anamnesis

Or not! In the image above, squares A and B are exactly the same color and shade ! Yep, even on your monitor. Suspicious souls can download this little gidget called eyedropper . It's free and lets you sample color on the screen (useful for designing web pages and such if you want to match a particular color.) Or you can save yourself the time and take my word for it, cause I had to test it myself, and they really are the same. Imagine: if context can have such a powerful impact on physical perception with senses that are at least somewhat anchored in the physical world, what influence might it have on our thoughts which are much more abstract and free form? How we feel about what we are thinking now may be overshadowed by the thought that immediately preceded it, or by checkerboard associations the thought may trigger; more so than any intrinsic meaning of the thought itself, perhaps? How many times might we see A and B as completely different when they are exactly the same becau

Sometimes things just seem to click. Life, for a few moments or minutes, becomes effortless and the results are exceptional. It's almost as if we've found a hidden groove, that may have been there all along, and suddenly we are carried with the full force of the stream rather than paddling furiously against it. It's not just letting things happen, it's not forcing them to happen. I don't know what the heck it is, but I know what it feels like. So I was curious when Csikszentmihalyi came out with a study of this phenomenon in the 90's in a book he titled " Flow ." This was the first study, to my knowledge, that had ever tried to examine this curious phenomenon somewhat scientifically. And he had some thoughtful observations. It was a nice start, but didn't really capture it; he seemed more focused on a kindred, and much weaker sibling state, which was more related to becoming absorbed in a task. Which does make a task more pleasant, more focused and

Just a quick status post. Most of the northern clan are in various stages of recovery from a stomach flu that swarmed our wee tribe. It started with Sonic, moved on to me, then Brighteyes and finally even rolled over Mew (aka "immune system so strong it attacks squirrels in the backyard.") Big Turkey dinner (or food of any kind) is not high on most of our lists of desirables this week. Sonic devised the best strategy that has benefited the rest of us lemmings, which was hit it with pepto, follow-up with malox multi and swig gatorade. And sleep for 18 hours. Sonic is almost all back, I'm about 80-90%, Brighteyes is 60% and Mew is around 40%. Wishing everyone a good thanksgiving, I know we're all just happy this gunk is almost over.

Erg. Must. Start. Coffee. Wow, sore. Wonder if I can get up to 40 reps this week, though? What did that dream mean anyway? Forgot it now, need to write these down before I get up. Brighteyes and I snuck out at 2:00am last night to hit Denny's for pie; went to bed around 3:30. Before bed, I dinked around with a USB cable from my camera and plugged it into my cell phone for kicks. It worked! Not even a hint of smoke, cool. So I can change all the ring tones and wallpapers and stuff without having to buy them from t-mobile, sweet. Hmmm, it also runs Java apps? Spent about 30 minutes before I drifted off thinking about what kind of games would be fun to run on a cellphone? Came up with a few candidates. The more modern phones these days come with GPS chips; started brainstorming these urban assassin/zombie/body-snatcher type games where a circle of friends/classmates/etc either casually, or in some competition, would try to get the jump on each other. The program would know by the GPS

So, got a new job interview or out on that first date and want to make sure you make a good impression? Had a fight with your spouse? Need to make that next sale? I knew this would happen. Ever since they started discovering oxytocin's effects on the brain , it was a foregone conclusion ---it would be packaged, bottled and hyped--- Just a little surprised it took them so long. Well, the wait is over. And here ya go: Liquid Trust . Not a joke, not a scam, welcome to the first decade of the 21st century ---more thrills and spills to come. Now my question is this: since it will be affecting your little noggin as well, will you start trusting others reciprocally? Could this be a cool new strategy for crowd control? Cannisters spewing oxytocin and everybody just starts to get along?