Another Face Transplant: Good News

"Chimp Attack Victim's New Face 'Simply Beautiful' "
Karlie Pouliot, FoxNews.com (June 10, 2011)

"Steve Nash described his sister's new face as 'simply beautiful.'

"He was talking about his younger sister, Charla Nash, who was viciously mauled two years ago in Connecticut by her friend’s pet chimpanzee. The attack left Nash blinded, without hands, a nose, lips and eyelids.

" 'Two years, three months and 225[!] days have passed since Charla was viciously attacked,' Nash said at press conference in Boston, Friday. 'Our family is deeply indebted to all who have gotten her to this day… we thank the donor and her family for giving Charla a new face and hands, and we mourn the loss of your loved one and share your sadness. Your incredible gift to Charla is generous and kind, and we thank you for your precious gift.'..."

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that Charla has a new palate and teeth, and will be able to chew food.

Her brother says she's looking forward to eating "real" food again. So far, she's been eating specially-prepared food. The siblings have plans: "...'We have a hot dog stand in Poughkeepsie she wants to go to and a favorite pizza place… those are foremost on her mind… eating decently and eating a meal is very key,'..."

The article says that nerves and muscles are growing into place in Charla's new face, so she'll be able to express emotion - be able to smile.

The bad news is that the article doesn't mention vision. Our eyes are a very complex set of organs, so the Lemming figures the new face doesn't bring a working visual system with it. The medical team attached new hands to Charla's arms, but they didn't last. She developed pneumonia, and blood flow in the new hands was "compromised."

Face Transplants - New(ish) Procedure

Maybe you've read about more than one "first" face transplant. It's a very new surgical procedure: so far about a dozen have been done, around the world: in America, China, France, and Spain.

Each transplant has it's own unique features, so the Lemming figures that each can be called the "first" in one way or another. Folks are, quite understandably, impressed with each team's achievement, so the Lemming isn't surprised that their accomplishments are re-told as the "first" each time.

Face transplants are the latest in a growing list of medical techniques that replace damaged or missing parts. The Lemming remembers the first time a limb was reattached, back in 1962:

"May 23, 1962: Give That Kid a Hand!"
Randy Alfred, This Day in Tech, Wired (May 23, 2011)

"1962: A team of 12 doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston reattaches the severed arm of an injured boy. It is the first successful reattachment of a human limb.

"Freckle-faced Everett 'Red' Knowles had been trying to hop a freight train in Somerville, Massachusetts. He was thrown against a stone wall that ripped his right arm off cleanly at the shoulder. Knowles walked away from the tracks, using his left hand to hold his right arm inside a bloody sleeve. A police ambulance rushed the 12-year-old across the Charles River to Boston, where emergency-room staff discovered the extent of his injury...."

Folks had been setting bones for millennia, and surgeons had sewn up partially-severed limbs before 'Red' Knowles walked away with his arm - and we've come a long way since 1962.

It's not just transplants. Right now, the Lemming's walking with artificial hip sockets, plastic mesh that kept the abdominal wall in place after another operation, and enjoying a body chemistry that needed tweaking.

There's more to come: "Never Heard of a BCI (Brain-Computer Interface)? You Will" (April 20, 2010).

So, does the Lemming see nothing but rosy skies and Inevitable Upward Progress ahead? Of course not. There are going to be problems. (December 2, 2009) People misuse things. Some people, sometimes. But people use things, too, and on the whole the Lemming would rather live now, than in the 'good old days.'

Related posts:

• "Christina Green, Organ Transplants, and Rules"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (January 16, 2011)
• "The Pill That Listens: And Wait'll You See What's Next"
  (November 9, 2010)
• " 'I was Dead, But I'm Better Now' "
  (October 21, 2010)
• "Another Face Transplant: News, Video, and Opinion"
  (April 25, 2010)
• "Face Transplant: We Can Do it, But is it Right?"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (May 6, 2009)
  Short answer
  • Yes
    • "...provided that the benefit/risk ratio is proportionate...."
      See
      • The Catholic Church and Organ Transplants
        • You guessed it, there are rules

Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide Now! Or, Not

Born during the Truman administration, the Lemming developed an acute awareness of environmental concerns during the '60s. To this day, the Lemming firmly believes that it's a bad idea to dump raw sewage in rivers; and that if a waterway catches fire, there's something wrong.

That, in the Lemming's opinion, is common sense.

Then, there's this sort of thing, adapted by the Lemming from a Pennsylvania publication:

Dihydrogen Monoxide: Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!

Ignorance? Or conspiracy? Deeply buried in government records is this grim statistic: 9,072 people died in 1992, as a result of contact with dihydrogen monoxide! The body count was even higher the next year!

Yet dihydrogen monoxide use continues in America: permeating the land, the air, and our homes!

Dihydrogen Monoxide: Facts

Dihydrogen monoxide, the basics:

• Is called "hydroxyl acid", the substance is the major component of acid rain
• Contributes to the "greenhouse effect"
• May cause severe burns
• Is fatal if inhaled
• Contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape
• Accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals
• May cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes
• Has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients

Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:

• As
  • An industrial solvent and coolant
  • A fire retardant.
  • An additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products
    • Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.
• In
  • Nuclear power plants
  • The production of Styrofoam
  • Many forms of cruel animal research
  • The distribution of pesticides

The Dihydrogen Monoxide Threat: Seriously?

Is this nearly omnipresent chemical as dangerous as it sounds? Yes, and no.

