http://www.shirky.com/
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/43565-here-comes-clay-shirky.html
... if we don’t create a culture that celebrates the creation of that kind of civic value, all we get is communal value, like groups of people that band together for self-amusement: “you like Harry Potter, I like Harry Potter.” When people have the guts to act on their convictions in ways that are tough for them, like the people on PatientsLikeMe, saying, “I’m manic-depressive. These are the drugs I’m taking; these are the ones that are working,” they defy the current medical culture that says, “Whatever you do, don’t tell anyone.” This is the conversation I’m most interested in having. That’s the thing I care most about. If we don’t celebrate civic value, we underuse the medium.
29 January 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque
Beginning around the year 1600, the demands for new art resulted in what is now known as the Baroque. The canon promulgated... by demanding that paintings and sculptures in church contexts should speak to the illiterate rather than to the well-informed, is customarily offered[weasel words] as an inspiration of the Baroque, which appeared, however, a generation later.
The appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, and dramatic. Baroque art drew on certain broad and heroic tendencies in Annibale Carracci and his circle, and found inspiration in other artists such as Caravaggio, and Federico Barocci nowadays sometimes termed 'proto-Baroque'.
Seminal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of Michelangelo and Correggio.
Beginning around the year 1600, the demands for new art resulted in what is now known as the Baroque. The canon promulgated... by demanding that paintings and sculptures in church contexts should speak to the illiterate rather than to the well-informed, is customarily offered[weasel words] as an inspiration of the Baroque, which appeared, however, a generation later.
The appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, and dramatic. Baroque art drew on certain broad and heroic tendencies in Annibale Carracci and his circle, and found inspiration in other artists such as Caravaggio, and Federico Barocci nowadays sometimes termed 'proto-Baroque'.
Seminal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of Michelangelo and Correggio.
27 January 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lofoten
Lofoten (Norse Lófót f) was originally the old name of the island Vestvågøya. The first element is ló 'lynx', the last element is derived from Norse fótr m 'foot'. The shape of the island must have been compared with a foot of a lynx.
Lofotr was originally the name of the island of Vestvågøy only. Later it became the name of the chain of islands. The chain of islands with its pointed peaks looks like a lynx foot from the mainland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofoten
The district is named after Ofotfjord (Norse Ófóti). The meaning of the first element is unknown, the last element is derived from Norse fótr m 'foot'. (See also Lofoten.)
(The oldest form of the name could have been *Úffóti, and the first element is thus úfr m 'Eurasian Eagle-owl'. The three inner branches of the Ofotfjord might have been compared with the three claws of an owl.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narvik
Narvik was originally called Victoriahavn after the Queen Victoria of England, however Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria was also honoured.
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 1 June 1951. The arms show a gold-colored anchor on a red background. The anchor symbolizes Narvik's status as an important port (the largest harbour in North Norway).
The history of Narvik as a settlement began in the Stone Age. Not very much is known about these people, but the Vikings lived in this area.
The history of modern Narvik begins in the 1870s, when the Swedish government began to understand the potential of the iron ore mines in Kiruna, Sweden. Obtaining iron ore from Kiruna had one significant problem in that there was no suitable Swedish port... Realizing these problems, a Swedish company built a railway to Narvik, as the port there is ice-free thanks to the warm Gulf Stream, and is naturally large, allowing boats of virtually any size to anchor...
Novatind (Churchill)
WINSTON CHURCHILL quotes:
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.
Success is never final.
Statistics are like a drunk with a lamppost: used more for support than illumination.
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.
It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Lofoten (Norse Lófót f) was originally the old name of the island Vestvågøya. The first element is ló 'lynx', the last element is derived from Norse fótr m 'foot'. The shape of the island must have been compared with a foot of a lynx.
Lofotr was originally the name of the island of Vestvågøy only. Later it became the name of the chain of islands. The chain of islands with its pointed peaks looks like a lynx foot from the mainland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofoten
The district is named after Ofotfjord (Norse Ófóti). The meaning of the first element is unknown, the last element is derived from Norse fótr m 'foot'. (See also Lofoten.)
(The oldest form of the name could have been *Úffóti, and the first element is thus úfr m 'Eurasian Eagle-owl'. The three inner branches of the Ofotfjord might have been compared with the three claws of an owl.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narvik
Narvik was originally called Victoriahavn after the Queen Victoria of England, however Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria was also honoured.
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 1 June 1951. The arms show a gold-colored anchor on a red background. The anchor symbolizes Narvik's status as an important port (the largest harbour in North Norway).
The history of Narvik as a settlement began in the Stone Age. Not very much is known about these people, but the Vikings lived in this area.
The history of modern Narvik begins in the 1870s, when the Swedish government began to understand the potential of the iron ore mines in Kiruna, Sweden. Obtaining iron ore from Kiruna had one significant problem in that there was no suitable Swedish port... Realizing these problems, a Swedish company built a railway to Narvik, as the port there is ice-free thanks to the warm Gulf Stream, and is naturally large, allowing boats of virtually any size to anchor...
Novatind (Churchill)
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.
Success is never final.
Statistics are like a drunk with a lamppost: used more for support than illumination.
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.
It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
16 January 2011
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/carol-vorderman-when-x--y--z-the-goddess-algebra-smiles-and-i-worship-her-2185633.html
The story begins in AD830. The place: The House of Wisdom, Baghdad, Persia in the Islamic Golden Age.
