Just read this article. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15739502-13762,00.html
US scientists have created eerie zombie dogs, reanimating the canines after several hours of clinical death in attempts to develop suspended animation for humans.
Pittsburgh's Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research has developed technique in which subject's veins are drained of blood and filled ith an ice-cold salt solution. During the procedure blood is replaced with saline solution at a few degrees above zero. The dogs' body temperature drops to only 7C, compared with the usual 37C, inducing a state of hypothermia before death. The animals are considered scientifically dead, as they stop breathing and have no heartbeat or brain activity. Although the animals are clinically dead, their tissues and organs are perfectly preserved. Three hours later, the dogs are brought back to life by returning the blood to their bodies, giving them 100 per cent oxygen and applying electric shocks to restart their hearts. Tests show they are perfectlynormal, with no brain damage.
Plans to test the technique on humans should be realised within a year. However rather than sending people to sleep for years, then bringing them back to life to benefit from medical advances, the scientists would be happy to keep people in this state for just a few hours. But even this should be enough to save lives such as battlefield casualties and victims of stabbings or gunshot wounds, who have suffered huge blood loss.
I giggled hideously when I came across this article. Imagine the dog as the guinea pig of this test, being bolted back to life and all cranky because before then he was having a good time with Saint Peter upstairs. Hehehe. Naah, that's a bad joke. But really, this one made me laugh. For some odd reasons I have no idea. I wonder why.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Blog-hop
I thought that I was demented until I read someone else's blog. Yup, I'm a frequent blog-hopper. To draw my own meaning, a blog-hopper is someone who likes to visit someone's web log site and explore his/her inner sanctum. I do that. Just for kicks. If you don't know how to blog-hop, just visit any blog site and click on any link to any person, regardless of his/her status or personal inclination. That makes blog-hopping fun. You get a glimpse of someone's heaven (or hell).
I know it's such a waste of precious time. Eh anong pakialam mo? Kanya-kanyang trip lang yan.
I know it's such a waste of precious time. Eh anong pakialam mo? Kanya-kanyang trip lang yan.
Is intelligence directly proportional to brain size?
I have another excuse to post a new topic. Got an interesting article about smart people having bigger brains. I don't want to paraphrase it, heck it would eat much of my time. To cut the drama short, read on or better yet check out this link: http://www.vcu.edu/uns/Releases/2005/june/061705.html.
According to a study conducted by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher published in the journal "Intelligence," people with bigger brains are smarter than their smaller-bained counterparts. The study could settle a long-standing scientific debate about the relationship between brain size and intelligence. Ever since German anatomist and physiologist Frederick Tiedmann wrote in 1836 that there exists "an indisputable connection between the size of the brain and the mental energy displayed by the individual man," scientists have been searching for biological evidence to prove his claim.
The study is the most comprehensive of its kind, drawing conclusions from 26 previous - mostly recent - international studies involving brain volume and intelligence. It was only five years ago, with the increased use of MRI-based brain assessments, that more data relating to brain volume and intelligence became available. Michael A. McDaniel, Ph.D., a professor in management in VCU's School of Business, found that, on average, intelligence increases with increasing brain volume. Intelligence was measured with standardized intelligence tests, which have important consequences on peoples' lives, such as where they'll go to college or what kind of job they get.
As an industrial and organizational psychologist, McDaniel works with employers to screen job applicants and measure their performance. He said employers will appreciate his findings because intelligence tests are the single best predictor of job performance. On average, smarter people learn quicker, make fewer errors, and are more productive.
It isn't true that because I posted this article, it implies that I have a bigger brain. Duh.
According to a study conducted by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher published in the journal "Intelligence," people with bigger brains are smarter than their smaller-bained counterparts. The study could settle a long-standing scientific debate about the relationship between brain size and intelligence. Ever since German anatomist and physiologist Frederick Tiedmann wrote in 1836 that there exists "an indisputable connection between the size of the brain and the mental energy displayed by the individual man," scientists have been searching for biological evidence to prove his claim.
The study is the most comprehensive of its kind, drawing conclusions from 26 previous - mostly recent - international studies involving brain volume and intelligence. It was only five years ago, with the increased use of MRI-based brain assessments, that more data relating to brain volume and intelligence became available. Michael A. McDaniel, Ph.D., a professor in management in VCU's School of Business, found that, on average, intelligence increases with increasing brain volume. Intelligence was measured with standardized intelligence tests, which have important consequences on peoples' lives, such as where they'll go to college or what kind of job they get.