This Wikipedia article gives a pretty good explanation for why Americans are, despite the very real risks, still using dihydrogen monoxide:

"Dihydrogen monoxide hoax" Wikipedia "The dihydrogen monoxide hoax is a deception that involves the use of an unfamiliar name for water ('dihydrogen monoxide'), then, by listing some negative effects of this chemical, attempts to convince people that it should be carefully regulated, labeled as hazardous, or banned. The hoax is designed to illustrate how the lack of scientific literacy and an exaggerated analysis can lead to misplaced fears.^[1]"Dihydrogen monoxide", shortened to 'DHMO', is a name for water that is consistent with basic rules of chemical nomenclature,^[2] but is not among the names published by IUPAC^[3] and is almost never used...."

Water? WATER?!!

Is water dangerous? Yes. The Lemming lives in Minnesota, where reports of death by drowning are a sadly-familiar part of the news. That drowning death statistic, by the way, is from a United States Census publication.

Does the Lemming think that water should be banned? No. As explained elsewhere, the Lemming is apathetic. Even if some federal bureau of hyper-cautious regulations decided to limit water to injections administered by licensed health care providers: folks would still need the stuff.

And, happily for everyone who enjoys swimming, water skiing, or taking showers, we're not likely to see a ban of dihydrogen monoxide any time soon. At least, the Lemming hopes not.

Enviro-nuttiness and the Lemming:

• "Lemming Tracks: Blasphemy! Or, 'We're All Gonna Die' Predictions That Fizzled"
  (December 30, 2010)
• "Climate Change is the New Global Warming?"
  (December 6, 2010)
• "Lemming Tracks: Ice Age, Global Warming, Climate Change, and Living Scared"
  (November 19, 2010)
• "Earth Day, 2010 - or - We Won: Deal With It"
  (April 22, 2010)
• "The Unchanging Sun and Earth's Climate"
  (August 28, 2009)

Somewhat-related posts in other blogs:

• "Earth Day, 2010; Change; Opposable Thumbs and Responsibility"
  Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (April 22, 2010)
• "Global Warming, End Times - 'We're All Gonna Die' Over the Last 45 Years Or So"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (October 3, 2009)
• "Food, Agriculture, Technology, and City Folks"
  Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (October 2, 2009)
• "Emotions, the Frontal Cortex, The War on Terror, Anarchists, and the Illuminati"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (December 23, 2008)
  Particularly
  • Emotion Trumping Reason: Not Limited to the War on Terror

---

A tip of the hat to a family member, for the heads-up on that Wikipedia article.

The Best Speech You'll Ever Regret

"Speak when you are angry--and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret."
Laurence J. Peter (US educator & writer (1919 - 1988), The Quotations Page

The Lemming thinks he's got a point.

I've hit the "Delete" key fairly often, after creating some inspired rant - and re-reading it a few minutes later.

And then, there's my last post before this one:

• "The Horror! Monster Comics that Scared Congress"
  (October 31, 2010)

Earthquakes, Nuclear Winter, the End of the World, and All That

"Big quake question: Are they getting worse?"
LiveScience, via MSNBC (February 27, 2010)

"Seismic shockers are to be expected, but planet seems to be more active"

"Chile is on a hotspot of sorts for earthquake activity. And so the 8.8-magnitude temblor that shook the region overnight was not a surprise, historically speaking. Nor was it outside the realm of normal, scientists say, even though it comes on the heels of other major earthquakes.

"One scientist, however, says that relative to the time period from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, Earth has been more active over the past 15 years or so...."

'And we're all gonna die?'

I don't doubt that there's more tectonic activity each year now, than in the mid-70s. That was then, this is now: and natural events do seem to go in cycles. We call the weather cycle that's associated with Earth's orbit "seasons." There may be patterns of earthquakes and volcanism that we don't know about yet.

But in answer to the 'screamer' headline on this topic in another source, "Is nature out of control?" - I rather doubt it.

On the other hand, if I had the ethical deficit it would take to do so: I could probably make quite a lot of money by writing a book about how the world was coming to an end. In about four or five years, to give people plenty of time to buy copies.

Maybe I'd take pronouncements of doom more seriously, if I hadn't seen so many come and go as the decades rolled by: and hadn't taken the trouble to sort out facts and assertions - and research the facts.

More about change and getting a grip, at:

• "Frail, Delicate Little Mother Nature?!"
  (December 20, 2009)
• "Global Warming, End Times - 'We're All Gonna Die' Over the Last 45 Years Or So (Who Knew?)
  A Catholic Citizen in America (October 3, 2009)
• "Cosmic Rays: Strongest in 50 Years"
  (September 30, 2009)
• "The Ice is Falling! Runaway Melt Mode"
  (September 23, 2009)
• "'Perfect Solar Storm' 150 Years Ago Today: Good News; Bad News"
  (September 2, 2009)
• "Emotions, the Frontal Cortex, The War on Terror, Anarchists, and the Illuminati"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (December 23, 2008)
• "Change, American Culture, Trilobites, Humanity's History, and the Big Picture"
  (last updated February 28, 2010)

Human Faces, Emotions, and Socialization (Caution! Geeky Content!)

"Facial Expression of Emotion as a Means of Socialization"
David R. Heise, Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, Electronic Social Psychology (1985)

"Recent research indicates that (1) the human face is a highly sophisticated signaling system for communicating affect, and (2) affect plays a key role in the experience of social organization and in the day-by-day production of culture. This essay suggests that emotional displays—on the face especially—are a primary means of socialization, allowing a neophyte to attain knowledge of the sociocultural system rapidly and efficiently.

"An intriguing pattern of results emerged from a study of college roomrnates by Melvin Manis several decades ago (1955). Manis had friends and non-friends (i.e., high and low sociometric choices) rate themselves and each other on 24 bipolar semantic differential scales representing eight trait dimensions...."

