"WHERE DO YOU GET THIS STUFF?"

This post is not narcissism so much as it is “self-reflexivity” -- that is, an attempt to see myself from outside of myself as though I were still myself as the observer.  We KNOW that most of what is our identity is not accessible to our conscious mind and yet we keep thinking [sic] that our only thinking is only conscious and that we know everything about ourselves.  There is a gray area between what we think we know about ourselves and what simply cannot be known, much less controlled.  Yogis go there.

But much of it can only be accessed by instruments and even then the innermost workings of ourselves -- breath, electrochemical reactions, blood distribution, sensory sorting, gut biome, methylation of the epigenome, imprints from the past -- still remain unknown.  In fact, I’m seeing that most people still haven’t caught up with the neurology research and all the other “omics” that are constantly complexifying our understanding.   (Omics Group is a bit of a guide, but your computer will try to put a “C” on the beginning of the phrase.  omicsonline.org  Resist.)

Myself about 1967

Two blunders repeat in the responses to whatever I post.  The first comes from identifying myself as living on the high prairie next to the Blackfeet Reservation.  Many people, esp. urban techies, assume that means an uneducated person and they proceed to patronize and instruct me.  Some think I must be an Indian since they are unaware of the heterogenous nature of American reservations.  (Canadian reserves are more homogenous.)  

The other blunder people make is assuming my “avatar” -- which is often a photo from the past -- is me in the present.  Since their default position about everything is sexual, they kind of “come on” to that person in the photo.  In the days when I was a “fox,”(the Sixties) I got rid of their pestering by “belonging” [sic] to a powerful older man.  Today I depend upon my “delete” button.  But an opposite problem is solved by email because they can't see me.  Therefore they can't judge me by my baggy old clothes.  (Why buy clothes when I could buy a book?)  If I want respect and proper attention, I must dig out my dress-up duds.  Otherwise they are startled when I turn out to be, as my supervisor for student teaching once said,  "You're a lot smarter than you look."  That was Wallace Smith, who used to answer the phone in his wonderfully rich and cultivated voice by saying, "Hello.  This is GOD speaking."  

These are not major problems.  It is more troublesome that my “picture of the world” is so different from most local people, because it puzzles them that I should be "Other" and their first reaction to puzzlement is elimination.  Partly the difference is due to a different past and kind of education, but also much of it comes from my information feed.  And then there are those who deny any difference because that would imply that one was better than the other.

Snow Geese at Freezeout Lake are going through on the way north.

I’m in list-making mode, since it’s Spring, the true new year.  I thought it would be a good idea to list my sources of information.  This is not all of them, but in case people are curious or might find them useful, here are four categories of online sources I use pretty often.  (There are more categories.  I keep hoping they will help me get a grip on all this stuff.)  Strangely, the Flathead Beacon is much more useful than the Glacier Reporter which is dominated by a right-wing female publisher who constantly fights the rez.  She has “Sarah Palin” complex.

Where do I get these contacts?  BOOKS!  FRIENDS!   Twitter.  (I avoid Facebook since they sell user info to anyone who will buy.)  Magazine articles.  Google.  Wikipedia -- rarely.  Alumni mags.  Sometimes TED Talks and until now Edge.org but that’s losing its value to me.  Too fuddy-duddy and high tech at the same time.  Cutting "edge" about 1970.  There are others that are similar but my self-imposed routine doesn’t always make room for hour-long lectures, unless I’m actively researching something.

NEWSPAPERS ONLINE

OZY  (Ozymandias)

Al Jazeera

Guardian

NY Times

The Tyee

The Economist

Flathead Beacon

   Justin Franz  @franz88  (Reporter for above who tweets breaking news)

GF Tribune

Glacier Reporter

SEX

Dr. Stephen Snyder   @SexualityToday

James Cantor   @JamesCantorPhD

Dr. Ogi Ogas  @ogiogas

Dr. Sai Gaddam  @SaiDrGaddam

Heather Berlin  @heather_Berlin

Real Stories Gallery   @HIVstories

Big Voice Pictures  @bigvoice

HIV Community Link  @HIVCommLink

Sexresearchhoneypot.blogspot.com

Sexuality and Religion   debrahaffner.blogspot.com

Love and intimacy   intimacyquarry.blogspot.com

The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.
     www.Kinseyinstitute.org  

SCIENCE  (following some on Twittter, others by subscription)

OliverSacks   @OliverSacks

Nature  @nature

The Neuro Network  @TheNeuroNetwork

LeDoux Lab  @LeDoux Lab

Joseph E. LeDoux  @the amygdaloid

David Quammen  @DavidQuammen

Bioneers  @bioneers

Web of Life Foundation

Neuropsychoanalysis  www.neuropsa.org.uk

Science Daily  wwww.sciencedaily.com

Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal   wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid

Cognitive-edge.com

Knowingneurons.com

Defending the Early Years   @deyproject.org

The Evolution-institute.org   evolution-institute.org

Skinner Laboratory  skinner.wsu.edu

Neurosciencenews.com

Cerebrum - Dana Foundation

Institute of Cognitive Neurosceince

Felt Sense Literacy

The Elusive Self (comment on the science of the self)

ANIMALS (including birds)

JournalAnimalEcology   @AnimalEcology

Lameness in Horses  @WhatHorses Know

Sid Gustafson DVM  @sidgustafson

   (Sid Gustafson)

Christopher Cauble  @chriscauble

Ursus Horribilis  @bearadvocate

Helen Macdonald  @HelenJMacdonald

Terrierman  terriermandotcom.blogspot.com
Tony Bynum  tonybynum.com

I made a quick run to Cut Bank this morning. When I opened the door for the paper, there was loud clamor from Lake Francis -- night-flying geese were taking a break.   Craig Wellman's horses were lounging in the full sunlight.  There was one dead gopher with a raven working on it.  Calves are growing quickly.    Evidently headless swans had found a small pond where they could reach all the way to the bottom to graze.  When I got back home, there were huge flocks of snow geese passing through, their formations in loosely linked and shifting arrowhead formations.  There's a bird I never have identified that has a lovely liquid song.  It only passes through at migration time, but it likes my blue spruce, so it can't be seen.  No green grass yet.  Temp will fall back to freezing in a few days.