11 Nov 99	Armistice Day aka Veterans Day 
 
I wonder how many Americans know why Veterans Day is this particular day? 
hmmm.  
 
So let's see... I wrote something down on an envelope somewhere... just a 
tic... 
 
I can't remember which side this is supposed to start on, but I'll start 
with the part I was thinking earlier today anyway 
 
What I'd really like in a bioimplant is a mental stenographer so I could 
save my verbal thoughts on disk.  I have things I think, that I mean to 
write down, but am in the middle of reading a book while eating lunch at 
Chef Ho's... and I can only do so much. 
 
What would happen to art if one could reproduce one's vision - if there 
were a direct brain/digital interface.  I've seen a few articles in 
_Science_ about people who are computing what scenes look like from the 
activity of about 117 neurons in the cat's visual cortex...  What if we 
could do that with ours?  A true mental camera.  One notices that modern 
photography can "see" certain things much better than our given physical 
equipment, but one has yet to get the look that we actually see. 
Interesting contrast gains, etc. 
 
I remember reading a little while back on the BBC web site about a man who 
has a chip implanted in his arm, attached to the tendons that control his 
fingers...recording movements, and then later "playing them back"... 
 
Imagine if we had this type of interface - what it could do for people 
with severe physical handicaps, can barely talk, can't move... I've seen a 
website by a British girl who's quadraplegic. 
 
There is art in the way one's life is lived; one sees the greatest 
performance artists in this - lies are required by much of life, for 
physical, social, mental survival...sometimes some very big lies are 
required, and I think most people are actually able to handle this - it's 
built-in to being human. 
 
I don't know what brought the next thoughts on (I'm drawing out some stuff 
that I had written while I was in the subway)... 
 
Someone once asked me "Do I have a drinking problem?"  I said, if you can 
have 1 or 2 drinks and stop with no trouble, you don't have a problem. 
The response "I can stop.  I stop when I get sick". 
 
On those lines, I was wondering if I have an eating problem?  The main 
problem is over-stuffing myself.  I've got to eat everything that comes in 
the box, everything in the bag, everything in the portion size at the 
restaurant.  It's not because ma brought us up with the "clear everything 
off your plate, there are kids starving in Africa" method... I think it's 
because I want to feel like I've gotten my money's value.  (But, I hear 
you cry, can't you have the extra wrapped up?  Well, if you know how I 
live right now, there's no good way for me to do this.)  I got off this 
kick for a little while and allowed myself to stop eating when full -- but 
I'm in a real "money's worth" mode right now. 
 
Reading problem?  That I do.  Especially with good books.  I have lost 
alot of sleep trying to finish a really good book.  I can't stop. 
 
An odd thought on the side here -- remembering when Carey bopped Amy on 
the head with her recorder... 
 
and a quote from Albus Dumbledore about only getting books for Christmas 
presents, when he always needs socks... 
 
I had another thought before, so I think I'll just end saying: glutamate 
for long-range connections, GABA for short range.