One of Arlington’s oldest family burial grounds, the Old Ball Family Burial Ground, is the final resting place of Ballston’s namesake. John Ball became one of the first settlers in Arlington when he received a 166-acre land grant from Lord Fairfax in 1742. His grandson (also named John) would fight in the Revolutionary War and another descendent of his would fight in the Civil War—both are buried here.
The individuals buried at this cemetery are interesting enough to warrant a visit, but it’s the hidden location—behind the parking lot of an auto mechanic shop—that makes it a must see. In 2023 a residential building development installed a road along the eastern side of the cemetery but fenced it off, so there is no road directly to it. The land for this cemetery was deeded to John Ball’s heirs, only no one knows who they are. As a result, Arlington County cannot legally access the land to preserve or maintain it. But you won’t find an overgrown and overly decrepit cemetery because an unknown Samaritan is taking care of it.
Inside the cemetery, a large tombstone in front of the site’s only tree, contains a long list of names. In the back left corner are a series of other headstones belonging to the family, some looking relatively new.
A colonial history aside: While George Washington’s great grandfather was named William Ball, the prevailing theory is that they share no relation to the John Ball who settled this area. Regardless, Washington’s land bordered Moses Ball’s (John Ball’s son) and Washington surveyed land with Moses several times and referred to him as cousin in his diaries.
Mostly everyone is dormant in the podcast world during Void Week, but Tech Won't Save Us got out a cool one: "How Effective Is Australia's Social Media Age Limit?" with Cam Wilson. Cam has been on the show before, before the ban was implemented. It's now only a week or two into the ban, so early to say if it has done anything good for kids, but he talks a lot about the technical challenges, privacy concerns, and the political and economic interests shaping the ban.
I am flat-out against bans like this (though I will listen to opposing POVs) for a bunch of reasons:
1) The disastrous effect it has on queer and trans kids outside of major urban centres. 2) The fact that there is no equivalent ban for chatbots (meaning that lonely, isolated kids will increasingly turn to chatbots rather than other kids for company). 3) The privacy violations and additional surveillance for adult users (i.e., having to upload their face or donate more information for data-mining to prove their age). 4) My general shitlib opinions about free speech, which includes kids. 5) The methodology of the research that suggests social media is bad for kids. To be clear, I think social media is bad for kids, but I don't think the research is very good at proving it. 6) The lack of anything that addresses the real problems that lead to harmful social media practices, which include inaccessibility of public spaces for youth (and older people!), helicopter parenting/overscheduling, policing of parenting (i.e., parents being disciplined for allowing their kids to roam free), algorithmic instead of chronological timelines and post promotion, the infestation of ads/chatbots/surveillance tech in all social media spaces.
Cam doesn't talk enough about the first two issues imo, but he does have very interesting things about the privacy concerns and especially about how other, non-banning solutions, would have produced better results. For example, forcing these companies to build versions of their platforms that were safe for kids would provide an off-ramp from the block and, by extension, make us aware that a safer, better experience is possible for all of us. He also walks us through the process of the ban, its initial aims, what the final legislation looks like, and the way in which campaigns can gain steam very quickly, become watered down by corporate interests, and ultimately declare total victory based on one or two points.
At any rate, it's interesting to listen to, and I hope he does a followup later on so we can see how it worked out on the ground and if it had any positive effects at all.
yuletide is now over for another year! I did, in fact, have the misfortune to turn up at the exact wrong moment to catch the reveals bug on the 24th, so I saw the identity of my gift-writer, although as they were someone that I only had the vaguest idea of having seen the name around AO3 somewhere before, it didn't really spoil anything, thankfully.
I had hoped to do some little treats, as I got on and got my fic done as soon as I could, but I moved instead. However, as I cut out one section from my assignment and posted it separately in Madness, I did technically still post a treat as well!
I wrote The Winslow Boy for edwardianspinsteraunt, so I was not super anonymous really, for anyone who actually looked that far, but I had a lovely time spending a month or so rewatching the film and coming up with different scenarios from their prompts and my head for a 5 + 1 Times fic. By the end, I decided, though, that the "+1" just increasingly didn't sit right with the rest, so I split it off, hence the Madness treat.
