Aphantasia

About a week ago I clicked onto a link found at the website of the Coast to Coast Am radio program (https://www.coasttocoastam.com/inthenews/) and noticed this: Aphantasia: why are some people unable to picture things in their mind? (https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/367073/aphantasia-why-are-some-people-unable-to-picture-things-in-their-mind)

Not everyone can picture something in their head. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Andrew Mason (https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/367073/aphantasia-why-are-some-people-unable-to-picture-things-in-their-mind)

Why, indeed, was my first thought, because I am one of those people. At the end of the article this was read: This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

I clicked onto it immediately (https://theconversation.com/were-just-starting-to-learn-more-about-aphantasia-the-inability-to-picture-things-with-the-minds-eye-202670) and read the article again… Since then I have read many articles pertaining to aphantasia, the urls of some will be found in chronological order at the end of the post.

In a recent post (https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2023/05/20/fm-todd-andrews-versus-grandmasters-robert-hungaski-and-david-arenas-at-the-american-continental-chess-championship-2023/) this was written: I could “see” 21 Bxe5, followed by 21…Nxe5 22 dxe5 Rxe5 23 Nf3, attacking the Rook. That is about as far my Chess vision allows. I can “see” that because it is all forced.

That was the day before discovering the article at the Unexplained Mysteries website. I wrote “see” because I cannot actually “see” anything when my eyes are closed; all I see is black.

The article at The Conversation begins: “When asked to close their eyes and imagine a sunset, most people can bring to mind an image of the sun setting on the horizon. Some people may experience more vivid details, such as vibrant colours, while others may produce a mental image that is blurry or lacks detail. But recent research has found that some people don’t experience mental imagery at all.”

“This lack of mental imagery is called aphantasia. People with aphantasia are often surprised when they learn others see mental images in their minds. Many people with aphantasia have said they assumed others were speaking metaphorically when they described seeing something in their “mind’s eye.”

Because of Chess I knew some players could see a picture of the board, or many boards, when they play blindfold Chess, or any kind of Chess without sight of the board, for that matter. Some players are able to keep a mental picture of myriad games in their mind’s eye. I thought they were freaks. Turns out I am the freak because, “It is estimated that roughly four per cent of people have aphantasia.” (https://theconversation.com/were-just-starting-to-learn-more-about-aphantasia-the-inability-to-picture-things-with-the-minds-eye-202670)

After reading the article emails were sent to some of my friends in the Chess community asking the question, “When you are playing Chess can you visualize the board and pieces when you close your eyes? Can you move a piece and see the new position?”

Some did not understand the question but after replying to their reply they found understanding. Some elaborated, which I greatly appreciated. The answer that made me smile came from one of my all-time favorite people, The Discman (https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/the-discman/), who replied with one word: “Yes.” Not one person contacted said they could not visualize anything. One wanted more information, asking why I had asked “such a ridiculous question.” Although I have yet to inform anyone of why the question was asked, I did reply to the person, who, after reading, sent a very nice apology, using the word “profusely” prior to “sorry.” He was completely unaware, like most people, I suppose, that there are people who “draw a blank” when they close their eyes. “How the hell can you play Chess?” he asked. How indeed…

My roommate, the Legendary Georgia Ironman, was incredulous upon learning I could not visualize a Chess position, or a picture of my Mother. “That’s scary,” Tim said. He, too, questioned me, asking, “How do you analyze a position?” That is a difficult question to answer. Tim also asked about my being able to “see” a picture of my Mother. The only way for me to describe it is that I have a memory of her smiling, and a picture of one particular photo of her smiling, which are contained in my memory, but I cannot exactly ‘see’ the picture. It is more like something vague in a kinda, sorta nebulous way, I suppose one could say. “That’s frightening,” he said. “How is it possible you could win tournaments and become an Expert without being able to analyze in your head?” He also said, “I would not let anyone know you cannot visualize, Mike.”

