How do you feel about what happened in the stock market today?  It’s down over 777 points following the rejection of the bailout bill by the House of Representatives.  On the TV and Internet news, everyone seems to have a different explanation and “somebody else” to blame for the chaotic situation.  They all seem to have two commonalities.  They are afraid and they are angry.  So am I.  Like most, I am not certain at whom, or about exactly what portion of this fiasco my feelings are aimed. 

I believe that, though somewhat incomplete, my recently deceased hero / philosopher / strategist / observer / comedian had a very accurate take on what was coming and is now here.

Warning:  Before clicking on this link to a George Carlin video, please understand that it uses very explicit language.  Some might consider it obscene.  I consider it realistic.

Who Owns You Americans?

May this situation work out for the good of all citizens of the USA.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

We’ll just treat this whole little episode as an “oops” which had nothing to do with me rather than believe for a moment that I screwed up my permission settings.  Yes.  That’s the ticket.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  And watch that from now on, Spaces Live!

I think there is a sort of “one way valve” in the structure of Spaces. (No, this is not going to turn into some kind of lecture on Unified Theory.)  I simply don’t understand the SkyDrive file sharing part of Spaces as well as I thought I did.  Where is the instruction manual, anyway?  I believe that I accidentally blocked many people because of a permissions setting that I made in a section of SkyDrive Folders.  It appears that if I limit access to a folder, there is a default setting that overrides the setting of the whole site, and resets it to the limits of the newly added folder.  It then appears (after about two days of head scratching and tinkering to find out what happened) that one can then go back to the overall Spaces permission setting and reset it to “anyone on the web,” while the folder setting remains limited to those for whom it was intended.  Further, I have no idea if this is true.

If security is considered, and if Spaces Live is really a “Junior Edition” of some of the options available in Office Live, one would not want to accidentally publish sensitive corporate documents to everyone on the Internet.  It appears that this same sort of default change on Spaces Live would prevent us from accidentally posting a photo of Aunt Myrtle sitting on the commode.  It might be great fun for a close family group, butt not quite what should appear for public viewing.  Apologies to anyone who was accidentally left out (or in, for that matter) and please let me know if my site is doing something “funny” in the future.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“I never make stupid mistakes. Only very, very clever ones.” - John Peel

I believe the aspect of haiku which I appreciate the most is that nobody can really tell if I know what I’m doing or not.  Very briefly, a haiku is a Japanese form of short poetry like the tanka and others.  Typically, in Western culture, the form arranges 17 syllables into a 5-7-5 line form.  This is not universally true.  There are 3-5-3 haiku, some with a missing or extra syllable, and other variations.  When one sees translations of haiku from the language of origin, they almost never fit “the rules,” as doing so would warp or ruin the meaning and feeling of the tiny slice of time or experience initially captured.

A primary feature of a true haiku is that of using nature or natural phenomena to evoke a feeling or sensation.  A more recent and somewhat less common practice is to use the first line as the “setup,” and the last two as an “answer” or “resolution.”  I believe that I have only written one (1) haiku that truly followed the traditional rules and their intent.  That was in 1966.

Dawn 1966

Whispering breezes

Arousing the sleeping earth

In the pre-dawn glow

With the passage of 40+ years, more ideas and notions have become encased in my skull.  I have become more suspicious, knowledgeable, cynical about “truth,” acerbic, and curmudgeon-like.  I don’t always* obey the rules but somehow the results of this practice generally please me.  (Except for that speeding ticket in the Village of Elburn, IL.)  I don’t really know how to classify my most recent haiku.  It follows the form rules and it sets up a question and answer, but is it “nature?”  I am uncertain if anyone else will like it, but that really matters much less to me than it once would have.  For me, and possibly only me, it evokes a very strong memory of past experiences and feelings, especially including the senses of smell, sight, and sound.  Is it a haiku?  A mech-ku?  A tech-ku?  A strange-ku?  Whatever.  Ku.

Eau de 1320

Intoxication

Nitro fumes and smoking slicks

Screaming RPM's

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

* Always = a quantity > 0% and < 100%.

