I just don’t know what to do – my name appears on the FRONT PAGE of the newspaper! Squeeee!
OK, I’m being snarky. This is hardly my first brush with press attention. I just thought that I would post a link as something of a follow-up to this post last week. And I still stand by this statement from that post:
This job is, in my opinion, one of the worst in the city – lots of work, lots of meetings, lots of responsibilities, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to piss off about 49% of the people in any given case. But it has to be done, and having conscientious citizens who are willing to take on the grief is absolutely necessary.
As davisw said in a comment to that post: “we definitely need more people with the volunteer spirit”.
Yeah, we do.
Jim Downey
And a worse sort that doesn’t even work that way.
OK, briefly: on Monday I did one of those things you’re supposed to do when you reach a certain age. No, I didn’t join AARP. I read a Dave Barry column. Actually, I lived a Dave Barry column. Well, minus the ABBA.
I didn’t write about it because it wasn’t very interesting, all in all. Or at least I didn’t think so until a couple of days later. Following the procedure, after I got home and was feeling more or less human again, I sent a note out to a couple of friends and family members letting them know that everything went fine and I didn’t have anything to worry about. In that email I mentioned that it actually went so well that the doctor didn’t even see the need to chat with me afterward, nor did they bother to show me images from the procedure. I mentioned this in passing to a couple of other people when discussing the procedure.
But that’s not how it actually happened.
My wife, who was there in the recovery room with me following the procedure, told me that the head nurse did indeed go through the images taken during the procedure with me, explaining how each just showed a happy pink colon and other bits.
Say what?
What seems to have happened is that I came out from under the anaesthesia, and part of my brain engaged well before other parts did. I was seemingly fully awake, lucid, conversational, even joking. But the little DVR in my head hadn’t rebooted yet. I had absolutely no memory of having seen the images. Some scattered fragments have since come back to me, showing that the images were stored somewhere in my head but probably the indexing function that the brain usually uses was inoperative.
This is not the first time something like this has happened to me. I have a history of waking and holding conversations, seemingly fully conscious when I am actually still partially asleep. My wife has learned to discern when this is happening. I think that it is related to my tendency for lucid dreaming – that some part of my brain is capable of still functioning in normal waking condition when other parts are in sleep mode.
Which makes me wonder – is this part of the reason why I am so creative? Is part of my brain tapping into a dream state more readily than is typical? It would be interesting to see whether other writers and artists have a similar slight scrambling of their neural abilities, a related ability to smear the seemingly discrete stages of consciousness into a blur.
And hence the quote used in the header. Because if anyone was capable of tapping into dream imagery, it was Lewis Carroll.
Jim Downey
*From Through the Looking Glass.
I’d mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had a couple of volunteer irons in the fire, and that I’d discuss them later when things were a bit more sorted. Well, it’s not finished yet, but it has moved up a round. Here’s a bit of the story:
Our middlin’-sized city runs, as do most middlin’-sized cities, on a lot of volunteer citizen help. Over the years I have tried to be conscientious about my involvement with such, helping in one way or another to make my community a bit better. Sometimes this has meant serving on this or that committee/commission, sometimes just hosting cultural events at the art gallery, and so forth. No biggie – and I haven’t been nearly as involved as my good lady wife has (she’s done a lot more in terms of grunt work with 10 years on the Board of Adjustment).
But a few weeks ago we were each asked to apply for an open position on the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission. This job is, in my opinion, one of the worst in the city – lots of work, lots of meetings, lots of responsibilities, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to piss off about 49% of the people in any given case. But is has to be done, and having conscientious citizens who are willing to take on the grief is absolutely necessary.
Anyway, just a few minutes ago we got the call from the city administration: both my wife and I are in the final pool of candidates, scheduled to be interviewed before the City Council meeting next Monday (when they will make their selection). As I told them in my application, I will tell them in person: pick my wife.
Yeah, I’m a real bastard, aren’t I?
No, seriously, she is probably more qualified for this job (though I would bring a different set of skills and strengths to the position). And if I am not chosen, then I can accept an appointment to a state arts organization board. Of course, it is entirely possible that neither of us will be selected, which is also fine.
So we’ll see. I’ll keep you posted.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Comics, Dinosaur Comics, General Musings, Government, Humor, Science, Violence
Well, you gotta die from something, so you might as well make it interesting. Here are the latest stats on what your odds are of dying from various non-natural causes:
The table below was prepared in response to frequent inquiries asking questions such as, “What are the odds of being killed by lightning?” or “What are the chances of dying in a plane crash?”
The odds given below are statistical averages over the whole U.S. population and do not necessarily reflect the chances of death for a particular person from a particular external cause. Any individual’s odds of dying from various external causes are affected by the activities in which they participate, where they live and drive, what kind of work they do, and other factors.
I think “Ignition or melting of nightwear” is probably my favorite. That’s some hot sex, folks.
And it is interesting to see what the real risks are for many things which people fear. 10 people died from spiders – more than snakes (7) – but still, that’s a pretty tiny number. Yet I have an immediate and irrational response to spiders. But you’re almost as likely to die from “High and low air pressure and changes in air pressure” – and who the hell fears that?
Anyway, have some fun seeing how we die – always a great topic for discussion at parties!
Jim Downey
Via Dinosaur Comics, of all places. Cross posted to UTI.