The essence of algebra is solving or "reducing" equations to their simplest form. Taking away the confusion and the noise, and making sense of it all. To do that, we have to find specific methods. These methods are known as algorithms – the Latin and English corruption of al-Khwarizmi's name. You can try to solve algebraic equations in different ways. Guessing at solutions, for instance, is one way...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Picture_Show
Billy (Sam Bottoms), another of the town's innocents protected over the years by Sam the Lion, is run over and killed as he sweeps the street.
HE WAS SWEEPING FOR GOD'S SAKE – he was sweeping.
Sonny flees back to Ruth, whom he has been ignoring since Jacy stole him away months earlier. Her first reaction is to show her hurt and anger, then the two slip into a haunting, beatific calm in her familiar kitchen. She tells him, "Never you mind, honey, never you mind."
http://www.bookforum.com/booklist/3925
While there are countless autobiographies by writers who have lost their sanity, memoirs of schizophrenia are a rarer breed. In moments of florid psychosis, schizophrenics can become so self-conscious about how they use words that they lose the ability to communicate. Everyday phrases seem unfamiliar, threatening, or absurd.
The story begins in AD830. The place: The House of Wisdom, Baghdad, Persia in the Islamic Golden Age.
The essence of algebra is solving or "reducing" equations to their simplest form. Taking away the confusion and the noise, and making sense of it all. To do that, we have to find specific methods. These methods are known as algorithms – the Latin and English corruption of al-Khwarizmi's name. You can try to solve algebraic equations in different ways. Guessing at solutions, for instance, is one way...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Picture_Show
Billy (Sam Bottoms), another of the town's innocents protected over the years by Sam the Lion, is run over and killed as he sweeps the street.
HE WAS SWEEPING FOR GOD'S SAKE – he was sweeping.
Sonny flees back to Ruth, whom he has been ignoring since Jacy stole him away months earlier. Her first reaction is to show her hurt and anger, then the two slip into a haunting, beatific calm in her familiar kitchen. She tells him, "Never you mind, honey, never you mind."
http://www.bookforum.com/booklist/3925
While there are countless autobiographies by writers who have lost their sanity, memoirs of schizophrenia are a rarer breed. In moments of florid psychosis, schizophrenics can become so self-conscious about how they use words that they lose the ability to communicate. Everyday phrases seem unfamiliar, threatening, or absurd.
15 January 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Brett
He wanted to be the best Sherlock Holmes the world had ever seen.[6] He conducted extensive research on the great detective and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, and was very attentive to discrepancies between the scripts he had been given and Conan Doyle's original stories.[7] One of Brett's dearest possessions on the set was his 77-page "Baker Street File" on everything from Holmes' mannerisms to his eating and drinking habits. Brett once explained that "some actors are becomers — they try to become their characters. When it works, the actor is like a sponge, squeezing himself dry to remove his own personality, then absorbing the character's like a liquid".[8]
Brett was obsessed with bringing more passion to the role of Holmes. He introduced Holmes' rather eccentric hand gestures and short violent laughter. He would hurl himself on the ground just to look for a footprint, he would leap over furniture or jump on the parapet of a bridge with no regard for his own personal safety.
Holmes' obsessive and depressive personality fascinated and frightened Brett. In many ways Holmes' personality resembled Brett's own, with outbursts of passionate energy followed by periods of lethargy. It became difficult for Brett to let go of Holmes after work. He had always been told that the only way for an actor to stay sane was for him to leave his part behind at the end of the day, but Jeremy started dreaming about Holmes, and the dreams turned into nightmares.[9] Brett began to refer to Sherlock Holmes as "You Know Who" or simply "HIM": "Watson describes You Know Who as a mind without a heart, which is hard to play. Hard to become. So what I have done is invent an inner life".[10] Brett invented an imaginary life of Holmes to fill the hollowness of Holmes' "missing heart", his empty emotional life. He imagined :"...what You Know Who's nanny looked like. She was covered in starch. I don't think he saw his mother until he was about eight years old..." etc.[10] While the other actors disappeared to the canteen for lunch, Brett would sit alone on the set reading the script, looking at every nuance,[11] reading Holmes in the weekends and on his holidays. "Some actors fear if they play Sherlock Holmes for a very long run the character will steal their soul, leave no corner for the original inhabitant", he once said.[12] It never occurred to him that he was ill.
... Brett struggled with filming the third Granada series, The Return of Sherlock Holmes in late 1985. On the set it was noticed that his manic episodes, his excessive changes of mood, were getting worse and eventually grief and workload became too much; he had a breakdown, was hospitalised and diagnosed manic-depressive.
Jeremy Brett was given lithium tablets to fight his manic depression. He knew that he would never be cured; he had to live with his condition, look for the signs of his disorder and then deal with it.[18] He wanted to go back to work, to play Holmes again. The first episode to be produced after his discharge was a two-hour adaption of The Sign of the Four. From then on the difference in Brett's appearance slowly became more noticeable as the series developed. One of the side effects of the lithium tablets was fluid retention. Brett began to look and act differently. The drugs were slowing him down; he was putting on weight and retaining water.
... During the last decade of his life, Brett was treated in hospital several times for his mental illness, and his health and appearance visibly deteriorated by the time he completed the later episodes of the Sherlock Holmes series. During his later years, he discussed the illness candidly, encouraging people to recognise its symptoms and seek help.