As an industrial and organizational psychologist, McDaniel works with employers to screen job applicants and measure their performance. He said employers will appreciate his findings because intelligence tests are the single best predictor of job performance. On average, smarter people learn quicker, make fewer errors, and are more productive.
It isn't true that because I posted this article, it implies that I have a bigger brain. Duh.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Taking a time off
I have been hibernating for the past few weeks. No blogging for more than two weeks. Just plain inner mind contemplation. No screams, yells, cries or woes were exchanged on this blog. Call it a hiatus of some sort.
I should have been writing more recently. The school has just started and I'm back to my usual job of threatening my students to fix their lives (studies, for that matter) or else. The else part is kinda condescending. Or else what? That they will not pass my subject? That they will fail to live up to their own personal missions? That they won't graduate on time? That their parents will summon them to eternal misery for such failure? That they won't earn some ganda or pogi points from their crushes? Whatever.
I'm yakking again. Me the blubber mouth isn't that of a talker. If I have a tendency to do that, it's either that I am all giddy and high or I'm just completely bored out of my skull.
Ano daw?
Last night was a very rainy night. To say that it rained cats and dogs is a weak idiom. I could say that dinosaurs were ressurected from the heavens last night and plummeted to the ground--head first. The rain was really heavy. So the gang (Serg, Monet, Bray and moi) left Arlegui building while it was raining. Of course, the constant bickering and nagging on who's umbrella should be use was such a catastrophic issue. As resolved, all of us except Monet (who had a gall not to use hers "kasi mahal yung payong ko eh Benetton") pulled our Transformer-like umbrellas to shield ourselves from the crazy rain. We saw a jeepney, hopped in and we were off to the Mr. Sy's Neverland--SM Manila. (Where else?)
We decided to eat. And so we did. I asked Serg to buy me whatever food because I would be heading to a drugstore to buy marijuana. It's a joke, OK. My throat has been hoarse for a week now and I need to get some medicine. Serg bought me a beef something on top of hot rice. (By the way, yung sukli ko nga pala?) When we finished wolfing on our food, Serg and Monet convinced me to play another rounds of network games. The conversation went like this:
M: Hoy, maganda yung Battle.Net.
S: Oo, basta ayoko na maging gagamba. Remember yung last time na naglaro tayo, yung may girlash na maingay maglaro at palamura (Puta! T**** n'yo! with complete re-enactment), siya pala may ari ng rental na yun.
L: Ayoko na! BI talaga kayo.
M: Basta maganda yung Battle.Net. Gusto mong sumama?
S: Masaya, promise. Mag-eenjoy ka. Maraming characters. Maraming powers. Basta.
Who could refuse such promotion like that?
And so I gave in. We played, like, for more than six hours. I got home at around past 12am. Imagine that. Inabot kami ng madaling araw. Hay naku. Ayos lang, enjoy naman. Hehehe.
I should have been writing more recently. The school has just started and I'm back to my usual job of threatening my students to fix their lives (studies, for that matter) or else. The else part is kinda condescending. Or else what? That they will not pass my subject? That they will fail to live up to their own personal missions? That they won't graduate on time? That their parents will summon them to eternal misery for such failure? That they won't earn some ganda or pogi points from their crushes? Whatever.
I'm yakking again. Me the blubber mouth isn't that of a talker. If I have a tendency to do that, it's either that I am all giddy and high or I'm just completely bored out of my skull.
Ano daw?
Last night was a very rainy night. To say that it rained cats and dogs is a weak idiom. I could say that dinosaurs were ressurected from the heavens last night and plummeted to the ground--head first. The rain was really heavy. So the gang (Serg, Monet, Bray and moi) left Arlegui building while it was raining. Of course, the constant bickering and nagging on who's umbrella should be use was such a catastrophic issue. As resolved, all of us except Monet (who had a gall not to use hers "kasi mahal yung payong ko eh Benetton") pulled our Transformer-like umbrellas to shield ourselves from the crazy rain. We saw a jeepney, hopped in and we were off to the Mr. Sy's Neverland--SM Manila. (Where else?)
We decided to eat. And so we did. I asked Serg to buy me whatever food because I would be heading to a drugstore to buy marijuana. It's a joke, OK. My throat has been hoarse for a week now and I need to get some medicine. Serg bought me a beef something on top of hot rice. (By the way, yung sukli ko nga pala?) When we finished wolfing on our food, Serg and Monet convinced me to play another rounds of network games. The conversation went like this:
M: Hoy, maganda yung Battle.Net.
