Journal Entries
Chocolate, Chilli and Singing Hare Krishna
Posted Mar 4, 2013
I've recently been looking into the natural ways that the brain releases endorphines. It's a lot more interesting that it sounds, and the basics are really quite basic, you can get an idea of what's happening quite easily and this makes looking into it more interesting as it's quite simple to understand.
Endorphines themselves are a sort of natural morphine. They mask pain and make you feel good. There's a few ways of getting the body to release these chemicals into the brain, Chocolate, Chillies, Exercise and Music. It's the music bit I've been looking into, along with the exercise a little bit too.
It seems that there's been quite a bit of research done about how music affects mood, and some of that has looked at how music can release endorphines. When you realise this, it makes a lot of sense. People who really get into their music are generally a lot happier than those that don't. And different types of music affect different people in different ways, to different degrees. Add dancing to this (which is a form of exercise) and you've got two methods to release endorphines and achieve this natural high. Which does explain why Krishna dancers are always smiling.
Slower, gentle classical music (some of Brahms work in particular) seems to get a brain from rest to gentle enjoyment and an openness to creativity and external stimuli. Then, light chanting style (including repetitive pop/dance) is seen to take the brain that step further from open to enjoyment. Which also explains a lot about why older religions used meditation and chanting followed by dancing and chanting to achieve states of "higher" thought.
Add to this eating chocolate and chilies, or other foods that do the job, you've pretty much got a recipe to cheer yourself up. So I'm going to try it. I'm going to put together a play list of music that I think from my initial, light reading on the topic should be able to take me from morning groggy to wide awake and raring to go by the time I get into work. Chili chocolate will also be involved.
Discuss this Journal entry [46]
Latest reply: Mar 4, 2013
A bit out of sorts
Posted Feb 26, 2013
In the last few weeks we've been burgled at work twice.
The first time they took the MacBooks, the Mac Minis and the iPads, along with the HD film camera. All easily portable stuff.
The second time they took the iMacs.
The doors were strengthened a bit after the first time, but they're internal doors and were easily kicked in. Fortunately we'd set the Mac facing the door to record and send off photos of any movement outside of office hours, and we got some very clear photos of the burglar. Unsurprisingly the Police know him and are trying to find him to arrest him. Seems he's not living where he claimed he'd be, and the longer it takes to find him the less chance there is of us getting any of our stuff back.
But it's the disruption that's the most annoying thing. Yesterday we were all working in the conference room while the police and then forensics were there. We were able to go back into our main office today, but most of the doors are boarded over and we have to walk through several offices just to go to the loo.
So, I'm a bit out of sorts with my routine disturbed.
Discuss this Journal entry [15]
Latest reply: Feb 26, 2013
Just Checking
Posted Feb 17, 2013
This isn't really a journal entry, I'm just testing something.
Strange that really.
Discuss this Journal entry [21]
Latest reply: Feb 17, 2013
An Annoying Discovery
Posted Feb 14, 2013
I've been rather selflessly been doing doing research into Martinis and have discovered that they don't get me drunk.
Shot wise I'm into the twenties, yet I'm actually still able to pass as coherent. Not sure if that's worrying or not.
Discuss this Journal entry [19]
Latest reply: Feb 14, 2013
The Book of the Future, apparantly.
Posted Jan 29, 2013
Far out in the unchartered backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral Arm of the Galaxy, an ape descendant sat down at his type writer and wrote a story about a book.
The book in the book was the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. If you're in any way connected with the literary or digital professions, I implore you to read it again. If you've not read it yet, you really must.
The book has turned out to be very prophetical, and with the radio series The Hitchhikers Guide to the Future, pretty much everything technologically that we've been seeing over the last few years, and are currently being touted as the next big thing, has been forecast by this ape man.
I was pointed to this article over Twitter: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/01/the-book-of-the-future-sliced-and-diced.html and couldn't help but once again think the above thoughts. People are now coming up with the ideas that Douglas Adams wrote about all those years ago, technology has caught up with imagination and we have these great things.
But what I'm wondering now, is what else was written about in those books and what else was talked about in the radio series that we can now start doing? Where else has technology caught up?
Discuss this Journal entry [35]
Latest reply: Jan 29, 2013
Pastey
Researcher U45177
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."