Senseless
-
I dunno about sight. I saw a program on a woman who lost her sense of touch and it was horible. I wouldn't be scared to lose any of my senses except touch you can compensate for sight with hearing and touch and you can compensate for hearing with sight and gestures but you can't compensate for touch. Remember that if you lose your sense of touch you loose the awareness of where your limbs are and the pressure that you hold things with. So you can't really walk or hold things. You also don't know if you're hurting yourself and you can damage yourself quite badly.
The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on. If you tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe, he'll believe you. But if you tell him a bench has just been painted, he'll have to touch it to be sure.
I had some problems passing the physical required by US immigration. I tremble a bit and can't quite do delicate stuff. (20 years ago I could solder 40 pin DIPS but these days I wouldn't even try). But I can testify that if one concentrates it's possible to walk (I do at least 8 kms a day). I do have to concentrate on moving things and map out the move in space ahead of actually trying it. Imagine you're very very drunk. Then imagine trying to move an object. That's pretty much what I have to do. I think I manage pretty well. Rob Manderson http://www.mindprobes.net **Paul Watson wrote:**What sense would you most dislike loosing? Ian Darling replied. Telepathy Then I'd no longer be able to find out everyones dirty little secrets The Lounge, December 4 2003
-
"On 1 March 1757 Damiens the regicide was condemned "to make the amende honorable before the main door of the Church of Paris", where he was to be "taken and conveyed in a cart, wearing nothing but a shirt, holding a torch of burning wax weighing two pounds"; then, "in the said cart, to the Place de Grève, where, on a scaffold that will be erected there, the flesh will be torn from his breasts, arms, thighs and claves with red-hot pincers, his right hand, holding the knife with which he committed the said parricide, burnt with sulphur, and, on those places where the flesh will be torn away, poured molten lead, boiling oil, burning resin, wax and sulphur melted together and then his body drawn and quartered by four horses and his limbs and body consumed by fire, reduced to ashes and his ashes thrown to the winds" (Pièces originales..., 372-4)." Charming. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand?
Isn't it? The same adventure happened to Ravaillac, regicide, who assassinated Henri the Fourth (or what it Jacques Clément, another regicide, who killed Henry the Third? I can't remember). According to the legend, the morning of the execution, he declared: "it will be a harsh day". What a clever man.
A quoi rêvent les personnes qui nous font vivre ce monde ?
-
I had some problems passing the physical required by US immigration. I tremble a bit and can't quite do delicate stuff. (20 years ago I could solder 40 pin DIPS but these days I wouldn't even try). But I can testify that if one concentrates it's possible to walk (I do at least 8 kms a day). I do have to concentrate on moving things and map out the move in space ahead of actually trying it. Imagine you're very very drunk. Then imagine trying to move an object. That's pretty much what I have to do. I think I manage pretty well. Rob Manderson http://www.mindprobes.net **Paul Watson wrote:**What sense would you most dislike loosing? Ian Darling replied. Telepathy Then I'd no longer be able to find out everyones dirty little secrets The Lounge, December 4 2003
Rob Manderson wrote: I tremble a bit and can't quite do delicate stuff. Why would that cause problems with immigration? :~
"Sucks less" isn't progress - Kent Beck [^] Awasu 1.1.4 [^]: A free RSS reader with support for Code Project.
-
While waiting for a Morrocan wrap at the local Kauai yesterday a deaf woman came up to me and asked, with sign language, for some money to support her school. It took some repitition, pointing at a sign language alphabet and eventually her writing what she wanted down before I understood. It got me to thinking what being deaf must be like. That got me to pondering what loosing any sense would be like. Sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing. I wear glasses and so I can experience a modicum of what being blind must be like. It is not the same, no doubt, but I cannot function in the modern world without my glasses or contact lenses. What sense would you most dislike loosing? Hearing? Sight? Touch? Sight for me definitely, my favourite things are all dependant on it. I can imagine getting around without hearing, but being blind must be appreciably more difficult IMO. p.s. Colin, I know you would hate to loose your ESP, but lets stick to the five proven senses ok? :) regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand?