S: Oo, basta ayoko na maging gagamba. Remember yung last time na naglaro tayo, yung may girlash na maingay maglaro at palamura (Puta! T**** n'yo! with complete re-enactment), siya pala may ari ng rental na yun.
L: Ayoko na! BI talaga kayo.
M: Basta maganda yung Battle.Net. Gusto mong sumama?
S: Masaya, promise. Mag-eenjoy ka. Maraming characters. Maraming powers. Basta.
Who could refuse such promotion like that?
And so I gave in. We played, like, for more than six hours. I got home at around past 12am. Imagine that. Inabot kami ng madaling araw. Hay naku. Ayos lang, enjoy naman. Hehehe.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Ok, what now?
I guess I just waited for the right moment to come by before hitting this keyboard. With my fingers, of course. What am I going to use, my forehead? Haler.
I did an entry at home but I am too lazy to buy prepaid card and have my entry posted. I am just too lazy to do that. See. I've just used the same two words today. I must have run out of better adjectives to describe my day. Actually I am set to accomplish our CCNA 4 completion at MFI but our instructor (Ma'am Opel, where are you?) was not around. Serg was supposed to tag along with this but he came late. More than an hour. I texted him and told him that our completion is postponed. I asked him if I could hang out at his place. When he came to our meeting place, he told me that we should visit Monet at her place and jam with her. Jam, meaning to kill time. Not the musical type of jam. Jam for us is (what else?) network games. But I prefer blogging. Hehehe.
So right now, we are here somewhere at SM Manila. While two crazy friends are busy playing network games, I am typing this away. I don't really know when to end this entry. Another sign of nuisance.
And there you go.
I did an entry at home but I am too lazy to buy prepaid card and have my entry posted. I am just too lazy to do that. See. I've just used the same two words today. I must have run out of better adjectives to describe my day. Actually I am set to accomplish our CCNA 4 completion at MFI but our instructor (Ma'am Opel, where are you?) was not around. Serg was supposed to tag along with this but he came late. More than an hour. I texted him and told him that our completion is postponed. I asked him if I could hang out at his place. When he came to our meeting place, he told me that we should visit Monet at her place and jam with her. Jam, meaning to kill time. Not the musical type of jam. Jam for us is (what else?) network games. But I prefer blogging. Hehehe.
So right now, we are here somewhere at SM Manila. While two crazy friends are busy playing network games, I am typing this away. I don't really know when to end this entry. Another sign of nuisance.
And there you go.
Monday, May 30, 2005
Frozen throne
After a failed attempt of overthrowing enemies, we (Serg, Monet and I) were able to defeat them. Again. We were, like, freezing our butts on this throne for more than three hours just to overcome legions of hateful creatures. Mightily we have conquered them. What a sweet revenge it was.
Of course I'm talking about network games. What else could I be talking about? The stupid management? Inept government? Well, duh.
It's a good thing we only attempted playing the game twice. Otherwise, we'll be up to midnight. We won't give up until we have overthrown hordes of avengeful orcs, humans, night elves and undead creatures. We planned, organized, dissected and strategized our meager resources to beat them up. We integrated our powers to shift them off the map. To vanquish them. To uphold what is true and right. To uphold peace once again. To spread goodwill to mankind. For world peace! Clap! Clap! Clap! (Fake applause.) Oh heck, I'm just exaggerating. It's only a game.
Of course I'm talking about network games. What else could I be talking about? The stupid management? Inept government? Well, duh.
It's a good thing we only attempted playing the game twice. Otherwise, we'll be up to midnight. We won't give up until we have overthrown hordes of avengeful orcs, humans, night elves and undead creatures. We planned, organized, dissected and strategized our meager resources to beat them up. We integrated our powers to shift them off the map. To vanquish them. To uphold what is true and right. To uphold peace once again. To spread goodwill to mankind. For world peace! Clap! Clap! Clap! (Fake applause.) Oh heck, I'm just exaggerating. It's only a game.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Sarcasm in the brain
I belong to a 'kada (short for barkada) which is collectively called as Sarcastic People. This came to another name as S_Pipol, as homage to the text generation. I will narrate a longer story if someone nags me (or drags me) to draw our story out.
Dedicated to these odd, weird, complex yet good friends, I would like to share a fascinating discussion about sarcasm, taken from this link: http://snipurl.com/f31x.
There's a reason why some brain-damaged people can't comprehend sarcasm, and Israeli researchers think it's because a specific brain region has gone dark. The region, according to the researchers, handles the task of detecting hidden meaning, a crucial component of sarcasm. If that part of the brain is out of commission, the irony doesn't come through, the scientists report in the May issue of Neuropsychology.
