Ode to a Flower

A friend once asked me if, because I'm doing a math PhD, I walk around seeing more of the world than a regular person. I thought he was silly. But maybe, on some level I do. Yay Math! Yay Science!

Jamaican in China

My brother is over in China for a developing-nation energy seminar thingy right now. He was sent as Jamaica's representative, so I can kind of forgive him for missing my graduation. You can check out his blog at Verdego.

It's kind of cool that China is doing all these things. Of course, people are worried about their intent... pouring money into the Caribbean, Africa, South America.... But you have to appreciate them. They don't come and rape and pillage. They don't come just to take advantage. They come and they build. They transfer knowledge. Their business seems like good business for all.

One of the coolest things I ever did see.

...And all without formal tertiary education. This is what genius looks like:

Love is Blind, right? - Newsweek

"Not surprisingly, love also engages a whole lot of brain. Areas that are deeply involved include the insula, anterior cingulate, hippocampus and nucleus accumbens— in other words, parts of the brain that involve body and emotional perception, memory and reward. There is also an increase in neurotransmitter activity along circuits governing attachment and bonding, as well as reward (there's that word again). And there's scientific evidence that love really is blind; romantic love turns down or shuts off activity in the reasoning part of the brain and the amygdala. In the context of passion, the brain's judgment and fear centers are on leave. Love also shuts down the centers necessary to mentalize or sustain a theory of mind. Lovers stop differentiating you from me." reference here...

Love is blind, eh? But to get someone to love you , you still have to go through that thorough period of close investigation, right? You have to earn or win it, right?

And if love is blind, how do we ever manage to fall out of love?