brain plug-in

…coming soon, says Intel: FMRI-based sensing chip implanted into the skull.

for some obscure reasons, I don’t buy this.

the pull

crazy little things

-

because.

witchcraft day and night

Serghei Lukianenko – Night watch (*** out of 5), Day watch (*** and a half out of 5), Twilight watch (**** out of 5) in 25 words.

Night watch

Wizards and witches roam around Moscow. Good ones curse and the world’s about to end. Chiefs are old and cunning. Beware the vampire.

Day watch

Burnt-out witch falls in love with white wizard. Obligingly, he kills her. Good ones try coup. Non-being magus restores balance. Bad guys try monster ressurection.

Twilight watch

Unaffiliated frozen witch thaws. Magic book is found and lost. Balance must be maintained: ex-frozen witch is hunted. Beware the vampire even more.

. . .

pina la urma, lectura ofera un surogat de existenta.

si-atunci cu ce e mai buna (preferabila, recomandabila) decit existenta insasi? fie ea si virtuala?

hysteria of these days

Wang Ke, Vaccination, 2007

don’t worry, be happy?

“sadness seem to operate by spontaneously triggering information-processing strategies that best suit the needs of different social situations”

“happy mood seems to lead to a greater reliance on pre-existing knowledge and ideas. [...] in contrast, sadness produces the opposite pattern of paying greater attention to new, external information.”

“negative moods might produce more critical and sceptical judgments, while happy people may accept interpersonal messages at ‘face value’, as genuine and trustworthy.”

“happy people… are more confident in their judgments despite them being less accurate”

“happy people selectively chose to read sad rather than happy articles before carrying out a demanding or difficult social task, such as meeting a stranger… we seem to adopt subconscious strategies to reduce euphoria to fit the requirements of the situation.”

(the upside of feeling down)

ugly bunch-o’-barrels

2012: the first space hotel opens.