Weird
omnibrain | March 26, 2008We have TV psychics here in America that seem to do pretty darn well considering they are complete and utter frauds. In India they have a tantrik (black magician) who claims to be able to do things like cause a woman to lose her uncle, hit her head against the car door and find her legs covered with lesions. A little more violent that our domestic variety eh?
In any case this tantrik named, Pandit Surinder Sharma (India's version of someone like Averi Torres) was invited onto a TV show to challenge Sanal Edamaruku who did not believe Sharma had any real 'powers'. During the show it got a…
omnibrain | March 24, 2008That's right - No exercise - No Dieting. Just sit you your couch and EAT EAT EAT!
For $29.95 We'll come to your house and introduce this friendly parasite to your digestive system.
Once you've lost all the weight you need to you can just have expensive and painful surgery to remove your cute new pet. You can then keep him in a little jar and show your friends how much he's grown and prove to them what a good mommy you are to your new cute little parasite.
-via neatorama and I met a possum-
retrospectacle | March 17, 2008 Bats are sneaky, silent, and stealthy...so why shouldn't they be spies? Engineers at the University of Michigan are currently developing a six-inch, robotic spying device modeled after a bat that could gather data via an embedded camera and send back data in real time.
Forget Ceiling Cat! Sneaky bat-robots are watching you!
Obviously, the military is funding it, and has awarded UM a 5 year, $10 million grant to design and implement the flying-n-spying robot:
They will develop sensors, communication tools and batteries for this micro-aerial vehicle that's been dubbed "the bat." Engineers…
retrospectacle | March 10, 2008 The Beijing Olympics are not too far away, and an iconic part of the preparation for the 'Games' is the passing of the Olympic torch. As part of the official torch relay, the flame will be taken up Mt. Everest--it will be carried up the southern side of Everest in Nepal and back down the north side into Tibet.
"The torch will be designed in order to burn at such a high altitude," said Beijing Olympics official Liu Jingmin.
However, how can the torch be carried up a mountain, and in a low-oxygen environment no less? This question bugged me and my friends, until fellow UM Neuroscience student…
omnibrain | March 3, 2008Since I'm on a superhero kick today I figured I'd highlight a kid who messes up nearly every computer he comes across. According to Engadget:
Joe Falciatano III from Pulaski, New York, seems to have simply the worst luck ever -- and some think it could be do to an overly magnetized touch. While using PCs at this elementary school, Joe -- who dubbed himself "Magneto Man" -- found that every system he laid his hands on went totally haywire. Only after a teacher suggested he use a grounded, anti-static wrist strap did the systems experience relief from his Geek Squad-inducing grasp.
The kid has…
omnibrain | February 1, 2008Here's a wonderful spoof of .. well... I'm not really sure what. Perhaps an old Documentary focusing on the diseases of the mind? In any case it's terribly entertaining.
omnibrain | January 25, 2008Via Modern Mechanix:
Reading Thoughts by Radio
Can thoughts be read by radio? "Madam Radora" seems to prove that they can. Madam is not a human being, but a life-size automaton shown at the Permanent Radio Fair in New York. Her "thoughts" and movements are controlled entirely by wireless; no wires of any kind are attached to the table whereon she rests, and a liberal reward is promised the person who can prove that this is not true. Persons desiring to ask questions simply stand before "Madam Radora" with their hands resting on a special pedestal carrying a number of electrical contacts.…
omnibrain | January 19, 2008I'm sure it's a rough life being a clown, you know... driving a clown car with 18 other passengers in the driver seat alone, walking and tripping around with those really big shoes, and hours of makeup application. But their job is about to get a lot harder, a new study in a nursing journal shows that kids are terrified of clowns.
A poll by researchers looking at what decor to put in hospital children's wards found that youngsters do not like clowns on the walls and even older ones think they are scary.
