Paradisa wonders:


My friend was recently attacked by someone with a gun. He tried to grab my friend’s purse. But it’s one of those that go around the neck and on the opposite shoulder, so he couldn’t get it. My friend sprayed a substance (a mix of rust-remover and ammonia) that she keeps in a small bottle in her pocket into his eyes. both products may possibly cause blindness. But my friend has a broken nose, broken colar bone and bruises all over face. The man was found guilty and will be in prison for 7 years. Yes he still has no vision in either eye. My friend did not get arrested for that .

Is it legal to spray substance in an asualters eye that may cause permanant blindness?

berlajolli wonders:


here I sit face to face with Saramago’s lattest (in English at least) novel “Seeing”. Somewhat displeased with his “blindness” and totally disappointed with “The Year of Death of Ricardo Reis” I sit in wonder: to read or not to read? Suggestions welcome.

Terry Schierer wonders:


A lot of house to decorate with little money? Cheap roman blinds will put a smile on yours and your families face and do little damage to your pocket book at the same time.

Roman shades and blinds are the in thing these days, and since they are so beautiful, it definitely is not hard to see why. So, if you are looking for a great deal on your roman blinds and shades, here are a few ideas.

Cheap Custom Made Roman Shades.

While you could make your roman shades on your own, lets face it, who today has the time or patience to make our own. Sit back, relax and use you finger to discover great roman blinds savings on line. Making you own is frustrating and confusing unless you make them all the time.

Custom made roman shades are a great idea because they are custom made to fit any window in your home. And the best part is they are guaranteed to fit. They are not to big or too little, you don’t need to compromise your idea of fit. They fit.

Great Choices of Colors and Fabrics.

When you have cheap roman shades custom made for your home, you have many options to choose from. There are many great choices of colors and fabrics, and you are sure to find the fabric and color options that will look great in your home. Every color and texture you can think off just sitting there ready to add awesome to your window’s description.

The Results of Using Cheap Roman Shades

Once you get your new roman shades installed so the whole world can see you are going to have friends and family making over your beautiful new shades. Showing off your beautiful new blinds will be your families number one priority for quite a while.

More than likely they will think you spent big money, and you can just smile to yourself knowing what a great deal that you got on them.

Just think of all the things you can do with that money you saved. Maybe invest in a manicure, buy that new dress you’you’ve been eying for weeks, or even put the money in your savings account for next years’ vacation. No doubt your spouse will also be thrilled at how much money you saved as well.

So, as you can see, you don’t have to spend a fortune to get the roman shades and blinds you want. You can have beautiful cheap roman blinds, and you won’t have to stretch your budget to get them.

eldisher07 wonders:


Do white people have an ethnic identity?
Politicians in liberal democratic states in Europe, the United States and Canada have often
prided themselves for passing legislation to eliminate racism. Many white American liberals in the 1990s, argues Patricia Williams, believe that such legislation has all but eliminated racism, and that only an ignorant and violent fringe continues to purport values of racial superiority.
Racism, however, she argues, is still alive and well, albeit in a different form. Instead
of asserting superiority and committing overtly nasty acts against people of colour, a form of
racism that was easy to define and against which it was easy to organise opposition, she contends that many white people today treat people with darker genetic-based complexions as
objects of curiosity, beings to engage for entertainment or to demonstrate open-mindedness and multicultural ethic, but not really equal people. This kind of racism, Williams argues, still has the effect of preserving social stratification, only it does so in a more sanitised and subtle manner.
Moreover, she contends, white people generally do not want to talk about racism. Discussions
suggesting that racial inequalities continue to rank people along a hierarchy do not fit
conveniently into conceptions that post-industrial societies have become multicultural. By refusing to engage in such discussions, Williams argues, white people deny the existence of real experiences which black people cannot avoid. The problem, she suggests, arises from an absence of a sense of white ethnicity. White people, she contends, see ethnicity as something that applies to other groups. Whites do define themselves as members of religious, language and cultural groups, but, she contends, they do not share experiences based on their race, and thus lack a sense of white issues. Perhaps this absence of ethnicity may reflect white guilt for past racism, or perhaps it may reflect an absence of shared experiences held by most white people on account of their race. If whites cannot see their own ethnicity, she suggests, then they cannot fully appreciate the ethnic issues faced by other groups. She does contend that a colourblind society, one in which race would make no difference in people’s experience of life, is possible, but she also contends that contemporary American and perhaps other post-industrial societies are a very long way away from colour-blindness.

