The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here. The famous Russian neo-Nazi video is on this blog here.
I've been having some conversations lately with some of my smart friends about felines and canids, and here is some what we think we have worked out.
First of all, a cat is supposedly as smart as a 1½ year old human. As a human, albeit a human who is also a cat-lover, I find such a comparison insulting. I just spent some time with my 1½ year old niece. No way on Earth is my cat as stupid as that kid was.
I'm spending some time as a caretaker for my 86 year old father who lives 33 miles away. My folks have two cats and recently acquired another one. This one is a Siamese named Cleo. When I met this cat, very quickly, I thought it was one of the smartest cats I have ever known. I don't know why, but someone said that Siamese are an intelligent breed.
The other night, one of other cats, Callie, got the night-crazies and took off running across the house for no reason. Cleo saw this and immediately chased her for equally no good reason. I immediately began to reassess my opinion of her as the smartest cat I've ever known. I asked around about this.
Turns out that in general, if a cat sees another cat take off running for any reason, the observer cat will often give chase. Why? Possibly instinct. They seem to be programmed to chase after any non-predatory moving object.
Many prey animals, like the rabbits who live around here, practice freezing as a form of predator avoidance. On the principle that predators generally hunt by following rapid movement rather than attacking stationary objects. The rabbits around here will freeze and let you walk right up next to them before they take off running.
There have been some mountain lion attacks here in the West recently. Attacks have, in general, been on little kids or on adults either jogging or riding bicycles.
Reason? A little kid is about the size of many of the mountain lions more slow-moving prey objects. An adult human really is not, except if it is running or riding a bicycle fast, in which case apparently it is about the size and speed of a deer, one of the lion's favorite prey animals.
As long as you are strolling along in the woods, the cougar usually won't bother you. But start jogging, and you turn into a human deer and you might just get nailed.
Observations of wild cats have shown that wild domestic cats make few sounds except when fighting or mating. Why do cats meow? Probably because we make sounds, and their meows are their way of trying to speak human language back at us.
Cats are generally solitary, and the cat adaptive style is to hide. If you notice, your cat at home likes to hide in really weird and hard to find places. Often a place where it can see out but you can't see in. They will do this whether they are threatened by other cats or by dogs or not.
The reason cats hide? Probably instinct. The cat style is to hide and only come out at night. Wild felines such as bobcats and mountain lions hide much of the time and are mostly nocturnal.
This is also why cats bury their shit. They are probably not naturally fastidious, but instead, I suspect that they do this to cover up their trails from predators. This is also why they roll around in the dirt. They are covering themselves with dirt to hide their scent from predators.
On the other hand, the dog has a different adaptive style. Does a dog ever hide? What for? A dog is always walking around, right out in the open, afraid of nothing. With wild dogs it's pretty similar. Coyotes and wolves are active all hours of the day and tend to roam around in plain sight. Foxes do hide, but they are pretty small, and they also spend time hunting in broad daylight (I've watched them).
Cats are generally solitary (although lions are an exception), and dogs are pack animals. Cats hide because they are solitary, and dogs walk around in plain sight because they are instinctively pack animals with little to hide. Wolves, jackals and hyenas travel in packs. If something wants to kill a hyena (and a lion might), it would have to deal with a whole pack of howling hyenas that would come to the defense of the hunted one.
Hunting in packs is also a strength. A pack of hyenas could possibly even kill a lion, and I suspect that they do sometimes.
Since dogs are pack animals and find strength in numbers, they don't give a damn about burying their shit or rolling around in the dirt. There is no need to cover one's tracks when one has strength in numbers.
One of my friends insisted that canids and felines are closely related, and that both go back to some ancestral canid-feline duoform. Raccoons and bears are related to dogs, but they supposedly split off from proto-dog after the split from proto-dogcat. I don't know enough to comment on this, as I've never heard of dogs and cats going back to a feline-canid ancestor.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Benefits of An Obama Election: No More Excuses
The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here. The famous Russian neo-Nazi video is on this blog here.
One great thing about the coming election of Obama as POTUS is that hopefully Blacks, other minorities and Leftist Whites will finally have to STFU about White racism (to some extent) and quit screaming racist at White people all the time. Heck, I'm a Leftist anti-racist, and these idiots call me racist incessantly. This has gone way overboard for many years and it's time to call the dogs off.
