Apropos of Nothing

Byron · 2003-09-16 05:25:23

One night I dreamed I was walking along the west coast of Ireland, heading northward. I could hear the sounds of ocean waves crashing onto rocks below, to my left. I was barefoot, and could distinctly feel the cool, damp, and lush grass underfoot. A very fine, cool mist was always pressing against my face. In the distance, towards the horizon, was a glowing band of faint mauve-colored light. I walked and walked for hours; it was a very realistic dream. When I woke up, I was honestly surprised that my feet were dry and clean (no grassblades sticking to them) under the blankets. Throughout the remainder of the day I felt very relaxed and refreshed.
What a fantastic dream! That's so delightful; I'd love to have a dream like that...

Cindy....have you actually been to Ireland? If you haven't, it makes a dream like that all the more amazing...I have some awfully vivid dreams, but nothing that can compare to that...

Spider-Man...I agree with you about Jung vs Freud...in my opinion, Freud was wayyy off the mark about a lot of things..lol. Jung is definately the better of the two.

But when it come to the field of psychiatry...I find the body of knowledge in this subject to be extremely lacking even in this day and age...what we don't know about the human mind far outweighs what we do know. It think it's because it's so difficult to use the scientific method in this field, as it's almost impossible to use objective criteria in phychiatry, and even when you do attempt to do so, it often leads one astray.

Here's an example based on my personal experience:

When I was about one year, my mother took me to the doctor, as I was "slow off the mark" with a number of things, especially when it came to interaction with people around me (especially my mother.) The doctor performed a number of tests and eventually came up with the devastating diagnosis that I had autism (!) This was "verified" when I did not begin talking at the normal age of two. Of course, back in the Dark Ages of the 1960's (and we were putting people on the Moon, go figure), autism was beleived to be the fault of the mother, which put my mother into an intense depression for two years

However, just after my fourth birthday (I was doing quite well for an "autistic" child by then, although I still hadn't learned to talk), my Uncle noticed that I put my ear up to things like music boxes and my grandmother's organ. He had my grandparents take me to a local doctor (while my parents were away on a ski trip) and they performed a hearing test on me. He found out that I had moderate to severe hearing loss...I still had some residual hearing, but not enough to learn things like speech. Overjoyed at the news, my parents immediately got me a pair of BTE hearing aids, and it was a matter of playing catch-up for the next few years. So much for me being an "autistic," huh?

The funny thing is, I did a report on this very subject in college, and with the help of my mother, I tracked down the physician that made the orginal diagnosis and interviewed him about this. (You'll never know how weird that was!) He told me that he used a standard set of criteria, and that I met all the parameters of an autistic child. A hearing test had been done on me orginally, but since I did have some hearing, that was the one thing that allowed me to slip through the crack (or chasm, I should say) on that one. He also admitted that I wasn't the only one that he had mis-diagnosed, either.

But what's really shocking to me is that now, in the 21st Century, thousands of late-talking children are being diagnosed with this terrible disorder by using an "updated" set of criteria of autistic children, leading to a huge rise in the number of children that are supposely autistic (who later turn out just fine, or have other, often much less serious, disorders.)

Let's just say that I have little faith in the people that claim to be experts in this field...because they're not. I think the medical community really needs to go back to the drawing board on this one....

B

Palomar · 2003-09-16 06:11:03

Byron: "Cindy....have you actually been to Ireland? If you haven't, it makes a dream like that all the more amazing...I have some awfully vivid dreams, but nothing that can compare to that..."

*Hi Byron: Nope, I've never been to Ireland. I've never been off our continent, in fact...

Shaun: "Some people regard dreams that lucid as astral travel, an out-of-body experience. My elder son is going through a 'spiritual phase' at the moment and would be quite sure you were in Ireland that night! Or at least he would tell you your consciousness was there, minus your physical self."

*Yes, I'm familiar with this idea, from my own days of spiritual studies and pursuits.

