While driving home from karate class tonight, I was singing along to a song (yes, I sing when alone in my car) and accidentally made a spoonerism of one of the lyrics. In this case, it was the phrase "green dress" getting turned into "dreen gress". (Bonus points to whoever can identify what song I was singing.) This got me to wondering what actually causes spoonerisms. It also got me wondering whether there might be a corresponding physical manifestation of spoonerisms - i.e. accidentally switching two physical movements in a series.
For example, every once in a while in karate I'll completely botch a certain move in an odd way. It's not like I forget how to do something (well, I do that, too, but that's not what I'm talking about right now), but instead my brain transposes the actions and it comes out what I call "inside-out". I might be trying to do a high block, which is a fairly simple movement of bringing the arm in towards the center line of the body, then upward, with a rotation of the arm at the end. (Hmmm... that's not the best description, but hopefully it's close enough so you get a rough idea of what I'm trying to describe.) High blocks are something we practice lots and lots of times in class and I've certainly done several hundred (perhaps thousands) of them this past year. Yet just recently in class, while doing some high block exercises I suddenly found my arm doing something that definitely wasn't a high block. At the time, I was kind of baffled by what was happening and it took me a few repetitions to get back on track. Afterwards I tried to figure out what I had been doing that was wrong and I eventually realized it was transposing two of the actions and my arm was trying to twist first, then move up. It was all happening at a subconscious level, so I wasn't really sure why it happened, but now that I'm thinking about switching letters in language (i.e. spoonerisms), I was wondering if maybe there's a corresponding thing in the physical motor-skill realm.
Unfortunately, in my brief search online, I haven't been able to find any reference to what causes spoonerisms. There are plently of web sites that list amusing spoonerims, but I failed to find anything that actually attempted to investigate the cause.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Cause and Effect
One of the principles of Buddhism is to be mindful of your actions, for everything has a cause and effect and sometimes it can manifest itself in unexpected ways.
Today at work when I was headed out for lunch, I mentioned to the receptionist that it was free cone day at Ben & Jerry's. When I got back from lunch, I again ran into the receptionist and now she was outside on her lunch break going for a walk. She asked me if I had gone to the ice cream shop and if it really was free cone day. I replied it was. About a half-hour later, an email message from the director of human resources was sent to all the employees (about 200 people) telling them it was free cone day at Ben & Jerry's. It turns out the receptionist had sent a message to her boss (the director of HR) to let her know about the free ice cream, and this in turn led the director of HR to send the message on to all the employees. So, my casual mentioning of the free ice cream to the receptionist ended up being relayed to about 200 other people in just an hour later. Too bad I didn't have something a bit more important to say that could have been relayed to 200 people. But, it is a good illustration of how you should be mindful of what you say and do, as you never know what the ripple effect might be.
Today at work when I was headed out for lunch, I mentioned to the receptionist that it was free cone day at Ben & Jerry's. When I got back from lunch, I again ran into the receptionist and now she was outside on her lunch break going for a walk. She asked me if I had gone to the ice cream shop and if it really was free cone day. I replied it was. About a half-hour later, an email message from the director of human resources was sent to all the employees (about 200 people) telling them it was free cone day at Ben & Jerry's. It turns out the receptionist had sent a message to her boss (the director of HR) to let her know about the free ice cream, and this in turn led the director of HR to send the message on to all the employees. So, my casual mentioning of the free ice cream to the receptionist ended up being relayed to about 200 other people in just an hour later. Too bad I didn't have something a bit more important to say that could have been relayed to 200 people. But, it is a good illustration of how you should be mindful of what you say and do, as you never know what the ripple effect might be.
Mmmmm.... chocolate peanut butter swirl
I just tried a new Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor - chocolate peanut butter swirl. As the name implies, it's chocolate ice cream with peanut butter swirled in. But it's not just any ol' peanut butter. It's chunky peanut butter, so you get lots of peanut pieces. If you like chocolate and peanut butter, I think you'll find it's quite good!
And to make matters even better, it was free! And the line was quite short - only a five minute wait, or less.
And to make matters even better, it was free! And the line was quite short - only a five minute wait, or less.
Free Cone Day!
It's free cone day at all the Ben & Jerry's shops today! And it's a nice sunny day, so it's a good time to go and wait in a long line for a free ice cream cone. But wouldn't you know it? No one else at work wants to go during lunch to get a free cone. Oh calamity! I guess no one else holds ice cream in such high esteem. Oh well...
Monday, April 24, 2006
Book recommendation
I need to preface this book recommendation with a disclaimer. There's the old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." In this case, it's definitely true. I'm about to recommend one of those "Complete Idiot's Guide" books - specifically, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Zen Living. Whenever I'm in a bookstore, I always avoid even picking up one of those bright orange colored "Idiot's" books. It's probably an ego thing - I don't want someone to look over seeing me holding a book for an idiot. I prefer to think I'm no idiot. Why would I be reading a book for an idiot?
Well, I must admit, all my prejudices were completely wrong - at least with this one particular book. Several months ago a friend lent me a copy of the Zen Living book and I think it's great. I eventually had to return my friend's copy, but I liked it enough to buy a copy of it this past week. (Actually, I bought two copies - one I gave to another friend.) It's recently been republished as a second edition - I'm not really sure what's been revised other than the cover artwork - it now has a picture of some lotus flowers rather than someone sitting on the beach meditating. But still, if you are curious about the ideas of Zen I'd highly recommend this book. It's written in a very straightforward easy to read manner.
