Why zebras don't get ulcers?

I must first admit that i don't understand more than half the book, and that i cheated and skimmed through certain chapters that don't interest me yet.

However, given the subject nature - the science of stress and its impact on our well being, it is a reader friendly and very interesting book. I don't think i can introduce this book as well as Amazon.com Review, so i shall lift their text and show it here.

Amazon.com Review
Why don't zebras get ulcers--or heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases--when people do? In a fascinating look at the science of stress, biologist Robert Sapolsky presents an intriguing case, that people develop such diseases partly because our bodies aren't designed for the constant stresses of a modern-day life--like sitting in daily traffic jams or growing up in poverty. Rather, they seem more built for the kind of short-term stress faced by a zebra--like outrunning a lion.
With wit, graceful writing, and a sprinkling of Far Side cartoons, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers makes understanding the science of stress an adventure in discovery. "This book is a primer about stress, stress-related disease, and the mechanisms of coping with stress. How is it that our bodies can adapt to some stressful emergencies, while other ones make us sick? Why are some of us especially vulnerable to stress-related diseases, and what does that have to do with our personalities?"

Sapolsky, a Stanford University neuroscientist, explores stress's role in heart disease, diabetes, growth retardation, memory loss, and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. He cites tantalizing studies of hyenas, baboons, and rodents, as well as of people of different cultures, to vividly make his points. And Sapolsky concludes with a hopeful chapter, titled "Managing Stress." Although he doesn't subscribe to the school of thought that hope cures all disease, Sapolsky highlights the studies that suggest we do have some control over stress-related ailments, based on how we perceive the stress and the kinds of social support we have.

Read this book and you will find out more about why many of us fall sick around exam periods, or whether claims we often hear regarding stress and its association and stomach ulcers or cancers are valid. I'm now more aware of what my body is going through when i am stressed, and will now actively monitor myself to take note of the danger signs and try to lower my glucocorticoids level.

Here's a short story regarding one of my favorite board games that is in the footnotes of the book. Prof JJ has taught us well to learn to appreciate footnotes, that's where the juicy stuff is...

I listened to a tape of this sermon, called "Back in the Box," by Rev John Ortberg. It concerns an incident from his youth. His grandmother, saintly, kind, nurturant, also happened to be a viciously competitive and skillful Monopoly player, and his summer visists to her were littered with his defeats at the game. he described one year where he practiced like mad, honed his Machiavellian instinct, developed a ruthless jugular-gripping style, and finally mopped up the board with her. After which, his grandmother rose and calmly put the pieces away.

"You know," she said offhandedly, "this is a great game, but when it is all over with, the pieces just go back in the box." Amass your property, your hotels...[the sermon takes off from there]...your wealth, your accomplishments, your awards, your whatever, and eventually it will all be over with and those pieces go back in the box. And all you are left with is how you lived your life.

Life is too beautiful and short to be spent chasing after things that at the end of the day means nothing. Treasure those around us. Life is fragile, we have to nourish it. It will finally mean something someday. 

Twilight

Dragged Ian and Ivan to watch Twilight today. To me it is a coma-inducing show.

At times it feels like watching 7th Heaven on a big screen. The story is slow and some dialogues are just so corny and laughable. Haha. Its romantic scenes are almost comedic to me. The funniest thing is that there are scenes where some girls in the cinema giggled when the male lead...shucks i still dunno his name...looks at the female lead. I dunno what's so funny !#$%^! Haiz, must be generation gap. Haha.

I think my story line that the male lead who played Cedric in Harry Potter 4 is revived as a vampire in twilight is one that can be pursued. So maybe Hermione can do a cameo and we'll have a love triangle. Or Dumbledore can save Cedric (ya the vampire) from some bloodthirsty werewolf in the second part of the series....mmm....maybe Chris Weitz who is slated to be directing the next movie can do something more with the talented cast, think American Pie (his 1999 effort) meets Anne Rice....

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How creative!

Gestalt

Following from my post on heuristics, i shall share what i just found out about the Gestalt Principles. Chong Long, my friend who's studying media in NTU introduced me to this concept after I asked him about some stuff on branding.

From my understanding, Gestalt psychology talks about the principle of totality. Our mind will see things by 'summing them up' to have them make more sense to us.

