apparently there has been a new study on that most magical of numbers, 7.  researches have long known about 7 (plus or minus 2) being the number the maximum number of things we can recall with short-term, or working, memory.  in this new study, however, researchers tried to create a model of brain activity to explain how the firing and suppressing of neurons involved in this process explains why it gets exponentially more difficult (for normal minds) to continue adding to this working memory.  it seems, as has been demonstrated repeatedly with human subjects, 7 seems to be the breaking point.  as the article states,

As a sentence or a string of numbers gets longer, it becomes exponentially harder for the excited cluster to suppress the others from firing, resulting in pathways that are weak or barely there. Recalling seven items requires about 15 times the suppression needed to recall three. Ten items requires inhibitory powers that are 50 times stronger, and 20 or more items would require suppression hundreds of times stronger still. That, Rabinovich explained, is normally not biologically feasible.

now, I’m not troubling myself with the details of the study here because it’s not what is interesting me right now.  instead, I’m thinking back to all the sermons heard and lessons learned in Sunday school about how 7 was the number of God.  7 days in creation, 7 days in the week, 7 days of Passover (ignoring that these are all pretty much the same thing…), 7 spirits of God, 7 churches in Asia,

the 10 commandments are found in the 70th chapter of the Bible (ignoring, of course, the later, sometimes arbitrary origin of those divisions), 7 loaves of bread,

7 deadly sins,

and so on.

of course, 7’s magicalness extends beyond the Bible: in addition to it simply being a lucky number, we have the 7 chakras in Hinduism, 7 heavens in Islam (as well as 7 fires of hell), Judaism’s 7-branched candelabrum (of the temple, not Hanukkah),

7 lucky Japanese gods of fortune

and, of course, the 7-layer whopper released in Japan last month.

so assuming that this new study is true — heck, let’s up the ante and say that the number 7 is not just the statistical average of things that can be held in short-term memory but in fact “written” into the brain’s hardwiring — I can’t help but think about how this story could and should be interpreted in light of the importance of the number in various cultures and their myths and religions.  one the one hand, there’s the could.  some people will surely see this as evidence that God — whose number is 7, remember? — created us in such a way that his number could be found implanted within our brains.  oh, the trickster!  glory!

on the other hand, there’s the should.  that the number 7 may be found across various cultures because of the structure of our brains.  now again, this is taking this study beyond face value and assuming way more than necessary, but it’s illustrative of a larger problem of how we interpret evidence.  for instance, you often hear about how the conditions on this planet, nay, universe, are perfect for life.  if the earth moved an inch in its orbit, we would all burn of freeze (nobody really knows the physics, they just know this).  everything we need for life and health is bountifully provided on the planet by the plants (and animals, if you’re one of those ).  and when we’re not inconsiderately interfering, the planet is fairly good at balancing itself out and maintaining homeostasis.  in short, clear evidence of design and of the hand of a beneficent creator.

the problem, of course, is that this type of thinking is backward.  it involves looking at the end product, irrespective of how it developed, concluding that things couldn’t have been any other way — that this was the intended product, or even the only imaginable one — and consequently marveling at the fact that conditions or means just happened to exactly what was necessary.  it entails looking first at the nutrients we need to develop and survive and then at what’s available in the world, which, lo and behold, match up quite nicely.  what are the odds?!  this is essentially how I learned to look at the world — excuse me, creation — growing up in church.  it is, like many other un or pseudoscientific views preferred by the church over time, alarmingly egotistic.

the correct view, of course, even crudely understood, is just the opposite.  the essential nutrients and conditions of life are not there to meet our needs as we are, but rather we are the way we are — and life is the way it is — because “we” evolved as we were able to break down those nutrients for energy and as “we” were capable of surviving — better, thriving — in those environments.  God didn’t create bluish/grayish eyes — much less give them specifically to me — so that people whom he wanted to live in cold environments with less sunlight could thrive; rather, the genetic mutation spread — and in recent evolutionary memory, at that — because of benefits for those who were already living in those environments.  I mean, that’s a pithy, pathetic explanation, but it’s immediately more reasonable that the former position, as humbling as that might be.

this doesn’t provide any really satisfying answer as to why the number 7 can be found in so many cultures, playing such an important role, but I’m not interested enough right now to sift through any explanations there might be.  plus, let’s not pretend that 7 is really that prevalent around the globe, or that it’s even all that important in the Bible.  rather, this is an instance of the human tendency to look for patterns and to bias all the instances of what we’re looking for — ignoring all the other numbers that are just as important/mundane.