“I never take advice from anyone more messed up than I am” - Tom Hopkins

OK, people.  This one is even more cryptic than my usual haiku.  I might not know what it was about if I hadn’t written it.  The muse was the combination of one of the Pink Floyd tracks I downloaded (Astronomy Dominae) combined with hot dogs.  Let me say in advance that no one needs to point out to me how strange this is.  I am a trained professional, and unfortunately I am quite able to recognize such things.  It doesn’t usually stop me from writing about them, but I recognize them.

Astronomy Dante

Fiery hot dogs

Sirius and Cerberus

Heaven’s above Hell’s

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.” - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I don’t know if any of you have been saving Pepsi Points to be redeemed for all sorts of wonderful items from Amazon.com, but I have.  I have been saving them from cartons and from the occasional two-liter bottle for nearly six months.  From past experience, this had proven to be a worthwhile thing to do.  I still have a jeans jacket that I got nearly 20 years ago from the same company’s promotion.  It was quite well made of heavy denim and was quite possibly made in the USA.  Admittedly, it is somewhat worn and discolored with the passage of years, but still perfectly serviceable. 

Somewhere along the line, I lost the baseball cap that I also obtained at the time.  Lost may be an incorrect descriptor for what actually happened.  There were four pre- and teen-aged boys and in the house during much of that time and at least 20 times that many of their friends.  It may simply have been liberated or bartered for something “better.”  Not that I’m accusing anyone, of course.  I’m dead certain of it.  I never wore it, anyway.

This time around, however, I appear to have saved a whole lot of points for essentially nothing.  The longer I saved, the more the desirable items disappeared.  I ended up settling for a cheap thumb drive and some MP3 downloads.  At least I could get some vintage Pink Floyd, including Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered In A Cave Grooving On A Pict.  As an aside, if you ever play Charades, that is a sure winner in the Music category.

We are not amused.  This is not the “Royal We” that I have been criticized for using.  Rather, it refers to my attitude’s influence on Bittle and Stinky.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.” - P. G. Wodehouse

"Oh, hell." - said with the same intonation as Peter Sellers in his role as Group Captain Mandrake in Dr. Strangelove  Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.  I seem to have started an unintended debate with my "filler thought of the moment," entered to pad out the free screen cleaner and Internet certificate jokes.  That doesn't mean I don't believe my view to be true, or at least possible, but it does mean that I didn't explain my thoughts in enough detail to answer all possible questions.  Just the fact that the APA has whole Divisions devoted to Cognitive and Self psychological approaches would indicate I might possibly not have gotten it all stated in two paragraphs and a haiku.

Try this little experiment.  Simply sit quietly, close your eyes, and think about something that is personally related to your self.  (e.g. “I am feeling well;” or “I think I wrote that last haiku badly;” or even “I am lonely.”  The thought should not be solving a quadratic equation or concentrating on making up your grocery shopping list.)   When you think about “I",” where does the thought seem to originate, be, reside, come from, etc.?  Under such circumstances, for me, it feels as though “I” am located inside my skull, centered somewhere in the frontal or prefrontal cortex of my brain.  Under other circumstances, I might not even be aware of being an “I.” 

As I wrote in the last post, “I” varies.  I become much less aware of being an “I” if I am concentrating my attention elsewhere.  In a previous post I wrote of slipping and falling while carrying old magazines to be recycled.  While I now write of this, I remain partially aware of being an “I.”  When the incident was occurring, however, I was much more aware of my abrupt change in physical orientation and my attention was concentrated on the pain from my back and buttocks.  “I” can fade into the background when more urgent circumstances require.  Skilled tasks require concentration.  So do emergencies, non-habitual tasks, reading a book, watching a movie, and so on.  “I” still exist, but I am not concentrating my attention upon myself.  I may be much more aware of “I” if I am doing specific types of meditation, or I may temporarily lose “I” entirely if I develop orthostatic hypotension (very low blood pressure) from standing up quickly after sitting or lying in the same position for an extended period.  An insufficient blood supply reaches the brain and “I” go away to somewhere in la-la land because I just fainted.  That also implies the answer to another question that was raised.  All the other necessary brain and body systems and functions must be working properly for “I” to exist.  Note that I said “necessary” back there.  An amputated left great toe is unlikely to prevent an “I” from existing and functioning quite nicely, but a condition such as a dementia, severe organic brain damage, or a diabetic coma surely could.  Self, consciousness, and sentience are really miracles as they all depend upon so many other extremely complex, but smaller and lower level systems to be working properly.  For that matter, if one studies the anatomy, physiology, innervation, and functional processes involved, it is nothing short of amazing that we can pee when we need to. 

