Remember how happy you were?

Trying to make better use of books I already have, I am tickled when I look up an ebook that sounds interesting and get a banner across the page that says I bought the book in question 6 years ago.  That means I already have it and Amazon won't sell me another ecopy.  I can send one to a friend but the copy I have is the only Kindle copy I will get.  The book, "Positive Psychology" by Ronald Siegel and others is published by Harvard University and summarizes ideas and research about what lifestyles and habits promote happiness and I was informed I had bought the book years ago.  And never downloaded it or read any of it.

Reading it, I found the question "Remember how happy you were when you got a raise?"  It went on to state that probably I wasn't as happy now over that raise as I was when I first found out about it.  So, happiness (and delight and excitement levels) deteriorate over time.  I told my friend about reading that and he said he loves to relive the past and that he achieves the same happiness when he recalls a past happy as he had when he first felt it.  I take this to be a warning and a challenge!  Do you think I am going to just accept inferior subsequent happiness levels?  No way!

I am going to study me and my memory and my past happiness peaks and look into doing better at duplicating them later in time.  I'll let you know how I do.

Hookeld

I guess 6 or more times most days, I look up some curiosity item in Google Search or Duckduckgo or both.  Most of the time, I get many more results in Google than in Duck but that is fine.  Sometimes, I want somewhat stripped down results and sometimes more.  I almost never get beyond the first page or two of the results.  I am impressed at how just a moment of looking at the results broadens or redirects my thoughts.  

Today, I was thinking about the expression "getting his dander up", that is, becoming angry.  I wasn't sure about where or what his dander was.  I guess it may actually have to do with dandruff, dried, scalp skin.

I think of either search site as something like the card catalog I used in a library.  These days, I look around for a computer that can find items located in a library but as a kid, we didn't have computers yet.  Back then, I looked up a title and got a filing number.  The number guided me to a section of shelves, where I looked more minutely for the book.  Sometimes, it had been borrowed so I had to try again in a week or so.  I do think that not finding a book tended to strengthen my urge to look at it and I tended to remember that book the next time I was in the library.  

I read that at one time, there was no organized file to use to locate a book thought to sometimes be available in that library.  The best bet then was to ask a librarian if she knew where that book was.   My wife's PhD thesis had to do with librarians facing many new types of collections of items that weren't shaped like books and presented storage and access problems, such as software and slide-tape presentations.  

I also read in "A Place for Everything: the Curious History of Alphabetical Order" by Judith Flanders that items were something thought to be properly filed according to their importance to God.  Later, it became acceptable to shelve them according to the first letter of the author's last name.  Quite a bit later, it was ok to order books by the other letters in the author's name, not just the first one.

Ebook highlights

My book group nominated several books for our next read.  An election was held.  I haven't heard of any charges of fraud or election stealing.  The winner was "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" by Bill Bryson.  Bryson was a writer and editor in Britain for 20 years before returning to live in the US.  The book relates his experiences and thoughts about resuming residence in this country.  

It happens that I read the book aloud to Lynn.  Most of the time, I read aloud to her for about an hour in the evening from a Kindle ebook.  Often, but not always, when reading a Kindle with comments and language I admire and enjoy, I will highlight a good or poetic or meaningful passage.  The Kindle software files the highlights into a single file and will send that file in two formats to my email address.  

I can often recapture much of my own experience of reading a book by reading through the file of highlights.  Sometimes, I have one reason or another to look for a file of highlights from a book I read 5 or 10 years ago.  Sometimes, I look at the file of highlights for a given book and there are none.  I can forget to make highlights if I get too gripped by the book or I can simply be unimpressed.  The highlight file also will show "popular highlights", passages frequently marked by readers.  I got my first Kindle ebook in 2008 but I called up the popular highlights for the first time ever today.

I would guess as much as half of my friends express a strong dislike for ebooks but that may change with new generations of readers.  

Older books may not be popular enough to be available in e-form.  I got a book the other day and started reading from a paper page but the print was too small for comfort.  I bought the e-version and made the print larger.

