Alexithymia

http://oaq.blogspot.com/

Gee... I got a score of 120... it says I show high alexithymic traits -.-

I feel therefore I am?

"The importance of sensory signals in activating the excitatory area is demonstrated by the effect of cutting the brain stem above the point where the fifth cerebral nerves enter the pons. These nerves are the highest nerves entering the brain that transmit significant numbers of somatosensory signals into the brain. When all these input sensory signals are gone, the level of activity in the brain excitatory area diminishes abruptly, and the brain proceeds instantly to a state of greatly reduced activity, approaching a permanent state of coma. But when the brain stem is transected below the fifth nerves, which leaves much input of sensory signals from the facial and oral regions, the coma is averted."
Guyton 11th edition, Elsiever, pg 729

I wonder if you could continue to think with absolutely no sensory input. Then, could you have output by just thinking, in the absence of all input? So much for "cognito ergo sum"

Mac Attack!

I was at some photography workshop organized by MedSoc, and some how we started talking about computers. Somewhere along the conversation someone stared at me and asked, "you don't use a mac?" How strange I thought to myself. Whats so great about macs anyway?

Sure, the latest gen of macbooks have a really nice and colour-accurate LED backlit LCD screen.
They have excellent build quality, excellent packaging, and excellent marketing. Thats about it.

And when I diss mac, macfanatics always go... ohh thats because you haven't used a mac...


Wrong.

My first encounter with mac was the white boxy mac with a CRT screen when I was too young to even know what model of mac it was... but even then, I seemed to prefer the rig with windows 3.11 on it. Over the years since then, I have used apple products now and then, mostly hand-me-downs from my dad who dabbled in mac and decided not to use it. I've tried the original iMac (with the CRT screen), some sort of powerbook, the intel mac mini, ipod classic, iphone (first gen).
 
I don't hate macs, I do like their hardware, but heres what I dislike:

1. Price- everything is over priced. For the same specs, you could get a PC for a fraction of the price of a mac... or even a DIY mac... which brings me to my next point
2. Protectionist & anti-competitive policies - DIY mac eh... thats technically possible, but thats illegal. Why? You aren't allowed to install the Mac OS onto non-Mac hardware. What about bundled software... when Microsoft bundles IE with windows, half the world grumbles and calls it anti-competitive, when Mac bundles another software to its OS, everyone goes... Wow, mac is so great it comes with this and that software that windows doesn't have. When the palm pre managed to sync with itunes, they released a new patch specifically to block it. Thats not nice.
3. Not adopting open standards - Bonjour is great on its own, but why not follow the DNLA standard?
4. iphone app store - everything must be reviewed by apple, thats great for keeping out the trash, but not so great when ernest developers are trying to create good products that take forever to approve, or get rejected for no good reason, or are "duplicating functionality" (more like competing with their own products... sounds anti-competitive to me)
5. mac-vangelists. Yeah. So you bought a mac. I'm happy for you, but don't go around trying to make everyone else use mac. I somehow feel half of what they say is just confirmational bias to make themselves feel better for spending so much money. Then again, I wouldn't mind them standing at a street corner giving out ipods or putting a mac in every hotel room drawer.

Hayabusa

Neighbour's friend's hayabusa. Low engine growl wakes me up every now and then.

Zoni's balls

Zoni's 2 balls of photography: thinking & feeling.

I obviously didn't practice the "ball"of thinking here... didn't think about the projector reflection

Rant #23

The weather is so hot. 35 degrees is ridiculous.

I want to get a new laptop / net book / whatever thingy I can use to take notes and keep organized. Lectures are so messy for this neuro module.

Argh.

OBA dinner yesterday was awesome. Good time spent with friends. A bit quieter this year though, the mood from everyone else was a bit dull. Less familiar teachers there, no items from the older folks. hmm. and $100 is pricey