Love Lines make us Just Curious but We Feel Fine

Jonathan Harris is a really neat person. His bios all say he studied Computer Science at Princeton (not too shabby), but he's somewhat of a sociologist, anthropologist, and statistician as well (and I'm guessing he didn't really graduate as I don't see anything that says he has a degree, but who needs a piece of paper when you've already got the world's attention?). When I was perusing his web site, I found one of his creations called Lovelines. (Please note it appears he creates many of these sites with his buddy, Sep Kamvar, who is like the silent partner never getting enough credit in the background.) I thought it was neat that he made a program to harvest random lines that mention love from blogs all over the internet. What a way to celebrate Love! Cool form of poetry too if you click through and just read random expressions of heartfelt sentiment.

A complete list of his work can be found here:

Number27

If your time is limited, these are my favorites that are definitely worth a click:

We Feel Fine
Justcurio.us (Altho it's unfortunate that so many people don't take this site seriously. It is rife with inane questions and answers and spam URLs.)

Enjoy. :)

Is Seeing Still Believing?

Check out this video and listen to what he's saying about aliasing (fast forward thru his demo of the tuning fork on the piano to :30):

Aliasing is the reason the tines of the tuning fork appear to be moving back and forth (fluctuating) when filmed at high speed. They're not really - he explains that the reason they LOOK like they are is because the video is filming at almost twice the speed of the vibration of the tines, therefore the Nysquist Frequency is in effect.

So what you're seeing is not really happening. (Well, the fork is vibrating, but the tines are not moving back and forth altho they certainly appear to be.) It is a false frequency. Your brain is being fooled into believing there is additional movement that is not actually taking place. Interesting that we are so easily misled by our eyes, yes? Also compelling that they use the term "aliasing" to describe this phenomenon. Google defines alias as: "as known or named at another time or place."

What other false frequencies are we subject to? What other time or place might we be living in?

If our brain is so gullible, why do we trust our eyes (or other senses) to define our world? I read an interesting tidbit the other day about how our brains have more activity when seeing something new than when receiving expected visual input.

"Predictable sights trigger less brain activity than unfamiliar stimuli, bolstering the view that the brain is not merely reactive, but generates predictions based on the recent past. 'The brain expects to see things and really just wants to confirm it now and again,' says Lars Muckli..." (NewScientist.com)

A thought to add to that is it is generally accepted by the scientific community that our body regenerates itself every seven years (some cells are closer to 15, but still not nearly the same as your chronological age). If that's true, why do we retain long-term illnesses for decades? For that matter, why do we HEAL? What makes things change or stay the same?

If our brains are unconsciously predicting the future for us, and therefore we are always re-creating our present situation without thought, it's no wonder the more things change, the more they stay the same. Perhaps we are the alias - the false frequency that isn't really happening. Who's to say the rate at which our eyes perceive is the same frequency at which our brain processes the information?

"Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." ~ Albert Einstein

Math Quote

"Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things, you just get used to them."

- Von Neumann

That's What I Call Home

Letter of Complaint

Dear Universal Customer Service:

I would like to exchange my Immune System for a new one. After 41 years, this one appears to be quite sluggish and is not annihilating bacteria and viruses as fast as it used to. Maybe it needs updating or was there a service pack released that I missed? I can provide the receipt upon request.

Thanks,

Traci

~~**~~

Dear Traci,

Please refer to the Human Body Owner's Manual, Chapter 432, Section 23678, Subsection 41 which states that consumption of a Starbucks chocolate brownie and Haagen Dasz Coffee ice cream in the midst of a chest cold will temporarily render said Immune System worthless and voids the warranty. This applies even if preceded by chicken soup.

We have more eyes than Santa Claus. Please stop wasting our time.

Sincerely,

Universal Customer Service