Life As An Eidetic

I have always had Eidetic memory. This has been a blessing and a curse. Let me first describe how my Eidetic memory works. I can remember things in my past with incredible detail. I can remember smells, tastes, feelings, faces, and surroundings. I have these memories as far back as 1 or 2 years old. I can remember in incredible detail what was in rooms or yards of every place I have lived and most places that I have visited throughout my life.

The strange thing is I don't remember normal conversations. I only remember a conversation if it had some impact on my life. I can hear a song one time and recall it years later within 3 or 4 notes. I can walk into a room take one look around and I will remember that room as I saw it for ever. If I return to that room multiple times my memory is updated with any changes.

Some things don't make sense to me. For instance I cant spell worth a damn. I can look at a word a thousand times and still spell it wrong. I cant ever use the correct words like. their or there,and which or witch. I have crippling dyslexia. And my short term memory is extremely bad. Oh yea I have ADD.

The advantages of an Eidetic memory are huge. Just Imagine being able to look at a schematic for a piece of heating equipment one time and then being able to troubleshoot it without ever looking at the schematic again. I can drive somewhere one time and never forget how to get there again.

Some disadvantages are remembering the bad things. I saw a guy crash his motorcycle threw a chain link fence This was one of those horrible things that I don't want to remember. I can remember every detail. From the sound of his bike scraping along the road at over 100 mph, to the look on his face just as he hit the fence, the sound of his bones breaking, and the smell of blood, grass, and gasoline all mixed together. I can play this accident over in my head. The bad thing is that I get the video, sound, and smell each time I replay it in my head. I cant go to open casket viewings or funerals. The last time I see someone is the way I see them when I think of them.

I have used this ability to my advantage for years. I can troubleshoot a car in most cases by just hearing the run. I can take apart anything and put it back together. I can look at something one time and describe it in detail years later. I can fix anything mechanical without exception.

I can remember many things that are pleasant. One of my favorite places as a child was my grandmothers house on Chabot Road in Oakland, CA. I remember that house in amazing detail. I can walk threw it in my head and see each piece of furniture. I can see the things that were on each piece of furniture. I can smell the heavy smell of cigarette smoke as I walk threw the house. I can smell the instant coffee in the cup by grandma's chair. I can smell the Old Spice as I enter grandpa's bedroom as well as the lack of cigarette smoke.

You are probably saying to yourself that is just a normal memory. Well it is not. I can see every detail of every room just as it was the last time I saw it. I can tell you exactly where each chotchkie was and exactly how it was facing. I can tell you if a door was right hand hinged or left, if the pocket doors were open an inch or closed completely. How many glass slats were in the kitchen windows. I can tell you who was on the cover of grandpa's TV Guide (Dean Martin).

I can replay every time I have had sex including sounds and smells. I can see each woman I have ever seen nude. I can also see every man I have seen nude. The funny thing is that I cant remember weather I have seen a movie a week after seeing it. Unless it was an amazing movie.

If I make a point of remembering something I will remember it. I don't remember if I took my pills unless I do something to remember. "I don't remember things. I remember places with things in them."

I am loosing this ability little by little as I get older and need more oxygen. I have a hard time remembering people from my past but I remember their house. 

Scottish English Irish Dutch Welsh American who is Calorically, vision, and physically Challenged.

I was watching the news the other day. Mrs. Obama said the word "Chubby" when talking about children that are over weight. Well this started a shit storm with all the psychologist and child advocacy groups. They are up in arms because the word "chubby" could damage the kids outlook on life and other things. What the hell is this crap. It is ok that we tell our children that they are grossly obese and that it is an epidemic. I would much rather tell my child that they are to chubby than Grossly Obese any day. Why is it that we are so worried that someone uses a word that is "damaging" in someones opinion but when we use a much more damaging word (obese) it is OK. I am tired of people making up words that are "politically correct" But totally inaccurate. ie:

Calorically Challenged.
Challenged is defined as: Deficient or lacking or Having a disability or impairment. This describes me, A grossly under weight person.

