Display by Label: Surfing

Did you know that birds and aquatic mammals have the ability to sleep with one side of their brain wide awake? They do. It's called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep. It's why ducks can sleep with one eye open and why dolphins don't drown while taking naps. Land mammals seem to have lost this ability, maybe because we've learned to build safe enclosures for ourselves, or we sleep in packs, or because sleeping in water is just so annoying and makes our skin prune.

Okay, here's another: have you ever spent all day trying to learn something—a piece of music, for instance—and you just can't seem to get it and then you sleep on it and the next day you can play it perfectly? One theory as to why this happens is that there is a little janitor crew inside your head that comes in and washes your brain clean while you sleep, getting rid of the garbage and leaving behind the important stuff. And the theory makes sense. Figuratively, of course. Though I really wish it were literal, because I went ahead and named my janitors: Elvis and Bigsby.

Oh! Then there's this: have you spent all day doing something like surfing (the ocean variety, not online), and then find yourself dreaming vividly about it that night, so much so that you can actually feel the water against your body? It's your brain's way of making sense of those new problems it was tackling all day (the waves) and what's really interesting is when it takes those problems and mixes them with other problems you've encountered in your life and creates new situations out of them. Which is why you might have a dream about doing yoga on a ski slope. Or riding horses in the middle of the ocean.

If any of this interests you, you might like to listen to last year's May 25th Radiolab episode on sleep.

But be careful, because you might subscribe to their podcast and get sucked in and wind up listening to every episode, back-to-back until your head explodes. Which, luckily has not happened to me, yet. But I'm skirting a very fine line. Because Radiolab is definitely my new favorite show. And I've listened to a good many episodes over the last week. It's sort of like This American Life in that each episode consists of stories; however, all the stories have a scientific slant. Many seem to focus on some aspect of neuroscience, and how studying the brain can shed light on topics such as Stress, Laughter, or "Who Am I?"—all of which are actual episode titles. But there is also an anthropological and philosophical bent to the discussion. (Is laughter, by necessity a social phenomenon? More importantly, is laughter the thing that makes us human?) And sometimes a little physics works it's way in there too, such as the episode on "Time" where they discuss relativity, and how time can slow down or speed up depending on who you are and what you're doing. Not figuratively, but actually.

Or course, this might all sound kind of nerdy and a little too intense for leisure-time listening. But the way the show is done—as this sort of ongoing casual conversation between host/producer Jad Abumrad and co-host Robert Krulwich—it doesn't come across that way at all. Instead, it seems like the hosts are learning (and really struggling with) the topics along with you and you feel a part of the conversation. It's entertaining and—gasp!—informative at the same time. Indeed, Radiolab is helping me to evolve ... in all kinds of ways. Pretty soon, I'm hoping I'll be able to sleep with one eye open again.

link to this | comments (7) | File:  Surfing  Radio  Brain 

MPPS recently discovered that somebody had found his blog while doing a search for information on what to do when a dog eats superglue. He now strives to be the foremost authority on canines with a bad case of sticky mouth. I wish I could help him in his efforts, but alas, I have no dogs and certainly no experience involving them and any kind of adhesive. However, if you can help shed some light on this subject, leave a comment on his post.

Sometimes reading through the phrases people use to find your site can be kind of scary. For instance, I had one for, "girlfriend giving colonoscopy." That one still gives me the chills. And not in a good way.

But by far, the greatest number of people who stumble on my site from a search engine are looking for information on the 'Rose of Jericho tattoo.' I usually get over 50 searches for some variant of that phrase per month, and I'm not even on the first page of search results on Google.

I think MPPS is on to something. Maybe I should embrace the authority Google has bestowed upon me and not leave these poor people, who are searching for answers (probably in the form of a photo) high and dry. So if anybody has an original rose of jericho tattoo photo they'd like to send me so I can append it to the above post, upload it to flickr and send me a link.

But let me be clear: I have no interest in being an authority on "girlfriend giving colonoscopy."

UPDATE: 12.05.20006

A reader forwarded me this great photo of a Rose of Jericho tattoo. Enjoy! (Thanks F!)



link to this | comments (6) | File:  Surfing  rose_of_jericho  Blog 

Last year, Catherine and I took a trip to Costa Rica. It was an incredible time, full of relaxing, and sunshine, and the occasional white-faced monkey or lazy iguana, and an overall sense of Pura Vida. Yes, it was a wonderful escape from the fast-paced world back in DC. In Costa Rica, time creeps along, not unlike a Sloth, an animal that is prevalent in the area.

One of the things I did while I was there was take some surfing lessons. Well, I'm happy to report that I'm now a surfing sensation in Costa Rica. That's right, the school where I took the lessons, has my mug plastered all over their Web site. If you watch the rotating photo banner at the top of the home page long enough, you'll see me, looking all cool in sunglasses. I'm also in the group shot on the homepage where the whole class is posing with their surf boards. I'm also in a few shots in their gallery which, oddly, contains a few mildly erotic shots like this one that have nothing to do with surfing. What's also funny about their gallery is that I'm in photo sets from January, 2005, and February, 2005, but I was only there once, and it was in April.

Anyway, that's just a technicality. The main point is this: I sell surf lessons because I'm so damn famous . . . and HOT! Even the guys like me. Especially the guys like me. Who knew this white boy from DC would hit such a level of fame? I'm thinking next year I might shoot for the Triple Crown of Surfing. Andy Irons who?

Incidentally, if you ever do go to Costa Rica, make sure to take surfing lessons at the Manuel Antonio Surf School. They're great teachers, and are sure to get you up on that board. They may even make you famous, like me. And I'm not just saying that because of my million dollar advertising deal. . .

link to this | comments (4) | File:  Travel  Surfing  Sports  Ho_Hum