"Holmes is the hardest part I have ever played — harder than Hamlet or Macbeth. Holmes has become the dark side of the moon for me. He is moody and solitary and underneath I am really sociable and gregarious. It has all got too dangerous".
http://www.brettish.com/jeremybrett-faq.html
http://www.deanradin.com/
He wanted to be the best Sherlock Holmes the world had ever seen.[6] He conducted extensive research on the great detective and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, and was very attentive to discrepancies between the scripts he had been given and Conan Doyle's original stories.[7] One of Brett's dearest possessions on the set was his 77-page "Baker Street File" on everything from Holmes' mannerisms to his eating and drinking habits. Brett once explained that "some actors are becomers — they try to become their characters. When it works, the actor is like a sponge, squeezing himself dry to remove his own personality, then absorbing the character's like a liquid".[8]
Brett was obsessed with bringing more passion to the role of Holmes. He introduced Holmes' rather eccentric hand gestures and short violent laughter. He would hurl himself on the ground just to look for a footprint, he would leap over furniture or jump on the parapet of a bridge with no regard for his own personal safety.
Holmes' obsessive and depressive personality fascinated and frightened Brett. In many ways Holmes' personality resembled Brett's own, with outbursts of passionate energy followed by periods of lethargy. It became difficult for Brett to let go of Holmes after work. He had always been told that the only way for an actor to stay sane was for him to leave his part behind at the end of the day, but Jeremy started dreaming about Holmes, and the dreams turned into nightmares.[9] Brett began to refer to Sherlock Holmes as "You Know Who" or simply "HIM": "Watson describes You Know Who as a mind without a heart, which is hard to play. Hard to become. So what I have done is invent an inner life".[10] Brett invented an imaginary life of Holmes to fill the hollowness of Holmes' "missing heart", his empty emotional life. He imagined :"...what You Know Who's nanny looked like. She was covered in starch. I don't think he saw his mother until he was about eight years old..." etc.[10] While the other actors disappeared to the canteen for lunch, Brett would sit alone on the set reading the script, looking at every nuance,[11] reading Holmes in the weekends and on his holidays. "Some actors fear if they play Sherlock Holmes for a very long run the character will steal their soul, leave no corner for the original inhabitant", he once said.[12] It never occurred to him that he was ill.
... Brett struggled with filming the third Granada series, The Return of Sherlock Holmes in late 1985. On the set it was noticed that his manic episodes, his excessive changes of mood, were getting worse and eventually grief and workload became too much; he had a breakdown, was hospitalised and diagnosed manic-depressive.
Jeremy Brett was given lithium tablets to fight his manic depression. He knew that he would never be cured; he had to live with his condition, look for the signs of his disorder and then deal with it.[18] He wanted to go back to work, to play Holmes again. The first episode to be produced after his discharge was a two-hour adaption of The Sign of the Four. From then on the difference in Brett's appearance slowly became more noticeable as the series developed. One of the side effects of the lithium tablets was fluid retention. Brett began to look and act differently. The drugs were slowing him down; he was putting on weight and retaining water.
... During the last decade of his life, Brett was treated in hospital several times for his mental illness, and his health and appearance visibly deteriorated by the time he completed the later episodes of the Sherlock Holmes series. During his later years, he discussed the illness candidly, encouraging people to recognise its symptoms and seek help.
"Holmes is the hardest part I have ever played — harder than Hamlet or Macbeth. Holmes has become the dark side of the moon for me. He is moody and solitary and underneath I am really sociable and gregarious. It has all got too dangerous".
http://www.brettish.com/jeremybrett-faq.html
http://www.deanradin.com/
14 January 2011
http://stp.lingfil.uu.se/~nivre/sps/sigerson.html
In the case EMPT we hear of a remarkable man named Sigerson, who is usually identified as none other than the Great Detective himself. Thus, Philip Weller in Alphabetically, My Dear Watson has the following entry for "Sigerson": "The name of a well-known traveller which was revealed to have been the alias of Holmes for at least part of his travels during The Great Hiatus."
... Let us begin by examining the one passage in the Canon where Sigerson’s name is mentioned. It is where Holmes says to Watson: "You may have read of the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure that it never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your friend." [EMPT 488] First of all, we may note that Holmes never says that he and Sigerson is the same person. Moreover, the phrase "you were receiving news from your friend" can be interpreted to mean that the written accounts of Sigerson’s explorations somehow conveyed information about Holmes’s own travels. This could happen, for example, if Holmes and Sigerson met in Asia, perhaps even travelled together, but at least exchanged information.
If we admit the possibility that Sigerson was not identical with Holmes, then we must look for another historical person who might fit the description of the Norwegian explorer. It appears that there is really only one plausible candidate: Sven Hedin. The fact that Sigerson is said to be Norwegian whereas Hedin was Swedish is easily explained by the fact that Sweden and Norway was at this time a united kingdom (the ruler of which is referred to several times in the Canon as "the King of Scandinavia"; e. g., SCAN 166).
... The main argument against the theory that Holmes and Hedin travelled together is the chronological inconsistencies that this theory gives rise to. As mentioned above, Hedin started his expedition in the autumn of 1893 and did not reach Asia until little before Christmas that year. On the other hand, we know that Holmes left Switzerland in May 1891 and, according to his statement to Dr Watson in EMPT, "… travelled for two years in Tibet …". He "… then passed through Persia, looked in at Mecca, and paid a short but interesting visit to the Khalifa at Khartoum …". Finally, he "…spent some months … in a laboratory at Montpellier…". [EMPT 488
... We have no answer to this question for the moment, but it is worth pointing out that the explanation could have something to do with connections to the King of Scandinavia, i. e. the King of the United Kingdom of Sweden and Norway, Oscar II. We know that Sherlock Holmes had rendered services of a confidential nature to the king. [NOBL 291] And we also know that Sven Hedin was a close personal friend of the king, with whom he corresponded during all his journeys.10 It is therefore possible that Holmes and Hedin had met earlier than 1893 through their connections with Oscar II, and that Dr Watson’s reason for concealing Sven Hedin’s real name in EMPT may have had something to do with these connections. Whether this is the correct explanation will perhaps be revealed as we proceed to investigate Sherlock Holmes’s services to the King of Scandinavia, but this must surely be the topic of another article.
http://webpages.charter.net/lklinger/empt.htm
THE ADVENTURE OF THE EMPTY HOUSE by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/the-anosognosics-dilemma-1/
It’s knowing that there are things you don’t know that you don’t know.
