Thieving Thursday: Rose Colored Glasses

Wow, so many good comments this week. I was apparently on fire with brilliance in every direction. (As far as you know.)

I did have a great conversation with Relax Max on Russian and the US space race which reminds me I need to write up Russian space history which most people here in the US don't know as well as they know NASA's achievements. But that's going to take more than one blog post. I'll start that next week.

No, today I'm going to talk about something my husband read to me last night and Observations of a Nerd talked about today. Apparently, there was a study to compare how well happy and grumpy people really saw things (and if there were a difference). You can read the links to get all the cool and gory details but basically they found out that people who were happy saw more in the periphery, more of the details beyond what was focused on. So, one speculation one could draw from this is that happy people see the big picture a bit better than those grouches, the ones who claim to see reality and rain on your parade. You know the ones I mean. Many would say that's counter-intuitive.

Now we could talk all day about the implications. It puts a whole other spin to humoring a pilot or anyone else who needs to be alert and observant to protect others - keep 'em happy! And I can't help wondering if there are implications to other forms of observation. Do you not just literally see the big picture better, but do you figuratively see the big picture better as well?

What if people who aren't overtired or stressed have better judgment or logical ability than those who are all but burnt out? What if doctors that haven't been on call for three days before seeing you in the ER can listen, can notice, can evaluate better than someone who hasn't had but 30 minute's sleep in three days?

What if children that have good food and parents that can and do take the time to spend with them without violence or emotional battering can learn better in school than those that are neglected, undernourished or miserable?

What if people who were happy in their work, who had flexible hours and felt appreciated did better work and were more productive than people who were just counting the hours until they went home or overstressed workaholics who put in untold hours but produced very little?

What if being satisfied with your lot made you more sympathetic and understanding of others, more tolerant, more patient, more open to different ways of thinking and feeling than someone who felt the world had cheated them, who was suspicious and angry all the time?

That's odd. It doesn't seem so far-fetched now, does it?

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Science Fiction Freakiness - Hold the Fiction

OK, every once in a while I write a post basically telling you something really cool I've seen on another blog. Well, this is another one. Why?

Well, it's cool. A blog I've been enjoying called "Observations of a Nerd" - which is kind of like Rocket Science in principle except all about biology and socialogy and a few other types of science that can make those of us in the physical sciences pretty uneasy (unless you're as opinionated as I am) - has a weekly feature on "This Week's Sci-Fi Worthy Parasite." Now, some of you know I write science fiction. She ain't lying when she says these are science fiction-worthy and I'm starting to take notes. Some, like this week's, aren't immediately threatening but the notion, where it could go from there, is definitely disturbing. It's a fungus that does some funky funky stuff to mustard plants. Seriously, you should check it out.

Last week was horrifying, a loa loa worm. Believe me, you don't want to know. It'll scare the pants right off you and then some. Don't go! Too late. I bet you just navigated back from her page unable to control yourself, and lost a few years off your life in the process.

Others she's done include
Lice (with their mini-chromosomes)
Cookie Cutter Shark (just freaky)
Hairworm (insect mind control)
Screw Worm (aka "Man-eater")
Parasitic Wasps
Candiru (murderous little catfish)
Mountain Acon Blue Butterfly (evil evil butterfly)
Cymothoa exigua (snapper nightmare)
Parasitic barnacles (making females of crabs, whether they wanted to or not)
Emerald Cockroach Wasp (pretty but *shudder*)
Dricrocoelium dendriticum (more mind control)

And now I have a handy dandy list to learn more about parasites for science fiction. And so do you.

She's even got a post on why parasites are evolution's superstars. *Shudder* Maybe, but I prefer my parasites at a distance, or, scaring the bejeebus out of my characters trapped on an alien planet populated by nasties nearly as scary as they ones we have on THIS planet.

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