The only minor quibble I have with the book is the overuse of the cutesy named side bar comments that appear on almost every page - "Nirvana Notes," "Monkey Mind," and "One Hand Clapping". It's apparantly a trademark of the Idiot's Guides in general - they have several different side bar categories and give them goofy names, and then plaster them all over the book. I dunno, maybe the publisher thinks idiots like that kind of stuff. I find it annoying.
Well, I must admit, all my prejudices were completely wrong - at least with this one particular book. Several months ago a friend lent me a copy of the Zen Living book and I think it's great. I eventually had to return my friend's copy, but I liked it enough to buy a copy of it this past week. (Actually, I bought two copies - one I gave to another friend.) It's recently been republished as a second edition - I'm not really sure what's been revised other than the cover artwork - it now has a picture of some lotus flowers rather than someone sitting on the beach meditating. But still, if you are curious about the ideas of Zen I'd highly recommend this book. It's written in a very straightforward easy to read manner.
The only minor quibble I have with the book is the overuse of the cutesy named side bar comments that appear on almost every page - "Nirvana Notes," "Monkey Mind," and "One Hand Clapping". It's apparantly a trademark of the Idiot's Guides in general - they have several different side bar categories and give them goofy names, and then plaster them all over the book. I dunno, maybe the publisher thinks idiots like that kind of stuff. I find it annoying.
Pointless thoughts of the day
Here's my pointless thought of the day: why does it feel so good to let out a breath and make an "ahhhh" noise after quickly drinking a refreshing beverage?
To think I used to pester my parents and older siblings with questions like this all day long when I was a kid. I remember learning the definition of inquisitive at a very young age. My older brother said something like, "Why do you always have to be so inquisitive?" Since I was used to him calling me names like "rump steak", I figured inquisitive must be some sort of insulting term I hadn't yet learned...
Nowadays, I suppose all the inquisitive kids can just use Google to find out anything they want to know. I wonder if I would have turned out any different if I had the Internet when I was a kid...
To think I used to pester my parents and older siblings with questions like this all day long when I was a kid. I remember learning the definition of inquisitive at a very young age. My older brother said something like, "Why do you always have to be so inquisitive?" Since I was used to him calling me names like "rump steak", I figured inquisitive must be some sort of insulting term I hadn't yet learned...
Nowadays, I suppose all the inquisitive kids can just use Google to find out anything they want to know. I wonder if I would have turned out any different if I had the Internet when I was a kid...
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Since my last report about frivolous spending, I'm happy to report I haven't made any more unwarranted purchases. That's a whole month, which is a big deal for me and my usual carefree spending habits.
I'll keep this post short and just end with this picture:
Cookies and tea... Yes, not a very exciting picture. While visiting the Rhombuses (or is it Rhombi? Or Rhomboids?) in New Hampshire a few weeks ago, I was goofing around with my camera and snapped this picture. For a reason I can't quite remember any more, one of the friends requested I put it on my blog, so here it is.
I'll keep this post short and just end with this picture:
Cookies and tea... Yes, not a very exciting picture. While visiting the Rhombuses (or is it Rhombi? Or Rhomboids?) in New Hampshire a few weeks ago, I was goofing around with my camera and snapped this picture. For a reason I can't quite remember any more, one of the friends requested I put it on my blog, so here it is.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Are culls really necessary?
There's an article from the BBC about how Canadian fishermen are in the process of performing a cull of baby harp seals. Just a few - only 325,000. (Yes, that's 325 THOUSAND!) They claim it's necessary to control the seal population. I found the use of the word cull interesting. I was only familiar with the more innocuous definition: to select from a large quantity; obtain from a variety of sources, but the second usage found in my dictionary is quite accurate: reduce the population of (a wild animal) by selective slaughter.
Sometimes the news makes me quite angry. One could argue the human population is growing out of control in certain places in the world, but you don't see any rational person proposing a selective slaughter of the humans to keep things in check. Why is it considered ok with other animals? And in this case, an organization even offered to provide $16 million to the Canadian government as an incentive to stop the slaughter. $16 million is what the gov't estimates is the money earned from the killing. So, what was the gov't's response to the offer? "No thanks." Apparently they prefer to earn their money through death.
Sigh....
Sometimes the news makes me quite angry. One could argue the human population is growing out of control in certain places in the world, but you don't see any rational person proposing a selective slaughter of the humans to keep things in check. Why is it considered ok with other animals? And in this case, an organization even offered to provide $16 million to the Canadian government as an incentive to stop the slaughter. $16 million is what the gov't estimates is the money earned from the killing. So, what was the gov't's response to the offer? "No thanks." Apparently they prefer to earn their money through death.
Sigh....
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Best Job in America?
A friend at work just forward to me a link to an article in Money Magazine. Apparantly, I have the best job in America. Well, it's not my specific job that is the best, but the career of software engineering in general.
Personally, I don't really know if I'd call it the best job. I think there are much better career choices as far as making a positive impact on society. I greatly admire the people who make the sacrifice of a high paying career to instead work toward the betterment of society. Those are the people who trully have the best jobs.
Personally, I don't really know if I'd call it the best job. I think there are much better career choices as far as making a positive impact on society. I greatly admire the people who make the sacrifice of a high paying career to instead work toward the betterment of society. Those are the people who trully have the best jobs.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Great Blue Heron
I went kayaking with a friend yesterday and saw this great blue heron when we were getting ready to head home.
It's such an ungainly looking bird when it flies. But I don't mean that as a criticism. It's a very beautiful bird. It's just got such enormous wings and long legs and neck, when it gets moving through the air it looks a bit odd.
It's such an ungainly looking bird when it flies. But I don't mean that as a criticism. It's a very beautiful bird. It's just got such enormous wings and long legs and neck, when it gets moving through the air it looks a bit odd.
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