Brain Anatomy

Thanks Wall Street Journal! 🙂

Gray Matter

The Brain is our control center.  You damage a part … you’ll be sorry. The skull is there for a reason. 🙂

Big Bang Theory — Not the Series

Accdg to theoretical astrophysicist David N. Spergel … “…big bang is not the start of the universe but the evolution of it …” or something like that.

50 Shades of Grey Trilogy

 

 

ho hum

 

I was reading Game of Thrones when my curiosity was piqued by all the talk about this 50 shades thing. I enjoyed book 1. got exasperated by book 2. dumped book 3 – after almost a 100 pages of honeymoon sex — goodness gracious … christian and anastascia have been sexing since book 1…my friend aptly put it … they’re on it like bunnies.

Here’s my review. Take it with a grain of salt.

Upsides

1.  Talks about dominants/submissive/sadist/masochist relationships and acts (kindda vivid for me) freely.

2.  Feeds women’s fantasy of true love and being a sex goddess — who wouldnt want to be?

3.  Great pacing for book 1. Book 2 — so so. Book 3 – duh.

4.  If you want to learn some nice sex tricks — this can help. Yes, tips about “kinky fuckery”

5.  You’d be in great company — each of the books in the trilogy occupy the top 3 of NY’s bestseller list.

6.  Use of dialogues rather than prose. I hate prose … unless I read scientific journals.

7.  The alter ego of the female lead — great comic relief. Reminds me of Ally McBeal. HHhhmmm…maybe it is from Ally McBeal.

Downsides

1.  Stretched to a trilogy when a single book would do. it’s a simple formula. filthy rich man with pervert issues falls head over heels (very hard)  with naive girl who — surprise surprise- heals him of his issues. could it get any more trite?

2. So many lewd scenes — sex gets old after a while.  Sorry, graduated from all of these things early on — from Mills and Boons to Barbara Cartland to Judith McNaught to Julie Garwood to Jade Deveraux blah blah blah

3. Limited vocab of the author — e.g. oh my, oh crap, quickens, hitches — let me count the number of times i’ve read these…bordering on being mantras …ugh

4. Characters are not well developed. They pop, swing by and poof. e.g. Leila and Mrs. Robinson

Wishes

1.  Deeper details on the roots of the pervert issues of the lead.

2.  More story, Less sex, please.

3.   A more realistic lead — a hardened drop dead gorgeous  man — no pun intended — doesnt just go soft and googly eyes overnight over some clumsy patootsie.

4.  More character development — I like to get to know Elena and Leila better.

5. Be more realistic — maybe I havent met one so filthy rich but the lead seems to own all of establishments in seatlle…beauty salon? resto? club? publishing houses? what about starbucks?? maybe he bought out howard schultz too. too incredulous.

There. I am so glad I didnt buy the trilogy. Thanks to my friend who shared her downloaded mobi files with me.

 

 

Crossword Ruts

I am still obsessed over crosswords.  I realized that some of the things that get me stumped while doing these puzzles include:

 1.  Proper nouns – I guess most crossword puzzles e.g. USA Today are written for the US audience so I have to grin and bear it whenever I see clues with proper nouns. While I am widely read which makes my vocabulary better than average,  I am at a loss in terms of proper nouns especially the least popular ones –  be it names of persons, movies, restaurant, city, streets, malls etc.  I’m sure I know a whole lot of Filipino proper nouns that Americans similarly haven’t read or heard about.

 It is a good thing that some proper nouns appear and re-appear.  Though, I’m lucky if I can remember them at all when the time comes. Usually, I forget since I can’t relate them to a particular context.

Though I’m a  little hard on myself when I come up with totally nothing, I cut myself some slack with proper nouns.

2.   Mindset – Sometimes I read a clue, a word pops in my head which matches the number of boxes even the available letters in some of the boxes.  I get all too excited and fill out the boxes giddily.  Who wouldn’t?  When this happens, I find it hard to re-think if the word is indeed the correct word. After all, it is too coincidental that the word matches the box and the available letters, right? But it happens.   As a consequence, this word – on which I put a lot of faith on – stops me from completing the puzzle. The wrong word makes me filter out answers to other clues incorrectly.

