So I kept scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.
At some point I decided , "whoa this page is long, I'll stop when I reach the bottom of this page." So I looked at the scroll bar and anticipated the end of the page, and kept going scrolling down and reading more posts until I realised that the scroll bar would never reach the bottom! Agh... 2891 seconds wasted.
Daniel Tan shared this Youtube clip of the placebo effect on Facebook:
Well, interesting and quirky video aside, I noticed something which really bugged me. It listed 'close door' buttons in lift as an example of placebo buttons.
These? Placebo buttons? But I have always pressed them thinking that they helped speed things up! Could it possibly be that all this while I had been made to believe that these buttons actually work? Or do they really? I still don't know. I'd like to believe they do; but it makes logical sense when you think of it; that these lifts rely on their own computerised timing and come to think of it, they never really respond immediately. What a bummer.
Regardless, I will probably still press them with the same naivety as before, perhaps a little more skeptically though. Well, you never know right...
Still, I feel so...
...agh. nocebo. I do hope anti-histamines are no placebos, though.
Well, ruminating over the whole idea of the placebo effect, it really is quite interesting how our minds can deceive itself into perceiving effects which aren't actually there.
**
Back during the much simpler days of this last Chinese New Year:In all likelihood, that New Year will be the last one I will experience in Malaysia for at least another 6 years. As my sister and brother have been for the past few years, working and studying abroad meant that they have missed out all the while. It's quite sad to see CNY lose it's vibrance as the cousins eventually drift apart, go overseas, start working. Things have changed a lot, but seeing as it was my last New Year here in a while, I decided to make the best of it.
And I did, it was one of the best in recent years. It deserves far more documentation that this short post so I will probably be writing up another one with highlights from the celebrations.
Here's one that still cracks me up though:
Taking family pictures during New Years is a tradition for all of us Chinese families. It is also one that I've generally dreaded the most. Having to sit still and smile for multiple posed pictures in the sweltering heat of the Lunar New Year weather when I could well be doing something else like playing around with cousins does not bring back the fondest of memories.This year, of course, we all obliged. Most families would take family pictures like so:-
And it has been so since the dawn of time. (Actually, more like the dawn of cameras.) This year we did things a little different.
My cousin set his DSLR to take 9 photos without informing anyone else. After the first shot which was proper and all, my cousin started jumping around frantically like a possessed animal and yelling to us to start doing stupid stuff. Instead, we all looked on, quite bemused by his sudden antics.
The end result?
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Best CNY family photo. Ever.
(photos from Tumblr, Stanley Liew, BottleBoy where not indicated)