I did not start playing Chess seriously until the age of twenty, and because of that fact I have always known there was a ceiling for me that would never be broken. Another friend questioned asked, “How is it possible you could have become an Expert without being able to see the board in your head?” How indeed… Now I know it was not just beginning late that held me back. After winning the Atlanta Chess Championship with a score of 5-0 in 1976 I discovered Backgammon, becoming Atlanta and Georgia Backgammon Champion. In Backgammon one need not visualize future positions because there are simply too many possibilities because the roll of the dice determines the next move. Although I still played tournament Chess occasionally, and did play two fifteen minute games with former Texas State Junior champ Steve Moffitt at Gammons, the only time any other game was seen played there, I was a shadow of the former player. After the Backgammon bubble burst and the boom ended I returned to tournament Chess, but although my rating increased, putting that much sought after crooked number (2) at the front of my rating, I was never again as strong a player as I had been before leaving Chess for Backgammon.

I decided to write this post because this is all new to me, and at my age, there is not much all that new to me now. I want to know how many other players cannot visualize. Therefore, I ask you to contact me at the email found at the AW website. I give my word that nothing written will ever be seen by anyone other than me, unless permission is given by those who contact me. In addition, I ask any and all who read this to share it with others. If the USCF forum was still operational I would ask someone to post it on the forum. If and when (or should that be when and if?) the forum is up again maybe some reader will put this up for discussion. Inquiring minds wanna know…

Here is a partial list of the articles, by date published, read in the last week:

Aphantasia: When Your Mind’s Eye Fails You
The word describes an inability to conceive imaginary or recollected scenes
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/aphantasia-the-inability-to-form-mental-images

Chapter 15 – Aphantasia: The science of visual imagery extremes
Volume 178, 2021
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B978012821377300012X?via%3Dihub

The critical role of mental imagery in human emotion: insights from fear-based imagery and aphantasia
10 March 2021
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.0267

Aphantasia explained: some people can’t form mental pictures
Published: June 9, 2021 1.34pm EDT

What is the Link Between Mental Imagery and Sensory Sensitivity? Insights from Aphantasia
First published online August 31, 2021
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03010066211042186

The prevalence of aphantasia (imagery weakness) in the general population
January 2022, 103243
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810021001690?via%3Dihub

Memories with a blind mind: Remembering the past and imagining the future with aphantasia
October 2022
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027722001809?via%3Dihub

Meta-analytic evidence for a novel hierarchical model of conceptual processing
January 2023
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763422004833?via%3Dihub

We’re just starting to learn more about aphantasia, the inability to picture things with the mind’s eye
Published: May 16, 2023 3.32pm EDT
https://theconversation.com/were-just-starting-to-learn-more-about-aphantasia-the-inability-to-picture-things-with-the-minds-eye-202670

Aphantasia: why are some people unable to picture things in their mind?
May 20, 2023
https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/367073/aphantasia-why-are-some-people-unable-to-picture-things-in-their-mind

Extreme Imagination: Inside the Mind’s Eye
https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/cspe/engagement/extreme-imagination/

Truth be told, this blog has more readers during the week than on the weekend, and even fewer readers on a holiday weekend. Therefore, this post will be up until after the holiday in order to, hopefully, reach more people.

Are You Happy?

Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so. – John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873)

Mad Vlad Get Off Of My…

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Crossfire Hurricane

https://groundzeromedia.org/8-30-21-crossfire-hurricane-w-jim-lee/

On August 18th, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 16 captured four different storms churning in the skies above North America.

The satellite captured aerial views of hurricanes Grace and Linda, along with tropical storms Fred and Henri. The satellite image also showed swirling billows of smoke streaming across the western U.S. from several major fires in California.

North America is surrounded by 4 storms and wildfire smoke in this satellite view

It was like a lyric from that Rolling Stones song Jumpin’ Jack Flash about being born in a “crossfire hurricane.”

However, I also was thinking of a biblical scripture in Revelation that says:

“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.”

Bob Dylan Has His First No. 1 Song On Any Billboard Charts

Bob Dylan Has His First No. 1 Song On Any Billboard Charts – No, Really

By Bruce Haring

April 9, 2020 9:03pm

He’s survived punk, disco, a deep dive into religion, the rise of boy bands and electronica, Soy Bomb and going electric. Now, 78-year-old Bob Dylan has again shown the young kids how it’s done, scoring his first No. 1 on any Billboard chart with his 17-minute song, “Murder Most Foul.”

As hard as it is to believe, the Voice of a Generation never had a No. 1 on the Billboard charts under his own name. This time, in the increasingly fractured chart world, his musical examination of the JFK murder tops the Rock Digital Song Sales category, selling 10,000 downloads.

