Read that Mika and Joe went to see Trump in FL. Said they don’t want to “normalize” him, but open a dialogue. So still call him a Nazi and supporters dangerous to make sure they are not normalizing him, and us. Great, so I can still ignore them.
At first I thought this was a post about the Democrat party.
SHIREHOME, pretty sure that was a Babylon Bee article—you know, something along the lines of “OK, you Hitler, let’s move beyond the election so that we can establish some kind of rapport. You know, we wanna be practical, even if you’re a fascist, race-baiting mysoginist. And consider yerself lucky that we’re even considering this generous offer you dishonest SOB. We know and YOU know that you need us…
DJT: “Who?”
Apologies to everyone else, but continuing my conversation with huxley:
Not really looking for another Strat type, but want a Les Paul type and PRS DGT SE seems to fill that bill. And $750 vs $3k… Thoughts on the two volume controls? That could confuse me a bit. I will out and about tomorrow morning so may stop in to Guitar Center to see if I can try one out. Here’s another review I found besides the one you linked:
@physicsguy: Sweetwater currently has a lot of Epiphone Les Pauls in the $500 – $1000 range, most of which seem to get good reviews. I personally haven’t tried any of them, but I’ve heard that the general quality of Epiphone has gone up in recent years since the new leadership at Gibson has taken over. There’s also a fair number of other Les Paulish models from other companies in that price range available. The ESP ones are quite nice, but they’re often more targeted towards Heavy Metal with high output pickups and the like. The Larry Carlton Sires seem pretty nice as a relatively inexpensive Les Paul style.
Miguel,
Strat is not $3k. New Strats are between $600 up to $1500 for custom etc. but the going price for a new Gibson Les Paul is around $3k. So the PRS at $750 is a deal for us amateurs, playing for fun types who want a Les Paul type guitar.
Nonapod,
Thanks for the tip. Those Epiphones are definitely worth looking into.
physicsguy – If you’re looking for something with humbuckers, consider playing one of the current generation Yamaha Revstars. They don’t have the cache of a Les Paul, but in terms of quality, the ones I’ve seen are a cut about Epiphone. The pickups sound great and they play pretty well once you get them dialed in, much better than any Epiphone I’ve tried.
That video was fascinating!
Thanks, neo.
What nice people. They both exude joy and maturity. Really interesting discussion. Several answers really surprised me, especially the question about medically repairing their sight, if possible.
So, saying that some Muslims organized and carried out attacks against Jews in Amsterdam, a statement which is true, is “anti-Muslim” propaganda? Sorry, Amsterdam Mayor, no sale.
Thoughts on the two PRS volume controls? That could confuse me a bit.
physicsguy:
David Grissom (the DG in DGT) plays mostly on the bridge pickup, so making that volume knob closest to his fingers makes sense.
Plus Grissom assumed carte blanche to evolve the original Les Paul controls to a new iteration.
It’s not a problem to me since I’m a beginner, but if I had been playing for more than year, I’m sure it would be annoying.
The experienced guitar guys I listen to said they would probably rewire the knobs to the usual Vol1 : Neck / Vol2 : Bridge configuration.
From the “As Far As We Know, We Have No Indication that Iran Is In Any Way Connected to the October 7Attack on Israel” File….
‘Documents found in Gaza detail Iranian sponsorship ahead of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack;
‘Iran provided advance funding for a 2023 war between Hamas and Israel, Hamas planned joint “infiltration actions” with Hezbollah, according to a report published by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center’— https://jewishinsider.com/2024/11/iran-gaza-hamas-oct-7-terror-attacks-hezbollah/
H/T Powerline blog.
Anyone with any sense would have understood that given Iran’s connection with Hamas, and given “Biden”’s immediate and obvious resumption of diplomatic support of both Iran and the Palestinians (after Trump cut off aid and support to both parties), and given “Biden”’s delivery of enormous amounts of money to both, that Iran HAD TO BE intimately connected with the events of October 7.
IOW, it was a no-brainer.
And yet, and yet….
Re: Epiphone, guitar prices, etc.
My first guitar, only a month ago, was the Epiphone Les Paul Studio E1 for $270. I’m a somewhat savvy tech consumer, I do my online due diligence, and it looked like a great deal — especially when I recall what electric guitars went for in 1970.
The EI outperformed my expectations.
Now I’m raving about my new PRS DGT SE for $750. It is definitely a better instrument and I do love it … but 3x more? If you’re a 20 year-old kid, looking to figure out electric guitar, not really.
