Your private, off the wall theories

[Koxinga]

. . . which you think plausible but probably unprovable? And I don't mean "there's a sock eating monster hiding behind my dryer, tee hee!" but things where you think there really could be something to it -- but doubt much evidence will ever come to light, alas.

Two of mine:

First, many societies exhibit a *very* long term cycle, on the order of ~75-85 years or so, where one generation lives through an all-encompassing existential crisis or transformation whose memory serves as a warning for the next two generations or so, until that era passes out of living memory for the most part and a similarly urgent crisis comes along. For the US it was the American Revolution, the Civil War, then World War II, and we're due for another one very soon. Perhaps for some societies it's a longer or more variable cycle, e.g. with England/the UK and the Civil War, the Seven Years War, the Napoleonic Wars and World War I.

Second, and more outlandish, I think there may be phenomena in the world that humans not only cannot explain, but cannot even "see" properly because it involves intrusions some other sphere of existence we're not equipped to perceive. People in ancient China might have seen dragons flying through the sky, while ancient Israelites saw a miraculous wheel, medieval peasants saw demons and people in our society see spacecraft, and they've all been equally right and all been equally wrong. If you yourself were standing and looking at one of these things in our time, your mind really would fill it in with rocket fins and portholes and whatnot because you're simply not equipped to perceive what's *really* there.

Go ahead and rip the above the shreds, I'll just shrug. As I say, I don't expect any of this ever to be supported by any evidence, but I can't help suspecting it's true nonetheless. The point, though, is: what are your own private unfounded theories?

[Oakminster]

Originally Posted by Koxinga

For the US it was the American Revolution, the Civil War, then World War II, and we're due for another one very soon.

Nah, the existential crisis to follow WWII arrived on 9/11/2001.

[Fiendish Astronaut]

I suspect insomnia could be some sort of virus. Lots of people I know seem to get bouts of it at the same time.

I realise it almost certainly isn't of course, but it amuses me to think that it could be.

[kambuckta]

Vitamin C tablets are impregnated with a rhinovirus which:

a) Brings on an attack of some sort of lurgy, and

b) Sends you to the store to buy more Vit C tablets to deal with the virus. If that fails then,

c) You go to the pharmacy to buy some dinkum Cold and Flu tabs. If that fails then,

d) You go to your GP for some anti-viral shit.

It's all a plot by the pharmaceutical industry to keep us coughing and snivelling.

[ralph124c]

Shortly after it was founded, the CIA was penetrated and infiltrated by the KGB. Since that time, the CIA has involved the USA in all kinds of ruinous wars-with the intent of weakening the USA. This theory explains why the CIA is involved in propping up regimes around the world, and (ultimately) involving the USA in foreign conflicts.

[Eve]

I don't think Anita Loos wrote Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or its equally wonderful sequel, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes. During her whole very long career, these are the only two good books she ever wrote, which leads me to believe someone else--perhaps her husband, also a writer--either wrote them or hugely contributed to them.

Or Anita Loos got hit on the head by an anvil after writing that second book and suddenly lost all her talent.

[Joey P]

Miss Hannigan is Annie's real mom. So far I haven't been able to convince anyone of this. It's mainly due to the (I assume coincidental) hair color of the two actors and the fact that Miss Hannigan didn't want Annie to go to Mr Warbucks' house for the week or sign the papers to let her get adopted even though you'd think she'd be thrilled to get the little effin' troublemaker out of her orphanage.
Of course the theory falls apart when Miss Hannigan tells Rooster about Annie's real mom. But her and Rooster didn't seem that close and maybe she just didn't want Rooster to know that the kid was hers. Also, keeping the kid as an orphan meant she got money from the state to raise her.

[Napier]

Time is the agency that orders causes before effects, and nothing whatsoever but that. All its appearances to be some sort of stuff flowing by are entirely evolved human mental processes for manipulating it in our internal "what if" games.

