Garage Days Re-Revisited

The title you may know as having been the title of one of rock-band Metallica's albums from the late 80s. Maybe you weren't into heavy- metal music, or even alive then, but I was an up-and-coming young bass-player at the time, knowing a little Metallica was sort of considered common courtesey for a rock bassist (as well as remaining safely aloof from the James Hetfield/Lars Ulrich/Dave Mustaine altercations that merely started literal fights among friends).

Anyway the theme of being forced to return to the "garage" (the place where you first learned to be proficient at some skill) just when the world seems to spin at your behest...is so common as to be annoying in it's familiarity.

But it's what I had to do.

Developing Multiple Sclerosis is a bit like having to go back to the garage to relearn Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water...again.

Only, now, my dominant side (arm AND leg) have become so paralyzed, that I'd have trouble even holding an electric bass, now (yes, even with a guitar-strap).

But whatever...life throws everyone unexpected curves...how one overcomes those "curves" says a lot about whether or not they have what it takes to succeed in the first place.

And I am here to tell you that there are some tough people out there (besides me, hehe)...many of them treated with disdain by people who couldn't even live the life they are forced to live 24/7...

Which reminds me of a particularly obnoxious heckler literally thousands of miles away in another country who doesn't realize I am so disabled that only a multi-thousand-dollar MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) Scan, or even MORE expensive PET (Positron Emission Tomography) Scan can even aid an experienced Neurologist in knowing EXACTLY how damaged my brain is.

I guess the guy's/gal's addiction to nationally-socialized medicine makes him/her better able to cope with the very real costs of M.S. in a capitalist country like the United States where healthcare isn't free, or even discounted. But I wouldn't prefer to live elsewhere.

Some of the best M.S. doctors in the world are right here in my home state of California, and I think they were amazed even that I had retrained myself to walk.

I guess this heckler knows more about the realities of M.S. than my Stanford-, University of Malta-, and University of California-trained neurologists? I'll bet this genius heckler doesn't need anything but an auger to see inside the human skull. ;)

Never mind the mess...I'm almost dead anyway, right? *-)

I notice that the heckler isn't brave enough to pay me a personal visit...so maybe he/she is just delusional...and for that the heckler has my pity. I'm going to live...I have my doubts about this heckler's future. ;)

ADDENDUM:
That last statement shouldn't be misinterpreted as a desire to see any misfortune to come to this person, but rather a recognition of the kind of trouble that seems to follow the type of arrogance -I- perceived. Maybe it's a cultural thing: the REAL MEANING having become lost-in-translation.

But whatever the intended translation was, I perceived a challenge to MY STATEMENTS about MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE...I guess I tend to believe that NOBODY except GOD knows ME better than ME. Silly me ;)

dis-impared

My friends recognize me even through my imperfections...and that is a comforting thought.

But I tell you truthfully... I would not wish M.S. even upon my WORST enemies!

If God knows me, too...
Then I'm sure I haven't learned EVERYTHING about love!
So I guess I don't know everything...at least not yet. :D

Momentum, Foresight, and the Telescoping Desk Lamp

Back in the 1990s, there was a popular device that literally telescoped a magnifying-
lamp into a semi-
free-floating space that could be arched into position to light any project (although auto-mechanics know that the ubiquitous Extention-cord/Lamp Combination is really more versatile for MOST engine-centric hands-free work, because of the inherent stability of the frame of the car itself).

In computer work, most people don't account for how delicate the human workspace can be.

When organizing the order-of-operations involving any significantly complex human application, A NORMAL person might litter their computer-monitor with Post-it notes. This seemed like a natural adaptation on the 17+ inch monitors that began to see widespread use in the opening of the 1990's.

Having a knack for compressing ideas into Post-it-sized expressions was crucial to the success of business in the age of the oversized SVGA display.

Anyway, as the monitors got bigger, eventually they just got in the way, hence the invention of the cutesie message-board for desktops with smaller screens.