Furthermore, the gap between my overseas PRS DGT SE to the superior American PRS DGT is, by all accounts, small. Yet the American-made PRS DGT costs 4-5x more.
Moral of the story:
You can get a helluva lot of electric guitar for $250-$500.
I held my tongue for a long time, because as an American I believe we should respect the Oval Office and our leaders whether we agree with some of their decisions or not. But I can’t. I look back on the last four years and can only come to one conclusion about the man many pundits said early in this election, should be on Mt. Rushmore. This was one of the most corrupt men to ever sit in the White House….
huxley said: You can get a helluva lot of electric guitar for $250-$500.
Yeah, I’m a little envious of beginners these days. The quality of lower end instruments is extremely high compared to when I started playing over 30 years ago now.
physicsguy:
If the DGT controls bother you, you could drop back to the PRS McCarty SE, which was David Grissom’s previous take on the Les Paul for PRS with standard Les Paul controls and by all accounts a great guitar.
It’s only $499. If I had been more knowledgeable, I would have been better off buying just that instead of the Epiphone LP E1, then the DGT SE.
But when you are feeling your way into a new field, that’s how it goes. I have no regrets. And this way I have an adequate backup guitar.
Yes, I go on about French and electric guitar. These are a couple of my answers to what does one do with retirement?
What do you do?
Though I don’t think of this as retirement. It’s what I am doing now.
My 95 year old mother is legally blind a la Christine in the video, that is, she lost her sight. At about 83 she had failed cataract surgery, and then another failed one at about 88. Both resulted in an inflammatory response in the retina that they were able to counter somewhat, but the die was cast. It resulted in edema in the retinas. Thus, like Christine, she can see a little but it’s all fog. And as she ages it’s getting worse and darker. She doesn’t like overcast days.
And one can see how one thing can take down an old person (although fortunately not in my mother’s case). Her very poor eyesight has resulted in four falls that resulted in four surgeries (with pins and screws) to repair broken kneecaps, elbow and wrist. Somehow she has the will to recover and keep going when knocked down like this. One knee was bad enough that she just had (4 months ago) a full knee replacement that fortunately went perfectly. She’s back on her feet without that pain. All of these falls were due to tripping on something she couldn’t see.
I see her daily, so I keep tabs on her, particularly her spirit. She has had to come to terms with her blindness – as she says ‘it is what it is’. She takes advantage of all that the society for the blind has to offer, which is quite a bit. She particularly takes advantage of the books on tape. I often drive her to local meetings of the society where any number of subjects are covered. When she leaves her home her blind cane is a must. At home I think she knows every square inch of house and lot, and thus doesn’t use her cane.
These meetings provide some perspective for her. She sees people just like in the video, blind from birth but mostly they seem to be people who’ve lost all or part of their vision. So mostly it’s other elderly folk, but there are those who are young and have lost or are losing their vision. Mom says she had 80+ years of good eyesight, so even though it’s tough, can’t complain too much. And she doesn’t, just tells me now and then that what’s left of her vision is slowly getting worse.
I ask her what she sees, or more specifically, how does she perceive what she sees. She does watch television (I bought her an 86″ TV) and basically, having been sighted, her sight memory fills in a lot of the blanks. Not perfectly, obviously, but still enough that she watches. She knows I sometimes watch ball games on TV, so she’ll watch them on her TV, and with the announcing gets a pretty good picture in her mind of what’s happening. Basically, I think, a lifetime of sightedness kicks in to fill out the picture – ie., the mind’s eye.
When she first realized that she wasn’t gonna see much again, she was dejected, but only for a short while. And also the loss was somewhat gradual – and importantly, not complete – so that probably helped. But early on she realized it does absolutely no good to whine about it. Get up and do something has always been her way.
My wife once had a patient, a 12 year old girl, who had a medical condition either identical to or similar to the woman in the video. The girl was losing her sight and would be blind in a year.* While she still had her sight my wife was helping her to learn what she would need to do and know once it was gone; how to navigate everyday life; school, computers, walking outside, interacting with people, eating… It’s been decades and I’ve never forgotten the reality of what that girl was faced with, and how courageously she accepted it.
*Or two? I don’t remember the specifics, but I do remember it was a steady and predictable degradation.
At his events Tony Robbins offers the thought experiment:
What if you could swap your life for another random human life today, would you do it?
Most people, who can manage to attend a Tony Robbins event, realize, Hell No.