[ftg]

Originally Posted by Koxinga

First, many societies exhibit a *very* long term cycle, on the order of ~75-85 years or so, where one generation lives through an all-encompassing existential crisis or transformation whose memory serves as a warning for the next two generations or so, until that era passes out of living memory for the most part and a similarly urgent crisis comes along. For the US it was the American Revolution, the Civil War, then World War II, and we're due for another one very soon. Perhaps for some societies it's a longer or more variable cycle, e.g. with England/the UK and the Civil War, the Seven Years War, the Napoleonic Wars and World War I.

Hardly a new concept. Here are some Wikipedia links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cycle_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclical_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_cycles

It's a favorite model of Marxists, proto-Nazis and Henry Kissinger. Either from the point of view that "Let's destroy stuff to start another cycle." or "Those people are making our wonderful society decline." Or both.

[Bozuit]

Originally Posted by ftg

Either from the point of view that "Let's destroy stuff to start another cycle."...

Isn't that the reasoning behind half the evil schemes of supervillains?

[pseudotriton ruber ruber]

Back pain is viral.

[Sefton]

I think NASA should start developing prosthetic skeletons - complete replacements for the human skeleton. Once that's done, we can come up with replacements for bodily organs until we're left with a brain, a spinal cord, computers, and a completely artificial body.

At that point, technologies like flying cars and virtual reality will go from impossible to easy. It also removes a lot of the difficulty inherent with space travel.

[pseudotriton ruber ruber]

Hostility to hard-core atheism is personal, not philosophical. By which I mean that religion, even to many atheists and most agnostics, is perceived as vaguely benign because of their personal acquaintance with believers whom they believe to be good, well-meaning, decent people, such as their believing mamas and papas and good ol' granmaw. So when a hard-core atheist expresses the view that it's all a self-serving crock o' shit and offensive and destructive and evil, the anger he receives even from agnostics and fellow atheists derives, not from any philosophical differences (of which there are almost none), but from what you're sayin' about my Ma. "She ain't evil, she ain't destructive, she's a sweet ol' gray-haired lady who happens to have a few fundamental ideas she hasn't quite thought through yet, so you take back what you just implied about my Ma, or you and me's gonna have to step into the parkin' lot..."

[njtt]

Originally Posted by pseudotriton ruber ruber

Hostility to hard-core atheism is personal, not philosophical. By which I mean that religion, even to many atheists and most agnostics, is perceived as vaguely benign because of their personal acquaintance with believers whom they believe to be good, well-meaning, decent people, such as their believing mamas and papas and good ol' granmaw. So when a hard-core atheist expresses the view that it's all a self-serving crock o' shit and offensive and destructive and evil, the anger he receives even from agnostics and fellow atheists derives, not from any philosophical differences (of which there are almost none), but from what you're sayin' about my Ma. "She ain't evil, she ain't destructive, she's a sweet ol' gray-haired lady who happens to have a few fundamental ideas she hasn't quite thought through yet, so you take back what you just implied about my Ma, or you and me's gonna have to step into the parkin' lot..."

Or alternatively, "hard-core" atheists are so smug about their cleverness at having seen through religion that they cannot even imagine that anyone else, even another atheist, might have good, rational reasons for holding a different point of view (and thus bolster their smug closed-mindedness with speculative ad hominenms).

[OldnCrinkly]

I think that non-stick coating on pots and pans is toxic. You see people all the time cooking in stuff where that crap is flaking off and getting into the food. All these increases in autism, cancers, air pollution, or who knows what, how many might be related to that crap? The warnings on the packaging should be enough to scare anybody off.

[pseudotriton ruber ruber]

Originally Posted by njtt

Or alternatively, "hard-core" atheists are so smug about their cleverness at having seen through religion that they cannot even imagine that anyone else, even another atheist, might have good, rational reasons for holding a different point of view (and thus bolster their smug closed-mindedness with speculative ad hominenms).

This isn't the place to argue about other people's private, off the wall theories, is it?

[The Man With The Golden Gun]

The human body is so poorly designed that it couldn't possibly have evolved from chance and that there must be some kind of mentally-challenged creator behind it. I call it "Incompetent Design".

While Neil Armstrong will be known forever as the first person to ever step foot on the Moon, his fame will be far overshadowed by Eugene Cernan, who will be known forever as being the last person to ever step foot on the Moon.

