Blog number 363 **** 15 January 2009
I went to the doctor for my annual checkup. After weighing me and checking my blood pressure, they put me in the waiting room. A little later two nurses came in - one was teaching the other. The teaching one told me, "We're going to take your blood pressure again, check your bone mass, take a sample of blood, give you an E.K.G, and you need an X-Ray."
I asked, "Am I going to die?"
My wife and I went out the next day, and since we happened to be passing by the X-Ray place, we decided to go in and get the X-Ray. Since we hadn't planned on going there, I wasn't dressed for it. I was wearing my bib overalls.
I had to unsnap my overalls and hold them about my waist while they took the pictures. Then the girl told me I had to grab the bar above my head with both hands. She asked if my pants would stay up. I said, "Probably not. You won't do anything, will you?"
When I grabbed the bar, my pants did fall down, so there I was in a room with two pretty young girls with my pants in a puddle around my ankles. Every old man's dream.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
TWO OR THREE OR MORE THINGS
Blog number 362 **** 14 January 2009
I read a long time ago that the only difference between the chlorophyll molecule (the one that lets plants make food out of sunlight and water) and hemoglobin (the molecule that transports oxygen from the lungs to the cells in animals) was a single hydrogen atom. I read this. A long time ago. It was a "truth" for decades.
Today I learned that the difference is not a hydrogen atom, but that chlorophyll has a magnesium atom where hemoglobin has an iron atom. Phfttt.
I was taught all through high school that neither energy nor matter could ever disappear or be changed. Then the atom was split. Phfttt.
I was also taught all through high school that humans had 48 chromosomes. Nobody ever checked until sometime in the late forties two guys checked and found that here were only 46. Phfttt.
My niece got ulcers when she was only four or five years old. In those days, everyone thought ulcers were caused by stress. How much stress could a baby have? And there must have been other cases. Why didn't anybody question this "truth"?
Two doctors in Australia finally, just a few years ago, investigated this and found that ulcers were caused by a virus. No scientist believed them, because obviously they were mistaken. And they were not even real researchers, just common medical doctors, so again obviously they didn't know what they were talking about. One of them got the virus into his body and treated it and cured it. NOW the two were believed.
Cultural conditioning.
ION, I always put a brick on my pile of recyclable papers so that the wind doesn't take them away. They always take the papers, throw the brick into the yard. But not today. They took the brick too. I can just hear the guy thinking, "Oh, good. A brick. I been needing a brick. Guess this is my lucky day."
I read a long time ago that the only difference between the chlorophyll molecule (the one that lets plants make food out of sunlight and water) and hemoglobin (the molecule that transports oxygen from the lungs to the cells in animals) was a single hydrogen atom. I read this. A long time ago. It was a "truth" for decades.
Today I learned that the difference is not a hydrogen atom, but that chlorophyll has a magnesium atom where hemoglobin has an iron atom. Phfttt.
I was taught all through high school that neither energy nor matter could ever disappear or be changed. Then the atom was split. Phfttt.
I was also taught all through high school that humans had 48 chromosomes. Nobody ever checked until sometime in the late forties two guys checked and found that here were only 46. Phfttt.
My niece got ulcers when she was only four or five years old. In those days, everyone thought ulcers were caused by stress. How much stress could a baby have? And there must have been other cases. Why didn't anybody question this "truth"?
Two doctors in Australia finally, just a few years ago, investigated this and found that ulcers were caused by a virus. No scientist believed them, because obviously they were mistaken. And they were not even real researchers, just common medical doctors, so again obviously they didn't know what they were talking about. One of them got the virus into his body and treated it and cured it. NOW the two were believed.
Cultural conditioning.
ION, I always put a brick on my pile of recyclable papers so that the wind doesn't take them away. They always take the papers, throw the brick into the yard. But not today. They took the brick too. I can just hear the guy thinking, "Oh, good. A brick. I been needing a brick. Guess this is my lucky day."
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
I NEVER SAW A PURPLE TREE
Blog number 361 **** 13 January 2009
I'm reading a book called, "The Hidden Life Of Deer" written by the same author who wrote about those Bushmen and the poisoned arrows I wrote about a few entries back. The author started feeding the deer in the winter because there was a very poor acorn crop that year, and acorns are what deer feed upon in winter.
She tells of a "knowledgeable friend" of hers that told her that "nut trees do this [limit their production] from time to time in order to cut down on their predators. The trees do this because if they didn't, their predators would increase to such an extent that they would eventually eat every nut that fell and Viola' ! No more nut trees.
To handle that problem, the trees hold back and let the animals starve.
What caught my eye about this was not that trees can think and plan, but rather the way in which she simply states what she heard as a fact. Or a probable theory, anyway. That's a very unusual outlook in a Westerner, even though all the available evidence makes it obvious that not only are trees conscious of their existence, but so too are rocks and atoms.
People like this gladden my heart.
