Scary Story to Read for Halloween

It's that time of year again. The time when things that go bump in the night become even more frightening. The time when you want to curl up in front of the fireplace, under a cozy throw, sip a hot cup of chocolate (or something stronger), and read a story that will stand your hair on end. So, how about trying my book, The Dark Woods Trilogy: Three Tales of Terror? Here's a little blurb:  

Something monstrous lurks in the woods behind the bucolic farm in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia. No one knows what it is, but it thirsts for blood, and each time the farm changes ownership, tragedy invariably ensues. A local hunter is mauled beyond recognition. A young wife slowly descends into madness. A trained athlete goes for an evening run and never returns home. Then, bestselling horror novelist Ray Winston and his family move onto the farm, and as autumn descends in all its splendor and Ray searches in vain for creative inspiration, the creature once again rises from the shadows. 

And the great thing is that if you visit Amazon Books, it's only $3.99 on Kindle (you can also download and read it on any other electronic device, including your Smartphone) and $12.99 in hard-copy. What a deal!

#BookTok #HorrorStory #StoriesForHalloween #SmallTownHorrorStory

Unique Ways to Save Out Planet

I learn a lot from reading the newspaper. This past week was no exception And, yes, I'm old-fashioned and actually subscribe to and read a daily newspaper, namely The Advocate, which is published in Baton Rouge, the State Capitol of Louisiana. And, yes, it's printed on paper, not digital.

Anyway, the first thing I learned this past week is that a team of scientists and entrepreneurs have started a company to resurrect the woolly mammoth. That's right. This company, which they've dubbed "Colossal" (Fitting name, I guess), intends to genetically engineer then place thousands of these tusked behemoths back on the Siberian tundra. And just how are they going to do this? They're going to edit elephant DNA, adding genes for mammoth traits like dense hair and thick fat for withstanding cold. The company's goal is to produce embryos in a few years, and ultimately to produce entire populations of the animals.

The way the company sees it, these creatures will roam about the frozen tundra where by stomping on moss, knocking down trees, and fertilizing the soil with mammoth droppings (I guess you can interpret "mammoth" two weeks in this case, both of them appropriate), these huge beasts will gradually turn it back into the lush grassland it was during the time of the original mammoths.

Yet, in another attempt to revitalize our rapidly declining planet, as I learned from reading the paper, there's a movement afoot that will allow us to choose another form of disposal for our bodies once we no longer have any use for them. Instead of interment, entombment, or cremation, we will now have the choice of being "composted."

This method will have two benefits: It will free up space that's now being wasted on cemeteries and it will provide even more fertilizer for the soil. And, though it's more expensive than cremation (roughly $7,500 compared to $2,700, or something like that. I forget), it's much cheaper than a traditional funeral, which runs around $10,000 or more, depending upon how fancy you want it to be. (Personally, I never understood why anyone would want one of those silk-lined, brass-fitted ornate coffins when they are really going to be able to enjoy it.)

According to the article I read, which was originally published in Popular Science, "Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) is a method in which human remains are processed and turned into soil, aka human composting. The body is broken down with organic materials like wood chips and/or straw for several weeks inside of an enclosure until it becomes soil. This practice was first legalized in 2019 and came into effect in 2020 in Washington State, and has just this summer become legalized in Colorado."

Have you ever noticed that Colorado seems always to be in the forefront when it comes to innovative ideas, well, like legalizing pot?

Okay, so we have a group of folks, on one hand, attempting to resurrect woolly mammoths, and, on the other hand, composting human bodies, both ventures offering a way to help preserve and/or save out planet. I do, though, have two concerns: One, once those woolly mammoths start producing baby mammoths, will they become so numerous that they'll run out of forage in Siberia and start branching out, possibly traveling across that land bridge and then decimating Alaska's forests and fields? And, two, once my body is composted, will it then be packaged and sold in the local Home Depot alongside the Miracle Grow and Scott’s Weed and Feed? Those, in my opinion, are questions worth considering in the wee, still hours of the morning as I lie there in bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

Caffeine's Impact Upon Creativity: Is It Positive or Negative?

As you know, coffee, unless it’s decaf, contains caffeine, sometimes quite a bit of caffeine, depending upon the strength of the blend, and caffeine not only enhances physical performance but also heightens mental alertness and short-term memory, improves concentration and focus, and increases the ability to solve problems and to make decisions that involve rational thinking.     

Some studies have shown yet another benefit of coffee, and that is how it “appears to improve cognitive function and decrease the risk of depression;” therefore, making you more apt to be creative (Hensrud, 2014, para. 4). What’s more, other studies have demonstrated that drinking coffee induces a euphoric state that often supersedes a stage of enlightenment in which you are more apt to experience creative ideas and insights (Vanderbilt, 2010).