Whatever things I am unhappy about now and with whatever justifiable reasons, I would never swap my life randomly for another of the billions of humans out there living in poverty or disease or whatever unpleasant life circumstances.
I have a real horror of blindness.
The video touched a nerve with me because I’m going blind.
I’m not nearly as nice or accepting as these two wonderful people.
Losing the ability to drive. Yes, it’s the thing I dread most. For most people the car means freedom and independence. It sure does for me. I can still drivee safely, but only during the day.
My wife can still drive, but she has a hard time navigating. I have to go with her when she drives to make sure she doesn’t get lost. And satellite auto-direction doesn’t help because she can’t remember how to program the devise. 🙁 It’s what happens when you live long.
Que sera, sera, but I’m not nearly as accepting of my condition as those two. If a surgery would repair my eyesight, I’d jump at the chance.
I’ve always wondered about Helen Keller, who lost her sight at age 19 months. I would imagine there were imprinted sight memories in her brain, but how, if at all, did they affect her perceptions later. And dreams.
J. J.:
I can’t imagine it’s an easy adjustment at any age. Sorry you’re undergoing it.
M Williams:
Helen Keller wrote many books and I’m pretty sure she wrote extensively about things like that. Here’s an example of some things she wrote about color.
J.J.,
I am so sorry to hear that.
God bless you and your wife.
huxley,
It seems completely logical one can buy a good feeling/sounding electric guitar in the $250 – $500 range. The raw materials are inexpensive, relatively easily mass produced and there is tremendous demand. Of “band” instruments; jazz, rock, symphonic, they almost certainly outnumber other instruments sold by a lot.
And, I know purists will argue, but it’s much simpler to produce a decent sounding electric guitar than any other instrument I can think of; even acoustic guitar. The bodies on all acoustic string instruments must be exactingly produced to make a decent sound. Same for brass, woodwinds, reed and percussion instruments. But Bo Diddly made serviceable electrics out of “whatever materials he could find.” https://extrachill.com/bo-diddley-twang-machine-guitar-history
One can buy Chinese made instruments; violins, trumpets, flutes… even drum kits, in the $200 – $500 range, and some are OK for young students, but professional level stuff is a minimum of a grand.
#1. 2.6 million acoustic and electric guitars were sold in the United States in 2017, which is an increase from 300,000 in 2009 (Rolling Stone, 2018)
#2. By the end of 2019 there were 1.25 million electric guitar sold in the United States, up from the lowest figure of roughly 1 million in 2015 (NYTimes, 2020)
#3. However, numbers of electric guitars sold in the United States decreased by 9% in 2020 compared to 2019. 1.1 million electric guitars were sold in the United States in 2020 in comparison to 1.25 the million in 2019. (Statista, 2021)
#9. Fender found that 50% of the guitars bought each year are by first time players and that 90% of them give up playing or learning within the first year. (Rolling Stone, 2018)
#10. The 10% that continue to play though will spend up to $10,000 over their life on guitars, amplifiers and accessories. (Rolling Stone, 2018)
From ChatGPT, “Recent data suggests that annual sales of saxophones in the U.S. are in the range of 50,000 to 80,000 units. The annual sales of brass musical instruments in the U.S. typically range between 500,000 and 700,000 units, according to estimates from the music industry. This includes instruments like trumpets, trombones, French horns, tubas, and euphoniums. The number of pianos sold in the U.S. each year is approximately 30,000 to 40,000 acoustic pianos and an additional 100,000 to 150,000 digital pianos. The combined annual sales of violins, violas, and cellos in the U.S. are estimated to be around 400,000 to 600,000 units, with violins making up the majority of this total. The combined annual sales of flutes, piccolos, oboes, and bassoons in the U.S. are estimated to be between 200,000 and 300,000 units, with flutes leading the category.”
Regarding the woman in the video stating her concerns about seeing what she looks like at her current age since, in her visual imagination, she remains the age she was when she lost her sight, about 20 years old.
Something similar happens to me every time I see a photograph with me in it. Somehow, in my mind, I “feel” like me at 35 – 45 and when I see a photo that someone takes and the “me” in the photo is a 60 year old man it almost always catches me off guard. It’s not that I ever forget how old I actually am, it’s just that there is something about a photograph that captures my age differently than a mirror, or my mental imagery.
I also wonder if this is more common among males. It seems to me that many women see themselves slightly older when they look in a mirror and many men see themselves slightly younger.
