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BS: brain usage - the unused portion
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Subject: brain usage - the unused portion From: Bert Date: 24 Sep 01 - 02:47 PM From time to time you will hear people quote that we do not use all of our brain power. I've heard of brain usage figires ranging from as little as 3% to as much a whopping half. Every time quoted with an air of indisputable authority. However much the actual percentage is, the consensus of opinion points to the fact that there is a considerable portion of our brains that is sitting around idling or in neutral so to speak. Well I've just discovered what that unused portion is SUPPOSED to be used for. It's the HUMOR (HUMOUR if you're really fond of "U"s) lobe, that doesn't get used. It works fine in little kids, but as they grow it gets beaten into submission by parents and school teachers. "Don't be silly", "Grow up", "Stop acting the fool". How many times did you hear those sayings at school? This all come to me in a flash of brilliance while reading my grocery receipt yesterday. There was an item listed as BOGO. Now I know I didn't buy a Bogo so I tried to figure out just what it was, strangely it had a negative cost which gave me a clue. It was an acronym, well a partial acronym for -Buy One Get One Free-. I guess they omitted the final F in case people would pronounce it 'Bog Off' (Just no sense of humor some people). Now the thing that struck me was, that this is one acronym that I won't forget despite suffering from acute CRS most of the time. I won't forget it because it struck me as funny. Next time I go shopping I'll be looking for BOGO's everywhere. So it went straight into the normally little used humor lobe, where it doesn't have to compete with bills and bank accounts and other such unfunny things. Look at the evidence around you. People are craving for jokes and laughs. Go to any of the dozens of Mudcat joke threads and see how quickly the reach the 100 mark and get spawned off to part II and II and more. Read those thread and see how many times you lauch at the same jokes "What's perfect pitch?" - "When you throw a hammered Dulcimer away and it hits Spaw alongside the head on it's way to the garbage bin" No moral to this story - just laugh a little more. And don't tell your kids not to be silly - laugh with them and don't force them to grow up too soon.
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Steve in Idaho Date: 24 Sep 01 - 02:52 PM Perfect pitch ROTFLMAO!!! I can now clean my screen of the moisture :-) Peace - Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: GUEST Date: 24 Sep 01 - 02:53 PM Piss off Bert, Joke threads rarely make more than 50 I'm not in the mood for laughing just now And your threads normally get about 5 replies. You'll probably get more now that I've 'flamed' you
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: catspaw49 Date: 24 Sep 01 - 04:19 PM Good gawd there Guest.......If you flame a guy, you should piss ON him....not piss OFF. Have a heart fucker!! Anyway Bert, it IS better to be pissed off than pissed on....and it's better to be pissed on then pissed through, because that'd make you a prick.....like Guest, for instance. Laughter is tough I admit at this point though, but if you can't start seeing some humor again, you'll be screwed. Yesterday, I was watching the NASCAR race and as they did driver intros they were saying how much the team or driver or sponsor had given to the recovery efforts. I had to laugh when they said that Mark Martin's sponsor had donated 15 million. I reckon those towers will go back up now........Martin's sponsor is Viagra!!!! (Pfizer did in fact donate 15 mil) Now really....you have to see the joke in there. Spaw Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Jeri Date: 24 Sep 01 - 04:35 PM I'd just worry about what sort of shape they'll be rebuilt in. Now, if the Digital Tradition were to donate enough to rebuild a tower, I could guess which digit it would be...facing either Afghanistan or Ohio. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Jim Dixon Date: 24 Sep 01 - 04:46 PM Anyone who wants to know how many posts occur in a joke thread, can now do their own survey. Look here: PermaThread™: List of all joke threads. (I hope I didn't do all this work in vain.) Here is some special humor no American should miss: Click here. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Geoff the Duck Date: 24 Sep 01 - 04:47 PM Am I supposed to be using 3% of my brain? What a bugger!!!!! Where am I going to find that many things to think about????? NURSE - WHERE's MY BLANKET! GtD |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Kim C Date: 24 Sep 01 - 04:50 PM Bert I think you're right. While I myself, a perpetual giggler, have felt little like laughing these last couple of weeks, and done a precious lot of crying... Saturday night I stayed up to watch SNL's Best of Mike Myers, and then the classic, Best of Dan Aykroyd. Even Mister, who isn't such a night owl as me, stayed up. It was so great to see the old Bassomatic skit, and the Norge repairman bit. And Mike's impression of Mick with Mick's impression of Keith. :-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Jim Dixon Date: 24 Sep 01 - 05:52 PM Here's what the Skeptical Inquirer has to say about the The Ten-Percent Myth (the myth that we only use 10% our brains). |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: GUEST Date: 24 Sep 01 - 05:57 PM Thanks very much for that Jim. I've been 'lurking' here for a couple of weeks, and you consistenty come across as one of the most rational and intelligent person here. Thanks again for the link |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Troll Date: 24 Sep 01 - 06:04 PM Sorry GUEST. We try to keep him locked away but he escapes sometimes. Come on Jim. Time to go back to your room at the NYCFTTS. Almost time for din-dins. troll |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: kimmers Date: 25 Sep 01 - 12:21 AM Hey! I have a funny picture to share. But it's not a link (on a good day I can accomplish a blue clicky); it's just a jpeg. Can someone who is using more than 10% of their brain tell me how to do it? |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Gary T Date: 25 Sep 01 - 12:22 AM Here's the question as addressed by The Straight Dope. