Posted on 01/06/2009 6:15:44 PM PST by ari-freedom
THE CITY HAS always been an engine of intellectual life, from the 18th-century coffeehouses of London, where citizens gathered to discuss chemistry and radical politics, to the Left Bank bars of modern Paris, where Pablo Picasso held forth on modern art. Without the metropolis, we might not have had the great art of Shakespeare or James Joyce; even Einstein was inspired by commuter trains.
And yet, city life isn't easy. The same London cafes that stimulated Ben Franklin also helped spread cholera; Picasso eventually bought an estate in quiet Provence. While the modern city might be a haven for playwrights, poets, and physicists, it's also a deeply unnatural and overwhelming place.
Now scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are chastening. Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental processes. After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self-control. While it's long been recognized that city life is exhausting -- that's why Picasso left Paris -- this new research suggests that cities actually dull our thinking, sometimes dramatically so.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
It's tough, I'm telling you.
You have to keep all the vote slaves in line.
I know that when we have to “go to town”, Anchorage, we can’t wait to get back to the “bush”. The noise, the traffic, the shopping, sets us on edge. I’ll take the sounds of nature any day.
gee, yeah, I’ll bet Anchorage is intense.
I’ll take living in an igloo hunting caribou and beaver in AK over my current ghetto, 0bama = Messiah condition in Detroit any day. :)
Any place waist-deep in liberals impairs my basic mental processes.
Bump.....
hmmm it might be a fun vacation for a few weeks but...I prefer modern plumbing systems.
We moved to the country after 9/11. It was a decision that I have never regretted.
“gee, yeah, I’ll bet Anchorage is intense.”
Actually, it is. Obviously not as “intense” as a place like New York city or Washington, DC, but “intense” is in the eye of the beholder. ;)
“I’ll take living in an igloo hunting caribou and beaver in AK over my current ghetto, 0bama = Messiah condition in Detroit any day. :)”
I hear ya. I’m glad we don’t have to live in an “igloo”, but we’re sure cozy and happy in our little cabin along the Wrangell/St. Elias. No plumbing = no frozen pipes. Outhouse = no bathroom to scrub. Woodstove = hot water and heat. Caribou and moose = yummmmm Life is good. :)
You’ll be fine. 0bama promised everything to everyone. :)
LOL! But hey, whatever works, right?
That ‘city look’ has always looked as though the women were in mourning. Black from head to toe and thick-rimmed eyewear.
Let’s not forget that ascerbic (and lacking) sense of humor. Hurr, hurr, hurr, hurr.
Oh, wai...............I just described Tina Fey. ;)
Gee....most everyone in New York thinks that the rest of us are brain dead. Turns out it’s the opposite?
I like Portland - calm is only about 15 minutes away from frantic.
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