The Pinocchio Illusion

I’ve included the photo at right as an example of how insidious human nature can look. The world is full of gangsters that pillage, rape, and kill. Words like compassion, mercy, and sympathy mean nothing to them. Combined, they are responsible for the murders of millions of innocent men women and children, and we countenance them.

“If we are all unique creatures of God, as Christians affirm, normality becomes a meaningless concept.”
-- Ted Harrison 1948-- : “Disability: Rights and Wrongs” (1995)

“Touch also turns out to be easy to fool. Among the sensory tricks now being investigated is something called the Pinocchio illusion. Researchers have found that if they vibrate the tendon of the biceps, many people report feeling that their forearm is getting longer, their hand drifting ever further from their elbow. And if they are told to touch the forefinger of the vibrated arm to the tip of their nose, they feel as though their nose was lengthening, too.”
-- New York Times (12/9/08)

Regarding the BIID issue, look for a post soon relating the “Pinnochio illusion” to BIID.

I suppose I should write something. Ok, it’s cold, rainy, snowy, and nasty, what we sports gamblers call a wintry mix (bet the under). Kind of makes me feel like that hayseed Packers coach, a bit FLUSTRATED. Knew a fella once with three fingers. He was always complaining about his flustration. Whaddya gonna do? I don’t wanna be one of them english teachers who is always correcting everybody. Did I mention it’s dreary? The world can be a dreary place. My guardian angel in the English Department, Lori, is leaving. I’m happy for her, but sad for those of us who’ve come to love her. Peace Concert at the Ark this weekend. FUBAR will do a song by Oni, Jim, and Sophia, “Half Staff Blues.”

Bonni Q., thank you. B. is quite flattered you think so highly of her cooking.

Picked up a guy carrying a gas can last week. It was on the way to Plymouth. Dude was wearing a windbreaker and some Bruno Maglis, walking slowly in a a driving wet snow. So I think, I gotta pick this guy up. Funny thing though, I pull over a quarter mile ahead, thinking he’ll start running towards the car, which is what any hitchhiker worth his salt would do, but this guy just keeps walking at the same pace. Weird. Finally he gets to the driver’s side window, hesitantly peeks in and asks me if I’m giving him a ride. Did I mention Mitch Mitchell, Jim Morrison’s dad, and Sonny Von Bulow died recently?

So I says:
“No, I just wanted to see what you looked like.”
Then I says, “Are you a serial killer?’
So he says, “No.”
So I say, “Well I am. Ha Ha!”
Seriously, I say, “I can take you to the gas station, and give you a ride back, I’m going to my girlfriend's house in Plymouth. She lives on Sheldon”
He says, “I live close by there, you can take me home and my wife will drive me back.”
I say, “So what do you do?”
He says, “I’m a corporate lawyer, I’ve worked for Maasco Corp., Nabisco, and Ford.”
So I say, “You voted for McCain, didn’t you,” as I began to feign pulling off to the side of the road.
He goes, “Yea, I voted for McCain, but in my heart I secretly wanted Obama. My wife voted for him.”
So I say, “You wouldn’t have picked me up if I was walking, right?”
And he says, “No, I wouldn’t have.”
So I say, “You’re a corporate lawyer and you ran out of gas?”
He says, “Yea, I’m outta work.”
So I say, “The pain is trickling up dude.”
Then I dropped him off at a beautiful house in Plymouth.

McGee’s got some kind of heating contraptions for sale. I think we should all buy one. Obamalamadingdong’s on the verge of finishing in the money in our football pool.

Had a PET scan this morning and a CAT scan last month where I talked to a guy who had lymphatic cancer. During the course of our wait he told me about his disease experience. He was diagnosed at 38, carefully monitored, and underwent chemotherapy 4 years ago. One interesting tidbit he left me with concerned an experimental vaccine he’s been receiving in Spain. The guy is rich, so if you have lymphoma you can’t try this at home. Just prior to the chemo he had some malignant cells sent to Pamplona (where the bulls run), and the famous oncologist there used them to make a vaccine personally tailored for this guy. This is the direction in which cancer research is headed.

Go Bears!