Can there be more than one “I” in a single person?  The literature on, and my experience with, Multiple Personality Disorder and other related syndromes certainly seem to bear that out.  I’ve seen no studies specifically on this question, but I would have to ask where the ascendant personality perceives itself to be?  My guess would be that it would view itself in the same manner as any individual, though it “shares the same brain” with the person’s other personalities.  Another example might be that of dreaming.  I often experience the REM phenomenon as if “I” am truly engaged and participating in the perceived activities, while retaining the ability to differentiate between the two states of consciousness when I wake.  Along that same line of thought, can the “I” be in, or move to, different places?  That’s a much tougher question for me to answer.  Out-of-body or near death experiences may give us a clue, as may astral projection or the equivalent.  To answer any of them affirmatively presupposes that an “I” can exist without the support system of an accompanying physical body.  That, in turn, raises questions in higher levels of explanation such as philosophy, metaphysics, theology, spirituality, and others.  (Is the soul or spirit separate from the physical body?)  I don’t know.  I have hopes, but not knowledge.  The only example that comes to mind of his sort of projection from a personal experience is from a time when I was very good (really) at flying RC sailplanes.  I could occasionally “be” (or be at one with) the flying model, unaware of self and somehow perceiving my self as if I were feeling and reacting to air currents, changes in altitude, turbulence, and the like.  My own explanation of this phenomenon runs more toward shutting out all competing stimuli and a near total concentration on the model, to the point that I was unaware of even the Radio Control transmitter in my hands.  So “I” stayed in me, but I was unaware of “self” and able to reach a Zen-like (Jedi? Matrix?) state of concentration on the model.

The awareness of self waxes and wanes.  This would likely be a relatively linear function of the degree of necessity to concentrate or focus upon a task requiring active thought or an event so compelling that it demands our complete attention.  Think of examples such as defending one’s Ph.D. dissertation to the examining committee, or suffering a panic attack (not that the two are at all incompatible.)

Some animals, I believe, must possess an sense of “I.”  The level on the spectrum of evolution at which the animal is classified quite likely corresponds with the amount of “I” that is present.  The more evolved the animal, the more wrinkles (OK, sulci) in the neocortex and the larger the frontal and prefrontal areas of their brain.  They most certainly have differing abilities, brain mechanisms, physical development, and behavioral possibilities, but I believe many of the higher level, sentient beings are self-aware.  I doubt that Bittle or Stinky are aware of the state of the economy or of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, but from outward appearances, they possess a sense of self equal to, or greater than, my own.

Sigh.  Now “I” am thinkin’ my brain hurts.  I hope that this somewhat addressed the questions and ideas posed.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, political parties, nations, and eras it's the rule.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

Moo

I believe that not terribly long ago I asked a question about where you perceive the part of yourself that calls itself “I” is located.  I used to ask that in therapy group sessions to try to get people to differentiate between the thinking, acting entity of “self,” and anything else which might have their complete attention but was not “self.”  I believe that the part that calls itself I (in my case, at least) is a function of my frontal and pre-frontal cortex, neocortex, and other required supportive brain areas, and feels as if it exists above and is centered between the orbits of my eyes.  You don’t have to believe that, if you don’t care to. 

Our concentration may be directed so intensely at some other thing/process/feeling etc., that we temporarily become unaware of “I” and our consciousness is directed elsewhere.  My recent (and ongoing) illness had my concentration totally focused on my intestinal tract, cats stepping on my abdomen, the coldness of the tile floor, and a dust glob I had never noticed under the base of the bathroom lavatory cabinet.  While these ideations filled my consciousness, there were not “me.”  They were my primary areas of interest at that moment, and might be necessary but could never be sufficient to define who or what “I” am.  “I” can recall the event (vividly) and wish not repeat it when I think about it, but that is not “I.”  “I” appear to vary in size, time, relationship to outside events, even if “outside” refers to occurrences inside my skin, or even to my own thoughts, dreams, and hopes.  Thus, “I” is the epiphenomenon, built upon all the underlying but necessary levels of functioning, which allows me to understand that I am a singular being capable of conceiving and relating to higher levels of knowledge, spirituality, existence, moral behavior, and so on.  It truly astounded me how many people defined their “I” as a throbbing toe or a broken relationship.

