RSTLN E not the best letter frequency mnemonic

ok so i know its not a mnemonic device at all, but i have always used RSTLNE as the general guideline for which letters were most common in english, because thats what wheel of fortune suggested. turns out its misleading, and there is a better one.

I happened upon the wikipedia page for the ampersand where i learned that it got its name from the way english schools used to recite the english alphabet, seen below:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ&

the ampersand on the end looks out of place, but its there because they would include that character as a letter. they also used to use the latin phrase 'per se' (meaning 'by itself') in front of the letters that could be words. so they recited the alphabet as "per se 'A'BCDEFGH per se 'I'JKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ and per se 'and'" and the last part very easily slurs to 'ampersand'. thats great. interesting story.

but the true purpose of this post is to make people aware of etaoin shrdlu. this ampersand business led me to the page of letter frequency in the english language, and i noticed it spelled an interesting name (ETAOIN) and when i did a search of this combination of letters the page for ETAOIN SHRDLU came up. this is about the order of the most frequent letters in the english language. this is great knowledge to have for word games, and apparently it is used as a character name in many literary works

cutaneous rabbit illusion

IEEE did an article on a new technology from phillips: a jacket with 64 little actuators in it that let you feel a movie or tv show. for instance, in a frightening scene it can make you feel like a shiver is running up your spine. the question came up about how only having 4 actuators for the entire length of your arm is enough, and the article references the 'cutaneous rabbit illusion' as the answer. my interest was piqued so i went to good ole wikipedia. it turns out that if your wrist is tapped several times rapidly and then your inner elbow is tapped several times, your brain tricks you into thinking you are being tapped at every point along your forearm - like a rabbit running up your arm. using this, four actuators can create the illsuion of being touched along the entire arm. neat.

'life is beautiful' always reminds me of 'come undone'

no, not the weezer song... but everytime i hear 'life is beautiful' by sixx:am (the new band for nikki sixx, the lead singer of motley crue) i am reminded of 'come undone' by duran duran.

here is a clip of the chorus of each. they are in different keys, but they are about the same speed.

evanescent vs effervescent

today's adjective lesson:

evanescent - tending to vanish like vapor
effervescent - bubbly (like a beverage, not a blonde)

with regards to soda, time causes the evanescence of effervescence :-D

house questioning God's existence

a recent episode of house on fox featured a priest who has lost his faith in God after he is wrongfully accused of molesting a young boy and is kicked from church to church, continually fired after they find out about his past. he has a vision of jesus after a night of drinking and so he checks himself into the hospital thinking there is something wrong with his brain.

house pulls his file from the clinic simply because he wants to mess with another doctors head for her religious hypocrisy. things start to happen to this priest (e.g. his toe falls off) and it becomes a legitimate case for house. the symptoms lead his team to believe he has AIDS and therefore assume the allegations against him must be true.
house eventually figures out that if he eliminates hallucinations from this list, then it fits that the priest has a genetic disease that can look just like AIDS, but is much less serious. when he tells the patient, (sarcastically deeming this genetic disorder another "gift from God") they have a very thought provoking conversation. house had become especially interested in this priest because the priest had become an atheist.

House: it explains all your symptoms- toe, chest, eyes, skin
priest: what about my hallucination?
House: scotch explains that...
priest: that was just a coincidence?
House: coincidences do happen...
priest: but that coincidence is what brought me to you in the first place
House: you promised you wouldn't go there
preist: einstein said that coincidences are God's way of remaining anonymous
house: a woman in florida said "look, jesus is on my cheese sandwich"
priest: you didn't even want to take my case, you didnt even think i was sick
house: the fact that i was wrong is not a proof of God... everything that happened to you can be rationally explained
priest: i know, its just... thats an awful lot of coincidences

it can be difficult for people who want to think logically and rationally about everything to deal with the issue of faith. the concept of God, who has always been around, without regard of time, spcae, or the confines of any facet of the reality we live in, can seem unfathomable. yet at the same time, ockham's razor can lead the same person to accept the existence of God as the most likely reality. I have so much to be thankful for, things just seem to work out for me. i cannot see all these coincidences happening around me and accept them as simply coincidence. the only rational explanation is that God has a plan for me and whatever happens is a contribution of what He wants me to be. i could see the universe, life, and the experiences i have had are pure chance, as many naysayer's would. but... that is an awful lot of coincidences.