truculation
Joined 8 years ago
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351
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149
Member since
Feb 15
Recent submissions
Comment · 8 years ago
Comment · 8 years ago
Eww. I suspect that in the computer age the enduring value of dissecting dead bodies is that it's even more repulsive than cutting open live bodies (which trainee medics will have to do later on).
For those of us who don't have to, I recommend:
Comment · 8 years ago
>Of course, we know that today the Luddites are not viewed particularly kindly
On the contrary, it is technology and progress that are viewed with scepticism -- watch almost any recent sci-fi movie.
Comment · 8 years ago
>The sense we have that someone is fit generally comes from their posture.
Exceptions I've noted are joggers with hunched shoulders, splayed feet, leaping too high off the ground, and so on. By no means uncommon.
>Does this idea-retraining work as well as the gym?
Not a gym user but I gained a cm in height within a week of encountering the Alexander Technique (AT). My guess is that the best gym users have good posture too, if only for safety's sake.
It's not so much about fitness and muscular bulk but about whether you are receptive to the proprioceptive feedback from those muscles and joints. AT has a unique way of pointing you towards these sensations but it relies on personal contact with a teacher.
Comment · 8 years ago
It's a reason why some people become social cynics, I think, and this reason is represented in their brains. However they may not be able to articulate it, partly because they need to see themselves (and for others to see them) as good people. Indeed the strategy depends on it.
Comment · 8 years ago
No doubt, but consider that some people will then become cynical about society in order to become freeloaders.
(Rather as in Upton Sinclair's famous quote: 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!')
Comment · 8 years ago
Debate and criticism are defence, it seems to me; their value lies in averting heartache and war. For the purpose of changing the world, the ultimate argument is to create something new and substantial and then make progess with it, giving people somewhere to jump to.
Comment · 8 years ago
Rainbow theme music:
Comment · 8 years ago
Are mirror neurons really a thing? Why can't the neurons which govern my arm be used to help predict the actions of other people's arms?
Comment · 8 years ago
My idea of middle-class existence is a thrifty but relatively happy family life with an emphasis on education. The budget could vary enormously depending on how this is implemented.
Comment · 8 years ago
Thanks! Took me a minute to work out which planet was which (Jupiter being the one just outside the 'belt').
Comment · 8 years ago
Superb stuff. On a more mundane level I hope we'll soon also have a chart of all the asteroids in our solar system (to the most realistic extent possible).
Comment · 8 years ago
Yes and it's not just at work: most of us feel we should fill every hour of our non-working lives with activities. Especially our kids' lives (no wonder people are having fewer kids!)
There are two things wrong about this I think. Firstly, it confuses activity with purpose. Secondly, unscheduled time is valuable not only for itself but for extra capacity when something important pops up.
Comment · 8 years ago
Yep, high speed can definitely ruin a wheel(!):
I'm not recommending we end the use of cadavers -- and this is a discussion site, not a medical school!