I'm reading a book called, "The Hidden Life Of Deer" written by the same author who wrote about those Bushmen and the poisoned arrows I wrote about a few entries back. The author started feeding the deer in the winter because there was a very poor acorn crop that year, and acorns are what deer feed upon in winter.
She tells of a "knowledgeable friend" of hers that told her that "nut trees do this [limit their production] from time to time in order to cut down on their predators. The trees do this because if they didn't, their predators would increase to such an extent that they would eventually eat every nut that fell and Viola' ! No more nut trees.
To handle that problem, the trees hold back and let the animals starve.
What caught my eye about this was not that trees can think and plan, but rather the way in which she simply states what she heard as a fact. Or a probable theory, anyway. That's a very unusual outlook in a Westerner, even though all the available evidence makes it obvious that not only are trees conscious of their existence, but so too are rocks and atoms.
People like this gladden my heart.
Monday, January 11, 2010
GOD LOVE 'EM
Blog number 360 **** 11 January 2009
A few years back a law was passed in order to prevent businesses from sending junk mail to people who don't want it, if you notify the business that you want your name taken off their list.
My wife notified a bunch of junk-mail-sending-businesses that we no longer wanted their junk mail and to please take our name off their list. Chase Banking did this. Today we got a letter from them addressed instead of to "Jane Doe*, 666 Summerset Lane, BreakMyBack Montana**," was addressed to "Our Neighbor, 666 Summerset Lane, BreakMy Back Montana." **
* a pseudonym because my wife doesn't want her name and address on my Blog
** a pseudoaddress because my wife doesn't want people to deluge us with fan mail from my Blog.
A few years back a law was passed in order to prevent businesses from sending junk mail to people who don't want it, if you notify the business that you want your name taken off their list.
My wife notified a bunch of junk-mail-sending-businesses that we no longer wanted their junk mail and to please take our name off their list. Chase Banking did this. Today we got a letter from them addressed instead of to "Jane Doe*, 666 Summerset Lane, BreakMyBack Montana**," was addressed to "Our Neighbor, 666 Summerset Lane, BreakMy Back Montana." **
* a pseudonym because my wife doesn't want her name and address on my Blog
** a pseudoaddress because my wife doesn't want people to deluge us with fan mail from my Blog.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
DOCTOR DOCTOR GIMMIE THE NEWS
Blog number 359 **** 10 January 2009
My son and his wife were over today and I told my son's wife a story which ended just as my son came into the room. He asked what I was saying, but I told him it was too long and I had just finished the long story to his wife, but that I would write it in my Blog, so here ''tis.
When we lived in Sacramento I had asthma real bad. I used an inhaler for when it was difficult to breath and I also had another inhaler for longer term relief. It was called, "Chlor-something" and was a steroid. I was supposed to use it twice a day and it was supposed to make it so I wouldn't have to use the regular inhaler so often.The directions warned that I was so rinse my mouth out after every use, otherwise I could get fungus growing in my mouth.
Now I thought, "look. My lungs ain't that far from my mouth and actually they both have the same climate, so isn't it likely that fungus would grow in my lungs?"
I told the doctor my concerns, figuring he would see the logic of this, but, "No, fungus would not grow in my lungs," this highly trained medical scientist doctor told me.
Every month or so it would get so hard for me to breath that I had to go to the emergency room for treatment. Adrenaline works wonders for this. After three or four trips to the emergency room, I got a replacement drug - Fortran. Now this sucker worked! I used to have to wake up several times each night to suck on my inhaler, but after a few days of the Fortran, I could sleep all night.
I figured from this that my original worries had been right on. That thing was growing fungus in my lungs. So when I got a telephone call from a researcher at the hospital asking if she could ask a few questions about that steroid drug, I was off and running. I didn't even wait for one question. I told her about it putting me in the emergency room and I told her it was a dangerous bad drug and nobody should ever take it, and some other things I now forget. She never did ask me any questions about it, just said thank you and hung up. I think what happened was that they were getting some bad reports and were checking out the users.
My son and his wife were over today and I told my son's wife a story which ended just as my son came into the room. He asked what I was saying, but I told him it was too long and I had just finished the long story to his wife, but that I would write it in my Blog, so here ''tis.
When we lived in Sacramento I had asthma real bad. I used an inhaler for when it was difficult to breath and I also had another inhaler for longer term relief. It was called, "Chlor-something" and was a steroid. I was supposed to use it twice a day and it was supposed to make it so I wouldn't have to use the regular inhaler so often.The directions warned that I was so rinse my mouth out after every use, otherwise I could get fungus growing in my mouth.
Now I thought, "look. My lungs ain't that far from my mouth and actually they both have the same climate, so isn't it likely that fungus would grow in my lungs?"
I told the doctor my concerns, figuring he would see the logic of this, but, "No, fungus would not grow in my lungs," this highly trained medical scientist doctor told me.
Every month or so it would get so hard for me to breath that I had to go to the emergency room for treatment. Adrenaline works wonders for this. After three or four trips to the emergency room, I got a replacement drug - Fortran. Now this sucker worked! I used to have to wake up several times each night to suck on my inhaler, but after a few days of the Fortran, I could sleep all night.
