Alzheimer’s Breakthrough?

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Cold Sore Virus Linked To Alzheimer’s Disease: New Treatment, Or Even Vaccine Possible

ScienceDaily (2008-12-07) — The virus behind cold sores is a major cause of the insoluble protein plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease sufferers, researchers have revealed. They believe the herpes simplex virus is a significant factor in developing the debilitating disease and could be treated by antiviral agents such as acyclovir, which is already used to treat cold sores and other diseases caused by the herpes virus. Another future possibility is vaccination against the virus to prevent the development of the disease in the first place. … > read full article

This is great news. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the research proves fruitful…

My late Mother suffered from this disease. True to the definition of the word, “Disease”, watching my Mother go through this caused much “dis-ease” in our entire family at the same time. By the time she left us, “Mom” was hardly “Mom” anymore. Until then we savoured–I certainly lived for, the all too infrequent “Lucid moments”, those rare times that she did seem to recognize us, to know who we were, as her children.

Though her memories were fading, or gone, Mom’s disease only sharpened my own memories, recollection of those times with Mom when I was still her son, her child, and she my Mom, the parent. For me, losing that relationship due to her disease counts as one of life’s greatest tragedies and loses. So many other people have experienced the same.

Let’s hope this new “Breakthrough” becomes truly, just that.

Sex with Robots

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This topic seems to be all over the Internet these days. They say that by 2050 robots will be so life-like, so human-like, that we’ll not only be having sex with them, but we’ll also be marrying them! The sex part they say could happen within only FIVE years, available as the ultimate “Sex Toy”.

Eventually, robots will be so life-like we will have trouble distinguishing them from real human-beings. This is inevitable.

Imagine that, having sex with a robot. No foreplay required. Instant gratification. Right there, ready and willing any time we want it. Almost every man’s dream come true–boom-boom, roll over, go to sleep.  Is this a good thing or a bad thing? It is an inevitable thing. They will sell like hot-cakes, by the millions.  At first only the rich will be able to afford them, but eventually, market forces will make them affordable to most, who want them.

 

Sure, lot’s of ethical issues will surround the use of robots for sex, like will a pedophiles thirst for “more” extend beyond the use of his child robot to go after “real” children? Some countries will ban them because of issues like that. But the black market will still take care of the desperate.

 

Our sex-drive is very powerful. It stem’s, of course, from our instinctual drive to reproduce. We basically exist from one orgasm to the next—it’s a simple biological fact—fulfilling our “Biological Imperative” to reproduce, to replicate our species. It’s very similar to a thunder storm full of lightening.

 

Lightening occurs when electrical energy in storm clouds builds up to a point that it just HAS to be released. Once it reaches a high level of “particle excitation”—boom—it streaks down to the ground (or nearby clouds), releasing its built up energy. A few minutes later the electrical energy builds up again…until—boom—the process repeats itself, streaking to the ground for another “release”.

 

 

Lightening demonstration 

 

 

Orgasm is like the lightening—boom—in an instant, its built up energy is released. Right after orgasm, our desire for more sex vanishes. Why? Because, like a car battery that has lost its charge, there is practically no energy left-over to fire things up. That’s why some men (and, yes, some women even)roll over and go to sleep after having sex! Their sexual energy has simply been depleted (ok, satisfied) and needs to be recharged.

 

But that sexual energy is released for only a little while, because over the next 24 hours or so (depending upon the individual) , the instinctual energy (desire) to reproduce gradually recharges and builds up again. Our desire for sex is directly proportional to that level of built up energy we have within us. When the energy/desire is high, we seek out release—we go looking for a way to release that lightening! Again, I’m not just talking about men!

 

This same cycle of tension-resolution repeats itself, over and over again for most of our lifetimes. Not surprisingly, we create all sorts of special ways, and utilize almost any means, to find a way to release our built-up—our pent-up—sexual energy; to releash that biological lightening, including things…..LIKE MAKING ROBOTS!

