For years and years I have had an aversion to certain sounds like other people chewing or typing. My reaction went beyond annoyance. I used to share on office with two other people, one of whom typed very fast on a very "clicky" keyboard. I could not stand it. Most of the time I worked with my headphones on to drown it out. If I couldn't do that I would literally panic. All I wanted in the world at that moment was for the sound to stop. If I could have I would have destroyed her keyboard or jumped out a window. It was absolute fight or flight. Fortunately the office had a door so I used that to get away and calm down.
When I would express what was happening to me people would just say I was being anal or over-reacting. But I don't think so. I have researched this on and off over the years and recently I discovered a name for this: misophonia or selective sound sensitivity.
The first time I read an article describing my symptoms and giving them a name I wept. My condition didn't go away, but at least I knew I wasn't crazy. Okay, I am crazy, but crazy with a name is much better than just crazy.
The NY Times recently featured the condition in an article and it was on the Today Show.
If you're curious, there's more information here.
22 September 2011
09 September 2011
What it's All About
I saw a most horrific sight today when I dropped off my daughter at school this morning (and just for the record, I'm not one of those helicopter parents; we live across the street and I work from home so it's pretty convenient). Standing in front of a line outside a classroom was a first or second grade girl with a T-shirt proclaiming in huge lettering:
"ENOUGH ABOUT YOU LET'S TALK ABOUT ME!"
It made me throw up a little in the back of my throat. If my daughter wanted a shirt like that I would buy it just so I could burn it in front of her while casually explaining that, indeed, it's not all about her after all. Are we as a society so desperate to build up our children's self-esteem that we clad them so? How pathetic.
I want my kids to know that helping others, listening to others and thinking about others can be more rewarding than being helped, listened to, or thought of. My daughter is at the age where she should start being less selfish and think outside herself more and more. Giving her a shirt that encourages the opposite is deplorable.
It's going to be an uphill battle; me against society and the media. Last week I went to Corvallis and watched my beloved Beavers lose in OT to FCS Sac State. When I told my daughter that the Beavers lost she asked me if they got a trophy.
Sigh.
"ENOUGH ABOUT YOU LET'S TALK ABOUT ME!"
It made me throw up a little in the back of my throat. If my daughter wanted a shirt like that I would buy it just so I could burn it in front of her while casually explaining that, indeed, it's not all about her after all. Are we as a society so desperate to build up our children's self-esteem that we clad them so? How pathetic.
I want my kids to know that helping others, listening to others and thinking about others can be more rewarding than being helped, listened to, or thought of. My daughter is at the age where she should start being less selfish and think outside herself more and more. Giving her a shirt that encourages the opposite is deplorable.
It's going to be an uphill battle; me against society and the media. Last week I went to Corvallis and watched my beloved Beavers lose in OT to FCS Sac State. When I told my daughter that the Beavers lost she asked me if they got a trophy.
Sigh.
28 April 2011
Comfort Math
Here is what a recent slideshow on a news website had to say about food-borne illness in the US:
"Did you know that 1 in 6 Americans gets sick every year from eating food contaminated with pathogens: Bacteria, viruses or parasites? It’s a serious health problem that sends tens of thousands of people to the hospital every year."Camplyobacter and toxoplasma and listeria, oh my! (And don't forget the old stand-by Salmonella!)
Hmmm.
Immediately I was struck by the vast difference between "1 in 6" and "tens of thousands." Clearly not every person that gets a food-borne illness does or even needs to be hospitalized. That said it makes for a nice comparison between getting sick and getting so sick that a trip to the emergency room is warranted.
First, 1 in 6 is 0.1667 or 16.67%. For a US population of approximately 312 million this is 52 million people. That seems like a lot, and it is.
But compare that to tens of thousands. Let's go high and use 90,000 (any more than that would be hundreds of thousands, right?). That's 0.029% of the US population and a not much more significant 0.17% of those who get sick in the first place.
