End of the week boredom

On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets:
An Empirical Study





<---This guy goes to MIT. Does anyone else feel cheated by that fact?








“Hoppy” beer prevents cancer (and there was much rejoicing)



Army Wants Synthetic Gills ...and I want a Super-soldier syrum. We can't all get what we want. At least this is proof that the Army is good for something. I consider research into goofy shit like this money well spent. (seriously, I'm not even being sarcastic about that)













Enormous nuclear bunker for sale ...one of many reasons I consider playing the powerball.

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I hope you enjoy those links. They sustained me from the time I got to work to about...well...just before I started posting this blog. It is SOOOOO boring today. Tim isn't at work so I can't email him and a bunch of people took the day off so it's eerily quiet around the office. I know there are people here, but none of them are making any noise. IT'S FREAKING ME OUT!

Actually, maybe they all did leave and I just haven't noticed yet. If they did I think they cranked the air up before they left because it is FUCKING FREEZING in here.

Lately I've been studying Zen Buddhism. I've learned that Zen is really hard to nail down, like trying to grab a bee that accidently fell into the pool. When you grab for it, you push it farther away. You have to wait and be patient until it finally floats over your hand. Then you just cup your hand and lift the bee, water and all, out of the pool.

Then you set the bee on the concrete outside of the pool so someone can step on it.

So anyway, one thing Zen has helped me with is not getting so upset when things change. When something doesn't work out the way you want it to or you lose someone or something that was dear to you, it doesn't help you to fight that loss. Instead, you should focus on where that change will be taking you.

I still haven't got it all figured out of course, but that's sort of a preliminary lesson I've learned.

I've also discovered that you can learn a lot by paying attention to your breathing. Have you ever been doing something and all of a sudden you became aware of your breathing?

Listen to your breathing for a moment. Don't try to change it, just listen to it. Feel the breath move in and out of your body. Is it a deep breath, or shallow? Do you hold it in a long time or do you immediately let it back out? Is it a smooth, even breath, or is it erratic?

The answers to those questions could tell you a lot about how you are feeling at the moment. If your breath is deep, you are probably calm. If you are holding it before you let it go, then you might be holding on to something in your life that you need to let go of. If it is erratic, you are afraid or anxious about something.

Yes, that's right, I'm so bored I'm listening to my breathing.

I'm going to go drown myself in the water cooler now.