Re-reading a book remembered with pleasure

I suggested a book to my book group.  Another member asked if we hadn't already read that book.  That we can't quickly tell by memory or by records if we have or have not read the book seems quite interesting to me. 

As a young man, I enjoyed books by C.S. Lewis and Jacques Barzun.  C.S. Lewis was a professor of literature at Cambridge University in England and he is the person that I know of who most ardently advocates re-reading. In fact, I think somewhere in his writings, he says that one should only read books that can be seen as worth re-reading.  A retired professor of science recently stated an opposite case.  He said that there are so many excellent books that it is better to read something else and not read a book over again.  

I taught a graduate course in which we tried, as mature people, to list every book we have read, for fun and curiosity or for school requirements or whatever.  It seems to be a natural progression for many people to recall a book that is remembered as a source of pleasure or valuable insight.  To me, the next step might be to find a copy of that book and read it again to see how it feels later in life.  

I have two book lists in my blog:

1983 https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/2008/04/kirby-1983-reading-list-of-good-books-i.html

2011

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/recent-reading-2011

These lists are books that I read.  Today, I tried to select one that I thought of with pleasure, get a copy and read it.  The first one I tried was "The House of Intellect" by Jacque Barzun (1959).  He was born in France to a well-off, fairly high-ranking family and grew up among intellectuals.  I couldn't find a copy within my low price range.  I tried with "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a book I had to read in high school and one I enjoyed.  

I now have a copy but after looking it over, I may fail to read it again.

Slowly learning to get help from home machines

I use my computer off and on all day. I am interested in what people know about computers and how they learned . 

Clearly, computers and offshoots like smartphones and tablets are affected by designing, by attempts to build an appearance and layout that makes function somewhat clear.  Also, labels on keys and buttons certainly help make clear what does what.  

The basic idea of a pressable button or switch with a given function is clear and fundamental.  Some buttons have multiple uses, as when the button makes something different happen if it is pressed twice rapidly.  In some cases, if I press a button while holding a different one down, the button I press performs differently.

It can seem that a good way to start is to decide or learn what the learner thinks he would like to have the computer do.  In many situations, that is indeed basic but sometimes the learner wants to get a better understanding of what the machine is built to do, first.  I had already used computers and written programs for them to follow before I had a computer in my house, one that I owned.  My first conscious use involved sitting at a card punch machine to make a deck of cards with one instruction per card and holes punched into the body of the card that the computer used to read its tasks.  I never saw the machine, which was run by a special operator.  He placed my deck in a chute, the mechanism brought the cards into itself and fanned through them one at a time, reading and executing the instructions right along.  That was in 1966, in graduate school.  

It wasn't until 1984, nearly 20 years later, that a "home" computer was available at a price I could afford.  I thought and thought about whether I wanted to buy an Apple IIe or an IBM Personal Computer ("PC").  There were other brands and models, such as Radio Shack and Commodore.  I saw an ad contrasting the writer's and artist's depiction of the "spirit" of Apple and International Business Machines (IBM) and decided I liked Apple.  We bought a machine, small and fairly easy to carry, but our computing got a huge boost with the Appleworks software package.  It consisted of a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database.  

That was software ready to go and that performed very useful functions.  Typing in various sizes and forms of print, doing basic math and keeping information such as names and addresses were just the jobs I wanted help with.  Those same basic tasks are available as Google programs today.  There is something of a parallel with people today learning to use a smartphone.

She had to use cursive!

She is young and hasn't had experience using checks at the bank.  She was unhappy to learn that the bank accepted her signature only if it was written in "cursive". Years ago, when me and my classmates learned cursive handwriting, a.k.a. "script", in the 3rd grade, it was an exciting step into one aspect of adult behavior. But, back in the early part of the last century, computers, email and such were unheard of.  She did learn cursive writing but it was several years ago and there has been no call to use it since.

We cannot cram everything that might be useful or fun into the K-12 years.  As with just about everything, the right speed and the right load are needed.  So, keyboarding/typing and maybe some coding and program/app construction may be inserted into the curriculum.