African American
Although there are a few true African Americans Like President Obama. His father was from Africa and his mom was from america. This makes him a true African American.
This is however not true for most people we are calling African American. Unless at least one of your parents are African or you were born in Africa and are now an American citizen you are not an African American. Why is it ok to call me a white male but is is the ultimate sin to call someone a black male. Why is this so bad.

I think we have gone to far in the use of politically correct words or phrases.

So from now on I want to be refereed to as a
Scottish English Irish Dutch Welsh American who is Calorically, vision, and physically Challenged.

Give me a freeking break

Haiti why are we not helping.

The 7.0 earthquake happened Tuesday evening. And it is now thursday morning and the U.S. is not on the ground helping rescue people. Again we are spending valuable time figuring how to take control of the whole thing. I saw a story about a Norwegian crew that is on the ground helping people dig survivors out of the rubble.

Why is it that the U.S cant send help into a disaster without planning everything down to the last freeking bolt? We should send every available warm body with a shovel and pick. They need soldiers to keep the peace. The military is gearing up for a grand entrance instead of getting there butts to Haiti to help. By the time we get the military on the ground hundreds of thousands of people will have died that would have at least had a chance.

I have a plan. Load up the cargo plains with people and tools drop them off and get started. Then when we have over planed and finished our studies lets make our grand entrance.

Why is it a small country like Norway can send a crew from 4,800 miles away to help and the U.S. (a super power) cant even get people on the ground in Haiti. The people are dying as The U.S. is planning this thing. This is appalling.

Lets get off of our asses and help the people of Haiti. Talking and planning in not helping. Action is the answer.

Southern California farmers water problems.

I just watched a story on 60 minutes about how the farmers in southern California are having problems getting enough water to grow their crops. A lot of the problem is blamed on a small fish. OK this fish has a right to live and we should do what we can to let it. I Just don’t understand why people are so short sighted. The majority of the sewage treatment plants along the coast reclaim the sewage then pump the reclaimed water into the Pacific Ocean or a stream or river that empties into the Ocean.

Why are they pumping this water into the ocean? I am sure the cost of diverting this water to the farmers would be large but the benefits would be enormous.

The state will have a million reasons not to do this. I can answer every concern they have with one phrase “Stop fucking around and take care of your farmers at any cost”. I would love to debate any city planner, environmentalist, engineer or politician about this issue.

The answer to this problem is not more water it is efficient use and re-use of the water you have. You wont harm the Pacific Ocean by not pumping billions of gallons of reclaimed sewage into it. You will help the farmers by pumping it out to them.

The Facts

I feel that the scientists are not focusing on the facts. The fact is that they don’t know how the earth’s atmosphere handles the billions of tons of pollutants that we pump into it every day. They tell us that the pollutants are changing the atmosphere. I have yet to see any data that shows any of the pollutants in the atmosphere. I think that what doesn’t fall back to earth passes threw the atmosphere and dissipate into space.

We do know that plants clean and produce the air that we need to survive. Instead of concentrating on things like stopping the destruction of the world’s rain forests we would rather spend billions of dollars on unproven theories.

We are reducing the rain forests at an alarming rate and increasing the pollutants. Soon it won’t matter if Global Warming “Climate Change” gets worse because the air we breathe will kill us first.

Let’s look at what happens to the Brown cloud that hangs over Southern California or Denver. It sits there until the wind blows it away or the rain washes it back to the ground. It does not float up to the atmosphere. It just floats there until it is washed back to the ground. If you live in a big city go out and wipe your finger on your car and you will see the pollutants on you finger.

We clearly need to change what we put into our air. Not to stop Global warming, but to keep our air from killing us. If we stop polluting our air and quit destroying our rain forests we may keep from killing ourselves off.

I think it is quite clear what we need to do.

1. Stop abusing the use of fossil fuels. Strict emission controls on the auto makers. Force the use of alternative fuels. NOW

2. Stop allowing the utility companies to use fuels that are known to cause pollution.

3. Make alternative power sources (Solar and Wind) affordable.

4. Make all manufacturers worldwide adhere to strict pollution standards.

5. Install efficient lighting in homes and businesses. I.e.: LED or Compact Florescent. Note I do think Compact Fluorescents are going to become an issue. Disposing of them in landfills is going to cause problems. I will visit this problem another time.

