“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Mr. President, put on your coat and tie.
Obama without a coat and tie in the White House makes me nervous. I am beginning to feel that this is not going to end well. He comes across as a bit too sure of himself and I am getting a twitch.
I'm getting a warm, wet feeling on my leg, not the tingles. The piss is being scared out of me.
This is not going to end well.
Mat, who do you call winning the Israeli election?
I personally think Netanyehu's got America's interests more at heart than does the Zero. Aren't there roughly the same number of Jewish folks here, as in Israel? My numbers are rusty.
"Our third finding indicates that among people who come close to death, those who report no NDE or very few NDE features are later likely to report no or fewer electromagnetic effects, and among those reporting NDE's, the deeper the NDE, the more electromagnetic effects one is likely to report. Among our sample, this likelihood was associated with each aspect of an NDE: cognitive, affective, paranormal, and transcendental.
NDErs had previously reportd perceived changes in the funtioning of their brains and entire nervous systems, as well as a decreased need for sleep, after their NDEs. Ring and other researchers had speculated that electromagnetic changes might reflect an energy shift or transformation that occurs during NDEs. If this were the case, deeper NDEs might be expected to be associated with greater energetic changes, including electromagnetic effects. However, until now, no researcher had studied the relationship between the depth of an NDE and reported incidence of electromagnetic effects. According to the findings in this study, those who reported memories of deeper NDEs also reported more post-NDE electromagnetic effects. This finding provided support for NDErs' perceptions of altered nervous system functioning and to near-death researchers' speculations of a relationship between those alterations and NDEs.
Biophysicists have extensively studied the electromagnetic properties of living organisms. Becker and Selden produced anesthetic effects on salamanders by running electromagnetic currents through their brains, suggesting a relationship between electromagnetic currents, shifts in brain waves, and body awareness. However, the mysteries of electromagnetism have yet to be solved. The human body's nervous system functioning involves electrical impulses. In addition, an electric field forms around any electric charge, and any flow of electrons sets up a combined electric and magnetic field around the current. Electromagnetic changes are a result of altering the current's field. Considering this definition of electromagnetic changes, if running electromagnetic current through the brain produces anesthetic effects in salamanders, and if the same electromagnetic laws apply to a salamander's body and the human body, then a relationship may exist between consciousness and the body's electromagnetic properties. Moreover, considering the last findings of this study on the relationship between reported depth of NDEs and reported electromagnetic aftereffects of NDEs, an electromagnetic shift might occur during an NDE. The findings of this study provide qualified support that clearly justifies researchers to pursue further investigation."
Journal Of Near Death Studies
"Electromagnetic Aftereffects of Near Death Experiences"
I thank Brian Miller for his response to my Letter to the Editor, "An Objective Correlate of Consciousness"(Purcell, 2006). Several problems are associated with the electromagnetic theory of consciousness. First, just because some evidence indicates that consciousness is correlated with an electromagnetic field (EMF), one cannot conclude that it is identical with that field. Consciousness can travel through a Faraday Cage, as the experiment done by Karlis Osis and Donna McCormick (1980) showed. This phenomenon would not be the case if it were identical with an electromagnetic field. Second, the theory rests on the assumption that the brain produces the electromagnetic field. The case of Pam Reynolds may contradict that assumption: She reported an NDE while under a general anesthetic, with the blood drained from her body, no heartbeat, and presumably a flat electroencephalogram. (EEG; Sabom, 1998)
I personally think that saying that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of brain activity is putting the cart before the horse. I, too, am a monist and believe that consciousness is ontologically primary and generates physical reality, including the brain, as a kind of epiphenomenon. Thus, our consciousness would be able to generate an electromagnetic field to interface with the EMF of our brains. This explanation would help to account for the electrical effects seen around near-death experiencers.
The actual relationship between one's consciousness and the purported electromagnetic field around it is not initially as important, however, as the suggestion that such an association might exist. If the correspondence exists, it would provide an objective correlate that could be used to identify one's consciousness and sense it when it was present, at least when the correlation is being sustained.
"The Journal Of Near Death Studies"
Letters to the Editor
Vol. 27 #2 Winter 2008
------
"We are hyperdimensional beings of some sort, and we cast a shadow into materiality, and that shadow we cast is our body"
Of course it's still very early in his administration (just a few days, in fact) so I shouldn't think anything of Matt Lauer's congenial interview with Da Prez.
The question though, is whether this fawning will be interminable.
Also interesting, the far left judging by MSNBC's Rachel Madow are not happy with Obama's apparent moderation. Already the unions are flexing their muscles and sending up trial balloons (read recent newstories about narrowly averted strikes).
I'm getting a warm, wet feeling on my leg, not the tingles. The piss is being scared out of me.
ReplyDeleteThis is not going to end well.
Mat, who do you call winning the Israeli election?
I personally think Netanyehu's got America's interests more at heart than does the Zero. Aren't there roughly the same number of Jewish folks here, as in Israel? My numbers are rusty.
I Sing The Body Electric
ReplyDeleteWalt Whitman
-----------
"Our third finding indicates that among people who come close to death, those who report no NDE or very few NDE features are later likely to report no or fewer electromagnetic effects, and among those reporting NDE's, the deeper the NDE, the more electromagnetic effects one is likely to report. Among our sample, this likelihood was associated with each aspect of an NDE: cognitive, affective, paranormal, and transcendental.
