that I own one. … Continue reading

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neophilia

I’ve always been keen on newness. Now I learn that what I thought was an enthusiasm might in fact be an addiction. JH Austin on endogenous endorphins: Novelty releases beta-endorphin into the brain. If humans respond anything like rats, beta-endorphin … Continue reading

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The Cute Factor – New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/20…nce/03cute.html Cute little article on cuteness cues, many cute lines.. “The human cuteness detector is set at such a low bar, researchers said, that it sweeps in and deems cute practically anything remotely resembling a human baby or a part … Continue reading

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Increased Reductions!?

WHSmith’s Sale..

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the Joy of a deformed crisp

I have a very old friend who in all her many many years alive had never seen a double yolked egg. At the time she was overjoyed with her freak.. But she was most miffed when I told that thanks … Continue reading

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From A to Z

A failed journey i once undertook was to visit the first and last place in a motoring atlas of the british isles… depending on what authority you consult the first is a little village in Somerset called Abbas Combe, the … Continue reading

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The Compulsion to Repeat the Trauma

http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/vanderkolk/ I ought to have known that a hunt for literature on the physiological addictiveness of masochism was always going to lead down some unusual paths. I discovered an old paper on The nature and acquisition of a preference for … Continue reading

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deconstructing reality

I am trying to remember the last time I took something apart to discover how it worked. I am trying to remember if when I did, I found out how it worked. I rather doubt it. In fact, I am … Continue reading

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Robert Frost

http://learningtogive.org…ch_type=subject “All thought is a feat of association; having what’s in front of you bring up something in your mind that you almost didn’t know you knew.” – Robert Frost (1874-1963)

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Good Evening

The bones of Alistair Cooke, one of the great broadcasters of the twentieth century, were stolen days after he died last year at the age of 95, according to reports in New York. Cooke’s bones were removed by a surgeon … Continue reading

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