Source
Aubhai-Brown, Yasmin. ‘Home truths in black and white’. The Independent (Section 2, 27
January 1997): 2.

Discussion questions
1. Do white Europeans have a sense of ethnic identity, or do you agree with Patricia Williams’s argument that whites have no sense of ethnicity?
2. Is a colour-blind society possible or desirable?
3. Do you agree that a new, subtle racism plagues Europe?

wonders:


The Blind Girl

There was a blind girl who hated herself because of her blindness.
Not only did she hate herself but she hated everyone else, except
her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that
if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could
see everything, including her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend asked her, “now that you can see the world, will you
marry me?” The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend
was blind too,and refused to marry him.

Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her
that simply said. “Just take care of my eyes dear.”

This is how the human brain changes when our status changes. Only
a few remember what life was like before and even fewer remember
who to thank for always being there even when times were painfully
unbearable.

Life Is a Gift. Today before you think of saying an unkind word -
Think of someone who can’t speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food -
Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife -
Think of someone who’s crying out to God for a companion.

Today before you complain about life -
Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before you complain about your children –
Think of someone who desires children but they’re barren.

Before you argue about your dirty house, someone didn’t clean or sweep -
Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive -
Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job -
Think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished
they had your job.

But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another-
Remember that not one of us are without sin and we all answer to one maker.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down -
Put a smile on your face and thank God you’re alive and still around.

Michael Skye wonders:


Consider this…

Inside of goodness it’s inherently very difficult to be great. Very difficult. Greatness means being willing to risk the very thing goodness requires: the approval of those who say what is good and what is not.

Yet consider that greatness is inherently simple. It’s natural. It’s simply a matter of returning to you–to your natural conscience or consciousness–to your innate call to courageously face reality honestly and courageously act in line with your values.

What’s actually hard is being “good” in so many other people’s eyes–all the time. Everyone judges you by different standards, standards which can change at their whim. On top of that others’ perceptions of you are always limited and always changing. See how it’s hard to be good?

Now consider how your conscience or consciousness is continually reminding you not to ignore or compromise your values for others, and you can see how it can be harder to be “good, rather than great!

Yet we’re trained from birth in the art of being “good.” We’re trained at home, in school, at church, at work, etc., etc. We become so conditioned for goodness, that goodness becomes easy and greatness becomes difficult.

Greatness becomes extremely difficult, because we’ve been trained all of our lives not to think for ourselves and act courageously on our own thoughts. We’re trained instead to defer to others’ judgment and to follow their lead.

So when it comes time to stand for something in the face of authority’s or majority’s criticisms, we don’t want to be outcast. We don’t want to lose their estimation of us as a “good” person. So we choose goodness over greatness. And with every such choice, our spirit dies a little more.

Being true to yourself and living a heroic life doesn’t need to be a constant uphill battle. The more willing you are to let go of “goodness,” the more swiftly and naturally you can step back into greatness.

INTRODUCTION:

In a related article, we asked, “What separates the person of goodness from the person of greatness?” and we saw how the person of greatness is guided primarily by his own consciousness and conscience. The person of goodness on the other hand is primarily guided by others.

We also saw that being guided by conscience is quite natural, and thus greatness could be quite natural for human beings. So why then, we asked, do we receive so much goodness training?

There are plenty of good excuses for goodness training. Rather than concern ourselves with why it exists, let’s take a closer look at how it works, and what its affect is on our natural greatness.

Goodness training starts early. Most all of us have been taught what to believe, who to follow. We’ve been rewarded when we believe and obey, and punished when we question and disobey.

In fact, to be successful, goodness training must override one’s natural greatness. Let’s look at how this works. Natural Greatness is evident in the two functions of conscience, as discussed in the last session:

1. To lead us to FACE (self-honesty, courageous inquiry)

2. To lead us to STAND (courageous integrity)

Goodness training requires that we,

1. Look to the leader for guidance (rather than face)

2. Follow and obey (rather than stand)

ORIENTATION:

Highest Value:

Trained Goodness – Appear good in the eyes of others

Natural Greatness – Respect and honor in own eyes

Guidance Values:

Trained Goodness – 1. Blind faith (not looking for inner guidance, not questioning, not facing) OVER self-honesty/vision (looking for inner guidance, questioning, facing)

