NASA's incoming calls to public affairs are out of this world

_________________
"... to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson, Ulysses

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ToSeek on 2002-09-27 17:21 ]</font>

Thank you SO much for sharing that, it's just priceless. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

My personal favorite:

HA! That's hilarious. What a job.

I love catchall "info lines." When I was in college, the university operated one... one night (albeit after a few beers) we called to ask them how many grenades it would take to destroy a three-story house. And they came up with an answer for us. That's just a beautiful thing.

__________________
PC load letter? What the @%$# does that mean?

One of my former bosses dealt with Freedom of Information requests to our department. One such request sought information about the device that *we* supposedly implanted in his head (I work for the Australian Federal Police).

I hope there aren't any demarcation disputes about stuff like this. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

I work at an answering service. We answer the phones after hours for doctors, government agencies, etc. Their are allot of nuts out there. Some of the more funny ones will call a dozen times a day. Sometimes the same nut(or telemarketer) will call several different places and not realize he is reaching the same place each time. This makes for some pretty hilarious situations.

About 9 out of 10 you can tell a nut by tone of voice even before he gets into his ravings. Don't know why - severe mental illness must do something to ones voice. Or else I am just recognizing the same voices calling again and again.

The person who calls in and sounds perfectly normal like you or I, has a perfectly rational conversation, and then says that he was abducted by aliens and told to kill the president is pretty rare. Most have a telling tone in their voice right from the start.

This kind of puzzles me, because if you actually visit a mental hospital, etc. there are allot of delusional people you can actually have a real conversation with for some time. Were it not for the setting, you never would have known that ya were talking to someone who has been commited for 5 years... etc. MOST of the seriously mentally ill look and talk like normal people MOST of the time. Even the severe cases that make it to the state hospitals. The movie "Girl Interupted" has a pretty good portrayal as I understand it (though I am no expert)

It must just be the ones that call that sound different....

From the article:

Like cops and hospital workers, the assistants say the moon influences how wacky their calls get.

"And then we have the satellite caller, that the neighbor's stealing their satellite waves and getting free satellite," Mullen said. Sometimes, the woman calls three days in a row. "She'll get on a roll, and we'll look to see if there's a full moon."

All this chuckling about these silly calls, and here they are believing in a myth themselves. skeptic's dictionary

__________________
~~ ><>><> ~~ ><,,> ><,,> ...`;=;p d;=;' /\/\^/\ ^^ ^/\/\_
Democracy Now! - The lost art of investigative news reporting.

This kind of puzzles me, because if you actually visit a mental hospital, etc. there are allot of delusional people you can actually have a real conversation with for some time. Were it not for the setting, you never would have known that ya were talking to someone who has been commited for 5 years... etc. MOST of the seriously mentally ill look and talk like normal people MOST of the time.

A man is driving down a deserted country road (is there any other kind?) when he has a flat.

He pulls the car to the side of the road, next to a tall chain link fence with a sign on it: "State Hospital for the Mentally Disturbed." There's a man in a white jump suit grasping the fence from inside, staring at him.

Under this pressure, the driver starts to change his tire, placing the four lug nuts in the upturned hub cap.

A car suddenly appears, speeds down the road, hits the hub cap and sends the lug nuts flying into the bushes. The man searches for them unsuccessfully for half an hour before hearing a throat being cleared behind him.

"Excuse me," says the man in the jump suit. "If I could suggest... take one lug nut off each of the other three tires and use them on the fourth tire. That should work until you can get into town and buy another set."

"My gosh!" says the driver. "That's a great idea! But, if you can reason like that, why are you in there?"

"Mister," says the jump suit indignantly, "I'm crazy, not stupid."

__________________
Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity.
Isaac Asimov

Generally the ones in mental hospitals are medicated and so are reasonably well balanced.

It's the general public you have to watch out for.

An acquaintance of mine works in a hospital with a large mental health wing. Most of the attacks on staff are by relatives who have come to visit.

Dog

Mental illness presents itself in as many forms as exist in other populations. And, for many kinds of mental illness, it's only a matter of where one falls on the continuum.

Dog: "Generally the ones in mental hospitals are medicated and so are reasonably well balanced.

It's the general public you have to watch out for.