Can Coffee Actually Suppress Creativity?  

Then again, as is often the case when it comes to studies, it seems that controversy surrounds the question of the impact caffeine has upon creativity and whether that impact is positive or negative. For instance, Maria Konnikova (2013) noted in an article for The New Yorker that the improved concentration and focus we get from caffeine comes at a cost, and that cost is our creative thinking. She says this is the case because the acts associated with creativity involve linking ideas, entities, and concepts in novel ways, an ability that “depends in part on the very thing that caffeine seeks to prevent: a wandering, unfocused mind.”

Complicating matters, caffeine also inhibits sleep, another mental process necessary for creative thinking. A 2009 study, for instance, demonstrated that individuals who experience REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement associate with dreaming) performed better on creative-thinking tests than individuals who napped or rested but did not enter the REM cycle. Why? Because during REM, our brains integrate unassociated information so that, upon waking, we are more adept at solving problems we had tried to solve before sleeping but couldn’t. As Konnikova (2013) says, “Sleep deprivation has also been linked to negative effects on other elements associated with creativity and thought clarity: it diminishes emotional intelligence, constructive thinking, and the ability to cope with stress.” 

Can Caffeine Simulate the Creative Mind?

n the other hand, James Hamblin, writing for The Atlantic (2013), argues that Konnikova is wrong and caffeine does not so much undermine our creativity as stimulate it. While Hamblin does not cite any studies to support his argument, he does quote Stephen Braun, author of Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine (n.d.), who explained that caffeine “blocks the adenosine receptors in the brain.” What this means, according to Braun, as quoted by Hamblin, is that caffeine is an “indirect stimulant, as opposed to, say, amphetamine which liberates dopamine, a directly stimulating neurotransmitter. By blocking adenosine receptors, caffeine allows the brain's own stimulating neurotransmitters (i.e. glutamate and dopamine) to do their thing with greater gusto and less restraint.”

The problem with such intense focus, as Konnikova points out and Hamblin agrees, is that  “moments of insight and genius come in the shower, on walks, doing hot yoga; when the mind is less focused and allowed to wander” (Hamblin, 2013); and if the mind is overstimulated, theoretically, its creative potential could be diminished. The key word, though, is “theoretically,” since evidence to the contrary abounds, namely because many highly creative individuals consume great quantities of coffee and, therefore, caffeine. For example, according to Brendan O’Hare in an article for The New Yorker (2015), the nineteenth-century French writer Honoré de Balzac supposedly consumed 50 cups of coffee per day; and according to Mason Currey, writing for Slate, L. Frank Baum, author ofThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz, would down four or five strong cups each morning at breakfast, and mathematician Paul Erdös fueled his long work hours with espresso shots and caffeine tablets. Other “coffeeholics” included Beethoven, Proust, Glenn Gould, Francis Bacon, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Gustav Mahler.

The Final Decision on Coffee

 So, what is the answer? Does coffee undermine your creativity or enhance it? Apparently the jury is still out, but until the final verdict is in, presuming it ever is, perhaps the best approach to take is the one that works for you. If consuming caffeine makes you feel more creative, then it more than likely does have a positive effect, but if the opposite is true, then maybe you should consider curbing your caffeine intake or switching to decaf.  You decide.

Sources:

Currey, M. (2013) Coffee!! Slate: Daily Rituals. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/features/2013/daily_rituals/coffee

Hamblin, J. (2013) Caffeine: For the More Creative Mind. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/06/caffeine-for-the-more-creative-mind/277069/

Hensrud, D. (2014) M.D.Is Coffee Good or Bad for Me? Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/coffee-and-health/faq-20058339

Konnikova, M. (2013) How Caffeine Can Cramp Creativity. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-caffeine-can-cramp-creativity

O’Hare, B. (2015) What I Assume Honoré de Balzac Thought after Drinking Each of His Fifty Daily Cups of Coffee. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts

Vanderbilt University Institute for Coffee Studies (2010) Is Coffee Good or Bad for Your Health? Retrieved from http://vanderbilt.edu/ics/coffee-news/

False Memories: Did You Really Dance in the Rain at Woodstock or Merely Imagine It?

We all have memories of past events, whether those events occurred just yesterday or years ago. Is it possible, however, that what we remember did transpire exactly as we recall, or that it did not actually occur at all?

Studies have shown that many of our memories of past events are actually "false" memories that have either been altered and/or elaborated upon or never really occurred at all. In other words, we just think those events transpired.

