Comments for Damn Interesting http://www.damninteresting.com A collection of Damn Interesting things Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:03:29 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 Comment on Alien Hand Syndrome by colfaxgurl http://www.damninteresting.com/alien-hand-syndrome#comment-25469 colfaxgurl Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:03:29 +0000 http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=203#comment-25469 I am a woman, aged 54. I am speaking of something that happened a few times when I was pre-teen and into early teen years. First just a little background. I come from a old deep south family, and my mother and father were closely related...the families had been related for over a hundred and fifty years in one way or another. Second, my family was violent and my mother was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic by the same doctor who treated the woman in the true story 'Three Faces of Eve'. Although he had a different name in the movie, his real name was Dr. Thigpen. Third, we were the black sheep tribe in that family--my father set steel on bridges, so we moved plenty and often. I was very socially outcast when we finally settled down enough for me to go to high school, and for my mother to recover from shock treatment. I did not fit in in high school. I would not have fit in during a more normal time, but it was the time that the high school was integrated. I got beaten up often by both black and white kids. Once a big girl, wearing her boyfriend's initial ring, hit me so hard that the impression of a 'D' remained on my cheek until the bruises faded. My father hit us often and not just spankings, but really hit us. Okay, background over. I began to wake up, thinking myself under attack. A hand would be grabbing at me...grabbing my hair and tearing my clothes, and grasping to catch hold of my throat and choke me. I never immediately knew that it was my hand. I was busy fighting with my other hand to pull it off me. It was my left hand that attacked. I am right handed. I would be rolled out of bed on the floor and fighting for my life I thought. Eventually, I would be holding on to the wrist of that hand, and I would view it and realize, and say to myself...'that's my hand.' And the attack would stop. The hand would stop trying to hurt me. My mother and father never saw these attacks. They heard me screaming and fighting, but I always had the door locked and barricaded. I was afraid of both my violently insane father and my crazy as a loon mother, who slept with a shotgun under her mattress, no lie. I didn't want to come in when I was asleep. So they thought it was a nightmare. Eventually, they took me to a shrink. I was crazy like a fox. I knew that a psychiatrist had put my mother in an institution. I didn't want to go there too. I told that doctor I had trouble with boys and zits. I didn't even mention being a punching bag at school. I certainly didn't mention that I was choking myself. To myself there seemed to be 2 explanations. I thought maybe I could be possessed by Satan, but even back then it didn't seem too likely. The explanation that I gave myself and believed is more sad than that: I decided that I was so miserable that I wanted to kill myself, and because I was too chicken to do myself harm while awake, I was trying to kill myself while asleep. I do not remember how many times this happened. Not over 10, and maybe not as many as 5. But definitely more than once or twice--and enough to make my extremely negligent parents concerned enough to get me to the doctor about those 'bad dreams'. My mother also blamed the daytime soap opera 'Dark Shadows' which featured a vampire called Barnabas Collins. Needless to say, I married very early, by the end of my 16th year. By then it had stopped happening, but until I was 20 I had periodic episodes of sleep paralysis, the last time being when I was pregnant with my first child at 20, and never again after that. Except for physical abuse I was a healthy child and not sick or hurt, except for a near death experience after a timber-rattler bite. I told my story through out my life to different people, but