Breton and Aragon quoted a 1913 monograph of Babinski’s with great approval.
We surrealists insist on celebrating the 50th anniversary of hysteria, the greatest poetic discovery of the latter 19th century . . . M. Babinski, the most intelligent man who has tackled this question, dared to publish in 1913 the following: “When an emotion is sincere and profound, and it stirs the human soul, there is no room for hysteria.” And in that we have the best so far that we have been given to learn.
In “The Surrealist Manifesto,” Breton writes, If in a cluster of grapes there are no two alike, why do you want me to describe this grape by the other, by all the others . . . ? Our brains are dulled by the incurable mania of wanting to make the unknown known, classifiable . . . It is pointless to add that experience itself has found itself increasingly circumscribed. It paces back and forth in a cage from which it is more and more difficult to make it emerge . . . Forbidden is any kind of search for truth that is not in conformance with accepted practices . . .
Both Babinski and the Surrealists shared a common concern — an obsession with consciousness, the nature of the ineffable and “the incurable mania” of trying to classify the unknown.
...
Ramachandran has used the notion of layered belief — the idea that some part of the brain can believe something and some other part of the brain can believe the opposite (or deny that belief) — to help explain anosognosia. In a 1996 paper [54], he speculated that the left and right hemispheres react differently when they are confronted with unexpected information. The left brain seeks to maintain continuity of belief, using denial, rationalization, confabulation and other tricks to keep one’s mental model of the world intact; the right brain, the “anomaly detector” or “devil’s advocate,” picks up on inconsistencies and challenges the left brain’s model in turn. When the right brain’s ability to detect anomalies and challenge the left is somehow damaged or lost (e.g., from a stroke), anosognosia results.
In Ramachandran’s account, then, we are treated to the spectacle of different parts of the brain — perhaps even different selves — arguing with one another.
We are overshadowed by a nimbus of ideas. There is our physical reality and then there is our conception of ourselves, our conception of self — one that is as powerful as, perhaps even more powerful than, the physical reality we inhabit. A version of self that can survive even the greatest bodily tragedies. We are creatures of our beliefs. This is at the heart of Ramachandran’s ideas about anosognosia — that the preservation of our fantasy selves demands that we often must deny our physical reality. Self-deception is not enough. Something stronger is needed. Confabulation triumphs over organic disease. The hemiplegiac’s anosognosia is a stark example, but we all engage in the same basic process. But what are we to make of this? Is the glass half-full or half-empty? For Dunning, anosognosia masks our incompetence; for Ramachandran, it makes existence palatable, perhaps even possible.
In the case EMPT we hear of a remarkable man named Sigerson, who is usually identified as none other than the Great Detective himself. Thus, Philip Weller in Alphabetically, My Dear Watson has the following entry for "Sigerson": "The name of a well-known traveller which was revealed to have been the alias of Holmes for at least part of his travels during The Great Hiatus."
... Let us begin by examining the one passage in the Canon where Sigerson’s name is mentioned. It is where Holmes says to Watson: "You may have read of the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure that it never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your friend." [EMPT 488] First of all, we may note that Holmes never says that he and Sigerson is the same person. Moreover, the phrase "you were receiving news from your friend" can be interpreted to mean that the written accounts of Sigerson’s explorations somehow conveyed information about Holmes’s own travels. This could happen, for example, if Holmes and Sigerson met in Asia, perhaps even travelled together, but at least exchanged information.
If we admit the possibility that Sigerson was not identical with Holmes, then we must look for another historical person who might fit the description of the Norwegian explorer. It appears that there is really only one plausible candidate: Sven Hedin. The fact that Sigerson is said to be Norwegian whereas Hedin was Swedish is easily explained by the fact that Sweden and Norway was at this time a united kingdom (the ruler of which is referred to several times in the Canon as "the King of Scandinavia"; e. g., SCAN 166).
... The main argument against the theory that Holmes and Hedin travelled together is the chronological inconsistencies that this theory gives rise to. As mentioned above, Hedin started his expedition in the autumn of 1893 and did not reach Asia until little before Christmas that year. On the other hand, we know that Holmes left Switzerland in May 1891 and, according to his statement to Dr Watson in EMPT, "… travelled for two years in Tibet …". He "… then passed through Persia, looked in at Mecca, and paid a short but interesting visit to the Khalifa at Khartoum …". Finally, he "…spent some months … in a laboratory at Montpellier…". [EMPT 488
... We have no answer to this question for the moment, but it is worth pointing out that the explanation could have something to do with connections to the King of Scandinavia, i. e. the King of the United Kingdom of Sweden and Norway, Oscar II. We know that Sherlock Holmes had rendered services of a confidential nature to the king. [NOBL 291] And we also know that Sven Hedin was a close personal friend of the king, with whom he corresponded during all his journeys.10 It is therefore possible that Holmes and Hedin had met earlier than 1893 through their connections with Oscar II, and that Dr Watson’s reason for concealing Sven Hedin’s real name in EMPT may have had something to do with these connections. Whether this is the correct explanation will perhaps be revealed as we proceed to investigate Sherlock Holmes’s services to the King of Scandinavia, but this must surely be the topic of another article.
http://webpages.charter.net/lklinger/empt.htm
THE ADVENTURE OF THE EMPTY HOUSE by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/the-anosognosics-dilemma-1/
It’s knowing that there are things you don’t know that you don’t know.