…but it’s much simpler to produce a decent sounding electric guitar than any other instrument I can think of…
Rufus T. Firefly:
I’m sure you are correct. The first Les Paul guitar was called, by legend, “The Log,” for its crudeness.
Classical instruments are beautiful and special — specified within hundredths of an inch. Electric guitars — whatever metrics people will buy.
There’s a “hot rod” aesthetic and engineering to electric guitar totally absent from classical. I won’t argue it’s better but it’s a different music culture.
I like it.
It’s far more customizable than a Stradivarius.
Here’s Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck. Beck lifts the heavy guitar. Clapton manages rhythm and vocal.
RTF: “… it’s just that there is something about a photograph that captures my age differently than a mirror, or my mental imagery.”
I have had similar experience. Then I self deceive and ignore that older image and return to the one I like to have – old but not that old !
Neo, Rufus T., thanks for your comments.
It’s a race between blindness and the grave. I’ll probably still have enough sight to navigate around my house before I kick the bucket. (Actuary tables say I have 3.6 years to live. Hah!) I’ll have to use Uber/Lyft to get to doctor’s appointments when my wife can’t drive anymore. The world becomes smaller as you lose the faculties to be fully in it.
I’m grateful that we were able to travel the world and SEE so many awesome places and people. And I’m grateful for computers (as cranky as they can be), the internet, and blogs. They keep me “in” the world as long as my vision, such as itis, remains. What a blessing.
I hope our perceptions of age become skewed, otherwise I’m going crazy. I’ve found myself seeing people that look exactly like the ones I knew from 30-40 years ago. Only it’s not them. I’ve had to remind myself it can’t be them, because they would look as old as I do if it was them.
@ Rufus > “Somehow, in my mind, I “feel” like me at 35 – 45 and when I see a photo that someone takes and the “me” in the photo is a 60 year old man it almost always catches me off guard.”
I have long been of the opinion (although lacking any corroborating studies) that the phenomenon of an elderly person no longer recognizing their spouse or children is similar to your own experience.
All of the pictures on our walls are of our family from at least 20 years ago or more, and sometimes when the boys are here, especially the ones I see infrequently, I have to consciously tell myself that all those pudgy, balding, and sometimes bearded old men were my little boys.
It would be very easy for Alzheimer’s or just aging to exacerbate that regression to the more familiar faces, who look nothing at all like those obnoxious people who keep telling you they are your family!
Thankfully, in our case, we meet weekly on the internet, so their appearance in my “head” is staying closer to reality.
There are some useful things that technology brings us, and the move to Zoom and other apps for virtual meetings, exacerbated as it was by Covid, is at least a small (miniscule for some) recompense for the rest of that disaster.
I was so good looking up into my late fifties that I probably spent too much time looking into the mirror—or even at my reflection from some shopping center window.
Now (78+), humble me is long in the tooth – some got so long they fell out. I use a Philips Norelco Shaver (3 round heads) to keep my head shaved, and cut a long beard off once a year because haven’t figured out how to trim it after years trying.
Still look younger than many in their late sixties or early seventies, but I still look old since my body is in the process of dying. Young women no longer flirt with me, but most call me “sir.” Me now a “sir” so am definitely old. 🙂
For the past 10-15 years or so, each year has gotten better – certainly wouldn’t change these ‘Golden Years’ for looks into a mirror or reflections from a window or flirts with young women…
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where ….
J.J.
I don’t know if any of the following would be useful but I know that they’ve been doing a lot of research in Israel on blindness cures (as well as many other things).
So I googled this:
Blindness + cure + Israel
Quite a bit came up, some of it from several years back, though.
I’ve always had a problem with remembering people– “do I know you” is my stock question. There’s even a name for it– prosopagnosia, though I don’t think that’s my problem.
Brian E: I had a friend with actual, diagnosed prosopagnosia.
She used it to avoid talking to a lot of people.
I feel like I have it when I walk & people pass by in cars. With the window tinting, and often added glare, I frequently have no idea who is in the car.
I wave, just to fool them into not hitting me.
So far, so good. LoL!
Leave a Reply
HTML tags allowed in your
comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>
Read that Mika and Joe went to see Trump in FL. Said they don’t want to “normalize” him, but open a dialogue. So still call him a Nazi and supporters dangerous to make sure they are not normalizing him, and us. Great, so I can still ignore them.
At first I thought this was a post about the Democrat party.