I read about computers just before I began using the computer "language" Fortran in graduate school in 1967.  We were to construct a program that could supply the number of days between any two dates the professor gave us.  He gave no further specifications or information and we knew the man was a sly trickster.  We tried to be ready for dates running from the BC era over into the AD era.  We learned that the Pope's astronomers warned him that the small difference between the calendar and the actual heavens had accumulated such a gap that he needed to do something. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII declared that the day after Thursday, October 4, was Friday, October 15.  There were riots protesting people's lives being shortened!

A few results of a Google search don't make me optimistic about the future longevity of cursive handwriting. 

Christmas Day

We had presents to load into the car. We had three large plastic chests full, plus a couple of presents that would not fit.  It is 0 degrees outside and the chests are heavy.  Lift one, carry it to the door to the garage, put that chest down, open the door, lift that one, carry it out, turn back and close the door, firmly or the wind will blow it open.  Repeat with the other chests and those couple extra ones.

We drove to the other granddaughters' house and unloaded the presents.  The disbursal of our gifts, as well as the other 11 people there took about 2 hours.  It is overseen by the grandfather, assisted by the youngest greatgrand son.  All in all, it took about 2 hours.  It's an orderly process but, of course, there are gasps and oo's and ahh's.  The youngest grandson is spry and quick and the grandfather is judicious so the whole operation is steady but it still takes time.  

Before we loaded the car, Lynn and I ate energy bars, bananas and glasses of milk.  After gifts, we had our granddaughter's traditional sticky buns, Lynn's quiche and the grandmother's bacon.  We kept an eye on the time since it is bad juju to miss part of the Packers-Dolphins football game.  Aging and sickness are present in some relatives and friends and later visits today are planned for the celebrations that are still on. 

Lynn and I have attended 22 trips with Elderhostel/Road Scholar, along with others, mostly our age.  We have learned that we are very lucky to have our kid, her kids and their kids living within ten miles of us.

Hoping

We hope this day, tomorrow and the whole holiday season pleases, surprises and creates satisfying memories.

Chasing myself

The other day, I remembered a comment in an essay by G.K. Chesterton.  The comment expressed the idea that elementary school kids responded to exciting stories but that little kids of about, say, three years old, responded to stories, period. 

I wanted to find the essay so I looked at Amazon and various free sources for books like the Internet Archive and the Gutenberg Project.  I was having trouble trying to remember where or in what Chesterton made his comment.  Then, I thought I wonder if I ever referred to his statement in my blog.  I pulled up the page of the blog and used the Search window in the upper left corner for "Chesterton."

https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/ 

It popped right up: November 14, 2015.  

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Nurseryo

Lets' forget paleo and let's think about nurseryo.  Back to the childhood wonder, the mind clean, empty and ready to engage.  Really, it is a little difficult to revert to paleolithic times.  A million or so years ago is too far back.  If I return to that time, I will miss the last episodes of Major Crimes and Suits.  I won't get my ice cream or my brie or my Mogen David blackberry wine with a shot of Calypso coconut rum in it.  Besides, another problem is that I don't know when to go back to.  Should I be a paleo child, a young man, a middle aged man or an old coot?  Older guys have the better grasp of life but younger guys have a longer future.

Keeping with the spirits of "Orthodoxy" by G.K.Chesterton and "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" by Suzuki and Chadwick, let me change the goal and go back to my own early days instead of the early days of humankind.  Much of my mind and habit was laid out in those early days and months.  When my experimental hypnosis session required a goal for the hypnosis, I pondered for a few days before coming up with "new eyes".  I was aware of the difference for me between seeing a town or a person for the first time and being accustomed to that place or person, hardly noticing them.

Chesterton puts it very well:

This is proved by the fact that when we are very young children we do not need fairy tales: we only need tales. Mere life is interesting enough. A child of seven is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door and saw a dragon. But a child of three is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door. Boys like romantic tales; but babies like realistic tales--because they find them romantic.

Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith) (1994-05-01). Orthodoxy (p. 46). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

The point is that once, we were amazed and charmed by the world, the fascinating everything all around us but after a few scores of years, we get comfortable and the wonder has tarnished. But a little polish can get it back.  Just look at these faces and feel yourself unage, feel yourself thrill to a sunset, a song, a warm bath.  Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear [copyright The Lone Ranger] and regain the magic all around you.

It can be fun to be able to check up on myself!

Wrapping presents and sending cards

On Christmas morning, we get together at a granddaughter's house with 10 other family members.  This morning we wrapped multiple gifts for each person. That takes time but we are set now.  

We haven't gotten Christmas cards out yet and it may be after Christmas day that we do.  We have used email for quite a few years and we plan to do that again.  We do have a reduced pile of paper cards delivered to our mailbox from relatives and friends.  They are now piled on the dining room buffet.  I respect the thought, time, effort and postage of the paper cards.

I just Googled "what % of Americans send Christmas greetings by email?" and the results varied widely, from 20% to 40%.  I realize that many people use the US Post and some of our friends seem to feel that doing so is more elegant and friendly than electronic means.  The use of a computer as opposed to a smartphone may offer a different set of options and email may differ from texting.

My other stash

My daily (nearly so) blog, "Fear, Fun and Filoz", was my 2nd shot at blogging. It was started after I retired and after I withdrew from teaching for an online school.  That was in April, 2008.  In September of that same year, I started a web site.  I think roughly that a blog is good for reporting recent events and thoughts and my web sites are more like long-range records.  

Both the blog and the websites are hosted by Google using its software and rules.  I read a couple of years ago that there were at the time, 600 million blogs on the internet and there are probably more now.  As of 2018, there were 1.6 billion websites.  I don't have any figures for blogs or web sites that are just information, writing, "content" but I am confident that most are for advertising a business.  My web site goes by the name "Kirbyvariety1".  When Google decided to change its rules and procedures, I was told a new format would be imposed.  It was and my website activity since then has involved "Kirbyvariety2".  

I am just writing to remind anyone interested that on the web page for the latest "Fear, Fun and Filoz" post, at the top in red is a short link t.ly/fRG5

The link goes to a cover page that gives the history of my web site development.  These shorter links are provided by Foxfire, my default browser, the software for using the Worldwide Web and for visiting websites.

My dissertation is available for download on a page in Kirbyvariety1.  Lynn's masters project, "The reasons for Stevens Point" is available in Kirbyvariety2.  Both sites and my blog archive, available on the left side of the basic blog page, can lead to many book suggestions, lists and citations.  

Kirbyvariety1 t.ly/4Rrz

Kirbyvariety2 t.ly/8jcC

My basic blog landing page  t.ly/-qW5

Didn't we read this already?

Our book group coordinator asked for non-fiction recommendations for the group to read.  Two of my favorite non-fiction books are "Incognito" and "Seven and a Half Lessons about Your Brain" so I recommended them.  A member of the group asked everyone "Didn't we already read Incognito?" That innocent and basic question opens several lines of thought for me.

I taught a course to graduate students called "Personal Reading for Professional Development." We spent time recalling books we had ever read, from "The Pokey Little Puppy" Golden Book to the most recent texts on carburetor development or how to grandparent.  The course met for 2 ½ hours a day, four days a week, for four weeks.  The only required assignment was a list of the books ever read, without full guarantees that the list was exhaustive.  Rather often, work in that course reminded someone of a book they had read in high school or decades ago that they thought of with pleasure.  I often encouraged students to re-read an old favorite.  Sometimes, re-reading was as pleasurable as the original reading.  Sometimes, the reaction of the reader at an older age was quite different from the first time.  

Ever since I learned of Prof. Elizabeth Margulis' book "On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind", I have been more alert to sorts of repetition, whether it is drinking another beer or kissing again or walking the same route again or listening to a recording again.  In truth, we can always focus on the fact that the repeat takes place at a different time or the fact that later, we are older and maybe different.

Here is C.S. Lewis, professor of literature at Cambridge University in his Experiment in Criticism (1961):

In the first place, the majority never read anything twice. The sure mark of an unliterary man is that he considers

'I've read it already' to be a conclusive argument against reading a work. We have all known people who

remembered a novel so dimly that they had to stand for half an hour in the library skimming through it before

they were certain they had once read it.

