Category Archives: Science

ΔFosB: The genetic addiction risk factor

Dependency, Science, Thursday posts, ,

I only this week became aware of this.

Wikipedia:  FOSB

The article is extremely technical, but makes clear in no uncertain terms that Delta FosB is the genetic risk factor for addiction.  All addicts have it, regardless whether the addiction is chemical or behavioral.

It also helps me understand how, without having been born with the specific genes for alcoholism, they came to be present for me in middle age; how, after decades of consuming alcohol no differently than any normal person, I abruptly became a “drunk” at about age 32.

Related: Alcoholism basics

Originally posted 2016-02-23.

“World’s happiest man” shares his secret

Get on your feet, Science, The Way of Peace, Thursday posts, , , , ,

A 69-year-old monk who scientists call the ‘world’s happiest man’ says the secret to being happy takes just 15 minutes per day

Another must-read.

This is actually a different approach to meditation than any I have ever used.  I may try it.

Enigmatically, happiness is no laughing matter.  Last week’s article suggested that your happiness is a key to success in life.  It is central to one’s functionality,  the ability to get things done, overcome obstacles, set wise goals and diligently pursue them.  Whether you believe in heaven or hell, wish to serve merely yourself, or instead wish to “serve” God, serve Jesus, or serve humanity — it’s essential to optimize your functionality, your effectiveness in life.

Fortunately, apparently, that can be fun!

Originally posted 2016-02-06.

“A Stanford scientist says a simple psychological shift can make you more successful”

Get on your feet, Science, The Way of Peace, Thursday posts, , , ,

A Stanford scientist says a simple psychological shift can make you more successful

The headline left me skeptical. A scientist tells about success?

The article proves to be all about self-love, and backs up everything I’ve said about that subject. It also speaks to the issues I face at this moment in dealing with my feelings and the way I treat myself.

I urge you to read it.

Related:
Chaos overwhelms the poor
A short route to agony
Life in the outer darkness
Self-comfort
Why racism no longer matters to me

Originally posted 2016-01-30.

Headlines about race

Justice, Local news, National media, National news, Science, Thursday posts, ,

Beginning as of the earliest link below, I have, and plan to continue to, attempted in good faith to copy every single headline that appears in my Yahoo! News feed pertinent attitudes toward race.

My hypothesis was that, overwhelmingly, it is only the attitudes of white people towards race, that are studied and reported.  The data here below speak for themselves.

Continue reading Headlines about race →

“Seeing red” is real. But how does it happen?

Justice, Science, Thursday posts, , ,

The scientific reason your world brightens up when you do

This study affirms some common observations about color perceptions and emotional states. When one is enraged, the color red appears more vivid in one’s perceptions; when depressed, the color blue. When one feels elated, all colors appear brighter, and in times of severe depression color perception can all but disappear; the world looks black and white.  Or, perhaps, bleak and white.

The study attempts, and IMO fails, to attribute these things to the activity of neurotransmitters such as dopamine.  But there is no finding of direct action by such neurotransmitters on the color-perceiving apparatus of the visual cortex.

Continue reading “Seeing red” is real. But how does it happen? →

7. Mooring oneself in What Is

Homelessness, Science, The Way of Peace, , , , , , , , , , ,

THE WAY OF PEACE

← 6. Sales pitch Home  8. Heart and soul →

Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

When not at sea, a boat is normally tied, or moored, to a dock.  The waves rise and fall, the winds blow this way and that, but the boat is stable and secured because it is moored.

The storms of life buffet us this way and that, and one can lose oneself in the chaos and confusion.  Managing, coping, requires that one have some mooring somewhere.  Some folk moor themselves in a concept, a dogma, such as Biblical inerrancy or the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church.  Others moor themselves in the dogmas of an ideology, such as Progressivism or identity politics; or a cause, such as environmentalism; or even a romance (a particularly bad choice).  I propose instead mooring oneself merely in What Is.

Everything else is subject to change or question or dispute.  There is no disputing What Is.  And the underlying principles, the principles that underlie existence itself, never change. Continue reading 7. Mooring oneself in What Is →