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Ogre_Kev

Listed below are comments made by Ogre_Kev between Tuesday, 9th September 2008 and Friday, 12th September 2008.

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Sleep apnoea: tiredness kills 01:47am on 12 Sep 2008 That picture reminds me of the Atlantic City Expressway, which connects Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia. They have a series of three yellow signs that read "Stay Alert," "Stay Awake." and "Stay Alive." It's a sobering reminder that people lose more than their spending money after a night of gambling in A.C.

For the edification of justfloating, I would like to share the following. Several years ago I was unable to stay alert during the day. I was all-but narcoleptic, fighting to keep my eyes open at work. Fortunately I was behind a desk, not a steering wheel. The worst risk I faced was sending my boss an email that said "aadjfhaljaaaaaaaaaa" (the tell-tale sign of sleeping on a keyboard).

The very first thing my doctor tested for was sleep apnoea. Sleeping is only restful for the body when you are actually breathing while doing it. If you aren't breathing, you are depriving your body of oxygen. This, in turn, leaves you unrested - even after a full night's "sleep". That's why the CPAP or mouthpiece are used; they keep oxygen flowing into the lungs.

In my case, it was not apnoea but chronic stress that caused my poor sleeping. Ever since my ex-wife left, I have been able to sleep soundly and stay alert all day long.
Programme notes: axing knife poem, blog rumors and heroes 1:36pm on 09 Sep 2008 The banality of egoism ...

I found it tremendously dishonest that Prof. Zimbardo declared himself to be a "hero-in-waiting." The very experiment that made him (in)famous, the Stanford Prison Experiment, provides substantial evidence to the contrary.

Zimbardo was not a passive witness to the actions of the volunteers in that experiment, he was an active participant. He proclaimed himself to be warden of the prison, and as such was the authority to which the guards reported. His involvement in the experiment cannot be discounted.

Zimbardo himself acknowledges that it wasn't until the woman he was trying to woo (they are now married) saw the experiment first-hand (he brought her to the "prison" as part of his wooing) and pointed out in less-than-subtle terms the wrongs he was committing that he realized the experiment should be stopped. She committed an act of heroism by stopping him.

To this day, Zimbardo heaps praise upon himself for the Stanford Prison Experiment and what it has supposedly taught the world. Yet the experiment has so many flaws (beginning with Zimbardo) that its contribution to human knowledge is mainly anecdotal.

I have no way of knowing what the professor may do in the future. Who knows, he may someday save a busload of orphans and nuns from a tragic demise. However, for the professor to have taken the role he did in the experiment and then to continue to promote it for what it isn't, I have serious reservations about his potential for heroism.

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