Passing Acquaintances (8985 words) by thisbluespirit Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow Characters: Robert Morton (Winslow Boy), Catherine Winslow, Arthur Winslow, Grace Winslow, Desmond Curry Additional Tags: 5 Times, Post-Canon, 1910s, World War I, Trains, London, Smoking, Politics, Cars, Suffragettes, Yuletide, Edwardian Period Summary: Five ways Catherine and Sir Robert might have met again, after the trial.
I wanted to include the Winslows lose the case AU if I could, as I knew edwardianspinsteraunt was keen on that idea - and as I thought would it might rather put paid to any Catherine/Robert, at least for quite some time, it fitted well into the format as the "one time they didn't" (meet again) (although never at any point was that categorical). It did work out well and was maybe the most Rattigan section in the end, I thought, so I had to post it even after I cut it. (Although had I realised sooner I was going to set it loose alone, I'd have found a way to make the start a little less in media res, although tbf, it's an unlikely one to appeal to anyone who doesn't know canon).
Anyway, here it is:
and watch the things you gave your life to broken (2799 words) by thisbluespirit Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow Characters: Catherine Winslow, Desmond Curry, Arthur Winslow, Violet (Winslow Boy), Dickie Winslow, Robert Morton (Winslow Boy) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, 1910s, Edwardian Period, The Winslows lose the case, Yuletide Treat Summary: The Winslows lose the case.
"I'm sorry, what did you say you wanted on your cake, again?"
"Right, but didn't you want it written a certain way?"
"Ah, that was it! Ok, nooo problem.
"Now, what kind of decorations would you like?"
"Good, good, and what kind of cake?"
"Ok, great! I've got the order all written up, so you can pick up your cake tomorrow. And don't you worry; our baker puts the rest of us to shame." [wink]
****
The Next Day:
Thanks to Ashley S., Daniel S., Kelsey L., Dan K., & Jake H. who could, like, LITERALLY eat an entire cake right now.
*****
P.S. I just bought another pair of these sleep headphones, so time for another shout-out!
I have the kind of insomnia old-timey bards would write songs about, so I listen to boring audio books on these every night to keep my brain from spinning out of control. Lately I've been wearing them like a sleep mask - like the model here - and WOW, that's helped even more than when I wore them like a headband! These things have been a life saver: comfy enough for side sleeping, not too loud like some of my old speakers, and they only cost $20. Plus my original pair lasted a good 2 years before one of the wires went loose.
Please note that these do run on the big side, but that works out great if you have a big head like me. :D
This is the way I wish more commentators would write about sports (from a roundup of the new year's highlights by Dieter Kurtenbach in the Mercury News yesterday, and thanks to B. for spotting it):
Super Bowl LX - Billionaires' BBQ (Feb. 8): The Super Bowl returns to Levi's Stadium. Get ready for two weeks of national media complaining about the lack of shade in a game played at night, and the fact that San Francisco is actually a 45-minute drive from the stadium (on a good day, which this won't be). It's the biggest party in the world for a bunch of people you'd never invite to a party, hosted in a corporate office park. Fitting. But, hey, maybe the 49ers will be in it.
How AI Is Making Everything More Expensive (9:37) - The video was a bit US-centric in delivery, so I naively thought, "Wow, US capitalism is on another level," as someone who doesn't live there.
A few days after I watched this, I actually experienced it myself: an item I wanted to buy through an e-commerce app cost more (around half a dollar) when I checked it on my iPhone vs. my partner's Android. What the hell. Honestly, I should have known from my previous job experience; apps collect all sorts of metadata on their users' phones, stuff like battery life, OS versions, etc. and it's not like this data's being collected for nothing.
attempting the most cursed speedrun on speedrun.com (23:49) - A Crusader Kings III gameplay video where the speedrun goal is creating a child with the 'Inbred' trait; typical content warnings for CK3 -- incest, murder, eugenics, child grooming, basically things people did in the medieval ages. I think it's pretty watchable even for those not familiar with CK3; it's like watching someone play Sims in a fucked up way except they're doing it as a noble in medieval Europe with family tree management.
The streamer's unhinged commentary was hilarious, and I don't think I've hit subscribe on a Youtube channel faster in my life. I'm not sure whether the game updated or that was DLC, because I thought you lose the game once you become unlanded, but here, she was able to continue even without a landed title to her character's name. Makes me wanna pick up CK3 again but it's the kind of game where I have to keep alt-tabbing to my browser to look up how to do this and that.