On the advice of colleagues we ordered a quick lunch from the Wembley Roadhouse. I opted for the Beafeater which is a nice, quick and heavy burger/sandwich really worth it at R24.95. It turned out to be almost similar to the Whopper and I really couldn’t tell the difference even though I initially assumed there was one considering the price difference.  The Whopper was R19.95.

My title is in reference to my last post, when I mentioned rain. It is funny how things like that work, not seeing something happen for awhile and then it happening conveniently when you ask for it. It’s almost as if God dropped it solely because I asked, and I can’t complain if that were the case. These last days have been filled quite nicely with productivity.

Online classes began this week and I have maintained a positive outlook on them and made sure to stay ahead in both classes. Along with classes being online, I have my whole day freed up to allow myself to do whatever I please. I make it sound so heavenly, but it isn’t being abused. I spent roughly an hour yesterday at the Winter Park Court House so that I could void one of my two “traffic citations.” Going to something like this is never a convenience for anyone and no one here looked happy. Sometime you just have to pick yourself up and demand that you go and get it out of the way. Now that I have done that, I am glad I can look on and forget.

On a different note, I made my first peanut butter and jelly sandwich with added Whopper candy bites. We had some extra Whoppers lying around and I thought to myself what better way to get them out of the way, but still be used. The sandwich was quite delicious, as expected. What I didn’t expect was how quickly my body tore that sandwich apart, used what it needed, and disposed of it. I found myself driving home and speeding so I could make it to the toilet. Needless to say the sandwich was worth all I went through.

Lastly, I felt compelled to get on my bike and ride today, despite the drizzle. The rain had stopped for the most part, sporadic raindrops here and there, and so I went to rode around the surrounding neighborhood that I lived in. On the ride, I discovered very nicely built houses and several ponds/lakes that were surrounded by these houses. I stopped to sit at a bench and have a talk with the big man upstairs. He has been good to me, all my life, and more specifically these past two months that I’ve lived.

I hope everyone has the opportunity to an incredible Thanksgiving Day that can be spent with friends, family, and loved ones. I made the decision to stay here in Orlando for this holiday and hope that my family back in Oklahoma has a great time . So many babies have come into this world and into the Friend family these past few years, it’s incredible! Be thankful for that which you don’t think of on a daily basis and know that everyone is blessed and that there is more to be thankful for than one can imagine.

Brought to you by our friends at Conservative For Change, President Obama just can’t seem to stop bowing to leaders of the world.  http://www.conservativeforchange.com/2009/11/obama-bowing-before-more-royalty.html

Just couldn’t resist sharing a bit of humor.

Open wide, say ahhh and check out more posts from Ahrcanum including our Swine Flu report that started  in April and is updated regularly at http://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

SUBSCRIBE NOW for further updates in the top right margin.

Manga University takes a look at the Japan only seven-patty Windows 7 Whopper from Burger King. This mammoth burger was released as a promotion for Microsoft’s Windows 7 and sold for only 777 yen to the first 30 customers who arrived at the store each day. Shout out to Henry Chuum for the video!

“Have It Your Way,” sebuah slogan yang lahir sejak 1974. Burger King, adalah pesaing terkuat untuk McD dan Wendy’s di negerinya(ya iyaaaaa lah…ga ada yg laen!!). Memulai invasi di Indonesia sejak tahun 2007, Burger King terbukti unggul mengalahkan Wendy’s dan McD dengan burger racikan asli yang tidak mengalami penyesuaian “menu” di Indonesia. Dengan menu unggulan yakni Whopper Burger, toti burger bertahtakan wijen dan di isi dengan pickles (acar timun khas Amrik ^^, saos mayo, daun salad, dan grilled beef)..Weew..I just can’t help myself.

Gw gak begitu sering makan burger king..kalo ga salah inget, kayaknya baru 4 kali deh…Mungkin setaun cuman makan 1-3 kali, secara, gw jarang masuk ke resto FastFood. Tapi, semenjak McD sudah mulai menunjukkan tanda2 hengkang dari dunia perFastFood-an di Indonesia (as u see, McD Sarinah yang udah berdiri kokoh sejak zaman mami papi gw masih muda,,sekarang harus tutup dan diganti dengan Tony Jack’s –> katanya sih, franchisee McD udah dijual dan diganti dengan Tony Jack’s, resto Fast FOod juga yg kabarnya dibuka oleh asli orang Indonesia). Hal ini juga terjadi untuk beberapa cabang McD yang lain, Mal Ciputra, Pesanggrahan-Kebun Jeruk, dan masih banyak lagi cabang yg tutup.

