brain patterns
 

I've always been fascinated by the fact that our brain works by creating actually conections between nerves and that the more a specific pattern is repeated, to stronger these connections become. Needless to say though, I have a very limited understanding of all this.

Ever since I learned this years ago, I've always made an effort to do as little as possible to create the brain patterns in my way of thinking and every day life. Obviously there will be some, and you need to have some. I couldn't type this right now if I hadn't developed the pathways in my brain that allow me to remember typing, spelling, etc.

But I see a lot of people around me who have such strong patterns and thought paths developed that they can't think any way else. For example, in the middle of the warehouse at work we have had a large collection of stuff that had piled up over years. This meant that for anybody to go from the sales office to our shipping office, or vice versa, you had to walk a path that ran along the wall. Earlier this week, the warehouse staff completely cleaned this area out, and now you can walk straight from our do to the sales door. Yet, many people still walk around the area where the stuff used to be!

Now, I've had to walk around this stuff just as much as anybody else, so it would seem as though we should have the same patterns in our mind as far as walking from office to office, therefore indicating that either we would all keep walking the old path, or we would all walk the new, straight path. Yet, while I still walk straight through, they walk around.

So... why? Is it because I have worked on thinking laterally and made an effort to create less firm paths in my mind? I didn't make an effort in this particular instance. Did my efforts over time teach my mind not to create patterns so quickly, while others' minds have learned to do the opposite?

my guess would be that they are just a bit slow.

its mad to thin this is so unbelievably complex that we still dont really understand it... we dont understand our own organ that helps in understanding..... fascinating bit of meat indeed!

anyone eaten brains....its not all that bad really if you can get over the fact its a cows brain, which is very hard to do!

i had a brain scan about six months ago and got pictures of my brain on a cd. its fascinating stuff. i had to answer lots of questions while looking at pictures and shapes etc. they are bloomin noisey things those scanners.

I've wanted to do that for some time. Can I just walk into a general practitioner's office and ask for it?

I think with the warehouse folks, is that change for most people is very hard, and its safer to stick with what they already do, even in these very small ways. Maybe they feel all naked out there in the open, without all that junk to guide them.

I've had two MRI's.. actually maybe three, I can't remember. They were always going to give me some of the photos to look at but never did.

Not sure you could just walk in and ask for it though, they are stupid expensive. The only reason I didnt have to pay for mine was because I was part of a research project.

could be that you "teach" your mind to observe, could be that you observe (and teach yourself) because you're not mentally lazy. chicken vs. egg thing. either way, looks like you're enjoying the nature show your job provides. awesome.

Hey, where have the boxes gone?

That's how mad cow disease was transmitted, if I'm not mistaken.
Cow brains are a no-no in my book.

you cant just ask for one no, they are too expensive to do that and take up too much manpower. i had to observe all kinds of rules like your not allowed to wear deoderant or perfume or anything like that and you have to wear really weird pajamas.

you can get Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (the human variant of mad cow) from any tissue that's had prionic contamination. brain tissue just happens to collect more of the protein-snippets that cause the disease.

even rose gardeners have been highly susceptible thanks to bone meal in their fertilzer. bone meal has been a chief vector due to the fact that it's not highly regulated and diseased animals can easily slip into the mix (bone meal is also often used in animal feed as a filler, further contaminating the food supply).

before anyone was aware of the problem, it was assumed that autoclaving surgical instruments would sterilize them. however, prions are resistant to the level of heat that's used (they can even survive high doses of radiation), so reused instruments were also responsible for many infections.

in summary, we are all fucked.

I believe that a critical level of prions is needed to develop symptomatic disease.

most people won't consume enough tainted tissue in their lifetime for it to be a worry. however, there's always that one hamburger...


also: it's Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (not Jakod). you quoted me before I was done fixing typos (and moving around words)!

the singer from an old band i was in many years ago had his girlfriends initials tatoo's on his arm CJD. what a spaz.

oh, odd. weird pyjamas like, hospital gown? My regular clothing was perfectly acceptable.. I chose to wear nothing with metal though. The only thing I had to do/avoid was makeup and taking piercings out. Which turned out to be pretty annoying as I completely forgot I'd taken some of them out, and when I went to put them back in a day later, no go.

By far the worst part for me is the fact you are in a TINY LITTLE SPACE and if I opened my eyes too long or didn't look forward, I'd probably freak out.