I Studied The Last 4 Decades … and They Explain 2026 (19:14) - My best friend shared this with me and said it made him hopeful for the year to come. Talks about pop culture and entertainment, and the theory of, "What if the best pop culture years all ended in '6'?"
It wasn't exactly as mindblowing to me compared to my best friend; I guess I was watching it with a more... detached mind? And it felt like expected to me, like, yes, the trends that were formed in the middle of a decade would end up to be what defines that era, and some characteristics inevitably get passed onto future decades. Maybe it's my jaded mind, lmao. I think I'm in the minority though, because the comments also said it made them hopeful. Maybe give it a watch and let me know how you felt about it.
Welcome back to MASSterList. We have a roundup of headlines you may have missed while on break. But first, a brief look at what’s on Beacon Hill’s mind as the new year gets underway.
The idea of “new year, new you” dates back thousands of years to the days of the old gods, when multiple deities were more of a thing. But the phrase “new year resolutions” itself is just over 200 years old, and made one of its first appearances in a Boston newspaper, NPR noted.
This new year is also an election year on Beacon Hill, when the governor’s office on down is up for grabs. But when recently asked about new year’s resolutions, officials offered more than reelection as a goal. That may be because many of the incumbents are likely to survive whatever the campaign trail holds in store for them. There were policy hopes, and in some cases, personal goals, whether it was spending more time with family or in the courtroom.
Treasurer Deb Goldberg said she plans to “continue pushing to ensure that every Massachusetts student has access to financial education in every school throughout the state.”
She added that she also vows to “spend less time explaining to friends at parties what the Treasurer actually does, unless snacks are provided.” It’s the winking lament of statewide officials who are not the governor, the attorney general or a U.S. senator.
The auditor’s office used to be in the same boat, but Diana DiZoglio has made sure everyone knows she holds the seat, which she has turned into a bully pulpit for flaying her former workplaces, the House and the Senate, for their resistance to the voter-approved 2024 ballot question calling for her to audit the Legislature.
Her 2026 resolution, she said, is to “continue making friends on Beacon Hill by passing my next ballot question to subject the Legislature and Governor’s office to the public records law.” That’s one of the ballot questions that remain on track for November, and there are nine so far that have cleared the first signature-gathering hurdle.
Senate President Karen Spilka’s resolution is to get a cell phone ban in classrooms onto the governor’s desk this year. Senators passed the legislation last summer, and it’s currently sitting in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Spilka’s House counterpart, Speaker Ron Mariano has a resolution to “read his prepared remarks more often,” something that would likely bring relief to his staff, and some sadness to reporters who know his “Mariano missiles,” when he goes off-script, make for good quotes.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell, whose office spent 2025 filing dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration, has a two-fold resolution: Take after Muhammad Ali, “leading her office to punch above their weight,” a spokesperson said, “and also getting fit like him, too!”
After the crumbling of cohesive online public squares – Tina Brown aptly called the now-competing locations “self-affirming social media feeds that generate ephemeral agitation” – some are wishing to spend less time online this year. “I’m planning to only look at social media for 10 minutes 3 times a day and instead read longer articles and reports to keep up with the news,” said Chris Oates, a political analyst and founder of the software company Legislata.
Lee Pelton, the head of the Boston Foundation, in a similar vein, said his resolution is to “try my very best to spend more time with the people I love.”
And Jay Ash, the president and CEO of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, said he plans to “spend more time helping small, community-based initiatives to thrive.”
Phil Eng may have the busiest year ahead out of anybody, with his wearing the two hats of interim transportation secretary and MBTA general manager. He had his own resolution, and hoped to make it a two-way street (or track, as it were).
“My resolution for the New Year is to continue building back public trust and get former riders and new riders to give us a try as part of their resolutions,” he said in a statement. “We also want to celebrate a ‘Take Mass Transit Day’ across the Commonwealth in October, when I am confident that the MBTA will be able to say it has exceeded 2025 ridership levels. We resolve to make 2026 the year that thousands and thousands of new riders use MBTA and RTA services.”