Menu favorit gw disini adalah Whooper Jr, value meal (Udah ada Burger Whopper+Coca Cola+French Fries) harganya Rp.31.500…WORTHED BANGET!! Why? The burger,,is so authentic with its grilled beef, lalu french fries-nya yg garing, tapi tetap juicy, porsinya banyak..bisa di-share berdua (bila dibandingkan dengan French Fries KFC atau McD, jauh banget deh..) lalu Coca Cola-nya..lebih berasa, konsentrat-nya lebih kental, biasa di resto KFC atau di McD, Coca Cola-nya berasa encer, kayaknya udah ditambah air deh..^^

Intinya, kalo dari 4 kali gw udah makan 3 kali Whopper Jr, dan rasanya tetap sama, gw cuman pernah sekali mencoba mengganti menu gw dengan burger yang lain, tapi gak gitu enak!! Tetep, WHopper Jr. TOP MARKOTOP!!!

psst, kalo makannya sama orang2 yg kamu sayang, pasti lebih enak deh..Rasanya lebih bergairah buat melahap seporsi  Whopper Jr. +French fries yg bener2 bisa bikin perut gadis normal berasa mo meledak..wkwkwkwkwk

A couple of weeks ago, Burger King released a special 7 beef patty whopper as a sales gimmick in relation to Windows 7 release. Windows 7 – 7 Patties, get it?

Maybe the feeling was if the burger doesn’t kill you, working with Windows 7 will.

Anyway, I decided to give the burger a shot. It turned out to be more of a chore than I thought and I barely finished it with my sanity and blood pressure intact. Here is the result of my experiment.

It was a whale of burger (but no real whale as far as I could tell) with a fair amount of grease that turned the bun into a soggy mess.

In the background is music from street performers in Germany so if you hear German voices, it’s from the background music and not your head – this time.

BTW no offense to Burger King intended. For fast food, Burger King makes good burgers but 7 patties? Good Lord, that’s just too much!

It’s 2:00 in the morning, and I just walked in the door from work.  It was a good day: we had a Christmas party, I got two more Great Service Fanatic Cards, and had more great guests than usual.  I didn’t get off until 1:15 though, so I was exhausted by the end of the night.  The only thing keeping me going was the thought that Burger King was on the way home, and I was gonna stop and get a Whopper.  Yum!

I called Erik as I was leaving work.  It was late, but he knew I was getting off late and wanted to stay up late enough to talk to me. (Aww!)  So I was on the phone with him as I pulled in to Burger King.  It was 1:57 by the time I got there, but all of the lights were on, so I decided they must still be open.  I pulled in to the drive-thru, rolled down my window, and started to ask for a Whopper with the works when that crackly voice said, “Sorry, we’re closed!”  I was flabbergasted.  I asked if he was serious, and of course he was.  Dejected, I began to pull around.  But as I was telling Erik they were closed, I decided to use my secret weapon: my feminine wiles.  I drove up to the window, waited for someone to come over, and pointed out (with a big, sweet smile) that it was still two minutes until 2:00.  He smiled, sighed, and asked me what kind of burger I wanted.  As I told him I would take whatever they had ready, I began to get out my wallet.  “Don’t worry about it,” he said.  When he turned around to get my burger, I picked up my phone and laughed as I told Erik that this guy was going to give me a burger.  Then I notice that the guy is also scooping up an order of fries!  As I drove away with my burger, yes, I felt a little pathetic in a “Liz Lemon” sort of way (Click here if you have no idea who Liz Lemon is).  But I also felt triumphant.  Erik could only stammer furiously about how girls get whatever they want.  And he’s right!  Ah, it’s good to be a female.

In other news, I had my Campus Rep interview today, which just may have been the most successful interview ever: she offered me a slot on the team right then and there.  After she’d asked me a few questions about my CP experience, she said it sounded like I had some great ideas for promoting the program, and that I would be a valuable addition to the team.  She said she’d like to offer me the spot, and I said I’d like to accept the spot!  That makes this my first post as a Campus Rep.  Yay!

School lunches weren’t always awful. In fact, sometimes what they were serving in the lunchroom ended up being the highlight of the school day. I always loved “Chef Salad Day” because that was a larger than average meal, plus it was guaranteed we would get a good dessert to offset the healthiness of the salad. And “Chicken Finger Day” was good because they served the chicken with mashed potatoes which I used as dipping sauce. So good.

But of course, there was one legendary favorite lunch, which has become immortalized along with other fond memories of elementary school like Oregon Trail in the computer lab, or that miraculous loudspeaker announcement that we would be getting out of two hours of class because the local community college was promoting their newest play in the auditorium. I am referring to, of course, the always-satisfying “school lunch pizza”.