Dylan has hits he has written rise to No.1. His “Blowin’ in the Wind” was taken to No. 1 in 1963 by Peter, Paul and Mary, and the Byrds’ scored the top slot with his “Mr. Tambourine Man” in 1965. As strange as it seems, such classics as “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” were caught short of the fence, stopping at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Lay Lady Lay” hit No. 7 in 1969.

Dylan remains a road warhorse, doing more than 60 dates per year after years of doing more than 100 per year on his Never-Ending Tour.

Bob Dylan Has His First No. 1 Song On Any Billboard Charts – No, Really

Black Op Radio.com (https://blackopradio.com/)

devoted an entire two hour program, which aired April 2, 2020, to Dylan’s new song. Bill Kelly, Dave Ratcliffe, and the irrepressible Jim DiEugenio, were exuberantly interviewed by the host, Canadian Len Osanic. While listening one can click on the numerous links which will direct a reader to numerous websites, such as
Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs at Dealey Plaza. The articles to which you will be linked provide many other links, to which much time has been devoted recently by this writer. (https://blackopradio.com/archives2020.html)

A good starting point is this excellent article from which excerpts are taken.

Beyond JFK: 20 Historical References in Bob Dylan’s ‘Murder Most Foul’

The 17-minute epic touches upon obscure Civil War ballads, classic movies, and even songs by the Who, the Animals, and Billy Joel

By Andy Greene

Bob Dylan fans woke up this morning to the stunning news that the songwriter had released a 17-minute epic titled “Murder Most Foul.” “Greetings to my fans and followers, with gratitude for all your support and loyalty over the years,” Dylan wrote. “This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting. Stay safe, stay observant, and may God be with you.”

It’s his first original song since 2012’s Tempest, though he has released three albums of cover songs associated with Frank Sinatra since then. The closest analogue to “Murder Most Foul” in Dylan’s vast catalog is Tempest’s title track, a 14-minute song about the Titanic.

“Murder Most Foul” centers around another historic tragedy: the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It’s packed with references only JFK buffs will likely recognize, like the “triple underpass” near Dealey Plaza, the removal of his brain during the autopsy, and the “three bums comin’ all dressed in rags” captured on the Zapruder film that conspiracy theorists have been obsessing over for decades. Clearly, Dylan has spent a lot of time reading books and watching documentaries about this.

As the song goes on, however, it veers away from JFK and touches upon several other historic events of the era. It’s sort of like Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” mashed up with the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil.” Dylan fans will be picking this one apart for years, but here are 20 non-JFK references in the song.

Beyond JFK: 20 Historical References in Bob Dylan’s ‘Murder Most Foul’

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poetry Power For Street People

Gritty, death, and breadsticks: Philly street poet will write you a poem on any topic | We The People

by Stephanie Farr, Updated: August 28, 2019

Marshall James Kavanaugh had been set up for about an hour in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square — with a typewriter, a framed photo of James Baldwin,

and a yellow sign that read “PICK A TOPIC GET A POEM” — when Jules Skodzinski walked up on a recent Friday.

Skodzinski, 58, a burly guy, told Kavanaugh his mom died recently. It was tough, he said, but it also brought him and his siblings closer. Could he maybe write a poem for him about strong bonds?
And in about five minutes, Kavanaugh, 32, of West Philly, did.

It began:

tested in night and day
the bonds of a family
grow stronger through the storms
that attempt to push them away

Skodzinsky marveled at the poem, which he said he planned to share with his siblings. “He’s an artist but also a technician,”Skodzinsky said of Kavanaugh. “I think this is like the difference between saying something and singing it.”

A Street Fight – Poem by Francis William Lauderdale Adams

SIR, we approve your curling lip and nose
At this vile sight.
These men, these women are ‘brute beasts’? — Who knows,
Sir, but that you are right?
Panders and harlots, rogues and thieves and worse,
We are a crew
Whose pitiful plunder’s honoured in the purse
Of gentlemen (like you),
Whom holy Competition’s taught (like us)
‘What’s thine is mine!’ —
How we must love you who have made us thus,
You may perhaps divine!

