dallashistory

Did anyone (else) inherit this

http://uhblog.ulsterheritage.com/2008/0 ... sight.html

http://www.geocities.com/open_mind_uk/

http://www.heartoscotland.com/Categorie ... egends.htm

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/02 ... ealth.html

There's lots more information to be found out there, I'm sure

C'mon ... argue or 'fess up (or at least, ponder )

Thanks. I enjoyed reading these. I have genetic kin living in County Tyrone (Ulster Ireland), but I've never been there myself.

It's my perception that the Irish are more likely than the Scots to believe in magic, elves, ghosts, and the ability to see into other worlds.

I've always been pretty perceptive. I account my predictive abilities, modest though they may be, to being willing to guess. From the time I was a little tyke, I would guess what would happen next, usually telling someone the prediction. Often I was wrong, but gradually my predictive abilities improved. I don't believe in ghosts, magic, or what many theoretical physicists believe about parallel universes.

http://www.manyuniverses.com/indexH.htm

Quote:
Discussion Forum
From PARALLEL UNIVERSES
by Fred Alan Wolf
(Simon and Schuster)

INTRODUCTION
As Woody Allen once put it, "There is no question that there is an unseen world. The problem is how far is it from midtown and how late is it open." Since the discoveries of the new physics, the question of the existence of parallel universes--worlds which exist side-by-side along with our own--has taken on renewed interest well beyond mere speculation.

Today, probably more than in any other day, we are facing a revolution in our thinking about the physical universe--the stuff that you and I are made of. This revolution, brought to a head by the discoveries of the new physics, including relativity and quantum mechanics, appears to reach well beyond our preconceived vision, based as it was on the concept of concrete solid reality. The new physics points in a new and more abstract direction- -a direction indicating the need to unify our picture of the world.

The major problem in science today is unification--bringing together a wide disparity of ideas and concepts ranging from the tiniest subatomic matter to the grandest galaxy. Today our knowledge covers a vast spectrum of ideas. And in our attempts to unify those ideas we have discovered great gaps. The science-fiction-like idea that our universe is not alone-- that there exists in some mysterious manner alongside of ours (and this needs some explaining), other universes--is the latest concept brought forward by the new physicists in their attempt to unify our knowledge. Without the existence of these other worlds, these gaps of knowledge brought into light by the discoveries of the new physics would remain unbridgeable--incapable of being solved by previous thinking.

When pre-modern scientific thought about the universe first began with the thinking of such giants as Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus, and Newton, the universe was imagined to be a gigantic clockwork with each hand of that clock tipped with a spot marking each planet circling in the heavens around the sun.

Light traveled at infinite or near infinite speed making every conscious event back here on terra firma always and forever eternally now throughout the infinite universe. Five o'clock in Manhattan was also five o'clock on Saturn and on the nearest star. While durations were measurable with clocks, time, itself, was eternal and unmeasurable. It was infinite and unimaginable. At that time no one could imagine that time here and time there could have any other relation to each other than the solitary moment of now.

And the universe was imagined to be infinite in all directions. There simply was no measure for it. There was no end to space and to try to think about infinite space was hopeless, a game for fools and poets.

Matter played its game of following exact rules of inertia and movement called equations of motion and nothing in principle was undetermined or for that matter, left for the imagination. All the universe was a giant machine ticking off throughout all eternity and occupying every corner of an infinite space. Such was our thinking prior to 1900 AD.

With the twentieth century, ideas of Einstein and the revolution of scientific thinking brought forward by the theories of relativity, much of pre-modern thinking was changed. Some of the gaps were closed. Space was not as infinite as we had previously thought. It didn't necessarily extend on forever, infinite in all directions. Neither was time as inscrutable as thought earlier. Instead time and space joined together and the two together became a new concept called spacetime. Events were not eternally now. A pair of spatially separated simultaneous events for one observer, became past and future events for another observer simply passing by through space and in time relative to the first.

Matter was also thought of in a new light. It was produced by the universe itself as a knot in the fabric of spacetime. It bent space and it curved time. Naturally this changed our vision of the universe's eternality and made it possible to envision just how the universe could have begun. The finite speed of light and the concept of spacetime made it possible to question just what could have occurred when time itself was now imagined to begin and all space in the universe itself was imagined to be smaller than the period at the end of this sentence.

However, even with relativity theory, gaps in or knowledge concerning matter and spacetime still exist. Our present models of the beginning of time called cosmological theories still carry a Newtonian mechanical tinge. They still ring of clockworks and questions about what happened before the big bang--the so-called beginning of everything--paradoxically ring in our heads. And the present models still are grappling with how to bring quantum physics into the beginning of space, time, and matter.

With the discovery of quantum physics--the physics that governs the behavior of atomic and sub-atomic matter--more gaps in our knowledge were filled. Matter was seen in a very different light. Its properties depended on how it was observed. Thus the actions of observation play a role in the atomic world that was completely unsuspected by the pre-modern scientists. That role is now suspected to even affect macroscopic matter in subtle ways that could change cosmology and indeed our concept of just what a universe is.