never knew about Alien Hand Syndrome until I was watching a episode of 20/20 back in the mid nineties. Then I realized what had happened to me all those years ago, and how fortunate that it was a passing thing. But I have some curiosity left...could it have been caused by all the knocks in the head I got? Could the rattlesnake bite have caused it? Could it have to do with the fact that my grandparents were double first cousins and my parents second cousins? Could I pass this along to my daughter and grand kids? And can it return. I am now diabetic and some times see things when I wake up at night, but these things are benign, not scary, but I have a niece who thinks she is possessed and often has to be restrained to keep from doing physical damage to herself. Basically, I am okay now, and am a lucky woman really. I just would like some answers, and almost all the websites about AHS are filled with medical jargon that eludes me. I am a woman, aged 54. I am speaking of something that happened a few times when I was pre-teen and into early teen years. First just a little background. I come from a old deep south family, and my mother and father were closely related…the families had been related for over a hundred and fifty years in one way or another. Second, my family was violent and my mother was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic by the same doctor who treated the woman in the true story ‘Three Faces of Eve’.
Although he had a different name in the movie, his real name was Dr. Thigpen. Third, we were the black sheep tribe in that family–my father set steel on bridges, so we moved plenty and often. I was very socially outcast when we finally settled down enough for me to go to high school, and for my mother to recover from shock treatment. I did not fit in in high school. I would not have fit in during a more normal time, but it was the time that the high school was integrated. I got beaten up often by both black and white kids. Once a big girl, wearing her boyfriend’s initial ring, hit me so hard that the impression of a ‘D’ remained on my cheek until the bruises faded. My father hit us often and not just spankings, but really hit us.
Okay, background over.
I began to wake up, thinking myself under attack. A hand would be grabbing at me…grabbing my hair and tearing my clothes, and grasping to catch hold of my throat and choke me. I never immediately knew that it was my hand. I was busy fighting with my other hand to pull it off me. It was my left hand that attacked. I am right handed. I would be rolled out of bed on the floor and fighting for my life I thought. Eventually, I would be holding on to the wrist of that hand, and I would view it and realize, and say to myself…’that’s my hand.’ And the attack would stop. The hand would stop trying to hurt me. My mother and father never saw these attacks. They heard me screaming and fighting, but I always had the door locked and barricaded. I was afraid of both my violently insane father and my crazy as a loon mother, who slept with a shotgun under her mattress, no lie. I didn’t want to come in when I was asleep. So they thought it was a nightmare. Eventually, they took me to a shrink. I was crazy like a fox. I knew that a psychiatrist had put my mother in an institution. I didn’t want to go there too. I told that doctor I had trouble with boys and zits. I didn’t even mention being a punching bag at school. I certainly didn’t mention that I was choking myself.
To myself there seemed to be 2 explanations. I thought maybe I could be possessed by Satan, but even back then it didn’t seem too likely. The explanation that I gave myself and believed is more sad than that: I decided that I was so miserable that I wanted to kill myself, and because I was too chicken to do myself harm while awake, I was trying to kill myself while asleep.
I do not remember how many times this happened. Not over 10, and maybe not as many as 5. But definitely more than once or twice–and enough to make my extremely negligent parents concerned enough to get me to the doctor about those ‘bad dreams’. My mother also blamed the daytime soap opera ‘Dark Shadows’ which featured a vampire called Barnabas Collins.

