Research Notes (OCT 2021)
- It is possible for the human eye-brain "observe-recognize" loop to continue to function better than at what would be accomplished by guessing, in a laboratory setting, with a series of images flashing at a rate of 13 milliseconds, which is about 20 times faster than MIT scientists expected (as previously reported in earlier scientific papers). 100 milliseconds = 0.10 (1/10th) of a second; 13 milliseconds = 0.013 (13/1000).
- Passage of the US Farm bill of 2018 (HR5485) removed industrial hemp from inclusion in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. Subsequent research has identified hundreds of different cannabinoids. Currently, the most popular derivative/distillation of CBD is Delta 8 (Delta 10, D9, CBN, and many others are also beginning to flood the market).
- Experiments with women during childbirth revealed that a combination of music and scientific hypnosis therapy (hypnotic analgesia) resulted in a noticeable improvement on both mother and child; reducing labor times, reducing cesareans, eliminating most pain, etc.
- The gut-brain axis is comprised of chemicals and nerves which continually connect the two organs and permit the contents of the intestine (trillions of bacteria) to communicate with the brain using chemicals (like serotonin) to effect/affect mood, pain, etc. To influence one's mood/health/well being a long-term adjustment can be made in the type of food one consumes (increase the consumption of fermented foods and fiber . . . FEED your 'pets' the stuff that keeps them healthy and pay attention to their signals).
- Broca's area of the human brain is where neurons are concentrated on processing our ability to use (and comprehend) language. This area is on the left side of our brain which means that--because of normal mammalian physiology--our right ear is better (comprehension happens quicker) at comprehending spoken (or sung) words.
- Cyanobacteria is the oldest life form on our planet, evidence exists of this blue-green aquatic bacteria 2.1 to 3.5 billion years ago. Our planet coalesced into a ball of lava about 4.5 billion years ago, eventually the planet cooled enough to allow liquid water to exist and an atmosphere of nitrogen formed (oxygen didn't arrive until bacteria excreted it).
Delta Season
Whether yellow shades of orange linger
this year has not yet been herd 'round.
Weather withers or exhilaratingly clings
as fear's rot kisses its irrational ground.
Together apart debating our superstrings
merely a lube to master the spellbound.
Pleasure inculcates a mental growth-ring
nadir/zenith/infinity feel very profound.
Treasure the bacterial "Borg" everything
commandeer life within without sound.
Tether-symbiosis requires no worshiping
pap smears all contain God the Fecund.
more like this:
Zabadak!
A 1967 song you have never heard a single note of by a band you have never heard mentioned in your entire life. Mesmerize. Theorize.
To name your band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beakey, Mick & Tich may not have been 50-years-ago-unusual but a name like that would have left gouge marks in the wallpaper both going in as well as after rigor set in and I had to dispose of the polyester ear-worm somehow. Somehow. *tension in my wrists to begin the Ward of Transmittal* Which is why I know I have never heard of these five blokes. Now, now we have.
However, the feat here was to never have any snippet of any one of their song(s) ever hit my eardrums, ever. They must've (all five of em) traveled the world ahead of me paying radio stations to not mention them and not play their songs while I was in range. Yea. That's my theory and I'm stickin with it.
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Hemp cannabinoid (legally available in the US/online since 2018) is something I have sampled from many companies and have recently settled on a local company—Zen Valley CBD—please let me explain why:
Best Extraction Process - After pressing the fibers, companies can either use harsh petrochemicals (like ethanol) to extract the oils or they can use the better/more expensive lipid process, which is what Zen Valley uses; extracting the CBD with MCT oil from coconuts.
Locally Sourced Hemp - The family-owned small business is located in Morrisville, Vermont, and they obtain their plants from nearby organic Vermont farms. If you are buying from them online instead of buying from their farm stand, or their farmer's market booth, it's still important that they source locally.
Amazing Veteran's Discount - All this must be done in this order, but it's definitely worth the brief delay and slight kerfuffle: Scan or photograph your DD214 or both sides of your military ID card (which you should be keeping in a digital file anyway!); fill out the Zen Valley Discount Form and upload your ID; wait for them to review your request (blurry photos might need to be re-taken) and send you a discount code; fill out their on-line order form and receive a 40% veteran's discount, which after state taxes are added, still means you will get 36% off! They also offer a 20% monthly subscription discount (I don't know if it's possible to stack discounts).
I recommend their flavored tinctures. You should experiment with your personal dosage (beginning at less than 15mg or ¼ dropper). Whether you frequently micro-dose less than ten milligrams at-a-time to keep the aches away or need an entire dropper (≅65mg) to sleep thru the night in comfort, knowing you're consuming a compound found in nature which your brain and body have evolved specific receptors for, is reason enough to choose hemp CBD.
other recommends:
Wonderfully Obscure Song by Reunion
Occasionally a 'one-hit wonder' becomes a 'classic'. This one never did. I loved this song so much in 1974 that I tried to write it all down and memorize the lyrics—just from repeat radio listening's. Today, a plethora (today's word boys and girls!) of lists are a click away: "Lost One Hit Wonders;" "Classic Golden Oldies;" or "Deep Album Tracks" and this song is almost certainly not on any of them.
Thirteen years later, R.E.M. released It's the End of the World As We Know It (it's time I had some time alone) and the rambling poetic stream of prose, names, situations, and its long staccato-list of ways the world has changed (e.g: ... team reporters baffled, Trumped, tethered, cropped ...) reminded me of Reunion's Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me) and my Asperger's re-reminded me to ask those people in my vicinity if they ever remembered it. And I've occasionally asked more and more people ever since then.
Not one person has ever replied 'yes'.
I can't be the last person to remember this song with a smile! (Can I?)