Bottom line?

People all over the world use their faces the same way to express a few basic emotions, like fear, surprise, anger, disgust, or happiness. And, science fiction writers and serious thinkers of the early and mid 20th century were wrong about at least one thing: humanity is not evolving away from emotionality.

I'm not all that surprised. If that were the way things went, lizards would be more 'emotional' than we are. Think about it: we've got a whole lot more circuits to be emotional with.

"Trust Your Feelings, Luke" and Thinking Straight

Someone quipped that the famous Star Wars line, "trust your feelings, Luke," was the same as saying "be stupid, Luke." There's something to that.

The 'strong silent type' of man, who apparently has the emotional range of a stuffed frog, may exist: but that's not me. I love to talk - and write. And, I've been told, don't hide what I'm feeling. At all.

I don't know where the idea that being emotional was a 'primitive' characteristic came from. I've run into the notion in some 19th century stories: the wildly emotional native savage contrasted with the starched Englishman.

Anyway, it looks researchers - some of them - are coming to grips with the fact that humans are emotional creatures. And, that that's okay.

Another excerpt from that paper, and I'll end this post.

"...Among the shattered myths are that emotionality is primitive or simplistic, that facial expressions are purely idiosyncratic, and that humans are evolving away from expressivity. Instead, extensive programs of research have yielded the following facts.

"The face is our emotional signaling system. Language and talking transmit facts and schemes, and sometimes feelings, too. But language does not match the face's capacity for communicating emotions. The face is our primary channel for communicating feelings.

"Our facial expressions are uniquely human. We communicate more with our faces than any other creature. Our vocabulary of facial expressions is too large for most animals to master. Our facial musculature—offering the potential for more than a thousand appearances —is the most developed of any species, and the human face conveys messages more complex than animal faces.

"Basic emotional expressions are the same for everyone. Tribesmen in Borneo can read your emotional expressions, and you would understand theirs. People in different cultures vary in what events cause particular emotions, in how emotions are masked in specific situations, and in the extra facial expressions that are added on top of the basic emotion repertory. But there is a common visual code for expressing feelings that cuts across differences of sex, age, race, or origin. This visual system for signaling our feelings to others is universal...."

Related posts, about emotions and being human:

• "Data-Driven Art: For an 'Overwhelmed' 'Hive Mind???' "
  (January 27, 2010)
• "Vigilante Justice isn't Nice: Haiti"
  (January 23, 2010)
• "Hating People: Not a Good Idea"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (January 22, 2010)
• "Babies and Language: What We Hear is What We Cry?"
  (November 8, 2009)
• "Caritas in Veritate, Charity in Truth: Keeping it Real"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 17, 2009)
• "The New 'Terminator' is Creepy: Psychologist Says Why"
  (May 20, 2009)
• "Prison Time if Your Blog Makes Somebody Feel Bad? I'm Not Making This Up"
  (May 5, 2009)
• "Depression, Brain Structure, and Heredity - More Data to Crunch"
  (April 14, 2009)
• "Pelosi and the Pope, Emotion and Beliefs"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (February 19, 2009)
• "What Color is Your Blog? Why? An Online Discussion With Resource Links"
  (February 12, 2009)
• "'So That's Why I Bought it' - Advertising and Your Subconscious Calculator"
  (December 17, 2008)
• "Beware Sandwich-Throwing Boyfriends"
  (December 15, 2008)
• "Feelings, Blogs, and Making Sense"
  (August 9, 2007)

Data-Driven Art: For an 'Overwhelmed' 'Hive Mind???'

"Decode Exhibition Points Way to Data-Driven Art"
Underwire, Wired (January 25, 2010)

"The cryptic works on display at London's Decode: Digital Design Sensations exhibition manipulate raw data as a kind of virtual pigment, finding form and fun amid the sensory overload that threatens to overwhelm the 21st-century hive mind.

"Several exhibition pieces showcased at Victoria and Albert Museum depend on human presence to produce their full effect. A motion-detecting eyeball, for examples, blinks each time a visitor blinks. In another piece, a video screen enables visitors to 'paint' smears of color through the power of their gyrations...."

"Overwhelmed?"

"Hive mind?!"

I'll get back to that.

Some of the data-driven art is - weird. That "motion-detecting eyeball," for example. Some looks like fun, like a virtual dandelion with attached hair dryer. And some is quite easy to look at, like "Flight Patterns," a video "based on 24 hours of airplane tracking data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration." The picture above is a thumbnail of a still from that video.

The Wired article explains why the Decode: Digital Design Sensations exhibition was put together:

"...'Decode is about demystifying the black art or magic of digital while showing that this work can be poetic, emotional and poignant,' show co-curator Shane R.J. Walter told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. Walter, creative director for the OneDotZero digital arts site, said the exhibition pieces 'highlight issues in our everyday lives such as the overabundance of information and how we deal with this through data visualization.' The Decode artists, he writes, 'use code as a material to work with just as sculptors work with clay.'..."

Okay: That's clear enough.

But, again:

• "Overwhelmed?"
• "Hive mind?"
• "Demystifying the"
  • "Black art"
  • "Magic of digital?"
  • "Overabundance of information?"

"Overwhelmed" by Data? Are You Kidding??

Sure, I've read about how we have too much data to deal with: but I haven't experienced it myself. My problem, generally, is finding enough data, fast enough.

"Overwhelmed"? Hardly. For me, it's more "frustrated" at how comparatively little there is available sometimes, even now.