My point is that sometimes we may need to entertain the possibility that no matter how plausible a word is to be the correct answer, it may not. It is the correct answer only if it lets me out the surrounding boxes correctly.

3.    Inflexibility – We read a clue … now what? I’ve discussed the kinds in my earlier blog but sometimes we come across just one word.  Consider Almighty as a clue.  It could be a noun, right? In which case words like God may come to mind. But, on the other hand, it could also be an adjective which describes being all too powerful.  Consider again the word the clue “in the middle of something”.   You might ask … middle of what? Singing? Dancing? Answering?  But if you flex your mind a little … the middle of something is just that ….the middle of something … in this case, the letter T. J

Draconian et. al.

Thank you http://www.fotosearch.com for the awesome photo. 🙂

Some intesting words I came across in an article  at Fortune Mag and defined by www.freedictionary.com,  www.merriam-webster.com and dictionary.reference.com. I own up to the examples. 🙂

1.  Draconian –  very harsh or severe as in He is serving a draconian punishment for just a petty offense.

2. Surfeit – intemperate or immoderate indulgence, disgust caused by excess as in He was surfeit of arrogance that people get annoyed by his presence.

3. Middling – Of medium size, position, quality or mediocre as in  Last year’s merit increases for rank and file were middling vis-a-vis two (2) years ago.

4. Annals – A record of events arranged in yearly sequence; historical events generally as in The team’s sweep of its games this season will surely go into the annals of sports history.

5. Denigrate – To belittle as in Among my New year’s Resolutions include not to denigrate people and their accomplishments.

6.  Grouse – Persistent complaint, also a kind of chicken or fowl- but let us steer clear of fauna.  No one likes a grouse.

7. Hubris – Arrogance as in His hubris was the apparent cause of his destruction.

 

From Geoff Calvin

From Geoff Calvin’s article on IBM’s CEO Sam Palmisano published in Fortune Mag, December 12, 2011 issue.

1.  “Best business leaders can bat from either side of the plate. ”   referring to leaders’ ability to use  their left and right brains adeptly.

2.  “The most valuable learning is delivered not by a teacher but by the world. ”

3.  “Much of the pay-off from leadership development is far down the road.”

Stop Smoking

Photo courtesy of https://news.antiwar.com

My romance with smoking started when I was 16.  I just stepped into college and the new found freedom and beefier allowance funded this habit.  It was an on and off thing with us — cigarettes and me — since then. Sometimes my dry spell would last years, sometimes days.

My latest spell was for 1 1/2 years. Last June 2010, just a few days short of my 40th birthday, I decided to quit smoking.  It was a cold turkey moment but I never looked back…until December 2011. The trigger? A spat with my fiance.

I told myself that I would just finish the pack of Marlboro Lights Menthol that I bought — together with the cute pink Cricket lighter.  That one pack stretched to 2, then 3, then some more until I lost count.  I promised myself today – December 31 would be my last day of smoking.  So I would probably keep on puffing until the clock strikes 12 and ushers in 2012.  I am unsure if I can do this. Seriously and honestly.  And I’ve been racking my head of the reasons I had when I stopped smoking before.  They worked, albeit for a period.   These reasons are shortlisted below:

1.  Self-dare.  Since my boyfriend refuses to dare me to quit smoking, I dare myself. Since I am a proud person, this works for me. During this period, it was a tug of war between my rational and irrational self  (or is it selves?).  The cerebral would win some battles but eventually lose the war so to speak. I mean, how easy is it to negotiate with oneself?

2. Health  conditions. In the latter half of the last decade, I had a gum problem which required me to undergo weekly gum scaling and planing for a month.  Aside from being expensive and painful, it was inconvenient since my dentist’s new clinic was so out of my normal route.   My dentist warned me that I should temporarily avoid smoking while in treatment lest I get an infection and think of permanently quitting to avoid relapse.  I did quit but only for a while.

