D E S I D E R A T U M

gydja:

Forest People, 12th Century Post Imperium: Once the Trader has collected the various poison plants and roots needed for weapons and medicine, it is the Poison Brewer’s task to extract the poisons and to make them into a form suited to their various purposes. For arrows, a fast-acting venom is needed, in a form which will stick firmly to the arrowhead, and will not easily be spread about to cause undue accidents. Poisons used in medicine are usually in liquid form, to avoid any confusion between the two, and the greatest care is taken in the use of all venoms. In each community, the Brewer usually keeps the stocks of venom himself, allocating them to various people according to need. In this way a check is kept on the use of poison, and stocks are kept away from children. The Forest People are largely tree-dwellers, living in houses on huge woven platforms, high in the rainforest trees. The Poison Brewer always lives on the highest platform of all, both for safety, and so that the terrible fumes of his craft will not offend or damage the other dwellers. (via Poison Brewer — Inga Hunter)

Top 10 strangest phenomena of the mind

1. Deja vu

Deja vu is an experience of having seen or experienced a new situation previously. It feels like if the event has already happened before. The experience is usually accompanied by a strong sense of familiarity and a sense of paradox or bizarre. The “previous” experience is usually attributed to a dream, but sometimes there is a constant feeling that it really has happened in the past.
2. Deja Vecu
Deja vecu is what most people experience when they think they are having a deja vu. Deja vu is when one has a feeling that he has seen something before, whereas deja vecu is an experience of having seen an event before, but with great detail as to recognize the smells and sounds. This also is usually accompanied by a very strong sense of knowledge about what will happen next.
3. Deja senti
Deja senti is a phenomenon of having already felt something. The phrase “I have felt it before” perfectly captures deja senti. It is only a mental phenomenon and seldom remains in our memory later. Many epileptic patients often experience deja senti.
4. Deja Visite
Deja visite is a less common experience and includes an unexplained knowledge of a new place. For example, you may know the location around you (a new city or a landscape) although you have never been there before.
5. Jamais Vu
Jamais Vu describes a familiar situation that we do not recognize. It is often considered to be the opposite phenomenon of deja vu. The observer does not recognize the situation although it is known that he has experienced it before.
6. Presque Vu
Presque Vu is very similar to the feeling in the “tip of the tongue”. When someone is ready to say something but his brain gets stuck and a word does not come out.
7. L’esprit de l’escalier
L’esprit de l’escalier is when a smart thought comes to you when it is too late.
8. Capgras Delusion
Capgras Delusion is a phenomenon when a person believes that a close friend or a family member has been replaced with an identically looking one. This illusion is often met in people with schizophrenia.
9. Fregoli Delusion
Fregoli Delusion is a rare brain phenomenon which makes a person believe that different people are the same person in various disguises.
10. Prosopagnosia
Prosopagnosia is a phenomenon in which a person is unable to recognize faces of people or objects he knows. People who have this disorder are usually able to use the other senses to identify individuals, such as the person’s perfume, the sound of his voice or his hairstyle.