A simple 4×6 inch flat pizza consisting of a crust reminiscent of Saltine crackers, brushed with tangy red sauce consisting of one sole herb (oregano), and covered in magical government cheese. Of course, I would do my best to scrounge up enough spare change to afford an extra “slice” of rectangle pizza for a dollar.

Every once in a while, I would get lucky because the first 15 minutes of lunch went by and the girl sitting diagonally across from me still hadn’t touched her pizza (or had only taken a small bite out of the corner). At that point, I would softly and nonchalantly ask the famous question, “Do you want your pizza?”

The weird thing is, just recently I realized that our school lunch pizzas didn’t even have any toppings. No meat! How did I just now realize that? As a 9 year-old boy, I would completely devour Burger King’s Double Whopper Combo Meal. Yet I never realized that those pizzas were just dough, sauce, and cheese.

from December 21, 2008

it exists. 2200 calories. bill gates is trying to kill you.

A new study published  in Health Psychology by Jennifer Harris, John Bargh and Kelly Brownell of Yale says in so many words that whether we realize it or not every food ad we see on television (or in any other medium) is actually an ad for whatever food we have in the pantry at the moment:

“Children consumed 45% more when exposed to food advertising. Adults consumed more of both healthy and unhealthy snack foods following exposure to snack food advertising compared to the other conditions. In both experiments, food advertising increased consumption of products not in the presented advertisements, and these effects were not related to reported hunger or other conscious influences.”

What’s interesting about this is that the basic idea of food appears to be stronger than any specific suggestion made by advertising. The authors conclude:

“These experiments demonstrate the power of food advertising to prime automatic eating behaviors and thus influence far more than brand preference alone.”

In other words, much as we want our ads to be rifles, they are shotguns. Let those who claim otherwise be condemned to eat nothing but Milk Duds for all eternity.

sorry people, this one’s in german…

Manmo Temple auf Hong Kong Island, vor den Mid Levels

…um ehrlich zu sein, ich werde Hong Kong im großen und ganzen nicht beschreiben können. Auch nicht “the spirit of hong kong”. Ich hab zwar zwei Jahre da gelebt und hab Hong Kong nach 15 Jahren wieder besucht, aber ich weiss trotzdem nicht genug. Aber damals wie heute fällt die Diversität auf. Die Mischung zwischen kolonialem britischem Einfluss, kantonesischer Tradition und die Moderne des Kommerses. Und sieht man überall wunderbare Kontraste und das schöne an Hong Kong ist, dass man egal ob man sich auf einer der vielen kleinen Inseln befindet, auf dem Peak einen Rundgang läuft, von dem Magazine Gap runter nach Aberdeen läuft… es gibt überall was zu entdecken, was nie und nimmer in Reiseführern drin stehen kann. Wenn man shoppen will (Kleidung), geht man in die Boutiquen in Pacific Place oder nach (Elektronik) Tsim Sha Tsui. Für ein echtes Hong Kong, wie es leibt und lebt ist Wan Chai angesagt, um so richtig zwischen den Hong Kong Chinesen einzutauchen. Für echte und sehr gute chinesische und kantonesische Küche geht man auch nach Wan Chai oder Jordan und entdeckt die großen Restaurants, die nur von Chinesen besucht werden, weil die Touristen normaler Weise in Burger Kings und Mc Donald’s’ herumhängen und sich ihre whoppigen Big Macs bestellen. … Fortsetzung folgt.

Whopper Sacrifice är ett bra exempel på hur man verkligen aktiverar användarna. I det här fallet ska man offra 10 vänner på Facebook för att få en Whopper från Burger King. Skapligt långt från produkt och köp. Det är synd. 

Tycker idén håller i alla fall. Men tänk vad det skulle kunna ha blivit om det varit för en produkt eller tjänst med ett direkt avslut…

Noviembre ya está aquí y Floppy entra en la recta final del año! Como es costumbre, arrancaremos esta ajetreada época del año con un súper invitado especial; Carlos Pérez Valdés, quien es ni más ni menos que el director de Windows en México y quien traerá varias sorpresas para nuestros Floppyescuchas además de platicarnos un poco del nuevo y recién lanzado Windows 7!

Escúchannos en vivo dando click al siguiente botón!

En vivo los MIERCOLES a las 20:00hrs!

Si no nos escuchaste en vivo, no te preocupes, puedes descargar el programa el día siguiente de su transmisión en el siguiente botón:

Descárgalo Aquí!