Breton and Aragon quoted a 1913 monograph of Babinski’s with great approval.
We surrealists insist on celebrating the 50th anniversary of hysteria, the greatest poetic discovery of the latter 19th century . . . M. Babinski, the most intelligent man who has tackled this question, dared to publish in 1913 the following: “When an emotion is sincere and profound, and it stirs the human soul, there is no room for hysteria.” And in that we have the best so far that we have been given to learn.
In “The Surrealist Manifesto,” Breton writes, If in a cluster of grapes there are no two alike, why do you want me to describe this grape by the other, by all the others . . . ? Our brains are dulled by the incurable mania of wanting to make the unknown known, classifiable . . . It is pointless to add that experience itself has found itself increasingly circumscribed. It paces back and forth in a cage from which it is more and more difficult to make it emerge . . . Forbidden is any kind of search for truth that is not in conformance with accepted practices . . .
Both Babinski and the Surrealists shared a common concern — an obsession with consciousness, the nature of the ineffable and “the incurable mania” of trying to classify the unknown.
...
Ramachandran has used the notion of layered belief — the idea that some part of the brain can believe something and some other part of the brain can believe the opposite (or deny that belief) — to help explain anosognosia. In a 1996 paper [54], he speculated that the left and right hemispheres react differently when they are confronted with unexpected information. The left brain seeks to maintain continuity of belief, using denial, rationalization, confabulation and other tricks to keep one’s mental model of the world intact; the right brain, the “anomaly detector” or “devil’s advocate,” picks up on inconsistencies and challenges the left brain’s model in turn. When the right brain’s ability to detect anomalies and challenge the left is somehow damaged or lost (e.g., from a stroke), anosognosia results.
In Ramachandran’s account, then, we are treated to the spectacle of different parts of the brain — perhaps even different selves — arguing with one another.
We are overshadowed by a nimbus of ideas. There is our physical reality and then there is our conception of ourselves, our conception of self — one that is as powerful as, perhaps even more powerful than, the physical reality we inhabit. A version of self that can survive even the greatest bodily tragedies. We are creatures of our beliefs. This is at the heart of Ramachandran’s ideas about anosognosia — that the preservation of our fantasy selves demands that we often must deny our physical reality. Self-deception is not enough. Something stronger is needed. Confabulation triumphs over organic disease. The hemiplegiac’s anosognosia is a stark example, but we all engage in the same basic process. But what are we to make of this? Is the glass half-full or half-empty? For Dunning, anosognosia masks our incompetence; for Ramachandran, it makes existence palatable, perhaps even possible.
13 January 2011
http://deoxy.org/egofalse.htm From Beyond the Frontier of the Mind by Osho
... The real can be known only through the false, so the ego is a must. One has to pass through it. It is a discipline. The real can be known only through the illusion. You cannot know the truth directly. First you have to know that which is not true. First you have to encounter the untrue. Through that encounter you become capable of knowing the truth. If you know the false as the false, truth will dawn upon you.
... And remember, there is going to be an interim period, an interval, when the ego will be shattered, when you will not know who you are, when you will not know where you are going, when all boundaries will melt.
You will simply be confused, a chaos.
Because of this chaos, you are afraid to lose the ego. But it has to be so. One has to pass through the chaos before one attains to the real center.
... It is just like going to a forest. You make a little clearing, you clear a little ground; you make fencing, you make a small hut; you make a small garden, a lawn, and you are okay. Beyond your fence - the forest, the wild. Here everything is okay; you have planned everything. This is how it has happened... And then you become afraid. Beyond the fence there is danger.
... Beyond the fence you are, as within the fence you are - and your conscious mind is just one part, one-tenth of your whole being. Nine-tenths is waiting in the darkness. And in that nine-tenths, somewhere your real center is hidden.
... Ego is a need; it is a social need, it is a social by-product. The society means all that is around you - not you, but all that is around you. All, minus you, is the society. And everybody reflects.
Whenever you suffer, just try to watch and analyze, and you will find, somewhere the ego is the cause of it. And the ego goes on finding causes to suffer.
This ego comes continuously in conflict with others because every ego is so unconfident about itself. Is has to be - it is a false thing...It happened that one Zen master was passing through a street. A man came running and hit him hard. The master fell down. Then he got up and started to walk in the same direction in which he was going before, not even looking back.
A disciple was with the master. He was simply shocked. He said, "Who is this man? What is this? If one lives in such a way, then anybody can come and kill you. And you have not even looked at that person, who he is, and why he did it."
The master said, "That is his problem, not mine."
... Whatsoever you do - humbleness, humility, simplicity - nothing will help. Only one thing is possible, and that is just to watch and see that it is the source of all misery. Don't say it. Don't repeat it - WATCH. Because if I say it is the source of all misery and you repeat it, then it is useless. YOU have to come to that understanding. Whenever you are miserable, just close the eyes and don't try to find some cause outside. Try to see from where this misery is coming.
... You have not done anything so you cannot claim that you have dropped it. You see that it has simply disappeared, and then the real center arises.
And that real center is the soul, the self, the god, the truth, or whatsoever you want to call it.
It is nameless, so all names are good.
You can give it any name of your own liking.
