Were you you when you were 10 years old, 20, 40 or older?

It is fascinating to watch the almost daily unfolding of new discoveries about the brain. Just about anything we can imagine and maybe stuff we can't is coming to light about how it works, who we are and what we can be.

Dammmit

I meant to edit that post and add a picture and a link to this article about tools and a paragraph or two about what I thought it might say about the rest of the stuff in that post. So, I did. Then there were two posts. Duplicates. So I deleted one of them. Then the other one by mistake. Then I couldn't remember what I wrote except that it was about Daddy's tools, dirty dishes, posture and other ramblin's. Drats! So I just quit and drove over the J's and had a BLT. Now I'm gonna do the wash and go get some milk and trash bags. Seeya.

Update

Here's the part I lost. My daughterpooh got it somewhere and sent it back to me. Nice Catch W!

But I lost some of the cars in the train of thought so for what it's worth, here's the first part. Maybe I'll do better next time. Or maybe I'll even figure out where I was later. But, right now the timer is beeping that my laundry is done and I still don't have milk.

My dad seldom asked anyone to get anything for him or put it up when he was done with it. Mom didn't do that much either. I guess that's the way grownups are. They usually did their own plus the other and never seemed to notice the difference. I remember rarely ever hearing either one of them say something like, "Sweety, get me.....". When one of them wanted something they just did it without ever thinking someone else could. That probably kept them skinny too.

In dad's shop he always expected us to put tools back where they belonged when we finished with them. That meant when we finished with the tool, not after the job was done or a couple of days later. That was so tiring to my brain but that's the way he did things.

Dirty dishes drove him nuts. I always thought they were supposed to drive someone else [anyone but me] nuts. If he got one out and used it, it was usually washed and put up when he finished drinking or eating. He seldom left it to do later because someone would have to do it and I don't think that it would be settled with him until he at least checked on it and by then he could just as easily do it himself. That was not my practice then. But now I'm doing stuff more his way. Oh no, I'm becoming my dad. Oh well I guess that's not all bad.

But, I can remember heaps of dirty dishes rotting away in our kitchen sometimes when I was a kid. and being busted for letting them go for days, sometimes with a few tools rusting in the pile too. Somehow, I always thought it was not my mess or if I did feel a twinge of discomfort, I figured it was just that the folks had their bluff in and that they must have contributed to the stack just to make us kids want to do something about it. Their bluff must have worked on me because now things just go better when I wash the pan as part of the cooking process.

If we wanted to do stuff with dad or help with something he was up to, we had to really try to stay ahead of him and most of the time that was pretty, shall we say, educational. He seldom sat down so there was always plenty opportunity to do something with him.

When he did finally light, as he called it, mostly at the end of the day, he sat straight up, at least until he got a recliner. Even then, he didn't lean back in it much. When he was done at the end of the day, he didn't set around much before he went to bed. Only occasionally would we find him horizontal anywhere else. Reclining to him, was just another word for slouching.

I guess that's probably natural to everyone and not just special of my mom and dad. But I still say stuff like; "To this day, it makes me uncomfortable to slouch on the couch or in a chair or pass up the chance to wash my glass or put away any tool I find laying around, whether I used it or not." Memories of dad's doin's float up in a lot of those things if I stop to think about them much.

And you thought this was going to be about something.

Will Texas Sacrifice It's Children To Religion?

The Texas Board of Education has been stacked now with evangelical born again creationist and intends to make a run at forcing Intelligent Design into the class rooms of Texas schools and universities. These people are liars. Thankfully scientist and smart people are fighting back. Below is just one of many videos exposing the ignorance and treachery the Texas State Board of Education wants to teach in our schools. See many more examples of the lies and delusions here then demand that creationism in all it's forms be rejected by Texas' education systems and that science standards for Texas schools reflect only scientific facts, laws, and theories of the natural and engineered world and reject supernatural, occult or religious ideas. So get busy and contact Rick Perry @ (800) 252-9600 and their fax number is (512) 463-1849 and the Texas Board of Education and stop these liars now.

Higher Power

I can very well do without God both in my life and in my painting, but I cannot, suffering as I am, do without something which is greater than I, which is my life — the power to create.

[Vincent van Gogh, letter to Theo. Art News Annual, 1950]

24

It has been a great 24 hours here. My son got tickets to the Dallas Cowboys - NY Giants game and took his old pappy to Texas Stadium. We parked at Humperdinks, had a nice roast beef sandwich, and they drove us to gate five. That's the first time I've been in the stadium in probably 35 years. It's great fun to watch all the action by getting the photons directly in the eyeball and seeing all the goin's on live. They could use more jumbo trons but I suspect that will get fixed in the new stadium we are all buying them in Arlington. Thirty five years ago the crowd wasn't near as drunk and profane. But they weren't any less excitable. That part is contagious and we had a good time even if the Cowboys did get beat. NY was dang good. But maybe they cheated a little. Have I got a great son or what!?

Then it was home for a little shut-eye. Up pretty early this morning and reading on the web, I came across two very good articles about our little brain organs and how science is explaining them to us. At least to some that will listen. There seem to be plenty folks that rather prefer to live in the spirit worlds of myth and ignorance. But there are good spirits called scientist and they are discovering all kinds of interesting and exciting things about the universe and especially the cosmos between our ears.

Money and morality are topics full of what I call emotimines. Things that tend to explode into inexplicable chaos or drive people off into cult like behavior. As it turn out, we are probably wired by evolution for the ways we act in the face of financial choices and ethical decision making. Some think we got moral rules from a higher power. Well maybe we did. It is sure looking like that higher power is a combination of brain functions from distinct parts of our brain that we inherited from ancestors millions of years ago, not some cosmic super blob. There are those of course who will find it much easier to claim they have a direct connection to some sky maker that authorizes them to rationalize their emotions into directives for everyone else but the evidence is piling up that we make up our minds to fit the emotions and cultural norms we are raised with instead of using good sense derived from even the simplest calculations about our actions and habits.

Then I did the laundry and had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. That's a good 24.

On the debate about teaching creationism.

The NAS has published Science, Evolutions and Creationism. A small 88 page book containing information every adult should know about the topics. Not all the information they should know, especially if they have school aged children, but at least it's a start. From the summary, I think it is a good start. But, I agree with PZ Myers that NAS cut religion far too much slack. The best two paragraphs you will read today are from his blog about the matter. To wit:

Do science and religion offer different ways of understanding the world? Sure. One is verifiable, testable, and has a demonstrated track record of success; the other is a concoction of myths that actually leads to invalid conclusions. Perhaps it ought to be rephrased: science provides one way to understand the world, while religion provides millions of ways to misunderstand it.

Similarly, science addresses the natural, material aspects of the human experience, and allows us to probe such complex phenomena as the mind and our long, long history, while religion addresses the imaginary phenomena of nonexistent gods and spirits. It's a delusional affliction that certainly has affected our material existence, and it ought to be treated as such, rather than respected as providing insight into the guiding power of a deity. And, yes, it is true that many religions accept evolution, to a limited degree. But many don't. We could also mention that among the inhabitants of our insane asylums and prisons, there are some who accept evolution, and some who don't. This is a null statement which says nothing about it's truth.

What have you changed your mind about, and why?

I've always liked that kind of question. It's always been a handy way for me to get changes going in the right direction and keeping me from looking at things from a just so perspective. I'm just a regular folk but if you want to see what some very interesting people think about the question, John Brockman’s Edge put the question to over a hundred scientists and scholars... more»

Where are the family values people when you really need them?

Uh, hiding behind the New Jersey constitution apparently.