 

At the very root of all this, however, another dynamic is also at work, and that is our desire for the repetition of pleasure. Sex is something that most people find VERY pleasurable. A lot of our motivation for “doing it” stems from our interest in repeating that pleasure, over and over again. I talk more about this idea in the essay entitled, “On Sex“. Read that, if you dare!

 

Thanks for visiting!

Tim

Nationalism

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Today is “July the 4th”, or “Independence Day” in the United States, celebrating their independence from Britain in 1776, when they established themselves as a totally separate country and “Nation”.

A couple of days ago here in Canada we celebrated something quite similar, “Canada Day” which also involved Britain historically, back in 1867, when we became an official “Federation”. Unlike the United States, however, we remained a part of Britain, but were officially recognized as being a separate “Dominion” of theirs, and then in 1947 as a separate “Nation”. That was reason enough for us to celebrate, but the reason why the American’s make such a huge celebration out of their Independence compared to ours is because they severed their ties with the British in one dramatic fell swoop back in 1776, whereas Canada didn’t reach the same level of independence from Britain until 1982!

Both holidays celebrate the concept of “Nationalism”, and that’s what I want to talk about.

Nationalism is a political term, which basically means devotion to one’s country. Dictionaries define it more precisely, emphasizing that it most often means excessive devotion, loyalty or patriotism to one’s country, where citizens see and pride themselves on being unique and separate from other nations or all nations entirely, and will valiantly defend their right to be so (independent).

So now we have a whole world full of countries, full of people who celebrate and pride themselves on being part of a separate and unique nation!? Each country is cleanly divided from other countries, physically with borders and intellectually with political ideas, and various social customs. So, that makes you and me different than Americans, Americans different from Brazilians, Brazilians different from Iranian’s, Iranian’s different from Iraqis’ (yes, they are quite different), Iraqis’ different from Saudi Arabians, Saudi Arabians different from Germans, Germans different from Britains and so on and so on and so on.

Is this not a whole lot of division? And what does division and Nationalism cause between people—no, between human beings? Division creates strife, disagreement (my country is better than your country etc., etc), discord and even war. Is this division—nationalism and all that goes along with it, something truly good? Does it help to create unity between human beings? Does it foster humanities most valued character-quality: love? Should we celebrate something that separates and divides us—you from me if you live in another country—that divides us even to the point of killing one another in the name of this precious thing called “Nationalism”? I think NOT, but, I welcome your opinion.

 I discuss some ideas related to this in my essay’s, “On Belief” and “On Opinion”.

A New Day

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They say we spend about one-third of our lives sleeping. When we sleep, our normal consciousness stops and we spend the night quite un-conscious. Many people think that sleep is a waste of time, seeing it as an interference to their busy important lives. When I was younger I felt pretty much the same, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve been seeing it differently…

Perhaps one of the reasons that we find sunrises and sunsets so beautiful is because they resonate with something deep within our psyche that instinctually reminds us that a “New Day” is about to begin.

When a new day begins, with it comes the fresh opportunity to do the things that we didn’t do yesterday, or to not do today the things that we didn’t want to do yesterday! To some people that can mean a fresh opportunity to start that new book they bought a few months ago, or to sign up for that course they’ve always wanted to take at the community centre, or to start that new diet or exercise plan, or to look for that new job, or to sit down at the computer and write….It can also mean the fresh opportunity to not do some things, like not picking up that first cigarette, or not picking up that first drink, or not criticising our friends or loved ones, or not sabotaging our efforts to achieve our long-held dreams. The choice is ours. Each and every new day gives us an absolutely fresh slate to draw upon. That makes us all artists—artists of our own lives.

You see, we don’t have to carry forward our yesterdays into today. Of course, practically speaking, our environments don’t change–nothing much really changes in our lives and situations over-night. But what can change is our attitude, our outlook, the way that we choose to view the day, because we really are—at least (and thank God)—free to choose how and what to think.

