21 Dec 07 Nosy, much?
Um, who is Jamie Lynn Spears, and why does anyone care that she’s pregnant?
Tags: celebrity gossip, news
16 Oct 07 Truffled
Funny quote for today: “Staff said he was observed ‘handling truffles in a suspicious manner.’” (#)
22 Aug 07 Offline
I’ve been offline since Sunday evening, due to another fried DSL modem, courtesy of a local lightning strike. So, I just quickly scanned through nearly 600 new items in Google Reader. Anything longer than 3 lines didn’t even get more than a glimpse, and almost everything shorter then 3 lines simply got marked as read and shuffled on. Basically, I was looking for headlines from specific blogs of interest.
So. Did I miss anything of import the last couple of days?
Tags: blogs, dsl, news, Technology, weather
05 Jun 06 Intermittent Explosions
Study says millions have ‘rage’ disorder
There comes a point when even I think psychology and science end up just looking plain, down-right ridiculous. If you explode in a rage at seemingly random intervals, don’t look to your own attitude for a fix. Look to your physiology. Or at least that’s what a recent scientific study is saying. According to this study, an imbalance in the neurotransmitters in your brain can cause periodic explosive bouts of rage and anger, exhibited in such instances as road rage and spousal abuse.
Here’s what really grinds me – every single time we notice a particular trend in our culture, a phenomenon that hits the national radar, scientists want to find a cause for this behavior. They set up studies, they record observations, and they issue reports. And time and again we hear the same thing – it’s not your fault that you’re fat or angry or depressed, etc. It’s an imbalance in the chemicals in your brain throwing off your psychosocial equilibrium.
This is all well and good, I suppose – there are legitimate cases of chemical imbalances that cause antisocial behavior. But what these studies fail to mention is that just because an imbalance has been observed does not necessarily mean a cause-effect relationship. Typically, the relationship is merely correlational – when antisocial behavior occurs, there is an imbalance in neurological chemicals, but it is exceptionally difficult to determine which caused which. Did the imbalance cause the behavior? Or did the behavior cause the imbalance? The human brain is so complex that we still don’t really know how it works. Here’s a bit of trivia for you – we dispense many different kinds of drugs for various psychological disorders, yet we still don’t really know how they work. We just know that they do.
Here’s something else for you to chew on – many antisocial behaviors can be corrected through the use of counseling, through mentoring and coaching an individual and urging them toward a general chance in attitude. Change the heart and mind of a man and you change his behavior. (There’s a reason why Christianity applied correctly has the power to drastically alter a person for the better.)
I suppose I’m simply tired of scientists – men and women who are educated and knowledgeable – trying to constantly justify poor human behavior by finding some genetic or physiological cause. I believe in accountability and personal responsibility, and I also believe that, by and large, the primary reason why we have seen an increase in anger, rage, and a whole host of other negative behaviors is because we no longer hold people accountable. There is no longer any desire to urge one another a higher standard of living because to do so would be ‘intolerant’ and unacceptable. It would be rude and inconsiderate to expect anyone to live their lives other than the way they want to, even if that way is self-destructive and even dangerous (or simply rude) to others.
We live in a time of ridiculous behaviors and even more ridiculous philosophies, a time when all people are simply children and juveniles because no one actually has to grow up, be mature, or take responsibility. Anything goes, and apparently most of us are alright with that because we don’t say anything to change the status quo.
Simply ridiculous.
Tags: counseling, human-behavior, news, physiology, psychology, Science
10 Mar 06 Water = Life?
Saturn’s watery moon could harbour life
So, Saturn’s little moon Enceladus apparently has liquid water, which naturally has generated quite a lot of buzz in the scientific community, since the existence of liquid begets at least the possibility of life on that moon. This is yet another of those times when you wish you get an actual, live person on a ship out there to take a closer look. The question of the day right now seems to be what heat source is available to prevent the water from freezing.
The question I have, though, is this – does the existence of liquid water necessarily beget the existence of life? Probably not, though it does at least raise the possibility that it could be so. Perhaps only time will truly tell, and if life is discovered, I suspect it will be microscopic.
Related Articles:
Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Life, Not On Earth
10 Mar 06 Classical Abuse
Group Thinks Classical Music Will Deter Hartford Crime
I knew that a lot of people today dislike classical music, but I had no idea just how much until now. It seems that a community in Hartfort, CT, are starting to play Classical music in a park after dark to deter unsavory types from loitering there. The hope is that the music will be annoying enough to chase these individuals away. And from what I understand, a community in West Palm Beach, FL, is already an example of success with this approach.
Point 1 – kudos to these people for finding a solution that works. Point 2 – it actually kind of stinks, though, some of my favorite music can also be used as a negative stimulus. Both Pavlov and Beethoven must be rolling over in their graves right now. This is definitely not facilitating the appreciation of fine art, is it?
Tags: classical-music, music, news, politics, psychology, The Arts
17 Jan 06 Inform Yourself
It aggravates me when I hear people talk who clearly have no idea what they are talking about. There have been a number of topics in the news lately that I have wanted to comment on but simply won’t because I know I don’t have the whole picture. For instance, there has been a lot of outrage over Bush’s use of wiretaps in his pursuit of national security. A lot of people are up in arms about it, calling for his impeachment (as if that’s unusual; apparently, impeachment is the answer for everything) and calling his term the worst in history. First of all, that sort of rhetoric is becoming very old and tired; we hear it with every single president. Secondly, there are places where wiretapping without warrants is illegal, but I have to wonder if Bush isn’t within his rights to do what he’s doing. I honestly can’t comment at any great length because I don’t have enough information about the situation to say anything. I can only point out the fact that I can see both sides of the issue, and frankly, I’m not terribly worried.
Another example—the Colts lost their first and only playoff game this past weekend, after running a regular season record of 14-2, with a 13-game winning streak to start out. A lot of Indianapolis locals are calling for a change of coaching staff and possibly even some of the starting lineup. I watch just enough football to know that I enjoy it more than I used to and that I back the Colts; they’re a great team. I don’t know enough to know what the cause for Sunday’s abysmal performance was. Personally, I think they just choked under the pressure, but again, there are a lot of logistics to the game about which I am unaware. And so I reserve my opinion for now, until that point when I opt to take the time to educate and inform myself further. At the very least, this is likely the last and only time my opinion on these two examples will ever be heard.
I wish more of our leaders would do the same. I watch political and religious leaders alike make these horribly inaccurate statements, saying things that make them and the organizations they represent look like a collection of fools. Knee-jerk reactions are evermore becoming the rule, as people race to voice their opinions, to turn the cameras and the lights onto themselves, rather than patiently waiting for more information before forming opinions and declaring them. Apparently, everyone’s in a big rush to get things done, to make themselves look good, that the quality of work is negligible—no one knows what it means to be patient or to exercise wisdom, and I think that is terribly unfortunate. I just wish more people would take more time to inform themselves before firing off ridiculous statements that anyone can see are painfully inaccurate.
Tags: colts, football, george-w.-bush, impeachment, news, politics, Sports
