Friday, June 18, 2010

Why Our Brains Are Fooled by Illusions

 

The short answer is that our brains are programmed to see the world in three dimensions instead of two. There are more details at Discover magazine, as well as a gallery of colorful optical illusions. For example, these two Rubik's cubes do NOT have the same colors. The "blue" squares in the left picture and the "yellow" squares in the right picture are gray.



--
"Good things come to those who wait, but only things left behind by those who hustle."
— Abraham Lincoln

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

 
I so needed a laugh today. And then I came across a USA Today article from a couple days back called "Next 'Transformers' is due for a switch," which had me snorting with derision all the way through. You can almost hear writer Anthony Breznican snickering in places. Listen:
 
More: http://www.flickfilosopher.com/blog/2010/06/061510omg_michael_bays_next_movie_is.html 
 
--
"Good things come to those who wait, but only things left behind by those who hustle."
— Abraham Lincoln
 

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Week in Review – Week of 2010.05.30 – 06.05

Last week was my birthday, and I had such a magnificent time with my
friends and lovers that I'm still buzzing and in a good mood days
later. I';ve been unreasonably depressed and stressed for over a
month, and it had gotten bad enough that I thought about going back to
the doctor about it. However, I'm hoping that I'm finally over my
lingering doldrums, and can go back to the happier guy I've been since
I started derby and started getting regular exercise and adrenalin.
;)


Last Sunday I had a long talk with Ke that cleared up a lot of things
that had been bothering me, and then all of us took advantage of yummy
sammiches at 2 Bear's [sic] Café. We were planning to camp through
Sunday night, but since a torrent of rain was expected on Monday we
decided to pack up and leave early. I drove Jero home and helped her
get settled in before heading home myself. Mira and I decided to
watch Doctor
Who
but wound up talking until 3 AM instead.



Last Monday afternoon Ke and Nivagi met up with Mira and me and we all
went out to Le Peep for brunch. After Ke and Nivagi headed home I
hung out with Mira until around 3 PM and then went to Jero's. I got
onto the MUX while Jero grilled steaks and veggies for dinner, and
then paused while we ate. On the MUX I got to run a climactic battle
between Shattered Glass Deathsaurus and Jetfire, and a Memorial Day
scene with the main-universe Witwickys. Geeky fun.


Last Tuesday I had the day off since Monday was a holiday and I had to
work Saturday (boo). I hung out at Jero's during the day and tried to
catch up on the Internets before derby practice. I had fun
scrimmaging at practice even though I fell and hurt my tailbone.
After practice I headed home to Mira. We were supposed to role-play,
but we wound up talking until 1 or 2 in the morning again instead. We
apparently need to reschedule role-play when there's less going on
that we need to discuss!



Last Wednesday I went to the chiropractor and then returned to work
after a week and a half off. I spent the first half of the day just
catching up on emails, training, and work IMs. Once I opened for
calls it got stressful, but at last I escaped and headed north for
derby practice. I had fun but fell on my tailbone again while trying
to walk on my toe-stops. When I got home I showered and Stsm came
over. She showed me the outfit she bought for my birthday (woo!) and
then we had story time, finally finishing Book 1 of Lost
Girls
. B)



Thursday was my birthday. After work I skipped derby practice and
went out to dinner with Jero, Ke, Mars, Mira, and Stsm. Mars
originally couldn't make it, so his presence was a nice surprise.
After we ate I went home to meet her at my apartment to meet Nivagi,
who had to work late. We were both sleepy, so she played on her iPod
while I answered a ton of sweet birthday messages. When it was time
for bed I cuddled up with her and had a very pleasant wrap-up for my
birthday. >B)



Friday night I went to Ke's after work and almost got eaten by her
since she was hungry and I
Am Legend
was on. Before completely resorting to cannibalism
Ke suggested we go to Euphoria, which wound up being very interesting
and tasty, even if they were out of Ke and Nivagi's first choice for
sandwiches. I had to get up early for work on the morning, so I
couldn't stay up too late. Therefore after getting everything ready
for the next day, Ke and I spent a quiet evening in and went to bed
early.



Saturday after work I got to attend an awesome party. Our friend Tojo
was celebrating his birthday and he kindly let me horn in on his
celebration. I met my girlfriends Jero, Ke, Mira, Nivagi, and Stsm
there, and also got to hang out with co-host Mika while I was there,
which was wonderful. I actually broke out of my shyness long enough
to meet new people, and had such a great time that I'm still in a good
mood. Hope everyone else is having as nice a week as I am!




"Good things come to those who wait, but only things left behind by
those who hustle."
— Abraham Lincoln