Dear reader,
today I want to tell you about a film that plays is situated in Los Angeles of the 1920's in a hospital. The film industry back then is still in its infancy. Hardly anybody knows, what a stuntman is or does. One of them however is just in that hospital for treatment after having an unfortunate fall during a shooting and is now unable to walk with an injured leg. Also in the hospital is a bright girl with a broken arm. The stuntman begins telling her a story of five heroes. (One of them is himself, another goes by the name of Charles Darwin.) At first it's all totally harmless, but behind all that is the idea that the stuntman might get the girl to steal morphine for him. She does eventually and for that she has to climb a cupboard. Unfortunately she falls very unluckily and has to get head surgery. The stuntman recognises how egoistic his behaviour has been. She wants to break the contact with the girl. That means he's got to bring the story to an end. And what an end it is! I read on the internet that some men, who usually barely shed a tear could hardly hold them back then. I won't tell you anything more about the ending of that story. Watch the film and make up your own mind.
The girl is played by Catinca Untaru, a rumanian, who at the time of filming, in 2006, was only 9 years old. I saw the film in english and was quite impressed how good that little girl was speaking english for her age. The stuntman is played by Lee Pace. In the film he writes down the name of the drug he wants: "Morphine". However he writes the "e" in such an angular shape, that Catinca Untaru actually read it as "3", which worked into the film. I especially thought that the visuals of the film were particularly inspired. Of course the girl has a vivid imagination. Cinematically this is underlined by the fact that quite soon we don't see the two of them in the hospital, but the story is also shown in images with especially sceneries, costumes and over all colours that just really impressed me a lot. The word surrealistic comes to my mind, although that probably isn't quite correct. Quite amusing for the viewer also is the fact how the girl works people she meets and sees in the hospital into the story. For example back in those days it was common for doctors taking x-rays in metal suits, complete with helmet in metal, which also covered the face. Once the girl sees some of those people covered all in metal walking down the halls. These people look like knights! No surprise then that when the stuntman tells her about evil knights, that those look like the x-ray knight doctors in her head. Who can blame her.. A wonderful movie!
Until next blog,
sarah
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Long live placebo!
Dear reader,
the word placebo comes from the latin and means "I please", certainly does please scientists. Because often when medicine or the effect of something has to be tested, the so called control group gets a placebo, which seemingly looks alike, but doesn't contain anything effectual at all. If there is still a positive change that can be measured objectively on the test person, that's called the placebo effect. Then there's "something" about the way the treatment was given that made the positive change, added to the ingredient, which with a placebo is nothing at all. As far as I know, there is no study so far on placebos as such. They're only used to compare to the "real" ingredient.
In his two part program "Fear and Faith" from 2012, the magician Derren Brown made a fascinating experiment. It was based on the following story: a company had created a drug that was talked about as the new wonder weapon in the military. The soldiers would stop being afraid and be totally fearless. Now the drug was to be tested on a group of civilians and Derren Brown, the well known skeptic wanted to run a documentary on that. In reality the drug was a placebo and the company wasn't real either. What Derren Brown really tested was the placebo effect.
Towards the end of the program he explains to the people, what it was really about. In the meantime however the placebo effect had kicked in with many of them and with very positive effect and I thought sometimes quite surprisingly, indeed. You can watch the whole program on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfDlfhHVvTY (about 47 minutes)
Capsules are more effective than pills and injections more effective than capsules according to Derren Brown. I decided to test that for myself. I couldn't think of something of the shape of a pil, but found that tic tac do look quite like capsules. I bought myself a pack. Since I was for real quite anxcious at that time, I told myself that they would calm me. I sucked them, which took about 10 to 15 minutes and after that I really was calmer. Up until then I thought that the placebo effect could only work, when the test person doesn't know that there is no actual ingredient in. Apparently that's not the case. I was very well aware that tic tac are no tranquilliser capsules, especially since I kept them in their original box. Now there are always different kinds. At least orange and mint. What might be worth testing would be if orange are tranquilliser capsules, whether mint could have another effect and if both would only create reactions according to their ascribed effect. At the moment I don't have an idea or the need for mint capsules. Should I do test that some time, you'll know where you can read about it...