Poetry and Power

Gravity Kills

This is nostalgia
And only the hero
Fights for me and you dear listener
You leave old memories
And such things disgust me
Storm the door, I must get out
Poetry and power
Ice and fire
This is poetry and power
Poetry and power
Ice and fire
This is poetry and power
You’re worse than mirrors
Are you reflecting
I don’t know
All this help leaves me cold
This is confusing me again
I must get out
Poetry and Power
Ice and Fire
This is poetry and power
Ice and Fire
This is poetry and power
Your poetry is power
Your ice becomes fire
All things disgust you
And you are the listener
A hero dies for me
I must get out
This is poetry and power
Your poetry is power
Your ice becomes fire
This is poetry and power
Your poetry is power
Your ice becomes fire
This is poetry and power
Your poetry is power
Your ice becomes fire
This is poetry and power
This is poetry and power
This is poetry and power

https://www.lyricsfreak.com/g/gravity+kills/poetry+and+power_20299757.html

Does Poetry Have Street Cred?

By Major Jackson

September 6, 2019

Does American poetry suffer from an abundance of artistic dignity and not enough street credibility? It’s possible. When I asked a friend, a terrific prose writer, why she seems to have a slight disdain for poetry, she replied, “It’s too elitist, like walking through a beautiful forest in which I know not where to look, much less know what I am searching for. If I don’t get it as a reader, then I feel like an idiot and somehow not worthy of the form.” In years past, I would have fretted and dismissed her remarks as garden-variety philistinism, but my friend is admirably sensitive, a brilliant scholar, Ivy educated, and not someone prone to make trivializing remarks without great consideration.

Does Poetry Have Street Cred?

Elaine Brown (Interlude)
Alicia Keys

Can I do one more really quick?
So he said blow black mother, black mother
He always announce the title black mother, this is rap
This is hip hop, this is all that, from the street

Poetry from the street
Black mother
I must confess that I still breathe
Though you are still not free
What could justify my crying start
Forgive my coward’s heart
But blame me not the sheepish me
For I be sleeping in a deep, deep sleep
And I be hazed and dazed
And vipers fester in my hair
Black mother, I curse your drudging years
The rapes, heartaches, sweat and tears
But I swear I’ll seize night’s dark and gloom
A rose I’ll wear to honor you
And when I fall
A rose in hand
You’ll be free, and I a man
For a slave of natural death who dies
Can’t balance out two dead flies
I’d rather be without the shame
A bullet lodged within my brain
Black mother

Crossfire Hurricane: Inside Donald Trump’s War on the FBI

Jumpin’ Jack Flash
The Rolling Stones

Produced by Jimmy Miller
Album Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)

[Intro]
One two!

[Verse 1]
I was born in a crossfire hurricane
And I howled at the maw in the drivin’ rain

[Chorus]
But it’s all right now, in fact, it’s a gas
But it’s all right, I’m Jumpin’ Jack Flash
It’s a gas, gas, gas

[Verse 2]
I was raised by a toothless, bearded hag
I was schooled with a strap right across my back

[Chorus]
But it’s all right now, in fact, it’s a gas
But it’s all right, I’m Jumpin’ Jack Flash
It’s a gas, gas, gas

[Verse 3]
I was drowned, I was washed up and left for dead
I fell down to my feet and I saw they bled
Yeah, yeah
I frowned at the crumbs of a crust of bread
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I was crowned with a spike right thru my head
My, my, yeah

But it’s all right now, in fact, it’s a gas
But it’s all right, I’m Jumpin’ Jack Flash
It’s a gas, gas, gas

[Outro]
Jumpin’ Jack Flash, its a gas
Jumpin’ Jack Flash, its a gas
Jumpin’ Jack Flash, its a gas
Jumpin’ Jack Flash, its a gas

https://genius.com/The-rolling-stones-jumpin-jack-flash-lyrics

Living In A Small Town

People who live in small towns and rural areas are happier than everyone else, researchers say

by Christopher Ingraham May 17

Commuters wait for train service to be restored at Grand Central Terminal on Tuesday in New York City. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

“Heaven is wide open spaces — at least, it is for most people, according to a massive new data set of happiness in Canada.

A team of happiness researchers at the Vancouver School of Economics and McGill University recently published a working paper on the geography of well-being in Canada. They compiled 400,000 responses to a pair of national Canadian surveys, allowing them to parse out distinctions in well-being at the level of more than 1,200 communities representing the country’s entire geography.

