psycho 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 would begin to increase after only two minutes
psycho 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 thereof, and
life 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 to the recent automatic candling advances one can now buy
london 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 last is the moderately famous village of Zennor not far
psycho 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 chili pepper by humans.
life 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 beginning to doubt if I have ever successfully disassembled anything
quotes 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)
life 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 and then sold for around $7,000 (GBP4,
words libraries I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library -Jorge Luis Borges I was a dull child. I wanted to run away and join the library. -Me I have the first on a t-shirt from vancouver public library. it attracts much admiration and for xmas my sister
psycho Distorted Tunes Test http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/tunetest/dtt.asp i got 25/26 so turns out i am not clinically tone deaf. there must be some other reason for my appalling singing voice :)
images animals on the underground http://www.animalsontheunderground.com/ very good, although i am a bit disappointed they don't have a pigeon or a mouse!
science Piaget proved wrong again! http://www.eurekalert.org...j-sgm122105.php Seems like the grandaddy of developmental psychology over-estimated the competance of everyone over eight years old. At about this age we learn about conservation of volume, in particular that a tall thin glass doesn't necessarily have more in it than a short
images Incorporating W.H.Wrigley I am glad I spotted this sign before they renovated their knocking off shop, this sign has gone to a better place but I'll always remember it. For the past year I went past it pretty much daily and for most of that time i smugly congratulated myself
images take that spammers are becoming such subtle maligancies that i cannot determine if this is intended to be funny or not.. either way it makes me laugh
science Cute little Fish http://www.stickycricket.com/aquarium/movies/ Some excellent movies of cuttlefish playing around in their aquarium.. with a great choice of sound tracks.. the fish from hell film is not to be missed either.. for a chance to see 1945 take on the octopus "this elephant spider from the
words NaNoWriMo Loser i managed 12,570 words this month, 1/4 of the required amount... rather ridiculous considering that technically i have had more free time this year than last year when i did the full thing.. i think the problem was being slow out of the starting blocks.. i had a
images image-less due to ridiculous amounts of largely unwelcome traffic from google image searches i have removed all the photo galleries from my site.. which is a bit sad and wasn't completely necessary because i could have just rejigged the locations so they weren't indexed but i got
psycho An Example of Knowledge Use The Big Book of Concepts but i still prefer taking a toddler to the zoo
bad midwife astrology fallacy i am sure you all recall the oft quoted 'fact' in arguments against astrology that the midwife exerts a greater gravitational force on your birth than all the planets out there. It's a lie! http://onemonkey.org/midwife.htmWell I did a few calculations and this
words words and worlds before the first of november this story did not exist.. and even now i have yet to write very much of it.. but in the short time i have been plotting it and in the few parts i have sketched out i have experienced something essential about it.. i have
words Bodidharma's Eyelids - Chapter 2 Chapter 2 London, Tuesday 17th December Doctor Whittard, the chief Librarian, was not a happy man. The biggest problem when running a government department that does not officially exist is the filling in of forms. Government runs on paperwork and in order to get anything done, the appropriate forms have
words Bodhidharma's Eyelids - Chapter 1 (cont.) He went to the fridge to replace the milk. On the third shelf was a single man's black leather shoe. It was a left shoe, it looked expensive and it had not been there this morning. Lipton knew without looking that it was size ten and a half.