Having come this far, I shall subject you to an explanatory haiku before delivering on the promises made in the title:

I can’t concentrate

Beyond my own intestines

I’ll write a haiku

For your demonstrated Excellence in Professional Internet Surfing you may print out your own individualized certificate of recognition.  My own will surely hang next to my diplomas.  Additionally, your free screen cleaner may be obtained here.

In answer to your unwritten question; No.  I do not believe that I have yet regained my usual apportionment of sanity.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“I can’t brain today.  I have the dumb.” – unknown bumper sticker designer

I do not like being sick!  Especially when I’m not absolutely certain that it’s not lethal.  To avoid offending the sensibilities of my more delicate readers, the only physiological phrase I will use is “flu-like symptoms.”  In computer terminology, it was closer to repeatedly facing the Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) while lying on the bathroom floor and being cared for by Stinky and Bittle.  This care consisted of circling me, “yelling” at me, and walking on me until I displayed some sign of life.  I felt it wise to groan or whine occasionally, in fear of their escalating to claws or fangs.

While I lay there doing a system dump, collecting data in case of a complete system failure, I discovered a critical battery condition, a requirement for repeated cache cleanouts, and a definite need of sufficient power to continue operations.  Following about 24:00:00 of recharging, I was again able to function.  At a reduced level, true, but function nonetheless.  Somehow, chocolate pudding and Pepsi entered the picture, but that may have been random bits of readout as the system recharged.  Currently, the conclusion is that a new battery and another stick of RAM will patch me sufficiently to continue operations.  There seems to be no need to change Operating Systems or to “fix anything else that ain't broke.”

I picture one of my little guardians below (yes, the picture was definitely taken at a different time, but illustrates his favorite bathroom observation post.)

Anyway, I lived, and looking back on the experience, it was every bit as disturbing as I felt it to be at the time.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“It's no longer a question of staying healthy. It's a question of finding a sickness you like.” - Jackie Mason

I have to wonder if the following excerpt from the ZDNet’s All About Microsoft column by Mary-Jo Foley is saying more than is actually written in her column.  This column usually contains quite reliable information from specific applications to the latest rumors and speculations to hard business and software news.  There are more technical sources of information about Microsoft, but for a “slightly technical” reader such as myself Ms. Foley provides excellent coverage and links to more specific sources when appropriate.

“Microsoft is stepping up its war on software pirates by rolling out new Windows Genuine notification software for what it is calling its most pirated version of Windows: Windows XP Professional.

In an August 26 posting to the Windows Genuine Advantage blog, Director of Genuine Windows Alex Kochis said XP users should expect Microsoft to begin rolling out a new version of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) notifications starting this week. Microsoft is expecting the rollout to take several months. … “

Most specifically, the article seems to be saying more about Windows XP-Professional than might appear at first glance.  If XP-Pro is the most pirated OS, it follows that it is likely that it is the most popular.  Microsoft, while pushing hard with a greatly increased advertising campaign for Vista, seems also to be threatening XP holdouts with Genuine “Nagware” notifications.   It has been denied that a “reduced functionality mode,” aka “kill switch” will be installed in XP.

“Microsoft officials noted that WGA for XP never did default to “reduced functionality mode,” a k a, the kill switch, which was part of Windows Vista when it first shipped.”

Ms. Foley’s blog, All About Microsoft publishes frequently.  Perhaps you should bookmark it.