I think there's just a natural need for an easily-updatable, mostly-stable place to brainstorm. But putting an often-used thing behind the brain-storm display is a recipe for disaster...in the wrong circumstances; ideas literally could injure a person.

Chill

Original Image Credit: Andrew FruchterSTScI) et al., WFPC2, HST, NASA
Scaled and Cropped for Presentation Here

I'm sure everyone is aware that we're currently living in a volatile and hyper-sensitive world...just today I scanned the news and found so many things that are stirring up unrest worldwide, that I decided to forego the agitation and focus on something cool.

Abell 2218 is a cluster of galaxies so dense and massive that true to Einstein's conceptions of the universe being warped by gravity, Abell 2218 literally bends the light coming from these galaxies into what is known as a Gravitational Lens.

Planet Earth may appear to be caving-in on itself, but human disruptions are NOTHING compared to the bending of light itself by the forces present in Abell 2218. Just a thought.

Addendum WED
I mentioned that I cropped this image in the credit...but it seems IMPORTANT. What you are seeing is like looking at the cosmos through rippled cellophane or as if underwater...the galaxies of Abell 2218 producing this effect are actually just outside your view.

Careful Innovation

Some people mistake me for a muckraker-with-an-axe-to-grind, because I seem less-than-open-minded about a lot of topics...but the truth is that I'm EXTREMELY open-minded...I just don't entertain hypotheses in which I've already found inaccurate, skewed or patently-false thinking...in the process of eliminating such thinking from MY OWN hypotheses, I don't easily return to altered or amplified versions of the same misinformation.

I'm pretty sure any solid thinker shares this quality...but unfortunately every once in awhile I must explain my rationales to the less-than-meticulous thinker, so I wanted to give a clear example of WHY I'm so careful not to follow every line-of-thinking.

You probably don't read the same news that I do...because I'm looking at different factors in any story than its author(s) might have expected.

Here's an example of WHY I don't publish every insight I have regarding potential "miracle medicines". The very sad story of the M.S. drug Tysabri should be a potent reminder about responsible research taking precedent over incessant innovation.

Free Parking

Original Image courtesy Salon.com as published on http://carsharingus.blogspot.com

Not to congratulate myself again, but anyone who has known me for any significant period of time knows that there are two games at which I excel, draw poker and Parker Brothers' (now Hasbro's) Monopoly.

These are what I call Quantum Games, because they require a person to skillfully incorporate the laws of probability into any successful strategy.

I hate things like slot-machines, because they incorporate the laws of probability exclusively (despite people's personal beliefs, the laws of probability are so strictly enforced by nature, that even government gaming-enforcement agencies can tell by purely statistical methods whether or not casinos and various gaming operations are on the up-and-up...and they generally are, so if you are upset at your inability to "beat the house", it's NOT because the casino is fixing the game, generally-speaking).

But I think it's important for people to understand that many games are "fixed" from the get-go...BECAUSE nature itself has "fixed" the odds of success.

I recently had an EXTREMELY valuble bit of scientific insight that might have led to cures for dozens of diseases (including my own extremely-disabling Multiple Sclerosis) that I will NEVER REVEAL PUBLICLY, simply because it also holds the potential for killing the entire human race.

People might protest such a seemingly ridiculous bit of actuary, but when I realized that the lives of EVERY HUMAN BEING might be at stake vis-a-vis the irresponsible introduction of this insight into the public-domain, I decided to fold what appeared to be a winning hand for the sake of my own conscience.

But [I] will always know that I WAS IN NO WAY responsible for THIS >>>

As in Monopoly, I realized the actual value of including a space marked: Free Parking, which neither helps, nor hurts the player's odds of winning the game.

Call me what you want, but I'm fairly certain that you will thank me later for letting you park free for this one turn. ;)

--mattergy

Addendum Sun Feb 3 2:00 P.M., PST
I don't mean to wax spiritual, but I was struck by the fact that the scientific article that confirmed I was flirting with a potentially abominable "cure" cost me $30, the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ to His accusers.