Sheets of paper with ink on them was pretty close to the ultimate in random-access data storage and retrieval system when I was growing up: and the codex form of books is still a pretty good technology.

But these days I'm able to get more data, faster, than before. Sure, a lot of what's online is tripe: but so is a lot of what's been published the old-fashioned way. That's where research and analysis skills come in.

I don't mind being able to get weather information straight from the National Weather Service: not relayed by some guy on the radio. Like yesterday, when I posted this in another blog:

• "Well, That's Interesting: Blizzard Warning"
  Sauk Centre Journal Blog (January 25, 2010)

I suppose it's like me and art. I've drawn and painted since my teens: and started working with digital art as soon as the software got down into my price range.

Granted, having the sense of touch in six of my ten fingers go offline several years ago had an effect: but I was 'going digital' before that happened.

There's so much more you can do, faster, more precisely, with software. Like the light and shade in that illustration for Halloween I did for 2007.

And no: the computer isn't making the art, any more that Rembrandt's brushes made his paintings. It's a tool.

My oldest daughter, on the other hand, only uses digital art techniques when she has to. She much prefers traditional tools. I don't think she's "overwhelmed," though.

"Hive Mind?" What Hive Mind?

I suppose it's spooky, the realization that people can communicate with each other, all over the world, providing that they speak the same language. Even that's not a strict requirement, but it helps: the automatic translation tools are helpful, but come up with gibberish fairly often. They have artificial intelligence, but not very.

Where was I? Communication. People. Spooky. Right.

This isn't the 'good old days,' where a few well-heeled people were able to travel around and gawk at the natives, and write about their experiences for the benefit of others of the better sort.

Quite a lot has changed.

Literacy isn't the rarity it was, not all that long ago. For America, about 99% of folks 16 years old and up can read and write. Not well, maybe, always,: but we can. It's 99% for Japan, too. We could do better, of course. Liechtenstein as a literacy rate of 100%.

Television was a 'threat to individuality' in my younger days. Because, I suppose, millions of people could be watching the same show at the same time.

Then came the Internet and the Web - why, these days, just about anybody can take pictures, write - and get noticed. If they've got something to say, there's a good chance that many others will notice them.

But is that a "hive mind?" Maybe not.

I see it as an opportunity for a great many people to get together and share ideas.

I'm not "overwhelmed," either.

Like I wrote, in another blog:

"Knowledge is Power: and I Like Power"

"Many of the ideas put forward online don't pass the 'stink test,' and fail in the marketplace of ideas. Others succeed.

"The great thing about the Information Age is that people can publish their ideas. Even if those ideas don't sit well with

• "Established academics
• "Yankee gentlemen
• "Publishing executives

"To someone who became comfortable with the well-regulated flow of information that a previous generation experienced, today's world of blogs and uncontrolled websites must seem like chaos.

"I like it.

"I also like individual freedom.

"And I like the way that the Information Age has opened by giving 'power to the people:' the power of individuals to enter the marketplace of ideas, even if their views aren't approved by the old gatekeepers...."
(Knowledge is Power: and I Like Power, in "DC Gun Ban, Online Censorship, Individual Rights, and Power to the People," Another War-on-Terror Blog (June 27, 2008))

Data-Driven Art? Cool!

Although I don't know how many people are really "overwhelmed" by the "hive mind," Decode: Digital Design Sensations looks like a lot of fun.

And probably is a taste of what my grandchildren will think is 'the same old thing.'

The technology probably won't be quite the same, of course. Think about it: how long has it been, since you heard a theremin being played?

Related post:

• "Leon Theremin, Inventor of the Theremin: a Weird-Sounding Instrument"
  (November 3, 2009)

Vigilante Justice isn't Nice: Haiti

This isn't the cheeriest post topic, but the Lemming thinks it's important.

---

And, if you haven't chipped in to help yet: You've got quite a few options. Check out:

• "Haiti: About the Earthquake, Relief, and Related Topics "

---

"Stoning death a case of 'citizen justice,' witnesses say"
CNN (January 22, 2010)

"In the middle of the street lies a young man who appears to be dead, a pool of blood beneath his head. A large concrete block is next to his shoulder, with shattered pieces of it around him. Blood trickles down the road.

"Witnesses say he was a thief trying to steal people's money Friday amid the chaos from last week's earthquake.

" 'This is robbery. He went to rob the people. He went to steal money -- American dollars,' said a man at the scene who identified himself as Frederic Mano, a Haitian sportswriter...."

"...Mano said the young man was one of several thousand prisoners who escaped after the earthquake struck.

"He did not deserve to be killed, Mano says, 'but anyway, he's dead. That is destiny.'

"Other witnesses gave a similar account. They said they believed the man was a thief and might have been a prisoner who escaped.

"In Haiti at this time, there is no immediate way to confirm the man's identity...."

Funny thing, though. As soon as something like that 7.0 earthquake, Tuesday before last in Haiti, breaks the trammeling shackles of a stultifying society (or is it shackling trammels?): one of the first things survivors do is either fix the old shackles, or make new ones. Or trammels, if that's the word.

Like the folks who broke a concrete block over that young man's head.

A few questions came to mind.

• Who was he?
  • Good question
• Did he really steal?
  • Maybe
• Is he dead?
  • Yes
    • Sincerely
• Was an he escaped convict?
  • Maybe
• Did he deserve to die?
  • Probably not
• Is stealing right?
  • No
  • Usually
  • Depends on what you mean by "steal"

Stealing is Wrong, Right?

Don't get me wrong: there's a reason why "don't steal" is part of what Moses carried down from Sinai.