The second part of "Fear and Faith" deals with Derren Brown testing whether he could turn an atheist woman in a believer in about an hour. With indirect hypnosis. I won't tell you how it ends. Only this much: like with all the other programs in which he does bigger experiments with and on people, he tells her at the end of the show what really happened and why.
Here is the link to the second prt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LksVbHxLRvY (about 47 minutes)
Until next blog,
sarah
the word placebo comes from the latin and means "I please", certainly does please scientists. Because often when medicine or the effect of something has to be tested, the so called control group gets a placebo, which seemingly looks alike, but doesn't contain anything effectual at all. If there is still a positive change that can be measured objectively on the test person, that's called the placebo effect. Then there's "something" about the way the treatment was given that made the positive change, added to the ingredient, which with a placebo is nothing at all. As far as I know, there is no study so far on placebos as such. They're only used to compare to the "real" ingredient.
In his two part program "Fear and Faith" from 2012, the magician Derren Brown made a fascinating experiment. It was based on the following story: a company had created a drug that was talked about as the new wonder weapon in the military. The soldiers would stop being afraid and be totally fearless. Now the drug was to be tested on a group of civilians and Derren Brown, the well known skeptic wanted to run a documentary on that. In reality the drug was a placebo and the company wasn't real either. What Derren Brown really tested was the placebo effect.
Towards the end of the program he explains to the people, what it was really about. In the meantime however the placebo effect had kicked in with many of them and with very positive effect and I thought sometimes quite surprisingly, indeed. You can watch the whole program on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfDlfhHVvTY (about 47 minutes)
Capsules are more effective than pills and injections more effective than capsules according to Derren Brown. I decided to test that for myself. I couldn't think of something of the shape of a pil, but found that tic tac do look quite like capsules. I bought myself a pack. Since I was for real quite anxcious at that time, I told myself that they would calm me. I sucked them, which took about 10 to 15 minutes and after that I really was calmer. Up until then I thought that the placebo effect could only work, when the test person doesn't know that there is no actual ingredient in. Apparently that's not the case. I was very well aware that tic tac are no tranquilliser capsules, especially since I kept them in their original box. Now there are always different kinds. At least orange and mint. What might be worth testing would be if orange are tranquilliser capsules, whether mint could have another effect and if both would only create reactions according to their ascribed effect. At the moment I don't have an idea or the need for mint capsules. Should I do test that some time, you'll know where you can read about it...
The second part of "Fear and Faith" deals with Derren Brown testing whether he could turn an atheist woman in a believer in about an hour. With indirect hypnosis. I won't tell you how it ends. Only this much: like with all the other programs in which he does bigger experiments with and on people, he tells her at the end of the show what really happened and why.
Here is the link to the second prt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LksVbHxLRvY (about 47 minutes)
Until next blog,
sarah
Saturday, 26 April 2014
WWSHS
Dear reader,
The comprehensive school I went to was a christian one with more or less believing students. One of my class mates had a bracelet bearing the letters WWJD. One of our teachers explained to us eventually that it wasn't half of an internet address or a sort of “broken” one, but the abbreviation for: What would Jesus do?
A while ago I was in the garden and got dandelions and grass for the guinea pigs. It wasn't the first time that I cut myself with the grass. A couple of weeks ago I also cut myself twice with the knifes my father has when I didn't watch out enough cleaning them. Because of that my hands show several marks more or less healed for several weeks now. Thinking about Easter I also made my first ever marmelade (or jam as some of you may call it): daisies-dandelion and the second time only dandelions, but twice the amount. The dandelion flowers have to be pulled for that. The juice of the peduncle is rather bitter and therefore has to be pulled. You want exactly the bitter taste for the dandelion tea, which is supposed to be very healthy. Because of all the cutting and pulling my hands for a while looked rather yellow and brown, even after washing them.