So 1 in 6 might seem dire, but we've all revisited a meal or two over the years and are still kicking. What it comes down to is that you're as likely to die in the car getting to the restaurant than from eating the food when you get there. See how math can actually be comforting? Sort of.
Interestingly, the article said absolutely nothing on preventing food-borne disease. So here's a handy link to the CDC page.
"Did you know that 1 in 6 Americans gets sick every year from eating food contaminated with pathogens: Bacteria, viruses or parasites? It’s a serious health problem that sends tens of thousands of people to the hospital every year."Camplyobacter and toxoplasma and listeria, oh my! (And don't forget the old stand-by Salmonella!)
Hmmm.
Immediately I was struck by the vast difference between "1 in 6" and "tens of thousands." Clearly not every person that gets a food-borne illness does or even needs to be hospitalized. That said it makes for a nice comparison between getting sick and getting so sick that a trip to the emergency room is warranted.
First, 1 in 6 is 0.1667 or 16.67%. For a US population of approximately 312 million this is 52 million people. That seems like a lot, and it is.
But compare that to tens of thousands. Let's go high and use 90,000 (any more than that would be hundreds of thousands, right?). That's 0.029% of the US population and a not much more significant 0.17% of those who get sick in the first place.
So 1 in 6 might seem dire, but we've all revisited a meal or two over the years and are still kicking. What it comes down to is that you're as likely to die in the car getting to the restaurant than from eating the food when you get there. See how math can actually be comforting? Sort of.
Interestingly, the article said absolutely nothing on preventing food-borne disease. So here's a handy link to the CDC page.
15 April 2011
Is That What You Think?
Sometimes a person can betray their true feelings by what they say.
Recently Rep. Rand Paul put out a budget deal that would reduce our national debt by some $6 trillion over the next ten years. Needless to say, not everyone's pet project or program was spared. But as I understand it Social Security went untouched and Medicare would be changed to a state block-grant system.
The reaction from the left? Seniors and children will die. Seriously. By some predictions, some 80,000 people would die under Rep. Paul's budget.
Is that what the left really think? That should this (relatively) fiscally conservative budget pass that the average American would shrug and let even one person die? Shame on them.
Father Jonathon Morris said it better than I can in a recent op-ed:
Recently Rep. Rand Paul put out a budget deal that would reduce our national debt by some $6 trillion over the next ten years. Needless to say, not everyone's pet project or program was spared. But as I understand it Social Security went untouched and Medicare would be changed to a state block-grant system.
The reaction from the left? Seniors and children will die. Seriously. By some predictions, some 80,000 people would die under Rep. Paul's budget.
Is that what the left really think? That should this (relatively) fiscally conservative budget pass that the average American would shrug and let even one person die? Shame on them.
Father Jonathon Morris said it better than I can in a recent op-ed:
"It is fallacious logic to posit that seniors will not get meals if the federal government doesn’t send those meals to them. The federal government is not the only, and certainly not the best, caretaker of people.
In an imperfect society like our own, there is certainly a need for a government safety net for people who have no other way of getting quality, basic care. But the starting point of a federal safety net should be the support of families, neighbors, church and social groups, communities, and local governments (in that order), as they take care of their own."
15 March 2011
Fighting Sucks
But only because it gets you into trouble.
When the movie Fight Club came out oh so many years ago I was a young(er) single man with more than my share of testosterone. The idea of having an outlet for what I saw as everyday, normal man-rage was very appealing.
Now I'm no longer young, but I've noticed that the rage is still there. It's that fight itch I feel when I read a book where good fights evil, or I read a news story about the bullied putting the smack down on the bully. We live in a civilized time but some of us were just wired for a different time. I can so easily imagine myself in boiled leather and chain mail with a nice two-handed broad sword across my back. And using it.
