Random thought. Maple syrup is essentially made from tree blood. We are, at least in part, tree vampires.
Tag: #thoughts
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I have a theory, and I’ve had this theory for years. Some may disagree, some may say, “holy shit, that’s gotta be it!”. Anyway, here it is.
All dogs, and I’m talking domesticated dogs, not wolves or anything like that in the wild, but dogs that you find in shelters, on the street, at a breeder’s, whatever. Dogs. They all have the same sized brain. Bear with me.
A chihuahua – the demon spawn of the canine world, who would rip you apart limb from limb (if it were capable). A pit bull or a lab – a great friend, gentle, intelligent (for the most part), stable. A saint bernard or a mastiff – a giant, loafing, doofy, drooling lump of lovable fur. All of these dogs have the same size brain, and their characteristics are a direct result of this simple fact.
Think about it. You put a ton of brainpower, or anything really, in a container that is too small for it, what happens? You get spillage. How does that spillage manifest in an animal? Aggression, bulgy eyes, twitchy movements, high pitched voice. You put that same amount of stuff in a container that is just the right size? It closes, everything fits, everyone is happy. The animal is relatively smart, well balanced, etc. You take the same amount of stuff and put it in a giant container, what do you have? Empty space. Enough said.
Now that is not to say that you can’t have well balanced rat dogs, or intelligent canine horses. There are exceptions to every rule. But, in general, this is the dog brain theory. Please let me know your thoughts.
Thank you for your time.
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Gonna date myself a bit here, but I miss going to the library to research a topic, looking it up in the encyclopedia, then finding different references, looking them up in the card catalog, and finding books I wasn’t even looking for in the section I found myself in. It was an amazing experience, and a great way to gain knowledge. Internet searches are super convenient, don’t get me wrong, and being able to just google something to win an argument is pretty spiffy. But seriously, I miss those days. I think I might take a trip to the library sometime soon to do some research for a post I started on human intellect.
But honestly, there’s something to be said for going to a library and picking up different books on a topic, and sometimes winding up reading about something that you never intended to begin with. When I was a kid, during the summer I used to walk to the library from my house, about a mile away, and just spend hours there researching and reading whatever was on my mind that day. It was awesome. Sometimes, I would convince my mother to drop me off at the big library a couple of towns over before she went to work, and I read books, I looked at microfiche and microfilm (they didn’t have that stuff at the tiny library by my house). I would spend all day there and beg my mom (usually not successfully) to bring me back later in the week.
I dunno. Convenience is great, but only to an extent. I’m in a class now to earn my CPIM designation. I work with people who got that designation 20+ years ago, and the format was very different then. And I can’t help but think that the knowledge they acquired is more robust than what I’m being offered. Yes, you can condense information to accelerate the process, but there are nuances in expanded formats that offer knowledge in their own right. And I may not be getting that….
Anyway, this post is a tangent from what I was working on (human intellect), and I think serves to fill my quota of randomness for the day. It’s after 10 and I need to get to bed.
Adieu.
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I was laying on the couch this afternoon, resting after a very long day yesterday. Afternoon sun, muted by cloud cover and blinds gave the room a nice, warm light. I notice that there’s this moment right as I was dozing off that my brain kinda takes off and goes to really random places, even for me.
I have noticed this before, but it has piqued my interest this time around. It’s this strange, half aware, half dreaming state.
I wonder if this happens to everyone. I also wonder what it would be like to extend the length of time spent in that state from a few seconds to a few minutes, and what doing that would entail. What is the electrochemical activity in the brain like at that point, and what purpose does this state serve?
I’ve been at that point and suddenly remembered something I had wanted to remember but couldn’t or got some grand inspiration for a problem I have been working on. What is it about this moment that allows those things to happen? Some research is in order….
A Peculiar Cerebral Tangle 