Ahhh, bedtimes: crossing the paths of no pillows. I'm talking of the oft times you over-estimate your available evening hours. You do too much.
Perhaps, like me, you find yourself engrossed in a project in the early hours of evening, only to find out what seems like moments later is truly hours later and you have only a few short hours to rest your spinning/glazed/ready eyeballs before returning to the workmill once more.
Isn't it wrong to be at work and be able to say, "I went to bed six hours ago?" And Shaden being an hour away!
Oh, go on, you know you've been there before: geek by day, geek by night. You can't help it, there's a draw to the computer like a bugle to a boogie woogie boy. Like a sheep to a field of sweet, green peas. Like an apple to a... a pie. mmmm pie.
Just the thought of my nice comfy bed at this moment sends wonderful, relaxing, calming thoughts to the rest of my body, despite knowing that eight or nine hours of milling remains. And suddenly, counting sheep doesn't seem so out of place.
Wah wah wah. I know I know, suck it up princess.
All for the love of the database! My Febrewary moments draw near an end: I must squeeeeze the barley notes out as much as can be before Thursday's March... Oh-ho yes! I've accessed the master of art -- er, mastered the art of Access -- but still crave it's tabled depths to fill. Be thrilled my sleeping heart...
27 February 2007
13 February 2007
Fielding Green
Have been scanning for emeralds -- rings, that is. Just for fun.
It's amazing what you can find out there... A nice little platinum banded tri-gem number could be delightfully yours in exchange for a small down-payment on a city house. But seriously, what's not to love about the practicality and beauty of something engineered to perfection??
How do you choose one of these things, anyway? Who makes this decision?
It's amazing what you can find out there... A nice little platinum banded tri-gem number could be delightfully yours in exchange for a small down-payment on a city house. But seriously, what's not to love about the practicality and beauty of something engineered to perfection??
How do you choose one of these things, anyway? Who makes this decision?
11 February 2007
06 February 2007
The 4 F's: Feeding, Fighting, Fleeing and Mating
I'm currently on a scented knowledge-gathering buzz, reading up on scents and sensuality.
Did you know that there are some scents out there that can create surprisingly primal responses in humans and animals, especially when it comes to those four basic responses of feeding, fighting, fleeing, and... mating?
Back in my OAC Biology days, I briefly learned about all this stuff for a project we were never supposed to write up and I realized recently that it's been in the back of my mind ever since. So, last month I put some books on hold at the library on this topic and have been reading through them... and lemme tell ya, it's still just as engrossing as it ever was.
I'm talking about Pheromones -- those natural or synthetic odours that affect hormones that affect animal behaviour.
Pheromones are usually known for their influence on sexual behaviour in animals, but what's not commonly known is their impact on how the brain develops, what we remember, and how we learn.
If you think about it, scientists tend to spend more effort researching the 'useful' senses of sight and hearing and touch over that taboo-ridden sense of smell. However, if you look at just a few of the numbers, Smell is sadly under-rated considering it's superior impact on mammalian development...
a) Olfactory receptors (for smell) are the only ones directly hard-wired into the base of the brain. Responses to the other four senses get processed before reaching the brain through other routes.
b) Your typical human has about 100,000 genes, where only 3 of them are used for sight receptors (red, green, blue) -- but more than 1,000 of them are developed for smell receptors.
c) Your typical human can distinguish between 10,000 to 40,000 different odours, with over 100,000 for whiskey blenders or perfumers.
One book in particular has caught my attention this week: "The Scent of Eros" (James Kohl, 1 or 2). It could have been such a boring book, listing all the in-depth physiological descriptions and chemical makeups of one-celled animals through various marine life and all the way up through to humans -- but it's really not. It's so much more. It's incredibly interesting stuff and it's written in a style as if the author was just teaching a cool lecture...
What can I say? It just makes scents.
Did you know that there are some scents out there that can create surprisingly primal responses in humans and animals, especially when it comes to those four basic responses of feeding, fighting, fleeing, and... mating?
Back in my OAC Biology days, I briefly learned about all this stuff for a project we were never supposed to write up and I realized recently that it's been in the back of my mind ever since. So, last month I put some books on hold at the library on this topic and have been reading through them... and lemme tell ya, it's still just as engrossing as it ever was.
I'm talking about Pheromones -- those natural or synthetic odours that affect hormones that affect animal behaviour.
Pheromones are usually known for their influence on sexual behaviour in animals, but what's not commonly known is their impact on how the brain develops, what we remember, and how we learn.
If you think about it, scientists tend to spend more effort researching the 'useful' senses of sight and hearing and touch over that taboo-ridden sense of smell. However, if you look at just a few of the numbers, Smell is sadly under-rated considering it's superior impact on mammalian development...
a) Olfactory receptors (for smell) are the only ones directly hard-wired into the base of the brain. Responses to the other four senses get processed before reaching the brain through other routes.
b) Your typical human has about 100,000 genes, where only 3 of them are used for sight receptors (red, green, blue) -- but more than 1,000 of them are developed for smell receptors.
c) Your typical human can distinguish between 10,000 to 40,000 different odours, with over 100,000 for whiskey blenders or perfumers.
One book in particular has caught my attention this week: "The Scent of Eros" (James Kohl, 1 or 2). It could have been such a boring book, listing all the in-depth physiological descriptions and chemical makeups of one-celled animals through various marine life and all the way up through to humans -- but it's really not. It's so much more. It's incredibly interesting stuff and it's written in a style as if the author was just teaching a cool lecture...
What can I say? It just makes scents.
01 February 2007
Febrewary First
I earned me a Crown today at RateBeer.com for entering a hundred ratings.
This is quite a nice package for me for February, considering it's just in time for my birthday and (more importantly) my handle name there on the site is an old reference to a joke between my grandparents, who happen to be celebrating their 62nd wedding anniversary today...
... Camel asks, "Cuppa tea, Mabel?"
This is quite a nice package for me for February, considering it's just in time for my birthday and (more importantly) my handle name there on the site is an old reference to a joke between my grandparents, who happen to be celebrating their 62nd wedding anniversary today...
... Camel asks, "Cuppa tea, Mabel?"
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