In an article for USA TODAY, Sharon Jayson relates, “Psychological research has shown various ways ‘false memories’ are created, such as through the power of suggestion or through vivid imagination” (para. 1). Moreover, she adds that recent studies demonstrated that when individuals view a video of someone completing a simple task, when asked about it two weeks later, they don’t remember viewing the video and think they themselves completed the task.

What’s more, according to psychologist Daniel Schacter of Harvard University, when people see something on television, they think it actually happened. Moreover, Schacter says, when people simply imagine themselves doing something, it can result in the creation of a false memory. (Jayson, 2010)

How False Memories Are Created

People apparently believe false memories are real, according to the American Psychological Association (2000), because the brain “pulls together perceptual information from unrelated experiences and wrongly reads it as a single, authentic memory” (para. 2). Also, the more perception information people have about a particular event, including taste, touch, sight, and sound, the greater the likelihood that they will actually believe the experience was real, although it was instead false. 

As per the Association, the “‘source monitoring’ theory of false memories postulates that people misattribute perceptual information experienced in a different context to support a memory for something that never happened” (para. 2).  Moreover, also according to the APA, 

The more perceptual information people can connect to the false memory, the more likely they are to have that false memory in the first place, the study finds. In particular, Linda Henkel, PhD, and her colleagues find that study participants were more likely to falsely remember seeing an object if they previously imagined the object and heard the sound it makes. (para. 3)

 The Rashomon Effect

Relatedly, the Akira Kurosawa movie, Rashomon, tells the story of a crime and how it’s viewed and related from different perspectives by different people. In fact, the term "The Rashomon Effect," which was coined after the release of the film, refers to how subjectivity influences perception so that several people can witness the same event unfold and each person will then offer a different but equally believable account of what he or she witnessed. 

The reality, though, is that too many perspectives can sometimes distort what actually occurred, making it difficult to ascertain the "truth" of the matter, and the question that naturally arises is whether or not it’s possible to get a true account of any event, especially in light of the Rashomon Effect, coupled with the fact that many of one’s memories are false recollections of events that may not have actually occurred at all.

In summary, not only do such studies give us reason to examine our recollections of the past, whether yesterday or years ago, they also perhaps help explain why siblings growing up in the same household and sharing many of the same experiences often recall those shared experiences quite differently. They are each recalling events from their own perspectives, each imagining certain aspects of those events, and each elaborating upon what they believe occurred. However, the accuracy of what each sibling recalls is open to debate.

Sources:

American Psychological Association (2000) New Theory on the Making of a False Memory. March 2000, Vol 31, No. 3, p. 12. Retrieved fromhttp://www.apa.org/monitor/mar00/memory.aspx

Jayson, S. (2010) “Did You Lock the Door or Just Imagine It?” USA TODAY, September 15, 2010, retrieved fromhttp://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/medical/mentalhealth/2010-09-15-falsememories15_ST_N.htm

Smoking Marijuana Increases Creativity---Maybe, Maybe Not

Smoking marijuana, aka Mary Jane, pot, or weed, can free your creative muse and enable you to produce a veritable masterpiece of art, music, or literature. Or can it? Being a former flower child of the 60's Revolution and someone who smoked her share of Mary Jane (Yes, I inhaled), I have often argued that a toke or two or three can indeed make you more creative. However, after conducting some research while compiling my book Color You Creative (available on Amazon Books), I have had to reconsider that argument. 

For starters, Jason Silva, of the Huffington Post (2011), relates that Jonah Lehrer, in his posts for Science Blogs, discusses the relationship between creativity and smoking marijuana, citing a paper published in Psychiatry Research, which “sheds some light on why smoking weed seems to unleash a stream of loose associations,” resulting in increased creativity (para. 11). Apparently, according to Lehrer, creativity increases because “smoking marijuana contributes to “a phenomenon called ‘semantic priming’” (Silva, 2011, para.11).

What exactly is semantic priming? According to Lehrer, “The activation of one word allows us to react more quickly to related words;” and, interestingly, “marijuana seems to induce a state of hyper-priming, in which the reach of semantic priming extends outwards to distantly related concepts” Silva, 2011, para. 12).

In other words, smoking marijuana, according to researcher Vaughan Bell, as cited by Lehrer, causes one to experience “freewheeling thoughts,” and in the study, “volunteers who were under the influence of cannabis showed a definite "hyper-priming" tendency, where distant concepts were reacted to more quickly” (Silva, 2011, para. 13).

As Silva relates (2011),

·    "Essentially, marijuana can extend the range of our free-associative capacities. It increases the novel ways in which we find connections between ideas, and it also extends the range of ideas that we might somehow relate to one another.

