The Map of India

Down and up my pencil goes
Drawing a great big elephant's nose.
Across the top a mountain range,
And up above, Tibet so strange.
Below it is the Ganges Plain
Where grow so many kinds of grain.
There's Delhi where lived the Viceroys,
Calcutta with it's pride and noise;
And in between, Benares old
Where stories of the gods are told.
Quite near to where the Krishna
and the Gadavari flow,
Is the Deccan Plateau
Which all the schoolboys know.
With Bombay on the left of us
Madras is on the right,
And Hyderabad in middle
Where ruled the Nizam's might.
Down further still is Tamiland
Which ends at Comorin.
With Ceylon like a pendant
Off India's pointed chin.

It's good to be back.

I found myself in a funny / unfortunate situation a couple of days ago. I had to get a set of fingerprints made and submitted as part of a security clearance procedure on one of the projects I was working on. The only place that I could get a set of fingerprints done (legally) was the local police station. Hence I made an appointment and they told me to come to the station at 2pm.

On the day itself, I arrived 15mins earlier hoping that I would be able to get them done quickly. Unfortunately I was directed into the waiting room and told to join a queue. The queue consisted of 4 women in front of me. I noticed that these 4 women were in various states of distress. One was slightly intoxicated and was quietly mumbling to herself. Another was sniffling and looked like she was on the verge of bursting into tears. She was comforted by the third woman, who's face was covered in bruises. The fourth woman glared at me when I entered the room.

As we waited for our turns, the ladies started chatting.

"My boyfriend has dumped me and taken my baby with him!" wailed the lady who was about to cry.

"Shh...at least you're not hurt. Look at me! I was hit in the face and whacked by golf clubs by my *censored* of a *censored* husband," comforted the bruised woman.

"Mine stole my money!" blurted the fourth woman.

"All men are bastards....all men are bastards....all men are BASTARDS!" screamed the drunk woman.

Suddenly all four heads turned to look at me as I was the only male in the waiting room. I shifted worriedly in my seat. An uncomfortable silence then ensured for the next 5 mins. Those were probably the longest 5 mins for my life.

The door eventuallly opened and an officer came out. I was surprised when he called my name as I was the last to join the queue. I breathed a sigh of relief and shuffled past the 4 women.

"Bastard," muttered the drunk lady.

Only 10%?

Here's something I came across the other day from Dr Eric Chudler:

Do we only use 10% of our brains?

There is no scientific evidence to suggest we only use 10% of our brains. It's all a myth. We use all our brains.

Where did that 10% myth begin?

The 10% statement may have been started with a misquote of Albert Einstein or the misinterpretation of the work of Pierre Flourens in the 1800s. Perhaps it was the work of Karl Lashley in the 1920s and 1930s that started it. Lashley removed large areas of the cerebral cortex in rats and found that these animals could still relearn specific tasks. We now know that destruction of even small areas of the human brain can have devastating effects on behavior. That is one reason why neurosurgeons must carefully map the brain before removing brain tissue during operations for epilepsy or brain tumors: they want to make sure that essential areas of the brain are not damaged.

Why Does the Myth Continue?

Somehow, somewhere, someone started this myth and the popular media keep on repeating this false statement (see the figures). Soon, everyone believes the statement regardless of the evidence. I have not been able to track down the exact source of this myth, and I have never seen any scientific data to support it. According to the believers of this myth, if we used more of our brain, then we could perform super memory feats and have other fantastic mental abilities - maybe we could even move objects with a single thought. Again, I do not know of any data that would support any of this.

What Does it Mean to Use Only 10% of Your Brain?

What data were used to come up with the number - 10%? Does this mean that you would be just fine if 90% of your brain was removed? If the average human brain weighs 1,400 grams (about 3 lb) and 90% of it was removed, that would leave 140 grams (about 0.3 lb) of brain tissue. That's about the size of a sheep's brain. It is well known that damage to a relatively small area of the brain, such as that caused by a stroke, may cause devastating disabilities. Certain neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's Disease, also affect only specific areas of the brain. The damage caused by these conditions is far less than damage to 90% of the brain.

The Evidence (or lack of it)

Perhaps when people use the 10% brain statement, they mean that only one out of every ten nerve cells is essential or used at any one time? How would such a measurement be made? Even if neurons are not firing action potentials, they may still be receiving signals from other neurons.
Furthermore, from an evolutionary point of view, it is unlikely that larger brains would have developed if there was not an advantage. Certainly there are several pathways that serve similar functions. For example, there are several central pathways that are used for vision. This concept is called "redundancy" and is found throughout the nervous system. Multiple pathways for the same function may be a type of safety mechanism should one of the pathways fail. Still, functional brain imaging studies show that all parts of the brain function. Even during sleep, the brain is active. The brain is still being "used," it is just in a different active state.

Finally, the saying "Use it or Lose It" seems to apply to the nervous system. During development many new synapses are formed. In fact, some synapses are eliminated later on in development. This period of synaptic development and elimination goes on to "fine tune" the wiring of the nervous system. Many studies have shown that if the input to a particular neural system is eliminated, then neurons in this system will not function properly. This has been shown quite dramatically in the visual system: complete loss of vision will occur if visual information is prevented from stimulating the eyes (and brain) early in development. It seems reasonable to suggest that if 90% of the brain was not used, then many neural pathways would degenerate.

