Coral Rhedd

My own take is that so many of these experiences have been recorded that they cannot be discounted as actual experiences. They can be analysed. Wouldn't this Near Death Experience fall under the category of dissociative experience? To me, since we cannot really know for certain what these folks are experiencing, it makes sense to analyse the people who have them. What are these people like? What have been their previous experiences with dissociation, if any? This I do know, once someone has had a sort of dissociative experience, they are more likely to have another. It as if the brain has traveled that pathway before and is ready to go there again. I think it would be worth surveying believers and non-believers concerning these experiences (or not) and seeing if there is a difference.

Why don't they just hire David Copperfield?

Or they are laughing at him. I have not noticed Asian friends of mine being especially timid, but if you are making an A$$ of yourself they may not exactly tell you. Thus they contrive much amusement.

Hello all. I didn't pay much attention to this thread before. I am Coral, a middle-aged woman living in the Southwestern United States. I know little about science but I have a curiosity about many things. You will find me posting mostly in the Politics and Psychiatry Forums but that does not mean I am not reading and learning in other forums. But my mind is probably not scientific because I feel little urgency to reconcile the contradictions within my own mind. I just let them drift around in my mind like a nebulous swirl -- probably because I am seriously ADD. I like the internet/forums because it is something I can actually focus on with some success. I have an M.A. in English, which is a mostly a useless degree in a small city with a poor economy and large university that turns out M.A.s in nonpractical subjects on a regular basis. I make my living precariously as a resume writer, business plan writer, and employment specialist. Most of my work comes from a government contract to work with people with disabilities. The bane of my existence is financial paperwork. My joys are my daughter, my friends, and my dog, who is learning to become a service animal.

I love it! Very good Phi. Appropriately dark. Hmmm. That's the sort of thing that really makes a marriage!

Ah, this death penalty thing has been done to death. To make it more interesting, why not narrow it down? Is it okay to execute the mentally retarded? How about the mentally ill? Fourteen year olds? Pregnant women? People who are going to die of a terminal disease in a few months anyway? And how about those folks who seek their own execution? Should they be allowed to get away with that?

That would be funny Phi for All. However, my work tends to be a little darker. People only laugh because they are uncomfortable at my fiction. I think I can use your idea to exacerbate misunderstandings between the couple however. Making people miserable is my expertise.

That's a thought. But it seems then that one of them would certainly have suggested the idea of a leprechaun to the other. And the other party bought it, because probably they did not both look like leprechauns.

A marriage counselor I know told me this story: A middle-aged couple came to her for therapy because after 30 years of marriage they were contemplating divorce. When she asked why she did not get a clear answer. It sort of amounted to this: The kids are gone now, we are retired, and every day is pretty much the same. She said that they were the most boring couple she had ever met. They had nothing juicy in their past and nothing to be excited about for the future. It was difficult to get them to talk. When they talked, they were both utterly boring. They had few common interests except television. They actually had few interests at all. One day the wife said: "I want to tell you something we have never told anyone before." It seems there was a terrible lightening storm. The electricity went out and of course the television went off. All of a sudden a ball of fire rolled across the floor. In the afterflash, a leprechaun walked across them room and out through the other wall. The counselor was quite surprised. This woman had never shown any sign of instability. She turned to the husband questioningly. He said: "Yes, damn it it's true. It really happened. Now can we talk about something more important?" Here is my question: What happened here? Has anyone ever heard this story before? The counselor is a pretty trustworthy person who is reasonably skeptical, but . . . Urban legend, anyone?

What no one really picked up on in the link in the OP is that the parrot has psychic ability. Agree? Disagree? Not enough evidence?

I love your post! Some thoughts: I hope no one is offended by my comments equating parrots with children. In fact children are often not heard. When we ignore the needs of others we diminish ourselves and them, parrots included.

Absolutely fascinating. I know young women who would welcome an artificial womb to avoid stretch marks and the hormonal and metabolic changes that cause post pregnancy weight to linger. And of course pregnancy can have more serious health consequences for women. About the heartbeat? Couldn't it just be simulated as well? On the other hand, there is some evidence that pregnancy before age 30 actually provides women with some protection against breast cancer. Also there in an influx of oxytocin (sp.) around birth that is a bonding hormone in women. I wonder if it also affects the baby?

You guys are too wicked and too funny.

So what about more nuanced emotions like jealousy? Could we say that it is a combination of fear and anger?

I do forget sometimes about how young people can actually be on this forum. Yet their intelligence constantly fools me into thinking they are older. Actually, the idea of three men for different purposes may not be a common fantasy of women. I have never heard another woman mention it. Just me, but I am old and cynical. Most of the women I know wish their husband's would find something to do besides go grocery shopping with them. We tend to calm down around a certain age and want to be left more to ourselves.

Absolutely not. Me neither. I want to keep the high ground and don't want to seem like . . . people who never answer other people's questions and inaccurately misrepresent other people's arguments. My apologies to Diefied if I went to far.

Oh oh. Now I've gone and done it. I was just kidding you guys a little. Honestly.

Geez Hellbender, I'm trying to take Diefied seriously here. No need to fling insults. I don't want him to get shy and not answer my very important questions concerning women enjoying more than one mate. If men could behave that way for thousands of years, now that women can obtain good birth control, isn't our turn?

Well when I lived on the ranch we had a rather cutting solution to the extra guys problem. Do you think that would be an advantage these days? Those guys who had harems sometimes had castrated guys to guard the harems. I cannot remember what they were called.

If women stop having children or at least have significantly fewer children, would this goal change for women? What then would be women's sexual goal? I would be interested in hearing you speculate nevertheless as to why monogamy does exist. Allow me to remind you that we now know that even animal species we previously thought to be monogamous actually get a little on the side. How sure you are that monogamy is the norm for either men or women? I define monogamy as a lifelong commitment to one mate. Not to shock you, but I do not know of a single (OR MARRIED ) woman who would fit this description. I haven't surveyed men. May I ask what type of relationship you partake of or aspire to? I certainly can see the advantage of more than one mate. I would especially like one who understood his purpose was to concentrate on household chores and another who understood his purpose was to make money and another who understood that, despite all evidence to the contrary, I still want flowers on Valentine's Day.

Great point Glider. Perhaps you can tell me how to solve this one: Sex is also a drive. Wanting sex can be a product of sexual deprivation. In my experience from talking to many many women friends, they want affirmation of emotional connection before providing sex. Does this mean that men and women have some sort of inevitable impass? That most women want men to discuss love before sex and that most men want to satisfy their sexual drive before they can discuss feelings? If this is so, is it because men have a stronger sex drive? Or are the sex drives in men and women just different in how they are manifested?