"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite…
omnibrain | January 8, 2008Unsurprisingly the James Randi Educational Foundation has had a problem giving away their million dollar prize to someone who could demonstrate scientifically under controlled circumstances that they could perform some sort of paranormal ability. They aren't even that specific on what kind of paranormal ability it has to be. It could be ESP, telekinesis, talking to ghosts, oh hell even showing the existence of a ghost - no talking needed. Many have stepped up, usually confused individuals, but none have been able to claim the prize. For some strange reason no big name has stepped up to…
omnibrain | January 4, 2008The mind is a complicated and a still very much unknown entity. The earliest conceptions of the mind didn't even have it placed in the brain, instead it was very much separate from the body. This is of course all very silly, the only possibility is that the mind wholly and completely resides in the neural system and that system is responsible for every aspect of the mind, from perception, to language, and even for experiencing the presence of a higher power.
With all of these misperceptions of the mind it isn't surprising that people could think that this soul of ours could interact with…
omnibrain | December 16, 2007I always joke around that I would make the worst therapist since my 'therapy' would consist of something like this:
Surprisingly (well maybe not that surprisingly since the internet appeared) this method seems to be practiced somewhere seriously. The Kadir-Buxton Method involves:
making a fist of both hands, and striking both ears of the patient at exactly the same time and pressure with the soft part of the inner hand which is where the thumb joins the hand.
So let me get this straight... I hit someone hard in the head and it cures things like: Manic depression, eating disorders,…
sb admin | December 14, 2007In a parody of Make Magazine projects, Austrian group Monochrom demonstrate how to create a brain computer interface, a.k.a. braicin, using household materials like duct tape, old ice skates, a vintage calculator, and onions in alcohol ("preferably Romanian"). Via Boing Boing TV. Link to extended director's uncut version (shown here).
sb admin | December 13, 2007 December 13 is my birthday! Yippee, you say, how old am I? Old enough to not say... I will shamelessly mention the Amazon wish list linked from my contact page, and remind you that Omni Brain has a tip jar in the sidebar (shared with Steve). But I'm not desperate for anything and there are plenty of deserving charities who need your money (I recommend UNIFEM). I'm thankful they are helping people in a more direct way than I can.
Anyway. I'm celebrating aging with a new tattoo, and am very excited about it! I've been interested in intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs…
omnibrain | October 31, 2007
Ahh Halloween - when neuroscientists find all sorts of fake brains for sale and recipes to create them. This is our yearly reposting of the greatest brain recipe of all time.
This recipe was inspired by the one Alton Brown did a few years back. I liked the idea but wasn't thrilled with the recipe, so I came up with my own. By the way, I would suggest getting this mold - it looks a lot more lifelike.
Panna Cotta (brain style) with Pomegranite Sauce
Get the recipe below the fold!
1 cup milk
5 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
4 cups heavy cream
1 cup + 1 Tb sugar, divided
pinch salt
2 Tablespoons…
sb admin | September 28, 2007
YT parody of an ad for HeadOn, a homeopathic topical analgesic for headaches that's smeared on the forehead.
The official HeadOn site (I won't link since "the site is for the use of US residents only;" sorry I inadvertently looked and I'm not American, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to) states, "The active ingredients in HeadOn are diluted much more than the minimum required dilution dictated by the monograph of the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States and therefore represent no health risk whatsoever." Yes, and likely no health benefit whatsoever either.
The video HeadOn…
omnibrain | September 7, 2007A boingboing reader visited Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus recently and discovered some absolutely crazy dessert delivery devices... Clown and Horse Brains!
If anyone happens to take their kids to Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus we here at Omni Brain would be eternally grateful if you'd buy us one of the clown heads! (You don't have to send along the accompanying snow cone - the FBI or whoever might think it's some sort of terror device)
omnibrain | July 30, 2007So freaking cool (and freaky)...Via Neatorama and Curious Expeditions.
It is a remarkable bit of irony, that finger. Venerated, kept in reliquary, subjected to the same treatment as a Saint. But this finger belonged to no Saint. It is the long bony finger of an enemy of the church, a heretic. A man so dangerous to the religious institution he was made a prisoner in his own home. It sits in a small glass egg atop an inscribed marble base in the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, or the History of Science Museum in Florence, Italy. On the shelf next to the middle finger of his right hand…
sb admin | July 12, 2007A music video, a crowdsourced homecast cultural expression ... Brain Tamer by Peter Johnson.
Brain Tamer