INSTANT INFANT 🚼 The Perfect Baby
✓ All the fun, practically none of the poop
✓ Virtually unlimited attention span!
✓ Cute as a frigging button
✓ Matches most decors!
✓ Quickly measure your partner's wavelength
Like the idea of determining your long-term compatibility with that special someone, but don't want to spoil the prom by bringing up topics which might result in too much honesty too soon? Then take them to an antique store (there's a left turn you didn't see coming)!
Although it doesn't have to be an antique store; it can be anything you enjoy, which you can do together, with them, at the same time. I suggest antiquing because I've always liked the feelings I experience while perusing a well-curated antique mall's smells (musk of library-garage-attic), sounds (mid-century album rock) and the 'new' memories that creep back front-and-center. This is step one.
You've invited them to accompany you to do something you enjoy and they've agreed (if they also like doing this with you, maybe this could become a you-guy's thing). This might also let you know if they're on your wavelength; because if they don't like doing this simple thing that requires no additional skills (which is why you didn't invite them to poker night or scrapbook-club or horseback riding) maybe they are not that specific flavor of unusual you are searching for. This is step two.
You find a never-seen-by-you-before, life-sized, cardboard cut-out, of a crawling infant in a diaper, for sale. You begin to read the marketing points and snort-giggle so forcefully that a significant quantity of snot leaves your nostril and lands on your shirt. You wipe it off but it's still kinda noticeable. This is step three.
What are their reactions? Do they share your sense of humor? Are they cringing at the idea that you're willing to pay twenty dollars for this odd-harmless item (which is obviously going to be displayed in your home in the near future)? Are they at all embarrassed by the booger stain?
Step four is simple. Find someone who already thinks the way you think, and already sees the world similarly to the way you do. Not someone who seems willing to adapt or says they'll, "try to see things your way". And definitely not someone who only prefers your company when you're doing things they like to do.
more:
Whelmed — Memories (and why Over- and Under- are remembered)
What is the cement of memory?
Does what we remember form who we are?
Why do we forget 99% of our lives?
As I typed this opening paragraph in 2019, my brain was switching between thoughts about choosing interesting words that would entertain itself as it compiled this sentence and—switch—scrounged thru my memory-attic for events which might fit in a bright mauve container labelled ‘overwhelming’. My as-I-typed brain then decided that the first event to go in was
Witnessing—for almost two full minutes—the 2017 total eclipse of the sun. I had prepared for that event for months. I'd bought expensive wrap-around viewing glasses and a phone-app to track where the shadow was going to be. Weeks earlier, I'd driven a few hundred miles to reconnoiter and read articles describing what to look for when it happened. The day of, I had woke at 4am for a 5am departure in order to set-up three hours ahead of time and as the moon began to creep across the sun, I recalled aloud (for the handful of people with me) memories of a few previous partial eclipses and I used the term underwhelming to describe those curled and faded snapshots.—switch—Those vague recollections of pinholes in paper and flimsy cardboard glasses were now attached—like a deflated balloon static-stuck to the back of a worn-out child’s sweater—to this 2017 overwhelming event. (I typed ‘overshadowing event’ and edited it so as to not end this paragraph on a pun.)—switch—
The moment when the entire moon’s
shadow—the umbra—completely covered the sun: the blue sky turned
black; the yellow corona around the sun became white; stars became visible; the
air temperature dropped; the silence of no-more bird and insect noises grabbed
for my attention; spots of corona-sunlight, inside of darker shadows, took-on
the changing shape (circular to crescent) of the umbra; and ripples of light
wavered across the ground like faint “light snakes.” My senses were
overloaded. My brain could not catch up. There was no time to think or
focus.—switch—It seems that my as-I-type brain considers it to be desirable when it-itself is unable to function as it normally functions (which, it considers to be its norm; its steady-state; its comfortable, uneventful, default mode; its regular state of being, which is neither over- nor under-whelmed) and this asItype brain is not putting anything into its memory. Short-term memory disappears unless something over- or under-whelms enough to get stored long-term.
I know if I were not currently documenting my thoughts—an act which facilitates asItype to be able, in the future, to become asIread (which, in turn, will become the me that has re-remembered based on what that previous-me wrote)—I would, very soon, no longer be able to recall how I occupied myself this 2019 mid-November Friday morning. If I'd instead been studying, reading, hiking, gaming, painting, listening to music, watching videos, talking with friends, playing with my cat, or performing routine chores, I would (probably) not be able to answer the question, “What did you do?” Because of these words, these paragraphs, this essay (about normally neither being over- or under-whelmed) I can say I was writing an essay about memory.
Now, asItype wonders why are our recollections valued? Is being able to recall something because it was sufficiently overwhelming/underwhelming to become immediately-permanently locked in long-term memory a prerequisite to being consciously aware of what is important to who we are and who we want to be? And—switch—let me dig for a stronger, more recent, memory to stick in the intense yellow underwhelming container (next to those partial eclipses).
Earlier in 2019, I drove through Glacier National Park. I would not use the word boring to describe the slow procession up and over—but I would not use the word exciting either. Rivulets of snow melt soaked me a few times (cabriolet top was down) and some of the hairpin turns with sheer drops revealed very interesting views; but a complete lack of wildlife and over 90 minutes of traffic-jams combined to make the 50-mile drive an unsatisfactory experience.—switch—
Why?—my asItype-self asks itself. What made this 2019 drive memorably underwhelming?
One answer is that my preconceived expectations were unmet; during my first visit to Glacier National Park (in 2006) the Going-To-The-Sun Road was closed because of snow (which created—in that 2006-me’s brain—an unfulfilled desire). On that trip, I felt privileged-lucky to see (and was slightly overwhelmed seeing): bald eagle, elk, black bears and grizzly bears, and experienced no vehicle traffic or full parking lots.
more mind & memory essays:
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