SHIREHOME, pretty sure that was a Babylon Bee article—you know, something along the lines of “OK, you Hitler, let’s move beyond the election so that we can establish some kind of rapport. You know, we wanna be practical, even if you’re a fascist, race-baiting mysoginist. And consider yerself lucky that we’re even considering this generous offer you dishonest SOB. We know and YOU know that you need us…
DJT: “Who?”
Apologies to everyone else, but continuing my conversation with huxley:
Not really looking for another Strat type, but want a Les Paul type and PRS DGT SE seems to fill that bill. And $750 vs $3k… Thoughts on the two volume controls? That could confuse me a bit. I will out and about tomorrow morning so may stop in to Guitar Center to see if I can try one out. Here’s another review I found besides the one you linked:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzXxGkRpF48
The TRUMP DANCE videos are taking over all over the world!
https://www.commoncts.blogspot.com
A strat is a fine instrument but $3.000 dollars!
Not as fine as a Strad (more like $3 million).
@physicsguy: Sweetwater currently has a lot of Epiphone Les Pauls in the $500 – $1000 range, most of which seem to get good reviews. I personally haven’t tried any of them, but I’ve heard that the general quality of Epiphone has gone up in recent years since the new leadership at Gibson has taken over. There’s also a fair number of other Les Paulish models from other companies in that price range available. The ESP ones are quite nice, but they’re often more targeted towards Heavy Metal with high output pickups and the like. The Larry Carlton Sires seem pretty nice as a relatively inexpensive Les Paul style.
Miguel,
Strat is not $3k. New Strats are between $600 up to $1500 for custom etc. but the going price for a new Gibson Les Paul is around $3k. So the PRS at $750 is a deal for us amateurs, playing for fun types who want a Les Paul type guitar.
Nonapod,
Thanks for the tip. Those Epiphones are definitely worth looking into.
Alas you missed your chance for this Stratocaster:
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-ideas-fender-stratocaster-21329
physicsguy – If you’re looking for something with humbuckers, consider playing one of the current generation Yamaha Revstars. They don’t have the cache of a Les Paul, but in terms of quality, the ones I’ve seen are a cut about Epiphone. The pickups sound great and they play pretty well once you get them dialed in, much better than any Epiphone I’ve tried.
That video was fascinating!
Thanks, neo.
What nice people. They both exude joy and maturity. Really interesting discussion. Several answers really surprised me, especially the question about medically repairing their sight, if possible.
Barry Meislin, the Mika and Joe meeting with Trump appears to be a true story.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/morning-joe-co-hosts-hold-face-to-face-meeting-trump-first-time-seven-years
Proper Shotgun Safety
Yeah, Barry, wrong, AGAIN
I don’t see any confirmation
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-829656
they are shameless aren’t they,
So, saying that some Muslims organized and carried out attacks against Jews in Amsterdam, a statement which is true, is “anti-Muslim” propaganda? Sorry, Amsterdam Mayor, no sale.
Thoughts on the two PRS volume controls? That could confuse me a bit.
physicsguy:
David Grissom (the DG in DGT) plays mostly on the bridge pickup, so making that volume knob closest to his fingers makes sense.
Plus Grissom assumed carte blanche to evolve the original Les Paul controls to a new iteration.
It’s not a problem to me since I’m a beginner, but if I had been playing for more than year, I’m sure it would be annoying.
The experienced guitar guys I listen to said they would probably rewire the knobs to the usual Vol1 : Neck / Vol2 : Bridge configuration.
From the “As Far As We Know, We Have No Indication that Iran Is In Any Way Connected to the October 7Attack on Israel” File….
‘Documents found in Gaza detail Iranian sponsorship ahead of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack;
‘Iran provided advance funding for a 2023 war between Hamas and Israel, Hamas planned joint “infiltration actions” with Hezbollah, according to a report published by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center’—
https://jewishinsider.com/2024/11/iran-gaza-hamas-oct-7-terror-attacks-hezbollah/
H/T Powerline blog.
Anyone with any sense would have understood that given Iran’s connection with Hamas, and given “Biden”’s immediate and obvious resumption of diplomatic support of both Iran and the Palestinians (after Trump cut off aid and support to both parties), and given “Biden”’s delivery of enormous amounts of money to both, that Iran HAD TO BE intimately connected with the events of October 7.
IOW, it was a no-brainer.
And yet, and yet….
Re: Epiphone, guitar prices, etc.