We are older, maybe wiser, possibly more forgetful, might be more insightful, might be less.  I predict that conviction and/or evidence will lead to the rejection of the group reading either book if we have read it in the past.  I note that professors of film watch a movie repeatedly, that eaters order the "same" dish often but that many readers see little point in opening a book they read earlier.  I guess that custom stems from enjoying the thrill of exploration and that will be diminished or absent reading again.

Eldercare

I know of two friends that are caring for elderly married partners at home.  When I looked up "eldercare" in Google, the first several links were for those seeking a full-time situation for an elderly person.  Both of my friends had their partners in an institution but decided they wanted them at home instead.

We had a case in Wisconsin where a longtime cohabiting man and woman were at odds with each other over the woman's care for her father.  The man became so upset over the time and effort she spent taking care of her father that he killed the father.  

It is interesting to search "When is it time to die?"  I suspect that various states or groups or cultures may develop some ideas of what sort of life might not be worth living.  I remember a veterinarian in a Bill Moyers special about death who stated that he put down large animals and could take himself out of life if he wanted to.  However, this man later became unable to administer the death-dealing drug to himself later after aging.  

I have no idea how often an elderly person asks for death.  A quick perusal of some search results gives me the idea that many elderly people can and do accept the idea that death is approaching but that asking to be assisted in obtaining death is rare.  Here are some results from a Google search:

How do individuals access and use death with dignity laws?

• Be a resident of California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii (after 1/1/19), Oregon, Vermont, or Washington;

• Qualify for a prescription under physician-assisted dying laws;

• Be 18 years of age or older;

I imagine that both an elderly person and a partner or other person caring for them could come to the conclusion that the cared-for is negatively affecting the life and joy of the carer.

What is that bright light?

When we had first moved to Wisconsin, we experienced the coldest winter we have had in more than 50 years here.  Our younger daughter spotted some odd green stuff and asked her mom what it was.  Mom answered,"That's grass, Honey".

For about the last week, we have had a very large snowstorm over us, snowing fully and then dribbling flakes before going back to snowing.  Today, we see this strange "blue" sky and a very bright shiny spot in our sky.  The spot moves from the east toward the west.  We are trying to get some help in identifying this odd bright ball.

Yike!

If you met this young lady, would you guess she was a senior majoring in nuclear engineering at UW-Madison?  You have probably heard that she is from Wausau, WI and is the newest Miss America.

I think it is a hoot that a gorgeous babe is a nuclear engineer.  Wouldn't you show some caution about dating somebody with that background? I mean your whole life could go POOF!  Well, it's ok since she is a classical 

violinist, too.

Psychedelics and brain stimulation

My younger daughter died at age 45 after suffering mental illness for 20 years.  That unhappy experience motivated us to contribute to various causes and activities related to mental illness.  We get a publication called "Brain and Behavior" and in the December 2022 issue that just came, is an article called "We are experiencing a revolution in brain stimulation" by Dr. Mark S. George.

I pay some attention to brain research, especially dealing with symptoms of serious and misleading hallucinations. I thought I would mention two sources of information about mental illness.  There are of course many types of mental illness.  I guess debilitating depression and deep anxiety are among the most common troubles.  My daughter did not seem to have those.  She was more likely to be somewhat suddenly convinced of "facts" that were not true, such as suddenly realizing that she needed to catch a plane to get to the US Senate to receive a medal for her work.

We read the book by Michael Pollan "How to Change Your Mind".  We have read several of his and they are all very good but this one is a knockout.  It discusses the history of modern, recent use of psychedelics such as magic mushrooms and LSD.  I think you could say that "recreational" use of mind-changing substances has had a definite place in American history.  Further, such substances have been used for thousands of years by people trying to communicate with gods and spirits.  However, recent careful use in the presence of an experienced host-counselor have shown good and dramatic results.  

Also the article by Dr. Mark S. George, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina, "We Are Witnessing a Revolution in Brain Stimulation" discusses several promising methods of stimulating the brain.  Much of the article is about using a magnet against the outside of the head.  There is also research and thought about electrical external stimulation of the vagus nerve, the body's central and longest nerve.  Finally, Dr. George mentions the use of ultrasound for stimulating the brain.