It's hard to believe that a virulently racist and White Supremacist US, dripping with White Privilege and other nonsense, would voluntarily choose to elect the antidote to its racism, supremacism and privileges.
Also, hopefully, Blacks and Leftists won't have any more excuses for the problems of Blacks and other minorities. If these problems continue under a Black President, just how much of it was due to racism anyway?
I'm probably dreaming here. The Left, Blacks and other minorities are hooked on the crack of screaming racist at Whitey and blaming us for everything. The habit feels so good and has so many excellent psychological benefits (Why do you think fools go through so much of their lives blaming other people?) that there's really no reason for them to stop it and face the harsh music.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
One great thing about the coming election of Obama as POTUS is that hopefully Blacks, other minorities and Leftist Whites will finally have to STFU about White racism (to some extent) and quit screaming racist at White people all the time. Heck, I'm a Leftist anti-racist, and these idiots call me racist incessantly. This has gone way overboard for many years and it's time to call the dogs off.
It's hard to believe that a virulently racist and White Supremacist US, dripping with White Privilege and other nonsense, would voluntarily choose to elect the antidote to its racism, supremacism and privileges.
Also, hopefully, Blacks and Leftists won't have any more excuses for the problems of Blacks and other minorities. If these problems continue under a Black President, just how much of it was due to racism anyway?
I'm probably dreaming here. The Left, Blacks and other minorities are hooked on the crack of screaming racist at Whitey and blaming us for everything. The habit feels so good and has so many excellent psychological benefits (Why do you think fools go through so much of their lives blaming other people?) that there's really no reason for them to stop it and face the harsh music.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Statement on the Jews and Antisemitism
The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here. The famous Russian neo-Nazi video is on this blog here.
This site, of course, has been accused many times of anti-Semitism by the usual suspects for the usual reasons.
Nevertheless, some of my friends have recently noted that "I'm going easy on the Jews," or worse, I've become pro-Jewish. Others have noted that I don't talk about the Palestinians much on here anymore.
Truth is, I'm bored with the Palestinians, I'm bored with Israel, and I'm bored with the Middle East. Plus, every time I mention that stuff, it spurs the antisemites in the comments section (who are allowed to post here, by the way) to make a ton of antisemitic posts, and after a while it brings in all these weird, combative, Zionist Jews who accuse me of antisemitism and try to start fights.
There is supposedly a type of antisemitism called Anti-Zionist antisemitism. I guess I will gladly plead guilty to that.
Other than that, to be honest, the Jews bore me. I've been reading up on Jews and Judaism and Israel for years now, and I'm all Jewed out. They bore me to tears, and it seems I've learned all I ever wanted to learn about them.
There was a while there when I was on an antisemitic kick, but I started getting a lot of flack for it, and then I pulled back and started to examine it, and there was not much there.
Antisemitism is one of many simplistic theories that tries to explain all, most or many of the problems of the world by pointing a single actor, force or mechanism. As such, I feel it is foolish, since all such ideologies are foolish. Including die-hard Marxists who boil everything down to economics.
There is no one answer. There is no one problem. If only life were that simple. Life is so much more complex, and problems are as difficult to pin down as solutions are to fashion, that it makes sense that people would take the intellectually lazy way out.
In terms of "Left antisemitism", antisemitism really is the socialism of fools! I used to hate it when Leftists said that, but now I'm convinced. Jewish capitalists are just capitalists, and if anything, they tend to be more progressive-minded than the ordinary type.
Further, antisemitism seems to lead inexorably to conservatism, racism, White Supremacism, fascism, social Darwinism, capitalism - feudalism - royalism, the worst kinds of nationalism and traditionalism, anti-Communism, anti-liberalism, anti-feminism, anti-integration, and really, an opposition to the whole modernizing project of the Left.
Antisemitism is really an assault on modernity itself, as Jews are seen by antisemites as the "virus" that carries modernity in all of its scary self. And it's true - they do! Going forwards is scary, and a lot of cowards would rather go backwards. So they blame the Jews for helping to drive us forwards. I don't want to be a part of any regressive project.
