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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Hey cool, I just saw something interesting.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>NPR has an article about an experimental treatment for Aspergers called transcranial magnetic stimulation. I didn’t take interest in this because of Aspergers (I can relate however… {8^D) but rather this business of stimulating an area of the brain externally. That just sounds wicked cool. Skip down to about the middle of the article where they show the TMS graphic:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/08/484812170/what-an-hour-of-emotion-makes-visible?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20160710&utm_campaign=bestofnpr&utm_term=nprnews">http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/08/484812170/what-an-hour-of-emotion-makes-visible?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20160710&utm_campaign=bestofnpr&utm_term=nprnews</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Is that cool or what?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK, there was a discussion a few days ago on how to measure cognitive enhancement to know if some medication effective, but there are plenty of us who will not eat pills, for good reasons: if it does something bad, you can’t turn it off immediately. But this thing we can.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Idea: iPad app called Chess Free. Its name suggests the cost. It has a setting where you can play blitz, which is five minutes for the game with a five second increment per move, a great way to measure the results of cranial activity realtime. So if you play chess you can measure your performance in realtime with that app, then switch on this device, see if you start to whoop some silicon ass. Move it around to different parts of the skull, see if you can come up with some cool ideas over the board. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Of course you know what will happen if it works: everybody will soon be seen walking around with odd looking hats with wires and things like the one the mad scientist used to switch the brains of a chicken with Bugs Bunny. Then of course some yahoo will put it next to his other brain. Then if that works, the yahoos will have them in both places, and then we need a backpack to carry the batteries and then our fashions will really start to look even stranger than guys wearing their pants down around their knees.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Where can we get one of these TMS machines? I would try it. I don’t want to risk accidentally curing my mild case of Aspergers however. I like me this way. If that went away it risks my hard-earned geek credentials. If it works, I might even try putting a second one up against my head and playing chess. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>