I wonder what Sherlock Holmes would see? The hands of a person would be important to him and insightful. A person for whom well-groomed appearance is important would at least not use their bare hands to work in the dirt or do the gardening without gloves. Depending on their job, women probably would have longer fingernails and maybe have beautifully varnished nails. Someone playing for example the violin or guitar needs rather short fingernails and certain fingers would have calluses from the strings. Kids usually are not that careful eating something. The hands show that quite well. And if a child secretly ate something sweet and forgot to wash their hands after that... The hands of a person are very revealing. If we care to look.
It should be WWSHO – What would Sherlock Holmes observe (or deduce?) not see. Because as he told his friend Dr. John Watson and others so many times: he doesn't see, he observes. Indeed he would not just notice my cut and dirty hands, but deduce that I have been outside having something to do with earth. What else would he specifically be able to tell and correctly deduce?
Until next blog,
sarah
when I was in school there was a time when students
used many abbreviations. Widely known were HDL (Hab dich lieb –
Love you) and HDGDL (Hab dich ganz doll lieb – Love you very much).
I don't know how up to date those abbreviations are today. It has
been many years since I've seen them used. Now chat abbreviations are
more common.
The comprehensive school I went to was a christian one with more or less believing students. One of my class mates had a bracelet bearing the letters WWJD. One of our teachers explained to us eventually that it wasn't half of an internet address or a sort of “broken” one, but the abbreviation for: What would Jesus do?
A while ago I was in the garden and got dandelions and grass for the guinea pigs. It wasn't the first time that I cut myself with the grass. A couple of weeks ago I also cut myself twice with the knifes my father has when I didn't watch out enough cleaning them. Because of that my hands show several marks more or less healed for several weeks now. Thinking about Easter I also made my first ever marmelade (or jam as some of you may call it): daisies-dandelion and the second time only dandelions, but twice the amount. The dandelion flowers have to be pulled for that. The juice of the peduncle is rather bitter and therefore has to be pulled. You want exactly the bitter taste for the dandelion tea, which is supposed to be very healthy. Because of all the cutting and pulling my hands for a while looked rather yellow and brown, even after washing them.
I wonder what Sherlock Holmes would see? The hands of a person would be important to him and insightful. A person for whom well-groomed appearance is important would at least not use their bare hands to work in the dirt or do the gardening without gloves. Depending on their job, women probably would have longer fingernails and maybe have beautifully varnished nails. Someone playing for example the violin or guitar needs rather short fingernails and certain fingers would have calluses from the strings. Kids usually are not that careful eating something. The hands show that quite well. And if a child secretly ate something sweet and forgot to wash their hands after that... The hands of a person are very revealing. If we care to look.
It should be WWSHO – What would Sherlock Holmes observe (or deduce?) not see. Because as he told his friend Dr. John Watson and others so many times: he doesn't see, he observes. Indeed he would not just notice my cut and dirty hands, but deduce that I have been outside having something to do with earth. What else would he specifically be able to tell and correctly deduce?
Until next blog,
sarah
Monday, 31 March 2014
M&M: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Dear reader,
based on the book with the
same title by Paul Torday the film came out in 2011 with Ewan
McGregor as Dr. Alfred Jones, Emily Blunt ad Harriet Chetwode-Talbot
and Amr Waked as Sheikh Muhammadin as leading roles.
The sheikh is a fishing
enthusiast and wants to be able to fish salmon in the jemen. So he
hires the financial adviser Harriet to take care of that. Now she
contacts the fishing expert Dr. Alfred Jones. At first he thinks this
is all a bad joke. But Harriet is on fire and Alfred has many
difficulties, to bring this project to an end. Alfred doesn't have
much of a choice but to take part, the british prime minister's press
secretary forces him to, after she realises what a project like this
could mean for britain, should it succeed. Alfred and Harriet soon
turn this into a sort of game. All just in theory, of course, because
salmon fishing in a desert area like the yemen is pretty crazy.
