Deano’s answer to: “Can someone tell me what this Japanese commercial means?”

This commercial is totally straightforward:

  • A Japanese boy returns home from school in a sad state.

  • His dog, Panchi, comes to him, tries to figure out what's wrong, and figures out the boy is heartbroken over a girl at school.

  • Panchi then proceeds to perform a variety of silly tricks to cheer the boy up and get him back in "gambare mode".

  • Panchi's power works too well, and the boy wins over the girl, leaving Panchi home alone and in the lurch.

  • Unlike his more "emo" master, Panchi's good spirits can be returned simply by eating Calbee Consommé-flavor[*] potato chips (which are, actually, pretty delicious).


See? Simple!

[* Yes, consommé, like the French soup… Don't knock it til you try it! ]

Can someone tell me what this Japanese commercial means?

Deano’s answer to: “Why do some people find it hard to maintain focus while reading books?”

Format may have a lot to do with it:

  • Some people thrive on reading printed paper or hardbound books in a linear fashion.
  • Others excel at retaining information gathered by hopping around quickly through a digital text, as well as the additional options to easily read for a short time (in line at the bank, for example) while also marking one's place as provided by most e-readers.
  • Still others find "reading" audiobooks is the best method to ingest and retain knowledge long term for both fiction and non-fiction works.
  • Graphic novels blur the line a bit – in some cases retaining key description and dialogue, and replacing a bulk of the text with pictures, which can convey meaning equally, or in some cases, with much greater understanding.
  • While there are precious few titles available, even "micro-chunking" a book, by having it sent over time as a series of emails is now an option for some books – see http://www.dailylit.com/ for one example – which again provides an ease of access/lack of routine change element that can bring regular reading to those who otherwise can't push through a 200 page paperback.

Overall, I think we're finding that as scientists discover more details about how different personality/behavioral types learn, the options to accomodate these different types is expanding into areas that aren't thought of as traditional "reading". And as this fragmentation is then perceived (perhaps wrongly) by some as an inability to "focus on reading" in a specific medium.

Thus, it may be the case that people are not losing focus while reading in a given format, simply that their ability to focus while reading is tied to an alternate reading method.

Why do some people find it hard to maintain focus while reading books?

Deano’s answer to: “If there were a clone of me, would the clone think and act like I do? Why?”

It depends on the type of clone.

In television, books, and the movies, the popular conception of a clone is a "fully formed copy" of the original, with the same memories, skills, physical attributes, etc.

In the hard science of the real world, cloning is already happening, but mostly at the "genetic coding" level – the resulting organisms, while "copies of the original blueprints", are "constructed in different locations/climes", and in a way "from different materials"… Think of it like buying the same size plank of the same variety of wood from Home Depot each week – every one will be just a little bit different, though they'll all "measure up" equally in their specification.

At least in the sense that our memories and experiences make us who we are, such clones would be lacking. That said, there's no reason why cloning as a process could not be advanced to the point where these additional aspects were also recorded, copied and implanted into the clone(s).

Thus, to answer your question, such an outcome may someday be possible, but for now, the best you can hope for is (after 9-odd months) a newborn sibling who may or may not resemble you throughout its maturation, who will grow up in a world vastly different from your own childhood (no matter how hard you try to replicate your own childhood, the food chain, global warming, and Facebook are all working hard to make that a near impossibility.

As such, your clone will likely bear little resemblance to you now when it reaches your current age. Still, you probably won't be able to find a better donor when you need a kidney/heart/lung/retina/bone marrow replacement down the line…

For that reason alone, I can imagine a near-future where Hollywood celebs "adopt their own clones" rather than third world refugee babies.

If there were a clone of me, would the clone think and act like I do? Why?