My resolution is more scoops for you in the new year. What’s yours? Let me know: gin@massterlist.com.
HAPPENING TODAY
2:00 | The City of Worcester holds an inauguration ceremony for members of City Council and the School Committee. The event is free and open to the public. | Doherty Memorial High School auditorium, 299 Highland St., Worcester
5:00 | The City of Methuen holds an inauguration ceremony for Mayor DJ Beauregard as well as members of City Council and the School Committee. | Methuen Memorial Music Hall 192 Broadway, Methuen
…..Regulations governing sites where people could consume marijuana products socially are set to be published in the secretary of state’s register, according to the office’s spokesperson. The Cannabis Control Commission passed the long-awaited regulations Dec. 11. Now it’s up to cities and towns to decide whether to opt into allowing social consumption businesses and develop their own standards of practice…..
FROM BEACON HILL
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Gov. Maura Healey’s “state of the state” address is set for Thursday, Jan. 22, days before her budget proposal is due for delivery. – State House News Service
CHILD ADVOCATE: With the upcoming departure of Maria Mossaides, director of the state’s Office of the Child Advocate, a debate is brewing over the approach her successor should take as a watchdog of the Department of Children and Families. The governor, the attorney general and the auditor make the appointment jointly. – Boston Globe
NEW LAWS: New laws going into effect for 2026 include Cannabis lounges and additional protections for public transit workers. – MassLive
NEWS NEXT DOOR
TRADE SCHOOLS: Voc-tech schools in Massachusetts are having a moment, with growing enrollment and a lengthy wait-list. – Wall Street Journal
RENTAL REGS: Airbnb is looking for special treatment, citing the 2026 World Cup and asking city officials in Boston to loosen regulations to help with expected high demand. – WBUR
TROLLEY DELAYS: Frustrations are mounting along the Mattapan-Ashmont trolley line after MBTA officials told attendees of a recent public meeting that they are only 15% of the way into transforming the line, seven years after they announced a ten-year plan to do so. – Dorchester Reporter
CONVENTION CENTER DRAMA: A request for proposals to provide PR services for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority was published and then canceled after several firms submitted bids. The move has drawn scrutiny after the quasi-public agency’s board fought with its now-former CEO, Marcel Vernon. – Boston Business Journal
STADIUM DEAL: The cities of Boston and Everett reached a deal with the Kraft Group, which is looking to build a soccer stadium close to the Encore casino and Sullivan Square. Thanks to the deal coming together before the end of the year, the sides avoid arbitration, and the stadium takes another step towards becoming reality. – WCVB-TV
DEI RETREAT: Several Western Massachusetts institutions which receive federal money are pulling back on commitments to diversity in hiring and their operations after President Trump called advancing racial equity a “public waste and shameful discrimination.” – MassLive
BOSTON OFFICE: Boston may be seeing some signs of recovery in the office sector, much like Manhattan and San Francisco, but the year ahead for both offices and labs still looks grim. – Boston Business Journal
NANTUCKET NEWSROOM: The Nantucket Current’s relentless focus on the local has made it the main source of news on the island as it gives a 204-year-old Inquirer and Mirror a run for its money. – Boston Globe
IN MEMORIAM: Michael Flaherty Sr., the former state rep, judge, and father of the former South Boston city councilor, died at the age of 89. Norman Zalkind, a top criminal defense attorney and Newton resident, passed away on Dec. 20. He was 87. Tatiana Schlossberg, one of JFK’s grandchildren, died after disclosing she had terminal cancer in a New Yorker essay. She was 35. – Boston Herald, Mass. Lawyers Weekly, and GBH News
KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. The station is running an encore edition of the show hosted by political analyst Jon Keller. The guest is Gov. Maura Healey. The original interview aired in July.
@ ISSUE SIT DOWN: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard interviews Michael Minogue, GOP gubernatorial candidate.
ON THE RECORD: 11 a.m., WCVB. The show looks back at 2025 with Mary Anne Marsh and Ginny Buckingham, who review the political news that dominated the landscape.
Fuck. CVS is out of COVID tests, but I picked up cough drops and loratidine, per rahaeli, on the assumption that this is is covid; between the cough and the general sense of recognition, I am pretty confident in my self-diagnosis.
