Nel mezzo del camin de mia vita

That's it, Wednesday the 17th of October, I have decided that I have lived half of my life. THis will give me another 42 years, totalling a reassuring 84 years. That's fine. I was quite pleased with this observation. And here comes the second half!

Don’t be afraid of the OM

Suddenly the yoga teacher appeared ill at ease

            ‘Do you mind if we do a bit of chanting?’

Through the following seconds of silence, I felt suspicion rising in the class.

            ‘If that’s ok with you, we’ll chant “OM” three times’

Does she want us to sing praise to Shiva, Krishna or some kind of a blue elephant?

In case you wondered, here is what OM is not: a tribute to a pagan god.

In Asian traditions, such as the yogic, Buddhist and Hindu traditions, OM represents simply the frequency, the fundamental energy of Nature, our world, the universe. By chanting OM you try to connect to this energy, to fuse with it. ‘Yoga’ means ‘union’. The yoga practice, of which postural pretzel-bending is just a part (one of the eight ‘limbs’), has the aim of calming the constant chatter of the mind, so that we can feel that we are One. Chanting OM is one of the means to calm and focus the mind, and reconnect with your self.

Although this concept may not make immediate sense to our Western minds, the benefits of chanting OM are instantaneous. Probably nothing huge, at least not in the beginning, but focus and good vibrations. Try it out. Don’t be afraid of the OM (*).

* But if you still are, just chant A(O)MEN, or A(O)MIN

stop shouting into my eyes and ears

Driving our of Denver, CO, we both suddenly felt relaxed, even though still on the freeway. After some wondering, we found it to be caused by the absence of the usual myriad of billboards and advertisement panels along the street. It seems that the mental energy required for our brains every day to read all the panels along our ways and then discard the 95 % useless information from the few necessary ones (concerning directions and traffic announcements) is gargantuan. But we don't even notice it anymore - it just makes us tired. If ever you get to, say Finland, you'll notice how much our eyes constantly fly through our environment and overload our brain with all sorts of mostly useless information. You'll notice in Finland, because there, our eyes read the letters, but our brains can't make any sense of them, which bring this process to our consciousness.

Sitting at home in Houston on a Sunday, I suddenly feel stressed. It doesn't take much wondering to find out that again, one of those noisy planes is dragging a huge advertisement baner in agonising circles over our heads. Again and again, for hours. Will they ever stop?

I completely understand that advertisement is part of our economy. But if it is so much that it actually makes us sick and tired - how much does this advertisement hurt our economy?

Long term efficiency

Last week, I saw a woman taking a 1-hour yoga class with her cell phone in hand. The next day a colleague discussed his efforts to fit a 2-hour vacation into his work schedule. This prompted me to think about a scientific and controlled test:

For 40 years (the duration of our work life), Group A does the above, whereas Group B turns off their cell phones when focused on certain activities (including driving, seminars, sleep) and takes, say, 25 days of vacation per year. At the end, we will compare both groups for:

-total work output & achievements

- innovation at work (for that’s what our nation will most need to remain competitive)

- days of sick leave

- number of times the world has collapsed in off-times

- percentage of divorces

- financial burden to society due to medication (such as against high cholesterol, blood pressure, anxiety, but also days of hospitalization because of disease or (car) accidents, and medical consulting)

-   rating of person’s intelligence and social impact by others

- personal happiness

This comparison should allow maximizing our long-term efficiency with respect to the above parameters.

Are there any volunteers for Group A or Group B?

The American Dream #2

Male sport teams have female cheerleaders, and female sport teams have male cheerleaders.

The American Dream #1

You know you're living the American Dream when 'deadline' sounds much more like 'dead' than like 'line'.

Maths of war

Only a few people actually win a war; most lose, whatever side they are on.

Periodicity in French strikes?

Yep, the French strike against the gouvernement's plan to increase the minnimum retirement age from 60 to 62 (!!)

Even A-level students strike against it. As if they cared…

A 57-year old American colleague here told me that he would never work in France, because he would not accept that he has to stop working at 65 …

Another colleagues' father (65) intended to stop working now, but since their home had a costly flooding problem to be repaired, he will be working a couple of years more to pay it off. In France he would have to retire.

A recent book review article in SCIENCE talked about the suggestion that economical crises are caused by people's mood in a periodic manner, as opposed to economics shaping peoples' moods.

Is there a periodicity in French strikes?

The unbearable quest of being a special being: Top US first names

Howard (female!!)
Carlos (female!!)
La Rue (female)
Bean (female)
DeLynn (?? pronounced Dylan??)

