Mind Sync

Humor is the best thing to keep yourself in working order. Years ago I learned I shouldn't make fix Sheri sort of resolutions. Instead, I decided mine would be try something different. So far, its worked well. Here's some for Seattle residents that could use some incentive and humor.

The ability to select how to make your sports shoes an expression of your personality is one of the latest trends in shopping. Two thing come into play in defining one's personality, DNA (nature) and the way your brain responds to (environment) stimuli. Because many of the messages our brain processes is in the form of electrical and chemical "circuitry", how our brain processes information is quite complex. Read more about individuality in rats. Scientists are also studying the use of electromagnetic energy to affect your decision making. The question then would be how to protect yourself from this sort of an "attack". One way that scientists think to protect the brain from the affects of mechanical implants is to use a biological interface.  The question would then be, would the same protection apply the same to every individual?

Music is one of life's pleasures in more ways than one. You can sing it, play it, listen to it, and now, as this report by ScienceDaily describes, you can use it to reduce chronic pain and depression. Two neat web pages are provided by therapist to help achieve similar results, holistic online and EntertheFreudianSlip.com. My Christmas favorites are either sad or filled with joyful trumpets or coronets. My husband and I have picked up some great suggestions from Gerard Schwartz by attending symphonies in Seattle. We also collect low cost musical instruments while we travel to make our own, often with children. Wishing everyone a happy musical Christmas!

In my article on endometriosis and colitis, I demonstrate some of the physical aspects of living with an undiagnosed and partially treated disease without cure, but it doesn't cover the emotional impact. Every woman that's dealt with the hormone rollercoaster knows the cycle and triggers for depression. The choices for treatment for depression involve drugs that level out your emotional state. But it doesn't lessen the grieving that occurs when you become someone who you didn't expect to be because of medical treatment. In my case, I always knew I would have children and then I found out it was impossible. It's a long road, but medical science keeps advancing our study of how the body operates and finds new treatments giving hope to those who never had it before. That makes the future look pretty nice.

When I write, I tend to focus on how different emotions feel. Embarrassment can crop up anywhere and any time. The best way to handle it is to always have a good sense of humor. The ability to laugh at oneself is like a valve to let off emotion, very much similar to tears in sad situations. Here are six tales where I embarrassed myself--with good tips for the summer time or any place where the weather is warm.

One of the worst diseases to get while you travel is a form of malaria that affects your brain and can cause death. That's why we often visit the Travel Medicine clinic and make sure our inoculations are up to date and that we have the right prescription drugs along with us. When you travel to places like India, Africa, or China, the food and especially the water can cause diarrhea and it's best to take the precautions needed to prevent it but if you do get it, there are some things that help. Read more>

I used Ms Photo Editor to reduce the resolution of this photo. Read more to see how you, too, can do so with ease. I cover how to crop, resize and use the adjustment features and provide some screen views. 

I found a informative article with the statistics on the brain drain from Africa.  These are sad facts. Worse is the problem of health services in the country due to lack of personnel. Who can blame them for leaving when their wages and life style dramatically improve. The costs of war, famine and disease go far beyond death, and into the stablility of society.

 

Carole McDonnell's fantasy Wind Follower deals with a war torn world, colonialism while painting the trials of two young lovers, Satha and Loic  while their belief in the Wind God is challenged by ancestral spirits and by the betrayal of friends.

 

The July 2007 issue of Scientific American has an interesting article on how scientists are learning how the brain stores experiences. The article is written by Joe Z. Tsien, a professor of pharmacology and biomedical engineering at Boston University. The scientists have worked with the human brain by using a recording device on the brain and by working with a specialized breed of mice with improved memory. They've learned that groups of neurons respond to any stimulus in a variety of patterns and from these "cliques" they can then generate binary code that corresponds to a given message. The work isn't in anyway complete, but it opens the door for further development of brain/computer interfaces.