Well, this may or may not be germane, but I adopted a blind kitten a month ago. Because she never saw, she literally doesn't know what she is missing and has learned (often the hard way) how to cope as well as either of my other two cats. However, I know that cats who lose their sight after they've grown up have a harder time adjusting and can grow very crankey as they try to find their way around a world that changes without them being aware of it. Jon Information doesn't want to be free. It wants to be sixty-nine cents @ pound.
-
Rob Manderson wrote: I tremble a bit and can't quite do delicate stuff. Why would that cause problems with immigration? :~
"Sucks less" isn't progress - Kent Beck [^] Awasu 1.1.4 [^]: A free RSS reader with support for Code Project.
They need to make sure you don't come into their country and become a burden on the state with medical problems. If you get sick or have a dibilitating disease that prevents you from working... not good. So if Rob wanted to immigrate to the States and work as a circuit-board solderer, they might object :) regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand?
-
While waiting for a Morrocan wrap at the local Kauai yesterday a deaf woman came up to me and asked, with sign language, for some money to support her school. It took some repitition, pointing at a sign language alphabet and eventually her writing what she wanted down before I understood. It got me to thinking what being deaf must be like. That got me to pondering what loosing any sense would be like. Sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing. I wear glasses and so I can experience a modicum of what being blind must be like. It is not the same, no doubt, but I cannot function in the modern world without my glasses or contact lenses. What sense would you most dislike loosing? Hearing? Sight? Touch? Sight for me definitely, my favourite things are all dependant on it. I can imagine getting around without hearing, but being blind must be appreciably more difficult IMO. p.s. Colin, I know you would hate to loose your ESP, but lets stick to the five proven senses ok? :) regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand?
My Dad's Aunt, whom I just visited in Germany, suddenly lost most of her vision about 6 weeks ago. She's completely blind in her right eye and down to 30% vision in her left. She's really bummed out about it, and the Docs can't help her except to prescribe a stronger manfying lens for the one "functioning" eye. I'd hate to go blind more than anything. I'd hate to lose my hearing because that'd mean no more guitars, pianos or violins, but there are cases where it could be a blessing.
"Myths and the magic, Triumphant and tragic, A mechanized world out of hand. "
-
Good point Nic, highlighting how underappreciated touch is. I suspect smell also has many practical functions that we don't notice in everyday life. How much touch did the woman loose? All of it? That is hard to imagine and what was the cause of it? regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand?
Paul Watson wrote: How much touch did the woman loose? She lost all of it except for a small patch on her forehead. Paul Watson wrote: That is hard to imagine and what was the cause of it? Ya it is. Apparently it was a strange flu type bug or complications arising from a flu bug. I can't quite remember exactly now. Paul Watson wrote: I suspect smell also has many practical functions that we don't notice in everyday life. Ya it does. Taste is linked to smell so if you lose smell you can't taste anything either. I have bad sinuses and every now and then I lose my sense of smell. Sometimes I think my smell circuts get crossed cause one thing will smell like something else. An example is vinagar smells like ammonia. Quite a shock when you're having fish and chips :-D
The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on. If you tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe, he'll believe you. But if you tell him a bench has just been painted, he'll have to touch it to be sure.
-
While waiting for a Morrocan wrap at the local Kauai yesterday a deaf woman came up to me and asked, with sign language, for some money to support her school. It took some repitition, pointing at a sign language alphabet and eventually her writing what she wanted down before I understood. It got me to thinking what being deaf must be like. That got me to pondering what loosing any sense would be like. Sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing. I wear glasses and so I can experience a modicum of what being blind must be like. It is not the same, no doubt, but I cannot function in the modern world without my glasses or contact lenses. What sense would you most dislike loosing? Hearing? Sight? Touch? Sight for me definitely, my favourite things are all dependant on it. I can imagine getting around without hearing, but being blind must be appreciably more difficult IMO. p.s. Colin, I know you would hate to loose your ESP, but lets stick to the five proven senses ok? :) regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand?