My first guitar, only a month ago, was the Epiphone Les Paul Studio E1 for $270. I’m a somewhat savvy tech consumer, I do my online due diligence, and it looked like a great deal — especially when I recall what electric guitars went for in 1970.
The EI outperformed my expectations.
Now I’m raving about my new PRS DGT SE for $750. It is definitely a better instrument and I do love it … but 3x more? If you’re a 20 year-old kid, looking to figure out electric guitar, not really.
Furthermore, the gap between my overseas PRS DGT SE to the superior American PRS DGT is, by all accounts, small. Yet the American-made PRS DGT costs 4-5x more.
Moral of the story:
You can get a helluva lot of electric guitar for $250-$500.
Compare and contrast…
‘LAPD “ANGEL COP” DEON JOSEPH:’
https://x.com/ofcrdeonjoseph/status/1858185356320883124
Opening graf:
“We Are Living in Interesting Times”—
https://pjmedia.com/charlie-martin/2024/11/18/we-are-living-in-interesting-times-n4934404
In which to the author, “Biden”’s illustrious junta brings the East German Stasi to mind….
H/T Instapundit (for both)
And regarding the recession brought upon the country—INTENTIONALLY—by the nekkid emperor, assisted by his artful tailors…
Recession!!? What recession??
“The US Has Been In Recession For Years…”
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/us-has-been-recession-years
Janet Yellin can proudly take a bow for this one…
huxley said: You can get a helluva lot of electric guitar for $250-$500.
Yeah, I’m a little envious of beginners these days. The quality of lower end instruments is extremely high compared to when I started playing over 30 years ago now.
physicsguy:
If the DGT controls bother you, you could drop back to the PRS McCarty SE, which was David Grissom’s previous take on the Les Paul for PRS with standard Les Paul controls and by all accounts a great guitar.
https://www.amazon.com/PRS-Guitars-Singlecut-Standard-111387/dp/B0C6936M76/ref=sr_1_1?sr=8-1
It’s only $499. If I had been more knowledgeable, I would have been better off buying just that instead of the Epiphone LP E1, then the DGT SE.
But when you are feeling your way into a new field, that’s how it goes. I have no regrets. And this way I have an adequate backup guitar.
Yes, I go on about French and electric guitar. These are a couple of my answers to what does one do with retirement?
What do you do?
Though I don’t think of this as retirement. It’s what I am doing now.
My 95 year old mother is legally blind a la Christine in the video, that is, she lost her sight. At about 83 she had failed cataract surgery, and then another failed one at about 88. Both resulted in an inflammatory response in the retina that they were able to counter somewhat, but the die was cast. It resulted in edema in the retinas. Thus, like Christine, she can see a little but it’s all fog. And as she ages it’s getting worse and darker. She doesn’t like overcast days.
And one can see how one thing can take down an old person (although fortunately not in my mother’s case). Her very poor eyesight has resulted in four falls that resulted in four surgeries (with pins and screws) to repair broken kneecaps, elbow and wrist. Somehow she has the will to recover and keep going when knocked down like this. One knee was bad enough that she just had (4 months ago) a full knee replacement that fortunately went perfectly. She’s back on her feet without that pain. All of these falls were due to tripping on something she couldn’t see.
I see her daily, so I keep tabs on her, particularly her spirit. She has had to come to terms with her blindness – as she says ‘it is what it is’. She takes advantage of all that the society for the blind has to offer, which is quite a bit. She particularly takes advantage of the books on tape. I often drive her to local meetings of the society where any number of subjects are covered. When she leaves her home her blind cane is a must. At home I think she knows every square inch of house and lot, and thus doesn’t use her cane.
These meetings provide some perspective for her. She sees people just like in the video, blind from birth but mostly they seem to be people who’ve lost all or part of their vision. So mostly it’s other elderly folk, but there are those who are young and have lost or are losing their vision. Mom says she had 80+ years of good eyesight, so even though it’s tough, can’t complain too much. And she doesn’t, just tells me now and then that what’s left of her vision is slowly getting worse.
I ask her what she sees, or more specifically, how does she perceive what she sees. She does watch television (I bought her an 86″ TV) and basically, having been sighted, her sight memory fills in a lot of the blanks. Not perfectly, obviously, but still enough that she watches. She knows I sometimes watch ball games on TV, so she’ll watch them on her TV, and with the announcing gets a pretty good picture in her mind of what’s happening. Basically, I think, a lifetime of sightedness kicks in to fill out the picture – ie., the mind’s eye.
