Lumo

Hi Cheryl, welcome to the forums :-) I thought the Parkinson's one was well done, so also did the subsequent one on drug origins. I did not think that one was nearly as well done (for example, no mention of drug development through animal testing). It was a shorter course, and I think it glossed over many issues. I also missed the first of the good brain, bad brain series and I might take it next time it comes around too.

That's partly why I like Kindle books - no need to part with them when moving or have the hassle of moving lots of them.

Glad you like the S7 after getting it. I also have the S7, I was hesitant about it as there were other Samsung ones 10 euro or so a month cheaper, but a friend really recommended the S7 to me and after using it for a while I agree it is fantastic - by far the best smart phone I have ever had (however, I have not had all that many). The screen, the camera, the speed, all great.

Welcome to the forums FJ :-)

Yes, I remember one study in particular where the participants had to look at a screen and make a decision about what they saw (for example, I agree or I disagree) and then they had to press a button with their left hand for one choice or their right hand for the other choice. Their brains were being scanned throughout the experiment and from the scans the experimenters could reliably predict almost seven seconds before the participant pressed either button, which button they would ultimately press. The participants claimed they made the decision a split second before pressing the left or right button, putting the results of the scan before when they claimed to make the decision. I found that weird, but as you say, it's very hard, if not impossible, to get the timing accurate in these studies as it relies on believing what the participant said about something that is hard to pin down.

I took some philosophy courses as an undergraduate alongside the psychology I was actually studying. I really liked philosophy. I will look at those youtube channels you mentioned, I will also look into the Coursera course on philosophy, it sounds interesting. While the study of free will is fascinating, I was not aware that science shows that we don't have free will. There are some clever experiments that make one question when a decision is made versus when we consciously perceive the decision, but I am not sure any show we don't have free will.

Hello and welcome to the forum :-) I have not read The Girl on the Train, but it is on my to-be-read pile.

Lycos and excite, I had completely forgotten about them, I used them too, that does indeed bring back more memories.

The Yahoo homepage was probably the first webpage I ever saw. Shortly after that, when we got the internet at home, I clearly remember the guy in the shop showing how the dial up modem worked then loading the yahoo homepage. Then google came along and my interactions with yahoo dropped to near zero (it's now just the annoying search engine that firefox defaults to sometimes). But I must admit, I am a bit sad or nostalgic to see yahoo sell off most of its business to other companies. It feels almost like the end of an era. Yahoo to sell core web business to Verizon for nearly $5bn https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/25/yahoo-to-sell-core-web-business-to-verizon

I had no idea about the washing of eggs meaning a natural protective coating is washed off. I had noticed that in the US the eggs were always very clean and always in the fridge, but it never occurred to me the two were connected.

People seem to have differing views on this. I normally keep them out of the fridge because I think they taste better that way, but I have never systematically tested this.

I had not heard of this, but based on your description we watched it, thank you. It really is good, good characters, good story and a good length (we watched it over 4 nights or so). I also hope they make a second season next year.

Had some thunder and rain during the night, but it's not all that much colder or less humid, and the forecast now says the thunder will continue for the next four days!

I had not seen Coursera before, thanks, I'm having a look now. I know what you mean about not having the time to commit, last time I looked at futurelearn about six months ago, I just couldn't imagine where the time would come from. However, this summer I have a bit more free time so am going to see if I can complete a course or two. I've already seem some on coursera that look good.

Welcome - I hope you enjoy the discussions on the forums :-)

Fantastic piece, thank you - and I completely agree, he seems to have such passion and be involved with everyone around him.

Macs can be very confusing if one hasn't used them. The other week on a mac, I had to download a file and save it to a memory stick (something I do with PCs all the time), I had probably not used a mac for over 5 years and I felt like a kid who had never used a computer before. Things are in the wrong place and other things that seem they should really obvious just don't seem to be there at all! Owch - hope it is all OK when the numbness goes down.

After clicking about on the website futurelearn.com I enrolled in a free course called Good Brain, Bad Brain: Parkinson's Disease which, as the title suggests, is about Parkinson's Disease. It's the first time I have done any online learning or online courses. It says it will take 3 hours a week for 3 weeks. It's organised by the University of Birmingham and is a mix of videos, things to read, and online text discussions (well the bits I have done so far have been). There is also another course in the same series after this one on the origin of medicines. There seemed to be an enormous amount of courses on futurelearn.com covering all sorts of things. Has anyone done any other online courses?

30C and humid here, most places don't have air conditioning (it doesn't get this hot very often) so it's not very pleasant being inside. The heat is supposed to end in a few days with tunderstorms and rain.

Wonderful - it's making me go and dig out some Vivaldi CDs too.

This Old House The Belmont Victorian House http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/video/0,,20956054,00.html The full 16 episode season is available for free on their website :-)

That's what I was thinking of doing, there are a couple of shows I would make myself only watch when on it. Thanks. I'm looking into them now, just not sure how to judge them. Huge price differences between 100 pounds (cheap end), 300 or so (more main stream) and upto over 1000. The Amazon reviews aren't very helpful, many with high ratings from most people, but every now and then someone says it broke within a few weeks. Haha indeed - I had a look on google and surprisingly there doesn't seem to be a product called happy trainer.

I'm on a pleasure cruiser in the Mediterranean in the 1860s with a couple dozen other passengers

I used to ride my bike a lot (to and from work mainly, every day for many years), I really enjoyed this and while I wasn't doing it primarily for exercise, I think the daily amount of exercise was good for me. Since moving house I no longer bike (just before moving I also fell badly from my bike taking a stupid short cut across a building site, which made me a bit weary about cycling anyway). Since moving I also haven't been feeling so well, sort of slightly unfit and tired a lot. I want to get back into exercising to see if that gets me going, I have tried walking but can't really get into that as a routine, I have never been able to work out at a gym (it just isn't me, plus I don't think there is one around here). About 10 years ago I had an exercise bike at home (borrowed from my parents who weren't using it), while I did use this, I never really liked it that much. It always felt kind of boring compared to cycling along a road. I have seen cross trainers advertised, these look better in terms of whole body movement and look like they could be more engaging than sitting on an exercise bike. Has anyone tried both? Any views on the differences between a cross trainer and an exercise bike? Is there something else I am missing completely?

Tom Russell - East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam