January 25, 2006 at 9:54 pm (thoughts)
so while evading work today I came across this article…. which, interesting as it is in terms of its localization-of-function bent, really caught my eye because of this word:
an·o·mie or an·o·my Â
n.
- Social instability caused by erosion of standards and values.
- Alienation and purposelessness experienced by a person or a class as a result of a lack of standards, values, or ideals: “We must now brace ourselves for disquisitions on peer pressure, adolescent anomie and rage� (Charles Krauthammer).
Â
Now… perhaps this word shouldn’t have been new to me, but it was, so deal with it. It also exists in adjectival form, i.e. anomic. Which brings us to another word: anomia, which shares the same adjectival form. Anomia, however, refers to word-finding difficulty, often the result of some type of brain injury. Basically, imagine having that tip-of-the-tongue problem….. ALL the time.
ambiguity just always catches my eye. and makes me think about patterns and parallels. how much of morality/values resides in our language? or is reinforced by our language? If the whorfian style of thinking is true and our language constrains our thoughts/beliefs, then does the loss of language lead to to some loss of morality? I.e. does being anomic (in the a-without, nomen-name way) result in one becoming anomic (in the a-without, nomos-law way)?
Severe anomia can result in the inability to form unambiguous statements… people lose their content words and start saying things like ‘well the man who wore the thing gave the thing to the man who put the thing on the thing.’…. what happens to ethics and reason when you can’t form sentences? I don’t doubt that it’s possible to reason non-verbally, but we’re certainly not trained to do it much, being such a verbal species.
HM.Â
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January 24, 2006 at 5:48 pm (update)
be amazed. Not only did I go for a 90min yoga session in a room heated to 100degF last Friday afternoon, I also went again this morning at 6.15am!
just thought I’d share :P
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January 20, 2006 at 10:42 am (rant, science, thoughts)
1) In the wake of the South Korean cloning (or lack thereof) scandal…. here’s another piece of stupidity. How many more will there be? How much backlash will there be from laypeople for whom these incidents throw the entire scientific enterprise into doubt? why does anyone do this?? *SIGH*
2) I’m not entirely sure who to bash in this one. Irresponsible doctors who write prescriptions based on what people want rather than what’s good for them? Irresponsible people who stop taking their medication earlier than they should? Irresponsible drug companies who think that these decisions should lie with the irresponsible doctors or the irreponsible laypeople? *ANOTHER SIGH*
I do think that to some degree there should be freedom for doctors to do what they think best. However, if there’s a situation where it is clear that doctors are NOT doing what is best, then the powers that be do in fact have a responsibility to take action. In this day and age when the problem of drug resistance is so prevalent, to ignore the issue is just. plain. dumb.
And for the record, I don’t buy the “artemisinin has wiped out malaria without creating resistance” thing. Just wait for it. I bet they said the same thing in the early days of chloroquine and penicillin. Wonder drugs are worthless if they don’t stay…. wondrous.
and btw, good for you, Dr. Kochi. You have my full, albeit useless, sympathies.
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January 14, 2006 at 6:52 pm (america, update)
IÂ got into Wash U’s MD program :)
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January 11, 2006 at 9:47 pm (quotes, thoughts)
as opf put it today (welcome back to blogging btw, we’ve missed you), one sure way to get me to blog is to give me other work to do (paraphrased).
so. in the spirit of avoiding the pre-lab that i have to write up….
I think all my internal frustrations come down to two things: anger and guilt. the two of course have independent motivations, but also fuel each other. That is, I feel angry about feeling guilty (mostly because i feel guilty about things i have no control over, like being born into affluence. the things that i do have control over i usually try to make amends for.), and guilty about feeling angry (this i think stems from a holdover from christianity). It’s funny though. alot of my anger is also self-directed… i get angry at myself for being/feeling/thinking/seeing/etc a certain way. for instance, i get angry at myself for disliking people. for some reason i seem to think i ought to like everyone. i so wish i could shake that :P so what starts out as passive dislike often spirals into deep seated hatred (ok not really hatred, but something stronger than dislike) probably from some projection from my self-directed anger. do i sound enough like a blasted psychotherapist yet? :)
speaking of dislike though, this quote caught my eye today:
How can you expect to enjoy life without heartily disliking a good many people? Do not be afraid to dislike the people you dislike. Disliking people is an oft-neglected pleasure. People have so many dislikable traits, it is a terrible waste to miss out on disliking them.
- “Am I a female misogynist?”, from Since You Asked by Cary Tennis
I must say I echo a lot of the questioner’s sentiments. :)
Edit: btw, I meant the questioner in the article…. the person writing in. I do like Cary’s response though :P
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January 9, 2006 at 8:34 pm (update)
so. making reasonable progress on the goals, and it’s only been a few days. but what else is new :P i always do well at the beginning…. it’s finishing stuff that I have a problem with :P
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January 5, 2006 at 8:13 am (thoughts)
So. I hate New Year’s Resolutions, mostly because they’re usually rather vague statements about personal qualities or attitudes that are really hard to pin down. Instead I have made a list of things to accomplish for 2006. Of course, the second half of 2006 is up for grabs at the moment, which is irking me immensely and stressing me out. but that list should be enough to keep me occupied for the first 5 months or so! I don’t really expect to get them all done, but I do want to make a reasonable attempt at each one.
Today we’re starting with that hideous ball of pink yarn. There’s enough of the pink fluffiness to make just one scarf, and I’ve just discovered a thinner fancier dark purple yarn that would go rather nicely with it (and make it less BRIGHT PINK). I’ve never done any double yarn knitting, but I tried it out last night and it went pretty well. The other upside is that it’ll look reasonably complicated even with a really simple stitch. :P
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January 3, 2006 at 2:42 pm (rant)
Christians who think gay people are for some reason less deserving of respect than the rest of the sinners in the world. (and, for that matter, non-Christians who think gay people are for some reason less deserving of respect than the rest of the people in the world. I just don’t know many of these.)
People who deliberately get completely drunk and then insist that they’re sober. In my apartment.
People who insist on cleaning my kitchen when they come to visit. If you don’t like how I live, don’t come visiting.
People who constantly make jokes about girly drinks or girly cars. For crying out loud, let people drink and drive whatever they want.
People who expect me to be little miss cheerful sunshine all the time. Sorry. not happening. Get used to it.
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