... The real can be known only through the false, so the ego is a must. One has to pass through it. It is a discipline. The real can be known only through the illusion. You cannot know the truth directly. First you have to know that which is not true. First you have to encounter the untrue. Through that encounter you become capable of knowing the truth. If you know the false as the false, truth will dawn upon you.
... And remember, there is going to be an interim period, an interval, when the ego will be shattered, when you will not know who you are, when you will not know where you are going, when all boundaries will melt.
You will simply be confused, a chaos.
Because of this chaos, you are afraid to lose the ego. But it has to be so. One has to pass through the chaos before one attains to the real center.
... It is just like going to a forest. You make a little clearing, you clear a little ground; you make fencing, you make a small hut; you make a small garden, a lawn, and you are okay. Beyond your fence - the forest, the wild. Here everything is okay; you have planned everything. This is how it has happened... And then you become afraid. Beyond the fence there is danger.
... Beyond the fence you are, as within the fence you are - and your conscious mind is just one part, one-tenth of your whole being. Nine-tenths is waiting in the darkness. And in that nine-tenths, somewhere your real center is hidden.
... Ego is a need; it is a social need, it is a social by-product. The society means all that is around you - not you, but all that is around you. All, minus you, is the society. And everybody reflects.
Whenever you suffer, just try to watch and analyze, and you will find, somewhere the ego is the cause of it. And the ego goes on finding causes to suffer.
This ego comes continuously in conflict with others because every ego is so unconfident about itself. Is has to be - it is a false thing...It happened that one Zen master was passing through a street. A man came running and hit him hard. The master fell down. Then he got up and started to walk in the same direction in which he was going before, not even looking back.
A disciple was with the master. He was simply shocked. He said, "Who is this man? What is this? If one lives in such a way, then anybody can come and kill you. And you have not even looked at that person, who he is, and why he did it."
The master said, "That is his problem, not mine."
... Whatsoever you do - humbleness, humility, simplicity - nothing will help. Only one thing is possible, and that is just to watch and see that it is the source of all misery. Don't say it. Don't repeat it - WATCH. Because if I say it is the source of all misery and you repeat it, then it is useless. YOU have to come to that understanding. Whenever you are miserable, just close the eyes and don't try to find some cause outside. Try to see from where this misery is coming.
... You have not done anything so you cannot claim that you have dropped it. You see that it has simply disappeared, and then the real center arises.
And that real center is the soul, the self, the god, the truth, or whatsoever you want to call it.
It is nameless, so all names are good.
You can give it any name of your own liking.
11 January 2011
SPEECH IS SILVER, SILENCE IS GOLDEN - "The value placed upon saying less, rather than more, as reflected in this proverb can be traced as far back as the early Egyptians, who recorded one such saying: 'Silence is more profitable than abundance of speech.' The current proverb was rendered for the first time in the Judaic Biblical commentaries called the 'Midrash' (c. 600), which gave the proverb as 'If speech is silvern, then silence is golden.'... Perhaps more familiar in the shortened version 'Silence is golden,' the saying has been quoted in print frequently during the twentieth century. One witty adaptation in Brian Aldiss's 'The Primal Urge' seems particularly appropriate to modern times: "Speech is silver; silence is golden; print is dynamite.'." From "Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New" by Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner (Avon Books, New York, 1993) http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/56/messages/105.html
The first example of it in English is from the poet Thomas Carlyle, who translated the phrase from German in Sartor Resartus, 1831, in which a character expounds at length on the virtues of silence:
"Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together; that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the daylight of Life, which they are thenceforth to rule. Not William the Silent only, but all the considerable men I have known, and the most undiplomatic and unstrategic of these, forbore to babble of what they were creating and projecting. Nay, in thy own mean perplexities, do thou thyself but hold thy tongue for one day: on the morrow, how much clearer are thy purposes and duties; what wreck and rubbish have those mute workmen within thee swept away, when intrusive noises were shut out! Speech is too often not, as the Frenchman defined it, the art of concealing Thought; but of quite stifling and suspending Thought, so that there is none to conceal. Speech too is great, but not the greatest. As the Swiss Inscription says: Sprecfien ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden (Speech is silvern, Silence is golden); or as I might rather express it: Speech is of Time, Silence is of Eternity." http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/silence-is-golden.html
~Silence Is Golden (Frankie Valli) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyj2qL-bQ4E
To see someone do something to her
Oh don't it pain to see someone cry
How especially if that someone is her
Silence is golden, but my eyes still see
Silence is golden, golden, but my eyes still see
Talking is cheap people follow like sheep
Even though there is no where to go
How could she tell he decieved her so well
Pity she'll be the last one to know
How many times will she fall for his lines
Should I tell her or should I be cool
And if I tried I know she'd say I lied
Mind your business don't hurt her you fool
Silence is golden, but my eyes still see
Silence is golden, golden, but my eyes still see
~Silence is Golden (Garbage) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI_robvSMkg
If I am silent then I am not real
If I speak up then no one will hear
If I wear a mask there's somewhere to hide
Silence is Golden
I have been broken
Safe in my own skin
So nobody wins
If I raise my voice will someone get hurt
And if I can't feel then I won't get touched
If no truths are spoken then no lies can hide
Silence is Golden
I have been broken
Safe in my own skin
So nobody wins
Did you hear me speak
Do you understand
Did you hear my voice
Will you hold my hand
Do you understand me
Won't someone listen
Nobody gets it
My body's a temple
But nothing is simple
Something was stolen
I have been broken
Silence is golden
I have been broken
Safe in my own skin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellum
The cerebellum (Latin for little brain) is a region of the brain that plays an important role in motor control. It is also involved in some cognitive functions such as attention and language, and probably in some emotional functions such as regulating fear and pleasure responses.