But consider a hypothetical situation: You survived an earthquake. The town you live in is mostly knocked flat, but at least now many of the fires are out. It's hot. You helped pull a few people out of the grocery down the street. You can tell from the smell that others didn't make it. The local police force, fire department - the whole city staff - are either dead or putting out fires - literally - on the other side of town. The people you're responsible for are wounded, sick, and haven't eaten for days.

Is it wrong to salvage food from the grocery, while it's still edible? Maybe not.

Is it wrong to salvage your neighbor's plasma screen television? Probably.

---

Update (January 23, 2010)
There's more: there's always more. ("Life, Death, Theft, and Catholic Teaching: Who Said This Was Easy?," A Catholic Citizen in America (January 23, 2010))

---

Living Free, Staying Alive

I don't know how fashionable this old notion is today: that most or all of humanity's problems come from the stultifying inhibitions of a repressive society and the shackles of conformity.

I'm not very good at conforming, myself, and understand the appeal of living "as free as the wind blows, as free as the grass grows," and all that. Which makes some of my major decisions seem - odd. ("I'm Not Awed by Authority, I Don't Conform Easily: So I Became a Catholic?!," A Catholic Citizen in America (September 19, 2009))

I sympathize for the young man - that encounter with angry people and a concrete block lowered his life options to zero.

I sympathize with the folks who killed him, too. From the looks of it, they've been under a bit of stress lately.

Problem is, right now it's hard to tell if the young man actually stole something or not. Not that it matters. He's dead.

If they people who killed him got the right man - assuming that theft took place - they've got one less thief to be concerned with. But I don't know that, even in their circumstances, killing him was necessary. Convenient, and emotionally satisfying, probably. Necessary? When there's work to be done - and apparently enough people to overpower him, if he decides to leave?

Like I said: it doesn't matter now. He's dead.

Vigilante justice: At the moment, it may bring about emotional catharsis. But later, there are a lot of questions to answer, and a body deal with.

Related posts:

• "Haiti's Earthquake Caused by - You Guessed it - Yankee Imperialists"
  (January 21, 2010)
• "Imperialist American Aggressors Occupy Haiti?"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (January 19, 2010)
  Particularly
  • America: Damned if We Do, Damned if We Don't
• "Capital Punishment: Killing Those Who Deserve to Die"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (October 2, 2008)
  • Like so many other things, it's complicated
    • And simple
  • My personal take:
    • If you can raise an executed man from the dead, go ahead
    • If you can't, think

Babies and Language: What We Hear is What We Cry?

"Newborns Pick Up Language in the Womb"
AFP, via DiscoveryNews (November 6, 2009)
Babies and Language: What We Hear is What We Cry?
"Comparing the gurgles, coos and cries of French and German newborns, a team of scientists from both countries found that baby talk is not, as previously assumed, universal.

"Earlier research showed that human fetuses start to memorize sounds from the external world by the third trimester, and are especially keyed in to the melodic qualities of music and speech.

"Previous studies also showed that newborns prefer the voice of their mothers, and can decipher different emotional content -- anger, joy -- from the intonation of maternal speech...."

"...The French newborns tended to cry with a rising melody contour, while the German tots wailed with a 'falling' tone, a signature feature in each language, the study found.

" 'Contrary to orthodox interpretations, these data support the importance of human infants' crying for seeding language development,' Wermke said in a statement...."

The AFP article gives a pretty good overview of the research - and tells where to look for more. (An upcoming issue of Current Biology) The article implies that differences in the 'music' of babies' cries is learned, rather than hardwired - which may be the case.

On the other hand, although 'all Europeans look alike,' I think it would be interesting to see if it's what the babies hear, or what's in their genes that makes a difference. It should be possible to test that by studying babies whose parents or ancestors moved to another country - and switched languages - and comparing their cries to those of more sedentary families.

Just a thought.

There's a video that goes with the article - "Understanding the Brain: Development" (0:59 (April 4, 2006)) 59 seconds? Obviously, a few details are left out.

Bottom line? This is a pretty good look at one set of information that's been collected, about how we develop - and how assumptions about how we learn language are getting changed.

Related posts:

• "You Mean Germans, Japanese and Kenyans aren't All Alike?!"
  (October 29, 2009)
• "Broca's Center Multitasks: Big Brain Breakthrough"
  (October 15, 2009)
• "The Brain: Things We Know That Just Aren't So"
  (September 29, 2009)
• "Dead Fish Thinks! - or - fMRI Analytic Methods Need Evaluation"
  (September 18, 2009)
• "Boy Monkeys aren't Like Girl Monkeys: Who'd Have Thunk?"
  (July 30, 2009)
• "People's Right Ears are More Obliging"
  (June 26, 2009)
• "So That's Why We Doodle"
  (March 30, 2009)
• "'Brain Subconscious Smart' "
  (March 7, 2009)
• "Neural Interface for Stroke Victims: New Medical Technology"
  (May 22, 2008)
• "Language, Verbs, and How Our Brains Work"
  (October 17, 2007)

Lemming Tracks: My Father Died About 24 Hours and 12 Minutes Ago

The Lemming intends to keep up the usual three-posts-a-day routine, but sincere there's a lot going on in my household right now, I'm a bit distracted and they may look a bit odd. Please bear with me. There's quite a lot on my mind right now.

My father's death was hardly unexpected: but there's still something of an emotional impact, I'm learning.

I'm posting to my personal blog, Through One Dad's Eye, as events unfold.

And, like I said, I plan to keep up the usual pace here at Apathetic Lemming of the North.

