Google "Tiny Kitten Picture" and put down the gun.
Posted on 10/14/2019 10:45:03 AM PDT by BenLurkin
In the 1950s, researchers stumbled upon a new class of drugs that provided relief for those suffering from schizophrenia. These drugs were known as antipsychotics and, as the name suggests, they reduced symptoms like hallucinations and delusions — primarily by reducing the levels of dopamine in the brain. This led clinicians and scientists to argue that dopamine was linked to the experiences of psychotic symptoms, and a concerted research effort ensued, seeking to solve the puzzle of why excess dopamine might produce hallucinations.
Although it was later shown that increasing dopamine could produce hallucinations, establishing a consistent link between them, it has not been clear why.
They achieved this by taking advantage of a simple fact: Your brain is lazy. It makes shortcuts to understand the deluge of information that bombards it daily. If you’re presented with consistent information, consistently, your brain adjust its expectations of reality in turn. This is the basis of Bayesian theories of how we perceive the world – that is, the brain makes inferences about the world around us based on statistics and probabilities on what is likely to occur.
[I]ncreasing dopamine made it more difficult for participants to adjust their perception — an effect comparable to how the hallucinators had struggled. Moreover, the extent to which participants struggled was strongly associated with the severity of hallucinations — but not with any diagnosis of schizophrenia. In other words, the difficulty appeared to be associated with a symptom, not a diagnosis.
Using brain imaging, the researchers also showed that an increased capacity for dopamine release, from a part of the brain known as the striatum (an area involved in schizophrenia), was associated with the severity of hallucinations. Together, these experiments showed that excess dopamine was associated with difficulty in accurately predicting reality.
(Excerpt) Read more at inverse.com ...
“Here at Baal Z Bubba and associates, we pride ourselves in providing the highest quality BS existence experiences available!”
Sounds like a great place to work!
And here I am worrying about a 26 mph wind in 39 degree weather, that I have to wade through to go do my laundry. If I’m not back in two hours, send out the militia.
It’s raining again here, but the cats went outside anyway.
Google "Tiny Kitten Picture" and put down the gun.
The Morning Kitteh looks very Floofy! I heart dat fing!
Good morning.
I’m back! I usually set the timer on my phone for 15 or 20 minutes so I can check the dryer contents and see if anything is dry enough to come out. Somehow, this morning, I paused the darn thing and … well, you know the rest.
While I was rummaging the other day, I found a piece of Aida cloth about 3/4 of a yard square, and put it in the laundry. I have a sampler pattern I have been packing around with me for years, so it will go into the “to be finished asap” pile. It got washed today, and I’ve spread it out to dry. Then I will iron it.
So ambitious! But for too many years, I was too sick to do any of that stuff, or too depressed to concentrate on it. So the fact that I’m even interested is a good sign! :o]
I hope we don’t get rain, but at the moment, I’d rather have rain than this interminable wind. At least Gonzo doesn’t go out in either one.
I’d like to hug a kitteh, myself, but instead, I have Jake and Shannon and their attitude problems. Plus they’re wet.
I have laundry in the dryer, too.
Jake and Shannon were probably abused before they got to the shelter, so they’re probably as “normal” as they’re ever going to be, poor things.
I don’t recall: Do cats smell as bad with wet fur as dogs do?
I need to go take half a pain pill so I can hang up the shirts. Usually, sitting for 30 minutes takes care of it, but not today. And the bottom is dropping out of the barometer, so no wonder my lower back hurts.
They were both rescued from feral litters, so I’m sure they had some trauma. There’s Jake’s terror of plastic bags, for example.
And no, they don’t smell bad when they’re wet: just like “rainy outdoors.”
Good one.
That guy in the background has skin-colored pants on (I think).
No questions that can’t be answered. Most of them are answered by “work.”
Thinking no “thank you sir, may I have another” in my future, but I did volunteer.
I just didn’t know how much water was in the bottom of the boat.
Good morning. Happy Tuesday. We also have rain.
We’re supposed to get to a high of 55 on Thursday then a high of 31 on Friday.
If the foreguessers have any idea, it’s going to be an interesting drive back to the wildlands.
That one’s worth a chuckle.
I’m not real thrilled about calling an impeachment, which is a constitutionally permitted process, a coup. But they are definitely klutzes.
An impeachment for real crimes is just.
An impeachment based solely on spite and trumped up charges, not so much.
It was an attempt to weaponize the legal system and misuse it to remove a lawfully elected president who had done nothing wrong. A coup.
Then they would turn that weaponized legal system against any conservative who dared speak out.
“Then they would turn that weaponized legal system against any conservative who dared speak out.”
Then? They do now. Stories like the one from yesterday with kids being told to remove their American flags from their cars parked at a High School because it was deemed “offensive”.
I agree it was fully incorrect behavior. But they worked through the system and everything was exposed to the light of day.
Now we have the problem that a large swath of this self-governing country could care less. The next Dem elected could just declare him/herself “President for Life” and I’m not sure most people would even ask, “Can he DO that?”
Yes, that sound like abuse. Tokyo Rose was afraid of plastic bags, too, and that’s because Eric (five) used to chase her with them and with the vacuum. Come to find out, Tokyo was blind, so she had no idea what the noise was. I took her with me when I moved out. She adored me. I miss that old kitty girl.
“Rainy outdoors” is a good smell!
If most questions are answered by “work” then I’ll wait to ask. ;o]
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