Dear friend, 

My thoughts on this study can be explained by one word: "Gross." 

Other than that, I'm pretty sure it's not abnormal to consider body and soul to be separate things. I mean, if you read pretty much any philosophy, the fact that human beings are capable of being self-conscious about their own thinking and our own bodies, that we are able to comprehend our existence consciously outside our bodily confines indicates to me that body and soul, or body and consciousness are two different things. This also follows for people who have had out-of-body experiences, that sort of thing. I dunno, it's not really shocking news to me. 36 hours is surely impressive, but I don't think it has any really new implications regarding consciousness, though it does raise the question about whether we could possibly transfer consciousness someday to a newer body, right? If the brain is still alive, is there any possible way that science in the future could allow a person whose body is dead to continue living in a new body with the same consciousness?... though surely that would have crazy ethical issues attached to it. That about sums up any thoughts I had about it. 

Cheers, 

Guesthouse

Dear clock-a-roni and cheese,

I enjoyed the National Geographic discussion of it, "Pig brains partially revived hours after death—what it means for people."

The article discussed how the study didn't measure—in fact, it sought to inhibit—any degree of consciousness. 

While I don't venture to know the ethical quandaries of such an experiment, something like that would go a long ways towards solving that question. I feel like they're tightly connected, however, because treating someone for mental illness can dramatically shape their mind and personality, and someone who suffers a traumatic brain injury can change significantly as well, such as with the case of Phineas Gage, who in 1848 survived being impaled through the head with a railroad tamping iron.  

I don't really have any other ideas about this besides those, because I'm really tired right now, indeed, hardly conscious at all. 

Interesting question. Thanks for writing in. 

Suerte,

--Ardilla Feroz

Dear you,

The study reminded me of this. I guess it doesn't really surprise me or make me question anything, since I had already known that chickens and other animals can survive without heads for a time and after people are guillotined they can still blink their eyes for a few seconds afterwards.

I'd suggest you watch Ghost in the Shell. No, not the Hollywood action movie that came out a few years ago (I haven't seen that and I have no intention to), but the original anime series. minnow introduced me to it, and it's quite fascinating. The series is actually very philosophical. It's set in a future earth with robots and robotic bodies, but they'll often question things like is there a ghost (spirit) in the shell (machine) if machines have been programmed to think and feel in similar ways to humans. I'm not a huge anime fan but I really loved this series. Here's a small clip.

-guppy of doom

Dear VIP, 

• In Switzerland, it is illegal to own only one guinea pig because they're social creatures and forcing them to live in isolation is considered animal abuse. To avoid having issues with the law if one of them dies, you can rent a temporary guinea pig friend. 
• About 10-20% of power outages in the U.S. are caused by squirrels (Ardilla gets hungry for those wires sometimes, who can blame him?) 
• When the Parks and Recreation writers wrote the glorious 'Duke Silver' alter ego for Ron Swanson, they actually had no idea that Nick Offerman was, in fact, a very talented Saxophone player already. 
• About half of all peanuts grown in the US are destined specifically for peanut butter (and other peanut spreads)
• In Oklahoma, dogs have to have a permit signed by the major to congregate in groups of 3 or more on any person's lawn. 
• My favorite trivia is still the Great Molasses Flood, see Board Question #91769
• There is a town called Levan, Utah that is in pretty much the dead center of the state. In other words... it's the state's belly button, er, navel. And navel spelled backwards is... Levan. 
• I changed my mind, I forgot about the Rhinoceros Party of Canada, active for over 30 years. They're my favorite random trivia. Some highlights of their platform: 
  • Repealing the law of gravity
  • Storing nuclear waste in the Senate: "After all, we've been storing political waste there for years"
  • Instituting English, French and illiteracy as Canada's three official languages.
  • Providing higher education by building taller schools
  • Declaring war on Belgium because a Belgian cartoon character, Tintin, killed a rhinoceros in one of the cartoons. They would call off the proposed Belgium-Canada war if Belgium delivered a case of mussels and a case of Belgian beer to Rhinoceros "Hindquarters" in Montreal (the Belgian Embassy in Ottawa did, in fact, do this)
  • Counting the Thousand Islands to see if the Americans have stolen any
  • Ending crime by abolishing all laws

That should do for now. I hope you feel enlightened. Also, hmu if you wanna start a satire political party with me. 

Cheers, 

Guesthouse

Dear Connection,

Despite it's connection to Gen-Z and them youth with their Fortnite and what-not, the word "yeet" reached its prime useage in the 1830's.

Yeet,

Tipperary

Dear Rainbow,

HAVE I GOT SOME HIBERNATION FACTS FOR YOU!!!

Okay, so the other day I became curious about why bears and other hibernating animals don't die of dehydration. I assumed that maybe they woke up periodically to drink water and stuff, but I was wrong! Hibernation is super weird!

