geeking out...again

there's this marvelous article over at the Guardian about Tammet, a savaunt who:

...has been able to see numbers as shapes, colours and textures. The number two, for instance, is a motion, and five is a clap of thunder. "When I multiply numbers together, I see two shapes. The image starts to change and evolve, and a third shape emerges. That's the answer. It's mental imagery. It's like maths without having to think."

that makes me wonder just what it is we're doing with our brains, and reminds me how wonderfully inexplicable human experience is. I'm probably feeling ultra sentimental tonight, but the parts where Tammet gets to meet Kim Peek (the real life rain man) are particularly touching. Go read it, and wonder just what it is we're really doing with our brains.

I hereby dedicate my life to the quest for knowledge

...becuase of moments like this. This poem is part of traditional Japanese travel nikki (diary) cannon, read this morning by my favorite prof:

Flees and lice
And the sound of horses pissing
Disturb my pillow

High literature, baby.