Languages and how we think

Fascinating article from the NY Times.

And my own experience suggests it's true. For example, I have been stating repeatedly that I cannot express my emotions in Hebrew, which is my mother tongue, but I can easily do so in English, where I am considered to be at the level of a native speaker. In fact, I have an amusing dynamic with my current therapist, who is fluent in both languages as well; I will often discuss events from an observational viewpoint in Hebrew, but when it comes to describing my experience, I unfailingly switch to English - with no ability to even attempt the same expression in Hebrew. And it's not just a loss for words; when I try to consider expressing myself in Hebrew, I grow frustrated and then very rapidly, lose the emotion entirely. I no longer feel it the same way, and then it's impossible to describe it in English as well.

My explanation has always been that English had a much greater store of vocabulary, many more subtleties available for use. I just never imagined quite how true that last statement was.

I am also beginning to think that there is a tremendous advantage to having two very different languages at a native level. Hebrew and English are extremely different. For one thing, it allows switching points of view in a very deep sense.

Wow (new laptop ordered)

So yes, I know the x301 and the x3xx series in general are on their way out forever, but it is still a formidable machine in its own right even if it hasn't gotten the new Intel core CPU's.

Still, the time has come to replace my aging x61s, and while I would not have bought the x301 on account of it being a bit long in the tooth, Lenovo then hit me with their one day sale yesterday. It was 7 hours, phone orders only, but included a whopping $1369 discount!

It worked.

So a loaded x301 (4GB RAM and all the cool options) with a 3-year onsite warranty, an additional 3-cell ultrabay battery for extended operation, and their sexy ultraslim combo adapter - both absolutely necessary for us road warriors - in about 10 days.

Total cost, taxed and shipped: $1,532.74.

Not bad, eh?

New Abbott Navigator Nightmare

And the saga continues.

About three days ago, my Navigator spontaneously rebooted itself several times in a row. Of course as a result I lost a sensor, but it was also a very odd behavior; there seemed to be no issues at all with the hardware. I opened and moved batteries around and replaced them and it became stable again.

Seemed to be an electrical connection problem. But where?

Yesterday it did it again. I again opened the battery compartment this time for a closer look, and an obvious culprit quickly emerged. One of the four battery contacts seemed a bit awkwardly placed, twisted at a weird angle. So I poked at it. It popped out like a jack-in-the-box.

Aha!

My first thought was - crazy glue. A small enough amount should bond it back to its contact plate, without killing conductivity too badly. It worked for about an hour but then went haywire again. While the battery contact was stable, it seemed like conductivity wasn't good enough.

I honestly wasn't thinking well by that time and last night I applied even more superglue. It bonded alright, but now there was no conductivity at all; the device simply went dead. Yes, yes, it's obvious, but I was involved in an intense and heated emotional discussion while dealing with this and my head wasn't screwed on straight.

I finally got back home and got to tinkering again. Took me 40 minutes to scrape off most of the crazy glue and put the contact back on (loosely, not bonded), just to see if the device would turn back on. It did, and stayed that way through the night. But that was not a good solution; the merest bump would send the contact moving again and I'd be back to the same problem.

Of course you know the answer. So I went and bought a soldering pen, and on the way home stopped at a shop and let a professional do it for me instead. He did get the contact and plate soldered well, but a new problem emerged; there was a big blob of flux now, which made it hard to fit the battery in.

So I got home, used my soldering pen to soften some of it up, and scrape it out. Then I pushed the battery in, closed the compartment (it was all bent and the like because the blob was still pretty big), and the device came to life. Yay! so I put a new sensor in and went on my way.

Less than an hour later the thing died again. I'm glad I was looking at it all the time because it was warm to the touch. I immediately opened the battery compartment to pull the batteries out. One of them was HOT, so hot it burned me. Ouch.

I cooled it off enough to be able to examine it, and sure enough, the battery wrapper was punctured in two locations from the flux blob, essentially shorting it onto itself and causing it to discharge at a high rate. Hence the heat. I believe that if I had not caught it then, 2-3 minutes later it would have fried the entire device too.

So I went home and went to work again. This time I shaved and pried and sliced off as much flux as I could to flatten it out, then fit new batteries in. At this point I was kinda wondering if the Nav was dead after all it had gone through and it's inherent finickiness. Some of the plastic around the battery compartment was now melted and messed up, it ain't pretty in there.

Lo and behold, it came back to life without complaint. The compartment door closed easily, and I now seem to have a working Nav again. How sad that because of Abbott's astoundingly poor customer service* I have to resort to such lengths to revive my unit. And what a testament to the strength of the underlying technology that I am so loyal to it even so.

Please Nav, live. Live until the new ones get to the US. Live.

* this Nav is under warranty but they can't replace it because they don't have any units in stock, as it has been since February and will last at least through December; all this while the Nav is currently selling and easily available in Europe.

I called it

Not that I'm particularly smart or anything... but it feels good to see the story unfolding pretty much as expected.

I do believe the 9th circuit will uphold this. As for the supreme court... who knows? I think they will uphold state rights basically.

Poem

I know I haven't posted in a while... apologies. Between Facebook and life, I admit to having deserted this medium.

Anyway, this just came out. I wanted to share it with you. It is emergent from my current therapy sessions, and is the result of an analogy I made in my last one with my therapist, related to how I see psychological healing, how I experience it.

===
MIND
===
Seven lanes
in each direction
towers of steel
cement
cats eyes
and lights

Well traveled
Smooth
Many signs
pointing
urging
"go here!"
it's safe
"come through!"
it's free

The chasm below
deep
wide
no scaling down
no climbing up
there is no bottom
there is no way
to move across
but on the bridge
safe
and easy

So who cares
about the toll booths?
they don't charge money
no need to slow down
they simply stand there
shadows inside them
don't pay attention
safe
and sound

it's only voices
that come from them
wafting in
whispering
you can barely hear them
until the blast
"we'll protect you"
just keep on crossing
until the day
you die

but they take their toll alright
a forever payment
you can't avoid
you can't decline
there is no hiding
from the voices
besides,
where would you go instead?

it may be years
decades before
you look around
and suddenly
notice a path
it's dusty, not even paved
just gravel
rough
it goes off into the distance
have you tried it once?
you wonder
maybe again
maybe just this once

and there it is
a rope bridge
barely secured
across the gap
it's hard to cross
it wobbles
but it has no toll booth
no voices past

it takes a while
much longer
you miss the smoothness
of the bridge
the easy travel
with no bumps
it is so compelling
to go back there at once

rope bridge?
toll booths?
where next?
what now?
one is harder
shaking
scary
the other known
safe
even comforting
who cares about a little
whisper?

but there is a memory now
of clean air
crisp
fresh
and most important
silence
so clear
you can suddenly hear
the world around you
and open your eyes
no voices
no terror
it melts away
you like it now

and you cross it again
and again
the ropes seem to strengthen
then turn into wood
then stone
you visit the bridge
it's a little worn now
falling into
disrepair
and the voices are stronger
they are the ones
who are scared now

and you suddenly get it
you suddenly see
all this time
they were protecting
not you
but themselves

so you go back
to the stone walkway
which is rapidly building
becoming a bridge
and you cross
and you cross
and you shout in joy
for there are no toll booths
with shadows
in here

the air remains crisp
just remember
that old bridge is there
and you know the route