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Re: [LUG] OT: Terry Pratchett

 

John Williams wrote:
On Mon, 2010-01-18 at 00:28 +0000, Rhia Knowles wrote:

But, i think in these days of voice recognition and modifying
computers for the disabled, i reckon he's gonna be with us for the
long haul. Remember its not his memory in this version os Altziemers,
its his perceptions of the world around him, e.g his sight. I think
that will lead to more interesting parodies.

Rather sadly the varying types of Alzheimers are only different in where
they start... Not where they finish. That was my understanding of it on
the Living with Alzheimers documentary with Mr Pratchett. Different
forms may start differently as they originate or first show in differing
areas of the brain, but the ending is tragically universal.
My next door neighbour, before I moved here, had an IQ of 172 and as such, when she got Altzheimers, managed to fob everyone off until it got quite serious - to the point of here defecating on the back step cos she didnt know where her loo was. I spent a long evening with her when we had a power cut which nearly ended with me being arrested for assault by a green cop! I invented the altzheimers suicide belt - forget to reset the timer and your gone - that night. It can be an absolutely hideous disease and if it eats you away the 'wrong way' causes untold distress to the victim and associates.
I've just started listening to Unseen Academicals now in audiobook, as I
didn't seem able to sit down and find time to concentrate on reading it
properly, which should have been far easier to find time for since
undertaking my own brief experiment on Friction And The Human Foot When
Met With Solidified Surface Moisture, which was quickly followed up with
The Aerodynamics of People and its accompanying title   The Ballistics
of Flailing Bodies, a  title of the resulting paper might be People Fly
Just Like Bricks.
I've not found audio books that good - even when read by my heroes, the human voice and the best digital playback devices just cant match the eyes flicking back to re-read in fraction of a second and someone else reading to you always makes you too passive. Listening to a book is nice but, as the pictures are better in radio, print*you is so many more dimensional. A bit like getting fit by reading about it.
Get well soon - get reading soon!
Tom te tom te tom




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