Despite what he did, Anders Behring Breivik has far better living conditions right now than 99% of the human race.

Jews cannot possibly be the secret rulers of the world since there's no way they'd be able to fuck it up this badly if they were.

Or alternately, there is a massive Zionist conspiracy to make us think that there is a massive Zionist conspiracy.

And while I'm on the subject, that it's not true that six million Jews died in the Holocaust. The actual number is 5,999,999.

As for one that is considered really crazy fringe lunacy where I'm from, Obama is a Christian born in the United States.

True love doesn't exist, though what both sexes describe of such is actually emotional neediness for women and a desire to get laid for men.

Alien life exists, but would sooner send their ships on a trajectory into the nearest black hole than contact us Earthlings.

The Tea Party thinks the government has screwed over America. The Occupy Wall Street movement thinks the corporations have screwed over America. They're both right.

For that matter, the Tea Party would have been the best movement America would ever have known had it formed eight years earlier. (Think about who was President before Obama.)

That Gandhi's success in India during the 1930s and 1940s was due largely to India being ruled by Britain instead of say, Germany.

Facebook wasn't actually invented by Mark Zuckerberg, but by the CIA as an intelligence gathering tool. It's been by far their most successful project.

And the most unlikely theory of all, it's possible I don't have the most positive outlook on life.

[Corcaigh]

Star Wars was based on actual events.

[Yllaria]

Originally Posted by Koxinga

. . . which you think plausible but probably unprovable? . . . things where you think there really could be something to it -- but doubt much evidence will ever come to light, alas. . . . what are your own private unfounded theories?

I'm not sure from the description whether I'd have to believe the theory myself, or not. I have a theory about the beanie baby boom and bust that probably has nothing whatever to do with reality, let alone evidence.

As background: if you take a tour of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, you will see a line of old-style refrigerators and hear a little speech about how the first refrigerators had a hard time competing with ice-boxes until someone did a little study and discovered that housewives had gotten used to arranging decorative objects on top of their ice-boxes and didn't like having the condenser located on the top, taking away that space.

(If you'd been raised in my family, you'd have already heard the story as part of my Dad's ongoing "People are Irrational Sheep" speech.) ((Both stories conclude that when the condenser was moved to the back, where it was less efficient, sales started to rise.))

Applying the general idea of the "don't mess with the decoration space" theory to a few observations during temp gigs in a number of ofices, I came up with my Beanie Baby Theory. I put numbers to the steps, but have carefully not done any research regarding dates. No need to spoil a lovely theory with nasty little facts.

1) Office workers get used to flat-topped CRT-screened computer monitors, and decorate them with doilies, vases, etc.

2) Computer manufacturers, following the ergonomics of office workers, create slant-topped CRT-screened monitors to prevent neck and back pain. Office workers can still position doilies, but vases and other hard objects will slide off. Enter beanie babies as decorations, perched on computer screens. The beanie baby boom is on.

3) Technical innovation creates flat-screened monitors. Not even doilies can be popped onto the top of those babies. (I had a small line of little orange traffic cones, once, but I'm strange.) However, the new screens free up space around the screen, so the vases and other objects are back, sitting on the desk near the screen. The beanie baby bubble bursts.

No, I haven't checked to see whether the changes in computer monitors actually line up with the dates of the beanie baby bubble. That's because I really don't want to know. I think of it as my own little pseudo-social theory.

[fumster]

I still hold that the Gulf is Mexico is an impact crater, despite no scientific evidence to back it up.

[Doug K.]

The calendar has been running a little slow and is now off by about two months. From when I was a kid until the 80s or so cold weather was creeping in by late October, with snow and freezing by mid November, and by late January or mid February it was starting to warm up again. Now it seems like it starts cooling down around mid December and getting really cold in mid January. It doesn't seem to start warming up again until mid March or even early April.

[Imago]

That for whatever reason (biological, social, I don't know or care!) we are all far more similar to our great-grandparents and great-grandchildren than to our grandparents, parents, children or grandchildren. Maybe it's specifically because if we live to see our grandchildren, they generally know less about us than their grandparents and parents? If they strive for individuality from all the family members the do know...