Otra opción de Floppy, es nuesto canal de TV , donde no necesariamente podrán ver el programa de radio pero que cuenta con una programación bizarramente variada y un par de sorpresas en la opción de “Video-On-Demand” – Para ver nuestro canal, da click en la siguiente imágen.

Disfruta de la programación pre-grabada de Floppy Radio TV aquí!

Si quieres estar al tanto del mundo Floppy así como notas y otras ocurrencias, síguennos en nuestra pagina de Twitter!

Búscannos como “floppyradio” o da click en la imágen!

Porque Floppy, también Twittea...

Si te interesa saber de donde sacamos la información del programa, puedes checar los siguientes links!

WINDOWS 7

La página oficial de Windows

El Wiki de Windows

Windows 7 Whopper! 2120 Calorías de poder!!

TECNOLOGÍA

Costos y rendimiento del Internet al rededor del mundo… Le ganamos a Grecia!!

El concurso por el elevador espacial

CINE

Hannibal en Thor

Supersónicos sin Robert Rodriguez

Baldwin y Martin para el Oscar

Hollywood vs Facebook

Edificios rodando, un 747 surfeando, tsunami en los himalayas y un portaaviones cayendo contra la casa blanca… Si 2012 te parecía excesivo, viene 2013 directo a destruir tu televisión

Sherlock Holmes, trailer 3

ANIMACIÓN

Dreamworks vs Pixar en números y el nuevo trailer de How to train your dragon

videoclip: ruse of fools, the flood, digno de jalogüín

En la línea de Persépolis y Waltz with Bashir, viene Zeitoun

Secuela de Roger Rabbit usará performance capture, pero no para Roger

VIDEOJUEGOS

¿Quiéres saber más de videojuegos?

Asiste a Conexión Playstation ESTE fin de semana!

Descarga el programa para Conexión Playstation AQUI!

Nuevos personajes para Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, disponibles 5 de Noviembre

¿Qué tan buena es tu concentración como Gamer?… ¡con Strippers encima!

OC Remix lanza “Castlevania: Sonata of the Damned”, un remix de toda la música de la serie, GRATIS!

Siguiendo la racha, OC Remix lanza “Humans + Gears. Xenogears Remixed” – Descárgalo Aquí!

TRAILER DE LA SEMANA

Prince of Persia

BICHO DE LA SEMANA

Porque es mala idea conducir un X-Wing y comer una hamburguesa al mismo tiempo

ROLAS DE LA SEMANA

Esta semana tenemos una selección musical de lujo:

I gotta feeling. Black Eyes Peas del disco T.H.E. E.N.D.

Center of the Universe. Kamelot

4 minutes. Madonna

¡Qué lo disfruten!

-F

Finally Windows 7 has been released in Japan, and a lot of bought this os to update from Windows Vista.

BTW, in Japan, a famous hamburger chain “Burger King” is doing a campaign with Microsoft, and they are serving an enormous hamburger named “Windows 7 WHOPPER”.

I was really surprised by its size! It has seven patties between its hamburger buns!

According to the Japanese news article, it weights almost 1kg.

My friend has eaten one and he said he didn’t want to eat a hamburger for a while.

Burger King in Japan speelt in op de hype rond Windows 7 met de Windows 7 Whopper: een hamburger met 7 lappen vlees, in totaal 13 centimeter hoog.
De eerste 30 klanten per dag betalen ook slechts 777 yen, zo’n 5,6 euro. De laatkomers moeten 1450 yen, of 10,5 euro neertellen voor de caloriebom.

Während des Realese von Windows 7 in Japan gibt es eine nette Aktion von Burger King. Den Windows 7 Whopper. 777 Yen, 7 Lagen Fleisch… Bon Appetit.

Anteriormente ya habia posteado l anoticia de la hamburguesa de 7 carnes, esdicion especial de windows 7 xD , pos aqi la mostramos en video :p

Can you guess how many patties?

I’m not sure how I feel about this…..  Windows 7 and a 7 burger Whopper!

This looks like one of those classic examples of co-branding gone wild! ….(but it’s getting people to talk!)

I wonder which fast food chain Apple would co-brand with? hmmmmmmmm

i’m sure many of you are aware that Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 7 released on the 22nd of October. but more importantly, are you all aware of the Microsoft x Japanese Burger King promotional stunt? yes, you heard right. Burger Kings in Japan have released a limited time Windows 7 Whopper! seven fucking patties. like most of my friends, we immediately wanted one.

in the land of the rising sun, bigger really is better. SO EPIC! I MUST HAVE ONE!! i don’t care if i have to import it in a box of dry ice, i will conquer this beast. it totals to a “whopping” 2010 calories! nomnomnomnomnom.