Draw your own conclusions, but I would suggest that you read the full article before you do so.  It has left me with questions and doubts as to whether even my Genuine Microsoft copy of XP-Pro will pass the test when I install it as a second OS on a new PC.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.” – Mark Twain

I don’t really know why this surprised or irritated me any more than the other sellouts that the USA, its corporations, businesses, and individuals have been making for the past eight or so years.  The Chicago Skyway was leased to an Australian Corporation for 99 years.  The section of the Illinois Tollway that is closest to me has been “bought” (I’m not certain of the details, but the cash price for using it doubled) by China.  Multinational Energy (Oil) Corporations are bleeding us financially.

NASCAR is a racing venue that had its beginnings as the “Good Ol’ Boy” moonshiners began to informally race their … umm … delivery vehicles on dirt tracks in the South.  This uniquely American sport now races in both Mexico and Canada, and along with the traditionally US brand cars that raced, now include Toyotas.  Ford, GM, and Pontiac may be in financial trouble for other bad corporate decisions, but it does seem somewhat incongruous that the Toyotas are right there as the Pledge of Allegiance, US National Anthem, Christian Prayer for the country and the drivers, and the US warplane flyover take place.  Not to mention “Boogity, boogity, boogity.” 

Tony George ruined Indy Car racing by splitting it into the IRL (made up primarily of “imported” drivers) and leaving anyone who didn’t want to play by his rules to form the Champ Car Series.  Neither group was received with great enthusiasm by fans.  He tried to promote Indy by hosting a NASCAR race there yearly and by trying to bring Formula-1 racing back to a US track after years of being ignored by the FAI.  NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 worked.  F-1 didn’t, due largely to Bernie Ecclestone’s preemptive decision that any team not running a particular brand of “tyres” would not be allowed to race.  All cars ran the pace lap, six cars remained on the track to race, and the fans walked out.

Following WWII, primarily in California, but to some extent all over the nation, returning servicemen began modifying and souping up pre-war cars (new cars hadn’t been made due to the war effort) to run faster and raced them on dry salt lakes, streets, and eventually on dragstrips.  This led to the formation of drag racing sanctioning bodies such as the AHRA, the IHRA, and the “class act” NHRA.  In the 1960s I was heavily into drag racing at the long since defunct US 30 Dragstrip.  I spent much of my free time and more money than a new Corvette would have cost working on, improving, making mistakes, inventing, and generally being obsessed with my hot rod Model A Ford.

The classes I used to run, B/G and C/G, never make it onto TV.  I don’t think they even exist anymore, but are subsumed under the bracket racing classes.  While I’ll watch pretty much anything with wheels race anything else with wheels, drag racing remains my favorite. 

What upset me so much last Sunday while I was watching the US Nationals?  The highest level, costliest, fastest class is Top Fuel Rail.  Recently, following the death of a Fuel Funny Car driver, the two fastest classes were reduced to running only 1000 feet rather than the 1/4 mile (1320 feet) that has been the traditional standard since the inception of formal drag racing.  Top Fuel class qualifying resulted in a field of 16, all of which were crossing the 1000 foot line in under four seconds with speeds over 300 mph.  One driver/team/owner has been dominant for the past several years.  Tony Schumacher, driver for Don Schumacher Racing, is primarily sponsored by the US Army and is that man.  He again took top honors in the final eliminations on Labor Day.

“After beating Doug Kalitta in the finals with a 3.916-second pass at 309.13 mph, Schumacher set the NHRA Top Fuel record for most consecutive wins as well as the NHRA record for most wins in a single season - 11.

Additionally, the Chicago-area resident is now tied with Joe Amato for the most career Top Fuel wins - 52.”

So?  Alan Johnson, the most decorated crew chief in the NHRA is leaving the team to become an owner, fielding both a Top Fuel Rail and a Funny Car.  Again, so?  Sad to see a great team break up, but not an absolute disaster.  Until one learns who provided the vast majority of the money to make this change and name the new team Al-Anabi Racing.  Qatari Sheik Khalid Bin Hamad Al Thani.  He has built a new dragstrip in Qatar and has toyed with Pro Stock Eliminator class cars.  I suppose that if you want to go drag racing, starting at the top, you start with the two top classes in NHRA.  And if you have the money you might as well buy the very best.

A deceptively simple question may be asked here.  What ties all of the parts of this rant together into one?  Cars, roads, racing, money, speed, all of which rely on … oil.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten” – George Carlin