[Capt Kirk]

I believe that faster then light travel is possible, E=MC2 can be outmaneuvered by eliminating your mass via the Warp Bubble. Somewhat akin to a mag lev train a bubble around a space ship that negates its mass. But maybe I just want off this crazy world

[Chimera]

Time is mutable in small ways or we move easily between alternate universes of only very very small differences. The most obvious example is that some celebrities and people have died and I remember them dying and it being news and then there they are, sticking it in my face by being alive.

[Ranchoth]

Originally Posted by The Man With The Golden Gun

That Gandhi's success in India during the 1930s and 1940s was due largely to India being ruled by Britain instead of say, Germany.

Heh...Harry Turtledove would seem to agree with you.

My own theory?

A lot of the religious requirements involving ritual cleanliness, worldwide, stems from ancient holy figures, social leaders, and/or families of the same—probably perfectly nice, spiritually inclined people, all—who had rampant, untreated Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. And rationalized it ("I must have these impulses because God wants it this way") or covered for it ("Uh, I'm not crazy...it's more holy to do this.") in a religious context. Mohammed, Peace Be Upon Him, was (figuratively) chief among them.

Interesting theory not from me...the "Last Airbender" movie made so many changes to the story and setting of the original series because M. Night Shyamalan, personally, is a racist. (Personally, I'm not convinced it was anything consciously done on his part...because, after hearing some of that dialogue, I'm not convinced he could think hard enough to do it on purpose.)

[Qin Shi Huangdi]

-That Mormons ended up practicing proto-eugenics thanks to the best men getting several women which explains why Mormons look on average better than most other Americans.

-That it is the Germans not the French who are the most romantic people in the world (as opposed to being sensual).

-That it was the common heritage of Germanic culture which led to countries like the US, UK, the Dutch, Germans, and Scandinavia to pioneer liberalism, parliamentary rule, capitalism, rights of property, and generally be the wealthiest and most progressive areas of the world to-day

[Nunzio Tavulari]

Originally Posted by Doug K.

The calendar has been running a little slow and is now off by about two months. From when I was a kid until the 80s or so cold weather was creeping in by late October, with snow and freezing by mid November, and by late January or mid February it was starting to warm up again. Now it seems like it starts cooling down around mid December and getting really cold in mid January. It doesn't seem to start warming up again until mid March or even early April.

That's my personal theory dammit! Get your own!

To expand upon this, the critical point was the millennium. We needed to make the adjustment at some point +/- five years from the year 2000.

[Beastly Rotter]

Originally Posted by Qin Shi Huangdi

-That Mormons ended up practicing proto-eugenics thanks to the best men getting several women which explains why Mormons look on average better than most other Americans.

:: canned audience laughter ::

[foolsguinea]

Originally Posted by Capt Kirk

I believe that faster then light travel is possible, E=MC2 can be outmaneuvered by eliminating your mass via the Warp Bubble. Somewhat akin to a mag lev train a bubble around a space ship that negates its mass. But maybe I just want off this crazy world

:looks at username: I believe you.

Originally Posted by Chimera

Time is mutable in small ways or we move easily between alternate universes of only very very small differences. The most obvious example is that some celebrities and people have died and I remember them dying and it being news and then there they are, sticking it in my face by being alive.

You too, huh?

Originally Posted by Qin Shi Huangdi

-That Mormons ended up practicing proto-eugenics thanks to the best men getting several women which explains why Mormons look on average better than most other Americans.

Good-looking LDS? Assumes facts not in evidence.

-That it is the Germans not the French who are the most romantic people in the world (as opposed to being sensual).

-That it was the common heritage of Germanic culture which led to countries like the US, UK, the Dutch, Germans, and Scandinavia to pioneer liberalism, parliamentary rule, capitalism, rights of property, and generally be the wealthiest and most progressive areas of the world to-day

Oh, no, who turned him onto Germanic supremacism? Lyndon LaRouche? Some Austrian?

OK, kid, you need a corrective. Read something in a Romance language. Or some good Russian lit. Or manga, for Og's sake, but you need to kick this romanticization of northern Europe before you start making life choices based on it. Take it from a Scots-Deutscher-Swede mutt. No sense in this at all.

