Hemispacial neglect, or hemineglect, is a “condition following brain damage in which patients fail to be aware of items to one side of space.”

Old Tom was the most celebrated orca in the pod, the one the Davidsons were probably closest with. He seemed to have a sense of humor about him, and he was also known for grabbing a rope on the boats and taking the whalers for a joyride. If you find this all as mind-blowing as I do, you might like to see the names and photos of some of Eden’s killer whales or read more about Eden’s whaling history.

This bit of trivia and more can be found in the surprisingly excellent book I recently finished, Thousand Mile Song. These animals are smart.

Tonight I went to listen to E.O. Wilson talk about ‚ÄùDarwin and the Future of Biology‚Äù. Biology is most definitely not a strong interest of mine, but it was cool. It also reminded me that I’ve been meaning to read his book, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge.

He opened with what seemed like an elementary review of Darwin, his books, his journeys, and his influence; then on to biology as it is today and the two major approaches to biology: functional versus evolutionary, the how versus the why, the lab versus the field, the problem solvers versus the naturalists. (He wasn’t trying to paint them as warring factions, just equally valid methods that serve scientists with different interests and temperaments.) He also talked a bit about intelligent design and made the most basic, pragmatic, friendly critique I’ve heard yet: we just don’t need it. It’s a solution in search of a problem. He also did a good job of saying there’s no point in antagonizing or mounting a heavy offense against ID advocates.

Lastly, the dreaded Q&A afterwards. This one wasn’t too painful, but I recommend this as general advice: if you’re going to quote the speaker, at least *listen* and quote the speaker accurately. There is such a thing as a stupid question. I suppose when you get to be as old and wise as Wilson, you learn to be as generous and polite as he was tonight.

The brain is highly active when disengaged, consuming only about 5 percent less energy in its resting ‚Äúdefault state‚Äù than when involved in routine tasks… That slight reduction can make a big difference in terms of time perception. The seconds usually seem to pass more slowly when the brain is idling than when it is absorbed. And those stretched seconds are not the live-in-the-moment, meditative variety, either. They are frustrated, restless moments. That combination, psychologists argue, makes boredom a state that demands relief—if not from a catnap or a conversation, then from some mental game.

Some evidence for this can be seen in semiconscious behaviors, like doodling during a dull class, braiding strands of hair, folding notebook paper into odd shapes. Daydreaming too can be a kind of constructive self-entertainment, psychologists say, especially if the mind is turning over a problem. In experiments in the 1970s, psychiatrists showed that participants completing word-association tasks quickly tired of the job once obvious answers were given; granted more time, they began trying much more creative solutions, as if the boredom ‚Äúhad the power to exert pressure on individuals to stretch their inventive capacity.”

Foot freedom is a movement in the ultralight hiking community as well. Once you realize that you don’t need to carry 50lbs for a weekend trip, you realize that you can ditch the leather boots and hike with shoes. And after that, for me at least, it’s been an ongoing search for the lightest, most flexible shoes I can find. I really like Inov8‘s line of “trail slippers”. The Vibram Five Fingers models were mentioned in the article. Shoes from Vivo Barefoot were also mentioned but I have no idea why even their cheapest models cost over $120. [via link banana]

Any anthology will have some hits and misses. At least, in contrast with my frustrating experience with Flash Fiction Forward, all of my favorites from this book are available online, and only two of those are behind paywalls. Score. These were the ones I especially liked:

• In Rome’s Basement by Paul Bennett
• Fishering by Brian Doyle (my top pick)
• Cooking for Eggheads by Patricia Gadsby
• Cyber-Neologoliferation by James Gleick
• The Final Frontier by John Horgan
• How to Get a Nuclear Bomb by William Langewiesche
• The Flu Hunter by Michael Rosenwald
• Ruffled Feathers by John Seabrook
• The Rape of Appalachia by Michael Shnayerson
• Delusions of Space Enthusiasts by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Any anthology will have some hits and misses. At least, in contrast with my frustrating experience with Flash Fiction Forward, all of my favorites from this book are available online, and only two of those are behind paywalls. Score. These were the ones I especially liked:

• In Rome’s Basement by Paul Bennett
• Fishering by Brian Doyle (my top pick)
• Cooking for Eggheads by Patricia Gadsby
• Cyber-Neologoliferation by James Gleick
• The Final Frontier by John Horgan
• How to Get a Nuclear Bomb by William Langewiesche
• The Flu Hunter by Michael Rosenwald
• Ruffled Feathers by John Seabrook
• The Rape of Appalachia by Michael Shnayerson
• Delusions of Space Enthusiasts by Neil deGrasse Tyson

We’re just trying to see what happens. And we have relatively little time and a whole lot of curiosity, so the most efficient way to get there is what we do, and that often happens to be some form of science… That being said, the fact that we don’t have formal training, that makes what we’re experiencing a little bit more accessible to the viewers. If we actually knew what we were doing ahead of time, it would just be like talking at you, instead of experiencing the situation with you.

Update: Just to put this in perspective, the world’s best sprinters average about 23-24 miles an hour during their few seconds of exertion. Gebrselassie was going half as fast, but 400 times the distance, and 700 times the duration. It blows my mind.

We’ve been fed a bogus “Darwinian” position for thirty years, one that confuses the way evolution works with the things that evolution produces. Because the way evolution works, yes—it’s a nasty process. Evolution works by eliminating those who are not successful. Natural selection is a process that cares only about your own reproduction, or gene replication, and everything else is irrelevant. But then what natural selection produces is extremely variable. Natural selection can produce the social indifference you find in many solitary animals. But it can also produce extremely cooperative, friendly, and empathic characteristics.