Stupid People
omnibrain | March 20, 2007It was one year ago today that I made the first post to Omni Brain. I never imagined we would do this well.
In the last year Omni Brain has undergone many many changes, the biggest of which have been Sandra of Neurofuture fame joining the blog, and moving to ScienceBlogs.
We started with not-even 3000 page views in our first full month and now receive tens of thousands of page views and visitors - which is pretty great for a smart ass little science blog! Our Technorati ranking has also grown by leaps and bounds; near 14,000 today.
Thanks everyone, for reading and for all your lively…
omnibrain | March 2, 2007We all know that the full moon turns you into a werewolf or just plain stark raving mad. Well at least according to this website:
The full moon is credited for a lycanthropic man's moonlight metamorphosis into a dangerous howling beast - the werewolf (in North American cultures, or a horse or goat in Brazil, or a tiger in India, and so on). In a less Anthropomorphic vain, many believe that the full moon is responsible for an increase in abnormal psychological behaviors such as suicides and violent crimes. As I shared the introduction of this article to this point with the nurse at my…
omnibrain | February 25, 2007I've pretty much ignored all the academic fraud cases lately since I don't know what good can come from getting upset/annoyed/whatever about asshole scientists who screw it up for the rest of us. But lately I haven't been able to ignore them anymore - they are really starting to affect both my day to day life as well as how I read actual science.
Day to Day:
At Illinois we had a married couple who while perhaps not committing academic fraud (although that has been questioned) were committing actual monetary fraud by essentially double charging their respective grants for things like travel…
omnibrain | February 19, 2007A study from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Center in Australia has shown that nearly a third of people under the age of 30 think marijuana is totally uncool. Drug abuse is clearly a problem that has to be dealt with through education and treatment programs (don't get me started on the war on drugs though). The only problem with this statistic is that people might think marijuana is uncool for totally inaccurate reasons that they pick up either through a lack of education (or even more bothersome - mis-education).
It seems that a possible reason that people believe pot is so…
omnibrain | February 8, 2007Ohh Kirk Cameron you're so silly!
"We are very excited about this game because it presents both sides of the creation-evolution argument, and in doing so, shows that the contemporary theory of evolution is perhaps the greatest hoax of modern times," said creator Kirk Cameron
I heard about this game coming out a month or two ago but was never able to find much more information on it until now. I'm not really sure how the game shows evolution as 'stupid' but this quote should hold you over until you want to spend the $29.95 to buy the game:
"Intelligent Design versus Evolution" is unique in…
omnibrain | February 7, 2007Can someone tell me if this site is for real?
Here's a demo:
Off topic
Heres is a not probable, but possible theory of future humans. Aliens are evolved Asian people. A colleague of mine stated that Asian people have bigger brains than others. This got me thinking and I was thinking of this for a while now, even before he told me this and what he said confirmed this. Depictions of aliens look a lot like asian people, just with bigger heads.
This makes me want to be asian
posted by George Christodoulou at 10:21 PM 0 comments
Is this just a blog to gather advertising dollars or what?
omnibrain | February 7, 2007Direct from the Horses Mouth:
NEURO-KINETIK NEURO-KINETIK NEURO-KINETIK NEURO-KINETIK NEURO-KINETIK
Parapsychology/"psychic research" is presently not having sufficient number of man hours devoted to it. Yet, this field of endeavor can be a significant part of mainstream science. Via a conceptual overlap in subject matter, even laboratories connected with experimental psychology, physical anthropology, etc. could (via the enabling technology of brain imaging) locate the neuroanatomical basis for the generation or reception of parapsychological/psychical energies.
The main obstacle to…
omnibrain | February 6, 2007I'm proud to report that Ted Haggard is no longer gay since he underwent three whole weeks of very intensive counseling. He was so impressed with his counseling that him and his wife are going to attend university and get their masters degrees in psychology (I'm psyched he's joining me in my chosen profession!). It sounds like they'll be going to Phoenix Online University or somewhere similar and hopefully counseling people to ungay themselves just like he was so successful in doing! All praise Rev. Haggard!
The Rev. Ted Haggard emerged from three weeks of intensive counseling convinced…
omnibrain | February 1, 2007You're kidding me right?
Kabbalists have attained them all. But don't take Perceiving Reality's word for it... Test the method of Kabbalah upon yourself, and discover the higher states of consciousness for yourself.
But wait... it gets better - they prove their point by using a random dot stereogram saying it comes from a higher dimension or something nonsensical.
Enjoy the video below the fold...
What a waste of 4 minutes... haha..
omnibrain | January 19, 2007More psychic pets! Wooo... aren't you excited? I uhh... am?
by Craig Hamilton-Parker
Does your pet read your mind, see into the future, know the time or can find you wherever you are? Professional TV psychic, Craig Hamilton-Parker, believes many pets have psychic powers. Here he reveals the evidence and has designed some simple experiments to test your pet's paranormal potential.
Hmm... It's almost like he's one of those people who calls himself by his own name... weird. But not quite as weird as
the whole pet psychic idea to begin with.