[salinqmind]

I think human life is like fish in a river, our lives mirror the life of fish in a river. There are big fish, dangerous fish, beautiful fish just as there are humans with the same characteristics. Most fish swim along in a big school, just as humans mingle with each other in daily life (as well as actual schools!). But some fish get sort of stuck and isolated in little nooks and crannies down there, separate from their schools. The manage to swim free now and then, to mate, to swim with the other fish, but for some reason are driven back to live there in their hidey-holes. They manage to stay alive, eating smaller clueless creatures that come along. Just like some humans seem to seek isolation, out of fear or illness or whatever. The humans will often break free, too, get married, go to work, socialize, but they just aren't 'school fish'. I don't know if any of this is true, don't know what the day to day life of a fish is like, or if there actually are 'loser' fish that want to join the school but get trapped in holes. But that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

[Ludovic]

Originally Posted by foolsguinea

you need to kick this romanticization of northern Europe before you start making life choices based on it. Take it from a Scots-Deutscher-Swede mutt. No sense in this at all.

Germans are so unromantic that they don't even have a word for sturm und drang.

[even sven]

I believe that reliance on cars is the main driver of obesity. I think a lot of weight is determined not by trips to the gym or concentrated activity, but by the sorts of seamless, constant, low-level activity that was once a part of daily life. We've lost a lot the "easy" ways to keep in motion, largely because people rarely walk routinely.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Originally Posted by Doug K.

The calendar has been running a little slow and is now off by about two months. From when I was a kid until the 80s or so cold weather was creeping in by late October, with snow and freezing by mid November, and by late January or mid February it was starting to warm up again. Now it seems like it starts cooling down around mid December and getting really cold in mid January. It doesn't seem to start warming up again until mid March or even early April.

This is awesome because I've noticed the exact opposite observations. I mean forget the private theory as to why, I can't even agree on the direction. August used to be the hottest month but now it's already cooling down the August. Likewise it starts getting HOT by April now when April used to be cool to some lucky warm days.

So, I think of it in terms of summer being shifted, but it applies to winter too, except by my observation it now gets cool by late October instead of waiting until mid December.

[The Man With The Golden Gun]

Originally Posted by Qin Shi Huangdi

-That it is the Germans not the French who are the most romantic people in the world (as opposed to being sensual).

-That it was the common heritage of Germanic culture which led to countries like the US, UK, the Dutch, Germans, and Scandinavia to pioneer liberalism, parliamentary rule, capitalism, rights of property, and generally be the wealthiest and most progressive areas of the world to-day

As they say, in Heaven the French are the cooks, the Germans are the engineers, the Italians are the lovers, and the British are the soldiers.

In Hell, the French are the soldiers, the Germans are the lovers, the Italians are the engineers, and the British are the cooks.

[Shagnasty]

Originally Posted by even sven

I believe that reliance on cars is the main driver of obesity. I think a lot of weight is determined not by trips to the gym or concentrated activity, but by the sorts of seamless, constant, low-level activity that was once a part of daily life. We've lost a lot the "easy" ways to keep in motion, largely because people rarely walk routinely.

That is so obvious to me it shouldn't even be controversial yet it is. People keep looking for the 'causes' of the obesity epidemic when it couldn't be more simple. I was once skinny and then quite heavy and now skinny again. There was no mystery involved. I lost 45 pounds and kept it off for over three years because I changed my diet and make it a point to walk around as much as I can at as part of my job and ever day life. I don't even work out yet I have muscle tone. It's brain dead simple.

My off the wall theory is that there is a Heaven/Hell but it isn't what you think. We are already in it and there is no way out ever. You are born and then you die but that isn't the end. The universe or multi-universes create whatever makes up your consciousness over and over again through natural cycles of chance. It doesn't matter if it take 100 trillion trillion trillion years in your current time. You never know about the gaps. It is certain that 'you' will exist again to undergo every possible pleasure and pain scenario over and over again. Suicide can't even get you out of it. It is literally unending forever and you can't even carry over any lessons learned from one life to another to help you the next time around.

