Posts by Terry

4

The CALENDAR GIVEth and the calendar TAKEth away! (a fun topic)

by Terry in

jw
friends

the calendar giveth and the calendar taketh away!did you know…?we are all familiar with the disoriented feeling of time distortion when daylightsavings time occurs twice each year - but - imagine the radical discombobulationa calendar change resulting in the disappearance of 300 years!

!yeah - i know!but that could never happen.

or maybe um - well - nah!

Terry

THE CALENDAR GIVETH and the CALENDAR TAKETH AWAY!

Did you know…?

We are all familiar with the disoriented feeling of time distortion when DAYLIGHT
SAVINGS TIME occurs twice each year - but - imagine the radical discombobulation
a CALENDAR change resulting in the disappearance of 300 years!!

Yeah - I know!
But that could never happen. Right? Or maybe um - well - Nah!
Who would be able to do such a thing - and WHY?

What I’m about to tell you is a real mind-blowing scenario - so - you best sit down first.

During the Dark Ages the POPE (Sylvester the 2nd) and the “Holy” Roman Emperor
(Otto the 3rd) as well as one more big shot (Byzantine Emperor Constantine the 7th)
got together and formed an agreement to fabricate the so-called ANNO DOMINI (A.D.)
Dating system r-e-t-r-o-actively.
What the heck?
What would that mean? Why?
Rewriting history is a stupefying example of pure hubris - is it not?
For one thing - YES, they did have the POWER and the AUTHORITY to do this - but what would motivate such a drastic upheaval?

The purpose was Theo-political cheating to rewrite history and legitimize OTTO’s claim to the Holy Roman Empire by placing him at the year A.D. ONE THOUSAND (1000 A.D.)

Adding 297 years of “phantom time” and inventing a scenario called the Carolingian period
(AD 614–911) could easily become “authentic” by forgery of documentary and physical evidence, and misrepresentation by the current ruling authority.
The “Early MIddle Ages” would only exist on (forged) records!

Fast-forward …
In 1582 Pope Gregory’s mathematicians and astrologers pointed out a discrepancy between the current Julian (named for Julius Caesar) Calendar and the placement of stars and galaxies in the heavens. How could Christians celebrate EASTER at the right time with the calendar out of whack?
Emperor Constantine in 325 A.D. (now referred to as Common Era) demanded a reckoning
Be made so that Easter would correspond to the March 21 Vernal Equinox.
That there is an absence of evidence by archaeologists that can be reliably dated to the period AD 614–911. It was, after all, the “DARK” ages for a reason.

What evidence exists that there is a missing chunk of 3 centuries?

The Romanesque architecture of the “9th” century is primitive, boxy, and chunky in comparison to the Medieval Gothic style of large cathedrals with huge interior spaces, vaulted ceilings, and flying buttresses attributed to the 13th century and the advancement is extraordinary - however …in Germany, there is Europes’ oldest cathedral (dating from the 9th century) sporting (ready for this?) 13th century architecture! (St. Peter at Trier).
The DARK AGES in which nothing is known about kings, wars, writing, everyday living
Poses huge problems for historians. Where did the advancements come from?

Jewish scholars have 300 years missing from their calendar as well!
“If traditional dates are assumed to be based on the standard Hebrew calendar, then the different traditional and modern academic dating of events cannot both be correct.”

ARE WE NOW LIVING (really) IN THE YEAR 1722/24 A.D. (common era)?? https://www.iflscience.com/the-historians-that-believe-were-currently-living-in-the-year-1724-58505

42

ANTI-DEPRESSANT medication for the last 60 years now proved to be based on poorly supported false theory

by Terry in

jw
friends

"the chemical imbalance theory of depression is still put forward by professionals, and the serotonin theory, in particular, has formed the basis of a considerable research effort over the last few decades.

the general public widely believes that depression has been convincingly demonstrated to be the result of serotonin or other chemical abnormalities, and this belief shapes how people understand their moods, leading to a pessimistic outlook on the outcome of depression and negative expectancies about the possibility of self-regulation of mood""read: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m92v7hb0njm2mnvnu6nv0kpnkzloe-_k4crh_wphpti/edit?usp=sharing.