Scientific research is slowly beginning to…
omnibrain | January 16, 2007Ohh boy... I've seen this kind of thing before - but it's always shocking anyway.
I know they must interview a whole bunch of people and only put the biggest idiots in - which you could do in any country, but still... idiots! haha
-UPDATE Below the fold-
Thanks entitlement for this funny video :) More evidence that people in the U.S. are stupid...
omnibrain | January 15, 2007Just look at what it can cure!
Skin Diseases
Cancer
Heart Diseases
Musculoskeletal Disorders
Male Sexual Disorders
Aids
Hypertension
Therapy
Diabetes Mellitus
Blood Disorders
Respiratory Disorders
Gastrointestinal Disorders
Endocrine Disorders
ENT Disorders
Gynecological Disorders
Opthalmic Disorders
Psychiatric Disorders
Urological Disorders
Aids
Cold & Cough
Heart Problem
Blood Pressure
Asthema
Sugar Problem
Kidney Shrinkage
Liver Problem
Skin Disease
Cancer
Stomach Problem
Poor Sight
Gynic Problem
Woman's Problem
Chest Pain
Did they leave out anything?
So how does this cow urine work…
omnibrain | January 12, 2007For those of you who don't know, James Randi setup a million dollar prize for a psychic to prove that they are truly psychic. Here are the details:
Currently, claiming the money takes a few steps: An initiate first has to submit a notarized application, agree with the foundation on a test protocol, then pass a preliminary test administered by independent local investigators. Should the would-be psychic pass the first test, under the agreed-upon rules, all that remains is to repeat his or her success in front of Randi -- then, poof, a psychic millionaire is born.
No one has won the prize yet…
omnibrain | January 9, 2007Ohh boy...here we go. From the New Scientist Blog:
An ongoing US experiment to turn "homosexual" rams straight by altering their hormone levels has sparked the ire of both gay activists and animal rights groups. The work is reportedly being carried out at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.
I can imagine what groups like Love in action are going to do when they get their hands on this. From wikipedia (this article also highlights other groups like this):
Love in Action, or LIA, was founded in 1973 by John Evans and the…
omnibrain | January 5, 2007As I'm sure many of you know, Colorado has been completely wrecked with snow - stranding thousands and thousands of cattle out in the fields leaving them to starve or wander off. One radio station, in an effort to help, called the most famous group for 'helping' animals in danger - PETA. Instead of PETA offering their assistance they came off as just a bunch of pricks instead. See below for some more details - or read the original article here.
As many as 340,000 cows and steers have been left stranded by southeastern Colorado's most recent snowstorm, and National Guard units are helping…
omnibrain | December 18, 2006Something from the vaults:
Well...here it is: Dogs are not psychic. Ohh well I kinda thought they had a chance. Here's the originial report (scanned pdf) from the Army, it's pretty interesting actually. And here's a summary from the webpage:
In the early 1950s, Dr. Joseph Banks Rhine, based at Duke University, was the foremost researcher in the field of parapsychology, or, using the term he coined: "extrasensory perception." The Army hired Rhine and his Parapsychology Laboratory to research the possibility of using dogs and other animals to…
omnibrain | December 18, 2006
In no particular order...
1) Being a south paw promotes survival from attacks (well at least in crabs). It seems that
The left-handed advantage is realized when snails interact with predators of opposite handedness. Some predatory crabs are "righties" -- and have a specialized tooth on their right claw that acts like a can opener to crack and peel the snail shells. "The 'sinistral advantage,' or advantage to being left-handed, is that it would be like using a can opener backwards for the crab to crack and peel the snail shell,"
Does something like this apply to humans? We're still…
omnibrain | December 17, 2006
Valentina Sivryukova knew her public service messages were hitting the mark when she heard how one Kazakh schoolboy called another stupid. "What are you," he sneered, "iodine-deficient or something?"
I think I'm going to start using this insult!
I always knew iodine was added to salt at some point for some health reason - but I was never sure actually why that was. It looks like iodine deficiencies can cause all sorts of nasty health problems:
Studies show that iodine deficiency is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation. Even moderate deficiency, especially in pregnant women…
omnibrain | December 16, 2006Another classic...
So I was watching Mythbusters the other night and they were testing a number of "mind contol" devices - they used EEG, etc. They even decided that a couple methods were "plausible."
I decided what I could find out there on the internet...
The first place I looked was EBay - they really do sell everything (I once almost got an antique proctologists uhh.."probe" - it was going to be a gift .. i promise), but anyway - this picture popped up. Only $799.99!
Control people's minds with this amazingly simple technology. The Mind Control Machine converts your voice into something…
omnibrain | December 16, 2006
A number of people have noticed that after getting transplants their personality changes - and not only that- their personality changes to reflect the donors personality.
...though she was born and raised in Tucson, she never liked Mexican food. She craved Italian and was a pasta junkie. But three years ago, all that changed for Jaime Sherman, 28, when she underwent a heart transplant at University Medical Center, after battling a heart defect since birth. "Now I love football, baseball, basketball. You name it, I follow it," said Sherman, a psychology student at Arizona State University. "…