From wiki: 

Principle of Totality - The conscious experience must be considered globally (by taking into account all the physical and mental aspects of the individual simultaneously) because the nature of the mind demands that each component be considered as part of a system of dynamic relationships.

The Gestalt 'laws' are SIMILARITY, CONTINUATION, CLOSURE, PROXIMITY, FIGURE & GROUND.

One of the examples of gestalt laws at work is the symbol for WWF. And yes, i believe that the featured character is a favorite of ZhaoBin, here's a tribute to him for being such a great friend and for surprising me with a post card sent form USA. PANDA!!!!!

If you look at the above picture, the picture of the panda is not 'complete'. But we are able to perceive that see that it is a panda, but filling up the white spaces. 

The following picture is also very effective in communicating with the audience the need to spread the message about saving wildlife animals. A few black curved lines that is drawn on the panda's ears would allow us to SEE that it is like a transmitter radio station sending our radio waves. But wait! Have we ever SEEN radio waves 'live'? No...what we have seen is a depiction of waves as presented in charts and diagrams. Isn't the human mind amazing? 

 

However there is danger in the way our brain processes such info. We may recognize patterns or info when IT IS NOT THERE. If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, acts like a duck, IT MAY NOT BE A DUCK...at this point i'm thinking about the disney movie, bolt, where the dog acts, thinks, behaves like a super dog, but he's just an ordinary dog. 

After we have created an impression of what we think we should see, we paint a world where we see the thing. 

How creative and convenient, yet so dangerous if we are not aware of our shortcomings :)

Heuristic

We live in a complex world and we are forced to make thousands of decisions in a day. How we largely avoid banging into each other while walking on the street is a pretty amazing decision making process. Its a little waltz that we do intuitively, by processing thousands of signals and implement the appropriate action - speed, facial expression, level of congestion, weather,etc.

To simplify our decision making process, we often rely on heuristic to make decision. Heuristic, or 'rule of thumb' allow us to survive in this world without over taxing our brain.

An abuse of heuristic may lead to dire consequences. In behavioral finance, we learn that heuristics such as anchoring or sample size bias can lead to sub-optimal decisions. However, when heuristics are used in the decision making for doctors, misuse could lead to wrong treatment or possibly death.

Reading a fascinating book called "How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman. Amazing book. It brings you through how doctors make decisions, what are the conditions that wrong decisions are made, and how PATIENTS and DOCTORS can work together to reduce misdiagnosis. I don't understand the medical terms in the book at all, so i shall not attempt to use it. haha.

Imagine you see a dirty looking old man reeking with smell of liquour sent into the ER with bloated limbs, you'll first assume there's something wrong with his liver, when in fact there could be something wrong with some other organs (too).

Another common problem is the one that is dealt with by jie chao on his post on bayesian analysis. Failure to adjust for base rate could lead to unnecessary treatments despite the very high accuracy of the test itself.

Doctors who work with mental checklist can prevent some of these heuristics. But doctors are human too, they have their own preference and incentives. As patients, we should look out for these human fallibility and be alert to point these out to the doctors if we suspect that it has occurred.

Amazing little book. It just might save my life one day...


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Daniel's parents are two of the kindest people that i've met. People who offer their help even when none was asked warm our hearts. I'll forever be grateful for their kind words. Hope Daniel recovers soon. Haiz, only he will air my fabricated dirty laundry in front of his family. Seriously, if he doesn't want to be in finance, he can be a really successful writer with his vivid imaginations. hahah.

Two drops of oil

My exchange to Canada is drawing near. And with my parents' support, I've also applied to internships in Hong Kong. Exciting, yet, i feel a little sad that i won't be around my family and friends for that period of time .

In  The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the following story is told by an old man to a young shepherd before he embarks on his journey to find his treasure. I love this story. And i hope we can all find out what our two drops of oil are, and never lose sight of it. 

"A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for forty days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, high atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived.

Rather than finding a saintly man, though, our hero, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity: tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world. The wise man conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was his turn to be given the man's attention.

The wise man listened attentively to the boy's explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn't have time just then to explain the secret of happiness. He suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours.

'Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something,' said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil. 'As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill.'

The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was.

'Well,' asked the wise man, 'did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?'

The boy was embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.

'Then go back and observe the marvels of my world,' said the wise man. 'You cannot trust a man if you don't know his house.'

Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen.

‘But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?' asked the wise man. Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone.

'Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you,' said the wisest of wise men. 'The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.' "