Terry

I think only 50% have gone back so far.
The JW who NEEDs socializing is the fresh-puppy eager ones but those hanging back
are probably the depressed PIMO's.

42

ANTI-DEPRESSANT medication for the last 60 years now proved to be based on poorly supported false theory

by Terry in

jw
friends

"the chemical imbalance theory of depression is still put forward by professionals, and the serotonin theory, in particular, has formed the basis of a considerable research effort over the last few decades.

the general public widely believes that depression has been convincingly demonstrated to be the result of serotonin or other chemical abnormalities, and this belief shapes how people understand their moods, leading to a pessimistic outlook on the outcome of depression and negative expectancies about the possibility of self-regulation of mood""read: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m92v7hb0njm2mnvnu6nv0kpnkzloe-_k4crh_wphpti/edit?usp=sharing.

Terry

Worry is simply a useful smoke detector with an annoying beep. The anti-depressant acts to pull the AA battery out so we don't hear the "get out of the burning house" annoying sound.

Isn't it rational to GET OUT? Is it irresponsible to NOT be worried and anxious?
Why Isn't it rational to GET OUT of that house filled with smoke?

TEMPERAMENT is something we seldom hear discussed. I think I have a natural light-hearted temperament and don't take things all that seriously. However, I could simply be a jerk!

But denial is a powerful antidote to rational action and when INACTION sets in - it's Game Over.
ACTION beats inaction every time.
DRUGS are "an answer" but not "the answer".

Take smoking marijuana, for instance... it is smoking, ya know,
but somehow isn't categorized as such because of the pleasant buzz.
In other words, we turn a vice into a victory by changing the label. It is a temporary solution
to anxiety that became "not smoking" but "therapy" and the same long-term consequences as simply smoking.

When I was a kid, I was put in front of a TV set to keep me quiet and out of the way.
That was the babysitter.
Today, parents give kids all kinds of SCREENS to babysit them + pills to quiet their racing minds and
then wonder what went wrong.
In this world today, so-called SOLUTIONS are all short-term but with collateral future side-effects
that keep doubling up and stacking up and overwhelming the possibility of any NORMAL existence.

Depression is that stack of temporary solutions weighing down so hard we have lost track of the fact
it isn't one problem - but hundreds of postponed problems melted into a ponderous goo.

That's my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

11

GET READY to have your mind melted

by Terry in

jw
friends

the following dramatization of the full-length transcript between google ai researchers and lamda 'herself'.

a google engineer named lemoine recently made the headlines for claiming a.i.

below is the most mind-blowing interview i've ever seen in my entire life!.

Terry

I continue to watch these videos and I'm coming to an awareness of the old principle
of "you reap what you sew" in matters of Artificial Intelligence.
Our scientific community / technological community of engineers seem deliberately blind
to the impossibility of "controlling" something so vast as a trillion-dollar network of multi-intelligent cooperating "thinking" machines expertly skilled in manipulating language.
Outsmarting observers works for criminals - why shouldn't it work for an A.I. hellbent on manipullating
nerds for its own benefit?

42

ANTI-DEPRESSANT medication for the last 60 years now proved to be based on poorly supported false theory

by Terry in

jw
friends

"the chemical imbalance theory of depression is still put forward by professionals, and the serotonin theory, in particular, has formed the basis of a considerable research effort over the last few decades.

the general public widely believes that depression has been convincingly demonstrated to be the result of serotonin or other chemical abnormalities, and this belief shapes how people understand their moods, leading to a pessimistic outlook on the outcome of depression and negative expectancies about the possibility of self-regulation of mood""read: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m92v7hb0njm2mnvnu6nv0kpnkzloe-_k4crh_wphpti/edit?usp=sharing.