... each cerebellar Purkinje cell receives two dramatically different types of input: On one hand, thousands of inputs from parallel fibers, each individually very weak; on the other hand, input from one single climbing fiber, which is, however, so strong that a single climbing fiber action potential will reliably cause a target Purkinje cell to fire a burst of action potentials. The basic concept of the Marr-Albus theory is that the climbing fiber serves as a "teaching signal", which induces a long-lasting change in the strength of synchronously activated parallel fiber inputs. Observations of long-term depression in parallel fiber inputs have provided support for theories of this type, but their validity remains controversial.
Prior to the 1990s, the function of the cerebellum was almost universally believed to be purely motor-related, but newer findings have brought that view strongly into question. Functional imaging studies have shown cerebellar activation in relation to language, attention, and mental imagery; correlation studies have shown interactions between the cerebellum and non-motoric areas of the cerebral cortex...
Kenji Doya has argued that the function of the cerebellum is best understood not in terms of what behaviors it is involved in but rather in terms of what neural computations it performs; the cerebellum consists of a large number of more or less independent modules, all with the same geometrically regular internal structure, and therefore all, it is presumed, performing the same computation. If the input and output connections of a module are with motor areas (as many are), then the module will be involved in motor behavior; but, if the connections are with areas involved in non-motor cognition, the module will show other types of behavioral correlates. The cerebellum, Doya proposes, is best understood as a device for supervised learning, in contrast to the basal ganglia, which perform reinforcement learning, and the cerebral cortex, which performs unsupervised learning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headache
The neurovascular approach towards primary headaches is accepted by most specialists nowadays. According to this newer theory, migraines are triggered by a complex series of neural and vascular events.
The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the pain-sensitive structures around the brain. Several areas of the head and neck have these pain-sensitive structures, which are divided in two categories: within the cranium (blood vessels, meninges, and the cranial nerves) and outside the cranium (the periosteum of the skull, muscles, nerves, arteries and veins, subcutaneous tissues, eyes, ears, sinuses and mucous membranes)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tension_headache
Tension-type headache pain is often described as a constant pressure, as if the head were being squeezed in a vise. The pain is frequently bilateral which means it is present on both sides of the head at once. Tension-type headache pain is typically mild to moderate, but may be severe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine
The cause of migraine headache is unknown; the most common theory is a disorder of the serotonergic control system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myalgia
Myalgia means "muscle pain" and is a symptom of many diseases and disorders. The most common causes are the overuse or over-stretching of a muscle or group of muscles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness
Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), also called muscle fever, is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed and/or strenuous exercise. Delayed onset muscle soreness begins 8-24 hours after exercise, peaks 24-72 hours after exercise and subsides over the next 5-7 days.[1] It is a symptom of muscle damage caused by eccentric exercise.[2] After such exercise, the muscle adapts rapidly to prevent muscle damage, and thereby DOMS, in repeated bouts.
After performing an unaccustomed eccentric exercise and exhibiting severe DOMS, the muscle rapidly adapts to attenuate further damage from the same exercise. This is called the "repeated-bout effect".
The reason for the protective effect is not yet understood.
The first example of it in English is from the poet Thomas Carlyle, who translated the phrase from German in Sartor Resartus, 1831, in which a character expounds at length on the virtues of silence:
"Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together; that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the daylight of Life, which they are thenceforth to rule. Not William the Silent only, but all the considerable men I have known, and the most undiplomatic and unstrategic of these, forbore to babble of what they were creating and projecting. Nay, in thy own mean perplexities, do thou thyself but hold thy tongue for one day: on the morrow, how much clearer are thy purposes and duties; what wreck and rubbish have those mute workmen within thee swept away, when intrusive noises were shut out! Speech is too often not, as the Frenchman defined it, the art of concealing Thought; but of quite stifling and suspending Thought, so that there is none to conceal. Speech too is great, but not the greatest. As the Swiss Inscription says: Sprecfien ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden (Speech is silvern, Silence is golden); or as I might rather express it: Speech is of Time, Silence is of Eternity." http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/silence-is-golden.html
~Silence Is Golden (Frankie Valli) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyj2qL-bQ4E
To see someone do something to her
Oh don't it pain to see someone cry
How especially if that someone is her
Silence is golden, but my eyes still see
Silence is golden, golden, but my eyes still see
Talking is cheap people follow like sheep
Even though there is no where to go
How could she tell he decieved her so well
Pity she'll be the last one to know
How many times will she fall for his lines
Should I tell her or should I be cool
And if I tried I know she'd say I lied
Mind your business don't hurt her you fool
Silence is golden, but my eyes still see
Silence is golden, golden, but my eyes still see
~Silence is Golden (Garbage) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI_robvSMkg
If I am silent then I am not real
If I speak up then no one will hear
If I wear a mask there's somewhere to hide
Silence is Golden
I have been broken
Safe in my own skin
So nobody wins
If I raise my voice will someone get hurt
And if I can't feel then I won't get touched
If no truths are spoken then no lies can hide
Silence is Golden
I have been broken
Safe in my own skin
So nobody wins
Did you hear me speak
Do you understand
Did you hear my voice
Will you hold my hand
Do you understand me
Won't someone listen
Nobody gets it
My body's a temple
But nothing is simple
Something was stolen
I have been broken
Silence is golden
I have been broken
Safe in my own skin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellum
The cerebellum (Latin for little brain) is a region of the brain that plays an important role in motor control. It is also involved in some cognitive functions such as attention and language, and probably in some emotional functions such as regulating fear and pleasure responses.
