Author Topic: Anything again  (Read 882 times)

Meh

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #30 on: March 17, 2026, 04:00:24 PM »
Reading books exercises parts of our brains that reading online doesn't. I feel sure of that. What I'm NOT so sure of, is if reading Kindle books work on the same neural paths as a bound paper book does. There aren't any distraction in either books or Kindle... so MAYBE. And maybe not since it has an on/off switch.

Was the story good? Keep you engaged? That's one thing I'm seeing degraded by AI - stories are more simple & formulaic than even nursery rhymes - and have even less intellectual "nutrition". Books take up a lot of space - but there are still probably a couple hundred I won't part with.

I read Steinbeck because I was feeling lonely and maybe I'm a bit starved for stimulation. I've read other books by that author. The writing style makes it seem like there is a familiar person telling a story. It was engaging enough to me that I wanted to keep reading it. I read the summary of it first online and the plot didn't sound interesting to me with the biblical references and whatnot but actually I did like the book. I would recommend it yes. I had originally picked up for Whom the Bell Tolls read about 100 pages in and decided I didn't want to waste my time going further on that one as it felt bland to me. Just random books from free book shelves.

I don't own a kindle never tried one. This book had that rough paper edge so it was kind of uneven and yeah there is some kind of tactile thing about it which is nice. I don't remember what the book smells like I don't think I sniffed it. A book I guess is more like an artifact.. and this one had a sticker of someone's name and address in it. It's possible the person is deceased who originally owned it.

I wanted to mark the book up but I didn't it's too nice and I don't have a highlighter. There are strange points in the book that even remind me a bit of aspects of narcissism. There are two male characters that insist on projecting an image of how they want to see a person onto someone which isn't true and it ends kinda badly for them.

Anyhow yes it's a good book if someone reads the layers and reflects on it.

Yeah the AI and the arts is freaky, AI visual art, AI music, AI literature.

Was watching a video of an art lecture and a person in the video was pointing to a book they had. It has it's use for demonstration reasons. I was thinking also how I am seeing an image of an image of an image of someone's mind from a bygone time. People also complain about music digital files being compressed. There are people who analyze popular music and they say the compositions are less complex and people are using fewer chords.

It could be partially that people are not taking the time to make things well. And people are not taking the time to notice things are not made well. It's the fast food version of art I guess.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2026, 04:09:30 PM by Meh »

Hopalong

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #31 on: March 17, 2026, 09:52:39 PM »
Yeh, I have the same question about Kindle versus page. I know that writing in cursive strengthens a mind-hand connection, neurologically. With all the typing I do and my passive consumption of things like YouTube, I think it's time I head back to my original sources of inspiration: paper and pen, and BOOKS.

With ADHD I hesitated to take up the War and Peace challenge, but I did know people who felt they'd been to and absorbed another world in a time that sounded to me like a mind-altering experience. They'd kind of glow when they talked about it.

Read on, enjoy whatever you choose! Do you have Little Free Libraries in your area? There might be maps of these online.
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Meh

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #32 on: March 17, 2026, 10:04:59 PM »

Yes, there are little free libraries around here.

Meh

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #33 on: March 17, 2026, 10:09:04 PM »

A friend of mine who I think is an oddball told me she has bags of stuffed animals. I think it's immature.

She told me though that hugging a stuffed animal releases dopamine & serotonin or something along those lines.

So when I went to the grocery store I hugged a stuffed chicken, a stuffed bunny, a stuffed pig.

I told the lady at the checkout that I hugged one of their stuffed animals and felt somewhat dumb as an adult and then she told me she has stuffed animals at home.

Maybe there is something to it.

Meh

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #34 on: March 17, 2026, 10:31:13 PM »

Large-scale population studies (like the NESARC survey) show a significant positive relationship between Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and Nicotine Dependence.  ???

sKePTiKal

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #35 on: March 18, 2026, 08:00:33 AM »
<scoff!>

OK. Sure. I think Ns are more likely to not smoke - as a demonstration of how much more perfect they are. THEY would never get addicted to anything.... (which ain't true, but who knows what delusions reign in an N's imagination??)
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Hopalong

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #36 on: March 18, 2026, 02:30:48 PM »
What a great assignment...to go choose a stuffie that comforts you.