Mental illness can be very frightening and upsetting for the sufferer and all who love and care about that person.  So, of course, progress is wonderful!

Snow today

I like to look at the National Weather Service Radar map of the US.  I can see the extent of storms across the country.  Over the last few days, a really large, long storm has stretched over much of the country:

This image stretches from Winnipeg in Canada to Florida.  This storm has brought us the biggest snowfall of the season, which, by the way, is still Autumn (for six more days).  When we moved here, more than 50 years ago, I was a little worried about the cold and snow.  I didn't realize that people can take some rigorous delight in getting at that snow, whether it is on an individual driveway or a large parking lot.  I also didn't realize that dependable cold can be less of an obstacle than warming most days and refreezing most nights.  

This snowfall was about 4 or 5 inches here.  So far, we have not had a power failure.  When the temperature hovers in the vicinity of freezing, ice can build up on electric lines and the weight can break them.  We have actually had few power failures and it is fine with me if things keep on that way.  

The local crews keep the roads in pretty good shape and our own guy gets our driveway usable quickly.  All day today, our whole world is white. It is a dramatic change:

Walking like an old man

My wife said I have been walking like an old man.  I told my nurse practitioner and she suggested I see a physical therapist.  He is a popular source of help and he is near me.  I saw him today for the first time.  

My version of what I do is a type of waddling.  I see people in my neighborhood walking and older people move from side to side more than younger people.  My therapist took a video of me walking and his software allowed him to put various lines across my figure as I walked.  They showed that I do lean a bit with each step, more on the right side when taking a step with that leg.  He measured the length of my legs and found the right one is a bit shorter.

I am not young so it seems that walking like an old man might be expected.  I asked if he thought there would be benefits for me to walk with less waddle and he said doing so might give me less wear and tear on joints.  I am scheduled to see him five more times, about a week apart.

He only prescribed one exercise, donkey kicks.  I get on all fours and lift a thigh with the foot facing the ceiling.  I hold that for 5 seconds.  Do the other leg.  Repeat 10 times.  That is one set.  Do another set.  Later in the day, do two more sets.

If you see an old guy jetting by on foot or bike, you'll know it is me.

My consciousness is limited

The most basic thing I have done for myself, I think, is meditate.  But almost as basic has been to read and apply the lessons of "Incognito" by Eagleman and "Seven and a Half Lessons About Your Brain" by Barrett.  The two books together helpfully emphasize that my mind is limited and not the main thing in me.  

It tends to act as though it is a totally self-sufficient creature but it isn't.  That is why both authors emphasize what feels like the ego of the mind, strutting about, confident that it is the boss when all the while the rest of my brain and my body deliver oxygen and hormones where they need to go, while my heart pumps blood and nutrients, and clever parts of me take what they need and let the rest alone.

But if a person is curious, what can he do to meet and know the rest of him?  He can ask his mate and relatives and friends.  He can note their reaction to him.  He can try to be on good terms with those who know him in various roles and postures.  He can describe what he thinks and feels in writing that he can consult repeatedly.  He can meditate for 5 or 10 minutes each day so that he notices what comes to mind, what he feels.

It takes a certain clarity to face the fact that he wants more, that he sometimes isn't inspired, that he gets awed by the sky and autos and breathing.  He can work to accept that he is a very complex critter.  He can be friendly and accepting of himself while working, gently and civilly, to improve where improvement is genuinely called for.

Clouds, news, etc.

I want to write about what has been happening, including thoughts and trails of thoughts.

I have my usual five notes about today:

Cloudy here again - maybe this is the time of year when we experience prolonged periods of no direct sun.  Overcast and gray seems like lighting especially likely to produce a sober mood, if not a negative one.

CNN's Five Things and Numlock News - These two regular items in my email help start the day.  I like the language and approach used in CNN's Five Things.  Concentration on numbers can produce boring or superfluous observations but can also, sometimes, highlight interesting angles on the world.