Yes, there are rightwing Jews. There are rightwingers of every race and tribe. Next?
The Jews are the most progressive group in America, and possibly in the world. We on the Left owe a tremendous debt to them as they helped to birth and foster our project.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
This site, of course, has been accused many times of anti-Semitism by the usual suspects for the usual reasons.
Nevertheless, some of my friends have recently noted that "I'm going easy on the Jews," or worse, I've become pro-Jewish. Others have noted that I don't talk about the Palestinians much on here anymore.
Truth is, I'm bored with the Palestinians, I'm bored with Israel, and I'm bored with the Middle East. Plus, every time I mention that stuff, it spurs the antisemites in the comments section (who are allowed to post here, by the way) to make a ton of antisemitic posts, and after a while it brings in all these weird, combative, Zionist Jews who accuse me of antisemitism and try to start fights.
There is supposedly a type of antisemitism called Anti-Zionist antisemitism. I guess I will gladly plead guilty to that.
Other than that, to be honest, the Jews bore me. I've been reading up on Jews and Judaism and Israel for years now, and I'm all Jewed out. They bore me to tears, and it seems I've learned all I ever wanted to learn about them.
There was a while there when I was on an antisemitic kick, but I started getting a lot of flack for it, and then I pulled back and started to examine it, and there was not much there.
Antisemitism is one of many simplistic theories that tries to explain all, most or many of the problems of the world by pointing a single actor, force or mechanism. As such, I feel it is foolish, since all such ideologies are foolish. Including die-hard Marxists who boil everything down to economics.
There is no one answer. There is no one problem. If only life were that simple. Life is so much more complex, and problems are as difficult to pin down as solutions are to fashion, that it makes sense that people would take the intellectually lazy way out.
In terms of "Left antisemitism", antisemitism really is the socialism of fools! I used to hate it when Leftists said that, but now I'm convinced. Jewish capitalists are just capitalists, and if anything, they tend to be more progressive-minded than the ordinary type.
Further, antisemitism seems to lead inexorably to conservatism, racism, White Supremacism, fascism, social Darwinism, capitalism - feudalism - royalism, the worst kinds of nationalism and traditionalism, anti-Communism, anti-liberalism, anti-feminism, anti-integration, and really, an opposition to the whole modernizing project of the Left.
Antisemitism is really an assault on modernity itself, as Jews are seen by antisemites as the "virus" that carries modernity in all of its scary self. And it's true - they do! Going forwards is scary, and a lot of cowards would rather go backwards. So they blame the Jews for helping to drive us forwards. I don't want to be a part of any regressive project.
Yes, there are rightwing Jews. There are rightwingers of every race and tribe. Next?
The Jews are the most progressive group in America, and possibly in the world. We on the Left owe a tremendous debt to them as they helped to birth and foster our project.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Monday, November 03, 2008
This Is Not Schizophrenia
The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here. The famous Russian neo-Nazi video is on this blog here.
This is not schizophrenia. Let's look at some symptoms here that a fellow is reporting in a weight-lifting forum. Many of the commenters are replying that the guy has "the beginnings of schizophrenia", "mild schizophrenia" "schizophrenia", etc, etc ad nauseum. Let's take a look at his symptoms:
He can't shut any of this bullshit off, and the only way to stop the music is to substitute one stupid song for another. I am assuming the "voices" he is hearing are voices in his head, not outside of his head. Fortunately, you can hear all the voices in your head as possible without being mentally ill, though it really isn't ideal.
It's crucial to realize that psychotics who hear voices actually hear them with their ears, not in their minds. We all "hear voices" in our heads. Our "inner voice" is a voice inside of our heads. The idiot media and popular does not do us any good by refusing to differentiate these symptoms. Psychotic voices heard with one's ears are transformed into "voices in his head".
Obviously, if it's sane to one one "inner voice", it's not psychotic to have more than one, or an unlimited number, though it's not exactly ideal. You could even have animal sounds in your head.
Hang on.
OK, I just made some animal sounds in my head. There was a cow and a monkey and now there's a lion. Does that make me schizophrenic? Come on.