3. Fact: Smoking really kills.  The sheer magnitude of testimonials and researches on the evils of smoking will cause you palpitations.  If the emphysema or lung cancer wouldn’t kill you … fright would, for sure.  This fact, I guess, would be the the most compelling reason for the large chunk of the smoking populace because of the extensive and credible documentation. But, sorry to say the magic works a week at most for me.  The sooner I stopped reading,  the sooner I bounce back to the puffing-wagon. Besides, my latest annual physical exam was okay.

4.  I’m not getting any younger.  This, by far, is the most compelling and in fact the reason for my longest dry spell ever…at least in my already faltering memory.  I’m in my 40s and I don’t want to ruin my already very slim chances of getting pregnant by frying my remaining good eggs one cigarette stick at a time.  Some mothers would stop smoking the moment they find out they are pregnant — sure this is better than continuing to smoke but it would have been better if all traces of toxins from smoking were already out of their system before they conceive, right? Since my boyfriend — who is now my fiance …and I thought we would tie the knot last August 2009, I stopped smoking 2 months before. That way, we could deal with our baby project right away. But, as history would have it,  we postponed tying the knot until I am sure I want to — that is another issue I’ll cover next time.  With no definite date — or should I say plans  to get married or bear children of my own, I didnt think I should held out on cigarettes.  So, when my fiance and I had a fight early this month … I went to the nearest 7-11 and bought my cigarette and lighter combo.

5.  Time is really ticking.  I’m now 40 1/2 years old.  In 6 months, I would make my slim chance of getting pregnant a lot slimmer.  Hence,  a burst of genius on my part to decide I’d like to get married on February 28, 2012 (an auspicious date according to the chinese) and start working on a healthy baby.

What am I blabbing about? There are plenty of reasons to quit smoking.  What make these reasons compelling for anyone is the timing.  If my bioclock is not ticking perilously … I would probably continue smoking.  Nothing beats a nice long puff after a great meal or after a stressful day or before working on something sure to be stressful. But, as I’ve said, age is a bitch.  Despite my desire to go bitching back, I can’t …  without risking long-term consequences.  It would be robbing myself of motherhood or my future baby the chance to be healthy. Unthinkable in exchange for a few more sticks of cigarettes.

My point is that the choice to stop smoking is in your hands. NOW. Sure it is difficult (believe me, I know!) But, would you rather wait until Father Time gives you an ultimatum by way of an irreversible sickness or like in my case a ticking bioclock?

I wish you the best. We can do this.

Brandwashed by Martin Lindstrom

We are all consumers. Ever wonder why you bought soomething? Why you keep on buying something? Why you prefer one brand over the other? What is it with brands in the first place? 

Join me in the quest to find out the answers.

Btw, the book has a great and interesting foreword by Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me. 🙂

Sources of Crossword Puzzles and Solutions

 

Thanks http://www.visualphotos.com for the photo.

 

Here are my sources of daily crosswords:

http://joseph.king-online.com/client_temps/kol.php

http://webcrosswords.com/daily-crossword-puzzles/  —  click Play Now to solve the current puzzle or click the drop down menu (upper right hand, down arrow) for past puzzles.

http://webcrosswords.com/la-times-crossword/  — click on the Featured Puzzle box.

http://puzzles.usatoday.com 

In terms of degree of difficulty – from easiest, I’d say — Thomas Joseph, webcrosswords, USA today then LA Times.

If you hit a rut,   try http://crosswordheaven.com/ for hints.  Although,  webcrosswords, usa today and la times have an option to show the solved puzzle. But that wouldn’t be fun, right?

Insidious

This is the first (and probably the last) time I’m ever going to mind this word … blame it on the movie.

At www.thefreedictionary.com, INSIDIOUS is defined as “beguiling but harmful; working or spreading harmfully in a subtle or stealthy manner”.

In the movie, this must refer to the way the spirits/ghosts/entities lurk and wait by a human body until his soul get really stuck in another universe (a dark and scary universe) and can’t come back.   When that time comes,  the spirit/ghost/entity can take over the human body and carry on as if it were his own. 

In a way, this is medidated reincarnation.