Simone Shamay-Tsoory, a researcher at the University of Haifa, says that people with prefrontal brain damage suffer from difficulties in understanding other people's mental states, and they lack empathy. Therefore, they can't understand what the speaker really is talking about, and get only the literal meaning.
In experiments where 58 subjects were exposed to several "neutral" and sarcastic comments recorded by actors as part of a story, all the subjects understood the sarcasm except for those with damage tothe prefrontal area, which is above the eye sockets and behind the forehead. And among those, people with damage to a specific area known as the ventromedial area had the most trouble deciphering sarcasm.
The findings, Shamay-Tsoory said, could help rehabilitation centers do a better job of helping brain-damaged patients adjust to the world and understand other people.
Any objections?
Dedicated to these odd, weird, complex yet good friends, I would like to share a fascinating discussion about sarcasm, taken from this link: http://snipurl.com/f31x.
There's a reason why some brain-damaged people can't comprehend sarcasm, and Israeli researchers think it's because a specific brain region has gone dark. The region, according to the researchers, handles the task of detecting hidden meaning, a crucial component of sarcasm. If that part of the brain is out of commission, the irony doesn't come through, the scientists report in the May issue of Neuropsychology.
Simone Shamay-Tsoory, a researcher at the University of Haifa, says that people with prefrontal brain damage suffer from difficulties in understanding other people's mental states, and they lack empathy. Therefore, they can't understand what the speaker really is talking about, and get only the literal meaning.
In experiments where 58 subjects were exposed to several "neutral" and sarcastic comments recorded by actors as part of a story, all the subjects understood the sarcasm except for those with damage tothe prefrontal area, which is above the eye sockets and behind the forehead. And among those, people with damage to a specific area known as the ventromedial area had the most trouble deciphering sarcasm.
The findings, Shamay-Tsoory said, could help rehabilitation centers do a better job of helping brain-damaged patients adjust to the world and understand other people.
Any objections?
Digression
Many events had passed me by last few days. Most of them involved movies. Briggs and I would often hit the mall to catch up on some new cinematic exploit. Last Saturday was Kingdom of Heaven. Monday was Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. Friday was La Visa Loca. This is what I call as "ubusan ng pera" galore.
(Shit. My mind just stopped churning out words again. I seem to digress with my writing lately. I hate this. But still, I have to post this.)
OK, my mind tells me right now that I should stop typing away and go the PLM to get my unreleased class card. It has not been retrieved, like, for two trimesters now. I should get it. But I would have to shell out five hundred pesos because, according to Serg, our class was undersized. To consider it as a full class, we should be twenty. I don't know what really happened but I would have to follow the process. Otherwise, I won't received my class card.
I'm off to school now.
Yun lang at babu.
(Shit. My mind just stopped churning out words again. I seem to digress with my writing lately. I hate this. But still, I have to post this.)
OK, my mind tells me right now that I should stop typing away and go the PLM to get my unreleased class card. It has not been retrieved, like, for two trimesters now. I should get it. But I would have to shell out five hundred pesos because, according to Serg, our class was undersized. To consider it as a full class, we should be twenty. I don't know what really happened but I would have to follow the process. Otherwise, I won't received my class card.
I'm off to school now.
Yun lang at babu.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Lunes
Summer classes had ended, thank goodness. Now I am back to bumming around. I've been listening a lot to pinoy rock lately. Salamat kay Briggs, last Monday, he handed me over some audio cds of Sponge Cola, Session Road and Bamboo. Buti na lang at orig yung naipahiram nya sa akin at di nahirapang basahin ng CD-ROM.
Sponge Cola's Palabas is a good album. It kinda reminds me E-heads' college type of music. One of my favorite SC song is Lunes. The lyrics are included in the album. Without further ado, let me share them to you:
Bumibilis
Kumakaripas
Naghihintay na lang
Kasama ng ulan
At ayokong magising
Sa umagang nang-aakit mabuksan
Naninimtim, 'di alam
Walang patutunguhan
'Di mapigilan ang pag-ngiti
Paglaya mo'y minimithi
Nagyayaya nang makisayaw
Ang himig ay...
Nang-aaliw
Isang pagdiriwang
Sa ilalim ng bituin
Sa liwanag ng buwan
At ayokong magising
Sa umagang nang-aakit mabuksan
Naninimtim, 'di alam
Walang patutunguhan
Ayoko na
Hindi sinasadya
Hindi ko sinasadya
-----
(Will post some more. Serg is nagging me to play network games again. Hehehe.)