Paul Watson wrote: What sense would you most dislike loosing? Hearing? Sight? Touch? I cannot decide between smell and vision. On the one side I consider smell the most intense sense, since it goes directly, unfiltered, into the subconcious. I like that. OTOH I'm a "looker". I can't get enough of seein things, seeing people, watching the world.
When still being a student, and being early on the bus (oh to rarely), there was a bunch of mute/deaf people (probably there was a specific school somewhere nearby) Imagine a bus, tightly packed with people that consider the time as "much to early", silent, huffy, "don't talk to me I am not here". Among them, a few people, signing away an intense talk, across the entire bus, wild, expressive (I always admired the "full-mimics talk style"), relaxed, joking, happy... Damn that was intense. A strange, bizarre world. Reminds me of a scene in "Children of a lesser God"
"Vierteile den, der sie Hure schimpft mit einem türkischen Säbel."
mlog || Agile Programming | doxygen -
While waiting for a Morrocan wrap at the local Kauai yesterday a deaf woman came up to me and asked, with sign language, for some money to support her school. It took some repitition, pointing at a sign language alphabet and eventually her writing what she wanted down before I understood. It got me to thinking what being deaf must be like. That got me to pondering what loosing any sense would be like. Sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing. I wear glasses and so I can experience a modicum of what being blind must be like. It is not the same, no doubt, but I cannot function in the modern world without my glasses or contact lenses. What sense would you most dislike loosing? Hearing? Sight? Touch? Sight for me definitely, my favourite things are all dependant on it. I can imagine getting around without hearing, but being blind must be appreciably more difficult IMO. p.s. Colin, I know you would hate to loose your ESP, but lets stick to the five proven senses ok? :) regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass South Africa Brian Welsch wrote: "blah blah blah, maybe a potato?" while translating my Afrikaans. Crikey! ain't life grand?
I think I'm going to have to go with touch. It is, by far, my favorite sense. It's certainly not as used as sight and hearing, but the favorite. I figure, if sight went, I could still code after some practice with a screen reader. :)
-
ProffK wrote: The danger comes in where you don't notice being hurt. You may stand on a hot coal, or catch an elbow on a nail or something, and not notice it until it was septic. Uh huh. I remember reading the Thomas Covenant novels (the character not the author) and the detail in which leprosy was described. In particular, the way Stephen Donaldson described the process of scanning all extremities. I imagine I'd be able to do that pretty damn quick if I lost my sense of touch. Just today I had to go to the local Basha's supermarket to buy the makings of tonights dinner. The local carbon dioxide truck had parked nearby and there was a long hose connected to the building. The bloke doing the refill had earmuffs on and as I got closer I could feel why. From a hundred metres away it was just an annoying hiss. 20 metres away it was painful. I walked past with fingers pressed into my ears and even half an hour later I was still feeling the pain. Rob Manderson http://www.mindprobes.net **Paul Watson wrote:**What sense would you most dislike loosing? Ian Darling replied. Telepathy Then I'd no longer be able to find out everyones dirty little secrets The Lounge, December 4 2003
Rob Manderson wrote: I remember reading the Thomas Covenant novels Me, too, and a worse set of books is hard to imagine. Unfortunately there was little else in the airport bookstore and I had a lot of very long flights to take. The author should start a religion and give up writing real fiction, just as a previous inept author did so successfully. "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot." -
Rob Manderson wrote: I remember reading the Thomas Covenant novels Me, too, and a worse set of books is hard to imagine. Unfortunately there was little else in the airport bookstore and I had a lot of very long flights to take. The author should start a religion and give up writing real fiction, just as a previous inept author did so successfully. "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot."Couldn't agree more. I forced my way to the end (this is when I discovered a great truth - sometimes it's better to cut your losses :) ) and I've never read such a sorrowful mass of self pity and whining. Rob Manderson http://www.mindprobes.net **Paul Watson wrote:**What sense would you most dislike loosing? Ian Darling replied. Telepathy Then I'd no longer be able to find out everyones dirty little secrets The Lounge, December 4 2003