This new take on the Penguin game theme is… um… nice. (link)

Thanks Luke.

Through the miracle of modern technology, you too can create your own southpark character in your own image- or in the image of someone you love. (link)

Thanks to Ariped for the link.

I swear, I could take a brand new car down to the brakes place and they’d tell me the rotors were shot.

A study reported in Wired suggests that most of the blogs that get credit for ideas on the web actually took them from other sources they failed to mention. The source blogs go unnoticed, remaining silent catylists to “blog epidemics.”

Theres a link to the tool they created to trace the spread of ideas. I’m planning on playing around with it later, but here is is.

In case you are still wondering what I’m takling about when I post about RSS or XML or whatnot, go read this article. It’s a great introduciton to RSS and how it makes reading news, blogs, comics and even touring amazon.com much easier.

I have another confession to make.

When no one is in the car… and nickleback comes on the radio…

I turn it up.

I know. They’re the modern equivilent of candlebox. Go ahead and make me feel bad. I deserve it.

…what it feels like to be a cultural icon.

I was watching Finding Nemo recently with Heidi and took note of the blue Fish Ellen DeGeneres plays who has no short term memory. It reminded me of something which I’ve been meaning to write about for a while. Movies and TV have displayed several characters with similar memory-related problems like Memento, SNL’s Mr. Shirt-Term Memory, or the forgettable Blank Slate. But what if it was a real life affliction? It is.

Enter Clive Wearing. A world-renowned British Musician, Composer and Choir Director, Wearing suffered a sever bout of viral infection to his brain in the 80’s. Destroying his left and right Hippocampi, the virus left him with profound amnesia. Clive’s stored memories were wiped clean. Tragically, he also lost the ability to develop new ones.

Our brains work in a way much like a computer. We keep long-term memory in a system much like a hard drive and recall it when necessary. In order to get to the hard drive, a memory must go into an intermediate “short term” system as well. We also have working memory which works much like RAM, giving us a system that we use to complete the tasks at hand. Clive has his RAM, but it can no longer communicate with the hard drive.

He is perpetually in a state of “now.” He has no trace of past or future. Within a few minutes he begins again, believing he is conscious for the first time. Each time his wife enters the room he greets her with excitement and open arms as if she is a long-lost love returning from months away. Each time.

Frustrated by his condition and unable to fully comprehend it, he feverishly fills journals with diary entries including the date, time, and the fact that he just woke up. Forgetting that he wrote them and unable to reconcile the fact that the handwriting matches his own, he angrily scratches each entry out only moments after writing them. He has journals filled with scribbled-over entries.

What is fascinating is that even though he lost his short term capabilities, he has kept the long term “hard drive memories.” He knows who he is, and what any normal person would need in order to function in society. He also has kept his procedural memory, enabling him to walk, talk, play the piano and sing. He is still skilled enough to point out mistakes in musical pieces.

In a remarkable moment caught on video, Wearing is seen playing a beautiful piano arrangement perfectly. The piece actually takes longer than our working memory would hold information, but he finishes the piece. The toll though is that he begins sputtering in light convulsions after he finishes the piece, reminiscent of the freeze a computer holds for a few seconds as it’s RAM catches up to a heavy load of information.

I couldn’t imagine being trapped in that state of perpetual moments. His wife who cares for him in the video must be going through emotional hell, never being able to truly connect with the love of her life, even though he is walking and talking in front of her. She probably catches what look like knowing glimpses in his eyes where for a moment she believes he has figured out how to go on and is once again the man she loved. And again the moment is gone and he his greeting her for the first time; one of an endless string of first times.

Fortunately, it has been 18 years since the documentary I saw and wearing is doing a little better. Moved to a facility that can offer him a more stable enviornment and care he is reportedly less frustrated by his condition. His wife visits almost every weekend.

Pretty Nuts. Clive Wearing.

Our lights went out during a sweet snow storm last night. Check ‘em out in the photos section under “lights out”.

Skip Oberon, you are a mysterious mystery-laden mysteriouso.

• He just left a puzzling comment on one of my recent entries. It looks like a spam comment but it lists no url.

• After the initial sentence, his comments seem to be generated by some random phrase engine
• A google search for him brings up a string of equally bizarre comments on other sites
• Tho most IP addresses can’t get a bead on him, it seems he’s in Massachusetts or New Hampshire.
• Let me add, without freaking you out too much, that the comment he left was the 666th on this site!!!

Who is this Skip Oberon? A man? A robot? A visitor from mankind’s dark, apocalyptic future? Let us hope against hope that someone will unearth this mystery while there is still time.

The six degrees of your site.

See where you live in the googlesphere. (link)

Oh, the mad-cap antics of silly girls. (story)

Dave Barry just got a new site, complete with comments and RSS feed.

Beware: This post may contain some material that could be deemed as “serious” or “mature.” Regular readers of E&H.com may feel confused or disoriented by the graphic displays of personal feelings and introspection. Viewer discretion is advised.

Well, that’s it for now. I think I’ve let you guys have enough. Regular whacky humor will resume momentarily.

Had a great party last night for the Oscars. I’ve never actually watched them before and they didn’t really impress me, but they offered a great excuse to get together with friends.

It was great. We just had a bunch of friends we’ve met lately but haven’t had a chance to hang out with. Spending time with good friends is about as good as it gets for us. It’s gotten pretty rough some times here in Reno because we had such close friends in college and most of the people out here just haven’t clicked.

But everyone last night were a blast. We went all out trying to do the grown up party thing- fancy snacks and plenty of wine and martinis. Usually I prefer the low-key hang out stuff, but it was nice to play the hip grown up people. Heidi made some world class food too- she’s the wonder hostess.

Jerz and his wife came- that was great. Our wives joke that we’re internet dating since we met thru the whole blog thing. They’re great peeps, as were the rest of our guests. Here’s to good times.