Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Quotes

Daddy, I want my cereal squishy, so it doesn't hurt the pink stuff that holds my teeth in.

-- Jayden

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Roots of Fear | Newsweek Politics | Newsweek.com

This is an excellent article on the basis of fear, and it's use (and misuse) in politics.  This should be required reading before registering to vote!

The evolutionary primacy of the brain's fear circuitry makes it more powerful than the brain's reasoning faculties. The amygdala sprouts a profusion of connections to higher brain regions—neurons that carry one-way traffic from amygdala to neocortex. Few connections run from the cortex to the amygdala, however. That allows the amygdala to override the products of the logical, thoughtful cortex, but not vice versa. So although it is sometimes possible to think yourself out of fear ("I know that dark shape in the alley is just a trash can"), it takes great effort and persistence. Instead, fear tends to overrule reason, as the amygdala hobbles our logic and reasoning circuits. That makes fear "far, far more powerful than reason," says neurobiologist Michael Fanselow of the University of California, Los Angeles. "It evolved as a mechanism to protect us from life-threatening situations, and from an evolutionary standpoint there's nothing more important than that."

The Roots of Fear | Newsweek Politics | Newsweek.com

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Burglary #3

Got broken into again!  Sometime between 6pm on the 30th and the next morning.  Took most of my & (Uncle) Gary's battery power tools, Gary's miter saw, most of our hardwood floor, and broke the main garage door hinge and the interior 4' custom door.  Also went thru the china cabinet and the boxed stuff in the garage.. yay, what did they take we won't know about till we unpack?  At least they left his tile saw.

Gary has an idea it's someone who lives near us.  He bases this on the fact we have been taking our tools home with us every night - until the 30th, when both he and I left our battery power tools upstairs.  I don't see who could see the house well enough to know this, but hopefully it won't be an issue once we move back in.  Shayna will be in the house to bark, Putting up some cameras, inside and out, and adding more lighting to the front and back yard, motion activated.

 

Gotta get the neighbors to sing....

...

Every light in the house is on
The backyard's bright as the crack of dawn
The front walk looks like runway lights
It's kinda like noon in the dead of night

...