2. Blind obedience (being true to highest outer guidance) OVER integrity (being true to highest inner guidance)

Natural Greatness – 1. Self-honesty OVER blind faith

2. Conscious integrity OVER blind obedience

Conscience orientation:

Trained Goodness – Turn outward, away from conscience, towards a leader’s vision

Natural Greatness – Turn inward, towards conscience and towards own vision

Consequences:

Trained Goodness – Growing self-distrust, anxiety, self-doubt, dependence, disconnection from self

Natural Greatness – Growing self-trust, peace, confidence, inner power, connection with self

Reaction/Response to Consequences:

Trained Goodness – Seek more external guidance

Natural Greatness – Seek more internal guidance

Results:

Trained Goodness – Decreasingly powerful vision, awareness and grasp of reality

Natural Greatness – Increasingly powerful vision, awareness and grasp of reality

Caution: Goodness training often results in fearful minds. And fearful minds look first for agreement and disagreement, as if exploring new ideas is a matter of defend and attack. “I agree with this, but not with that.” Fearful minds react quickly to ideas that seem to conflict with their own. They run back to their position and hide behind the safety of the walls of their beliefs and judgments.

Great minds relate to conflicting ideas differently, and the result is ever-emerging wisdom and vision. So be conscious of how you explore.

And please remember to relate to the terms in this article, as defined in this article, rather than how you may define them. For example, if faith means something different to you, then understand that we’re not talking about that kind of faith.

Most disagreement and miscommunication in the world happens when we assume that someone else means the same thing we do when using a certain word, when he means another thing entirely. So, if there is disagreement, first look to understand the other person’s context or definition. There may be no disagreement at all.

And, rather than looking to see if you agree or disagree, look to assemble the new ideas into a puzzle you’ve not seen before.

VISIONARY ADVANTAGE:

Tomorrow’s visionaries will not be accidental or “born” visionaries. They will consciously guide themselves by new protocols that give them ever-expanding powers for guiding themselves with conscience, wisdom and vision.

VISIONARY DYNAMIC:

The more you face yourself and reality and look within for guidance, the more powerful your vision becomes.

VISIONARY CHALLENGE:

As much of a leader as you may be in many areas of your life, look for areas in which you doubt yourself. Who do you defer to? Whose guidance do you seek? What gives them more ability than you to know what’s so, or what’s best for you? How can you reverse the cycle of dependency, and put yourself on a course of looking within to build ever more wisdom, power and vision?

Marvin Perry wonders:


me one of your friends arranged a blind date with you and one of her colleagues. You’ve been on quite a few dates and you have had your fare share of blind dates as well. So you are somewhat familiar with blind dates. However, your gut instinct tells you that this is unlike any other blind date you have been on. Could this be your last date before you settle down?

Of course it’s a natural instinct for you to ask some information about your would-be dates. Yet the friend who set you up wouldn’t tell all. In fact, your friend would probably want you to find for yourself the things you want to know about your date. You are both excited and nervous at the same time. But because you trust your friend, you think that nothing bad is going to happen. What’s the worst thing that could happen, anyway?

Blind dating puts dating on an all-new different level. In this case, there is an element of anonymity which adds to the excitement. This, however, could also bring fear among daters because more often than not, they do not know what to expect. So here are a few tips.

If you do not want to leave small details to chance, it is good for you to ask your would-be date’s number (especially if you are a guy) and have a small conversation beforehand. Although this is not a general rule, it will somehow give you an idea on pretty much what to expect the moment you go out on a date with this person. This will give you some time to prepare.

Being attracted to a person at the first instance of meeting him or her could happen in real life. Yet this would entail some qualities that you find very appealing the moment you set your eyes on this person. Most likely, the cases of “love at first sight” are based on the physical aspect. So if your date is very attractive it will give you more options. But beauty is a relative word. What others find beautiful may actually look otherwise to you. So you should not go on a blind date expecting to fall in love with the person when you see them for the first time. Either you or your date may be disappointed. Lets face it, a relationship that is built purely on physical attraction, is not a very good relationship. There is more to love than what is seen by the naked eye.

You can treat it as a friendly date. Start the conversation as if you are talking to a friend. Keep your conversation light. It will take some of the pressure off your shoulders and you will have the opportunity to get to know your date even better. It may not turn out as romantically as you want it to be, but at least your date is a worthwhile experiencenot to mention that you gain a new friend in the process. Who knows, you will end up with that same person someday. Friends can be lovers, too. But only time can really tell.