My dog is a living stuffie who loves disemboweling the manufactured ones. I finally stopped getting them because bending over and over to get fluff off the floor couldn't continue.

I went on a hunt for strong, unstuffed toys. What a relief to find some. As long as he's chomping, he's happy. And in the morning and at night, he's a warm, living hug of a companion who is clamped to my side like a barnacle. I can feel my BP going down and my breathing relax...he is my partner. My source of loving touch.

I remember the first time I handled a Gund stuffed toy. A revelation! Doesn't matter if it's a placebo effect, I believe the endorphins studies.

hugs
Hops
"That'll do, pig, that'll do."

Meh

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #37 on: March 19, 2026, 04:19:15 PM »

Sometimes I think I shouldn't be posting on two threads but also sometimes I think I need to create categories of stuff. idk

I don't feel like describing this but I guess I will take a deep breath and slow down.

- ugh and
- I typed in some responses to random metaphors generated by AI and AI is telling me this:
"You have High Latent Inhibition (HLI) deficiency paired with Hyper-Association.

The Mechanic: Most brains have a "gatekeeper" that filters out "irrelevant" data (like the traveling salesman or the history of ancient rocks) to stay on one topic. Your gatekeeper is missing.

The Result: You don't just see a "river"; you see the physics of banks, the history of timekeeping, and the social coordination of meeting at a rock.

The "Glitch": Because your brain is processing five high-definition "tabs" at once, your Working Memory (the "RAM") crashes. You forget the original point because your processor moved to the next tab before the first one "saved" to the hard drive."

I'm not sure if this is ADD or a stress response or executive dysfunction, low IQ, prefrontal cortex under-development.

Not sure I'm trying to sort of figure out what is going on with my - rumination - my type of thought formations - omg I am tired.

Meh

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #38 on: March 19, 2026, 04:24:30 PM »

"True" ADHD is largely genetic, but ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) can physically re-wire the brain to look exactly like ADHD."

???

Hopalong

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #39 on: March 19, 2026, 05:46:29 PM »
You are sharing such CHEWY information, Meh! Thank you.

I can so relate to The Mechanic and The Glitch. Wow, how did they know?

My ADD understood all of them, and they were delightfully described. Brilliant. (I'm not a neuroscience fan, but when someone practically makes it poetry, I'm all in.)

Especially, "Your gatekeeper is missing." That made me laugh out loud. I'm very grateful to the source whenever I laugh out loud, btw. And truth is so good to hear.

hugs
Hops
"That'll do, pig, that'll do."

Meh

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #40 on: March 19, 2026, 10:00:31 PM »

In the past I took Wellbutrin and I magically just got more stuff done but as far as anxiety/depression goes I didn't feel a mood change. It seems Wellbutrin is used for ADD sometimes though it wasn't why it was prescribed to me.

Meh

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #41 on: March 19, 2026, 10:06:16 PM »

The "Wellbutrin effect" on executive function usually comes down to its impact on Norepinephrine (energy/urgency) and Dopamine (focus/reward).

I don't believe I have REAL anhedonia or have ever had it really.  ???

Meh

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Re: Anything again
« Reply #42 on: March 19, 2026, 10:56:12 PM »
What a great assignment...to go choose a stuffie that comforts you.

My dog is a living stuffie who loves disemboweling the manufactured ones. I finally stopped getting them because bending over and over to get fluff off the floor couldn't continue.

I went on a hunt for strong, unstuffed toys. What a relief to find some. As long as he's chomping, he's happy. And in the morning and at night, he's a warm, living hug of a companion who is clamped to my side like a barnacle. I can feel my BP going down and my breathing relax...he is my partner. My source of loving touch.

I remember the first time I handled a Gund stuffed toy. A revelation! Doesn't matter if it's a placebo effect, I believe the endorphins studies.

hugs
Hops

Dogs = Oxytocin, Dopamine, and Serotonin... no wonder people love them.

One day I got a dog out of a cardboard box of puppies in this town I lived in as a kid and it probably cost 15.00 it was some kind of fluffy orange chow. Like growing up we didn't take dogs to a groomers ever never. And they didn't cost thousands of dollars and there weren't forms and paperwork to fill out. So many many things in life used to be different. Now dogs seem like a luxury product. Getting a dog was a small town commonplace thing if someone's dog had puppies they would sell them for a minor cost just to get rid of them all.