Brain Hammer

Just totally wrong

Originally uploaded by greefus groinks

This post isn’t really about anything, so you should stop reading it now.

1. Brain Hammers

So, it turns out that brain hammers pre-date the Spinal Tap album “Brain Hammer” by quite a few years. Turns out, William Blake’s Tyger got hit with one:

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

And then there’s this: [Link] (SFW)

2. Hair Circles

I was telling my Intro. to Phil. students that good definitions of e.g. “mammal” should apply to all and only mammals (so “gives birth to live young” sucks) and should be non-circular (so defining them as hair-havers sucks if hair is defined as something only mammals have).

Later that day I thought I’d check to see what wacky stuff Wikipedia had to say about mammals and hair and, sure as shit, they have HAIR being an analytic component of MAMMAL and MAMMAL being an analytic component of HAIR. Socrates is gonna be pissed.

3. Topless Twain

Also on the Wikipedia entry for hair is a photo of Mark Twain with his shirt off. Why? That is, why did MT pose shirtless for a photo? Was it for his MySpace page, or something?

Well, here it is:

Phisick.com is an online collection of antique medical instruments. In response to my query regarding which item is closest to a brain hammer, curator Laurie Slater writes:

www.phisick.com/a1mmazbr1.htm is a mid 19th century papier-mâché brain (a pretty one) and http://www.phisick.com/a1meh2.htm is a hammer, although one used more for percussion, like a primitive ultrasound - but not on the brain of course. I suppose if you were so inclined http://www.phisick.com/a8qfb1.htm might give an idea where to aim.

http://www.phisick.com/a2snstr1.htm is a brain drill which might have a similar effect to a brain hammer (if tidier). In fact it was a tool used to recover from ‘brain hammer’ type injuries. Drill three holes around a depressed skull fracture. Pass this http://www.phisick.com/a2snsg1.htm through them and saw out a triangle to releive the pressure on the cerebral cortex and patch up with a metal plate. Good as new!

Then I suppose there is this http://www.phisick.com/a1spr01.htm (hardly a blunt instrument I admit) which would proverbially hammer the brain via sensory overload into thinking of other things. I’m not sure if this would have been considered a cure for mental masturbation .. the affliction of many a philosopher. Present company excused of course!