R. is shipping me tests and some other stuff, because she is a fucking saint. I am changing back into my jammies and finishing this pot of tea and going back to bed. Ugh.
Staying at home over Christmas certainly meant Matthias and I were able to finish up a lot of TV shows this past month: six in total (plus a three-part BBC documentary about 1990s/2000s girl bands which was very good, but didn't say anything you wouldn't have expected from a documentary on that topic, so I don't have a lot to say about it myself).
The other shows were:
House of Guinness, a glossy, soapy historical drama about the quartet of 19th-century siblings who were heirs to the real-world brewing empire. This is another Steven Knight vehicle, with all his hallmarks: stylised comic book sensibility, anachronistic music, very broad-brush engagement with the politics of the era (in this case 19th-century Ireland), and larger-than-life characters whose various attempts to deal with their considerable problems just keep escalating the situation and spawning new problems. I enjoyed this, although I felt the tension was slightly dampened by the fact that most of the characters were insulated from any serious consequences due to their wealth and social position.
The third season of The Diplomat, a blackly comedic geopolitical thriller starring Keri Russell as a career American diplomat who, after postings in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, ends up posted as the ambassador to the UK. She's expected to be ceremonial and decorative in a cushy job, but suddenly lands at the centre of an international political conspiracy and scandal reaching into the highest levels of power, and struggles to deal with her embassy's, her country's, and her own personal responses to the fallout. The balance between comedy and political thriller is much more on the political thriller side of things this season, although there are still some hilariously awkward moments, but ultimately what I felt it was really about, at its heart, is the appalling tension between the undeniable benefits and utter indignity of being an ally of the United States from the 'democratic West' (quote marks because geographically some of the countries I'm including here are located in the Asia-Pacific part of the world), even when its government is led by people who at least aspire to the ideals of the post-WWII international order.
Season 10 of Shetland, which I'm continuing to enjoy with the new leads. The mystery this season had an almost Icelandic saga feel to it (cycles of grief, buried secrets, and revenge in a small, isolated community), the landscape and settings remained as starkly gorgeous as ever — and more fun to me this time because literally every Lerwick location was now familiar, and Matthias and I had a great time spotting various landmarks.
The Beast in Me, a psychological thriller in which Claire Danes plays a critically acclaimed author suffering from writer's block and struggling under the weight of grief at the death of her young son, which ended her marriage. She's living in upstate New York alone with her dog in the family home, which is quite literally falling apart around her, when she becomes tangled up in the saga and scandal involving her new neighbour — a wealthy New York property developer accused of murdering his wife. This has an excellent cast (the neighbour is played by Matthew Rhys with brittle intensity), and the story is tightly told, if a bit too conveniently wrapped up at the end.
Season 3 of Dark Winds, the historical mystery series set in the 1970s and starring Zahn McClarnon as a Navajo Tribal Police officer investigating various murders that take place in his community. This was, as always, excellent, with a stellar cast, a tremendous sense of place, and a really subtly written undercurrent of the ongoing effects of intergenerational, colonial trauma, what justice really means in such a context, and the limits of such justice. It always takes ages for new seasons of this show to make their way to the UK, and I'm already impatient for the fourth season.
The final season of Stranger Things, which I'm counting as a December show, even though I only watched the final episode last night. I have to admit that I was losing patience with the show by the last season (I had no idea the fourth season wasn't going to be the last, found watching it something of a slog that I was doing for completion's sake, and then realised with a great deal of irritation that there was no time in the final episode of Season 4 to wrap up all the various plot threads, at which point Matthias informed me that there was to be an entire additional season), and when I discovered that most episodes of the fifth season were going to be the length of short films, it felt like a self-indulgent last milking of the cash cow. So my expectations were low: it was bloated with characters, overloaded with the weight of its mythology, and the idea that it would be able to find satisfying ways to wrap things up, conclude convincing character arcs, and tie up all the various dangling interpersonal character relationship threads seemed to me far-fetched — but I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed several of the middle episodes, the more clichéd emotional beats seemed perfectly calculated to appeal to me (the conclusion of Will's story this season in particular really hit me in the heart), and for the most part I felt the whole thing was handled in a satisfying way. I've never felt the slightest bit fannish about this show, so my investment is quite superficial, but on that level, although I was losing patience last season, the destination was, overall, worth the journey.