However, this does not seem to be the case. On the other hand, the brains of young children are quite adaptable. The function of a damaged brain area in a young brain can be taken over by remaining brain tissue. There are incredible examples of such recovery in young children who have had large portions of their brains removed to control seizures. Such miraculous recovery after extensive brain surgery is very unusual in adults.

So next time you hear someone say that they only use 10% of their brain, you can set them straight. Tell them: "NOT TRUE; We use 100% of our brains."

Spring

It's been quite a while since my last post. Due to work and other issues, time was always lacking when it came to update this site. A breather this weekend has allowed me some time to take some pics and write something here. Unfortunately this stop-start-stop habit looks set to continue as the situation at work looks set to get tougher over the next few months.

Anyway, on to lighter and brighter (literally) topics. This weekend was really sunny. It wasn't hot by any means but it was cetainly a lot more warmer compared to the same time last year. All I can say is that spring is finally here, with the freezing temperatures and snow of last month only a distant memory. With the nice sunny weather today, I went for a bike ride to a nearby lake.

My mechanical horse

And it looks like others had the same idea as well. Ducks, swans and other birds were also out in force to enjoy the nice weather.

Penguins and seals.....no not really

I know swans are graceful. But have you ever noticed how they hold their wings up? Like some sort of posturing? This is the first time I've actually notice their wing posture. An educated guess would be to show their dominance to other swans / birds.

Swan Posture No. 1

Swan Posture No. 2

Two Swans (Yes yes I know you can count.....)

A great day out gave me the chance to have fun on the bike and recharge my batteries, ready for the next onslaught at work. Sigh...it seems like this cycle is never endless. Well....catch you next time when I'm on here.

Shuffle

Home!

Finally! Some spare time to blog! When I last wrote here, I was about to leave for a well needed holiday in Singapore.

Jungles and Skyscrapers

So leave I did. And what a wonderful time I had back home. The weather was nice, sunny, and warm. It was good to spend quality time with all my friends and family. What a holiday!

The skyline of Singapore

Good food, good company, and good times. So good that I felt really depressed when it was time to return to Bristol. I was asking myself whether I had made a mistake. With sub zero temperatures, grey days, rain and snow, it felt like returning to a frozen hellish waste.

Frozen Downs

And hellish it was. Work had piled up and sat around while I was away on holiday. When I returned, I had a huge work load and an unmovable deadline. Hence I spent the next two weeks "living" at work, having early starts and late nights....even working on weekends. I remember sitting at my desk one weekend, alone in the office and shivering because the heating had been turned off. I looked out of the windows and saw no one on the dim, dark streets. It was light years away from my holidays. It was so depressing that I felt like quiting there and then.

But like all deadlines, they come and go. When the deadline passed, life returned to normal. Well almost. This week, the whole country was brought to a halt when a snow storm hit the UK. With buses cancelled and trains delayed, getting to work was a challenge. Having to walk 3 miles to the train station was quite scary. Snow and slush had made the pavments and streets slippery. One has to perfect the art of shuffling to move around.

It was eerie to wake up one morning and step out of the front door to hear nothing but silence. No car sounds and no people walking sounds. The snow had caused most people to avoid driving. It had also dampen the sound made by people walking.

The shuffle

I'm just starting to restablish my routine again after so many months of working crazy hours. I know some people hate routines because they get easily bored. Well, all I can say is that I find it comforting just to get into the rythm of life...you know...like waking up at sensible times, going out to meet friends, watching movies, doing the groceries and laundry, cooking, the boring stuff etc. With the snow and ice still on the roads and the weather looking to stay snowy into the next week, a nice comfortable routine would be good to keep me happy and grateful. Time to shuffle to the supermarket......

What A Day!

What a day! Today is the day which we were told by the company on whether we would be made redundant or not. So we all had letters on our desks in the morning notifying us of our fates. I opened mine and the news wasn't good. I was made redundant. So I spent the whole day updating my CV and clearing out my desk. However, around 3pm, I got a phone call from the boss saying he would like to see me. So I popped over to his office and he offered me back my job! What can I say? On one hand, I'm relieved that I've got a bit of job security. On the other hand, I just want to shout, scream, and curse at him for screwing up. So I accepted the job back. Call me the come back kid!

However, rest assured, I won't be resting on my laurels. This whole process has exposed the true motives of certain people. And I will be keeping my options open to any opportunities in the new year. All thanks must go to my lovely friends and colleagues who offered me words of encourgement, advice and support when I initially found out that I was to be made redundant.

On a lighter note, I shall be going back home to visit my family and friends for three weeks during the Christmas and New Year period. This will give me a much needed break from work and a chance for me to think about my future. I sense great changes will be coming.....

Uncertain Times

Apologies for my absence. It has been quite a while since I've written anything here. Due to certain developments at work, times have been tight. Overall, life in general is alright, although I wouldn't say all is well. Just last week, my company announced that they're planning to make 20% redundancy cuts to staff numbers due to the current economic situation. They've just started the consultation process and we should know in about a months' time on who will be going and who will be staying.

So come Christmas, I could be jobless. And trust me, with that kind of thought hanging over your head, you can't really enjoy yourself, whatever you're doing. Even when I chill out with friends over the weekend, the threat of losing my job is always at the back of my mind, forcing me to watch what I spend.

I haven't really thought about what I'm going to do if I'm made redundant. Any ideas? One that has been floating around my mind is to go back to university and do a PhD or an MSc. Or maybe go travelling. Or do a career change and become a chef, or a zoo keeper, or a shark cage diver! I've been told becoming a monk for a short period of time does wonders for the soul. Ideas ideas ideas.........