I
Don't Have A Comfort Zone
October 17, 2011
I don't hate
the term comfort zone,
but I don't like it. You could say I'm not comfortable with it. See?
Comfortable. I don't have a zone. I don't need a zone.
I want you to be comfortable. (I'm trying to hand you a pillow but you
won't take it.) I want everyone to be comfortable.
Whenever someone says comfort zone, I think, "Why do you need a zone?"
Lack of music may be the answer. Dr Manos Tsakiris and Dr Ana
Tajadura-Jiménez, from the Department of Psychology at Royal
Holloway - University of London study self and sense
of self issues. In the current issue of the journal PLoS
One (on newsstands now), they have an article titled, I-Space: The Effects of
Emotional Valence and Source of Music on Interpersonal Distance.
Their research explores how music from speakers or headphones effects
the comfort of the listener in crowds.
What they did not
study was the role of internalized jukeboxes in the comfort of people
with songs running through their heads.
Music Association: Carpenters -
They Long To Be Close To You
I...
October 13, 2011
Music Association: Neil Diamond
- I Am I Said
Show Your Horns
October 10, 2011
The Vikings beat the Cardinals by 34-10 under warm, sunny skies in
Minneapolis, yesterday. Adrian Peterson scored three touchdowns, and
Donovan McNabb scored one -- all in the first quarter.
Music Association: Spinners -
Games People Play
Another Beautiful Day in the Twin Cities
October 7, 2011
Music Association: Tokens - Lion
Sleeps Tonight
Hopes and Dreams Shattered
Sub-Standard
October 6, 2011
Imagine sleeping in a closet-sized bunkroom with five men. Imagine
working
in cramped quarters with the same people for six months straight... in
a submarine. Now imagine the U.S. Navy is looking to extend
the length of attack submarine deployments to cut costs of having to
sail the sub all the way back to the United States every six months.
They must be nuts; it would be sub-standard.
The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world. Its battle fleet tonnage is
greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The Navy has
71 commissioned submarines (18 Ohio class ballistic missile subs
&
53 attack submarines), plus two in reserve and three under
construction. The Navy plans
to buy about two submarines per year in the next dozen years.
The
U.S. Navy says it's trying to do more with fewer subs.
May luck be on the side of the submariners. It's time to pat a poster.
The grand poobah of submarine movies is Run Silent, Run Deep
from 1958 with Burt Lancaster, Clark Gable, and Don Rickles. In the
movie, when the going gets tough and the tough go to the Bungo Straits,
the crew pat the... uh... stern
of a poster girl for luck. The poster was illustrated by Gil Elvgren,
who was born in St. Paul, MN and lived most of his life in Winnetka,
IL. 
There's something odd about the poster. It's sub-standard. The studio
(Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions) seems to have bought a Gil Elvgren
illustrated poster and then became (legally) concerned about not
showing the face of the model. Some hack artist drew a mask on her and
re-drew the left arm and a large left hand to cover her face.
Because of the hack editing, the poster is nowhere to be found (except here).
Maybe the U.S. Navy could print off about 71 copies of the poster for
luck.
Movie Association: David Bowie
& Queen - Under Pressure
Hopes and Dreams Shattered
Why People Die
October 5, 2011
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) called to correct what I said
yesterday. They said 11 or 12 year olds need the meningococcal
conjugate vaccine and a booster at 16 [CDC
statement]. I said, "While you're on the phone, I've got a
question. Why do people die?"
CDC (excited):
Our Vital Statistics Division just got the 2009
statistics
together! The leading cause of death is still (drum roll, please) heart
disease! That killed 598,607 people or about 1 in 6. Cancer, which we
refer to as Malignant Neoplasms, is still number two with 568,668
deaths or about 1 in 7. Chronic lower respiratory diseases, like
pneumonia, killed 137,032. Cerebrovascular diseases...
Hopes and Dreams:
My question is -- why do people die?
CDC:
Whoa. People have
to die. Death is our life. It's what we do. It's... um... [phone
changes to a speaker, sound of shuffling papers] ...here it is. It's
the circle of life.
Hopes and Dreams:
That's not an answer. That's
a Disney answer.
CDC:
Well, it works with
children. Sometimes... Here at the Center for Disease Control we crunch
the numbers in our Numeromatic™ number crunching machine.
(Don't
tell anyone that we use the Numeromatic™
cruncher.) Sometimes, when all the numbers have fallen into place, we
try to figure out why this figure or that figure changed. For example,
only 97 people died in the United States in 2009 from meningitis. More
and more kids are getting the shots. Fewer people are dying. That's
good, isn't it?
Hopes and Dreams:
Yes. But the overwhelming statistic is the odds of
dying are 1 in 1. The question is why.
CDC:
Someone just handed me a Subway sandwich napkin that says,
"Without death, our species would die."
Hopes and Dreams:
That
doesn't make any sense. Without death, there would be no death. Our
species couldn't die without the death of individuals. That's
circuitous logic.
CDC:
Shouldn't people die? I mean, we're the Center for Disease
Control, not the Center for Disease Elimination.
Hopes and Dreams:
But what about the shattered dreams? What about the people
who died before their time?
CDC:
That's just it. It's always time. When it's time, it is time.
Life is not sustainable.
Hopes and Dreams:
Thanks.
Music
Associations: Bee Gees - How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, The Beatles -
The End, & Led Zeppelin - All Of My Love "Is this to
end or
just beginning?"
Hopes and Dreams
Shattered
When Things Go Horribly Wrong
October 4, 2011
I have an emergency kit for when things go wrong. It includes all the
usuals like bandages, plus some unusuals like a Kaito KA500GRN Voyager
6-way powered AM, FM, SW1, SW2, 7 channel NOAA weather radio with 6
adapters for charging any cell phone or portable electronics through
solar, crank, USB, rechargeable batteries, AA batteries, or AC power.
It also has a flashlight, reading light, and red-flashing emergency
light.
The Voyager can do many things but not everything.
It can't provide emergency contraception to victims of rape.
[Information at 1,
2,
& 3.]
It can't immunize college freshman against meningitis.
It can't help with pharmacological issues at all. Not that pharmacological
issues are all that important to me, but I've
been listening to Loveline
lately. College-aged people need to know about meningitis immunization
and emergency contraception.
Things might go horribly wrong, but it can help to be prepared.
Music Associations: Genesis -
Turn It On Again "All I need is a TV show. That and a radio."
& Linda Ronstadt - Hurt So Bad
Galaxies Blow Bubbles, Galaxies
Collide
October 3, 2011
Some stories are so big that it takes a Hubble telescope to see them.
Let's look into the interstellar nursery.
What you're seeing is baby galaxy Holmberg II, blowing stellar bubbles
and spitting up supernova. Some scientists believe Holmberg II is not
spitting up supernova so much as burping up supernova. Unfortunately
NASA never thought to add a microphone to the Hubble, so all Hubble
gives is visuals.
Astrotheorists are left puzzling over the galactic sounds
-- spit, burp, or belch?
Meanwhile the Antennae galaxies are merging like highway traffic and
procreating clusters of billions of stars.
Interstellar love is beautiful, isn't it?
Music Association: Guess Who -
Star Baby