Well, at least the court ruled against him:
Man Burned at Burning Man Assumed Risk of Being Burned by Burning Man, Says Court
On June 30, the California Court of Appeal held that a man who was burned by the huge bonfire that ends the Burning Man festival each year could not sue the festival organizers. Anthony Beninati admitted he had intentionally walked into the fire, and that he had previously known fire was hot. But he argued, basically, that the organizers were negligent because they should not have let him approach the fire so closely.He did not win.
Seemed like the perfect item to post for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, as a cautionary tale. Here’s a bit more Schadenfreude:
Beninati’s complaint stated that when he approached the bonfire, the flames were still roughly 40 feet high. He walked around the bonfire three times, each time “circl[ing] a little closer to the fire.” Eventually, he walked still closer, into what was variously described as an area of “embers,” “low flames,” “burning remnants,” and “a spot where there was fire on either side of him.” Basically, he had walked inside a huge bonfire. Then, as you might have expected, he tripped on something and fell into the actual fiery part of the bonfire, burning his hands.
In his deposition, Beninati admitted he knew “fire was dangerous and caused burns” before he walked into one. He knew there was some possibility of falling into said fire. He admitted no one affiliated with the defendants asked him to walk into the fire or told him it would be safe to do so. But he testified that he did not think it would be dangerous to walk into the fire, although he knew it “was not ‘absolutely safe, because there [was] a fire present.'” And, as noted, fire is hot.
One suspects that some really good drugs and/or alcohol was involved.
Happy Fourth!
Jim Downey
(Via BB. Cross posted to UTI.)
Via Phil Plait, a delightful illusion:
Just had to share that.
Jim Downey
(Yes, I am still frightfully busy. But in mostly good ways.)
. . . that the news of the death of Michael Jackson has had this song playing in my head all morning?
Jim Downey
Got this in my inbox this morning (happily, my spam filter caught it):
What is Mind Mapping
Mind Mapping is a great technique that will enhance your thinking skills and memory. A Mind Map uses key words, colours and images to stimulate your brain.
Your brain has the ability to learn and remember large amounts of information. It works by linking ideas together. When you think, your brain starts off from one idea and radiates outwards to other ideas. This radiant thinking ability is natural and automatic.
For your brain to function effectively, it must express itself in a radiant form that reflects its thought processes. In other words, to use your brain effectively, you have to think radiantly. A Mind Map, when drawn, radiates from a central idea and can be considered an expression of the radiant thinking brain.
This workshop will show you how to use Mind Mapping techniques to boost your productivity. It will give you the knowledge and techniques to be a more effective manager.Benefits
By the end of the workshop, you will be able to:
* Use your brain effectively
* Increase your concentration
* Achieve a higher level of creativity
* Get a clearer organisation of thoughts
* Enhance your memory
* Boost your productivity
* Use Mind Maps for presentations, report writing, project planning and more
Just for giggles, I Googled the “institute” behind this, and came up with this site, where I also found the following paragraph:
Mind Maps ~
Al Gore, the former US Vice President, is counted amongst those who use Mind Mapping guidelines to support them in their disciplines. The May/June 07 issue of Time Magazine, which features Al Gore on the cover, includes a feature article with a photograph of Al Gore with his project Mind Map in front of him. The article points out that he uses Mind Mapping to help him keep control of his thoughts and that he used Mind Mapping software when working on his recent book.
Wow – Al Gore uses it?? Man, sign me up for that! Who’s with me? All we have to do is send an email to bullshit@eguruasia.com (no, seriously, that is the domain name, though not the specific address . . . though it might as well be) and hand over our credit card information to these great people, and we will soon be enlightened . . .
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to UTI.)
This is a little weird – evidently, a Japanese site did some kind of mention/review of Communion of Dreams, and in the last couple of days I’ve had thousands of hits and about 200 downloads of the book because of it.
I say “evidently” because the site is in Japanese, and even The Mighty Google fails to give any real translation. Here’s the site:
And here’s the page from whence the traffic has come. Odd thing is, while the “MP3” is clearly in the title, only about a quarter of the downloads have been the audio files, and the rest the .pdf of the book.
Anyway, if anyone can read Japanese and would like to let me know what the site says, I’d appreciate it. Who knows, maybe I can wheedle a trip to Japan as a “famous American author” or something out of this.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Humor
Interesting:
New technology allows for expansion of popular networking site.
In preparation for going public, and to help push their entire social network one step further technologically, the Twitter group has been testing a new application which allows for the direct stimulation of certain portions of the human brain. If users have one of the newer 3G phones now available on the market and download a special software script they will be able to make use of the new service.
The application is simplicity itself: first a normal “tweet” is sent alerting followers to position their phone above either ear, and explaining the sensation they are about to experience. Then a new message is sent which enables the phone to focus a very brief and mild microwave signal at a designated point in the brain. For decades scientists have been able to elicit sensations using direct electrical stimulation of the brain, and recent breakthroughs using microwave energy, combined with more precise brain-mapping, have allowed similar results without the need to perform surgery. But this is the first widespread commercial application of this technology.
It is anticipated that particularly celebrities with thousands of followers will be popular users of the new application, sharing with their fans some basic emotional responses and even certain physiological effects.
The company is calling the new service “Twitcher”, because of the effects that some types of stimulation elicit.
Interesting, indeed. A whole new age of telecommunications is upon us.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to UTI.)
Communion Of Dreams 