Nichelle (almost Michelle)

M'lissa (female, in a rush)
Meladee (Melanie when pronounced with a blocked nose)

Gi'Zelle (Giselle with a hic-up)
Tonya (female, a huge Tanja)

La Shaunte (female)

Andria (female, all but Andrea)
Aundrietta (Andrietta's aunt?)
Siendie (aka Cindy??)
Jene' (this accent slipped into a hyphen)

Brryan (no spelling mistake)
Debrorah (a roaring Deborah?)
Jonathon (= Jonathan + John?)
Shithead (female, unconfirmed source).
Wash (a very clean male)
Trash (his dirty female counterpart, just left a message on my phone; spelling need to be confirmed)

Emileight (that's a light version of Emily)

Darick (that's Derek with a strong Texan accent)
Deicy (That's once the ice was taken off Daisy).
Alfre (could the person who stole the 'd' please bring it back?)

counterclockwise derwish

In the middle-eastern sufi tradition, dervishes turn clockwise.
Do dervishes in the Southern hemisphere turn counter-clockwise?

Journal of Rejected Grant Proposals

Wouldn't that be great?
The Journal of Rejected Grant Proposals (JRGP) publishes definitively rejected applications for scientific fundings in all areas of science, with a particular emphasis on cross-disciplinary and high-risk/high-impact proposals.

Give and Take

First we poisoned the earth, now earth is poisoning us.
Better burn your own fat on a bicycle, rather than burn fossil fat in your car.

Happiness is a skill that can be learned.

It has long been assumed that economic prosperity brings happiness. However, the evidence is to the contrary. Economic growth in developed countries has gone hand-inhand with a rise in mental and behavioural disorders, family breakdown, social exclusion and diminished social trust. In China, for example, a 2009 study by German sociologists showed that the lifting of hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in the 1990s has been accompanied by an alarming decrease in life satisfaction at every level of income, in both rural and urban areas.
[...]
Happiness is a skill that can be learned.

from
Happiness breeds prosperity Nature, by F. Huppert
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7293/pdf/4641275a.pdf

The End of White Supremacy

The sequencing of the Neanderthal genome proves clearly that all human races, EXCEPT Africans, have 2-4 % of Neanderthal genes. Probably both species mated just after Homo sapiens left Africa. Would this explain why rednecks look (and behave) more archaic than the blacks they consider inferior?
In any way; unless you are African, let's embrace the Neanderthal in us!

Old Fashioned Chemistry

"Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps":
INGREDIENTS:
Wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, sugar, partially hydrogenated syobean and/or cottonseed oil, molasses, ginger, caramel color, salt, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate, ammonium bicarbonate, cinnamon, dextrose, red pepper, high fructose corn syrup, cloves, coco processed with alkali, corn starch, soy lecithin, whey (milk), natural and artificial flavours.

- JUST LIKE IN THE GOOD OL' DAYS!

Asians and Caucasians: a matter of the Cauc

There are Asians and Caucasians. I really don't know what a 'Cauc' is but it it doesn't seem to be a nice or desirable quality to have as a prefix!

Triggerring the scruffy-gene

Smoking appears to inhibit natural needs for corporal hygiene and cleanness of habitat. The more they smoke, the scruffier they are the happier they seem and the more they want to come socialise.
To a lesser extend, but still, this is true for dog owners.

NEVER get a smoking dog owner as landlord, lodger, neighbour etc.

The rise and fall of Gurus and alikes

The lives of Guru's and other holy men (woman less so!) are similar to great empires. There's a frugal growth period of energetic frank drive and search towards the goal; then a grand period of achievement and accumulation of followers and power; and finally the inexorable decadence and fall for fame, power, money and sex.
ecce huMAN nature (woman seem to be doing much better!).

choose your guru young and honest, or simply choose her.

Neuronal inhibition of God

From Neuron, Volume 65, Issue 3, 309-319, 11 February 2010 


The predisposition of human beings toward spiritual feeling, thinking, and behaviors is measured by a supposedly stable personality trait called self-transcendence. Although a few neuroimaging studies suggest that neural activation of a large fronto-parieto-temporal network may underpin a variety of spiritual experiences, information on the causative link between such a network and spirituality is lacking. Combining pre- and post-neurosurgery personality assessment with advanced brain-lesion mapping techniques, we found that selective damage to left and right inferior posterior parietal regions induced a specific increase of self-transcendence. Therefore, modifications of neural activity in temporoparietal areas may induce unusually fast modulations of a stable personality trait related to transcendental self-referential awareness. These results hint at the active, crucial role of left and right parietal systems in determining self-transcendence and cast new light on the neurobiological bases of altered spiritual and religious attitudes and behaviors in neurological and mental disorders.

Long term enlightenment

Becoming enlightened is not a problem; in fact I become enlightened typically about 3-5 times a week. The problem is to stay enlightened for more than 5 seconds!