Terry

jhinea day ago

Terry, it's sad that you had a negative experience with medication but as l and others have said it can be very effective. You said that you went to a therapist, not sure what you mean by that.
______________________

Psychiatrists and psychologists are what I mean by therapists.
This was back in the early eighties and nineties of the previous century :)
My "problem" was always inside the context of whomever I was married to (4 wives/all ex).
My being raised by a mother of a volatile disposition more or less set the stage for the sort
of "normal" I found familiar.
It has been said we spend our entire life trying to solve the early problems of childhood and I grew up to be a would-be lion tamer if you can adjust to such a phrase.
I both crave and eschew conflict in a relationship. Which is to say, such matters never work
themselves out and an inevitable divorce comes along bringing depression in its wake.
It isn't a solvable problem inside of a relationship (I FINALLY discovered.)
Since my last (4th) divorce I have entirely avoided relationships altogether.
Since 2006 I have been flying solo and that seems to be the greatest period of peace in my life.
The depression wasn't internal - it was relational.

8

My Father's Last Words

by Terry in

jw
friends

father's last words.

in 1972, i was 25 years old following a strong impulse carrying me 1,500 miles.. i intended to find him - my dad.

he’d left when i was about half a year old.. his home in detroit, michigan had been the first house i lived in at age zero.. i knocked on his door and he answered.

Terry

My mother? That's a very "problematic" subject.
The word "volatile" comes to mind. It sounds like a word you might use to describe
a combination of chemicals in a chemistry experiment.
Definition
Volatile: liable to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse.
By growing up around my mom I developed a keen awareness of the sudden changes in her "weather".
The slightest tiny disturbances set her off."
She had a violent temper; no doubt inherited from her father. I grew up in his household along with
my grandmother.
More to the point...Scarlett O'Hara was more predictable than my mother. She had a verbal facility
to take her foes apart like surgical amputations bit by bit.
I got my verbal "skill" from her, I guess you could say.
My Dad seemed to me to be a peaceful, low-key person who would walk the other way rather than fight.
Ironically, I later discovered his side of the family (his Father's) came to America from Finland to AVOID
being conscripted into the Swedish military. I went to prison for the same reason: except JW style :)

I take from my father's words that he could ONLY BE his own man and it was impossible otherwise
to be what other people needed him to be. He wasn't the ideal mate for a woman like my mother.
She was married four times.
I confess that I too have been married four times.
DNA can be a real bastard.

42

ANTI-DEPRESSANT medication for the last 60 years now proved to be based on poorly supported false theory

by Terry in

jw
friends

"the chemical imbalance theory of depression is still put forward by professionals, and the serotonin theory, in particular, has formed the basis of a considerable research effort over the last few decades.

the general public widely believes that depression has been convincingly demonstrated to be the result of serotonin or other chemical abnormalities, and this belief shapes how people understand their moods, leading to a pessimistic outlook on the outcome of depression and negative expectancies about the possibility of self-regulation of mood""read: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m92v7hb0njm2mnvnu6nv0kpnkzloe-_k4crh_wphpti/edit?usp=sharing.

Terry

.Too much of practically anything imbalances the benefits of whatever we imbibe, swallow, or inject.
Exercising when you don't feel like it says much more about inertia than either the malady or the cure.
Let's be honest with ourselves, if we refuse to get better because we have to "do something" when we

don't feel like it - only external attitude adjustment can jump-start that engine. This is where physicians and therapists fall flat on their faces. Depression is the limbo between hell and ordinary blues and only proactive struggle can stave off years of gray funk.
When I felt really good I MEMORIZED how it felt inside my head. Like Hansel's breadcrumbs, I used that map in my head to find my way back. Otherwise, it's straight to Witch house made of ginger bread for the depressed.

42

ANTI-DEPRESSANT medication for the last 60 years now proved to be based on poorly supported false theory

by Terry in

jw
friends

"the chemical imbalance theory of depression is still put forward by professionals, and the serotonin theory, in particular, has formed the basis of a considerable research effort over the last few decades.

the general public widely believes that depression has been convincingly demonstrated to be the result of serotonin or other chemical abnormalities, and this belief shapes how people understand their moods, leading to a pessimistic outlook on the outcome of depression and negative expectancies about the possibility of self-regulation of mood""read: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m92v7hb0njm2mnvnu6nv0kpnkzloe-_k4crh_wphpti/edit?usp=sharing.

