Living in a Haze

The skies are overcast and we have light rain showers outside.  Temps are predicted to climb up into the low to mid 60s (F) today.  That will be nice.  Tomorrow, however, they're going to tank, though the definition of tanking is relative when you take into account how warm it's been this winter.  For us, the mid 40s (F) means our temps are tanking.

Rather than riding the bike, I've been spending a lot of time on the treadmill.  Usually I keep the speed at a fast walk, between 3.6 and 3.8 mph, but I've been increasing the incline to over 5% so I'm walking fast up a continual hill.  Believe me, you don't need to run to get a good cardio workout.  An interesting side effect is that my Garmin Fenix 6 tracks that incline as a staircase, so a 2.5 mile walk will show me going up 45 flights of stairs.

Milky Chance released their first song of their next album.  That will be available in June.  Here's the song, Living in a Haze.  Can we talk about versatility?  They go from singing about smoking pot in Colorado to wanting to be a disco boy in this song.  Enjoy.

For those who didn't see it, and I'm one of those, Merrick Garland was testifying yesterday in front of some Republican hack committee trying to prove one of their conspiracy theories.  I did watch a clip where that buffoon Ted Cruz accused the DOJ of leaks regarding to photos from the Mar a Lago raid.  When Garland pointed out that the photos Cruz was using as a reference hadn't been leak, rather they had been part of a press release, the buffoon quickly played his 'no further questions,' card.

Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries sent a letter to Rupert Murdoch asking that Fox not air their re-edit clips of the January 6 attack on the the capital in order to avoid further violence.  I don't doubt that Rupert is not in a happy place right now.  With that letter being publicized, should Fox go ahead and air anything that incites violence, they will be to blame.  They may shriek Freedom of Speech, buy any and all public disorder will be laid upon their doorstep.  And, of course, there is the Dominion law suit.  You can that's going to play into old Rupert's decision, he's already on record as saying Fox out and out lied about the election.  I hope he's enjoying this haze he's put himself into and wonder if all he really wants to do right now is be a disco boy.

 

The Hippocampus and I

Well lets say a sunny 'hello' to March.  It is bright and sunny here in Central PA.  The temps are supposed to climb into the high 50s (F).  Spring is definitely on it's way... that is until Friday arrives, bringing up to 3 inches of snow.  Of course, they've called for snow a few other times this winter and we got none.

Cosori sent me an email regarding my replacement air-fryer.  They'll be sending me a tracking number.  Sounds good, right?  That's what I thought until I read that it can take 6 - 8 weeks for replacements to arrive.  That's not too good.  Over 2 million units are being recalled, so I guess they're shipping them out as fast as they can make them.

I stayed up late to watch the end of Invasion on Apple TV.  The series started off good but episode after episode it became more and more predictable.  That was just one of several problems.  Another was likeability.  You need to root for the heroes.  Of all the leads, only epileptic Casper was likeable, however when it turned out his epilepsy tuned him into the alien subconscious (?) I couldn't help but say "been there, done that."  

The Washington Post had a interesting article about the aging brain, something I find fascinating because mine is aging.  I do wish they would have delved into creativity a little more.  I have seen that doctors now believe we can go through several spurts of creativity as we age, a really big one when we're young adults, and then another one when we hit our 50s.  I'm no longer in my mid 50s, so I wonder if I might be just a little late on that one.  Another interesting bit was how playing video games seems to stimulate the hippocampus.  I don't know about you, but I had no idea just what the hippocampus does, so I did a little research.

What is the main function of the function of the hippocampus:

The hippocampus is a complex brain structure embedded deep into the temporal lobe.  It has a major role in learning and memory.  It is connected with the amygdala that controls emotional memory recalling and regulation (Schumacher et al., 2018)

I saw where stupid Keven McCarthy is coming under fire for giving that January6 footage to Tucker Carlson.  He claiming it's an exclusive.  Stop laughing.  Fox is, as Bob has said, a Republican propaganda machine.  Old Rupert's political ambitions are restricted in his native Australia, so he takes his ambition abroad.  He has no loyalty to America.  He doesn't care if Americans get hurt, or die, he just wants to tell Americans how to live their lives.  In Trump, he found a useful tool.  However, that tool's no longer giving Rupert the results his dirty, old heart desires.  In fact, that tool broke so badly, Rupert's been injured.  Let's all hope and pray that things turn out for the worst for old Rupert.

Hippocampus is a complex brain structure embedded deep into temporal lobe. It has a major role in learning and memory. It is a plastic and vulnerable structure that gets damaged by a variety of stimuliThat's your bit of science for today.