Algol, I like your avatar.

Spider-Man: I've begun reading Jung; I'm working on his autobiographical _Dreams, Memories, Reflections_. I've not had the time to get more involved in his theories and writings. Yes, I think Freud's notion of penis envy is a bit strange too...if women allegedly have this envy because they may wear ponytails, what about men who wear ponytails? ::shakes head in exasperation::

George: Believe it or not, I rarely dream about what is foremost in my mind/life. I've had 2 dreams about Voltaire. In the first, he and I sat down opposite one another in a cozy kitchen-type space and began to talk...then the dream switched and he turned into a doctor I used to work for! The 2nd time Voltaire appeared in my dreams, he walked up to me...and then turned into that doctor again. Who knows why the mind plays tricks like this? I'm like, "Dr. Colfer, get out of my dream! I want to talk to Voltaire!" Yep, Dr. Colfer, the party crasher. :laugh:

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-09-17 05:45:19

The D.C. Potato War

*At least someone in D.C. has a bit of common sense. Looks like the toast is being left out of the conversation, however.

Your hard-earned tax dollars at work: Childishness and the necessary measures to correct it.

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2003-09-17 07:17:52

We just call 'em chips!
And we tend to cut the potato thicker and chunkier, too. And, in common with our British forebears, we love to eat 'em with slabs of deep-fried, crunchy-beer-battered fish fillets, too!!
Mm - mmmmm !!!

So nice with a crisp green salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a well-chilled New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc!

[P.S. When you're hungry and you sit down to something like that, you know there's a God!]

Palomar · 2003-09-17 07:31:02

We just call 'em chips!
And we tend to cut the potato thicker and chunkier, too. And, in common with our British forebears, we love to eat 'em with slabs of deep-fried, crunchy-beer-battered fish fillets, too!!
Mm - mmmmm !!!
So nice with a crisp green salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a well-chilled New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc!

[P.S. When you're hungry and you sit down to something like that, you know there's a God!]

*Well, no offense, but I like the term "french fries" better...and no, it has nothing to do with Voltaire, etc. It's more of a creative name for fried spuds.

Wine with that meal? Nah. Give me a Diet Pepsi.

And what about the tartar sauce, Shaun? Or malted vinegar? Any condiments with that meal?

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Just noticed another feature about Ikonboard. I quoted Shaun's post -before- he inserted the "P.S." I typed in my reply, and just as I was going to post I noticed his "P.S." had been added in my post's "Quote" box. Hmmmm, that's interesting.

Shaun Barrett · 2003-09-17 07:55:25

White wine, Diet Pepsi ... whatever makes you happy, Cindy!

And yes, you can have tartare sauce, tomato sauce, or vinegar. Many people regard it as sacrilege not to have freshly squeezed lemon on the fish, though it doesn't suit my taste.

[Spooky about the 'P.S.' ! ]

clark · 2003-09-17 08:02:48

why do I care?

Josh Cryer · 2003-09-17 16:41:58

why do I care?

When was the last time you really cared? :;):

Palomar · 2003-09-18 06:13:07

*Oh cool. I just stepped outside about 10 minutes ago (5:57 a.m.) to look at the sky.

A half waning moon is nearly at zenith. Clustered around it are Orion, Taurus, Auriga, and Gemini. Noticed Saturn in Gemini. Of course our moon travels through the Zodiac constellations along with the planets, but given the moon's position in the sky and the curve of the sky, it is very much closer to Auriga...almost as if it is moving out of the Zodiac. A weird but beautiful effect.

--Cindy

clark · 2003-09-18 06:21:49

even the tinman has feelings.

clark · 2003-09-18 14:04:03

Rats, foiled again!

Palomar · 2003-09-19 10:37:49

*Chuang Tzu's Funeral:

When Chuang Tzu was about to die, his disciples began planning a splendid funeral.