Related posts:

• "My Father and Somewhat-Corroded Cross"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (September 25, 2009)
• "My Father's Death, Funeral Arrangements, the Furnace and a Headlight"
  Through One Dad's Eye (September 25, 2009)

The New 'Terminator' is Creepy: Psychologist Says Why

"Why 'Terminator' Is So Creepy"
LiveScience (May 20, 2009 )

"Hollywood and robotics researchers have long struggled with the 'uncanny valley,' where a movie character or robot falls into the unsettling gap between human and not-quite-human. One psychologist likes to demonstrate this by holding up a plastic baby doll and asking audiences if they think it's alive. They say no.

"Then she takes out a saw and starts cutting the doll's head off, but quickly stops upon seeing the uncomfortable audience reactions.

" 'I think that part of their brain is thinking the doll is alive, and you can't shut that off,' said Thalia Wheatley, a psychologist at Dartmouth College...."

This article leans heavily on the "Terminator Salvation" movie and its marketing. It also gives a pretty good overview of what's known about the "uncanny valley," a catchy term used to describe a situation where something/someone looks and acts human, but not quite.

The idea's been around since the 1970s, and is more than geeky speculation. A repeatable lab experiment has people looking at a human face that morphs into a doll's face. We notice that it's 'not human' when it's 70% human, 30% doll. We think it's 'creepiest,' though, when it's more definitely a doll's face.

The idea that LiveScience presents is that this is because parts of the human brain are hard-wired. Wheatley says a deeper part of the brain interprets anything with two eyes, a nose and a mouth as a 'face' - and that another part, not so deep, is more discerning. The latter part is 'social,' interpreting emotions - and any of the motions that happen around the face of a living creature.

"...'Even though your sophisticated analysis says it's not alive, you still have a primitive part of the brain not getting it,' Wheatley said...." And, presumably, that set of conflicting interpretations is that 'creepy' feeling we get in this new "Terminator" movie.

Aside from being interesting for "Terminator" fans and some psychologists, this sort of research could be important for robot developers.

From a marketing point of view, you probably don't want your household robot to be 'creepy.'

Prison Time if Your Blog Makes Somebody Feel Bad? I'm Not Making This Up

"Prison Awaiting Hostile Bloggers"
Threat Level / Privacy, Crime, and Security Online op ed, Wired (May 5, 2009)

"Proposed congressional legislation would demand up to two years in prison for those whose electronic speech is meant to 'coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person.'

"Instead of prison, perhaps we should say gulag.

"The proposal by Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Los Angeles, would never pass First Amendment muster, unless the U.S. Constitution was altered without us knowing. So Sanchez, and the 14 other lawmakers who signed on to the proposal, are grandstanding to show the public they care about children and are opposed to cyberbullying.

"The meaasure, H.R. 1966, is labeled the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act. It's designed to target the behavior that led to last year's suicide of the 13-year-old Meier....

My take on this is that H.R. 1966 could be a well-intentioned bit of legislation - and a potential threat to free speech.

I know about Megan Meier. What happened to her is very sad:

• "'MySpace Suicide' Prosecution, Law, and the Web: Be Careful What You Ask For"
  (May 16, 2008)
• "'MySpace Suicide,' Cyberbullying, and the Law"
  (May 16, 2008)
• "Missouri Mom Indicted in Megan Meier's Death"
  (May 15, 2008)
• "How to Read the News: Or, Missouri Teen Suicide, Lori Drew, and Victims"
  (December 7, 2007)
• "Megan Meier's Tormentor: Knowledge is Power"
  (December 6, 2007)
• "Megan Meier's Online Predator Has New Problems"
  (December 6, 2007)
• " 'Murder?' Not Legally, but Megan's Still Dead"
  (December 4, 2007)
• "Ersatz Boyfriend Kills With MySpace"
  (November 13, 2007)

But, I think that anyone who's been even moderately active in online communities knows that there are people who are very good at being offended. As an active blogger, I don't want to face prison time because someone, among Earth's billions, (1) Read my blog; (2) Felt bad after that, and (3) Blames me.

Ridiculous? I'd like to think so, but I live in a country where this sort of warning label is fairly common:

(More, on my opinion of being 'protected,' at "Wacky Warning Labels: Off-Road Commode Wins This Year" (April 29, 2009).)

Never mind how good H.R. 1966 may make legislators and their constituents feel: Americans live in a country where manufacturers have to warn consumers that a jar of peanuts contains peanuts: or face ruinous lawsuits.

Make it illegal to make someone feel bad, with "intent" or not, and I think there's reason for concern. Except for the hypersensitive and their lawyers, of course.

Depression, Brain Structure, and Heredity - More Data to Crunch

"The depressive brain: it's in the family"
Battling for Health (April 14, 2009)

"The depressive brain is structurally different compared to a non-depresssive brain. And it seems to run in the family. This is reported by scientists at Columbia University. Those with a family history of depression have brains which are, on average, 28% thinner in the area of the right cortex compared to those with out familial history of depression. This difference seems to be evident long before depressive symptoms, if ever, come up. The cortex is the outermost layer of the brain and this thinning of the cortex is also somewhat similar to those observed in patients with schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease...."

This was particularly interesting to me, since I've been diagnosed with major depression. I've got a notion that there's more to depression than just the cortical anomalies mentioned in the article, though.

Mostly because I've only got one of the three problems mentioned: "Failure to pick up on social and emotional stimuli." The others (selected, we're told, from a longer list) - problems with concentration and visual memory - are among my strengths.

I hope that doctors and researchers are beginning to realize that not everyone is - or should be - at the 50th percentile.

---

A tip of the Lemming's hat to PetLvr on Twitter, for referring me to this article.