While not surprising, it does offer a scientific validation for what so many artists, philosophers and scientists have been saying for ages: that marijuana is a cognitive catalyst that can trigger heightened free-associative creativity, increased pattern recognition, and insight." (Para. 14-15)

On the other hand, various other studies have proposed a link between creativity and alcohol and/or drug usage, arguing that substances such as drugs and alcohol can contribute to or even cause creativity. After all, when one is under the influence of such substances, one is usually less inhibited and, therefore, less reserved about demonstrating one’s creative impulses. (Dacey & Lennon, 1998)

In conclusion, although some theorists argue there is often a correlation between addictive behavior and creativity, studies have not supported that argument. Therefore, one might very well conclude that whereas marijuana, like alcohol and drugs, can very well act as a catalyst for creativity, since it “frees” one’s thoughts and lessens one’s inhibitions, the product itself does not actually cause one to be any more or, for that matter, less creative than one naturally is. 

Dacey, J., Lennon, K. (1998) Understanding creativity: The interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Silva, J. (2011) On creativity, marijuana and "a butterfly effect in thought". Retrieved from  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-silva/on-creativity-marijuana-a_b_900701.html

 

The Joys of Going Barefoot

Did you go barefoot as a child? If not, you were probably a kid who lived in town and came from an at least relatively comfortable background, meaning your family had an indoor toilet, and you never picked potato bugs off your daddy’s potato plants for a penny a piece). My family, however, was poor, and we lived in the country, or as city people called it, "the sticks." So when we were little, my brother, sister, and I looked forward to the first day of May because that was when Mama would let us kick off our shoes and run barefoot through the grass and dirt, as well as over rocks and occasional pine cones or hickory nuts, not to mention chicken droppings. Of course, being poor country children, our pleasures were simple.  

In case you’re wondering why we had to wait until the first day of May, it was because Mama said that if we went barefoot any sooner, we would come down with some incurable disease that would rot us from the inside out.

Not that you had to be poor or live in the country to go barefoot, but I don't think the kids from the more affluent families in my hometown, who tended to live within the city limits of Fairburn, looked forward to "Barefoot Day" with the same gusto as my siblings and I. That is, if those kids even went barefoot, which I doubt, given the streets in town were paved; and during the summer months in the Deep South, asphalt gets so hot you can literally fry eggs on it, not to mention a slab of bacon and still have heat enough left over to brown a dozen biscuits.  

And what exactly is my point? Well, it's that going barefoot is good for you. One, it's good for you psychologically because it makes you feel free and unencumbered. In other words, it makes you feel lighter emotionally. (It also makes you lighter physically since shoes usually weigh from one to two or more pounds, depending upon the style.) Moreover, as you get older, going barefoot can help you get back in touch with your inner child, the part of you that dares to be true to himself or herself and doesn't give a rat's behind  what other people think.   

In addition, although there's no scientific data to support this theory, going barefoot makes you more creative. In fact, I would argue that the more creative a person is, the more often he or she goes barefoot. Hmm, I wonder if a study would support this hypothesis. Maybe I should undertake such a study, and if I'm proven right, the findings might very well be published in some prestigious journal, after which I'll have my fifteen minutes of fame. Nah, I don't enjoy writing scholarly articles. They require too much research and the editors want to split hairs over every other word. I much prefer writing my blog because, hey, it's my blog and I don't have to support my arguments with research. 

Speaking of research, though, apparently going barefoot might also have its drawbacks. For one, it will make you more likely to contact malaria or some other tropical fever. According to an article by Maria Cheng, AP medical writer, in The Advocate (our local newspaper), ". . . scientists say there might be a potent new tool to fight the deadly mosquito-borne disease [malaria]: the stench of human feet" (p. 3A). Yep, it seems mosquitoes that carry malaria are "three times more likely to be drawn to stinky stockings" than non-stinky stockings (p. 3A). Consequently, scientists are considering developing traps that smell like stinky feet to target malaria-bearing mosquitoes. Moreover, according to Cheng, ". . . the same strategy might be used to target insects that carry other diseases such as dengue and Japanese encephalitis" (p. 3A).

So, with the findings of this scientific study in mind, maybe I need to rethink my argument that going barefoot is good for you. Give me a minute. Okay, I rethought it, and I still think I’m right. Why? Well, if for no other reason than going barefoot makes you a few pounds lighter and stepping on pine cones can count as an aerobic activity. How’s that? (Don’t blame me. My muse just deserted me.).

 Source: Cheng, M. (2013) Stinky Feet May Lead to Anti-malaria Weapon. Baton Rouge, LA: The Advocate, p. 3A