When she first realized that she wasn’t gonna see much again, she was dejected, but only for a short while. And also the loss was somewhat gradual – and importantly, not complete – so that probably helped. But early on she realized it does absolutely no good to whine about it. Get up and do something has always been her way.
My wife once had a patient, a 12 year old girl, who had a medical condition either identical to or similar to the woman in the video. The girl was losing her sight and would be blind in a year.* While she still had her sight my wife was helping her to learn what she would need to do and know once it was gone; how to navigate everyday life; school, computers, walking outside, interacting with people, eating… It’s been decades and I’ve never forgotten the reality of what that girl was faced with, and how courageously she accepted it.
*Or two? I don’t remember the specifics, but I do remember it was a steady and predictable degradation.
At his events Tony Robbins offers the thought experiment:
What if you could swap your life for another random human life today, would you do it?
Most people, who can manage to attend a Tony Robbins event, realize, Hell No.
Whatever things I am unhappy about now and with whatever justifiable reasons, I would never swap my life randomly for another of the billions of humans out there living in poverty or disease or whatever unpleasant life circumstances.
I have a real horror of blindness.
The video touched a nerve with me because I’m going blind.
I’m not nearly as nice or accepting as these two wonderful people.
Losing the ability to drive. Yes, it’s the thing I dread most. For most people the car means freedom and independence. It sure does for me. I can still drivee safely, but only during the day.
My wife can still drive, but she has a hard time navigating. I have to go with her when she drives to make sure she doesn’t get lost. And satellite auto-direction doesn’t help because she can’t remember how to program the devise. 🙁 It’s what happens when you live long.
Que sera, sera, but I’m not nearly as accepting of my condition as those two. If a surgery would repair my eyesight, I’d jump at the chance.
I’ve always wondered about Helen Keller, who lost her sight at age 19 months. I would imagine there were imprinted sight memories in her brain, but how, if at all, did they affect her perceptions later. And dreams.
J. J.:
I can’t imagine it’s an easy adjustment at any age. Sorry you’re undergoing it.
M Williams:
Helen Keller wrote many books and I’m pretty sure she wrote extensively about things like that. Here’s an example of some things she wrote about color.
J.J.,
I am so sorry to hear that.
God bless you and your wife.
huxley,
It seems completely logical one can buy a good feeling/sounding electric guitar in the $250 – $500 range. The raw materials are inexpensive, relatively easily mass produced and there is tremendous demand. Of “band” instruments; jazz, rock, symphonic, they almost certainly outnumber other instruments sold by a lot.
And, I know purists will argue, but it’s much simpler to produce a decent sounding electric guitar than any other instrument I can think of; even acoustic guitar. The bodies on all acoustic string instruments must be exactingly produced to make a decent sound. Same for brass, woodwinds, reed and percussion instruments. But Bo Diddly made serviceable electrics out of “whatever materials he could find.” https://extrachill.com/bo-diddley-twang-machine-guitar-history
One can buy Chinese made instruments; violins, trumpets, flutes… even drum kits, in the $200 – $500 range, and some are OK for young students, but professional level stuff is a minimum of a grand.
https://www.guitarinsideout.com/guitar-industry-statistics/
From ChatGPT, “Recent data suggests that annual sales of saxophones in the U.S. are in the range of 50,000 to 80,000 units. The annual sales of brass musical instruments in the U.S. typically range between 500,000 and 700,000 units, according to estimates from the music industry. This includes instruments like trumpets, trombones, French horns, tubas, and euphoniums. The number of pianos sold in the U.S. each year is approximately 30,000 to 40,000 acoustic pianos and an additional 100,000 to 150,000 digital pianos. The combined annual sales of violins, violas, and cellos in the U.S. are estimated to be around 400,000 to 600,000 units, with violins making up the majority of this total. The combined annual sales of flutes, piccolos, oboes, and bassoons in the U.S. are estimated to be between 200,000 and 300,000 units, with flutes leading the category.”
Regarding the woman in the video stating her concerns about seeing what she looks like at her current age since, in her visual imagination, she remains the age she was when she lost her sight, about 20 years old.
Something similar happens to me every time I see a photograph with me in it. Somehow, in my mind, I “feel” like me at 35 – 45 and when I see a photo that someone takes and the “me” in the photo is a 60 year old man it almost always catches me off guard. It’s not that I ever forget how old I actually am, it’s just that there is something about a photograph that captures my age differently than a mirror, or my mental imagery.
