Reverse engineer your brain

More than 40 years ago, my father wrote a short story called “Dr. Pettigott’s Face.” The eponymous doctor of the story has a theory that pushing the face into happy expressions will make people happy, and has constructed a machine to do this. I remember that for years he had a correspondence with some neuro researcher who was interested in facial expressions because the guy liked the story so much. The title has been a shorthand in our family for people trying to reverse engineer things in weird ways.

The polyvagal theory and some of its implications suggest that there may be a grain of truth in this. The connections between emotion and facial expression are very tight and it’s possible that it “goes both ways”. This story from the LA Times on Sunday is fascinating:

botox for a better brain?

Winners.

I’ve never been a sports fan, but I’m a huge fan of the revolution in women’s sports in the U.S. Title IX went in about when I was in junior high school, and the result has been a huge increase in the respect, encouragement, and resources girls get in the athletic world growing up. Not just women’s sports, but women crashing men’s sports.

The effect on our culture is huge.

I have a special place in my heart for women auto racers, because I am a car nut and because it’s a boy’s club where women can excel. What’s required is endurance, precision, and courage.

GO DANICA!
danica

Also, inexpicable picture of Danica having a toy car race apparently supervised by Madeline Albright on FOX News. ?

what

This is how it will look, folks.

Pete gave me the update on that crazy “let’s simulate a pandemic including all the creepy quarantine arrests” story. The best paragraph in the new story:

Walsh said the drill didn’t apparently alarm area residents because county officials didn’t receive any calls, but she added that the investigators reported that small groups of curious people gathered to watch the actors be cuffed with plastic handcuffs and taken away in unmarked cars.

Oh hey great. When they take me to Camp Halliburton, there will be a small group of curious people watching.

http://www.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2006/05/24/drill1.html

pop music is IMPORTANT

via miss_geek, this pass-it-on-thing-not-meme: the ten bands that got me through high school. which were, roughly, those below. Please note that I’m not convinced I actually got through high school.

1. The Clash

2. Joy Division

3. Gang of Four

4. The Dream Syndicate

5. Pere Ubu

6. Devo

7. X

9. The Adolescents

10. Public Image, Ltd.

…i forgot what 8 was for

Why is there even a Finnish GWAR imitation to start with?

  1. Via Bookslut, an accurate and zingful description of “guy lit”, the brother of “chick lit”. Edit: The link I entered earlier doesn’t work because the Chron wants you to pay for that article.
  2. Today’s quote on immigration insanity is from Arizona’s governor: “Show me a 50-foot wall, and I’ll show you a 51-foot ladder.” (Molly Ivins)
  3. The ‘Vark points to an adrants article about the “Morgellons disease” phenomenon that suggests it’s a big ol’ hoax. I have my suspicions too, since it’s 1) totally crazy and 2) a sudden big new thing on the internet.
  4. Blunders! Failures! Science Oopsies! DEAD MALLS!
  5. “Thanks” to do_not_lick for alerting me to this miracle diet based on an important book which everyone should read.

On a very special episode of “The X-Files”…

Delaware to test response to flu outbreak

By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau

DELHI — Don’t panic if you see officials wearing masks and gloves taking people into custody in Delhi. It’s just a pandemic-flu isolation and quarantine drill being staged by several Delaware County and state agencies.

Mandy Walsh, Delaware County Public Health preparedness program coordinator, said the drill will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday.

“We don’t want people to be alarmed,” Hamilton said. “We are just trying to be prepared.”

[ … ]

“The law-enforcement personnel will be wearing protective equipment,” Walsh said. “People may see unmarked cars driven by people with masks and gloves. They will be knocking on doors and serving orders.”

Walsh said the respirator masks cover the nose and mouth and have canisters on the sides, which give them the appearance of a gas mask. Some of the volunteers have been instructed to resist the court order, so people may see someone being taken from their home unwillingly and a scuffle may occur, Walsh said.

[…]

From http://www.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2006/05/22/dt7.html via trinnitl