On Sundays, I often listen to a broadcast of Ted Talks on WAMU (DC). Today the subject was "Hidden Things." I listened to that, and I also listened to Radio Lab on the same station. I've probably mixed these programs up in my head, but here goes:
A Boon to Spies?
A PhD candidate has come up with a method to sound record from inanimate objects, like potato chips. He says that when we talk, our sound waves permeate everything nearby, and those things vibrate... no matter how minutely. He has found a way to talk to a "bag of chips" and then play back his own voice from those same chips. I want to see how he does this.. so, it is time to go out to TED.COM and take a look.
If this is true, the CIA should be jumping on the technology... or... they probably have something as good or better already. Bye, bye privacy.
Who's in Control?
Scientists have now found that parasites are probably the best predators in our universe. Just think about how some worms hatch in our bodies and feed on us until they get released through means such as our bowels daily or our bodies at death. A presenter talked about the many parasites that cause madness in animals and people. Very scary. Perhaps we have been looking at disease and illness in a wrong way... maybe we can treat such problems as being caused by parasites... virus.. bacteria.. cancers.. Perhaps future medical treatment will be like that of the old shamans... get the evil things out of our bodies. Maybe voodoo is right.
Dave Barry sez:
Q: How come you always refer to yourself in the plural?
A; We have a huge intestinal parasite.
It's All in your Head!
A presenter showed how there are a great many people in the world who hear music in their heads. Not just little fragments of songs and such, but fully orchestrated renditions. He tried to show how some of these songs are appropriate to how people are feeling. Very interesting to me, because I also have some such experience.
I've mentioned before that everything I think about, write about, or say.. goes through a Morse Code translation. It occurs in the background, but I can bring it forward if I think about it. Dit Dah Dit... the curse that the U.S. Air Force put on me by making me spend 12 hours every day for six months learning the Morse Code language. I learned enough to send and receive encoded messages for the military, but my fingers would not fly fast enough to allow me to progress into learning Russian code. My friend Dan Carr, from Philadelphia did, and advanced far better than I did through the years that I knew him. I wonder if he has the "Morse Code Curse" like I have. I hope not.
Besides the constant code playing in my head, I also have music. But, my music doesn't necessarily relate to how I feel.. at least not all the time. For instance, let's say I hear Louie Armstrong singing "On the sunny side of the street" as I did while watching a movie last night. Now, Louie's voice will be singing that song to me in my brain for a few days, until something else that I like will take it's place. That reminds me of an old bad joke:
Who's there?
Cecil.
Cecil who?
Cecil have music wherever he goes.
.... all right... had enough? me too.. bye
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