NDErs had previously reportd perceived changes in the funtioning of their brains and entire nervous systems, as well as a decreased need for sleep, after their NDEs. Ring and other researchers had speculated that electromagnetic changes might reflect an energy shift or transformation that occurs during NDEs. If this were the case, deeper NDEs might be expected to be associated with greater energetic changes, including electromagnetic effects. However, until now, no researcher had studied the relationship between the depth of an NDE and reported incidence of electromagnetic effects. According to the findings in this study, those who reported memories of deeper NDEs also reported more post-NDE electromagnetic effects. This finding provided support for NDErs' perceptions of altered nervous system functioning and to near-death researchers' speculations of a relationship between those alterations and NDEs.
Biophysicists have extensively studied the electromagnetic properties of living organisms. Becker and Selden produced anesthetic effects on salamanders by running electromagnetic currents through their brains, suggesting a relationship between electromagnetic currents, shifts in brain waves, and body awareness. However, the mysteries of electromagnetism have yet to be solved. The human body's nervous system functioning involves electrical impulses. In addition, an electric field forms around any electric charge, and any flow of electrons sets up a combined electric and magnetic field around the current. Electromagnetic changes are a result of altering the current's field. Considering this definition of electromagnetic changes, if running electromagnetic current through the brain produces anesthetic effects in salamanders, and if the same electromagnetic laws apply to a salamander's body and the human body, then a relationship may exist between consciousness and the body's electromagnetic properties. Moreover, considering the last findings of this study on the relationship between reported depth of NDEs and reported electromagnetic aftereffects of NDEs, an electromagnetic shift might occur during an NDE. The findings of this study provide qualified support that clearly justifies researchers to pursue further investigation."
Journal Of Near Death Studies
"Electromagnetic Aftereffects of Near Death Experiences"
Nouri and Holden
Vol. 27, #2, Winter 2008
Letters---
ReplyDeleteResponse to Brian Miller
To the Editor:
I thank Brian Miller for his response to my Letter to the Editor, "An Objective Correlate of Consciousness"(Purcell, 2006). Several problems are associated with the electromagnetic theory of consciousness. First, just because some evidence indicates that consciousness is correlated with an electromagnetic field (EMF), one cannot conclude that it is identical with that field. Consciousness can travel through a Faraday Cage, as the experiment done by Karlis Osis and Donna McCormick (1980) showed. This phenomenon would not be the case if it were identical with an electromagnetic field. Second, the theory rests on the assumption that the brain produces the electromagnetic field. The case of Pam Reynolds may contradict that assumption: She reported an NDE while under a general anesthetic, with the blood drained from her body, no heartbeat, and presumably a flat electroencephalogram. (EEG; Sabom, 1998)
I personally think that saying that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of brain activity is putting the cart before the horse. I, too, am a monist and believe that consciousness is ontologically primary and generates physical reality, including the brain, as a kind of epiphenomenon. Thus, our consciousness would be able to generate an electromagnetic field to interface with the EMF of our brains. This explanation would help to account for the electrical effects seen around near-death experiencers.
The actual relationship between one's consciousness and the purported electromagnetic field around it is not initially as important, however, as the suggestion that such an association might exist. If the correspondence exists, it would provide an objective correlate that could be used to identify one's consciousness and sense it when it was present, at least when the correlation is being sustained.
"The Journal Of Near Death Studies"
Letters to the Editor
Vol. 27 #2 Winter 2008
------
"We are hyperdimensional beings of some sort, and we cast a shadow into materiality, and that shadow we cast is our body"
Terrence McKenna
Of course it's still very early in his administration (just a few days, in fact) so I shouldn't think anything of Matt Lauer's congenial interview with Da Prez.
ReplyDeleteThe question though, is whether this fawning will be interminable.
Also interesting, the far left judging by MSNBC's Rachel Madow are not happy with Obama's apparent moderation. Already the unions are flexing their muscles and sending up trial balloons (read recent newstories about narrowly averted strikes).
Twain House In Hannibal, Missouri
ReplyDeleteJackson's Island, Three Miles Downriver, Where Huck and Jim Hid Out
Behind The Camera Is A Statue Of Huck and Tom, Hannibal, Missouri
Becky Thatcher House
Huck and Tom Statue, Hannibal, Missouri
----
Read some of the gas refinery folks were about to go out on strike. That's just what we need. Well, better now than in the summer I quess.
What we really need is more refineries.
Perhaps the largest LTL trucking company in the U.S., YRC (Yellow Roadway Corp) is dangerously close to shutting it's doors.
ReplyDeleteBehind UPS, they have the largest Teamster membership.
Will they ask for bailout money?
Obama is just beginning to feel at home, in his home office.
ReplyDeleteSoon he will be working in his pajamas.
ReplyDeleteWhat we really need, bob, is more distilleries and a couple hundred thousand acres of switchgrass or sweet sorghum
ReplyDeleteBibi is going to win...
ReplyDeleteThe Israeli people have had it, they have reached their tipping point..
The have given land for peace and gotten rockets, ied's, stabbings, shootings, firebombings, sniping, kidnappings and bombings
What the world doesnt understand when they preach there is no military solution that there is...
Israel gave up the west bank... then the west bankers drank koolaid and started attacking... Israel went bank in and poof?
the west bank is quiet... arabs there are not being killed, they go to school, work and shop...
do they have "self determination"? sure as long as it doesnt include the right to murder jews...
Nurse May Get Canned For Offering To Pray For A Patient
ReplyDeleteAnother sign of the times.
Barack Obama is another Jimmy Carter? "A nice guy, came at a bad time, things got worse, he was out in four years" - does not it appear to be so?
ReplyDelete