Alfred one by one puts high requirements on Harriet for the project,
in the hope that she has to say it can't be done... and Harriet
fulfils them without an exception. Through this salmon project Alfred
and Harriet get closer to each other. Alfred has a wife, but she
thinks about her own career a lot and with that their emotional
relationship has gone rather cold. Alfred has a wife though...
Harriet on the other hand met the soldier Robert only a couple of
weeks ago. He's now stationed in afghanistan. Then she gets a message
that Robert has gone missing. Is that the chance for Alfred and
Harriet to get close? Everything seems to go well, the fish are
swimming and the sheikh can go fishing. Just then Robert is back and
for PR-purposes he gets flown to Yemen to Harriet as a surprise for
her. But that project of salmon fishing in the yemen has gone too
well so far. A small group of rebels don't like that there is a dam
for fish for the oh so open-minded sheikh to be able to go fishing.
They blow up the dam and then everything seems lost for the fish. But
is it really? And who will Harriet go for: Alfred or Robert?
It's a lot of fun to watch
Harriet and Alfred together, the way they interact with each other.
First how they're working all in a theoretical way and against each
other and then work with each other and for salmon fishing in the
yemen. Maybe sometimes what it needs is people, who are bound and
determined and a big, nearly impossible project to work on step by
step and for starters purely on a theoretical level. In the end it
may just really work for real. A very beautiful film about the possibility of (seemingly) impossible projects.
Until next blog,
sarah
Sunday, 30 March 2014
Brain attic vs. memory palace
Dear reader,
this here is my blog, my thoughts. No idea whether this matches what scientists think as well.
I believe that there is a difference between a brain attic and a memory palace. Both store things, but in different ways. Sherlock Holmes says that we store all kinds of things in our head. Like in an attic. An attic has got many boxes in which all sorts of things can be kept. Maybe an attic has several different spaces, but it's limited, a defined space. A memory palace on the other hand is a complex of buildings with many rooms. A palace can be enlarged and rooms can be attached to it.
In The memory palace I mentioned different examples of people and their way to remember things. Jonesey's memory warehouse seems to be much like an attic. He explains to the others that for new information to store, he's got to delete other information.
Many years ago I have started writing certain things on index cards. They're separated with separation cards in alphabetical order and sometimes lined with one another with arrows and keywords. I wanted to have information to specific topics sorted and kept in a short way. Index cards seemed to be a good way to me. The good thing about index cards is that I can use them to look things up and the loose card system allows me to add new ones, should I feel like that. I've still got the cards. By now there are other topics added to them than that of the original one.
Although I've still got the cards, I don't as such use that system anymore. The memory palace is a system I know better now than I did then when I started the index card system. I seem to store information in my head much like index cards these days anyway, short information like index cards or newspaper clippings. Single words, images, fragments. I'm not aware of having a whole set of information stored in a single room for certain information. At least not yet. I'm sure that Derren Brown for example does have rooms created for specific things and does use the whole room. I do have single rooms, but I use them more for the atmosphere they have. Much like someone might for example go to church to do some reflective thinking.
When I waiting for the third "Sherlock" season was at times too long and unbearable for me, I was able to keep scenes, dialogue and images of the episodes so far together and in one room. I walked out of the room, the door had a tag "Sherlock" on it. I closed the door. Sometimes I sat in front of the door with my back against the door. Those are rooms that I can create, but not in a sense that I use the room and its content. It's not consciously forgetting. Naturally the information is still there. But they're behind a door and not close anymore. Distant to information also creates emotional distant. I'm not saying it's easy. I closed the door several times and more than once did I sit with my back against it to forget that I had to wait an unbearable long time for a new episode of "Sherlock". Mind control in that way is possible though. If you're not waiting for the next episode of "Sherlock", which seems to be a lifetime away, those kind of thought experiments can also be fun.
Probably the brain attic grows to be a mind palace some day, if you're taking care of the attic and work in it and at it. So I guess my headline wasn't quite correct. It's not an either or, no one or the other. Likely the brain attic is more like a possible beginning of a memory palace. Like my index cards were the beginning of more thoughtful remembering things and retrieving them at my leisure.