But he said: "I shall have heaven and earth for my coffin; the sun and moon will be the jade symbols hanging by my side; the planets and constellations will shine as jewels all around me, and all beings will be present as mourners at the wake. What more is needed? Everything is amply taken care of!"

But they said: "We fear that crows and kites will eat our Master."

"Well," said Chuang Tzu, "above ground I shall be eaten by crows and kites, and below it by ants and worms. In either case I shall be eaten. Why are you so partial to birds?"

[Taken from "The Way of Chuang Tzu"]

--Cindy

RobertDyck · 2003-09-19 13:09:42

Hooray! Yippee! Yahoo! I still have a job! After my layoff on September 14, 2001, I was unemployed for several months until I got an evening job providing telephone technical support for a major U.S. dial-up internet service provider; I'm not supposed to say which one. We were told to tell customers we are in the "Great Lakes area" and the central time zone, but it's really in Winnipeg, Canada. They closed their center in India. The 3 centers in the U.S. created fixes for about one dozen problems, while the Winnipeg center recorded fixes for 10's of thousands of problems. Customer's like the fact that the Canadian center is polite, courteous, and most importantly knowledgable. That after 22 years of experience as a software developer, including being the technical architect in the Year 2000 project management office of a major Canadian telephone company, senior QNX analyst developing such things as GPS mapping software that pilots followed heads-down while flying their airplane at low altitude, senior systems analyst in charge of keeping the mainframe running that deposited welfare payments for the city department of Social Services, senior programmer/analyst in charge of downloading cash register data to the main frame for one of Canada's two largest grocery stores, communication analyst in charge of keeping the cash registers themselves going for a nation-wide retail auto parts chain, senior systems analyst for the stormwater tax system in Miami-Dade County, and others. I found it quite humiliating.

However, for the last 6 months I have been developing an automated calibration system for autopilots for unmanned air vehicles. I also developed initialization firmware and did a little work on the autopilot firmware itself. Great job but it was under a government program; the provincial government department of education and training paid me an allowance equal to Employment Insurance benefits. Employment Insurance in Canada is equivalent to Social Security in the U.S. The program was organized by a consortium of the chamber of commerce and various industry associations as a job creation program, but candidate salaries paid by the government. My contract ran out today. I just got a contract from my employer; they will hire me for 3 more months (and pay my salary themselves) so I can complete work on the calibration system and develop auxiliary systems to verify serial numbers and "burn in" autopilots in a temperature controlled enclosure while varying voltage to the main power line. Woo Hoo! I guess the job creation program works. I still have a job! I still have a job! I still have a job!

I guess I should seriously look at starting a business for one of my business ideas. Those 3 months will end mighty fast. I do have a company, incorporated federally, and am registered as a supplier with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

alokmohan · 2003-09-20 05:29:58

Cindy ,dreamt Voltaire only twice.Who is the doctor actually?

Palomar · 2003-09-20 06:41:16

Hooray! Yippee! Yahoo! I still have a job! ... I just got a contract from my employer; they will hire me for 3 more months (and pay my salary themselves) so I can complete work on the calibration system and develop auxiliary systems to verify serial numbers and "burn in" autopilots in a temperature controlled enclosure while varying voltage to the main power line. Woo Hoo! I guess the job creation program works. I still have a job! I still have a job! I still have a job!
I guess I should seriously look at starting a business for one of my business ideas. Those 3 months will end mighty fast. I do have a company, incorporated federally, and am registered as a supplier with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

*Glad to hear it, Robert, and sincere best wishes for the future.

alokmohan: "Cindy ,dreamt Voltaire only twice.Who is the doctor actually?"

*The doctor was an old man who I worked for in 1985. He was 64 years old then, so would be in his early 80s now. He was a strong father-figure of sorts. I'm not sure what the connection is, with him "replacing" Voltaire in my 2 dreams. I don't consider Voltaire a father figure; I claim him as a brother.

