the bicameral

The brain is "bicameral" or two-sided. The two-sides (called hemispheres) communicate via a super-powerful connector called the corpus callosum. The left hemisphere is specialized in verbal-linguistic tranduction of speech and analytical thinking (logic, math, cause & effect, language, & sequential thinking). The right side plays more of a role in holistic-metaphorical information transduction such as imagery (art, dance, intuition, subjective, spontaneous, holistic, & dream imagery). The primary role of creating imagery is carried out by the right side. 

Roger Sperry won a Nobel Prize for his brain research. Basically feeding different information to each side of the brain at the same time. His research concluded that each hemisphere could work independently of each other at the same time. 

Researchers have come a long way toward understanding the mind. They have discovered, for instance, that under stress the brain will convert nerve signals into "messenger molecules" who then in turn direct the endocrine system to produce steroid hormones, that can reach the nucleus of various cells and cause them to change how the body’s genes are written out. These genes will then direct the cells as to how to make a variety of molecules which are used in growth, metabolism, sexuality, and the immune systems. In other words, the mind can rewrite genetics.

Barbara Brown, a physiologist at Veteran’s Administration Hospital (in Sepulveda) wrote a book New Mind, New Body. Barbara Brown’s research was government funded. Her book got the public interested in biofeedback. Because of repeated success at getting patients to control such things as their heartbeat, Dr. Brown is convinced that a person’s heart rate, breathing, muscle tension, glandular responses are all subject to a person’s will.

The abilities of the human brain to control the body have been seriously underrated by people. Bio-feedback researchers in the 1960s were surprised to find out that if a single nerve cell’s activity is placed upon a screen so that the subject can see its activity graphed, the subject will be able to mentally identify that cell apart from any other nerve fiber cell, and will be able to have voluntary control over that single cell apart from any other. Just to show how complex the body is, a single nerve fiber cell will have 600 connections. This mental feat is simply mind-boggling for researchers.

The heart is controlled by the mind and works with the emotions of a person. There have been people who have literally died from a "broken heart." This is a historical fact. It has been well-documented that the mind can control the blood flow to various tissues and in this way change temperature in various different parts of the body.

 

minds

Human minds revolve around stories and images. What happens to the mind when it is cut off from sensory input but is still active i.e. when it dreams? Well, it shows movies to itself: it tells stories accompanied by pictures, sometimes funny, sometimes erotic, sometimes frightening, weird, embarrassing, inspiring, prophetic, enigmatic, you name it. Dreams feature symbols and , above all, they feature people, especially those involved in our lives. They don't involve hours of mathematical equations, computer code, text, or foreign languages. Dreams reveal the unconscious. They are bearers of messages from the unconscious and these come to us as mysterious little films, emotive narratives, strange symbols, perhaps even voices.

When a Universal Form interacts with a human mind it does so not as an abstraction but as being in the unconscious - a hidden voice, a secret guide.

viacom makes a deal with joost

Joost, the new P2P - based video start-up will "broadcast" Viacom's music videos, and other programs. The roster includes MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount motion pictures. This news was broke by The Wall Street Journal. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Viacom now becomes a "key launch partner".

Joost is about TV-like programming. Joost just recently closed a $45 million dollar financing deal.

Joost can be accessed with a broadband Internet connection and offers video content to viewers for free. Joost features more than 150 channels with programming across all genres, including: cartoons and animation; entertainment and film; sports; comedy; lifestyle and documentaries; and sci-fi. Warner Bros. Television Group also announced it will be bringing progam offerings to Joost as well. The Warner Bros. Television Group is experienced in bringing new television viewing models to the evolving television industry.

Joost offers instant messaging, chat and search in the television watching experience. The viewer has control over what and when to watch a program.

joost

p2p

rush limbaugh happenings

Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh made an offer to help the sagging ratings of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. He offered to be interviewed live. Rush said that he had been approached by other news media outlets for an interview...and so far has declined all of the requests.

His offer to CBS came from Rush himself and he was serious about the offer.

Recently Rush has come under fire for airing a parody song about Barack Obama called "Barach, the Magic Negro" that sounds like Al Sharpton is singing the song through a blow horn. Obama has played down the rumbling.

rush limbaugh

entertainment

military has own youtube channel

The military has launched its own military youtube channel. It's called the Multi-National Force Channel. You will see combat action and eye-catching footage. One pundit says this should be a good counter to CNN's bias reporting on Iraq. The material will not be overly graphic. According to the L.A. Times, the channel was viewed 120,000 times in the first month.

Link to Operation Tomahawk Strike 11 video

It is the 17th most subscribed to youtube channel this month! A recently home-made video was seen over 354,00 times.

thedailyreel.com source story

technorati tag: iraq

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bird flu symptoms reported in indonesia

Health officials are alarmed at an increase in bird flu symptoms reported in an Indonesian hospital. The virus is said to have spread among birds in Vietnam and Thailand. Four Indonesians have died in the last week. Indonesia plans to prohibit people from keeping fowl in their backyards.

The World Health Organization says this spike in cases was expected.

Read the story from Reuters

technorati tag: bird flu

blogging reflections of 2006

Bill Elmore of techrepublic.com wrote an interesting article about blogosphere of 2006. The item most talked about seems to be data breeches. Several high profile incidents were reported on. The "handling" of private data couldn't be more important. Companies that deal with this information need to ramp up their efforts to keep that data safe and away from possibilities of theft.

In Bill's article, he notes that data breeches aren't going away in 2007. Companies still won't put a high priority on keeping data safe. That's a word to the wise. Be careful yourself. We need to take preventative measures so our data isn't breeched.

link to Bill's article

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technorati tag: Observations

technorati tag: events

iraq death toll at 2974

The death toll in Iraq are one more than the number of dead from the 9/11 attacks on the WTC. Two deaths were announced on Monday, December 26, 2006 as a result of a car bomb explosion southwest of Baghdad.

Soldiers of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment stand guard. The writing on the wall in anti-American slogans.

technorati tag: iraq

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