Until next blog,
sarah
this here is my blog, my thoughts. No idea whether this matches what scientists think as well.
I believe that there is a difference between a brain attic and a memory palace. Both store things, but in different ways. Sherlock Holmes says that we store all kinds of things in our head. Like in an attic. An attic has got many boxes in which all sorts of things can be kept. Maybe an attic has several different spaces, but it's limited, a defined space. A memory palace on the other hand is a complex of buildings with many rooms. A palace can be enlarged and rooms can be attached to it.
In The memory palace I mentioned different examples of people and their way to remember things. Jonesey's memory warehouse seems to be much like an attic. He explains to the others that for new information to store, he's got to delete other information.
Many years ago I have started writing certain things on index cards. They're separated with separation cards in alphabetical order and sometimes lined with one another with arrows and keywords. I wanted to have information to specific topics sorted and kept in a short way. Index cards seemed to be a good way to me. The good thing about index cards is that I can use them to look things up and the loose card system allows me to add new ones, should I feel like that. I've still got the cards. By now there are other topics added to them than that of the original one.
Although I've still got the cards, I don't as such use that system anymore. The memory palace is a system I know better now than I did then when I started the index card system. I seem to store information in my head much like index cards these days anyway, short information like index cards or newspaper clippings. Single words, images, fragments. I'm not aware of having a whole set of information stored in a single room for certain information. At least not yet. I'm sure that Derren Brown for example does have rooms created for specific things and does use the whole room. I do have single rooms, but I use them more for the atmosphere they have. Much like someone might for example go to church to do some reflective thinking.
When I waiting for the third "Sherlock" season was at times too long and unbearable for me, I was able to keep scenes, dialogue and images of the episodes so far together and in one room. I walked out of the room, the door had a tag "Sherlock" on it. I closed the door. Sometimes I sat in front of the door with my back against the door. Those are rooms that I can create, but not in a sense that I use the room and its content. It's not consciously forgetting. Naturally the information is still there. But they're behind a door and not close anymore. Distant to information also creates emotional distant. I'm not saying it's easy. I closed the door several times and more than once did I sit with my back against it to forget that I had to wait an unbearable long time for a new episode of "Sherlock". Mind control in that way is possible though. If you're not waiting for the next episode of "Sherlock", which seems to be a lifetime away, those kind of thought experiments can also be fun.
Probably the brain attic grows to be a mind palace some day, if you're taking care of the attic and work in it and at it. So I guess my headline wasn't quite correct. It's not an either or, no one or the other. Likely the brain attic is more like a possible beginning of a memory palace. Like my index cards were the beginning of more thoughtful remembering things and retrieving them at my leisure.
Until next blog,
sarah
Monday, 24 March 2014
To be or not to be a beekeper that is the question...
Dear reader,
usual is boring. So it would be interesting to keep bees. Unlike with other pets, which only cost money, you can use the honey and wax and even sell it. Also they're quite independent animals. Surely you've got to check if they've got enough food and water. But that's nothing compared to say guinea pigs with a cage, which needs to be cleaned weekly and is in need of hay, straw and litter by the kilo or like a cat with a cat toilet, which needs cleaning daily and it's not like a dog, which needs to go for a walk a couple of times a day either. In books I read that taking care of the bees takes time of about 10 hours over a year. If I compare that to my guinea pigs: cleaning the cage takes about 10 minutes, if I hurry, more often it's more like 20 minutes to half an hour once a week. Even with 10 minutes a week, if I add this up for a month, it's 40 minutes per month and that's just cleaning the cage.
There's a beekeeper there that offers what he's calling godparenting. The bees are in your garden and there's a godparent/experienced beekeeper coming over to take care of them. One can also be taught how to take care of the bees and the honey is definitely for you to keep.
It's of course also important to test for bee toxin allergy. I'm not allergic. So that's how far I am already now. And what now? Should I call the beekeeper or not? That phone call is the only thing standing between the bees and me. Okay and a visit from a beekeeper to check if the bees can be kept here and where. I'm not quite sure yet. I don't dare calling the beekeeper yet. Or maybe all I want is a bit of attention with an unusual hobby. The news alone of me maybe getting bees is quite exiting for a lot of people.
