Weird

[Weird] Artificially stimulated religious experience

in

Via the economist:

PEOPLE with temporal-lobe epilepsy are prone to religious hallucinations. Two decades ago, this finding led Michael Persinger, a neuropsychologist at Laurentian University in Canada, to try stimulating people's temporal lobes artificially, to see if he could induce a religious state in them. He found that he could. By exposing volunteers' temporal lobes to a weak magnetic field, he was able to create in many of them the sensation of an ethereal presence in the room. (...) The origins of religious experience are one of the most mysterious phenomena in brain science. It would be nice to get a straight answer.

[Weird] Pourquoi Tintin est glabre

in

Lu ici (Le Monde, Paul Benkimoun)

Le journal de l'Association médicale canadienne publie, dans son édition du mardi 7 décembre, l'étude d'un "cas unique" de "déficience en hormone de croissance et hypogonadisme hypogonadotropique acquis chez un sujet ayant eu des traumatismes crâniens répétés" (...) Les auteurs se sont intéressés à cette personnalité, qui présente un évident retard de développement pubertaire et de croissance, et pensent "avoir découvert pourquoi Tintin, le jeune reporter dont les histoires ont été publiées entre 1929 et 1975, n'a jamais grandi davantage et n'a jamais eu besoin de se raser". Tintin avait 14 ou 15 ans lors de sa première apparition et devait donc avoir 60 ans lors de sa dernière aventure auprès des Picaros. Pourtant, il n'arbore dans cet ultime épisode "ni barbe ni cheveux blancs, et il ne présente aucun signe de développement pubertaire".

L'équipe à l'origine de cette publication présente une composition assez inhabituelle : Antoine Cyr, âgé de 5 ans, et Louis-Olivier Cyr, âgé de 7 ans, ont travaillé aux côtés de leur père, Claude Cyr, 33 ans, professeur associé de médecine à l'université canadienne de Sherbrooke (Québec). Ils ont repéré 50 pertes de connaissance caractérisées dans 16 des 23 livres d'aventures consacrés à Tintin. Parmi ces pertes de connaissance, 43 sont consécutives à un traumatisme crânien, provoqué le plus souvent par un bâton, mais aussi des blessures par balles, un empoisonnement au chloroforme, des explosions, des accidents de voiture et des chutes.

Les auteurs déplorent le manque de données médicales : pas d'information sur la période périnatale, pas d'imagerie cérébrale pratiquée après ces traumatismes. Néanmoins, il leur paraît possible d'avancer une explication aux anomalies médicales présentées par notre confrère belge : les traumatismes répétés ont entraîné un retard de croissance et de début de puberté, et un manque de libido, ce dont tous les lecteurs de Tintin ont pu se rendre compte.

Malgré les limites méthodologiques de cette étude, il est licite de considérer qu'elle éclaire une dimension laissée dans l'ombre par Hergé. Après tout, au moment où le secret médical est battu en brèche en ce qui concerne les pathologies dont souffrent des chefs d'Etat, il serait peut-être temps que les ayants droit d'Hergé livrent aux lecteurs de Tintin son dossier médical.

[Weird] The royal tit watching society (ornithology)

in

Well, I've never thought about it that way.

The Royal Tit-Watching (Ornithological) Society of Britain is the oldest of the British Tit-Watching Societies. The society was formed in 1824, by Lord Roylott of Stoke Moran, Surrey. Lord Roylott was himself a distinguished ornithologist, and author of 'A Comparison Of The Short-Distance Migratory Patterns of the Blue, Long-Tailed & Bearded Tits' - a book which Sir Charles Darwin acknowledged was "of immense importance in the formation of my theory of natural selection."

[Weird] The very concept of synchronicity

in

This morning cyril asked me to find a website that shows weird coincidences. Then I stumbled across the concept of synchronicity. Wikipedia defines it as:

Synchronicity is a term that was used by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung to describe the alignment of universal forces with one's own life experience. Jung believed that some (if not all) coincidences were not mere chance, but instead a literal "co-inciding", or alignment of forces in the universe to create an event or circumstance.

Jung's most well-known example of synchronicity involves plum pudding. He tells a tale of a certain Monsieur Deschamps who is treated to some plum pudding by his neighbor Monsieur de Fortgibu. Ten years later, he encounters plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant, and wants to order some, but the waiter tells him the last dish has already been served to another customer, who turns out to be M. de Fortgibu. Many years later, M. Deschamps is at a gathering, and is once again offered plum pudding. He recalls the earlier incident and tells his friends that only M. de Fortgibu is missing to make the setting complete, and in the same instant the now senile M. de Fortgibu enters the room by mistake.

[Weird] Inpolite science Exhibit

in

There is an interesting exhibit for kids about 'unpolite science' in Paris, at la cité des sciences et de l'industrie, it's called Crad'expo (crade in french means dirty). It is all about the making of boogers (dried or not), farts (wet or not), throwing up and so on. The idea is to explain those biological mechanisms, which is IMO a good point. I think this exhibit is inspired from something that has already been showed in the US or Canada, i don't remenber. Update: it's grossology tour.

[Weird] Mystifying Image Of Virgin Mary On Grilled Cheese Sandwich Sold on eBay

in

(via)

- GoldenPalace.com Wins eBay Auction For One-of-a-Kind Religious Icon In a perfect example of Americana pop culture phenomenon, a grilled cheese sandwich that bears the image of the Virgin Mary has been sold on eBay to Internet casino GoldenPalace.com for an eye-opening US$28,000. Seller Diana Duyser made the sandwich ten years ago, and after taking one bite out of it, noticed the Virgin Mary´s face staring back at her. She put the sandwich in a clear plastic box with cotton balls and kept it on her night stand. Duyser, 52, believes the sandwich has brought her luck over the years and is truly convinced of its divinity.

[Weird] How to build your own heads up display

in

hack a day explains us how to get our own heads up display.

okay, so i realize there’s not too much hackyness in this hack. it’s basically googles, fresnel lens, enclosure and a video source—then strapped to ones head in an uncool way. all that said, i have a lot of things around here that can play video which are a lot smaller and lighter, so i think this is the start of a cool project

[Weird] Ugly Tools for women

in

Freelax (the name is I think a bit disconnected to the reality) is new tool to "allow women to pee standing". It is ugly of course:

It seems that there is a competitor which is called "TravelMate™ non-invasive urinary devices" with the same purpose:

I really like this kind of quotes. When marketing goes to much into crappy detail like that it is so ironic...

  • With the help of over 900 TravelMate prototype testers, we refined the contour of the cradle until we found the best shape for providing a leak-free seal with the female anatomy.
  • The TravelMate’s rectangular, cone-shaped discharge tip ensures a straight stream. Tubing connects easily to it if desired.

[Weird] Alison's PantsCam: underwear video feed

in

What a crazy project! Of course there is nothing to see.

You've always wanted to get into Alison's pants. Now you can do it from the convenience of your own room, through a novel web interface! The heart of the Alison PantsCam is a PC/104 compliant single board computer (SBC). Manufactured by Tri-M Systems, the computer is a low-power 486DX5-133 CPU, complete with a C&T 65550 LCD controller, 4 TTL digital inputs, and a dual card PCMCIA module. Together with its rechargeable 12-volt power supply, the unit weighs less than 800 grams. The entire assembly is strapped to Alison's belt and the camera is inserted in her pants, providing the entire world a constant live video feed of her underwear.