The main ways that living things lose water is through breathing and through urination (obviously). Bears breathe much less while they're hibernating, and they don't actually need to go to the bathroom at all. All their internal processes have slowed down, they're not taking in any new food or toxins, and therefore don't need to get them out through urination or defecation, therefore, they lose almost none of the water they have in their bodies when they go to bed for their longer-than-normal sleep. Also, when fat is processed by the body, water is formed as a byproduct*! Any water that they lose by breathing gets replenished through their fat stores. Hibernation is pretty rockin'. 

-Quixotic Kid

*This is actually also how camels can go so long without water too. They store it as fat and then get it back as it's processed! There's not just a water belly in one of the humps like we were taught as kids. Camels are way weird. 

Dear RC,

I recently found out that Jane Stanford, the co-founded of Stanford University, was poisoned! This is super sad because she was a pretty boss woman who supported women and opposed racism.

Though my actual favorite random fact is that the national animal of Scotland is a unicorn. (I'm not kidding. Look it up.)

-guppy of doom

Dear Rainbow,

There is such a thing as cockroach milk—as in cockroaches themselves produce milk. Another great factoid (which I discovered because it was included in my new lease) is that apparently 25% of the earth's biomass is mold (there was seriously a paragraph purely devoted to facts about mold in my lease).

~Anathema

Dear Connection,

I already answered, but here's another crazy tidbit that's particularly appropriate for this question. Most people believe any statement that has a link without even checking the link. If you want to read more, I highly recommend reading this Time Magazine article about fact-checking and fake news (http://time.com/5362183/the-real-fake-news-crisis/).

Peace,

Tipperary

Dear Luscious Locks, 

When in life will Queer Eye not be the answer to our questions? Here is some of the stuff I found from JVN and a few other sources. Also, if readers disagree with any of the advice that I have here, that's fine, and feel free to leave a correction. These are just tips, tricks, styling techniques, and products from stylists, plus a few things that I've found are good for me personally.

Tips/Tricks:

• Silk Pillowcases reduce friction while you sleep. I must say, I wake up with MUCH less frizz than before, and haven't had to trim as often from split ends. 
• Don't shampoo your hair every day, even after workouts. The oils in your hair are meant to be there, and they keep it healthy. Shampooing every day will dry you out. If you're feeling a bit oily, dry shampoo will help with that. 
• Use natural shampoos without Sulfates. Sulfates are the things that make shampoo lather, but according to JVN, they strip your hair too harshly of all its natural oils. We'll talk about some products below, but aim for sulfate free natural shampoo, or preferably a co-wash (2 in 1, kind of.) 
• Take care of yourself. Drink enough water, exercise, and sleep regularly. All that stuff shows in grooming too. 

Cheers, 

Guesthouse

Dear Patience,

My hypothesis is that we totally could but it's probably really expensive and impractical. Now, let's see if my hypothesis is correct shall we?

High speed trains go pretty fast. Not as fast as air planes, but up to twice as fast as highways. They're really cool and are an exciting transportation option. Furthermore, train tickets are cheaper than airplanes, which makes traveling easier. It also involves a lot less security hassle than airplanes, which for certain distances means that traveling by plane is actually faster. Trains can carry more people than planes and have lower emissions (source). They are very popular in China, Japan, and throughout Europe. So why don't we have as many in the United States?

There are several reasons why they haven't caught on over here yet. One reason is that the US has significantly higher car ownership per capita than most countries (source). This puts trains into greater competition with cars. The other issue is how spread out the United States of America is. A 2-3 hour train ride in Europe can take you from one country to the next. There are parts of Texas where you can drive for 12 hours without leaving Texas. High speed trains work best between 2 very large cities that are relatively close. For the 100 most populated countries the United States is all the way down at #79 (source). Furthermore, the USA has more than 20 times as many airports & airfields as China or any Western European country (source). This gives stiff competition for any potential high speed trains.

While the competition for high speed trains is steep, there are parts of the United States where they could potential thrive. Los Angeles to San Francisco or Los Angeles to Las Vegas come to mind as attractive options. There are plenty of cities on the East Coast where trains are already popular. High speed trains between cities like Washington D.C., New York, and Boston have huge potential. Here's a map of a proposed high speed rail system from about 10 years ago:

(source)

Here's a map of the planned high-speed rail system in California:

(source)

So what happened? Money happened. It turns out, the cost of high-speed trains is a big deal. Estimates from 10 years ago when this plan was proposed were that a system for the US would cost about $82 million per mile. That worked out to about $750 Billion for a national rail system (source). $82 million per mile is a pretty heavy price to pay when we already have great roads and airports. The cost was so high that California has decided to abandon their high-speed rail system (source).

I think that eventual we will see high-speed rail systems in the United States. I think that California will be the first one to build one. They have real traffic issues and a LA to San Francisco high speed train would be amazing. Unfortunately though it looks like for now high speed trains are a little too expensive. 

That is why we can't have nice things.

Peace,

Tipperary