[Ponch8]

Originally Posted by even sven

I believe that reliance on cars is the main driver of obesity. I think a lot of weight is determined not by trips to the gym or concentrated activity, but by the sorts of seamless, constant, low-level activity that was once a part of daily life. We've lost a lot the "easy" ways to keep in motion, largely because people rarely walk routinely.

I blame the high obesity rate among women on loose-fitting yoga pants. It used to be that women would wear shorts to the gym. Now it's very common for them to wear yoga pants. With yoga pants, they don't have to worry about displaying their fat legs at the gym, so they have no incentive to keep their weight down.

[Qin Shi Huangdi]

Originally Posted by foolsguinea

.Oh, no, who turned him onto Germanic supremacism? Lyndon LaRouche? Some Austrian?

Its a perfectly mainstream theory. See here: for example: http://www.johnreilly.info/gogo.htm

OK, kid, you need a corrective. Read something in a Romance language. Or some good Russian lit. Or manga, for Og's sake, but you need to kick this romanticization of northern Europe before you start making life choices based on it. Take it from a Scots-Deutscher-Swede mutt. No sense in this at all.

Actually I'm taking French () and I enjoy manga and anime (though ironically some mangas and animes make me look like a Germanophobe...)

Originally Posted by The Man With The Golden Gun

As they say, in Heaven the French are the cooks, the Germans are the engineers, the Italians are the lovers, and the British are the soldiers.

In Hell, the French are the soldiers, the Germans are the lovers, the Italians are the engineers, and the British are the cooks.

Well I do like Ferraris, fish & chips, and Napoleon...

[heathen earthling]

Originally Posted by fumster

I still hold that the Gulf is Mexico is an impact crater, despite no scientific evidence to back it up.

The Gulf of Mexico does contain a well-studied major impact crater, though the crater is not thought to be responsible for the entire Gulf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater

[Alpha Twit]

Don't ask a Doper a question for you will receive three answers - all of which are true and horrifying to know.

[Joey P]

Originally Posted by even sven

I believe that reliance on cars is the main driver of obesity. I think a lot of weight is determined not by trips to the gym or concentrated activity, but by the sorts of seamless, constant, low-level activity that was once a part of daily life. We've lost a lot the "easy" ways to keep in motion, largely because people rarely walk routinely.

I don't think that's an 'off the wall' theory. In fact, I was under the assumption that it's a pretty well documented manifestation of urban sprawl. If you keep the houses in one area and the shopping district in another area and the business area in another place and they're all too far from each other too walk, you have to drive and if every one drives, some people are going to gain weight.

ETA, from wiki

Increased obesity

The American Journal of Public Health and the American Journal of Health Promotion, have both stated that there is a significant connection between sprawl, obesity, and hypertension.[30] Many urbanists argue that this is due to less walking in sprawl-type developments. Living in a car centered culture forces inhabitants to drive everywhere, thus walking far less than their urban (and generally healthier) counterparts

There's a 31 page PDF linked as a cite (#31) if you want to read it..

[Flyer]

Originally Posted by Koxinga

. . . which you think plausible but probably unprovable? And I don't mean "there's a sock eating monster hiding behind my dryer, tee hee!" but things where you think there really could be something to it -- but doubt much evidence will ever come to light, alas.

Two of mine:

First, many societies exhibit a *very* long term cycle, on the order of ~75-85 years or so, where one generation lives through an all-encompassing existential crisis or transformation whose memory serves as a warning for the next two generations or so, until that era passes out of living memory for the most part and a similarly urgent crisis comes along. For the US it was the American Revolution, the Civil War, then World War II, and we're due for another one very soon. Perhaps for some societies it's a longer or more variable cycle, e.g. with England/the UK and the Civil War, the Seven Years War, the Napoleonic Wars and World War I.

I think you would be very interested in reading The Fourth Turning.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Fourth-Tur...6316471&sr=8-1

[fumster]

Originally Posted by heathen earthling

The Gulf of Mexico does contain a well-studied major impact crater, though the crater is not thought to be responsible for the entire Gulf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater

When I first heard about that impact crater I thought I had been vindicated, but as you said it is still not seen being as causing the Gulf.