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Skeptic Date: 25 Sep 01 - 12:28 AM Jim, Thanks. One of my favorite magizines. troll, Anyone who knows that Skeptical Inquirer did an article on how much of the brain we use and posts a link and doesn't mess up the blue clicky thing is to be appreciated and commended. You, on the other hand........ Regards John |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Jim Dixon Date: 25 Sep 01 - 12:30 AM Kimmers: If the picture exists somewhere on the Internet, I think you can link to it the same way you would any text item. If you only have it on your own computer, I don't think there's any way you can post it here. If someone emailed it to you, I think there's a good chance it does exist somewhere on the Internet. Try doing a search for it with Google. (www.google.com) You can the use the file name as a search argument, or if that doesn't work, try a descriptive phrase. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: kimmers Date: 25 Sep 01 - 12:30 AM Hey Bert: I have a couple more to add to your file of cash-register-receipt jokes. Way back in the 80's I worked at Kmart in the summers while I was going to college. I was there the summer that we got our first UPC code scanners. I cracked up when a customer bought a small portable battery-operated stereo and it came up "BOOM BOX" on the receipt. And then... the rather upscale grocery store I shop at always has a good-sized bin of mixed baby greens, known by some as "mesclun" or "mezclun". Sometimes I buy some. Imagine my surprise the first time that I did so... when I studied the register tape and it informed me I had purchased one-half pound of "mescaline"! |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Bert Date: 25 Sep 01 - 12:38 AM ...And your threads normally get about 5 replies... Well that's the penalty you pay for being one of a kind. Gutless Guests however are two a penny. Well actually, since there's only one of them really, you're worth about a hape'ney (apostrophe is not intended to be gramatically correct; it is inserted as a punctuation aid). Or as they say where I come from "Ain't werf a Coal" And of course you're not in the mood for laughing NOW, you NEVER ARE. Hey Spaw, if those towers do go back up under that sponsorship, they'll probably make them stiffer! And Jim, that was an interesting site, that's most likely the real story, but it's really far too serious for this thread *GRIN*. We're trying to laugh a little here. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: kimmers Date: 25 Sep 01 - 12:56 AM clickety-bloo I couldn't find it on the Internet, so I got my husband to post it on my story website so I could send you the link. Supposedly, or so my friend tells me, a couple of his friends photographed this somewhere in Portland, OR. But then again, my friend and his friends could be full of sh*t. But ya gotta wonder... what were those landscapers smoking?
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Steve Parkes Date: 25 Sep 01 - 03:43 AM They really do use "BOGOF" on our side of the pond. Therre was a poster campaign recently for a travel agency (can't remember which one--it was that good)that said "Bogof to Spain". Laugh? Well, I thought about it. My dad hasd a wicked sense of humour, and so did his father before him, so awful puns and ironies are traditional in our family, being handed down from father to son in the good old manner. Some of Grandad's jokes are quite rare now, and we've been offered large sums from the Midland Museum of Mirth in Birmingham, but since we're a Black Country family, we've always felt he wouldn't have liked them to go there (although he'd have laughed like a drain at the idea). Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Lepus Rex Date: 25 Sep 01 - 04:00 AM Didn't think much of the GOUSA "jokes," myself. In fact, they're pure crap. Shit like that makes me wish I was Belgian or something. Gyaaagh, die, hillbillies, die. :) ---LEpus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Steve Parkes Date: 25 Sep 01 - 04:23 AM Actually, the answer to the question is obvious when you think about it: one day the ETs will come and show us how to turn on the "empty" portions of our brains and then we'll be able to fly like Superman and build pyramids and communicate by telepathy and see into the future like Nostradamus and, well, all that stuff. And pigs--they'll be able to fly too! Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Trevor Date: 25 Sep 01 - 05:39 AM I've got this little picture above my desk which shows what the various parts of the brain specialise in. The male's has a large area for sex, which includes a commitment neurone, a listening particle and a personal hygiene atom; a power tolls lobe; a lame excuses gland; a getting lost and not admitting it cortex; a bit for ball sports; an area for movies with explosions and babes; a beer lobe; a TV remote area and a little spot for job stuff. The female brain is divided into areas for gossip, sitcoms, shopping, bad hair days, fantasy, maternal urges and weddings, binges and cravings, with the two biggest bits being dedicated to chocolate and mystery moods and behaviours. So THAT explains it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: CarolC Date: 25 Sep 01 - 06:09 AM Gawd... Now I really feel like a freak. My brain doesn't have any of those bits in Trevor's picture. I think maybe mine's just running on fumes anyway. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Jim Dixon Date: 25 Sep 01 - 09:11 AM I think the drawing Trevor refers to can be found here: The Male Brain. And, for comparison, here's The Female Brain. Lepus: Sorry you didn't like the GOUSA cartoons (which I posted a link to above). I guess you have to be a little perverted to get any humor out of the WTC destruction, even if it is aimed at Osama. Maybe Spaw will like them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Jack the Sailor Date: 25 Sep 01 - 09:48 AM 3% 50% It depends who you look at GUEST up there would be the 3% range Dubya maybe 50% Clinton uses more of his brain than either but strangely enough that is not the organ in charge. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Kim C Date: 25 Sep 01 - 10:32 AM Kimmers that is TOO funny!!!! Is it all right to share? |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: SINSULL Date: 25 Sep 01 - 10:46 AM Bert, I all too often get a hopeless case of the giggles. Tears run down my face, I shake in an attempt to control the outburst, and in general make a fool of myself. But I feel so good when it is over. Does this mean I use more of my brain than most people? For those of you using public transportation, these "fits" guarantee a seat and sometimes even an entire subway car to oneself. Mary |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Mrrzy Date: 25 Sep 01 - 11:07 AM I had to hide my head behind my kid and laugh silently so he wouldn't figure out I was laughing at something he'd said, which bothers him... took me forever to get over it, I think if I'd just busted out laughing I'd'a been done in 2 mn. It was truly funny, but you either had to be there or be familiar enough with Hungary and Yugoslavia to know how Budapest and Subotica are supposed to be pronounced. He got Buddha Pest ok, but when he got to Buddha Pizza, I lost it...now, which part of my brain was trying not to laugh? It took it a lot more energy than the part that was guffawing mightily... |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: kimmers Date: 25 Sep 01 - 11:08 AM Sure, share that pic with whoever you want. As for the male/female brains, I've seen a diagram meant to represent a cat's brain that I like even better. Anyone have that? It's a good exercise to sit down with your SO and diagram, humorously, what you think each other's brains are dedicated to. Mike and I did this years ago and kept the results up on the fridge for years. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Jim Dixon Date: 25 Sep 01 - 11:16 AM Kimmers: Here it is! Mapping of the Cat Brain. (I just put "cat's brain" into www.google.com and it was the second item that showed up.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Bill D Date: 25 Sep 01 - 12:54 PM received in an email a few months ago...no doubt some of you saw it... " A class of elementary students wanted to make planters to take home. It was important to have plants that were easy to take care of in them, so was it decided to use cactus plants. The students planted the cactus seeds in the planters, and they grew nicely. Unfortunately, the students were not allowed to take them home. See attachment to see why. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The cactus plants were removed and small ivy plants replaced them. The children were then allowed to take their planters home." http://users.starpower.net/extree/It_seemed_like_a_good_idea_1.jpg and somewhere I acquired this photographic comment on the more sublime meanings inherent in natural wonders.
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Lepus Rex Date: 25 Sep 01 - 02:57 PM Jim, I don't mind WTC humour, really. I'm just not big on the "nuke them camel jockeys" type humour. :) ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Mr Red Date: 25 Sep 01 - 07:13 PM Here's one to challenge your percentages New Scientist carried a somewhat speculative article recently (I read it today at work as I am so busy yawn yawn) Anyway this article reckons that DNA carries a load of (so called) junk code which they are ascribing to memory. In the body it is anti-body memory (immunity info), in the brain it is long-term memory and in sperm (no you can read the article for yourself if you don't believe me) it stores something else. It is well known that the brain/body barrier blocks anti-bodies and drugs. most of our brain capacity is tied-up in waking hours in motor actions and visual processing. So we only use a small percentage to think with but the rest is ACTIVE all right, or we would fall over. I rest my case, (and my body). |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Gareth Date: 25 Sep 01 - 07:17 PM Bill D - I clicked on yout link and tears ran down me trowser legs. Sorry I can just picture some 'erbert trying to fit a condom. Gareth |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Bill D Date: 25 Sep 01 - 07:29 PM *grin*...yep...either link! |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: sophocleese Date: 25 Sep 01 - 07:35 PM Lovely pictures all. I'm giggling now. Yesterday I was giggling quietly to myself when my daughter decided to pretend to be mad and wandered around the house saying "God bless the soya sauce!" I have strange and delightful kids.
I thought it was quite funny that in the thread listing I read, |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: Bert Date: 26 Sep 01 - 05:02 AM Now, Now, 'Cleese, You KNOW Johnny Cash is a favourite of mine, you're in deep doo doo now. If you don't shut up I'll have to sing to you. There, you asked for it God Bless the Wooster Sauce Ah! Mr Red! so THAT'S why I keep falling over. I thought it was the Jim Beam. |
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Subject: RE: BS: brain usage - the unused portion From: SeanM Date: 26 Sep 01 - 05:42 AM Hey! And there's even music for this topic...
M |
