Tongue Lashing & Tongue Wagging

* Luna Nebet

Tongue Lashing & Tongue Wagging

Miscellaneous things I may want to share or rant about.

February 12 , 2010

God is just in your head...?

Posted at 21:00 EST

Some 2,500 years ago, notes Orrin Devinsky, who directs the epilepsy center at New York University, Hippocrates wrote one of the very first texts we have on epilepsy — and he named it "On the Sacred Disease."

The disease was considered sacred because the ancients thought that sufferers were possessed by demons, or blessed with divine messages and visions. Devinsky says neurologists suspect some of the religious giants were epileptics themselves. Did Paul hear Jesus on the road to Damascus, or was he experiencing an auditory hallucination? What about Joseph Smith and the two angels? Muhammad? Joan of Arc? And what about Moses and that burning bush?

"Assuming for now a more rational scientific view, he was having a visual hallucination and he heard God's voice," Devinsky observes.

It could have been God; it could have been a seizure. But one thing Devinsky does believe is "whatever happened back there in Sinai, Moses' experience was mediated by his temporal lobe."

The temporal lobes run along the sides of the brain, and deep within them is something called the limbic system. This system handles not just sound, smell and some vision but also memory and emotion.

When people have a seizure in the temporal lobe, it's as if the normal emotions have an exclamation point after them, because so many nerve cells are firing in rhythm. People may hear snatches of music — drawn from their memory bank — and in rare cases, interpret it as music from heavenly spheres. They may see a glimpse of light and think it's an angel.

Source from NPR It's a good read or listen to the audio!

May 6 , 2009

Jama

Posted at 20:00 EST

Jama
Dec 31, 1992 - May 5, 2009

I got a call last night from my mother in tears. They all took it hard. They had to put my old dog down. She was mine for 8years, then I went off to college. By the time my brother graduated high school she became his dog for the second 8years of her life.

I like to think her second 8years were more enjoyable for her. No more training of any sort, more table scrapes and treats (which I bitched about every time I went home). The boys (my brothers) would take her along hunting, just for the ride. She loved to ride, chase crickets, the waves on the beach and squirrels. Chickens were also fun to play with, but she was smart enough to know that there was a difference between playing with them and chasing them.

The last few years have not been the best. Arthritis settled in her joints, as well as cataracts, that did not stop her however from find the kitchen or my brother when she wanted a snack! Just this past winter, she was pretty mobile. She could no longer handle the stairs and it took her a couple tumbles down them while looking for my younger brother. So what did she do when she learned she couldn't go down the stairs and look for him? Well, if you stand at the top of the stairs and bark long enough. He'll come up stairs and get you a snack. Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks?

Easter was the last time I got to see her. She no longer knew who I was. I won't lie, that hurt. But expected. They couldn't let her in the yard by herself anymore. She'd get lost and someone would go looking for her or a neighbor would bring her back. At the very end she even got lost in the laundry room. She couldn't find her own way out.

She was a smart dog. She will be missed. If I or any of me's you know me by, are a little 'off' for awhile. That's why.

January 12 , 2009

I don't like Rules

Posted at 23:45 EST

And I definitely don't like a lot of rules. I do understand why they are there and why we have them. Being a relatively good kid I don't generally have to worry about being in violation of rules. I'm far from being perfect though...

I like to have fun and be silly, yes sometimes my posts are less than substantive and short. I've never been openly singled out as having horrible one-liners. Well, to my knowledge anyway. ;)

But why do rules get created, Sage Luna? Generally something disruptive enough has happened to warrant a warning to other people that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.

I have been saved by rules and guidelines of behavior, both written and unwritten. But what do you do when an unwritten set of etiquette is broken and something you do not enjoy is forced upon you nearly every day in and day out?

January 11 , 2009

Things that make ya go 'hmmm'...

Posted at 21:00 EST

= ???

September 7 , 2008

"Bonding Gene" Help Men Stay Married

Posted at 14:00 EST

MONDAY, Sept. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Whether a man has one type of gene versus another could help decide whether he's good "husband material," a new study suggests.

A study of Swedish twin brothers found that differences in a gene modulating the hormone vasopressin were strongly tied to how well each man fared in marriage.

"Our main finding was an association between a variant of the vasopressin receptor 1a gene and how strong bonds men reported they had to their partners," said lead researcher Hasse Walum, of the department of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. "Men carrying this variant scored on average lower on a scale measuring the strength of the bond compared to men not carrying this variant."

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Rest of article here.

I don't think that's just a male problem...

August 18 , 2008

The Pill Makes Women Pick Bad Mates?

Posted at 10:00 EST

by Jeanna Bryner

Birth-control pills could screw up a woman's ability to sniff out a compatible mate, a new study finds.

While several factors can send a woman swooning, including big brains and brawn, body odor can be critical in the final decision, the researchers say. That's because beneath a woman's flowery fragrance or a guy's musk the body sends out aromatic molecules that indicate genetic compatibility.

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are involved in immune response and other functions, and the best mates are those that have different MHC smells than you. The new study reveals, however, that when women are on the pill they prefer guys with matching MHC odors.

MHC genes churn out substances that tell the body whether a cell is a native or an invader. When individuals with different MHC genes mate, their offspring's immune systems can recognize a broader range of foreign cells, making them more fit.