Most of us carry over our yesterdays into our today’s, via our memories. Memories, however, are like books that we don’t have to carry along with us. We can leave them where most of them really belong, on the “MB”, the Memory-Bookshelf of our brains, just as we leave our real books on the book-shelf in our homes. That might sound a bit trite and simplistic, and you are absolutely right, it is! That is the absolute beauty of it.

We are free to choose the books—the memories, or at least our response or attitudes towards the memories—that we want to carry along with us in the backpacks or briefcases of our consciousness, each  and every new day.

I’m not talking about motivation. I’m talking about the freedom to choose and that is what gives me hope when I go to sleep at night, that tomorrow I can start again, or excitedly carry on, even, with the things that I finally started yesterday! New day, new deal. A new opportunity to be the person I am and was meant to be.

And so can you! What you think, you are! Tomorrow really is a brand new day. Think about that.

For more about who I think YOU are, be sure to visit the “Who are YOU?” page.

Life’s little blessings

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Just as I’m celebrating the long-time coming birth of this blog, another REAL birth-to-be, presents itself–literally.

Indeed, within minutes of writing my first blog entry I checked my email. There, was a message from my son, announcing that I’m going to be a grand-father, now for the second time . Their first child, beautiful “Aria”, now 4 years ago, made me a grand-father for the first time. That was an incredible experience, feeling my life suddenly extended beyond my own children. One of my own children was having one of his own. In the process I took on the additional role/tile of being more than just a father, becoming a “Grand-father” (although it’s probably quite debatable just how “grand” I’ve really been…..)

This time, with the soon-to-arrive birth of my second grand-child, the feeling is a little bit different. I’m not acquiring a new role or title this time; once a grand-father, always a grand-father, regardless of the number of grand-children. Instead, I feel like—lets call it the “Chain of Life”, has been extended from me by yet another link. That knowledge, that feeling, is certainly as much rewarding as the first time around. It’s certainly made my day, if not my month, and perhaps my year. In fact, I’m counting it as one of “Life’s little blessings”, thank you to my son and daughter-in-law, Jeremy and Robyn.

“Life’s little blessings”, don’t come around very often. That’s why we call them “Blessings”. Blessings, although originally a religious term, have in common day culture and parlance become simply representative of really good things happening to us, regardless of the source. Credit can be given officially to “God” for the religious folks, or more commonly today for the not-so-religious, given just about as officially to, “The Universe”.

Wherever they come from, they are blessings because they make us quite happy. We really enjoy having them! Perhaps their rarity gives them their uniqueness. Whatever their source or nature, they are certainly “blessed” to have and—I will now challenge the reader—even more blessed to give!

Quite complicated…

~ Tim ~ Leave a comment

Welcome!

My site has been back online for a couple of weeks and I have yet to start the blog, until today. I started out trying to use a “CMS” (Content Management System) program called “Drupal” for creating the site, but that was way to complicated for me, so I switched to this CMS program, “WordPress”, which is easier to learn than Drupal…but…

Well, I really wanted to tweak the design of the site a bit before starting to post, but like most things in life, to “tweak the design” is not very simple, in fact it’s bloody complicated. It requires knowing quite a lot about website programming details….thinks like HTML, CSS, PHP, YUCK…

So, I’ve given up trying to figure all of that out before starting to write/blog. In fact, I may even give up trying to figure out WordPress altogether and go back, tail between my legs, to dear-ol’ Microsoft’s product, “Expression Web”, their modern day equivalent to “Front Page”, which I originally used to design my site back in 2001. Granted, I purchased and read the 400+ page textbook for that program, but it did seem easier to figure out than this….We’ll see.

My whole experience here serves to beautifully illustrate one of life’s “Truism’s” (a self-evident, obvious truth, according to Dictionary.com) in an Industrialized culture; few things worth doing are simple, most things require plain ol’ hard work, time and energy to accomplish. Few people make that effort, which is why there is lots of room at the top, if that’s where one wants to be…(more about the “if” later).

So there you go, that’s the first blog entry done, finally. Feels good. Thanks for reading.