The Garden of Unearthly Delights pre-empted the Fringe this evening, opening with fireworks, fairy-lights and volumes of people in various states of attractiveness. Amongst all this was a fascinating display, a highly engaging activity, damn it, a piece of art - it was the Silent Disco. When you first stumble upon it, there is a brief moment of confusion. Fenced off from the rest of the crowd is a dance floor full of people gyrating in sync, in silence. Then you notice they are all wearing headphones, all tuned in to the same syncopating frequency. Amusing, surreal, endearing and enticing, its mesmerising to watch. It's not a sensation of deafness, for there are plenty of sounds - the milling crowd, the shuffling, the odd lyric from the mouths of the dancers. Rather there is a strange sense of incapacitation, like some sense you forget you had is no longer working. The primal 'group-think' part of your brain feels drunk and bewildered. Then you fork over your $5 (plus $10 d
Worried about your brain. I know I am. Worried about your brains that is. You'll be pleased to know that researchers over at MIT have conducted a study into the effectiveness of aluminium hats, favoured by paranoid conspiracy theorists, for protecting the brain from radio waves. This excerpt is from the conclusion of the report. "It requires no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the current helmet craze is likely to have been propagated by the Government, possibly with the involvement of the FCC. We hope this report will encourage the paranoid community to develop improved helmet designs to avoid falling prey to these shortcomings." There's a current helmet craze? I totally missed that, but then I guess I'm not in the loop with what's cutting edge like those MIT researchers.
Comments