The major problem of bringing together quantum physics and relativity is still with us today. We don't know how to do it. We do know that whatever theory that manages it will be quite bizarre for those who still wish a clockwork universe. In this book we will explore one the most bizarre and promising theories to come from the minds and imaginations of today's physicists; that there must be other universes beside our own.

Parallel universes theory was invented by physicists in the hectic period of the 1950's and 1960's. It appeared as a new way to make concrete and rational some of the bizarre findings of quantum physics and general relativity. These findings aren't comprehensible without a new vision of reality. Instead they appear as problems. Nothing in our previous thinking about the physical world will make these problems go away.

In other words, the existence of parallel universes resolves some old and not too easily solvable paradoxes. However, as you will see soon enough, it introduces a very new and apparently paradoxical way of thinking. In essence, parallel universe theory posits the existence of worlds within our technologically-extended senses, that must connect or relate with our own.

What is a parallel universe? Like an everyday universe it is a region of space and time containing matter, galaxies, stars, planets and living beings. In other words, a parallel universe is similar and possibly even a duplicate of our own universe. Not only in a parallel universe must there be other human beings, but these may be human beings who are exact duplicates of ourselves and who are connected to ourselves through mechanisms only explainable using quantum physics concepts.

To see why scientists are now considering parallel universes seriously as a solution to problems in the wide spectrum of thought including modern physics and cosmology we need to consider some new and exciting ideas. Hope of reconciling the ideas contained within this broad spectrum of human knowledge resides in the existence of these other universes--universes that exist side-by-side with our own and even perhaps occupying the same space as our own in some ghostly manner. This spectrum includes:

Quantum Physics
Unification of New Ideas About the Universe
Relativity
Cosmology
A New Notion of Time
Psychology
--or the effects of the human mind on all of this.
End quote.
http://www.qedcorp.com/pcr/pcr/parauniv.html

I'm interested to learn that you have had these experiences in your life, Adam. Thanks for sharing. So, you believe that you have been able to predict outcomes mentally -- weighing the probabilities with reason -- rather than through any 'psychic' foreknowledge?

Not being fluent in the language of mathematics (nor of reason ), I am unable to arrive at an educated guess concerning the existence of parallel universes and such. The speculations and mental maneuverings of cosmologists and other physicists are fascinating, though. I'm sure we all feel that way Will take time to read through the article which you provided.

I think that probably, the Scots have been very similar in their beliefs about the 'unseen' world -- in whichever forms it may exist -- to the Irish. Try to read some of their folklore and fairy tales if you can. I will be pleased as peas to provide book and story titles, if you wish ~ and also, there are quite a few magical reads available in digital format, now.

Not that anything I say will have a hill of a bean of acceptance and I know that in some areas I am wasting cyberspace and pi$$ing against the wind and exalted intellectualism -- BUT---we are a people of spirit, soul and body --so big deal! You can not have total rational explainable science and yet accept the spiritual (supernatural) side and believe/think any of of the other as genetic related. They are unrelated.

Choose!!

Sharon, it my understanding that our psychology has a genetic component -- which influences temperament, for instance -- and perhaps the God-given parts of our 'soul' allow for certain 'gifts' ... not rigidly bound by time and space ... to be latent in an individual, or developed. These are not the Gifts of the Spirit as written of in the New Testament; just a part of our human inheritance ~ though possibly having been more inherent before the 'Fall.' Some abilities, like precognition, do seem to run in families. It is difficult to separate nature from nurture in many cases, however ~ and if one does not believe in the existence of such soul-gifts ... then it really doesn't matter, anyway

Holly, exactly!

and perhaps the God-given parts of our 'soul' allow for certain 'gifts' ... not rigidly bound by time and space ... to be latent in an individual, or developed.

I, personally, like the way you think.

Quote:
"Sharon, it my understanding that our psychology has a genetic component -- which influences temperament, for instance -- and perhaps the God-given parts of our 'soul' allow for certain 'gifts' ... not rigidly bound by time and space ... to be latent in an individual, or developed. These are not the Gifts of the Spirit as written of in the New Testament; just a part of our human inheritance."
End quote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savant_syndrome

Quote:
Savant syndrome—sometimes abbreviated as savantism—is not a recognized medical diagnosis, but researcher Darold Treffert defines it as a rare condition in which persons with developmental disorders (including autism spectrum disorders) have one or more areas of expertise, ability or brilliance that are in contrast with the individual's overall limitations. Treffert says the condition can be genetic, but can also be acquired, ...According to Treffert, something that almost all savants have in common is a prodigious memory of a special type: a memory that he describes as "exceedingly deep but very, very narrow". Savant-like skills may be latent in everyone.
End quote.

