Damn You, Heinrich Wilhelm Dove
In 1839, Heinrich Wilhelm Dove discovered the phenomenon of the binaural beat and inadvertently cursed the internet with one of it’s most persistent pseudo-science institutions: the digital drug.
Wiki Says:
The brain produces a phenomenon resulting in low-frequency pulsations in the loudness of a perceived sound when two tones at slightly different frequencies are presented separately, one to each of a subject’s ears, using stereo headphones. A beating tone will be perceived, as if the two tones mixed naturally, out of the brain. The frequency of the tones must be below about 1,000 to 1,500 hertz for the beating to be heard. The difference between the two frequencies must be small (below about 30 Hz) for the effect to occur; otherwise the two tones will be heard separately and no beat will be perceived.
It’s a real effect, and there is some talk that it can have neurological effects. That’s great for neuroscientists, but not so great for the rest of us. The problem is that the quack medicine community loves nothing more than a little actual science to hang it’s products on. Magnetic belt, anyone?
So far, the most popular angle is to generate several different binaural beat frequencies, and randomly assign effects to them, such as enhanced creativity, energy levels, or meditative peace.
On the plus side, it’s relatively harmless, unlike drinking a flask of molasses spiked with mercury like back in the good old days of miracle bromides and nerve tonics. Also, since some brainwave entrainment may occur at some frequencies, you may actually find a binaural beat that is pleasant and mood enhancing. Of course, the same thing can be said for regular music, which has been used to alter and enhance moods since the dawn of time.
Of course, all of this is just my opinion. Some folks swear by it, so sample some for yourself:
Or mix your own:
Birthday Month!
Today’s my birthday, which traditionally I celebrate for the entire month of August. This annoys the crap out of everyone around me, but honestly, it’s their own fault. The idea is that if anyone mentions my birthday in any way, I get a card in the mail, a present, or find some other way to claim birthday rights, then that day is ALSO my birthday.
This is surprisingly easy to arrange, and huge fun. For me. I think Tycho and Gabe summed my birthday philosopy perfectly over at Penny Arcade:
Interview with Edgar Oliver
Neil Gaiman posted this video of playwright Edgar Oliver on his blog. If you’ve never heard Mr. Oliver speak, you’ll be mesmerized by the beautiful cadence of his voice, as well as the fullness of expression and emotion that he radiates.
Your Life 2.0
Your life is complicated. It’s made up of a zillion separate moving parts, like money, time, and work, and in each one, somebody is doing a better job than you getting it done. And they know it.
Fortunately, this being the age of sharing and showing off, they’re willing to clue you in. These are some of the big guns in the world of ‘doing it right’.
Lifehacker – The granddaddy of all ‘get your life in order’ blogs. I could stop here, but that would be a pretty short list, wouldn’t it?
Wise Bread – Live frugally, and in style. Proof that you don’t have to live under the interstate in a cardboard box to save money.
Mother Earth News – “The Original Guide to Living Wisely”
David Allen – The ultimate time management guru, author of Getting Things Done. Go GTD and never go back.
The Four Hour Workweek – Lifestyle Design, by which Tim means poking at convention to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
TreeHugger – If you’re inclined to go green, Treehugger will tell you how. Duh, the site is called Treehugger.
Real Travel – Advice about travel from actual people on specific locations. Don’t rely on the guy selling you a vaction package to tell you the pitfalls.
Pandora – Yes, the bands that you grew up with are awesome. But maybe it’s time to find some new music.
Instructables – Make stuff! Speaking of making stuff, this is the best knot tying thing ever.
Go forth and improve. Now!
Flipping Burgers is Good for You
Warning: Soapboxing ahead! Rocks are three bucks each, no refunds if you miss.
Everyone has had their share of crappy jobs. Among other things, I’ve delivered pizza, worked in a pawn shop (most interesting job ever!), and sold games in a mall. Lots of people have jobs like this for one reason or another, and by and large, they can be trusted with whatever small of amount of responsibility they’ve been entrusted with.
They don’t cheat on their timecards, they don’t stick a paw in the till, and they don’t walk off with free goodies when they leave. But what they do, some of them, and you know who you are, is half-ass around like a kid who’s told to clean his room, then stick out a hand for a paycheck.
This is about working the drive-through window at a fast food joint and rolling your eyes at the guy who’s order got butchered. It’s about being that cashier who’s talking on the phone and can’t be bothered to ring anything up until they find out what Miffy said to Tad. And of course, the bagger at the grocery store that is so busy chatting up one of his coworkers that he never notices that he’s putting cans on top of your lovely bananas.
It’s not the end of the world if you don’t treat picking up butts in the parking lot as your life’s work. But if you’ve ever tried doing it well, day in and day out, you know it’s pretty damn hard. It’s hard to do something you don’t care about and don’t want to do, simply because you’re responsible for it.
Do it anyway.
It’s like exercise. You work through the pain and you get something in return. In this case, it’s the ability to follow through with your own life. That song that you like didn’t fall out of thin air, that novel didn’t write itself, and that game wasn’t delivered overnight by the code elves. Somebody worked at learning their chosen craft and sweated blood over it. The ability to follow through on your plans is hard won.
Without it you’ll never be able to roll up your sleeves and do that thing you dream about when nobody is looking. Not forgetting the fries isn’t hard, and in the end, you get more out of it than the happy guy in the drive-thru.
Cricket Choir
In 1992, Jim Wilson recorded crickets chirping and slowed the track down to what he felt would be an interesting ratio, that of a cricket’s lifespan to a human being’s. The result was then layered with the original, unmodified cricket chirping.
The result is an unearthly, harmonic choir singing underneath the mundane night sounds of crickets that we take for granted.
The Most Important Quiz EVER
How ready are you for the inevitable zombie apocalypse? It’s coming, don’t kid yourself. I know, we all think we’re ready, but is that enough? Don’t you want to know for sure? I mean, beforehand, not like, at the bottom of a zombie pile or something.
You Can’t Talk Your Way Out of It
Why you should always use your right to remain silent. There are no exceptions. Let this law professor and police detective tell you why:
Pre-Weekend Prep
Here’s where I get to throw some random cool thing at you for the weekend ahead. I heard somewhere that we, as a people, have a congnitive surplus. This should help with that.
Yeah, it's a big box.
This is a tabletop game where you create a dank dangerous dungeon, throw in your friends, and kill them. One player is the Overlord, Master of All That is Bad and the other players (up to 4) are the Heroes that will attempt to defeat you by killing your precious monsters and taking all your best treasure.
It’s great fun, and comes complete with character cards, tons of counters, and a big double handful of detailed plastic monsters. There are several expansions which add new scenarios, heroes, and creatures, as well as a game altering one called Road to Legend, which turns the whole thing into a heroic campaign of epic proportions(tm). RtL really rocks, as it adds evil plots for the Overlord to work towards, as well as overland encounters, city sieges, massive power upgrades for heroes, and a final showdown against the Overlord himself. Swanky.
There are even tons of extra scenarios you can get for free, right here.
Get to work, those monsters aren’t going to kill themselves.
Fugitive Prose 