That I've elected to withhold my discovery from public view for the sake of preserving what segment of humanity I might from such a potential abomination struck me as fitting, though others might see it as a waste of $30.

Addendum Tue Feb 5 6:00 P.M., PST
I had a private conversation with one of my regular readers who vastly misunderstood the Monopoly connection I was getting at...her take was that the reason I was keeping this to myself was so that I could hold all the cards on a profitable "cure" (which I acknowledged would be a diabolical rationale).

But in Monopoly, holding on to a property for the sake of preventing another player from getting an improvable color-group is ALSO frequently a winning strategy (I make it a point to own at least one property from every color-group [even at the risk of going temporarily in debt] to make sure no one can improve properties except ME, meaning that whatever color-group I improve will ultimately be the color-group that knocks the rest of the players out of the game).

Yes, it's a ruthless strategy, but when I determine that a game (in this case, the game of humanity) will have NO winners if a clearly profitable, yet potentially deadly medicine is developed from MY insight, I'm happy to play the game as an honorable loser. ;)

Remember, You Read It Here

Any regular reader knows that I always predict social-unrest based on rapid deflation of the price of crude-oil on the open markets, and given the number of times I've been right, every once-in-a-while a reader asks: "what's the connection?"

To be honest, I don't know the connection...but I've observed the sequence-of-events often enough to conclude for myself that the connection exists and that's good enough for me.

The university-educated of the world will protest this kind of logic, but I have been a student of trends for enough years to say: "who cares...It's a reality, and it seems as if there's not a lot that can be done about it, so take it or leave it".

My advice is simply this...just stay out of crowds-in-chaos (like the trading-floor) when crude takes a plunge.

I don't have any hard data, but I do have a memory, so as for this advice, take it or leave it. I'm NOT a licensed commodities-trader.

Intelligence to Understand

I sometimes make some outlandish statements, and if you aren't careful, they may cause you to judge me in odd ways...but I'm not perfect, and my temper gets really bad on occasion, so I have been misinterpreted as thinking more highly of MYSELF than is justified.

But in actuality, my biggest problem is living in a world of people who judge by appearances first, and then consider the realities.

I know that I mention my daily struggle with M.S. frequently enough to sound like a broken record, but it is indeed a daily struggle, and I've found that most people can't accept that.

And by can't, I mean that they have no point-of-reference in their personal experience to identify with what I actually experience. They may sympathize for me, but they can't empathize WITH me. And that's a HUGE disadvantage.

Take for example the reality of not being able to pick up a small- to medium-sized cardboard box with two hands. Most people think "no big deal", but almost everyone in American society can pick up a cardboard box, so in their haste, deliver-personnel might drop a package at my front door and think, "no big deal".

But for me, a 6-foot 4-inch person with Multiple Sclerosis, it CAN BE a big deal. Leaving aside the fact that the disease has left one whole side of my body almost completely paralyzed (meaning just getting to the door can be a challenge) there's the issue of BALANCING on one leg while reaching down to pick up the box...again, it seems so easy as to be an inconsequential task to the non-disabled, but to me it can take up a fair portion of the afternoon just picking up a box, and moving it over the elevated threshold of the doorway into my place.

There are at least TWO delivery-people who are kind enough to knock on my door and wait for me to answer, so this by no means includes them (and I know that these two are as busy as the other 10 so, I'm very thankful for their service).

BTW, I MUST order several things by mail because the stores are all miles away.

Hence, I interpret this as being evidence of greater intelligence, because these two "get it", whereas the remainder DON'T.

And I don't think either is college-educated...they're just conscientious. So when seemingly LAZY people wonder at why my expectations are supposedly so high, it's because I've seen people less gifted make extra effort where it's applicably necessary.

And that makes the two seem like they know more than the rest, some of whom I know are college-educated, because I know some of their peers personally.

Therefore, I say If I were the boss, I'd hire the two of them over 50 of these others, even if ON PAPER, they're less qualified. ;)