I figured from this that my original worries had been right on. That thing was growing fungus in my lungs. So when I got a telephone call from a researcher at the hospital asking if she could ask a few questions about that steroid drug, I was off and running. I didn't even wait for one question. I told her about it putting me in the emergency room and I told her it was a dangerous bad drug and nobody should ever take it, and some other things I now forget. She never did ask me any questions about it, just said thank you and hung up. I think what happened was that they were getting some bad reports and were checking out the users.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
A PEEK INSIDE AN ACTIVE MIND
Blog number 358 **** 09 January 2009
I'm sitting in an easy chair in Starbucks writing this tome, essay, note, whatever, because my wife is talking to someone and I don't feel like joining the conversation and I am tired of reading the book I brought and I have to place my eyes somewheres other than on my wife or her companion because for sure my wife will ask me if I am wanting to go, which I ain't, and this would bring me into the conversation, which I don't want. I'd really like to just sit and watch them talk, but like I said, I can't. So I am writing, not because I want to, or because I have anything to say, but only as a distraction for my real wants.
Life is hard.
I spent $25 of my $2 bills just before I sat down. I didn't want to do that, wanting instead to use my Visa card, but it was the old foot-in-the-door effect. The register said eleven something, so I gave her six of my bills and she said she needed $12 more. "Oh, yeah, I thought. Two pounds of Starbucks' coffee is gonna cost more than $11. Twice that, actually. As it turns out. So, in for a penny, in for a pound. I gave her six more bills.
I'm sitting in an easy chair in Starbucks writing this tome, essay, note, whatever, because my wife is talking to someone and I don't feel like joining the conversation and I am tired of reading the book I brought and I have to place my eyes somewheres other than on my wife or her companion because for sure my wife will ask me if I am wanting to go, which I ain't, and this would bring me into the conversation, which I don't want. I'd really like to just sit and watch them talk, but like I said, I can't. So I am writing, not because I want to, or because I have anything to say, but only as a distraction for my real wants.
Life is hard.
I spent $25 of my $2 bills just before I sat down. I didn't want to do that, wanting instead to use my Visa card, but it was the old foot-in-the-door effect. The register said eleven something, so I gave her six of my bills and she said she needed $12 more. "Oh, yeah, I thought. Two pounds of Starbucks' coffee is gonna cost more than $11. Twice that, actually. As it turns out. So, in for a penny, in for a pound. I gave her six more bills.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
THIS AND THAT, BUT MOSTLY THAT.
Blog number 357 **** 07 January 2009
Peeling a temple orange, the smell made me think of Christmas back when I was seven or eight years old, eating my first tangerine. This remembrance made me think of other "first foods," which made me think of other things. That's the thing about memories. They work by association, not temporally. I remember when I first looked at my memories to see how they were connected and discovered they worked by association. I had been under the impression that they worked one after the other, earliest first. It seems odd to me now that I didn't know that before I knew it, but not long after that I found out a lot of other things about my thoughts that I never knew.
I digressed.
Again.
I used to have a haircut that got pretty rowdy when it got a little long because I have this tendency to play with my hair - running my hands through it, scratching, etc. You know the drill.
Then I got it cut short all around - almost like the cuts they give you when you first go to basic training in the military. Babies seemed to love it. But something rather strange happened.
My loving wife, said to me the other day, "I want you to go back to your old haircut because this one makes you look old."
Now, she didn't say, "It makes you look older." Nor did she say, "It makes you look too old." No, what she said was , "It makes you look old." I'm three months short of being seventy nine years old, which is one year short of being eighty. Of course I look old. I am old.
It's things like this that make me want to be able to get into other people's minds to see what they are thinking.
What was she thinking? Won't do any good to ask, because she won't know.
Peeling a temple orange, the smell made me think of Christmas back when I was seven or eight years old, eating my first tangerine. This remembrance made me think of other "first foods," which made me think of other things. That's the thing about memories. They work by association, not temporally. I remember when I first looked at my memories to see how they were connected and discovered they worked by association. I had been under the impression that they worked one after the other, earliest first. It seems odd to me now that I didn't know that before I knew it, but not long after that I found out a lot of other things about my thoughts that I never knew.
I digressed.
Again.
I used to have a haircut that got pretty rowdy when it got a little long because I have this tendency to play with my hair - running my hands through it, scratching, etc. You know the drill.
Then I got it cut short all around - almost like the cuts they give you when you first go to basic training in the military. Babies seemed to love it. But something rather strange happened.
My loving wife, said to me the other day, "I want you to go back to your old haircut because this one makes you look old."
Now, she didn't say, "It makes you look older." Nor did she say, "It makes you look too old." No, what she said was , "It makes you look old." I'm three months short of being seventy nine years old, which is one year short of being eighty. Of course I look old. I am old.
It's things like this that make me want to be able to get into other people's minds to see what they are thinking.
What was she thinking? Won't do any good to ask, because she won't know.
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