Concussion is serious, really

From ScienceDaily, Mild traumatic brain injury, not so mild after all. I've blogged before here and here about the negligent manner in which childhood concussion is often handled, especially at sporting events. ScienceDaily reports on the molecular mechanisms involved in mild brain injuries, as determined by a team led by Douglas Smith, MD, the director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair and professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

"Despite the prevalence and impact of mTBI, little is known about how mTBI affects nerve cells and connections in the brain, and therefore clinical outcomes after injury. Smith and colleagues have begun to amass data from human and animal studies on mTBI at 2-4 days after injury using advanced neuroimaging techniques. They have found distinct changes throughout the white matter in the brain. Also, protein markers of brain pathology were identified after mTBI in the blood of mTBI patients."

This is significant, especially in view of the greater importance ascribed to white matter and to disconnection syndromes in modern neuroscience.

Orac trashed the EPFX/QXCI!

The redoubtable Orac from Respectful Insolence comprehensively trashed the Quantum Xrroid Consciousness Interface (a quack name for a quack device used by ???) in a recent post. It's a repeat of a previous post that I wish I've known about when I previously blogged on the same issue. Read Orac's post, The miraculous quest for quantum woo, before you waste you money on this scam. All you gullible South Africans so taken in by "quantum medicine", hear Orac speak:

"The beauty of this woo is that quantum theory is invoked to explain almost every "alternative medicine," from homeopathy to acupuncture, and it's all packed into a single volume of concentrated woo (a veritable black hole of woo, so to speak)."

How to scam someone

Jeremy Dean from PsyBlog has a typical insightful post on the how scam artists deceive. In The 7 Psychological Principles of Scams, he identifies these principles as:

1. Distraction
2. Social compliance
3. Herd principle
4. Dishonesty
5. Deception
6. Need and greed
7. Time pressure

Read his post and try not to be the next victim.

Irrationally positive

Donald Clark from Donald Clark Plan B reviewed the new book by Barbara Ehrenreich, Smile or Die, in a post entitled Beware of the happy campers. I haven't read the book yet, but it's on my to buy list, as I've always enjoyed Barbara Ehrenreich's columns.

From Amazon:

"This brilliant new book from the author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch explores the tyranny of positive thinking, and offers a history of how it came to be the dominant mode in the USA. Ehrenreich conceived of the book when she became ill with breast cancer, and found herself surrounded by pink ribbons and bunny rabbits and platitudes. She balked at the way her anger and sadness about having the disease were seen as unhealthy and dangerous by health professionals and other sufferers. In her droll and incisive analysis of the cult of cheerfulness, Ehrenreich also ranges across contemporary religion, business and the economy, arguing, for example, that undue optimism and a fear of giving bad news sowed the seeds for the current banking crisis. She argues passionately that the insistence on being cheerful actually leads to a lonely focus inwards, a blaming of oneself for any misfortunes, and thus to political apathy. Rigorous, insightful and bracing as always, and also incredibly funny, "Happy Face" uncovers the dark side of the 'have a nice day' nation."

Back to Donald Clark. He echoed my thoughts in many of my previous posts when he wrote:

"There’s something odd about relentlessly jolly people, a sort of deep sadness. But this is nothing compared to the people who sell ‘happiness’ as a commodity – behind the smile lies a lie and a hefty daily rate. I have an instinctive distrust of motivational speakers, positive psychologists, life coaches, NLP fanatics and other happy-clappy types. Call me old fashioned, but I’m a sucker, not for pessimism, but for realism."

Well said.I agree with him distinguishing "jolly people" from those who sell "happiness" for a living. Even among the latter group, you have those who are sincere and those are charlatans. I would not be so negative about naturally upbeat people, they are great to be around, even if their views sometimes have to be tempered with realism.















The childrens' cartoon series (also enjoyed by many adults, including me), Spongebob Squarepants, has two characters on the two extremes of being positive and being negative. Spongebob and Squidward, to my mind both deliciously dysfunctional.

Some research bearing on the issue: Brain Activity Levels Affect Self-Perception: 'Rose-Colored Glasses' Correlate With Less Frontal Lobe Use

Bohr was a gunfighter!

Niels Bohr needs no introduction. He was one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics, often being associated with the Copenhagen interpretation. The Bohr-Einstein debates on the nature of quantum physics have become legendary.


Bohr made headlines again more than forty years after his death, not due to his contributions to physics, but due to his contributions to the science of gunfighting! Bohr was a gunfighter. His "gunfights" with fellow physicist, George Gamow, may also become legendary! I quote from a recent article, The gunfighter's dilemma:

"It turns out that the celebrated Danish physicist and Nobel laureate, Niels Bohr, liked to take time off from figuring out the structure of the universe by watching westerns. Bohr noticed that the man who drew first invariably got shot, and speculated that the intentional act of drawing and shooting was slower to execute than the action in response. Here was a hypothesis that could be tested, and with the aid of cap guns hastily purchased in a Copenhagen toyshop, duly proved it. In a series of mock gunfights with colleagues Bohr always drew second and always won."

Bohr's "research" was recently replicated in a laboratory:

"Welchman's team organized simulated "gunfights" in the laboratory, with pairs of volunteers competing against each other to push three buttons on a computer console in a particular order. The researchers observed that the time interval between when players removed their hands from the first button and when they pressed the final button was on average 9% shorter for the players who reacted to an opponent moving first. However, those who reacted to a first move were more likely to make an error, presssing the buttons in the wrong order. Welchman speculates that this rapid, if somewhat inaccurate, response system may have evolved to help humans deal with danger, when immediate reaction is essential and the risk of an error worth taking."

The effect, however, was small, not enough to overcome the time lost by drawing second. So why did Bohr always win? Simple, he was a gunfighter. Good thing for Einstein that their debates never became duels!

The Midmar Mile - again!

Last year I swam the Midmar Mile and vowed not to do another dam swim. It was for frogs, I said.

Here is part of it, the biggest open water swim in the world!

Photo from the Midmar Mile website.

Well, here I am again, not quite as fit as I should be, but preparing to swim the Midmar Mile again. Not that great an achievement, there are some octogenarians also taking part! In my case it's for a good cause; to get sponsorships to have an internet Wi-Fi linked notebook computer in every class in Muriel Brand School. This is the school of which I am the principal, a special school mainly for children with cerebral palsy. Every class has been challenged to get R5 000,00 (about $650,00) in sponsorships, which will buy a basic notebook computer. The sponsorships are coming in and while we shall probably not reach the target, we'll get some way to doing so.


My swim, for men 31 year and older (wish there was a separate one for the over 50's!) will be on Valentine's Day, 14 February. At least I won't be alone, Rolandi Greyvenstein (one of my teachers), my son and four of his school friends, as well as some of his teachers (Hoërskool die Anker - The Anchor High School) will also swim. In addition to this, we form part of the Blackfin Swimming Club contingent, probably about 30 swimmers in all.

Any reader of my humble blog who would like to contribute to the cause, can e-mail Muriel Brand School at mbrand at uskonet dot com for details on how to go about it. If we get enough computers, I can stick to the swimming pool in future!