Time for a change

Can’t decide whether or how to do NewMexiKen differently — or whether to continue doing it at all.

Perhaps it’s just necessary to take a week or two break every 2-3 months. I don’t know.

But until the muse returns, NewMexiKen will be on sabbatical.

Suggestions, ideas, etc. all welcome.

Mental movies

Renowned neurologist and author Oliver Sacks has an essay in the current The New York Review of Books entitled In the River of Consciousness. As NewMexiKen understood the piece, our senses operate in much the same manner a movie works; that is, as a series of stills. To me this was a new and rather fascinating concept.

Ever seen the spokes of a wheel appear to move backwards when watching a western movie? We understand that is because the frames of the film catch the spokes at various positions and not continuously. Sacks notes that he can sometimes see this same phenomenon with the blades of his ceiling fan (as can most of us). Our mind works much like the frames of a motion picture.

NewMexiKen must stop before he further corrupts your understanding of consciousness. Check out the essay.

The Amish paradox

From the Los Angeles Times

Call it the Amish paradox. An exercise science professor has discovered that a pocket of Old Order Amish folks in Ontario, Canada, has stunningly low obesity levels, despite a diet high in fat, calories and refined sugar — exactly the stuff doctors tell us not to eat.

They’re at a paltry 4% obesity rate, compared to a whopping 31% in the general U.S. population, which, as we all know, is getting fatter by the minute. This group of Amish manages to keep its overweight levels low despite a diet that includes meat, potatoes, gravy, cakes, pies and eggs. So what’s their secret? Exercise, people. Exercise.