Thursday 22 May 2008

Introducing Capital FM

At first I was annoyed that this purported radio station suddenly appeared on the very frequency that I used for my FM transmitter. How could they encroach on my valuable airwave space? How many more radio stations does Malaysia need? Anyone with an FM transmitter trying to find some free airwave space knows that Malaysia has an amazingly high number of radio stations that god knows who listens to.

And then one day, I stumbled upon their Acid Jazz / R&B / Blues segment (7 p.m. to 10 p.m.) and was intrigued. It was on every weekday, this nice chilled out segment that's sometimes just what you need. Just some lovely relaxing sounds. Further tuneage discovered one day, that they also play Ash (my favourite band of all time, for the uninitiated). And not just the popular songs like Burn, but the lesser knowns like Gone the Dream. This is it, I thought. I've found the perfect radio station.

Seriously. No longer is it an alternative radio station to me. It's the radio station. And since I always share my findings, I encourage like-minded persons to tune into 88.9 Capital FM.

The Trust Drug

Trust issues? Have no fear. Now there's a drug just for you! From BBC: Trust drug may cure social phobia:

A nasal spray which increases our trust for strangers is showing promise as a treatment for social phobia, say scientists from Zurich University.

They found that people who inhaled the "love hormone" oxytocin continued to trust strangers with their money - even after they were betrayed.

Previous studies have shown that participants in "trust games" took greater risks with their money after inhaling the hormone via a nasal spray.

In this latest experiment, published in the journal Neuron, the researchers asked volunteer subjects to take part in a similar trust game.

They were asked to contribute money to a human trustee, with the understanding that the trustee would invest the money and decide whether to return the profits or betray the subjects trust by keeping the profit.

The subjects also received doses of oxytocin or a placebo via a nasal spray.

After investing, the participants were given feedback on the trustees. When their trust was abused, the placebo group became less willing to invest. But the players who had been given oxytocin continued to trust their money with a broker.

"We can see that oxytocin has a very powerful effect," said Dr Baumgartner.

"The subjects who received oxytocin demonstrated no change in their trust behaviour, even though they were informed that their trust was not honoured in roughly 50% of cases."

The doctors report the results of the tests as 'promising'. Really? Promising? Am I the only one that's worried that people are creating a drug that will make conning and being conned much easier? How is it that governments are letting them experiment with a drug that makes people trust strangers? They've obviously never read a Malaysian newspaper, with scam SMSes, unsuspecting drug mules, girls being raped by acquaintances, etc. Of course, it should be a controlled substance, and like all other controlled substances, will quickly form its own black market. Jesus.