Needless to say, I married very early, by the end of my 16th year. By then it had stopped happening, but until I was 20 I had periodic episodes of sleep paralysis, the last time being when I was pregnant with my first child at 20, and never again after that. Except for physical abuse I was a healthy child and not sick or hurt, except for a near death experience after a timber-rattler bite.

I told my story through out my life to different people, but never knew about Alien Hand Syndrome until I was watching a episode of 20/20 back in the mid nineties. Then I realized what had happened to me all those years ago, and how fortunate that it was a passing thing. But I have some curiosity left…could it have been caused by all the knocks in the head I got? Could the rattlesnake bite have caused it? Could it have to do with the fact that my grandparents were double first cousins and my parents second cousins? Could I pass this along to my daughter and grand kids? And can it return.
I am now diabetic and some times see things when I wake up at night, but these things are benign, not scary, but I have a niece who thinks she is possessed and often has to be restrained to keep from doing physical damage to herself. Basically, I am okay now, and am a lucky woman really. I just would like some answers, and almost all the websites about AHS are filled with medical jargon that eludes me.

]]> Comment on The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana by thedevilsdoormat http://www.damninteresting.com/the-unfortunate-sex-life-of-the-banana#comment-25468 thedevilsdoormat Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:11:45 +0000 http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=971#comment-25468 Hey Alan, Just wanted to thank you for all the time and effort you've put into this website. I've pretty much read through the entire site and really appreciate what you've done and that you've had the courage to keep this website advertisement free (even though you probably could have made a bit of money from this thing). There are not many people with principles left; it's rare to actually find one. I hope you feel better soon, mate. Hey Alan,

Just wanted to thank you for all the time and effort you’ve put into this website. I’ve pretty much read through the entire site and really appreciate what you’ve done and that you’ve had the courage to keep this website advertisement free (even though you probably could have made a bit of money from this thing).

There are not many people with principles left; it’s rare to actually find one.

I hope you feel better soon, mate.

]]> Comment on It Were Aliens! I Seen em! by Mjolnir http://www.damninteresting.com/it-were-aliens-i-seen-em#comment-25467 Mjolnir Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:26:26 +0000 http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=67#comment-25467 It would seem the 10-15 megaton estimate is comparing to a stationary nuclear detonation. It was discovered back during above-ground nuclear testing that the velocity of a warhead is added to the velocity of its explosion. This was the suprising result of the only live-fire test of a nuclear artillery shell when the 15kt shell did far more damage than a 25kt warhead that was test-fired on a stand. So the links here showing a much lower yield are probably correct. It would seem the 10-15 megaton estimate is comparing to a stationary nuclear detonation. It was discovered back during above-ground nuclear testing that the velocity of a warhead is added to the velocity of its explosion. This was the suprising result of the only live-fire test of a nuclear artillery shell when the 15kt shell did far more damage than a 25kt warhead that was test-fired on a stand. So the links here showing a much lower yield are probably correct.

]]> Comment on The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana by Mjolnir http://www.damninteresting.com/the-unfortunate-sex-life-of-the-banana#comment-25466 Mjolnir Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:07:11 +0000 http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=971#comment-25466 On the previous version of this site, all the article IDs were numeric and you could change them in the URL. There are a pile of articles that are either ready or near-ready from several authors. I read the killdozer and banana articles back during Alan's last long hiatus. Dunno why it takes 4 months to finish one.... On the previous version of this site, all the article IDs were numeric and you could change them in the URL. There are a pile of articles that are either ready or near-ready from several authors. I read the killdozer and banana articles back during Alan’s last long hiatus. Dunno why it takes 4 months to finish one….

]]> Comment on The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana by Anthropositor http://www.damninteresting.com/the-unfortunate-sex-life-of-the-banana#comment-25465 Anthropositor Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:26:34 +0000 http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=971#comment-25465 Sealed habitats for farming projects have a variety of problems. They are incredibly expensive. A complex and challenging example showing the scope of the problem would be Biosphere 2. This project did go on for more than two decades, and admittedly the goals were considerably more ambitious and challenging than isolating one particular crop endangered by disease. But the enclosure of Biosphere 2 was only a little over three acres. First, that would not produce many bananas compared to demand. Perhaps one slice of banana per consumer per year, at a possible cost of $2 per slice. You can play with the numbers if you want. Figure about $10,000,000 per year for construction and maintenance. Then figure out the upper limit of production if everything worked out ideally. Then recognize that it is exceedingly unlikely that things will work out anything close to ideally. Biosphere 2 failed in a whole lot of interesting ways. But still, it failed. Hermetically sealed farming of food crops in high worldwide demand is never likely to become a viable approach. Sealed habitats for farming projects have a variety of problems. They are incredibly expensive. A complex and challenging example showing the scope of the problem would be Biosphere 2. This project did go on for more than two decades, and admittedly the goals were considerably more ambitious and challenging than isolating one particular crop endangered by disease.

