Lifestyle & Culture

« Older Entries | Newer Entries »

Tired Of Video Games? Hack Your Brain With Ping Pong Balls Instead

[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 13, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Worried that you have an Internet or video game addiction? Maybe you should try doing drugs or something.

Due to the recent discovery of the tragic and perhaps incurable First-Person Shooter Disease (see the clip at left), we’re taking a break from the mindless Flash games usually highlighted in our weekly Monday morning time-wasters to take a more serious look at the damaging effects of video games and the Internet. While in the west we’re still debating whether or not there’s some kind of addictive disorder related to surfing and gaming, the Chinese have not only decided there is, they’ve set up boot camps to deal with the problem. After doing a little informal research, it becomes clear that they’re on the right track. The three most noteworthy gaming-related deaths were all Asian*; a Chinese gamer who killed someone over an imaginary sword, a Korean man who died after a marathon gaming session at an Internet cafe, and a Vietnamese kid who killed a woman for video game money. So let’s look at alternatives to sitting at the computer. How about self-induced hallucinations without drugs? Or better yet, with drugs? If, like me, you don’t feel like actually doing drugs, the book The Beyond Within is a fascinating look into LSD. The BBC video version is also available on YouTube, but if you don’t have 90 minutes to waste this morning, maybe check out this insightful two-minute video from the Canadia Wildlife Service that explores the dramatic effects of various drugs on spiders. And remember, it’s not just video games and drugs that are bad for you, Facebook causes brain damage too. Read the rest of this entry »

Facing Reality

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on July 8, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Given our tendency to see faces where there are none, how can we be sure we’re really people? And by the way, I can hear your aura, but I have no idea who you are…

I recall vividly from my childhood a recurring thought that my dad somehow looked a lot like his ’66 Imperial, much like people resemble their pets. I think it was something about his toothy grin and his wire-rimmed glasses, but it also had to do with a weird perceptual phenomena that plagues me which I rarely discuss with people, lest they catch on to the fact that really am insane, rather than thinking I’m someone who just talks like they’re insane. I experience things with an odd and subtle combination of Synesthesia and Prosopagnosia. Among other things, I hear some things that I see, and I have difficulty recognizing faces of people I know. I’m otherwise probably more perceptive than most people, because I’m forced to assemble different input into useful information. Which is why, back in the ’90s, I was drawn to the book Turn Signals Are The Facial Expressions Of Automobiles, which addressed a lot of issues surrounding our relationship with technology and interface design in a very engaging and readable style. I was reminded of all of this yesterday when I ran across research being done by Viennese scientists which they presented in a paper called Face to Face – The Perception of Automotive Designs (full text here). This tendency to see human faces everywhere – whether it’s some form of Pareidolia that makes us see faces on Mars, or in the mountains of Alberta, Canada – has me a bit concerned. How can we be sure when we look at each other that we’re not just imagining human faces where there are none? I mean we’re so hell bent on seeing faces in automobiles in particular that Japanese car designers have secured patents for this purpose, and we collectively spend millions of dollars on movies about it. C’mon. Come clean with me. You’re a ‘51 Hudson Hornet. Aren’t you. But seriously, whether referring to concepts like Apophenia, Synchronicity, or even the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, this is a fascinating topic that colors our lives constantly, yet is almost impossible to study scientifically. In the words of Klaus Conrad, who coined the term Apophenia: “It is fraught with problems of subjective bias in the observer.” Have you seen anything where it wasn’t lately?

Read the rest of this entry »

Is “Modern Manners” An Oxymoron?

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on July 2, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Have any pet peeves about contemporary etiquette, or the lack thereof? We’d love to hear them.

I need your help. I recently wrote about Five Effective Habits Of Highly Annoying People, which reminded me that for a long time I’ve wanted to develop a new guide to etiquette, one that uses a little humor to address manners and how new technologies have evolved with no courtesy guidelines to go with them. A typical example being cell phone manners. One of my favorite books of all time on the topic of etiquette is probably P.J. O’Rourke’s Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People. With advice like “Guns are always the best method for private suicide. Drugs are too chancy. You might miscalculate the dosage and just have a good time” and “Never refuse wine. It is an odd but universally held opinion that anyone who doesn’t drink must be an alcoholic“, O’Rourke touched on a lot of issues of contemporary etiquette that weren’t being addressed anywhere else. Especially the “Taking Drugs” chapter, which includes this handy chart (also below) for proper social behavior under the influence of drugs. Although the book is still an hilarious read within certain circles, it has finally started to show its age; a lot of the humor is based on old money culture, and the typical nouveau riche bobo or fauxhemian just doesn’t have the class or sophistication to get it. So help me out. What are your biggest pet peeves about modern manners and courtesy, whether humorous or not?

Read the rest of this entry »

Carnie Knowledge

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on June 23, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

I hate corn dogs and enjoy regularly bathing, but still, I dream of being a carnie.


But do I really want to sleep in a trailer
with someone like this every night?

I have a few recurring fantasies. One is to head to Las Vegas in a red Cadillac with the top down, my lawyer, and a trunk full of booze and drugs to re-enact Hunter Thompson’s trek in Fear and Loathing. This is problematic, since I don’t do drugs or drink. I’d also love to run off and join the circus, but only if it’s a giant puppet circus. And then there’s my broad array of fantasies of living off the grid, one of which involves becoming a Carnie. I have no idea what the allure is; I don’t have Carnie Hands, I don’t like my food on a stick, and I rather like bathing on a regular basis. Still the allure remains. I think it stems from the almost surreal childhood memories I have of the weird mixture of excitement and creepy disappointment that seem to hover quietly but menacingly around a carnival as a summer day ends, the sun goes down, the rides light up, and emaciated, tattooed guys with teeth missing start inappropriately scoping the teenagers. It’s like the scary clown thing I guess. In any case, if you’ve ever shared this fantasy, real employment opportunities exist. Companies like Modern Midways, Wade Shows, and Strates Shows all have colorful and inviting employment pages. They seem to leave out some of the possible downsides of carnie employment though; for some “behind the midway” insights, check out this hilarious letter that a National Review reader and former carnie sent to John Derbyshire, who apparently had made some unflattering remarks about carny people in an article. The letter explains, for example, things like “Carnie Teeth” with colorful brevity: “….the smoking, the sugary diet and the poor dental habits account for the rotten baked beans your average carny man calls his teeth…” and gives a well-rounded view of why carnies are the way they are in general.

Is Urban Planning An Oxymoron?

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 16, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Does your town seem like it occurred by accident? Maybe you should try living in an Intentional Community


Does this look intentional to you?

Are you living in an accidental community? In spite of that mysterious field of study known as urban planning, most cities I’ve lived in have felt like a brilliantly averted catastrophe, plagued by things like congested freeways, war-zone-like crime areas, extortionist parking management, and excessive taxes that don’t seem to benefit anyone but government employees and contractors. Maybe it’s time to revisit the idea of intentional communities. Although historically these are often assembled by extremest fringe Christians or new age nutjobs, the idea – at least in the abstract – isn’t a bad one. We wrote a while back about an interesting project in Detroit that had this kind of potential. Perhaps there could be a new kind of homesteading in which the government supports citizens who develop urban renewal and reclamation projects. Am I just another ignorant utopian, or does this actually sound like a sane idea?

« Older Entries | Newer Entries »