Browsing v. searching - I think it is informative to be aware of the difference between browsing and searching.  Many web sites have a simple drawing of a handheld magnifying glass that is a button to launch a search for a particular word or phrase, idea or source.  When searching, the searcher needs to have something or somethings to search for.  Browsing is looser, more like walking through a store or marketplace looking to see what is available. Browsing is more like shopping in general while searching is going after a particular item.

Wearing shoes that don't match - most of the time, people wear shoes that look more or less alike.  I read that at one time shoes were not usually made for the right foot or left foot but rather either foot.  On her recent trip, Lynn found one day that she was wearing shoes that were different colors and was surprised.  

Breaking conventions - my go-to source on modern art is the book "Civilization", augmented by the book "A Child of Six Could Do It", a book I met in the Tate Museum of Modern Art in London.  Both books, and I am sure others, express the rage and shock that many people felt and feel now when they see visual and other artwork that does not adhere to traditional expectations of form and content.  I think it is true that noticing conventions and experimenting with breaking them or deviating from them can lead to new and pleasant and valuable results.  But, as with much research, mistakes, trash and failures abound.

"The dogs can hear your door open"

I have been wearing hearing aids probably ten years. Even with them, I am always pestering Lynn about what she just said.  A friend just got new hearing aids and so did I.  When I talk in an overly loud voice, Lynn inquires, "Are you wearing your hearing aids?"

I know that hearing aids were required to be by prescription but have recently been reclassified so that they can be purchased over the counter at much lower prices.  I read Seth Horowitz "The Universal Sense: How Hearing Shapes the Mind" and it gave respect for the sense of hearing. 

When I was walking out of the UWSP Audiology department, wearing my first hearing aids, I saw some lint on my shirt.  I brushed it off with a folder and I was shocked by the loud noise.  I realized there that there are tons of sounds and vibrations in the world and I am confident I only want to hear some of them, mostly speech and some music.  

I was surprised when my neighbor across the street said that her dogs can hear my garage door opening from inside her house.  I have the book by 

Ed Yong "An Immense World" about animal senses but I haven't looked at it yet.  I know there are waves of various sorts of radiation in my house even though I can only tell they are doing what I want when this computer and my Roku streamer successfully detect those waves and decode them into tv and internet signals.  

I hear many sounds that I cannot identify and I suspect that my older ears can falsely "hear" sounds that didn't happen.  Horowitz wrote that there are animals that do not develop any senses for light detection, as for instance those that live in totally dark caves and caverns.  But, he wrote, there are no known animals that don't have vibration senses.  I grasp that if you say "Boo!", I will experience a bodily reaction of several sorts: blood pressure, alerting, etc.  But I am fascinated by the effect of speech on me now and over the years since childhood.

Well, that's curious

If you are keeping up with the adventures of Dr. LSRK, she is on the first leg of three, flying home.  Yaay!

A friend gave a talk on Zoom.  He talked about the function and history of death certificates but he laced his comments with several encouragements to be curious about things.  Another friend has developed experience and interest in podcasts.   Meanwhile, I have been catching up, very slowly, with my Great Courses.  One of them is "Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time" by Sean Carroll.  I like Prof. Carroll's way of talking and teaching.  So, when I found out that Carroll has a podcast, I decided to install Google Podcasts and look into what Carroll does on his program.

I was surprised to learn that a recent broadcast featured a pair of scholars, who really are twins, discussing ideas about human curiosity.  My Zoom friend and I both felt that we didn't know much about curiosity, just that we thought it could be a good thing and that having that characteristic has affected our lives  

This is not the first time that I have realized an interest in something and quite quickly found materials related to that interest.  I understand that some topics might be fashionable or logically related to current notions so I am not completely stunned by such emergence of relevant materials but at times, it is a little spooky.  Some friends say it is not spooky at all but a result of Google surveillance.  I continually reply that this Google gang doesn't even pay enough attention to me

Adventures of Dr. LSRK

I feel as though I know Dr. LSRK pretty well.  I have lived with the Doctor for more than 60 years.  She gets around and does things.  Her brother developed dementia and she wanted to go see him.  She did.  In three flights, she was there after one day of travel.  

