Random Thoughts, also on Marriage

The soccer worldcup is over.
I visited a room in the Netherlands (12 hrs train ride, 1 hr visit).
My life's going nuts - rollercoaster style (check out the link).

Now the less personal, more common-interest thought that I developed in several conversations during the last week or so:

I came to realize that the marriage between humans is a very sophisticated invention:
Its binary fashion ("yes" vs. "no") tries to condense something that is not at all binary but rather multi-dimensional, namely a love relationship.

The culturally specified relationship is optimally binary. Hence, living in a relationship can be seen as a reduction of complexities, a shortening in dimensions.

Until you reach the one dimension - and eternal one-ness.

by the way:
binary for "yes" in ASCII: 011110010110010101110011
binary for "no" in ASCII: 0110111001101111
(marriage for robots)

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UPDATE (11/7): Oh no. I didn't mean to imply that I am planning to marry. Au contraire.
But, in fact, the whole discussion came up because one of my colleagues is going to marry soon.

Short Notice: Soil&Pimp@Berlin

Oh boy, Germany lost against Italy, but the good mood will stay.

Supporters in this quest are the gorgeous Soil&Pimp Sessions who will be playing Berlin next Tuesday.

All who can gotta be there.

Bronzed Patient Tan Today

Just a tiny observation:
Nowadays everybody is suffering for a bronzed appearance. With very few exceptions, a suntan is obligatory when one is trying to look good.
However, back in the days noble paleness used to be hip. Why so? Because it demonstrated that one doesn't have to work, and thus indicated richness.
The funny part: That's at least partially what the suntan craze is all about.
And it results from a change in the way of working: Back in the days people used to work on the fields/directly under the sun, and paleness showed the absence of the need to work. Then labor shifted and today most people sit in offices all day long. Thus, pallor is the color of the employee, while the free time adventurer, who has enough money to can live his life without the constraint of labor, is bronzed.

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Addendum: I just noticed that in wikipedia's entry on suntan the same observation has been made. Although now I cannot claim to be the originator of this observation it certainly underlines its validity.

For further reading: The history of suntanning (and skincancer)

I've got a - theory...

My theory is the following: Germany is in a happy mood not only because of the soccer worldcup and the German team playing well, but also because of the weather. At least in Berlin there has been no single rainy day since the worldcup started. However, there have been some not so nice cloudy and windy days that noone seems to care about.
And I think it's because of the weather report. They always forecast sunny days, even if it's not true. Thus people won't be annoyed already on the day before, ...

...and Germany can win the cup.

Grumpy Post II

I already mentioned it a couple of posts ago; now, again, Kandel's fifth edition of the neuroscience bible Principles of Neural Science has been delayed by three months. Now it is more than a year late. I will have finished my studies before his opus will appear. However, I am still looking forward to it, meanwhile using Neuroscience for Kids and - even better - Mr. Split Brainy instead.

Night Post from Florence - Science Nutshell

It's just some late night words from Florence, where I am attending a huge conference.

Scientists tend to be funny. At least they try hard - to be or not to be. Fake moustaches on parties in fancy locations ("do you remember back in Florence 2006... with the beards... those were the days..."), stiff socializing during the coffee breaks and harsh competition at the cold buffet.
Then, in between the conferences, they do some more or less sophisticated research. The better you are, the easier you get pizza at the buffet, and the bigger your fake beard at the party.

Forget interest and enthusiasm; that's the real reason why you try to be good in the science community.

Anotherlazysundayafternoon

For a long time I wanted to tell you two or three readers about a nice podcast of a friend of mine, which is called Sonntagnachmittag, and which is - supposedly - released every other sunday afternoon. "Couch-Caballeros Christian, Charles and Ingo" feed your ears with Jazz, HipHop, IndieRock and whatever you need on Sunday afternoon.

By the way, Ingo, one of the DJs, is also responsible for the infamous art-n-text-mag INK. The first issue can be found at ink-ist-gut.de.
Very recently, a gorgeous second issue has been released. I will tell you when exclusive pictures are available on the net. Or just order your own copy (strictly limited).