If you follow the discussion, you will note that many of his friends on there tell him that he is developing schizophrenia. I do not believe he is doing any such thing, and this is not a symptom of incipient schizophrenia anyway.
I've been around folks in the prodrome of schizophrenia, and while their functioning was still ok enough, they were hallucinating (hearing voices) a significant part of the time. No amount of argument could convince them that the voices were not actually real, nor would they believe me when I said I didn't hear them. This is a pretty typical picture of incipient schizophrenia.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of schizophrenics hear voices. In fact, if you don't hear voices, I wonder if you really have schizophrenia.
What's also interesting is that, terrifying and weird as these symptoms are, a number of the commenters admit that they have experienced them - they say they have had strange, out of control, unbidden random thoughts and music in their heads before. So, while it's not optimal, this stuff seems to be pretty common.
What's the diagnosis for out of control, random, unbidden thoughts and songs in your head? I say nothing. There's no DSM dx that has a criteria like that as a sole criteria.
Just like "having a weird look in your eyes" does not give you a mental illness dx either. There are all sorts of folks walking around with all kinds of weird and crazy looks in their eyes. While it's disconcerting, it's not necessarily indicative of mental illness. There is no DSM dx for "has a weird or crazy look in their eyes."
You need to be nuttier than just that. What gives people weird looks in their eyes if they aren't nuts? Who knows? God knows what goes in people's minds. But as long as your speech and behavior remains normal, you're not mentally ill.
Why am I writing about this crap? I'm on a crusade to get people to quit being such morons about mental health. Even if we aren't ill ourselves, it doesn't help to give out false dx's and go around accusing non mentally-ill folks of "being crazy". It's insulting, stupid and cruel.
Personally, I never refer to other humans with words like "weird", "crazy", "nuts", etc.
Instead, I'm going to give you some specific description of their behavior, possibly with a potential dx. I can usually figure out what might be wrong with someone after spending a bit of time around them. I can almost always tell if they are psychotic or not, and usually if they are obviously dangerous or not.
Life's tough for everyone and probably few of us make it out unscathed.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
This is not schizophrenia. Let's look at some symptoms here that a fellow is reporting in a weight-lifting forum. Many of the commenters are replying that the guy has "the beginnings of schizophrenia", "mild schizophrenia" "schizophrenia", etc, etc ad nauseum. Let's take a look at his symptoms:
At night, no matter what I do. Not every night it always happens during the week when I have to work the next day, I cannot fall asleep. Music, TV, RX pills, Tylenol PM, melatonin. Even taken together, mixed and matched, I cant fall asleep sometimes. And my body is tired, but my brain wont shut up. And I'm not even thinking about anything important. Sometimes, just fucking music is playing.OK, the guy is unable to control the thoughts in his head. Thoughts, crazy thoughts, random nonsense, just races through his head with little or no control over it at all. Songs, uncontrolled and unbidden, pop up in his head unbidden and play by themselves in his head.
And it will keep my up, not sleeping 2-3-4 nights in a row. By the 3rd day, I feel delirious, and I didn't want to train the other day, cause I was afraid I'd hurt myself from how slow, and tired my body felt. I'm trying not to smoke as much pot lately, cause I'm cutting, losing weight.
It's effecting my home life, my job, my training, my relationships. Someone asked me if it was because I was depressed. I really don't have much to be depressed about. I have a good job, I make good money, I get laid, my own place. If I'm depressed, I don't know why.
It's almost like I'm "tripping" is how much sense it doesn't make -like when you're on acid and your mind is racing and none of it applies to anything, or means anything. Random craziness.
I hear voices (not like telling me to kill or anything) but just random babbling and the voices change like they're inhaling helium. It doesn't make any sense. Other times, random songs play through my head and I cant shut them off. I can only control them by putting other songs in, but that causes me to strain my brain and think hard when I'm trying to relax my mind.
My head sometimes gets heavy too, like it weighs like 50 lbs, and my equilibrium gets off balance sometimes. Like a concussion.
He can't shut any of this bullshit off, and the only way to stop the music is to substitute one stupid song for another. I am assuming the "voices" he is hearing are voices in his head, not outside of his head. Fortunately, you can hear all the voices in your head as possible without being mentally ill, though it really isn't ideal.