Rabid Dog Pie wonders:


A blind man goes for a job as a quality controller in a wood mill. Somewhat taken aback by the man’s blindness, the boss asks him how he can possibly do the job if he can’t see anything. “I use my sense of smell,” he replies.

Rather sceptical of the man’s claims, the boss decides to test him by sticking a piece of wood under his nose, “what’s this?” he asks, after a quick sniff, the blindman replies, “it’s a fine piece of oak.”

Amazed at the man’s correct answer, the boss trys again with another piece. “Ah, that is very poor willow,” the blindman answers correctly.

At this moment the boss’s secretary walks in, so for a bit of fun he gets her to hike her dress up, drop her knickers and shove her crotch into the man’s face. He takes a couple of sniffs, and asks if it can be turned around, to which the secretary duly obliges by shoving her backside into his face.

The man takes a sniff, and say’s “you can’t fool me with that one, its the sh1t house door off a tuna boat!”

IC wonders:


You probably know someone who has experienced blindness. Two leading causes of blindness glaucoma and cataracts. Even though contact lens companies may not tell you up front that wearing contact lenses can cause blindness, multiple studies show that contact lenses may be a contributing factor in blindness, especially in developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that there are over 37 million blind people in the world, and roughly 90 percent of those people reside in developing nations where proper care is easy to practice..

So how can you avoid going blind because of your contact lenses? Follow the following 5 tips and talk to your optometrist about blindness.

1. Practice good hygiene. Good hygiene for you eyeballs? This isn’t anything special that you shouldn’t already be doing. Good hygiene for you eyes include washing your hands regularly and avoiding touching your eyes with any foreign object including your fingers. You can also wear UV resistant sunglasses to avoid UV radiation. When it comes to contact lens use you’ll want to make sure you don’t share anything with another contact lens wearer. That includes sharing contact lenses, cleaning solution, eye drops, moisturizers, storage containers and anything else that touches your eye.

2. Replace contacts regularly. Another reason contact lens wearers experience blindness is because they keep their contacts in too long and don’t replace them as recommended. If your contacts are designed for single use and are disposable, throw them out after first use. If they’re designed to last one month, don’t wear them for two months. Another reason is because people leave them in too long. If you keep your contact lenses in for 16 hours every day you may begin to experience additional dryness and irritation. When you no longer need your contacts in, take them out.

3. Eat right. Senior Consultant Ophthalmologist and Rotarian with the Rotary Avoidable Blindness Program, Mr. Low Hong says that the eating right can help improve your eyesight. By eating right Mr. Hong advises eating traffic light-like vegetables. That means those vegetables that are red, green, and yellow. Those colored fruits can contain important chemicals required by the eye to function and have a clearer vision and you’ll see colors more clearly. Hong also advises eating carrots because they help improve your eyesight as well.

4. Sleep right. Position is more important that length says Hong when it comes to blindness and cataracts. When you sleep face down on your pillow you put pressure against your eyes and eye sockets that can lead to cataracts and eventually cataract surgery. Additional sleep also helps your eye recover from wearing contact lenses for prolonged periods. Sleep helps your eyes recover from any damage they might have experienced as a result of wearing contacts all day.

5. Avoid eye rubbing. This one may seem simple, but it is often overlooked. If your keep your hands out of your eyes, you’re less likely to develop an infection and scratch your cornea. Eye infections are a serious cause of blindness. Another serious cause is inadvertent eye damage usually caused by a foreign object. Stay aware when walking near trees with low hanging branches and whenever around objects that are hanging at eye level.

Blindness is serious and extremely difficult to treat. If you take precaution and recognize how valuable and fragile your eyes are, they’ll hopefully last you an entire lifetime!

LennyBound wonders:

Episode two of a two-part BBC-4 special program hosted by neurologist V.S. Ramachandran that explains his key findings in certain instances of brain damage that have long been viewed as mere curiosities by the scientific community. This episode focuses on prosopagnosia, the Capgras delusion, and temporal lobe epilepsy.

My apologies for the audio being slightly off, the black bar at the bottom of the video, as well as the temporary video defects; this was the only copy of the video I could find.

This is Part 4 of 5.