Wrandomness Written

Thought via Path

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:34:00 -0400

Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.

Bernice Johnson Reagon – Read on Path.

Man Carving His Own Destiny, Albin Polasek. “The different...

Mon, 27 May 2013 10:22:13 -0400

Man Carving His Own Destiny, Albin Polasek. “The different versions expressed his personal vision of a man chiseling himself, struggling to hack out his own character, carving his future by the effort of his will.” at Brookgreen Gardens – View on Path.

neurosciencestuff: The Fractal Nature of the Brain: EEG Data...

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:35:10 -0400

neurosciencestuff:

The Fractal Nature of the Brain: EEG Data Suggests That the Brain Functions as a “Quantum Computer” in 5-8 Dimensions

The brain has been traditionally viewed as a deterministic machine where certain inputs give rise to certain outputs. However, there is a growing body of work that suggests this is not the case. The high importance of initial inputs suggests that the brain may be working in the realms of chaos, with small changes in initial inputs leading to the production of strange attractors. This may also be reflected in the physical structure of the brain which may also be fractal. EEG data is a good place to look for the underlying patterns of chaos in the brain since it samples many millions of neurons simultaneously. Several studies have arrived at a fractal dimension of between 5 and 8 for human EEG data. This suggests that the brain operates in a higher dimension than the 4 of traditional space-time. These extra dimensions suggest that quantum gravity may play a role in generating consciousness.

(Image courtesy: Kookmin University)

Computers have a lot to learn from humanity…

Eastern State Penitentiary: the world’s first penitentiary. We...

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:21:00 -0400

Castle walls

vintage operating room

Al Capone's cell

lost cells

catherdral hallways

lost framing

abandoned spaces

Guantanamo cell exhibit

abandon hallways

prison statistics

Eastern State Penitentiary: the world’s first penitentiary. We have a modern perspective of prisons. As populations have skyrocketed maintaining order has become the highest calling. A calling that comes at steep costs. Visiting ESP for the first time was an enlightening walk through the changing eras of prison culture.

According to the history of ESP it was not always this way. Inside the broken walls of this place and a reputation of the “Pennsylvania System” lies the beginnings of the world’s prison system: focused on penitence, redemption, and reflection. Cathedral hallways, skylights in cells, and personal outdoor areas based on the theory that criminals given the chance for personal reflection on their acts could reform and overcome.

Instead we see the system quickly overcrowd, intentions change, and humanity devolve to a point where prisoner torture and the modern equivalent of “solitary confinement” in underground, sunless spaces became the norm. Given unlimited power, guards create unlimited crime against the powerless. We now know this to be true.

Can lives reform? Have we created walls to merely hide our ills versus deal or reform? What can we learn about our future ambitions by looking back at our past intentions?

Inside these walls lies a story to tell.

Tuckerman’s Ravine, NH. Birthplace of extreme skiing. No...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:29:54 -0400

Tuckerman’s Ravine, NH. Birthplace of extreme skiing. No lifts. No waffle hauses. Just a 4k foot hike with ski gear for the craziest 10 min drop of your life. 40-55 degree descents, 25 foot cliffs, and a crowd cheering on what anywhere else would be considered total insanity. Came. Climbed. Conquered. Still not sure which of those three were the most intimidating. Yes Tuck’s, I will be back.

OneBoston with Angela at Berklee College of Music – View on...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 22:40:41 -0400

OneBoston with Angela at Berklee College of Music – View on Path.

1st responders forming a wall and media/passerbyers observing...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:04:17 -0400

1st responders forming a wall and media/passerbyers observing moment of silence for Boston bombing victims today. at Copley Square – View on Path.

Neuroscience: Going Places: Rat Brain 'GPS' Maps Routes to Rewards

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:07:41 -0400

Neuroscience: Going Places: Rat Brain 'GPS' Maps Routes to Rewards:

neurosciencestuff:

Research has implications for understanding memory and imagination

While studying rats’ ability to navigate familiar territory, Johns Hopkins scientists found that one particular brain structure uses remembered spatial information to imagine routes the rats then follow. Their discovery has…

Really neat research here.

at Boylston Street – View on Path.

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:34:29 -0400

at Boylston Street – View on Path.

at Newbury Street – View on Path.

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:21:18 -0400

at Newbury Street – View on Path.

Photo

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:05:08 -0400

Natalie Macmaster! with Angela at Sanders Theatre – View on...

