Veracohr

A lot of those, especially in the spiritual types, I've had for 15-20 years, but I'm not into the subject any more. With a few exceptions, I don't like to ever get rid of books.

I've been pretty bored lately, so to amuse myself I made a spreadsheet of all my books and made some super-awesome charts from it! I noted author, year published, format, whether it's a single book, part of a series, or a collection containing multiple stories, and two genres for each. The genre part took some serious thought, it was a little hard in some cases to limit genres to two. I also sometimes changed my original genre names so I could group more titles together. I excluded comic books, books of sheet music, as well as a small stack I've been meaning to get rid of but haven't gotten around to yet. Also excluded a couple of duplicates, which I have by accident, and dictionaries. A few volumes I have contain multiple books that were originally published individually. I counted those titles individually. Collections of short stories are counted as one book. While going through everything, I was irritated to discover I'm missing a few books I know I used to have! Total number of titles: 247 (total number of volumes: 241) Top genres: Fantasy (32.8%), Science Fiction (13.4%), Spirituality (10.9%) Top authors: Stephen King (8.9%), Orson Scott Card (6.5%), Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman (6.1%) Range of publication: 500 B.C. - 2012

I see mention of 'studies' a lot in news articles, and more often than not it seems to be a case of "this is our position on this issue, let's find a way to support it with numbers". Media and politics love to have 'evidence' of whatever they're talking about, because having some sort of number to quote makes it sound more true. My opinion is that it's the money behind these 'studies', not the people performing them, that is the problem. Also, misrepresentation of data is a big problem. If you run a study that compares quantifiable intelligence metrics (ie. IQ points) with music listening habits, and find that those with above-average IQ also listened to more classical music than those with below-average IQ, it's easy to claim a cause-effect relationship if your audience doesn't know any better. In reality, all you've done is compile statistics, not discover a cause-effect relationship. Enough people don't have scientifically-leaning minds, or the habit of thinking analytically, that it's easy to get away with making a false claim using real data.

What, you don't have one of those? I gave up on that book. Too boring. I just finished Dies The Fire by S.M. Stirling. Pretty awesome! Electricity and explosives stop working, shoving us back into bascially a medieval technological level, and it's the story about certain groups learning to deal with the new reality and organizing into little micro-societies. It's a pretty exciting read, and interesting, and I have to admit that part of what I like so much about it is that it's based in the area where I live. Almost no books/shows/movies ever take place in my area. It's just kind of cool to read a book and be able to perfectly picture how the scene looks, because I know the exact road or area or whatever it's talking about. Just started the second book of the series.

That might just be the one to finally get me all the way to Europe just for a psy fest!

As a mineral, magnesium can be bad for you in excess. It should really only be taken if you're deficient for some reason.

For any health-related symptom, non-drug solutions should be considered first. I stand firmly by my recommendation of exercise. It not only releases endorphins, which produce a drug-like high in the short term, it also tires out the body and thus promotes sleep (as long as it's at least a few hours before bed).

Exercise and meditation.

Not able to sleep.

That would take too long to figure out. Most of what I have from CDs I have in both WAV and MP3 in my iTunes library, but not all, and some things I have only in MP3. I would have to separate out the duplicates.

No. Anything from the 90s with white guys trying to rap is terrible.

Well, that's why I'm in school for electrical engineering. Specifically because I want to make things like this.

I use Sonic Charge μtonic, occasionally supplemented with drum samples used in a sampler (I don't have a specific drum sampler plugin). It's almost everything I need, but sometimes I like that (very common) more realistic-sounding hi-hat sample that I just can't reproduce from a drum synth. Plus various other non-electronic drum sounds. I've been flirting with the idea of someday making my own hardware drum machine, which would combine analog synthesis with sample playback. I don't have any particular reason for this, it just sounds like a fun project. But considering I've been too lazy to get very far in my current (much simpler) project, the likelihood is low.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Funny, light-hearted fun!

I love this album. It's a bit more aggressive than "Colossus", especially in the drums. I kind of wish the bass was more distinct though; it's more of a general wash of bass, because the bass is highly distorted. Not clear basslines. Still good, though!

I've only heard the first 3 albums, but to me he's consistently good. Varying in style, but consistently awesome music.

I watched a documentary last night about the history of superhero comics. Part of it dealt with comics during the 1940s, and how many of these (American) comic artists drew/wrote horribly racist images/stories about Japanese people, during a period when many comics dealt with then-current WWII. They even had current (ca. 2013) comments from at least one of those artists who drew such things as rats with caricatured Japanese faces, and other such horribly racist things. My point is that in times of conflict, people inevitably withdraw and close ranks with the people they know and trust. It's unfortunate, but in times of conflict, humans tend to identify most closely with those who are most similar to them genetically, culturally. geographically, linguistically, etc, and reject those who are different in those respects. It's hard to identify with and feel compassion for someone who is trying to kill you. Open-mindedness is a luxury of peace and prosperity. It is to be expected. If someone attacked the U.S., I don't doubt that I would feel much the same as the Israelis do now, even though I am at heart a pacifist, and I also know that the U.S. could militarily kick the shit out of most anybody who tried to attack us. I agree with the opinion, stated by people I can't remember, that [paraphrased/interpreted] human civilization is a VERY THIN veneer over the biological needs and urges of an animal species. Personally, I think both sides in this current conflict are equally culpable, fucking murderous idiots. But I suggest people try not to choose one side over another until they've been in the same position.

In this thread ye all shall restate your country's news headlines in your own words! State them according to your own opinions, in order of importance (to the country at large). Please first state what country you live in. I shall start: Country: U.S.A. Headline 1: Hollywood/Music celebrity does something crazy! Headline 2: Congress argues about shit, doesn't do a damned thing! Headline 3: President uses firm language about something in the world, no one else gives a fuck! . . . . . . . . . Headline 4: Something horrible happens that could have been prevented, no one notices...

O. M. F. G.

I'm sure I wouldn't be able to tell the dialect differences. I definitely don't think it's smooth or pretty sounding, I just like how interesting it is compared to my native English, with sounds and sound combinations that are alien to English. Not that I've ever listened to long amounts of German language, though, because why would I when I can't understand it?

I knew a Mexican once who was offended that I thought Spain Spanish sounded nicer than Mexican Spanish. I like the sound of German. I'm thinking of learning it.

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. I think this is the first fictional book I've ever read that was not fantastical in some way. I generally go for the fantasy or sci-fi, but a friend recommended this one. He said it's basically just a fictional story about regular stuff. I'm pretty skeptical, but my friend said it was good so I'm giving it a shot. So far it's written in first person, telling about the narrator's life involving a schizophrenic twin brother who cut off his own hand as a sacrifice, and a mother who died of cancer. I'm doubting I'll finish it unless something really far out happens in the next 50 pages or so.

That's from Sesame Street:

Now that I think about it, I have some ocean and forest recordings I did a while back.

Start with the recommendations in this thread, which is pretty much the same question: http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php/topic/68872-out-of-the-loop-need-to-get-back-into-it/