It's crucial to realize that psychotics who hear voices actually hear them with their ears, not in their minds. We all "hear voices" in our heads. Our "inner voice" is a voice inside of our heads. The idiot media and popular does not do us any good by refusing to differentiate these symptoms. Psychotic voices heard with one's ears are transformed into "voices in his head".
Obviously, if it's sane to one one "inner voice", it's not psychotic to have more than one, or an unlimited number, though it's not exactly ideal. You could even have animal sounds in your head.
Hang on.
OK, I just made some animal sounds in my head. There was a cow and a monkey and now there's a lion. Does that make me schizophrenic? Come on.
If you follow the discussion, you will note that many of his friends on there tell him that he is developing schizophrenia. I do not believe he is doing any such thing, and this is not a symptom of incipient schizophrenia anyway.
I've been around folks in the prodrome of schizophrenia, and while their functioning was still ok enough, they were hallucinating (hearing voices) a significant part of the time. No amount of argument could convince them that the voices were not actually real, nor would they believe me when I said I didn't hear them. This is a pretty typical picture of incipient schizophrenia.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of schizophrenics hear voices. In fact, if you don't hear voices, I wonder if you really have schizophrenia.
What's also interesting is that, terrifying and weird as these symptoms are, a number of the commenters admit that they have experienced them - they say they have had strange, out of control, unbidden random thoughts and music in their heads before. So, while it's not optimal, this stuff seems to be pretty common.
What's the diagnosis for out of control, random, unbidden thoughts and songs in your head? I say nothing. There's no DSM dx that has a criteria like that as a sole criteria.
Just like "having a weird look in your eyes" does not give you a mental illness dx either. There are all sorts of folks walking around with all kinds of weird and crazy looks in their eyes. While it's disconcerting, it's not necessarily indicative of mental illness. There is no DSM dx for "has a weird or crazy look in their eyes."
You need to be nuttier than just that. What gives people weird looks in their eyes if they aren't nuts? Who knows? God knows what goes in people's minds. But as long as your speech and behavior remains normal, you're not mentally ill.
Why am I writing about this crap? I'm on a crusade to get people to quit being such morons about mental health. Even if we aren't ill ourselves, it doesn't help to give out false dx's and go around accusing non mentally-ill folks of "being crazy". It's insulting, stupid and cruel.
Personally, I never refer to other humans with words like "weird", "crazy", "nuts", etc.
Instead, I'm going to give you some specific description of their behavior, possibly with a potential dx. I can usually figure out what might be wrong with someone after spending a bit of time around them. I can almost always tell if they are psychotic or not, and usually if they are obviously dangerous or not.
Life's tough for everyone and probably few of us make it out unscathed.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
New Sendero Attack
The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here. The famous Russian neo-Nazi video is on this blog here.
On October 20, 30 Senderistas (members of Sendero Luminoso or the Shining Path) invaded a mining site run by the Doe Run Mining Company in Huancavelica and took dynamite, radios, food and medicine.
One of the things that sustained Sendero in its long insurgency was a ready supply of explosives. There is all sorts of dynamite to be had in Peru, a country with a huge mining industry. Most bombs made by Sendero were apparently fashioned from dynamite.
The region is famous for mercury mining. Doe Run is probably involved in copper mining in the region. Sendero has traditionally had a strong presence in this region.
The Huancavelica Region in Peru. The capital city of Huancavelica has 400,000 mostly Indian inhabitants and is one of the poorest cities in Peru.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
On October 20, 30 Senderistas (members of Sendero Luminoso or the Shining Path) invaded a mining site run by the Doe Run Mining Company in Huancavelica and took dynamite, radios, food and medicine.
One of the things that sustained Sendero in its long insurgency was a ready supply of explosives. There is all sorts of dynamite to be had in Peru, a country with a huge mining industry. Most bombs made by Sendero were apparently fashioned from dynamite.
The region is famous for mercury mining. Doe Run is probably involved in copper mining in the region. Sendero has traditionally had a strong presence in this region.
The Huancavelica Region in Peru. The capital city of Huancavelica has 400,000 mostly Indian inhabitants and is one of the poorest cities in Peru.Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
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