... each cerebellar Purkinje cell receives two dramatically different types of input: On one hand, thousands of inputs from parallel fibers, each individually very weak; on the other hand, input from one single climbing fiber, which is, however, so strong that a single climbing fiber action potential will reliably cause a target Purkinje cell to fire a burst of action potentials. The basic concept of the Marr-Albus theory is that the climbing fiber serves as a "teaching signal", which induces a long-lasting change in the strength of synchronously activated parallel fiber inputs. Observations of long-term depression in parallel fiber inputs have provided support for theories of this type, but their validity remains controversial.
Prior to the 1990s, the function of the cerebellum was almost universally believed to be purely motor-related, but newer findings have brought that view strongly into question. Functional imaging studies have shown cerebellar activation in relation to language, attention, and mental imagery; correlation studies have shown interactions between the cerebellum and non-motoric areas of the cerebral cortex...
Kenji Doya has argued that the function of the cerebellum is best understood not in terms of what behaviors it is involved in but rather in terms of what neural computations it performs; the cerebellum consists of a large number of more or less independent modules, all with the same geometrically regular internal structure, and therefore all, it is presumed, performing the same computation. If the input and output connections of a module are with motor areas (as many are), then the module will be involved in motor behavior; but, if the connections are with areas involved in non-motor cognition, the module will show other types of behavioral correlates. The cerebellum, Doya proposes, is best understood as a device for supervised learning, in contrast to the basal ganglia, which perform reinforcement learning, and the cerebral cortex, which performs unsupervised learning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headache
The neurovascular approach towards primary headaches is accepted by most specialists nowadays. According to this newer theory, migraines are triggered by a complex series of neural and vascular events.
The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the pain-sensitive structures around the brain. Several areas of the head and neck have these pain-sensitive structures, which are divided in two categories: within the cranium (blood vessels, meninges, and the cranial nerves) and outside the cranium (the periosteum of the skull, muscles, nerves, arteries and veins, subcutaneous tissues, eyes, ears, sinuses and mucous membranes)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tension_headache
Tension-type headache pain is often described as a constant pressure, as if the head were being squeezed in a vise. The pain is frequently bilateral which means it is present on both sides of the head at once. Tension-type headache pain is typically mild to moderate, but may be severe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine
The cause of migraine headache is unknown; the most common theory is a disorder of the serotonergic control system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myalgia
Myalgia means "muscle pain" and is a symptom of many diseases and disorders. The most common causes are the overuse or over-stretching of a muscle or group of muscles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness
Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), also called muscle fever, is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed and/or strenuous exercise. Delayed onset muscle soreness begins 8-24 hours after exercise, peaks 24-72 hours after exercise and subsides over the next 5-7 days.[1] It is a symptom of muscle damage caused by eccentric exercise.[2] After such exercise, the muscle adapts rapidly to prevent muscle damage, and thereby DOMS, in repeated bouts.
After performing an unaccustomed eccentric exercise and exhibiting severe DOMS, the muscle rapidly adapts to attenuate further damage from the same exercise. This is called the "repeated-bout effect".
The reason for the protective effect is not yet understood.
09 January 2011
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/331/6013/24.1.short
... work that might help clarify the factors that spur a cell in the embryo to become one tissue and its seemingly identical next-door neighbor to become something else. And other researchers have spelled out how individual cells not only cope with but actually benefit from "noise," random fluctuations in their internal and external conditions.
... work that might help clarify the factors that spur a cell in the embryo to become one tissue and its seemingly identical next-door neighbor to become something else. And other researchers have spelled out how individual cells not only cope with but actually benefit from "noise," random fluctuations in their internal and external conditions.
08 January 2011
ESA scientists said that Herschel can see into the cosmic clouds where new stars are forming in the many "dusty cocoons". Here, over many hundreds of millions of years, stars are being born as gravity draws cosmic dust into a dense fireball that triggers nuclear fusion and the release of light – the moment when a star begins to shine.
The Herschel image shows at least five concentric rings of star-forming dust. The brightest ring, some 75,000 light years across, may be the result of an earlier collision with a smaller galaxy, astronomers suggested.
The blue points of light come from the shock waves of exploded stars or stars that have become locked together in a gravitational fight to the death. In these deadly embraces, ESA said, one star has already died and is pulling gas from its still-living companion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_%28bird%29
Crane mythology is widely spread and can be found in areas such as the Aegean, South Arabia, China, Korea, Japan and in the Native American cultures of North America. In northern Hokkaidō, the women of the Ainu people performed a crane dance that was captured in 1908 in a photograph by Arnold Genthe. In Korea, a crane dance has been performed in the courtyard of the Tongdosa Temple since the Silla Dynasty (646 CE). In Mecca, in pre-Islamic South Arabia, Allāt, Uzza, and Manah were believed to be the three chief goddesses of Mecca, they were called the "three exalted cranes"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Crane_Foundation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Crane
The Common Crane (Grus grus), also known as the Eurasian Crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes.
It is a large, stately bird and a medium-sized crane at 100–130 cm (40–52 in) long, with a 180–240 cm (71–96 in) wingspan and a weight of 4.5–6 kg (10–13.2 lbs). It is grey with a white facial streak and a bunch of black wing plumes. Adults have a red crown patch. It has a loud trumpeting call, given in flight and display. It has a dancing display, leaping with wings uplifted.
It breeds in wetlands in northern parts of Europe and Asia. The global population is in the region of 210,000-250,000, with the vast majority nesting in Russia and Scandinavia.
http://www.xeno-canto.org/browse.php?query=gruidae
02 January 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
