mental

A Pocket-Sized Mental Anguish Calculator Could Come In Handy at the DMV

6:10AM Sean Fallon | When you want to see humanity at it’s worst, you go to the DMV. Thanks to quirky Japanese inventors, I can now monetise my mental anguish with a handy pocket-sized calculator. More »

Sending Too Many SMS Messages Means You Have a Mental Disorder

5:15AM Jason Chen | The same doctor that was pushing for internet addiction to be classified as an official mental disorder has now published an article in the latest American Journal of Psychiatry stating that sending a large amount of SMS messages will qualify as well. Not only that, it seems that Jerald Block is throwing in too much computer gaming in the mental disorder pile too. What do you and your BFF Jill think? Is too much SMSing something you need to get professional help to quit, as evidenced by the findings that “people who are denied access to the internet or mobile phones displayed feelings of anger, tension, and/or depression?” [Cellular News via Tech Dirt] More »

How Adrenaline Junkies Eat Dinner

4:30PM Nick Broughall | I love heights. I stare out the window for takeoffs and landings when I’m flying. I walk right up to cliffs edges when I’m bushwalking and look over the drop. If there was a job I could see myself doing other than writing for Giz, it would probably be a stunt pilot. But I would never do this. Ever. Dinner in the Sky gets you and 21 of your mates or work colleagues, straps you into a swivel chair connected to a big-ass table, then hoists you up 50 metres from the ground while you eat a meal. Just don’t drop a steak knife onto unsuspecting passersby beneath you. Waiters walk through the middle of the rectangular table to serve you food and wine. Which you’ll need plenty of, considering your chair practically hangs over the open air. It’s not cheap – the whole thing starts at about 8,500 Euro, excluding VAT (about $14,100), with extras like photographers available. And if you’re going to drop that kind of cash on dinner, you’re going to pay the extra for a photographer, aren’t you? The website has videos of people crazy enough to try this out, for those of you crazy enough to be interested in something like this. [Dinner In the Sky - Thanks Ben] More »

Magnets Might Chase Those Blues Away

11:56PM Seamus Byrne | We’ve been hearing wild stories recently about researchers using magnetic stimulation of the brain to make a sleep-on-demand machine, and now here’s a magnetic brain stimulator that psychiatrists might use to treat clinical depression. It’s supposed to send an electromagnetic pulse 3cm into your brain, and somehow stimulate the prefrontal cortex, that part of the brain responsible for making you a civilized human being. At the same time, it gets that blood flowing more freely, making you feel oh-so-good. Hey, who wouldn’t want a magnetic strap-on to chase the blues away? The FDA is testing this thingamajig, and if all goes well we could be catching a buzz from this magnetic toaster by the end of next year. Hang on, you depressed souls, help is on the way. – Charlie White The Magnetic Brain Stimulator Will See You Now [Wired] More »