What Color is Your Blog? Why? An Online Discussion With Resource Links

"Blog Design: Which colors do you use and why?"
BlogCatalog post, started February 12, 2009

"Color is considered emotional, because variations evoke different emotions in people. We all know that green is the color of money, but did you also know that green can symbolize greed, envy, and jealousy? The colors you choose will have a direct effect on how the public perceives your company or product. This can be complicated by the fact that our use of color on the web is now limitless: technology allows us to create millions of color combinations. So how do you choose?..."

There are some quite promising resource links in this discussion - and what promises to be an interesting collection of attitudes and approaches to the question of color and the blog.

'So That's Why I Bought it' - Advertising and Your Subconscious Calculator

"New Theory: How Advertisers Get Inside Your Head"
LiveScience (December 17, 2008)

"Even with the recession, people are doing their holiday shopping and ads are playing a big role in steering them toward one product versus another.

"A new theory suggests how the ads can work on our unconscious mind to spur purchases.

"Scientists have long known that when we see a product repeatedly, our initial response is to want that object, and then after lots of visual exposure to the object, through advertisements or other means, our preference for it dwindles.

"Now cognitive scientist...."

Sounds reasonable, fits pretty well with the 'appeal to feelings, not facts' marketing principle, and explains why product placement in movies works so well.

Interestingly, the idea this article describes is that our subconscious mind isn't being emotional at all: it's calculating the value/cost ratio of items.

Beware Sandwich-Throwing Boyfriends

There is a funny side to this "Odd News" item about two sandwich-throwing boyfriends, and their girlfriends and mothers.

I mean to say: assault with a sandwich?

It's serious, too. One of the twits broke his girlfriend's glasses. That's serious enough: but she was giving him and their infant a ride at the time. From his mother's place.

From the news:

"Port St. Lucie man accused of hurling sandwich in girlfriend's face"
TCPalm.com Odd News (December 15, 2008)

"PORT ST. LUCIE — A 20-year-old welder accused of throwing a sandwich at his girlfriend and hitting the top of her head with his fist is facing a battery charge, according to a police report released Monday...

"...The recent incident reportedly happened Friday morning when Matthew J. Rubin, 20, allegedly hurled a sandwich at his 19-year-old girlfriend during an argument.

"The girlfriend told police that Rubin argued with his mother about renewing his car insurance, and he reportedly denied that she told him to do so. Rubin allegedly "snapped" when his girlfriend told him his mother did tell him about the insurance...."

There's been at least one other assault-with-a-sandwich incident in Port St. Lucie recently:

"...That alleged melee began after the victim picked up Emmanuelle Rodriguez — her boyfriend and child's father — from his mother's house in Port St. Lucie. They headed north on Interstate 95 to their new apartment in Fort Pierce as their infant son slept in the back.

"The victim told police Rodriguez got angry while she drove and 'started to hit her in the arm and striking her in the face with a sandwich, knocking her glasses off her face,' the report states.

"The victim almost lost control of the vehicle because she couldn't see the road. Rodriguez then ripped off the rear view mirror and used it to beat and shatter the windshield. She exited I-95 at St. Lucie West and told Rodriguez to get out and get his mother to pick him up...."

Petulant Boys, Sandwiches, and Common Sense

I wouldn't wish over-age-in-grade preteens like these two on any woman: mother or girlfriend. And, I'm not blaming the girlfriends involved: I understand what it's like to have emotion override higher brain functions.

Just the same: there's something to be said for taking time to observe that dreamy hunk before letting him move in.

I'm embarrassed for the two sandwich-throwers: particularly the one who was told to have his mother pick him up.

Nigerian Scams, Internet Safety, Fraud, and Human Nature: The Lemming Gets Wordy

"Woman out $400K to 'Nigerian scam' con artists"
KATU (November 11, 2008)

"SWEET HOME, Ore. – Janella Spears doesn't think she's a sucker or an easy mark.

"Besides her work as a registered nurse, Spears – no relation to the well-known pop star – also teaches CPR and is a reverend who has married many couples. She also communicates with lightning-fast sign language with her hearing-impaired husband.

"So how did this otherwise lucid, intelligent woman end up sending nearly half a million dollars to a bunch of con artists running what has to be one of the best-known Internet scams in the world?..."

It's a fairly detailed account of how and why "this otherwise lucid, intelligent woman" sent almost a half-million dollars into oblivion in about two years.

My hat's off to Janella Spears, who "has gone public with her story as a warning to others not to fall victim." I think quite a few people in her position would just as soon not spread the story around.

How to Lose $400,000 in Just Two Years

Here's how it goes:

1. Respond to an email that promises big bucks for a little money up front
2. When they ask for more money, give it to them
3. If you have more money, go to step 2
4. If you do not have more money, borrow some and go to step 2

What got Janella Spears hooked was the scammers using her grandfather's name. What kept her hooked, apparently, was the idea that each step was the last step. Besides, she got letters from

• The president of Nigeria
• President Bush
• FBI Director Robert Muller
  • (I know: it's Robert S. Mueller, III, but that's how the scammers spelled it)

She got documents from the

• Bank of Nigeria
• United Nations

President Bush and the FBI Director needed her help. The letter from Bush said that terrorists could get the money if she didn't help.

No, President George W. Bush isn't in on the scam: the letters were fakes. So were the documents.

Meanwhile, the amount of money she thought she'd get was going up.

I'd Never Fall for This, Right?

Actually, I can't imagine a situation where I'd believe a line like this, but I know it's a theoretical possibility.