[ecoaster]

I believe that as the world has become less violent (believe it or not!) humans in the western world have become more mentally unstable and that there is a direct-ish correlation. Basically humans who have all of their basic needs met have turned inward into a destructive emotional world. This I believe is partly due to the lack of physical work we need to do to survive and also the social messages we are bombarded with in a capitalist, pro-consumption society.

Also, I firmly believe that social media creates addiction and dependance and while it will never be proven to be as harmful as drug addiction, it will be better understood in years to come that communication primarily online and/or/through social media results in fundamental malaise and depression/despondency.

[elbows]

My theory is that childhood ADD, is caused by TV sets, (too much of the wrong stimulation) and too many toys. I think the day will come when new parents are directed to keep the TV off until the child is 6yrs old, and never own more, than their age, in toys, at a time, so they will learn to focus, concentrate, create. I think, someday, they'll come to determine, like language, if you're not exposed to these things before 6yrs of age, you'll struggle with ADD the rest of your life.

( Can you imagine the effect on the birthrate. "No Tv? Let's wait a little longer, Hon.")

[Annie-Xmas]

All side effects of perscription drugs are built into them for the sole purpose of selling more perscription drugs. The drug industry does not give a damn about people, only about profits, and this is the easiest way to increase drug taking.

[Imago]

Originally Posted by elbows

My theory is that childhood ADD, is caused by TV sets, (too much of the wrong stimulation) and too many toys. I think the day will come when new parents are directed to keep the TV off until the child is 6yrs old, and never own more, than their age, in toys, at a time, so they will learn to focus, concentrate, create. I think, someday, they'll come to determine, like language, if you're not exposed to these things before 6yrs of age, you'll struggle with ADD the rest of your life.

( Can you imagine the effect on the birthrate. "No Tv? Let's wait a little longer, Hon.")

This is at least partly bunk and shows a poor understanding of living with ADD. I hope none of your close friends or family have it, for their sake.

[FrillyNettles]

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fibromyalgia are just smoldering tissue level hypothyroidism, and will likely improve with supplementation of T3 (note: not levothyroxine), even though blood levels of this hormone may be normal.

The virtual epidemic of endocrine diseases in this country is due in large part to genetically modified crops and flame retardant fabrics (there is some evidence the flame retardance may be responsible for hyperthyroidism in cats, but I doubt it will be definitively proven).

Life experiences, for each individual, are created as part of a multi-player RPG controlled by our "higher selves." Players are occasionally "resurrected," and this accounts for feelings of deja vu or the sense that something happened that, well, didn't. What happens to each player is not necessarily experienced by other players in the game. The reason this is all occurring is so that "we" can experience the physical world. I don't really know how to articulate this to make sense to anyone else, but there you go.

[PandaBear77]

-I have noticed, at work, that there seems to be a link between chronic pain and having had a shitty life. I think some people internalize all the crap that happened to them and it manifests through physical pain. It's almost like conversion disorder, however most chronic pain patients actually have physical reasons for their pain as well, so it's not purely psychological.

-I've also noticed a it seems that disproportionate amount of fibromyalgia patients have had hysterectomies, making me think FM might be at least partially hormonal.

-I think a high sugar intake can make depression symptoms worse.

-America's obesity epidemic is caused by our tendency to put high fructose corn syrup in EVERYTHING. If that shit was banned obesity rates would probably drop. Unfortunately it tastes great and it's cheap, so it's not going anywhere.

[Lumpy]

Dragons were actually a few different species of neotenous salamanders which grew to crocodile size, and which were hunted to extinction millenia ago.

[Shakes]

The Boson Higgs particle: I think the weight is on some other plane of existence unobservable to us.

Dark energy: I think these are two planes of existence that are colliding into each other. The laws of physics that govern them only have about 0.000000001% in common. (Just made that number up.). Which would explain why we don't don't see dark energy all around us. But you can if you look out into the vastness of space.

Kind of like cellophane sheets. One by itself is see through. But put a thousand sheet together and now it looks all white and blurry.