Past studies have suggested couples with dissimilar MHC genes are more satisfied and more likely to be faithful to a mate. And the opposite is also true with matchng-MHC couples showing less satisfaction and more wandering eyes.

Go here to finish the article.

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Interesting no? That would explain the high divorce rates wouldn't it, if that's true. I wonder if if the same applies to same sex couples?

July 23 , 2008

Seek the Dark

Posted at 20:00 EST

It's safer by far, better for sleeping anyway among other things...

Such as?

*Well, drinking. I for one prefer drinking somewhere dark and dim.

*Watching movies, so much better, except when they blind you with a bright scene.

*Sleeping? Wait Have I mentioned that one already? I really enjoy sleeping, all snuggly in blankets with the AC turned way up in the summer heat...

*It's usually cooler in the dark, at times suffocating, but stay away from those places, unless you're being born. Then by all means leave that place. More interesting out here by far.

*The dark keeps the the vexsome ones indoors away from knocking on your door to bother you in the middle of a perfectly good nap.

*The dark is not scary. Keep your eyes up and your mace handy.

Do you have a point la Luna? No, not really...But if you came here for something substantial go here. You'll find that the dark is 96%...easy to find.

June 21 , 2008

Sarcasm for Survivial

Posted at 00:00 EST

Humans are fundamentally social animals. Our social nature means that we interact with each other in positive, friendly ways, and it also means we know how to manipulate others in a very negative way.

Neurophysiologist Katherine Rankin at the University of California, San Francisco, has also recently discovered that sarcasm, which is both positively funny and negatively nasty, plays an important part in human social interaction.

So what?

I mean really, who cares? Oh for God's sake. Don't you have anything better to do that read this column?

According to Dr. Rankin, if you didn't get the sarcastic tone of the previous sentences you must have some damage to your parahippocampal gyrus which is located in the right brain. People with dementia, or head injuries in that area, often lose the ability to pick up on sarcasm, and so they don't respond in a socially appropriate ways.

Presumably, this is a pathology, which in turn suggests that sarcasm is part of human nature and probably an evolutionarily good thing.

How might something so, well, sarcastic as sarcasm, be part of the human social toolbox?

Evolutionary biologists claim that sociality is what has made humans such a successful species. We are masters at what anthropologists and others call "social intelligence." We recognize and keep track of hundreds of relationships, and we easily distinguish between enemies and friends.

More important, we run our lives by social calculation. A favor is mentally recorded and paid back, sometimes many years later. Likewise, insults are marked down on the mental score card in indelible ink. And we are constantly bickering and making up, even with people we love.

Sarcasm, then, is a verbal hammer that connects people in both a negative and positive way. We know that sense of humor is important to relationships; if someone doesn't get your jokes, they aren't likely to be your friend (or at least that's my bottom line about friendship). Sarcasm is simply humor's dark side, and it would be just as disconcerting if a friend didn't get your snide remarks.

It's also easy to imagine how sarcasm might be selected over time as evolutionarily crucial. Imagine two ancient humans running across the savannah with a hungry lion in pursuit. One guy says to the other, "Are we having fun yet?" and the other just looks blank and stops to figure out what in the world his pal meant by that remark. End of friendship, end of one guy's contribution to the future of the human gene pool.

Fast forward a few million years and the network of human relationships is wider and more complex, and just as important to survival. The corporate chairman throws out a sarcastic remark and those who "get" it laugh, smile, and gain favor. In the same way, if the chair never makes a remark, sarcastic people are making them behind his or her back, forming a clique by their mutually negative, but funny, comments. Either way, sarcasm plays a role in making and breaking alliances and friendship.

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I don't write this stuff people. I just share it.
Source

May 3 , 2008

R.I.P. My Guy

Posted at 22:00 EST

I heard through the grapevine today that my rooster died. The big, black Cochin that chose me. Danced for me, talked for me even tried to keep the other roosters away from me! He loved chocolate and granola bars, damn bird hated when I wore my hair up all tight. He had a thing for blondes and hated most men.

I was pretty attached. I tried to say my good-byes before I had to leave my job where he was kept. I knew soon thereafter he'd have to go to a farm. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a home for him. A friend of a friend took him along with many of his flock mates. A brand new chicken coop built for them and access to outside.

He loved dandelion leaves! The folks over in the plant building were always amazed to see him coming to my call while I "walked" him around the grasses. He was sort of trained. Great for letting small kids pet him on the kid's day. He was a awesome bird. He really was.

"Guy" at about 1 yr of age
Summer 2004-Spring 2008

I feel like such a horrible owner. I'm sorry the funding ran out on my position. I'm sorry I couldn't keep you in town. I'm sorry I didn't have the heart to have your crower cut so I could have had you in town. How could I when you talked so much! I'm sorry I didn't have the money to move into a smaller community. I'm sorry you froze death. I knew something horrible would happen, but I was hoping for a fox and not a management thing! I'm sorry I never made it out to see you in your new home. I'm sorry...

I'm a bawling mess right now. I know for those with birds may understand, Guy was the only pet I could have for the lifestyle I was in and still am. Never home, that's no life for a social creature. I've missed Guy and missed the few chances I had to drive all the way out to where he was at. Damn money. Damn job...damn it all, maybe even me for letting you go! :(

March 18 , 2008

Resentment Quote

Posted at 18:00 EST

"Resentment is like taking poison and hoping the other person dies."

~From the book "The Forsaken" by L.A. Banks