Friday Open Thread

by In Wales Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 12:02:59 PM EST

It's Friday, people. Friday.

Friday Open Thread | 47 comments (47 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

I've said Friday so many times in my head I'm not even sure it is a real word anymore.

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 12:03:44 PM EST

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

I should be glad. I should. But I feel guilty because I haven't done an honest week's work.

Sick eh?

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 12:23:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

I haven't done one of those in so long I'm not sure how to do it anymore

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 03:38:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

Neurons can only fire a certain number of times before they close down for a rest. When that happens the word, in this case, doesn't exist (putting it simply.)

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 12:30:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 3)

it is fascinating how if you 'turn up the res' on a word, at a certain point the meaning goes, and it might as well be swahili.

you can refresh simply by defocussing or choosing another word.

regenerate, neurons!

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 12:36:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 6)

Yup.

My evidence free thesis is the process is why a session of mantra meditation, e.g., TM, invokes a sense of greater awareness and alertness. The brain essentially 'shuts down,' giving 20 minutes of recovery and rest for the little grey cells.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 12:51:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 3)

The inhibitory neurons need to replenish their supply of GABA - normally done as we sleep. Otherwise they can't inhibit. It may be that meditation kicks in short-term replenishment.

The distorted reality that comes about after 30 or more hours of forced wakefulness is due, possibly, to the inhibitory neurons running out of steam for their control of hallucinatory reality. I'm not sure that amphetamines over-ride a depleted inhibitory system - my experience of users of uppers (never touched the stuff myself) is that they are not seeing the world I'm seeing. But that's also true of Republicans, Conservatives and Totalitarians in general.

I may have stumbled on a shocking political fact: "It's the GABA, stupid!" (and other non-seccateurs) sic.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 01:12:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Mind the gap. (none / 0)

However, I realized, in a reflective moment over yuletide, that I'm not really interested in how the brain/mind works, but in how it doesn't work. It doesn't work, in one sense, when it can be fooled. It's the tiny exploitable gaps in the human sensory system that interest me.

It's a form of hacking.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 01:21:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Like this? (4.00 / 2)

From Patrick Le Lay, when he was CEO of TF1, number one commercial TV channel in France:

Patrick Le Lay - Wikipédia		Patrick Le Lay - Wikipedia
pour qu'un message publicitaire soit perçu, il faut que le cerveau du téléspectateur soit disponible. Nos émissions ont pour vocation de le rendre disponible : c'est-à-dire de le divertir, de le détendre pour le préparer entre deux messages. Ce que nous vendons à Coca-Cola, c'est du temps de cerveau humain disponible.		...for an advertising message to be perceived, the viewer's brain has to be available... What we sell to Coca-Cola is available human brain time.

;)

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 03:22:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Brain/Mind Hack (4.00 / 6)

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 03:56:17 PM EST
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Re: Brain/Mind Hack (none / 0)

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 04:13:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

amazing! I am into this big time these days. I am supplementing my diet in order to increase GABA and serotonin production. I can manage to deal with stress much better this way.

I have noticed that if you take care of your neurotransmitters, your neurotransmitters take care of you.

by stevesim on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 01:41:15 PM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

Take care of your amino acids and your amino acids will take care of you.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 03:48:51 PM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

Take care of your fat and your fat will take care of you.

by asdf on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 05:23:48 PM EST
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Hence the Ramones mantra (none / 0)

GABA GABA hey!

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 04:34:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Hence the Ramones mantra (none / 0)

Has to be said

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 04:38:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Different Gabba...... (4.00 / 3)

...but very much Hey!

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 05:50:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Different Gabba...... (none / 0)

Did somebody pay the bowler?

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Jan 5th, 2013 at 02:22:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 3)

Yup too.

