Sunday, July 6, 2014

Ambidextrous and going strong

Teeth. I'm sure my dentist is just waiting for me to give him a call because I damaged my teeth opening the toothpaste or holding the end of the Ziploc bag trying to slide open the zipper. I can truthfully say that there are a number of things that are invaluable at this particular time: my husband without whom I would probably starve to death; needle nose pliers; grip it twister grips; wet dishcloths; salad shooter; ice; Dragon.

The surgery went well. I had what is called a neural block. That deadened my shoulder all the way to the tips of my fingers. The anesthesiologist said the block should last 20 hours – 15 hours later, in the middle of the night, my fingers start tingling and my thumb ached. So I took the high-powered prescription to dull the pain – it did okay for the 1st 24 hours. After that it made me so dizzy that I was nauseous and I couldn't eat or drink so I couldn't take medication... Needless to say I picked up Tylenol PM and Advil PM and have been doing great since.

So my hand is wrapped in a soft cast and my thumb is nothing more than a nub sticking out on the side of the wrapping and my other 4 fingers are nothing more than fat little sausages hanging out the end of the wrapping. My hand looks like it belongs to a cartoon character.

Everyone says to keep the hand up above the heart. That is a wonderful idea. Not practical, makes sleeping difficult, but it is a great idea. I slept the 1st 2 nights in a recliner with my hand propped up across my chest in a sling and the dog sleeping between my feet. Needless to say I didn't get a lot of sleep. That's okay – I'm getting into naps.

The one thing I'm not used to is being baby sat. I have not been babysat in over 50 years. In fact, I was babysitting other kids by the time I was 11. So having people come over and "watch out for me" while my husband is at work is rather disconcerting. I mean, it is nice to have the company, but couldn't they come at a time when I was more mentally available? To watch me doze and drool while we were watching movies just doesn't seem like a very uplifting meaningful visit. Maybe for them it was.

I have gotten into resting after lunch. I know that many European countries have siestas, now I understand why. It is a great relaxing way to beat the summer heat. I've been watching all those movies I said I would watch when my husband wasn't home. I'm also catching up on some reading. I finished a unicorn Western and I'm working my way through the last book of my wired generation research. Don, you mentioned being ambidextrous – I'm learning how to take notes left handed. And actually my writing is improving! My left-handed granddaughter would be proud of me.

On to more interesting topics. Dylan Love wrote an article that stated "By 2045, the top species will no longer be humans, and that could be a problem". The new species that he is talking about is robots. It appears that we are on that cusp that could take us in a direction we, as humanity, are unprepared for.
Lewis Del Monte, a physicist, wrote a book called The Artificial Intelligence Revolution and he explains that by the end of the century people are more likely to be cyborg. Machines could very well see humans as unstable and incapable, creators of wars and wiping out machines with viruses. The most interesting thing I learned was that in 2009, in an experiment in the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in Switzerland, computers actually lied to each other in an attempt to keep beneficial resources to themselves. Hmmmm – it appears the machines we have created are not much different than we are. 

Some of my other reading includes the stories we will be publishing on Wormhole in September. Tammy has sent in an incredibly creepy story called Detour that has left me Creeped out. Magnificent story. And one of our new European writers, Jeroen, sent in a magnificent Scottish ghost story. I haven't quite finished his story but I can say it did a great job of creeping me out too. It looks like the stories for September are great precursors for October.

Have a great week folks!

Carolyn

 Article by Dylan Love retrieved from
all images downloaded from Google images
Fig 1 – babysitting retrieved from www.schools.manatee.k12.fl.us
Fig 2 – L a siesta retrieved from hotelyaramar.es
Fig 3 – national robotics week 2015 retrieved from www.nationalroboticsweek.co
Fig 4 – artificial intelligence in the future of humans retrieved from futurehumanevolution.com








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