But the enclosure of Biosphere 2 was only a little over three acres. First, that would not produce many bananas compared to demand. Perhaps one slice of banana per consumer per year, at a possible cost of $2 per slice. You can play with the numbers if you want. Figure about $10,000,000 per year for construction and maintenance. Then figure out the upper limit of production if everything worked out ideally. Then recognize that it is exceedingly unlikely that things will work out anything close to ideally.

Biosphere 2 failed in a whole lot of interesting ways. But still, it failed. Hermetically sealed farming of food crops in high worldwide demand is never likely to become a viable approach.

]]> Comment on The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana by spontastic http://www.damninteresting.com/the-unfortunate-sex-life-of-the-banana#comment-25464 spontastic Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:52:50 +0000 http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=971#comment-25464 Ive got a way we could keep the destruction of these bannanas, we put them in sealed greenhouses. We take a large field like say stadium size and put a dome over it. Then we make certain anyone with the plantation disease upon thier body does not eneter this area. We may also need animals inside of the dome to use up the oxygen that is created by the massive amount of trees, or find another way to convert the oxygen to carbondioxide without having to bring new air into the system. Also i was wondering if the previous type of bannanas has gone completely out of existance. If so thats too bad i would have like to try it, if not why dont we use this idea of a closed environment to create more of these bannanas :? Ive got a way we could keep the destruction of these bannanas, we put them in sealed greenhouses. We take a large field like say stadium size and put a dome over it. Then we make certain anyone with the plantation disease upon thier body does not eneter this area. We may also need animals inside of the dome to use up the oxygen that is created by the massive amount of trees, or find another way to convert the oxygen to carbondioxide without having to bring new air into the system. Also i was wondering if the previous type of bannanas has gone completely out of existance. If so thats too bad i would have like to try it, if not why dont we use this idea of a closed environment to create more of these bannanas :?

]]> Comment on The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana by jordopia http://www.damninteresting.com/the-unfortunate-sex-life-of-the-banana#comment-25463 jordopia Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:49:52 +0000 http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=971#comment-25463 [quote]tunapez said: "How’s about you show your support by going out and buying the book? It is a great volume of the humorous ilk found on the site, IRL! I’m bummed the cyber-edition has slowed considerably, but I would be remiss to think I am ENTITLED to a new article every week or month. Go into the archives and read the past articles, can anyone say they’ve read them all? If so, how about twice? Surely they are DI enough to read again if you need a fix that bad? I’m sure these guys have lives, families, jobs … until there’s a subscription required, I think we get what we get and like it. Period. BTW, a future article on Thomas Midgely, Jr’s arch-nemesis, Clair Patterson, could be DI! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink."[/quote] Great call on the Clair Patterson article. He's a hero of mine. There should be a holiday in his honour. [quote]tunapez said: “How’s about you show your support by going out and buying the book? It is a great volume of the humorous ilk found on the site, IRL! I’m bummed the cyber-edition has slowed considerably, but I would be remiss to think I am ENTITLED to a new article every week or month. Go into the archives and read the past articles, can anyone say they’ve read them all? If so, how about twice? Surely they are DI enough to read again if you need a fix that bad? I’m sure these guys have lives, families, jobs … until there’s a subscription required, I think we get what we get and like it. Period.

BTW, a future article on Thomas Midgely, Jr’s arch-nemesis, Clair Patterson, could be DI!
Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.”[/quote]

Great call on the Clair Patterson article. He’s a hero of mine. There should be a holiday in his honour.

]]> Comment on The Damn Interesting Book by torsp http://www.damninteresting.com/the-damn-interesting-book#comment-25462 torsp Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:21:51 +0000 http://new.damninteresting.com/?page_id=999#comment-25462 How about some international translations? I know a quite a few people in Switzerland and Germany that would be intersted in the book. I'd offer to translate, but I'm too lazy for 320 pages. Maybe translations from multiple readers could help. How about some international translations? I know a quite a few people in Switzerland and Germany that would be intersted in the book. I’d offer to translate, but I’m too lazy for 320 pages. Maybe translations from multiple readers could help.

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