They were able to cross-reference the well-being responses with other survey data, as well as figures from the Canadian census, to see what sorts of characteristics were associated with happiness at the community level: Are happier communities richer, for instance? Are the people there more educated? Do they spend more time in church?

Their chief finding is a striking association between population density — the concentration of people in a given area — and happiness. When the researchers ranked all 1,215 communities by average happiness, they found that average population density in the 20 percent most miserable communities was more than eight times greater than in the happiest 20 percent of communities.

“Life is significantly less happy in urban areas,” the paper concluded.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/05/17/people-who-live-in-small-towns-and-rural-areas-are-happier-than-everyone-else-researchers-say/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a7dd61092123

I have spent many a

I live in a

And I am

Code Name Crossfire Hurricane

Code Name Crossfire Hurricane: The Secret Origins of the Trump Investigation

Days after the F.B.I. closed its investigation into Hillary Clinton in 2016, agents began scrutinizing the presidential campaign of her Republican rival, Donald J. Trump.CreditAl Drago for The New York Times

By Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman and Nicholas Fandos
May 16, 2018

WASHINGTON — Within hours of opening an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia in the summer of 2016, the F.B.I. dispatched a pair of agents to London on a mission so secretive that all but a handful of officials were kept in the dark.

Their assignment, which has not been previously reported, was to meet the Australian ambassador, who had evidence that one of Donald J. Trump’s advisers knew in advance about Russian election meddling. After tense deliberations between Washington and Canberra, top Australian officials broke with diplomatic protocol and allowed the ambassador, Alexander Downer, to sit for an F.B.I. interview to describe his meeting with the campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos.

The agents summarized their highly unusual interview and sent word to Washington on Aug. 2, 2016, two days after the investigation was opened. Their report helped provide the foundation for a case that, a year ago Thursday, became the special counsel investigation. But at the time, a small group of F.B.I. officials knew it by its code name: Crossfire Hurricane.

The name, a reference to the Rolling Stones lyric “I was born in a crossfire hurricane,” was an apt prediction of a political storm that continues to tear shingles off the bureau. Days after they closed their investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, agents began scrutinizing the campaign of her Republican rival. The two cases have become inextricably linked in one of the most consequential periods in the history of the F.B.I.

The Kremlin in Moscow. Two weeks before Mr. Trump’s inauguration, senior American intelligence officials told him that Russia had tried to sow chaos in the election, undermine Mrs. Clinton and ultimately help Mr. Trump win.CreditMladen Antonov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Komodo & Black Death

TCEC season seven is history and Komodo emerged victorious after beating the old champion, Stockfish, by a score of 7-4, with 53 draws. All of the decisive games were won by White. What does this portend for the future of chess?

These chess playing “engines” are rated two classes above the World Human Champion, Magnus Carlsen, three classes above your regular, everyday grandmaster, called “tourists” by former World Human Champion Garry Kasparov, until an “engine” left him black and Deep Blue, and four classes above the bottom-rung GM’s. The difference between a 3200 program and the lowest level to earn a GM title is the same as a NM and a class “C” player. If the best GMs continue to improve, how long will it be before a game will never be won by Black?

If a new rule awarded a higher score for a win with the Black pieces it would not matter since Black would never win. Something needs to be done to help Black. In Wei-Chi, known as Go in the US, something was done about the advantage of the first move and it is called “Komi.”

“Komi is a Japanese go term adopted into English. In a game of Go, Black has the advantage of first move. In order to compensate for this, White can be given an agreed, set number of points before starting the game. These points are called komi, which is short for komidashi. The English term “compensation points” or simply “compensation” is often used as a translation for komi.”

http://senseis.xmp.net/?Komi

Sometime ago I read about a football- soccar in the US- fan who was a mathematician. His team must have lost after a sudden-death shootout because he posited, and proved mathematically, that it would be better to have the team kicking second also take the third shot on goal. After the first team takes the fourth shot the teams alternate. I recall this because he used myriad equations to prove his theory, while I simply added 1+4=5, and 2+3=5.

It is time for a “New Rule.” What if, after White made the initial move, Black made the next two moves, with the caveat that only one move can be made with the same pawn or piece? Without the caveat it is obvious after 1 e4, Whites game is in its last throes. This would preclude all 1 e4 2 Nf6 3 Nxe4; and 1 e4 2 d5 3 dxe5, type openings.