Was thinking the same thing.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 01:14:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Example (4.00 / 8)

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 03:16:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The Kibbutz and East Prussia (4.00 / 2)

I'm reading Meron Benvenisti's new book (The dream of the white Sabra), and I cam across a passage on the kibbutz movement, where he claims that one of the founders, Arthur Ruppin, didn't invent anything original, but took all his ideas from the Prussian settlement movement in the East. I was aware of the similarities as far as marginalizing the native population etc went, but the idea that the social structure was taken from Prussian cooperatives was new to me. Does anybody have any references for this? Benvenisti claims that Ruppin was clear about this in his own writings but so far I haven't been able to find any of them.

by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 12:38:13 PM EST

Re: The Kibbutz and East Prussia (none / 0)

It's totally new to me. Also a settlement policy by Prussia; upon Googling, I find there was such a policy after a plague epidemic in the 18th century.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 04:20:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 13)

A late happy New Year to all.

I have been avoiding the internet and any news over the holidays and am wondering if I should continue doing it, as the news is just as bad as before.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 01:12:36 PM EST

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 4)

Happy new year. You've only just missed Izzy and Melanchthon.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 01:19:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

Well, that is good news. :-)

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 01:47:24 PM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

Happy new year Fran. There is good news out there somewhere, it is just harder to find.

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 01:30:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

Crumbs, just eaten chips and finished off with a chip butty. Carb overload and I can't keep aw....zzzzzzz

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 01:19:58 PM EST

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

Sushi lunch in town, but now feeling peckish again. Perhaps I shall throw a couple of fresh garlic parathas in a pan and think about a pickle to go with them.

I finally made it today to my fave ethnic shop district in lively Kallio (the most interesting part of Helsinki). So I'm fully stocked with 600 PG Tips pyramid bags that should last through any upcoming Siberian-cold snap or 5 metre snowdrifts. Marmite - check. Lentils - check. brown rice - check. Pickle assortment - check. Bring it on, Frostie!

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 01:29:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

Sven Triloqvist:

600 PG Tips pyramid bags

Beats my 300 or so. But less risk here from General Winter.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 02:39:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 03:18:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

And I put my little girl on a plane (none / 1)

this morning... into the Winter.... Lufthansa via Frankfurt to Turku. Waaaah.

Apparently it's a weak-tea winter in Finland, barely even sub-zero.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 04:40:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: And I put my little girl on a plane (none / 0)

OMT I forgot ...dash it. So did everything get organized? Do I need to send in the Åbo A-Team? Such as it is.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 05:16:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: And I put my little girl on a plane (none / 0)

Oh um you could send her a general "welcome to finland" email, that would be nice... if there are people to see in Turku, that too... invite her over for the weekend if you dare...

She's arrived, been greeted by her assigned buddy, and dumped at her new flat (with no food apparently), so all pretty much well so far.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 06:25:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

President Hugo Chavez (none / 1)

...is facing respiratory failure following a severe lung infection after surgery for the third time.

"Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne

by maracatu on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 02:34:08 PM EST

Re: President Hugo Chavez (none / 0)

Yes, it sounds like the end.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 02:39:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Well, he has to die of something. (none / 0)

But I'm so glad it wasn't cancer after all.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 04:37:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: President Hugo Chavez (none / 0)

He's been in an induced coma for some time, hasn't he?

Now, what are they going to do about him dying before being sworn into office after the presidential election?

I distribute. You re-distribute. He gives your hard-earned money to lazy scroungers. -- JakeS

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 05:05:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Time versus Output (none / 0)

Have spent the last two doing research so I could scrag ten pages, write three paragraphs and rough outline another seven paragraphs.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

BUT I think I'm on the home stretch.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 03:42:57 PM EST

"This is the home stretch..." (4.00 / 2)

As the Inquisitors used to say as they ordered another capstan rod to be inserted into the rack.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 05:19:43 PM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

Has anyone else here seen the documentary Searching for Sugar Man? Or heard of Sixto Rodriguez before?

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 04:22:39 PM EST

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

Haven't seen it, but friends have been talking about him since he played Frisco a few months ago. I've not heard the music yet, but he's much easier to find.

The film premiered warmly at Sundance last year.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 05:11:04 PM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

forgot, have you seen it?

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 05:11:27 PM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

Yes, twice already. Highly recommended, especially for you!

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 05:46:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

Haven't seen it. DVD will be released on the 22nd here in the states, have to wait till sometime after that to pick up a copy.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Fri Jan 4th, 2013 at 07:34:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]