Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Mon, Nov 13 2006
Is the brain even smarter than we can ever imagine?
BibliOdyssey has an intriguing post with some examples of Alesha Sivartha's brain maps from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Sivartha's odd mix of (among other things) spirituality, anatomy, mathematics and sociology seems typical of Victorian era thinkers. These people seemed to be always attempting to reconcile religion with science by presenting the human form as a sort of key to a puzzle that, once solved, would unlock the mysteries of the universe and explain how good and evil can be allowed to exist and mingle on the same planet.
The trouble with their admirable, if misguided, study is that human physiology, like human spirituality, is not only a map, but a journey. We were taught as young students that a good dictionary definition does not use its own word to describe itself. I suspect that this holds true for humans as well. We aren't the author of our own making, so our feeble attempts to precisely map our physical and spiritual condition will always come up at least a wee bit short in the big scheme of things.
posted at: 08:25 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
BibliOdyssey has an intriguing post with some examples of Alesha Sivartha's brain maps from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Sivartha's odd mix of (among other things) spirituality, anatomy, mathematics and sociology seems typical of Victorian era thinkers. These people seemed to be always attempting to reconcile religion with science by presenting the human form as a sort of key to a puzzle that, once solved, would unlock the mysteries of the universe and explain how good and evil can be allowed to exist and mingle on the same planet.
The trouble with their admirable, if misguided, study is that human physiology, like human spirituality, is not only a map, but a journey. We were taught as young students that a good dictionary definition does not use its own word to describe itself. I suspect that this holds true for humans as well. We aren't the author of our own making, so our feeble attempts to precisely map our physical and spiritual condition will always come up at least a wee bit short in the big scheme of things.
posted at: 08:25 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Keyboard as object lesson
I often end up eating in front of the computer while I'm working, though I try to avoid food coming in contact with the mechanical workings of any computer equipment. I dropped a small bagel crumb onto the keyboard the other morning and it lodged between keys in such a way that I didn't want to dig at it for fear of pushing it further inside. So I ended up picking up the keyboard and turning it upside down for a few gentle shakes over the desk. I was surprised and embarrassed to see the amount of leftover crumbs and lint that lay in a weird little pattern atop the desk. It made me think of how most of us need a good shaking ourselves once in awhile, just to see what dust bunnies and leftover crumbs have gotten lodged inside while we thought we were pretty clean and free of crud.
posted at: 06:55 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
I often end up eating in front of the computer while I'm working, though I try to avoid food coming in contact with the mechanical workings of any computer equipment. I dropped a small bagel crumb onto the keyboard the other morning and it lodged between keys in such a way that I didn't want to dig at it for fear of pushing it further inside. So I ended up picking up the keyboard and turning it upside down for a few gentle shakes over the desk. I was surprised and embarrassed to see the amount of leftover crumbs and lint that lay in a weird little pattern atop the desk. It made me think of how most of us need a good shaking ourselves once in awhile, just to see what dust bunnies and leftover crumbs have gotten lodged inside while we thought we were pretty clean and free of crud.
posted at: 06:55 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
