Now they think an overactive imagination causes Alzheimers

When will the madness cease? First it’s aluminum pots, now if you use your imagination too much you’ll end up with brain rot. And people wonder why I have a basic mistrust of medicine. Sheesh.

“In bad news for proponents of the “inner life,” a study in the current issue The Journal of Neuroscience suggests that “the normal brain activity of daydreaming fuels the sequence of events leading to Alzheimer’s”:

Researchers at Washington University and the University of Pittsburgh used five imaging techniques to map the brains of 764 people. The subjects fell into three groups – people in their 20s, and older people with either early-stage dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease.

When they compared images, they found that parts of the brain involved in musing, daydreaming or recalling pleasant memories in young people were where evidence of Alzheimer’s disease appears.”

What superhero would YOU be?

Ok – so this was something of a surprise to me. But accurate none the less. I was a little surprised by Catwoman ranking number 3 but then realized that when you live with predators sometimes it influences your outlook.

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 85% Spider-Man 85% Catwoman 80% Iron Man 80% Superman 75% Supergirl 68% Wonder Woman 63% The Flash 60% Hulk 55% Robin 50% Batman 25%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

A Video of Jayden bustin’ his first move

It’s long (10MB) but well worth downloading.

Update to 12/31/05 Post

Finally found out why they tore that building down. They’re going to use it as a parking lot extension.

A fucking parking lot. But I guess real estate is finally at saturation point in these parts so it made sense.

Deep thoughts from the shower

So as I was showering this morning I started thinking.

Got to wondering why monotheism was so popular and then it came to me. Having to worship multiple gods could be quite the time consuming endeavor. One the one hand you had to appease the god of war while at the same time appeasing the god of eros could be quite the energy drain. It’d leave you no energy for love or war.

So monotheism started with ancient Babylonian sects. Next up were the Jews, then the Christians, and then Mohammed came along with that misogynistic wonder called Islam, combining the very worst of both Judaism and Christianity.

But here’s where it gets deep. With regard to Christianity I firmly believe that Christ was NOT the son of God. I believe that even our God is bored with his creation and off doing something else, maybe walking among us and having his/her self a hell of a good time.

But I think much of what we read in the Bible is myth and nothing more.

For an experiment, write down short story on a sheet of paper. Tell this fact to half a dozen friends and co-workers and tell them to remember it the best they can. Then forget about it and a month later ask them to write down what you’d told them and give it to you. Compare your original to their reproductions. Guaranteed the story will have drifted, maybe even become mythical where you could miraculously heal the sick, etc.

You have to keep in mind that the stories of the Christ were written a century or more AFTER his death. At a time where the printing press hadn’t yet been invented it’s pretty hard to believe that the stories are true, or at least that they’re accurate.

And in the centuries since, many men including King James, St. Thomas Aquinas, and several others have put their mark upon those writings. Those were men with an agenda so it isn’t hard to imagine certain prohibitions in the bible weren’t added until AFTER the fact.

So next time you want to quote a biblical passage, or put down another person because of a what a book inaccurately says, think about what I’ve said.

Groan – wisdom teeth

Ok, it’s time. Since my dentist isn’t being exactly helpful in recommending a good oral surgeon to remove them I’m soliciting advice.

A Dicitionary to understand Gen-Y for us Gen-X and Baby Boomers

This is an incredible tool to bookmark.

It’s the Urban Dictionary.

Howard Dean puts the smackdown on Blitzer

You have to see this. While I’m mildly uncomfortable with Patrick Kennedy having taken money from Indian tribes associated with Abramoff, it’s got to be better than directly taking money from the slime ball.

See the video clip here.

Have fun!

Why the Bush Administration continues to burn my ass

The author of Bush’s Brain, James Moore was recently forbidden to fly.

I’ve read the book. It isn’t overtly critical and in fact is frequently complimentary to Rove and Bush. But it does allude to the fact that Bush himself isn’t the president, that Cheney and Rove run the show, and that the whole show is following the PNAC blueprint.

But to put someone on a secret list and not tell them why they’re on that list flies in the face of the Constitution of the United States of America.

Of course legend has it that Dubya himself has referred to the Constitution as a “God damned piece of paper…”

That is beyond offensive to those of us that revere the Constitution as the basis for life in the United States. Unless we all wake up and see the games that have been played it will only continue to get worse and worse.

But we’re lulled into a sense of complacency. So long as it doesn’t happen to one of us or someone we know and love, we’ll go happily on our way thinking nothing is wrong.

Here’s hoping that Mr. Moore skewers the administration of George W. Bush for its despotic qualities.

Religiosity vs. Spirituality vs. Philosophy

Ok, I think I need to set down a few definitions here:

Religion: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
or a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

Spirituality: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

Philosophy:

1. Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
2. Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods.

Of the three, I’m more philosophical with a slight streak of spiritualism.

My beliefs are that Jesus Christ was NOT the son of God. That Christianity would be more palatable as a philosophy than it is as a religion.

The more people I talk to, the more I tend to see this attitude among lots of folks. So there is hope for mankind after all.