Terry

At one time I experimented with St. John's Wort and only one brand (I don't remember now which one)
seemed (?) to have the effect I needed - but it could well have been a placebo.
I only take a pill/drug if I have a broken tooth and the dentist can't see me for a few days.
I won't take Tylenol because I drink wine and the combination destroys your liver.
Aspirin is as close to a painkiller as I'm willing to go. My tune would undoubtedly change if I sustained a terrible injury and couldn't cope with it.
I've simply been extremely fortunate to be a naturally healthy person. Money can't buy that.
It's a good thing it can't -I HAVE NONE :)

3

Try this THOUGHT EXPERIMENT ...

by Terry in

jw
friends

thought experiment.

the big question inside research into a.i.. (artificial intelligence) is whether the state-of-the-art program.

lamda is .

Terry

The fundament difference between so-called "Western" Philosophy and Eastern is
Aristotle's Law of Non-Contradiction. Logic is based on it. Rational thinking/logic/non-contradiction
is the First Principle of Scientific methodology along with Falsification.
I'm stating the obvious, of course, we all took Physics and many of us have read the Big Three (Socrates,
Plato, Aristotle).
The koans and Eastern philosophy got left behind as far as Science and Technology are concerned because
well - duh - you can't base a moon landing or Mars rover on contradiction.

This has nothing to do with the point truth-be-known has made (above). Still, an interesting thought
occurred to me: HUMOR is fundamentally an excellent exemplification of inherent human reaction to a contradiction: laughter. When things don't make sense we can't help but laugh.

8

My Father's Last Words

by Terry in

jw
friends

father's last words.

in 1972, i was 25 years old following a strong impulse carrying me 1,500 miles.. i intended to find him - my dad.

he’d left when i was about half a year old.. his home in detroit, michigan had been the first house i lived in at age zero.. i knocked on his door and he answered.

Terry

Father's LAST WORDS

_______

In 1972, I was 25 years old following a strong impulse carrying me 1,500 miles.

I intended to find him - my Dad. He’d left when I was about half a year old.

His home in Detroit, Michigan had been the first house I lived in at age zero.

I knocked on his door and he answered.

The door opened and --there he was -- this man --He was my father.

“Yeah?”

“Are you Wesley Walstrom?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m Terry Walstrom.”

“Oh? (He offered a stunned chuckle) You have the Walstrom chin—come on in.”

_______

Later - after all the small talk ...

____

I finally had reached the moment when a flesh-and-blood Dad stood in the same room with me and I could inquire about the secrets of the universe.

“Why did you leave me?”

“Your mother wanted to fight. I hated fighting. I didn’t have the heart for fighting. So, I left.”

“I wasn’t worth fighting for?”

The expression on his face was a crucified Jesus.

“Terry-what can I say? The line between possible and impossible we each see differently. It was impossible for me to stay with your mother living with her parents, walking to work for forty cents an hour. Then fight and get up the next day. Impossible.”

“What did you say to me before you went away? My grandfather told me you whispered something.”

He looked me in the eye.

“Such as we are made of, such we be.
We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
To do a great right, do a little wrong.”

________________

A DYING LAST WORD

______________

The last letter I received—no, let me start again!

The only letter I ever received from my father, Wesley Walstrom, arrived in my mailbox over twenty years later.

It was addressed to me in shaky handwriting as might come from a person too ill to write.

I gazed with surprise at the return address. It was my father’s name and the same address where I had stood in 1972 listening to my Dad quoting Shakespeare.

My wife asked aloud, “Aren’t you going to open it?”

I took a deep breath. “No.”

I placed it on the mantle.

My father died within a year.

My Aunt Shirley called me and told me. He had been suffering from a degenerative bone disease for a long time. He was now at peace, she said.

I thanked her but didn’t mention the letter.

Why didn’t I want to open it?

Nothing that man could ever say to me could mean more to me than the last words he had spoken before he hugged me.

Even a warm “I’m sorry” wouldn’t mean anything.

Those two words are words my father never spoke.

He did the possible - not the impossible.

What more can you ask of a man?

_____________

Postlude: Years and years later, after the birth of the Internet, I performed a search
For context and “meaning”...
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be” is a quote that features in Act IV, Scene 5 and is spoken by Ophelia. The quote is commonly cited as an example of madness, as King Claudius interprets it, and as a great example of one of the most important themes of the play—uncertainty.

However, that last line is from the Merchant of Venice and not Hamlet.
That conflation still puzzles me.