I also wonder if this is more common among males. It seems to me that many women see themselves slightly older when they look in a mirror and many men see themselves slightly younger.
…but it’s much simpler to produce a decent sounding electric guitar than any other instrument I can think of…
Rufus T. Firefly:
I’m sure you are correct. The first Les Paul guitar was called, by legend, “The Log,” for its crudeness.
Classical instruments are beautiful and special — specified within hundredths of an inch. Electric guitars — whatever metrics people will buy.
There’s a “hot rod” aesthetic and engineering to electric guitar totally absent from classical. I won’t argue it’s better but it’s a different music culture.
I like it.
It’s far more customizable than a Stradivarius.
Here’s Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck. Beck lifts the heavy guitar. Clapton manages rhythm and vocal.
–Eric Clapton / Jeff Beck, “Moon River (Official Music Video)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DWqyYW8tOg
Yehudi Menuhin need not apply.
RTF: “… it’s just that there is something about a photograph that captures my age differently than a mirror, or my mental imagery.”
I have had similar experience. Then I self deceive and ignore that older image and return to the one I like to have – old but not that old !
Neo, Rufus T., thanks for your comments.
It’s a race between blindness and the grave. I’ll probably still have enough sight to navigate around my house before I kick the bucket. (Actuary tables say I have 3.6 years to live. Hah!) I’ll have to use Uber/Lyft to get to doctor’s appointments when my wife can’t drive anymore. The world becomes smaller as you lose the faculties to be fully in it.
I’m grateful that we were able to travel the world and SEE so many awesome places and people. And I’m grateful for computers (as cranky as they can be), the internet, and blogs. They keep me “in” the world as long as my vision, such as itis, remains. What a blessing.
I hope our perceptions of age become skewed, otherwise I’m going crazy. I’ve found myself seeing people that look exactly like the ones I knew from 30-40 years ago. Only it’s not them. I’ve had to remind myself it can’t be them, because they would look as old as I do if it was them.
@ Rufus > “Somehow, in my mind, I “feel” like me at 35 – 45 and when I see a photo that someone takes and the “me” in the photo is a 60 year old man it almost always catches me off guard.”
I have long been of the opinion (although lacking any corroborating studies) that the phenomenon of an elderly person no longer recognizing their spouse or children is similar to your own experience.
All of the pictures on our walls are of our family from at least 20 years ago or more, and sometimes when the boys are here, especially the ones I see infrequently, I have to consciously tell myself that all those pudgy, balding, and sometimes bearded old men were my little boys.
It would be very easy for Alzheimer’s or just aging to exacerbate that regression to the more familiar faces, who look nothing at all like those obnoxious people who keep telling you they are your family!
Thankfully, in our case, we meet weekly on the internet, so their appearance in my “head” is staying closer to reality.
There are some useful things that technology brings us, and the move to Zoom and other apps for virtual meetings, exacerbated as it was by Covid, is at least a small (miniscule for some) recompense for the rest of that disaster.
I was so good looking up into my late fifties that I probably spent too much time looking into the mirror—or even at my reflection from some shopping center window.
Now (78+), humble me is long in the tooth – some got so long they fell out. I use a Philips Norelco Shaver (3 round heads) to keep my head shaved, and cut a long beard off once a year because haven’t figured out how to trim it after years trying.
Still look younger than many in their late sixties or early seventies, but I still look old since my body is in the process of dying. Young women no longer flirt with me, but most call me “sir.” Me now a “sir” so am definitely old. 🙂
For the past 10-15 years or so, each year has gotten better – certainly wouldn’t change these ‘Golden Years’ for looks into a mirror or reflections from a window or flirts with young women…
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1&version=ESV
Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 ESV –
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, …
J.J.
I don’t know if any of the following would be useful but I know that they’ve been doing a lot of research in Israel on blindness cures (as well as many other things).
So I googled this:
Blindness + cure + Israel
Quite a bit came up, some of it from several years back, though.
I’ve always had a problem with remembering people– “do I know you” is my stock question. There’s even a name for it– prosopagnosia, though I don’t think that’s my problem.
Brian E: I had a friend with actual, diagnosed prosopagnosia.
She used it to avoid talking to a lot of people.
I feel like I have it when I walk & people pass by in cars. With the window tinting, and often added glare, I frequently have no idea who is in the car.
I wave, just to fool them into not hitting me.
So far, so good. LoL!