Pascale Soleil: humanAnimalthe kind of being we areLetting Go- September 27, 2002 The mind is its own place, and can itself Make a heav'n of hell or a hell of heaven. Milton's Satan knew whereof he spoke. We're starting to get it too. Chewing over stressful situations is itself stressful. Which has the greatest effect on your heart's health: arguing with a spouse or running a marathon Arguing could have closer links to later heart disease, but for an unusual reason. Just thinking about the fight appears to lead to high blood pressure and later health problems, according to.http://radio.weblogs.com/0100595/categories/humananimal/2002/09/27.html#a327 Another book I need to read- September 24, 2002 Although I haven't mentioned it recently, I did finally finish working my way through A New Kind of Science a few weeks ago (I confess I didn't read all the Notes). More on that another time. So next up at bat in the must-read scienceidea book category will be Stephen Pinker's The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. The New York Times describes some of the book's agenda: Dr. Pinker argues that significant innate behavioral differences exist between individuals and between men and..http://radio.weblogs.com/0100595/categories/humananimal/2002/09/24.html#a321 The Great Chewing Gum Mystery- September 22, 2002 Horst Prillinger has posted a groundbreaking photo-essay on the chewing gum infestation of urban sidewalks. However, as I commented to him, I am profoundly skeptical about this so-called chewing gum: Funny you should be writing about this. I was recently commenting to a friend about the so-called chewing-gum blotches found all over EVERYWHERE on urban sidewalks. I asked her: When was the last time you saw someone on the street chewing gum I couldn't remember ever seeing anyone even chew gum...http://radio.weblogs.com/0100595/categories/humananimal/2002/09/22.html#a318 Seat of the Soul- September 20, 2002 The reports are as old as storytelling: a person in great physical or emotional distress or in spiritual ecstasy leaves the body. The patient in the ER floats above his body, seeing and hearing everything as the doctors work to revive him. A woman lying in bed at three in the morning suddenly find herself detached from her corporeal self, and wanders through the window and out into the nighttime meadow. The shaman leaves the flesh and enters the spirit world to do battle with forces threatening.http://radio.weblogs.com/0100595/categories/humananimal/2002/09/20.html#a316 Being the Normal One- September 15, 2002 Jeanne Safer has written a book called The Normal One about the effects of a troubled sibling on other siblings in the family. I read about it in this review in the New York Times. Her analysis of the ''Caliban syndrome,'' as she calls the psychological condition affecting normal siblings in families with damaged children, is supported with some 60 interviews with siblings of impaired family members. The syndrome, named for the Miranda-Caliban relationship in ''The Tempest,'' has four distinct.http://radio.weblogs.com/0100595/categories/humananimal/2002/09/14.html#a302 |