*Hey everyone, if you like homemade chocolate milk shakes (vanilla ice cream, Hershey's syrup, a bit of milk), substitute butter pecan ice cream for the vanilla. It makes a much richer, creamier milk shake! I found this out a few years ago, when the local convenience store was out of vanilla and my next best choice was butter pecan. What a happy accident.

--Cindy

sethmckiness · 2003-09-20 11:26:09

do da do da doo Inspector Gadget do da do da doo da do(da do) do da do da doo Inspector Gadget so da do da doo da do!

Shaun Barrett · 2003-09-21 06:52:51

Congratulations Robert!

You've certainly got me convinced.
If I ever need my software developed, my firmware initialised, or my system analysed, you are definitely the man I'm going to call!!

Keep up the good work!

Palomar · 2003-09-21 21:14:16

*Why do we get songs stuck in our heads? All evening "Whip It" by Devo keeps coming into my mind.

The one song which most frequently gets "stuck" in my head is "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"...especially Elton John's version of it.

Why does this happen, I wonder? Perhaps the brain is amusing itself?

--Cindy

alokmohan · 2003-09-22 05:58:56

I feel sad for poor Galileo.

sethmckiness · 2003-09-22 09:43:29

I feel sad for poor Galileo.

I have no feelings of loss for the little craft that wouldn't.

But I do for the amazing engineers that came up with amazing workarounds.. Kudos to them!

clark · 2003-09-23 11:25:38

I am the very model of a modern major-general.

clark · 2003-09-23 15:23:06

Imagine that you and another of the opposite sex are the only two people in the world. Imagine that if you do not reproduce, you may live indefinitely. If you do however, your life, and all of your children's lives will not last nearly as long.

Is a season lived, better or worse, than a lifetime of just one season?

Byron · 2003-09-23 15:41:44

Imagine that you and another of the opposite sex are the only two people in the world. Imagine that if you do not reproduce, you may live indefinitely. If you do however, your life, and all of your children's lives will not last nearly as long.
Is a season lived, better or worse, than a lifetime of just one season?

Hmm...If it was me and someone else, and we were both sure we could live indefinitey by not having a child, I'd want to wait...and wait...and when we got tired of living, then we would have some children.

But you would need at least 100 or so people to prevent deterioration of the genetic stock, so I'm not sure that having children would be a good idea anyhow if there really was only two people in the world...

B

dicktice · 2003-09-23 16:17:55

I remember an early, catastrophe story, "The Purple Cloud" written before the heyday of automobiles and roads (forget airplanes) where an English-man and -woman, unbeknownst to each other, were the sole survivers of a poison-gas scourge. He was a polar explorer beyond the reach of the killer gas cloud, and she somehow (I can't recall how) also avoided being gased. The railway and steamship infrastructures remained operational. Most of the population had crowded into tunnels and mines to escape the gas and were trapped, leaving the infrastructure virtually intact. Well, ignorant of each other's existence, they eventually taught themselves how to operate the coal-fired steam engines and steam ships. Occasionally they would meet a locomotive going the other way, or observe a steamship in the distance while crossing the Channel But, fearing these were crewed by dangerous gangs of scavengers, they avoided contact for years. When they inevitably did manage to meet face to face (I can't remember how it came about) they naturally fell in love, etc. They explored the World together, finding only ghastly remains of humans polluting tunnels and mines everywhere they travelled. Eventually (childless, I think) they separated, out of jelousy perhaps ("My turn to be captain!") or from boredom with each other. Eventually, they came to an understanding, meeting from time to time, or tooting their horns or whistles as they passed--going their separate ways in their current choice of train or ship. Weird, but unforgettable!

Palomar · 2003-09-23 18:56:55

*This reminds me of a former acquaintance and coworker, Van (male), who hated another coworker named Gacy (female). He once said, "If Gacy and I were the last two human beings on the planet, whatever aliens would come visiting hundreds of years later would find two human skeletons 5,000 miles apart."

--Cindy

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