A prodigious savant is someone whose skill level would qualify him or her as a prodigy, or exceptional talent, even in the absence of a cognitive disability. Prodigious savants are those individuals whose abilities would be considered phenomenal or genius even in a person without any limitations or special diagnosis of impairment. The most common trait of these prodigious savants is their seemingly limitless mnemonic skills, with many having eidetic or photographic memories. Indeed, prodigious savants are extremely rare, with fewer than one hundred noted in more than a century of literature on the subject. Darold Treffert, the leading researcher in the study of savant syndrome, estimates that fewer than fifty or so such individuals are believed to be alive in the world today. The website of the Wisconsin Medical Society lists 29 savant profiles.[10] Darold Treffert is past-president of the society. There are only about 100 recognized prodigious savants in the world.[11]

The following are not autistic but are in the spectrum:

* Kim Peek, speed reader and calculator
* Daniel Tammet, British high-functioning autistic savant (mathematical synesthaesia, language absorption, and memory).[12]

The following are autistic artists of above-average talent in their fields:

* Alonzo Clemons, American clay sculptor.[13]
* Tony DeBlois, blind American musician.[14]
* Leslie Lemke, blind American musician.[7]
* Jonathan Lerman, American artist.[15]
* Thristan Mendoza, Filipino marimba prodigy.[16]
* Derek Paravicini, blind British musician.[17]
* Gilles Tréhin, artist, author
* James Henry Pullen, gifted British carpenter.[18]
* Matt Savage, U.S. autistic jazz prodigy.[19]
* Henriett Seth-F., Hungarian autistic savant, poet, writer and artist.[20]
* Stephen Wiltshire, British architectural artist.[21]
* Richard Wawro, Scottish artist.[7]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/200 ... admemories

Brain Scans Can Read Memories

Livescience Staff

Quote:
Humans create memories of locations in physical or virtual space as they move around - and it all shows up on brain scans.

Researchers tracked brain activity related to "spatial memory" as volunteers moved about inside a virtual reality setup. Their new study challenges previous scientific thinking by showing that memories are recorded in regular patterns.

"Surprisingly, just by looking at the brain data we could predict exactly where they were in the virtual reality environment," said Eleanor Maguire, a neuroscientist at the University College London in the U.K. "In other words, we could 'read' their spatial memories."

Maguire and her colleagues focused on the hippocampus, or a small part of the brain that deals with navigation, memory recall and imagining future events. Neurons known as "place cells" activate in the hippocampus and inform people of where they are as they move around.

The researchers used an fMRI scanner to detect blood flow changes in the brain, and study the activity of the place cells as a volunteer controlled movement inside the virtual environment. They then ran the results through a computer algorithm developed by Demis Hassabis, another neuroscientist at University College London.

Earlier studies with rats had also focused on the hippocampus and measured activity at the level of dozens of neurons at most. But that research had suggested that the brain did not record memory in any sort of regular pattern - a trend that this latest study may overturn. Maguire and Hassabis examined thousands of neurons as opposed to just dozens, which allowed them to pick out broader patterns.

"By looking at activity over tens of thousands of neurons, we can see that there must be a functional structure - a pattern - to how these memories are encoded," Maguire said. "Otherwise, our experiment simply would not have been possible to do."

Mind-reading research has grown increasingly sophisticated over the years. Another recent study predicted people's preference for one of two drinks with 80 percent accuracy. And earlier findings showed that people's brains reflect abnormal activity up to half a minute before making errors.

The latest findings on memory could lead to many more studies that examine how actual memories end up encoded across our brain cells, Maguire said. She and Hassabis want to look beyond spatial memories to see if brain scans can pick up patterns in our memories of the past, as well as visions of the future. Such work could also have clinical implications for understanding diseases that attack memory.

"Understanding how we as humans record our memories is critical to helping us learn how information is processed in the hippocampus and how our memories are eroded by diseases such as Alzheimer's," added Demis Hassabis.
End quote.

One of the autistic savants mentioned in your article is Leslie Lemke.
First of all--I did not know he is now classified as 'autistic".

Mike and I have followed Leslie's life path since first seeing him and his "mother" May on the 700 Club back in the 80s. In fact we recorded one of his appearances and still have it on tape. We also have the book May's Boy
Leslie was born prematurely, mentally impaired (brain damage), cerebral palsy and had his eyes surgically removed as an infant.
May took him in and loved and nurtured him like crazy.
She often said that the one thing she asked of God was "Please, give this pitiful boy a talent!" AND HE DID.

This tiny little woman and her gentle quiet as a mouse husband devoted themselves to Leslie and would not give up on him.

She also often told the story of how she awakened one night and heard music. Thinking she had left the radio or tv on she got up to turn it off and was astounded to see Leslie sitting at the piano playing classical music flawlessly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Lemke
http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/ ... slie_lemke

We have seen some of the other names on the list in specials for Science/Discovery Channel and are amazed and as astounded as May must have been each time.