She was invited to stay with her ex-sister-in-law, who said she would be hurt if Dr. LSRK didn't stay with her.  The Dr. approached traveling over 1400 miles cautiously in the time of quarantine and delays and such.  However, the trip went rather smoothly according to all reports.  Then, suddenly her hostess experienced deep severe pain.  She immediately suspected some trouble with her gallbladder. Her guest drove her to the hospital and they did some probing and some tests and confirmed the suspicion.  It might be best if she had surgery right away. 

The last I heard was that the hostess might or might not have surgery soon but she insisted that Dr. LSRK return home as planned.  I am used to having the doctor close by and I am somewhat disoriented without her presence.  I am not the cook she is.  I have been batching all right but I began to picture seeing her some time in the summer.  As of now, I expect to have her back tomorrow night.  Definitely hope so. 

Write!

If you bake a cake and give me a piece, I get something you made.  If you write a few sentences about what you are doing, I also get something you made. I can get a cake in many places but I can't get a few sentences from you anywhere else.  Your phone or tablet can add to your few sentences with a picture of where you are or what it looks like out your window.  

A couple of years ago, I asked my granddaughter and her family of three other people to write me letters for Christmas.  They were a wonderful look into their lives and feelings and thoughts. It is easy to sit in front of a blank paper or screen and think that you don't know what to write.  But the more you practice thinking of themes and jotting a note, the easier writing stuff gets.  As described in a recent blog post, a person can get the idea that they have accomplished a task and writing a note or a card describing playing a sport or preparing a meal can give the creator a feeling of accomplishment.  

One of the nice things about email is that it is easy and quick to use the BCC option and mail a note about what you are doing or wishing or fearing and send it to five or ten friends.  Maybe some recipients will be too busy to read the email but if one or two are happy just to get something from you, you also will get a lift.  A friend just told me today that she doesn't like email because too many messages pour into her inbox.  She and many other people prefer texting.  Texts can be sent to multiple people at once but pick people you actually want to contact.

Different reading purposes

{I needed extra sleep last night and I got it.  So, I'm back!}

My friend Will mentioned Marianne Wolf.  She is the author of several books on reading.  Not so much learning to read, but day-to-day reading as an adult.  

We could confine our reading to TV subtitles and billboards (what's a billboard?) but many people have more fun reading about Donald what's-his-name or WWII or the Packers. Or heart-wrenching unreturned love.

I ran a course for teachers working on masters' degrees called Personal Reading for Professional Development.  Of course, teachers want to be terrific examples to their students so they can be sensitive about having it known that they read "Lockerroom Lust" instead of "Moby Dick" or some other accredited masterpiece.  Will and Marianne Wolf reminded me that adult life today is quite complex and varied.  Much of the time, we have a clear and somewhat concise goal in mind:

• How does the book end?

• Friends have been talking about the hilarious chapter 5? What does it say?

• My sister says that the murderess was Grandma.  Let me see that.

Just as it is polite to refrain from discussing how much money one makes, it can be considered more civilized not to inquire too closely about others' reading.  

Lynn and I recently agreed to read parts of a one-act play on Zoom in a reading that involved 7 or so readers.  We got the book of one-act plays and went straight to the one we were to read aloud.  We never read the first play in the book nor the last one.  Did we read that book? We have a book of "Calvin and Hobbes", the cartoons.  Does that book "count" as reading? I have read the Preamble to the US Constitution and a couple of the Amendments. I don't plan to read more of it.  Am I a failure?

Not today

I am tired and not in good shape to think imaginatively.  If I were more sensible, I would probably simply admit this and stop for today.  

I tried a few approaches:

    Looking over notes made today and other days

    Reviewing posts from this day of the year for the past six years

        (surprising how many are explicitly about meditation practices)

    Made a new list of six possible themes

• ("Aging as a Spiritual Practice" - book by Lewis Richmond,

• feeling good from a little weight lifting, 

• similarity between fake news themes and valuable brainstorming)

Anyhow, I have been trying but I am ready to stop.