My email service has pretty good filters, but I still get scam emails from time to time. The ones that just might be legitimate messages get opened, the rest don't. (I've also got pretty good internal security on my system, don't open attachments, and have rather cautious settings on the email reader.)

I actually enjoy those wonderfully polite messages, telling me that the grand high poobah of Lower Slobovia, or whoever, needs my help to move money around; or that my Uncle Louie in Australia has died, and left me money that runs into seven or eight figures.

But believe it? No.

Using a real relation's name was something special, of course, in this lady's case.

And, over the years, some scams have come close to hooking me.

There was the one from a very good imitation of my credit card company: I wound up having a nice chat with someone in that company's security division, which confirmed some assumptions I'd made about the company having an ounce of sense.

I've gotten emails, written in bad imitations of lawyerese, telling me that I'll inherit a fortune if I respond. As I recall, one actually did refer to a dead relative in Australia. I like to think that, even if the scammers used the name of a real person, I wouldn't respond. Not to them, anyway.

Appeals to Authority - Misspelled and Otherwise

I would be very dubious, if the president of the United States wrote a personal letter, saying that my help was needed.

It wouldn't matter if it was George W. Bush, or Barack Obama. The odds that someone would say, "help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope" are slim. At best. I'd be particularly dubious, starting next year, if the president spelled his name "Barak Obama."

Does that make me really smart? Or immune? No. Just wary and better-trained in evaluating data than most people.

At that, some of those messages have really tugged at my heartstrings. And purse strings.

The Nigerian Scam and Other Ways to Lose Big in the Privacy of Your Own Home

Online scams are old hat. Some news services aren't even covering this Oregon incident. Nosing around for this post, I found a few useful and/or interesting resources:

• CNN
  • "Seven online-security blunders to avoid"
    (August 20, 2008)
  • "Too good to be true? "
    (with CareerBuilder.com) (October 2, 2006)
  • "No fooling: the 10 worst Internet hoaxes"
    (December 24, 2001)
• "Nigerian Scam"
  ScamBusters.org
• "The 'Nigerian" Scam' Costly Compassion "
  Federal Trade Commission
• "Nigerian Scam"
  Snopes.com

Blogging? Here's Common-Sense Advice

"Wave!– The World is Watching"
The BlogCatalog Community Blog (June 20, 2008)

"As bloggers, we have something to share…. whether it’s information, opinion, emotions or a laugh. It’s what makes us sit down at that keyboard, straighten our thinking caps and assemble that crazy collection of ideas we call a post.

"We quickly get comfortable in our blogs, and even in the discussion boards we frequent. Sometimes they become like virtual vacation places. We spend some time there… settle in… and ham, jam and spamalot with the locals...."

The post has a paragraph each on five common-sense points, from "Limit personal information" to "Treat others as you’d like to be treated."

Sure, you know all this already - but a short refresher course couldn't hurt.

Character Trait Chart - Getting Your Fictional Character Started

"Character Trait Chart
and Personality Components"

Another resource from Wow! Women on Writing: I posted about another a little over a week ago (" 'WOW! Women on Writing Blog:' Women Writing About Women Writing About ..." (April 12, 2008)).

This one's description starts: "It can sometimes be helpful to make a Trait Chart for each character. This is especially helpful during the early stages of character development, before the character becomes as real to you as your mother. There are several charts of this sort available, some extremely detailed and some containing only facts and figures. I've tried to make one that includes the most important traits to help you visualize your character, both physically and emotionally."

"There are several ... available" may be something of an understatement. There was a time when a significant part of the RPG (Role Playing Game) industry seemed to be enganged in producing character charts like this. I've used several, and created one or two myself.

This Trait Chart looks like a pretty good one, particularly from a writer's point of view.

A few observations about this chart, and resources like it:

• Heed the writer's advice, and use this in the early stages of character development - emphasis on early
• Don't get overwhelmed, or buried in trivia about the character - pick a small cluster of traits that are the core of your character

I'm impressed by the 'how-2' advice in some of the explanations.

All in all, a pretty good resource.

Feelings, Blogs, and Making Sense

I'm no stranger to strong emotions. Just ask my wife.

However, I've learned to stop and think before writing something down.

It looks like someone didn't do that on an online community today.

In a discussion headed "Huge Content Theft," a blogger stated that a large number of posts from her blog had been copied (with attribution) and placed on their site.

The only URL in the victim's original post was preceded by the words,
"I'm guessing
they probably WON'T post my last
post, about THEM, on their site:"
[URL]

With those line breaks.

Reading that quickly, it's easy (for me, at least) to perceive it as meaning, "about THEM, on their site:" [URL]

I checked the only URL given in the post: it was the victim's.

I checked the URL associated with the victim's blog: it redirected to the URL given in the post.

I checked the post again. The offending party was not identified, except as "THEM" and "They"

The offending site wasn't named until quite a bit later, when I detailed what I'd found, and asked for clarification.

By then the presumably-offending party had apparently taken down all 30+ offending posts.

Oddly, the presumably-offending party was the exact same one that had been discussed on that community earlier today. Or perhaps not so oddly. The victim's blog involves a common household pet, and the presumably-offending party maintains a pirate blog of pet-related posts.

At this point, I'm taking the claim of stolen posts with a grain of salt, because:

• No offender was named until very late in the discussion
• The offender has not, in the past, taken down posts which were identified as stolen, but tacked attributions on them
• It would have been pretty quick work to notice the online claim of theft, and remove all the posts, in less than a half hour.

Stolen posts? Possible, but unlikely.

Meanwhile, people on the online community are, for the most part, reacting with passionate disgust toward the presumed offender, and great sympathy toward the member who started the discussion. Commendable, in its own way.