6. Plant three trees and maintain them.

7. Research what you buy. If it is manufactured using unacceptable processes don’t buy it.

8. Keep your car tuned up.

9. Keep your heating and cooling system tuned up.

10. Insulate your house.

11. Recycle your old electronics. Make sure the company you have recycle your electronics actually recycles and not just disassemble and ship over seas.

Just My Opinion

Global Warming.....Just my opinion

Let me start by saying that I am not a believer in the current Global Warming theory. I Don't think that Showing pictures of ice splashing into the water proves that we are experiencing Global Warming. I do however think that we are adversely affecting our environment. I think that we need to stress the economic advantages of using alternative energy. The sun is free and not going to ever become used up. Wind is free and not going to ever become used up. Using either one will not harm the environment. We don't need to depend on other countries to supply ether one. I think that if we concentrate on explaining the economic advantages of using alternative energy to the public instead of shoving controversial theories down our throats we would be more willing to accept new technology.

I have seen several documentaries explaining that the north pole is melting and that if it keeps melting at this rate it will bring the level of water in all of the oceans and cause massive flooding. Ok this looks quite frighting doesn't it? So I want you to try this at home. Take a glass and fill it with water leaving about one inch. Place an ice cube in it. Now mark the level of the water on the outside of the glass. When the ice cube completely melts mark the water level. Surprise the level did not change, did it? This is the same thing as the north pole. The north pole is a huge ice cube sitting in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Not unlike the ice cube you had in your glass of water. If it melts it will not change the level of the oceans.

If you look at geological history The ice caps and glaciers have moved all over the world. They have melted and re-formed thousands of times. The temperature has fluctuated up and down in cycles and places that were frozen wastelands a million years ago are now deserts. This was all happening before we started to mess things up.

Now I do think if we don't change how we abuse the earth she will kill us off. Not by global warming but by choking us with our own stink. Toxic waste and air pollution are what I call our stink. If we don't stop pumping toxins into our air they are going to kill us.

Now let me talk about Nuclear power. Are you kidding me. What are we thinking with this moronic idea. How smart is it to take a product that can kill us and last tens of thousands of years and the byproduct has to be buried under ground for thousands of years to protect us from it. What happens if there is an earthquake and one of the storage caves collapses. What happens if one of our many enemies around the world decides to blow up one of those storage caves or even worse what if they decide to blow up one of the many power plants across our country. Sure they have taken all known scenarios into account and they are "Safe" We never thought that two airplanes would crash into two buildings and cause them to crash to the ground and kill over two thousand people. Did We? Why would we use a totally unsafe technology when we have solar and wind that is safe, has no harmful by products and is abundant and FREE?

If we would take the money we spend on trying to make people believe in theories and show people that using safe alternative technology to improve our environment will ultimately save us all money and make us all live a longer and healthier life.

I say lets mandate the power companies and auto makers switch to safe non polluting alternative power sources. Not in ten years. Not in five years. In one year. Yes I said One Year. They have had enough time to make the changes and they haven't done it yet.

Did you know that you can switch your power service to wind generated or solar power by joining a power co-op. One of our local news stations get the power they use for most of there operation from a wind farm between Denver and Boulder. Http://www.thedenverchannel.com

If people would start switching from the power grid to solar or wind power in there own homes the power companies will get the idea and switch how they get power. The only problem with this idea is the cost of converting your home to ether technology. This will quickly go down as the demand goes up. Guess what this will create more jobs and help with another problem.

I have five panels on my roof that heat the water we use to heat our house. This provides about 1/2 of the heat we need the other 1/2 is pellet heat and a wood burning stove. Our pellets are made from byproducts from lumber mills and discarded used lumber. We use only dead trees for our firewood. All of our outside lighting is solar powered. This is not enough but I am adding more solar as I can afford it. I have to admit that we have had to use our gas fired boiler for the last week. Ten To Twenty degrees below zero is quite extreme.

Wow sorry about that I kinda went off on a rant.

I just think that if we just quit jacking around and tell people the facts it would be a lot easier to convince them to take care of our environment.

Money talks and bullshit walks.

JUST MY OPINION!