My second Yuletide fic is a crossover! My recipient prompted for a Guardian crossover with Da Qing, so I included a tiny cameo in Heart-Seed, Heart-Flower - and then I couldn't resist writing more about what happened.
Because:
Da Qing is always so much fun to write!
I had a dragon! And Dragon City should have a dragon in its history, right?
And most importantly, my story was already about someone travelling realms and healing worlds with magic water/flowers, so naturally I had to have him do the same for Guardian and provide a fix-it there, too. *g*
(The story turned out very Guardian-heavy, so it's just as well that I didn't manage to finish it in time to put it in the main collection.)
Also, I have to share this because I used it for the fic, and it's very cool: Here is a time-lapse video of a cotton plant! It has white flowers, while the one in the story is yellow, but still. *g*
**
Dragon of Flowers, Dragon of the City (2,275 words) Fandoms:镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018), Thermos "Flower Series" Commercials Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Characters: Da Qing, Zhu Yilong's Thermos Character, Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei, SID team Content Tags: Canon Divergence (for Guardian), Episode Related, Episode 37, Fix-It, Hallows Shenanigans, The Wick of the Guardian Lantern, Magical Flowers, Cross-dimensional Wanderers, Saving Worlds with a Magic Bottle, Dragon City is named after a dragon A/N: Many thanks to china_shop for beta-reading!
Summary:
Lao-Zhao leaned forward, resting an elbow on a knee. "I thought you got all your memories back."
"Yeah, yeah." Da Qing waved a hand in the air, dismissively. "Not remember like 'I don't know my past', remember like 'where did I put my keys'. Except not my keys."
The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.
Hi, I'm Bear! I'm a 30-something Filipina (she/her), who's been active in fandom since the 2000s. I've been reading and writing fanfic since I started being fannish, and I have a couple of ancient fanarts squirreled away on my computer. My intro post has a bit more information on where else you can find me on the internet.
I've participated in the snowflake_challenge for the last few years though I skipped it in 2025. Considering the new wave of users that recently joined Dreamwidth, I thought the challenge would be a good way to reach out, meet new people, and hopefully make new friends!
You know when someone spaces out for a second, and you can’t get their attention? “What are you thinking about?” prompts a response of “Nothing,” which you figure is a euphemism for private thoughts. Historically, consciousness has been assumed to be continuous when you’re awake, flowing between a focus on external things and internal thoughts as your mind wanders. But a new study in PNAS suggests that parts of our brain may actually be taking a nap during those thinking-about-nothing moments.
“Mind blanking is defined as the complete absence of mental content that can be described to others. No mental images, no catchy tune looping in your head, no obsessive thoughts… nothing!” explained Sorbonne University study author and neurologist Esteban Munoz-Musat in a statement.
Noting that mind blanking was associated with certain psychiatric conditions, including anxiety disorders and maybe ADHD, Munoz-Musat and colleagues from the Sorbonne and Monash University in Australia, set out to determine whether it reflected detectable changes in the brain. They used high-density EEGs to record the brain activity of 62 healthy volunteers as they completed a tedious task in a dimly lit room for one hour and 40 minutes. Volunteers were interrupted at random intervals and asked to report on their mental states: thinking about the task, thinking about something else, or thinking about nothing at all, i.e., mind blanking.
The results showed that the episodes of mind blanking described by participants corresponded with detectable changes in their neurophysiology. Sharing of information between more distant parts of the cerebral cortex was disrupted. Neural representations of external stimuli, such as sights and sounds, were significantly reduced. Some of the typical signals of conscious access to information were suspended.
“These observations suggest that during a mind blanking episode, participants had reduced access to sensory information from their environment,” said Sorbonne University neurocognitive researcher Thomas Andrillon, senior author of the study, in a statement.
Basically, being awake doesn’t guarantee that you’re thinking about anything. You may experience intervals where certain parts of the brain take a nap in what the researchers referred to as “neural silencing”.
Mind blanking is common, varying between individuals from as little as five percent of our waking hours to as much as 20 percent. The study authors wrote that “while puzzling, this [content-free] perspective would bring even more value to those precious moments of conscious experience.”
In other words, make the best of your alert waking moments.
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