thescian | January 3, 2007Yesterday I was bothering the wife with some philosoapy (no, not a spelling error this. I can't say the word with a straight face) about existence, perception, spinoza's god and the like. Dear Mr Berkeley was at our side urging us to consider the irrefutable dictum of his that "to be is to perceive" and that ultimate existence is in the mind. In short, Berkeley said that If no one is looking at a tree, the tree does not exist. The tree, the rock, the moon and all else certainly exist even when we don't see it. How so? Berkeley's Philosoapy has the most astonishing answer I've ever heard. It…
thescian | December 30, 2006If you see little boxes or some such things instead of sensible characters below, it is because of the reasons outlined in the comments. To view the tamil text you can temporarily switch the charset to utf-8 in your browser. More help is here.
à®à®°à¯ - à®à®°à¯ à®à®³à®¿à®ªà¯à®ªà®¤à®¿à®ªà¯à®ªà¯ தமிழ௠மà¯à®´à®¿à®¯à®¿à®©à¯ வரலாறà¯à®±à¯ மி஠à®à®°à¯à®®à¯à®¯à®¾à®© à®à®³à®¿à®ªà¯à®ªà®¤à®¿à®µà®¾à® விளà®à¯à®à®¿à®¯à®¿à®°à¯à®à¯à®à®¿à®±à®¾à®°à¯ திர௠பாஸà¯à®à®°à¯. பிறநà¯à®¤ à®à®°à¯ விà®à¯à®à¯ பà¯à®°à¯à®®à¯ தà¯à®²à¯à®µà®¿à®²à¯ வாழà¯à®®à¯ த…
thescian | December 29, 2006Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who ask what happened. -From a book on Entrepreneurship.
Going out to make coffee happen for me now. Have a good weekend and try to stay sane the coming year.
thescian | December 29, 2006We've evolved with a craving for sugar because as hungry and starved hunters and gathereres it helped us gobble food sources rich in energy whenever they were available (which wasn't often). I like icecream - particularly the ones with the edible cone, because I've evolved to like it. Now, for the alleged saliva stopper question. I've evolved to enjoy sugar?! It's not really my free will?! Oh man! Does that mean my enjoyment of icecream diminishes in some way because I've realized this evolutionary reason?
Well, I do know the evolutionary reason and I stil enjoy icecream. So, hell no.…
thescian | December 29, 2006Apparently Churches have lightning conductors in their towers.
Muhaha...
Source: Ascribed to Asimov in the footnotes of The Science of Discworld III
thescian | December 20, 2006What has the world come to!"...when a bride was chosen for a prince ready to sow his oats, the search would begin for a princess from a family that had a long line of sons. That was of critical importance, and people had observed that sons of families with many sons tended to have more sons."
sez Sunil where he discusses a recent research that delves into people's thumbrule for ensuring reproductive success.
This and more are featured in the newest edition of Tangled Bank at Salto sobrius which"will not cease until lush rainforest grows up to the very foundations of St Nicholas's icy…
thescian | December 19, 2006I accidentally caught the program titled The Trouble With Atheism yesterday on Channel4. I was astonished to find the host Rod Liddle make so many factual errors, erraneous interpretations and misrepresentations. It felt like my brain was being fried constantly.
I am feeling very charitable today so let me just say the program is a piece of turd hurled in the general direction of thinking people by Rod Liddle. You better duck behind some furniture whenever it airs. Some discussions at the Channel4 forums. The first forum post goes like this:Rod Liddle talks bollox about why he thinks…
thescian | December 18, 2006Lookie! Yours truly is amongst august company. Now, now, you would order a special subscription for Seed Magazine that has this fine portrait, wouldn't you (7 issues for 15 bucks. W00t!). While there, how can you resist a few gift subscriptions...
thescian | December 18, 2006A reader posted a comment suggesting that I was fanaticaly irreligious. He said, "I am not sure why you have such a fanatic view against religion. It is man's interpretation of it that has caused religion to be a cause of conflict. The concept itself does not have any reason for the conflict."
and went on to make the customary statement about my maturity and sense of direction. The question is an important one so let me wade through my thoughts to expose my immaturity and lack of direction to a even wider audience. Feel free to counsel me.
The first of the guiding thoughts that I use while…
thescian | December 16, 2006Darfur. Four hundred thousand and still counting.
Poverty. So many lives in the margins moving from one disaster to another.
Climate change. Our own death sentence. Or an opportunity for greatness.
Global conflicts. Religion, politics, greed and human callousness. The photo above may not be enough to convey ground realities. Humans are easily desensitized. Try this or these. Reality is surely far worse.
thescian | December 15, 2006Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Glis Glis of Amersham!"The Glis Glis is one of Britain's rarest introduced mammals living in the wild and resembles a small grey squirrel. For some reason it has established itself in the Chilterns (most densely around Chesham Bois) and nowhere else in the country.
Their nickname is the Seven Sleepers as they hibernate for seven months of the year. Walter Rothschild, who later became the second Baron Rothschild, brought the first six Glis Glis to England in 1902. No-one knows exactly why, but he turned them loose in Tring Park and they spread…
thescian | December 13, 2006Wouldn't it be nice, you would think. But imagine the consequences. As a child, if you don't feel pain, you may eat your fingers. The beebs reports on families in Pakistan who have a genetic mutation that releives them of the sensation of pain."the Cambridge team found six people from the three related families all carried the same mutated gene.
None had experienced pain at any time in their lives.
Detailed neurological examinations revealed that there was no evidence of any sort of disease which could explain this deficit.
And they were able to perceive a number of sensations, such as touch…
thescian | December 13, 2006Warning. Rant ahead. As Christmas approaches the advertisements on TV, radio, roadside banners, underarms and butts get more violent and desperate. I saw an ad for a big catalogue ordering company in the UK. It ends with a cheerful and very welcoming sales-counter girl servicing a very satisfied customer. Happiness all over the place. A sight to behold. Like the phone that rings in the cinema hall, a thought occurs to me at this evidently wonderful moment of christmas cheer. It is this: "I have never met a cheerful salesperson in that company's sales counter. What the heck! This is bullshit…
thescian | December 13, 2006Smilack belongs to the group of one to four percent of people worldwide with synesthesia, the neurological mixing of the senses. No two synesthetes have exactly the same perceptual experiences. Many perceive each number, letter of the alphabet, or day of the week as a different color. For others, sounds from the environment are always accompanied by moving geometric patterns in their "mind's eye." -Seed Magazine
This blog entry by Smilack expresses what strange bedfellows sensory perception and meaning are. I am utterly fascinated.
I wonder if some of the technological advances and…
thescian | December 11, 2006Took a Myers-Briggs Personality Type Test [via reddit.com]. I am a Introverted Intuitive Thinking Judging (INTJ) type of personality it seems (that title you read was a bit of a creative excess. Sorry.) Vaguely feels like I've read the astrology column in a newspaper...
Whether these profiling methods work or not (I have my doubts), they provide a handy framework to impress others with wonderful and pithy quotes about oneself."INTJs are very analytical individuals. Like INTPs, they are more comfortable working alone than with other people, and are not usually very sociable, although they are…
thescian | December 8, 2006Indian men have their work cut-out for them. And what's that you ask. It is this: To increase the penis size. Apparently, the international condom size is far too big for Indian men. What isn't apparent is that this gap in size may not be desirable for very valid medical reasons. Larger unfit condoms will not offer the necessary protection. The problem would be compounded by timid men who may not ask for a fix. If more men in India could be persuaded to use condoms regularly, wouldn't the sales figures drive condom makers to rethink the size of their product?