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 20:27:57 -0400

Natalie Macmaster! with Angela at Sanders Theatre – View on Path.

neurosciencestuff: Study indicates reverse impulses clear...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:29:30 -0400

neurosciencestuff:

Study indicates reverse impulses clear useless information, prime brain for learning

When the mind is at rest, the electrical signals by which brain cells communicate appear to travel in reverse, wiping out unimportant information in the process, but sensitizing the cells for future sensory learning, according to a study of rats conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

The finding has implications not only for studies seeking to help people learn more efficiently, but also for attempts to understand and treat post-traumatic stress disorder—in which the mind has difficulty moving beyond a disturbing experience.

During waking hours, brain cells, or neurons, communicate via high-speed electrical signals that travel the length of the cell. These communications are the foundation for learning. As learning progresses, these signals travel across groups of neurons with increasing rapidity, forming circuits that work together to recall a memory.

It was previously known that, during sleep, these impulses were reversed, arising from waves of electrical activity originating deep within the brain. In the current study, the researchers found that these reverse signals weakened circuits formed during waking hours, apparently so that unimportant information could be erased from the brain. But the reverse signals also appeared to prime the brain to relearn at least some of the forgotten information. If the animals encountered the same information upon awakening, the circuits re-formed much more rapidly than when they originally encountered the information.

“The brain doesn’t store all the information it encounters, so there must be a mechanism for discarding what isn’t important,” said senior author R. Douglas Fields, Ph.D., head of the Section on Nervous System Development and Plasticity at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the NIH institute where the research was conducted. “These reverse brain signals appear to be the mechanism by which the brain clears itself of unimportant information.”

Their findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers studied the activity of rats’ brain cells from the hippocampus, a tube-like structure deep in the brain. The hippocampus relays information to and from many other regions of the brain. It plays an important role in memory, orientation, and navigation.

The classic understanding of brain cell activity is that electrical signals travel from dendrites—antenna-like projections at one end of the cell—through the cell body. From the cell body, they then travel the length of the axon, a single long projection at the other end of the cell. This electrical signal stimulates the release of chemicals at the end of the axon, which bind to dendrites on adjacent cells, stimulating these recipient cells to fire electrical signals, and so on. When groups of cells repeatedly fire in this way, the electrical signals increase in intensity.

Dr. Bukalo and her team examined electrical signals that traveled in reverse—from the cell’s axon, to the cell body, and out its many dendrites. This reverse firing happens during sleep and at rest, appearing to reset the cell, the researchers found.

After first stimulating the cells with reverse electrical impulses, the researchers next stimulated the dendrites again with electrical impulses traveling in the forward direction. In response, the neurons generated a stronger signal, with the connections appearing to strengthen with repeated electrical stimulation.

This pattern appears to underlie the formation of new memories. A connection that is reset but never stimulated again may simply fade from use over time, Dr. Bukalo explained. But when a cell is stimulated again, it fires a stronger signal and may be more easily synchronized to the reinforced signals of other brain cells, all of which act in concert over time.

Another epic day @ Magic. at Magic Mountain Ski Area – View on...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 15:51:17 -0400

Another epic day @ Magic. at Magic Mountain Ski Area – View on Path.

@LakeStreetDive One of most talented bands in New England...

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 23:41:25 -0500

@LakeStreetDive One of most talented bands in New England playing to raise funds for world’s 2nd largest rooftop farm. Awesome. with Angela at Villa Victoria Center for the Arts – View on Path.

Fast Company: 25 Things I've Learned About Life: Lessons from an entrepreneur

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 11:04:38 -0500

Fast Company: 25 Things I've Learned About Life: Lessons from an entrepreneur:

fastcompany:

Here are 25 things that a young entrepreneur named Derrick Fung has learned about life.

When I turned 25 a few months ago, I wrote down some of the things I’ve learned over my short time on earth. The last year has been a crazy roller-coaster ride which has enabled me…

Great thoughts Derrick.

Bowl Paradise. at Snow Basin Resort – View on Path.

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:25:56 -0500

Bowl Paradise. at Snow Basin Resort – View on Path.

Awesome history. with Angela at Cable Car Museum – View on Path.

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 18:59:25 -0500

Awesome history. with Angela at Cable Car Museum – View on Path.

Siphoned coffee. This is intense. with Angela at Blue Bottle...

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:34:13 -0500

Siphoned coffee. This is intense. with Angela at Blue Bottle Coffee – View on Path.

at Ferry Building – View on Path.

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:58:53 -0500

at Ferry Building – View on Path.