Until next blog,
sarah
usual is boring. So it would be interesting to keep bees. Unlike with other pets, which only cost money, you can use the honey and wax and even sell it. Also they're quite independent animals. Surely you've got to check if they've got enough food and water. But that's nothing compared to say guinea pigs with a cage, which needs to be cleaned weekly and is in need of hay, straw and litter by the kilo or like a cat with a cat toilet, which needs cleaning daily and it's not like a dog, which needs to go for a walk a couple of times a day either. In books I read that taking care of the bees takes time of about 10 hours over a year. If I compare that to my guinea pigs: cleaning the cage takes about 10 minutes, if I hurry, more often it's more like 20 minutes to half an hour once a week. Even with 10 minutes a week, if I add this up for a month, it's 40 minutes per month and that's just cleaning the cage.
There's a beekeeper there that offers what he's calling godparenting. The bees are in your garden and there's a godparent/experienced beekeeper coming over to take care of them. One can also be taught how to take care of the bees and the honey is definitely for you to keep.
It's of course also important to test for bee toxin allergy. I'm not allergic. So that's how far I am already now. And what now? Should I call the beekeeper or not? That phone call is the only thing standing between the bees and me. Okay and a visit from a beekeeper to check if the bees can be kept here and where. I'm not quite sure yet. I don't dare calling the beekeeper yet. Or maybe all I want is a bit of attention with an unusual hobby. The news alone of me maybe getting bees is quite exiting for a lot of people.
Until next blog,
sarah
Friday, 28 February 2014
M&M: Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea
Dear reader,
for all of you, who enjoy to drink tea or are interested in tea, I've got this month's documentation:
"Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea" is a BBC production produced in april 2013. In this two part program Victoria Wood follows up the history of tea and why the british love tea so much. The first part is about how tea, which originally came from china, came to great britain. The british eventually wanted to be independant from the chinese. India seemed a good enough substitute, especially since india was a former british colony. But what could the british have to trade with the indian? The answer to that question surprised me a lot and I wasn't expecting it at all.
The second part deals with why tea means so much for the british. Victoria Woods speaks with construction side workers, taxi drivers, the actor Matt Smith (known as the 11th Doctor of "Doctor Who"). Tea helped the british win the war, according to some discussion partners. Towards the end of the second part of this documentary Victoria Wood asks the question, if tea has a future at all, with Starbucks and all the sorts of coffee and coffee mixes. Does tea have a future? What could be the future of tea? By the way also worth a thought why in english they talk about a "nice cup of tea" so often. Why "nice"?
Youtube has got both parts online, at least for now. Here are the links:
part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOwWTFh_y9E (59 minutes)
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4I47_vXBtU (58:44 minutes)
Until next blog,
sarah
for all of you, who enjoy to drink tea or are interested in tea, I've got this month's documentation:
"Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea" is a BBC production produced in april 2013. In this two part program Victoria Wood follows up the history of tea and why the british love tea so much. The first part is about how tea, which originally came from china, came to great britain. The british eventually wanted to be independant from the chinese. India seemed a good enough substitute, especially since india was a former british colony. But what could the british have to trade with the indian? The answer to that question surprised me a lot and I wasn't expecting it at all.
The second part deals with why tea means so much for the british. Victoria Woods speaks with construction side workers, taxi drivers, the actor Matt Smith (known as the 11th Doctor of "Doctor Who"). Tea helped the british win the war, according to some discussion partners. Towards the end of the second part of this documentary Victoria Wood asks the question, if tea has a future at all, with Starbucks and all the sorts of coffee and coffee mixes. Does tea have a future? What could be the future of tea? By the way also worth a thought why in english they talk about a "nice cup of tea" so often. Why "nice"?
Youtube has got both parts online, at least for now. Here are the links:
part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOwWTFh_y9E (59 minutes)
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4I47_vXBtU (58:44 minutes)
Until next blog,
sarah
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