On Mon, 25 Nov 2002, David Silberstein wrote: > Anyway, to change the subject, here's a question for Steve, about > something he wrote in his weblog: > > "Listening to music while reading is like putting ketchup on steak." > > What does that *mean*? I'm a vegetarian, so I don't really understand > how ketchup affects steak. Well, if I'm reading it correctly, putting ketchup on steak is being used to mean something like two opposing forces/entities in a way that they compete with each other, if not negate each other. Steak has its own flavor (if spiced properly), and ketchup has its own (rather strong) flavor, so it seems unnecessary and even unwise to use both. In the same token, if you're reading a book, your brain is trying to work on comprehending the book. If you have music going as well, that takes part of your brain away from the book task and you lose something in the end. That's how it sounds to me... I don't necessarily agree. My b/f had the hardest time understanding why I couldn't get any work done on the computer or doing homework or something without the TV on or music or chatting with someone. When I'm reading, I don't watch TV, though. I DO listen to music, preferably something that my brain perceives as "white noise" (something familiar and not too distracting), if not white noise itself. If I don't, any background noise will distract me. I guess because I've trained my brain to multi-task? And I live in an apartment complex with children and animals, so there are MANY distractions. :) And forgive me if that didn't scan right...I've been packing all day for trip to Australia tomorrow and am frazzled from trying to make sure I have everything. Personally, I wonder more about the next quote: "If you're going to permit yourself to be offended by a cat, you might as well just pack it in." What did the cat in question do to offend? ****** NyteMuse "Call her life unnatural, feel her undead breath. Color her black for sorcery, color her gray for death." AIM: NyteMuse139 / ICQ: #21966269 (NyteMuse) MSN: NyteMuse / Yahoo!ID: NyteMuse http://www.crowfire.com