Quick one: Humbug put together a periodic table of blogs that is a take off of the period table of elements in chemistry. Check out Brain Waves placement where chlorine would be. Looks like I missed being a noble gas by one electron.
Here are a few (non-neuro) things I thought were worth pointing out:
1. Amazing photo: The colors of Orion.
2. Social networking map of book purchases.
3. Socialtext is hiring (primary requirement: superhuman) So is Technorati!
4. Deflation: M3 money supply since September has fallen over two percent, its largest decline in 60 years.
5. Why you should trust Josh Wolfe's nanotech blog.
6. Harvard's Nicholas Carr supports Carlota Perez's, author of IT Doesn't Matter model of recurring 50 year cycles of techno-economic waves and socio-political responses. I use this model in my book to predict the next fifty years, the neurotechnology wave (2010-2060).
7. Get ready to donate your old glasses to Glasses For Humanity. In developing nations, one billion people—including many school-age children—do not have access to the prescription eyeglasses they need, and another 1.5 billion people do not have the reading glasses they need.
8. Magnatune: Artists get a full 50% of the purchase price. And unlike most record labels, our artists keep the rights to their music.
Whistler, Banff, Jackson Hole...couldn't hold a candle to Tahoe today. Two feet of fresh powder and a warm afternoon sun made for some of the best snow boarding I've ever experienced. Tons of freshies. Can't wait for sunrise at Sugar Bowl (Sugar's real-time snow cam, Tahoe SnoWeb info).
Here is an easy way to make a difference this holiday season. Campbell's is donating a can of soup to the needy for every person that goes to their site and votes for their favorite NFL team. Their goal is 5,000,000 cans. Go here to vote. It will only take a few seconds of your time to fill some empty tummies with warm soup this winter.
I'm not a big football fan, but this is a no brainer.
I rarely point out developments in so-called nutriceuticals (short for nutrition - not neuro as in neuroceuticals), but RU-21's alleged capability to reduce hangovers after moderate drinking is troubling because nutritional supplements do not have to be approved by the FDA.
Here is a classic example of the need to put nutriceuticals through a clinical trial process, legalize recreational drug development for non-addictive alternatives, or at least have some substantial research proving their efficacy from places like Rutger's Nutriceuticals Institute.
Apparently, RU-21 was created by the former KGB to keep its agents sober so that they could drink opponents under the table before stealing their secrets. Problem was, the KGB pill didn't stop drunkenness. Marketers in America claim that it has been clinically tested at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Apparently, it prevents the harmful effects of acetaldehyde which is produced when alcohol is consumed. (more facts on hangovers)
According to the Guardian, Hollywood actors are said to be fond of the fix, which enables them to make the most of comment board where people were describing their experience with it. Not very reassuring. I think I'll just stick with a glass of Lynch every once and a while. Why are we stuck with 4,000 year old tools anyway?
Update:a good link sent in by a Brain Waves subscriber on what really causes hangovers.
UCLA professor Bainbridge has some excellent suggestions on what wines to pair with your Thanksgiving feast.
Without realizing it, I blew past my 1st blogging birthday last month.
Here was my first post which is the question I continue to spend all my time contemplating.
A link to my first Corante posts covering the NBIC conference.
A link to my favorite post, Stretch Now! (thanks to Nick Shulz for reminding me.)
A happy bloggiversary to Steven Johnson who guest blogged on Brain Waves (here and here) on his soon to be released book, Mind Wide Open.
Lastly, thanks to Ross for getting me to blog in the first place.
So here is my bloggiversary gift to all of you: An AntCam from England and more amazing illusions courtesy of Akiyoshi Kitaoka in Japan.
IPass, provider of Internet connectivity services, went public today at $14/share nine years after it's founding. Massive congratulations to my brother Chris Lynch who was the first employee. A veteran of several technology start ups myself, I know how critical the first hire is in setting the tone, energy and momentum for the company's first few years. Apparently, Chris did his job well. Also a Happy Birthday to Chris Moore today, IPass' founder. I know what song they'll be playing a his birthday party tonight.....Prince's 1982 classic, 1999!
A bit of laughter today:
"I used to think that the brain was the most fascinating part of the body...then I realized 'look who's telling me that." - Emo Phillips (thanks Clay)
The Onion pokes fun at psychopharmaceuticals. Made me laugh.
Update: Baseball Osama? A definite giggle.
Last week comedian Ellen Degeneres, asked a packed crowd at Davies Symphony Hall, "How do lazy people work up the motivation to procrastinate?" ...And the crowd broke into hysterical laughter that literally stopped her show.
What is humor and how does laughter make us human? Steven Johnson tackles this important question in his second of two articles in April's Discover magazine. One fascinating fact he brings to light comes from the leading humor researcher, Robert Provine, who describes in his recent book Laughter that humans are 30 times more likely to laugh when you are with other people than when you are alone. So if you didn't laugh at Ellen's joke, try it with a larger group of people.
Laughter sits on the edge of primary and social emotions, a place where once your tummy is full and you don't have bodily needs, humans, especially the young, will engage in the type of vigorous social engagement that creates humor.
Some great minds over the ages have engaged the perplexing significance of laughter, including Freud in Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, Darwin in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, and more recently, Jared Diamond in Why is Sex Fun?
Recent neuroscientific research suggests that there might even be dedicated "play" circuitry in the brain equivalent to the more extensively studied fear and love circuits. Let's hope so, because just as advancing neurotechnology will enable us to down regulate fear it might just provide us with a safe and sane way to up regulate our potential for laughter. We could all sure use it.
In the meantime, try these outlets: Ellen's Random Thoughts, Laughing Yoga (great combo!), The Humor Project, daily humor emails, international humor blog, or if you really need it...hire a certified laughter leader.
Don't forget to check out the Top 100 April Fool's hoaxes of all time! It is April 1st after all :)