Sponge Cola's Palabas is a good album. It kinda reminds me E-heads' college type of music. One of my favorite SC song is Lunes. The lyrics are included in the album. Without further ado, let me share them to you:
Dahan-dahang lumalamig
Unti-unting dumidilim
Sa saliw ng 'yong pagtingin
Ang oras ay...
Unti-unting dumidilim
Sa saliw ng 'yong pagtingin
Ang oras ay...
Bumibilis
Kumakaripas
Naghihintay na lang
Kasama ng ulan
At ayokong magising
Sa umagang nang-aakit mabuksan
Naninimtim, 'di alam
Walang patutunguhan
'Di mapigilan ang pag-ngiti
Paglaya mo'y minimithi
Nagyayaya nang makisayaw
Ang himig ay...
Nang-aaliw
Isang pagdiriwang
Sa ilalim ng bituin
Sa liwanag ng buwan
At ayokong magising
Sa umagang nang-aakit mabuksan
Naninimtim, 'di alam
Walang patutunguhan
Ayoko na
Hindi sinasadya
Hindi ko sinasadya
-----
(Will post some more. Serg is nagging me to play network games again. Hehehe.)
Friday, May 20, 2005
Babasahin mo kaya ito?
Hayaan mo ako
na makita ang daan
at malibot ang landas
sa sarili kong paraan.
Hindi ito dahilan
o hudyat
para ika'y iwan.
Hindi ito mangyayari.
Sa saglit na nawala ako
sa bawat pag-tiktak ng relo
segundo
minuto
oras
kung ilang araw man ang naging pagitan
na hindi tayo nag-usap
at nagkibuan
hindi ito ang tanda
na ako'y mawawala
o lilisan.
Hindi ito magaganap.
Anumang landas na aking binaybay
dinaanan ko ang mga ito
at patuloy pa rin napupuntahan
dahil ang landas na ito
ay pabalik sayo.
Magtiwala ka
di kita iiwan
babalik ako.
Patungo sayo.
Daan
/subnet-zero
052005
na makita ang daan
at malibot ang landas
sa sarili kong paraan.
Hindi ito dahilan
o hudyat
para ika'y iwan.
Hindi ito mangyayari.
Sa saglit na nawala ako
sa bawat pag-tiktak ng relo
segundo
minuto
oras
kung ilang araw man ang naging pagitan
na hindi tayo nag-usap
at nagkibuan
hindi ito ang tanda
na ako'y mawawala
o lilisan.
Hindi ito magaganap.
Anumang landas na aking binaybay
dinaanan ko ang mga ito
at patuloy pa rin napupuntahan
dahil ang landas na ito
ay pabalik sayo.
Magtiwala ka
di kita iiwan
babalik ako.
Patungo sayo.
Daan
/subnet-zero
052005
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
A run in the mill
Should have posted something here last Monday. But I was too busy because last Monday I worked on my ComOrg final exam and checked out my student's case study. Yesterday was accomplished quite fine, if I should say. My classes had a review of the topics covered for the final exam. It did go well. Buti naman.
Though Monday was kinda disappointing. Only few students (bilang ko nga sa daliri eh) were able to present their case study. And it's not even thorough yet. I know, I know. I have this mentality of pushing my students too hard with difficult tasks. This is because I yearn for their growth. So that when they leave my class (after all of those hoolabaloos and wacky class scenarios), they will get something. Remember something. Kahit man lang kaunti. My friend used to kid me a lot, asking me constantly about my idealism. Kung idealistic pa nga ba ako bilang titser o nakikiayon na lang sa sistema.
(Wait. Hold on. Someone has PM-ed me. Parang nag-eexist yung word na yun ah. Hehehe. Gotta drop this down but I will post it now.)
Though Monday was kinda disappointing. Only few students (bilang ko nga sa daliri eh) were able to present their case study. And it's not even thorough yet. I know, I know. I have this mentality of pushing my students too hard with difficult tasks. This is because I yearn for their growth. So that when they leave my class (after all of those hoolabaloos and wacky class scenarios), they will get something. Remember something. Kahit man lang kaunti. My friend used to kid me a lot, asking me constantly about my idealism. Kung idealistic pa nga ba ako bilang titser o nakikiayon na lang sa sistema.
(Wait. Hold on. Someone has PM-ed me. Parang nag-eexist yung word na yun ah. Hehehe. Gotta drop this down but I will post it now.)
Saturday, May 14, 2005
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