Update, matters of the uni and heart etc
General stuff
Lesse... workworkwork, some studying, workworkwork, best summarises these past few months. I'm happy to have had lots of work, but I think I'm the kind of person that works best with a part time kind of work, think of me as a natural downshifter.
Uni Stuff
Studywise, the Academic Writing course went beyond expectations. I find myself urged to pinch myself and see if I really did make it, because I always seem to keep finding things I should've polished more on, especially after having submitted an assignment text. For this fall, I've applied to a smaller Linguistics based course, about language and the brain, and did a late application for the next course following the one I took in Digital images and image handling. I don't think I'll get accepted into the latter, 'cause they tend to be very popular, and my application was late. Somewhere along the line I'll try and get started more properly on my program essay.. yeah *cough*
Food stuff
I have been eating sugary food stuffs lately, in abundance, and I wonder if that is the cause of the more dry than usual skin. But, the lack of sleep probably plays a big part in it too.. yes, I feel sooo old as well, not being able to eat so much sugar, sleep so little and yet function in a hyper capacity.
TV stuff
Watched a part of a scientific show series thingy, it had a docu/program thing about the heart.
- Vetenskapens värld - Del 18 av 18: Kan man dö av brustet hjärta? available online until 24th of June, 2010
(sorry non-Swedes, I don't think you'll be able to watch this, even if a lot is in English, since it seems svtplay only allows Swedish viewers)
Some researchers claimed the heart had an own little neural system, capable of feedback, explaining in their opinion how those having received a new heart started behaving or acting like the donor of the heart had. Hmm. It does make one wonder. Where and how does a memory exist and function? Are there feedback loops and systems present that we have very poor or little knowledge about? The ancient Greeks, like Aristotle, thought of the heart as the center of intelligence and emotions. Something that is still reflected in language,
One researcher, showed how a test subject was shown various images, of positive and negative kind. It seemed as if the heart reacted to the content of images before the brain/body did or had registered what was actually in the image. "The heart seemed to be tuned in into another source of information." Something he thought others may refer to as a spirit or soul. It seems the heart also has an own magnetic field, like the brain has, and he thought this made it possible to transfer emotions of a negative or positive kind. Curiouser and curiouser, eh?
Another researcher thought this was dangerous ground, that scientific methods were the only things needed when it comes to these musings, and the kind of research one is be able to actually validate. As from a pure scientific point of view, there is no evidence suggesting the heart has an own emotional or other intelligence.
Are there extra sensitive hearts, that can die of very strong emotions though? A woman told of how her parents had lived happily ever after, and that her 70 year old mother was to have a routine operation.. but that the hospital called them and said their mother needed them. On the way to the hospital, her father appeared to have a heart attack, and when the woman headed up to the ward her mother was at, she was told she hher mother had passed away. Once they told the father he became very upset and cried, and after a short while, his heart rate and blood pressure dropped and he too passed away. The woman was convinced her father died of a broken heart.
"Over the centuries, the term broken heart has actually been used frequently to refer to people who pass away after some kind of emotional trauma, usually the death of a loved one." Ilan Wittstein, cardiologist, feels this clearly suggests a strong relationship between our emotional state and our heart.
"The broken heart syndrome", ie stress cardio myopathy, a condition where emotions can affect the strength of the heart, acutely and suddenly. The heart does take on an unusual shape. The bottom of the heart is squeezing normally, but the middle sections and the tip are not squeezing well at all. Angiograms show normal arteries, no blockage shows which usually is the case for a real heart attack.
This syndrome is the cause of strong emotional experience, hormones, adrenlines in massive amounts that stun the heart, and the heart cannot pump as it normally does and that is what causes the chest pains. However, within 2-3 weeks most are able to recover and have a completely normal heart muscle again.
In other words, more scientific evidence correlating emotions and heart disease? Social, psychological and biological factors are involved. The rise of heart disease in the 1950s are strongly correlated to change in socioeconomic patterns in society. For 50-60 years we've had communities living with hopelessness..
I think it was an interesting thing how one researcher said something along the lines of that it's not about simply teaching children to be better in school, it's about giving them the psychological equipment to be in control of their lives, and not driven by emotions and aggressions. The key to better health is being able to control ones emotions. Medical science in the Western world is for the most part, thinking of the body with singular organs etc, but maybe a holistic view is coming where no organ is the primary.
So yeah, another most interesting puzzle added to the enigma of consciousness and the soul or lack there of!
Other stuff
I need to take lots of pics tomorrow/later of various stuff, the ones I took earlier did not turn out well. A tripod is the good stuff for non-fuzzy images, shaky hands are not :/ I also should work more on ahem the very late workshop pics I have not finished, and stock textures. And be sure to expect some further BJD musings later on too, muahaha.