Instead my battle is the professor in the Prius going 60 in the fast lane and my sword is my 225 horsepower versus his 12 squirrelpower. Short of running the guy off the road (don't think this isn't a temptation), I have no outlet for the frustration that builds from this day after day. Maybe I should take up karate to give me both an outlet and a way of controlling the anger. Either that or start a fight club in my basement.
When the movie Fight Club came out oh so many years ago I was a young(er) single man with more than my share of testosterone. The idea of having an outlet for what I saw as everyday, normal man-rage was very appealing.
Now I'm no longer young, but I've noticed that the rage is still there. It's that fight itch I feel when I read a book where good fights evil, or I read a news story about the bullied putting the smack down on the bully. We live in a civilized time but some of us were just wired for a different time. I can so easily imagine myself in boiled leather and chain mail with a nice two-handed broad sword across my back. And using it.
Instead my battle is the professor in the Prius going 60 in the fast lane and my sword is my 225 horsepower versus his 12 squirrelpower. Short of running the guy off the road (don't think this isn't a temptation), I have no outlet for the frustration that builds from this day after day. Maybe I should take up karate to give me both an outlet and a way of controlling the anger. Either that or start a fight club in my basement.
04 February 2011
You're Not Fast
I drive fast*. It's just easier that way.
That being said, I have a message for those of the human population that don't feel as strongly as I do about the sanctity of the fast lane:
70 mph in the fast lane when the speed limit is 65 is not fast.
I don't care how many semis you think you need to pass before you let me by. You're not going fast.
I know you're all worried about getting stuck behind some bozo going 69 mph, but believe me, your frustration at going 1 mph under your randomly selected cruise control setting is nothing compared to the aneurysm you're giving me from going 5 mph below my thoughtfully selected cruise control setting.
*Note that I DO NOT speed in residential areas. If you are speeding on my street and I happen to have a live grenade handy, you will need extensive repairs and possibly several months in the hospital.
That being said, I have a message for those of the human population that don't feel as strongly as I do about the sanctity of the fast lane:
70 mph in the fast lane when the speed limit is 65 is not fast.
I don't care how many semis you think you need to pass before you let me by. You're not going fast.
I know you're all worried about getting stuck behind some bozo going 69 mph, but believe me, your frustration at going 1 mph under your randomly selected cruise control setting is nothing compared to the aneurysm you're giving me from going 5 mph below my thoughtfully selected cruise control setting.
*Note that I DO NOT speed in residential areas. If you are speeding on my street and I happen to have a live grenade handy, you will need extensive repairs and possibly several months in the hospital.
26 November 2010
Eat My Math Skills
According to a new Chevrolet commercial, they will plant trees and perform other green activities on your behalf should you be so inclined as to purchase a Chevy. The carbon dioxide savings? 8 million metric tonnes over the next several years.
So, some math:
Average US citizen annual carbon footprint: 19 metric tonnes
Current US population: ~310,000,000
Total US annual carbon footprint: 19 x 310,000,000 = 5,890,000,000 metric tonnes
Chevy savings: 8,000,000 metric tonnes
Percent of US annual carbon footprint: 8,000,000 / 5,890,000,000 = 0.14%
Or as we engineers like to say...Jack squat. Diddly. An insignificant amount. And that's assuming the savings are in one year. It's only 0.07% if it's over two years.
Oh, well. The ad probably works on the same people that buy lottery tickets and Toyota Priuses.
So, some math:
Average US citizen annual carbon footprint: 19 metric tonnes
Current US population: ~310,000,000
Total US annual carbon footprint: 19 x 310,000,000 = 5,890,000,000 metric tonnes
Chevy savings: 8,000,000 metric tonnes
Percent of US annual carbon footprint: 8,000,000 / 5,890,000,000 = 0.14%
Or as we engineers like to say...Jack squat. Diddly. An insignificant amount. And that's assuming the savings are in one year. It's only 0.07% if it's over two years.
Oh, well. The ad probably works on the same people that buy lottery tickets and Toyota Priuses.
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