I’ve been interested in biomechanics, movement, physical therapy, etc., for a long time. After posting a few times lately about injuries and self treatment of trigger points, I decided to start a new blog dedicated to that area of interest: rehabilitating injuries and increasing my mobility, flexibility, and strength. The first thing I have to do is pay attention to how my body moves and feels, and I’ll go from there.

Here it is: Move Aware.

This post has been moved to the Move Aware blog.

A woman who had absolutely no balance and could not stand without falling due to a loss of vestibular function fully regained it with the use of accelerometers that sent signals through the brain via electrodes attached to her tongue.

A man who had been blind since birth was able to distinguish people and objects and even perceive three-dimensional space by feeling a matrix of vibrating stimulators against his back.

Both of these feats were accomplished by Paul Bach-y-Rita, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They are demonstrations of neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to reprogram itself — in this case substituting one sense for another.

Bach-y-Rita determined that skin and its touch receptors could substitute for a retina, because both the skin and the retina are two-dimensional sheets, covered with sensory receptors that allow a ‘picture’ to form on them.

It is one thing to find a new data port, or way of getting sensations to the brain, but another for the brain to decode these skin sensations and turn them into pictures. To do that, the brain has to learn something new. This adaptability implies that the brain is plastic, in the sense that it can reorganise its sensory perceptual system.

The entire article is really worth a read.

[The Telegraph via RichardDawkins.net]

This post has been moved to the Move Aware blog.

Anecdotes are entertaining and can be pretty convincing — I’ve been caught up in many of them myself — but they’re no substitute for scientifically-derived evidence. Michael Shermer explains why they’re so powerful:

The reason for this cognitive disconnect is that we have evolved brains that pay attention to anecdotes because false positives (believing there is a connection between A and B when there is not) are usually harmless, whereas false negatives (believing there is no connection between A and B when there is) may take you out of the gene pool. Our brains are belief engines that employ association learning to seek and find patterns. Superstition and belief in magic are millions of years old, whereas science, with its methods of controlling for intervening variables to circumvent false positives, is only a few hundred years old. So it is that any medical huckster promising that A will cure B has only to advertise a handful of successful anecdotes in the form of testimonials.

[Scientific American via RichardDawkins.net]

Old habits die hard. Unfortunately, humans don’t. What’s the Harm? documents cases where critical thinking — as opposed to magical thinking, superstition, or trust in authority — could have saved people’s health, money, or life.

1. Americans were abusing prisoners at Guantanamo.
2. Donald Rumsfeld approved the “enhanced” techniques.
3. FBI agents thought the treatment was wrong but did nothing to stop it.
4. The Bush Administration’s “policy of cruelty” was a mistake.
5. Torture gets you bad information.
6. Torturing detainees makes us less safe.
7. Administration lawyers who approved the harsh tactics are now under fire.
8. Jim Haynes, Donald Rumsfeld’s top lawyer at the Department of Defense, was one of those who justified the harsh tactics.
9. Haynes and his fellow administration lawyers are increasingly being challenged by others.
10. Never lecture a West Point graduate about military honor while trying to justify your own actions.

[The American News Project via The Real News Network]

Religious rituals may be quaint, a little weird, and a little silly, but they’re harmless, right?

Right?

Sure, unless you believe in transubstantiation (cracker becomes saviour) so strongly that you consider walking out of a church having not eaten your communion wafer to be kidnapping. And it’s especially harmful if you decide to threaten the crackernapper’s life. This is stupidity beyond compare.

[FOX Orlando via Pharyngula]

Remember when Ford pardoned Nixon? The Senate, including Barack Obama, just voted to cover up the commission of dozens of felonies by the Bush administration as well as expand the Executive’s legal ability to eavesdrop on American citizens without a warrant. This is in violation of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. This is how one secures political office, and how one stays there.

The telecom companies needed this legislation to protect them as accomplices in these crimes, and they got it. It’s obvious who Congress answers to, and it sure isn’t their constituents.

The FISA Amendments Act (FAA) is a bill that would radically expand the president’s spying powers and grant immunity to the companies that colluded in his illegal program. This is a video interview with Daniel Ellsberg (The Pentagon Papers) where he explains in practical terms what this legislation would mean for our country.

What Every American Needs to Know (and Do) About FISA Before Tuesday, July 8th from Tim Ferriss on Vimeo.

I’ve noticed for the second day now that my back aches. Not the kind of ache I might get after strength training or working on set construction — this is more of a flu-type ache, where it’s kind of sensitive to the touch. But I have no nausea or any of the more unpleasant flu symptoms. For a couple days I’ve had a little bit of a sore throat, a little bit lower in the throat than the spot just below the sinuses where I usually first start to feel cold symptoms coming on… but it gets no worse and I haven’t come down with anything. I don’t seem to get a whole lot of rest out of my sleep, which has been on a pretty normal schedule. I wouldn’t say I’m fatigued, but I definitely feel more tired (sleepy) than I’ve been accustomed in the past. This morning for the first half hour or so at my desk my stomach was not happy, but I chalk that up to riding my bike hard after eating breakfast this morning.

Tonight for the first time I noticed that when I move my eyes in their full range of motion in any direction the muscles hurt. That’s a new one — either the onset of a new symptom, or maybe I only just now noticed it. I’m hoping that’s just from staring at screens too much, which I have been doing a lot lately.

There are so many variables that it’s hard to trace back a definitive cause. This was the first week that I biked to work, except for Wednesday. I recently (a couple of weeks ago) started eating meat again. I had a lot of garbage to take out this week and my apartment had been pretty unkempt for a while toward the tail end of Into the Woods. It’s possible there’s been mold in the air. Longer term… it’s the summer so I’ve had the window air conditioner installed for a few months now, and it’s 8 years old and might have some nasty stuff in there from being stowed away in basements during the cold seasons. It was just a few months ago that my desk moved to a spot with my back to a large sunny window, so I could have more eye strain from that bright environment, although I think I do a pretty good job of getting rid of the glare. I haven’t been physically active for at least 4 months now. My attention to the quality of my diet has left a lot to be desired over the same period.

Some Googling gave me more questions than answers: Celiac (gluten sensitivity), hypothyroidism… for the conditions people were talking about, you need to have blood tests done. One thing I do know is that if this keeps up, I’m going to see a doctor.