An acquaintance of mine works in a hospital with a large mental health wing. Most of the attacks on staff are by relatives who have come to visit."

Cloudy: "About 9 out of 10 you can tell a nut by tone of voice even before he gets into his ravings. Don't know why - severe mental illness must do something to ones voice. Or else I am just recognizing the same voices calling again and again.

The person who calls in and sounds perfectly normal like you or I, has a perfectly rational conversation, and then says that he was abducted by aliens and told to kill the president is pretty rare. Most have a telling tone in their voice right from the start.

This kind of puzzles me, because if you actually visit a mental hospital, etc. there are allot of delusional people you can actually have a real conversation with for some time. Were it not for the setting, you never would have known that ya were talking to someone who has been commited for 5 years... etc. MOST of the seriously mentally ill look and talk like normal people MOST of the time. Even the severe cases that make it to the state hospitals. The movie "Girl Interupted" has a pretty good portrayal as I understand it (though I am no expert)

It must just be the ones that call that sound different...."

Both of these comment clusters do not fit well with any experiences I've had with institutionalized nor non-institutionalized persons diagnosed as mentally ill, (nor their family members).

Sorry for sounding like a 'I know more than you' because that's not what I'm trying to say. I have no idea what your experiences have been with mentally ill persons. What I mean is that it might be wrong to make such broad general statements about any group of people.



_________________
Evolution is just a theory. Better fasten your seatbelt, so is gravity.
Beskeptigal.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: beskeptical on 2002-10-01 04:46 ]</font>

I agree with you. Regardless of what anyone's experience has been, it can't have been broad enough to make these kinds of general characterizations.
We seem to be in a transition from the days when people were isolated in "loony bins" and dealt with in some generic cookie cutter fashion to what, one would hope, will be a time when mental illness is recognized as a group of diseases that each need their own targeted treatment approach. I don't think we're there yet, and if the views we saw presented in this thread are an indication of public attitudes, we aren't going to get there for a long time. And that would be unfortunate in a society that places such a high value on health care.

Speaking as one who has been on the inside of a facility as such for severe depression, the number of people who are really out there is pretty limited. More often you see the worst cases held in their own wings, giving the impression of large numbers of them by skewing the percentages of total patients. A lot of them sound no different than some of the off the wall nuts you see in ZetaTalk or in Crank.net, they are simply more extreme. They actually live out their lives as if someone is monitoring them, or they have serious irrational fears of authority figures and the power they seem to have. It really is not understood if this imbalance is due to actual damage to the brain or if by thinking and feeling a certain way for so long conditions your mind to believe it to be reality. Of all the science spoken of here, this is where we really have no clue. This is why dealing with fringe cases like those who believe aliens are a real threat, or that they believe someone is watching them is a real challenge. Who knows where the line in the sand is that they have crossed? As an example we know all to well, when does the belief that an as-yet-undiscovered planet exists in the deep solar system become the unabiding fear that its going to swing by and destroy the world? The brain is an awesome computer, but it is one we program by instinct and choice based on what we learn and what we believe, and everyone here who reads this article can understand the devastating consequences of that computer being misinformed.

__________________
The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

To beskeptical, etc..

I highlighted MOST for a reason and I mentioned my limited experience and training. I dont claim my generalizations to be gospel.

Generalizations are legitimate when you mention their limitations.

Sometimes, if you refuse to make them at all, you miss obvious facts that are staring you right in the face (such as the PLAIN TEXT of the post you are criticising).

The English language has words like "MOST" for a reason. SO READ THEM.

I really hate it when people ruin perfectly good conversations by pointing out exceptions to generaly valid observations. When you say "SOME" people think ya mean "MANY". When you say "MOST" people think you mean "ALL" or "THE VAST MAJORITY". Generalizations are a neccesary fact of life. Pouncing on them is easy and sometimes neccesary, but IN THIS CASE (I hope you read the preceding words) adds nothing to the discussion.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cloudy on 2002-10-02 03:11 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cloudy on 2002-10-02 03:13 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cloudy on 2002-10-02 03:17 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cloudy on 2002-10-02 03:18 ]</font>

<a name="20021003.7:38"> POST 20021003.7:38 aka Channel 10
On 2002-10-02 03:09, Cloudy wrote: Over? To: HUb'
To beskeptical, etc..
2: first i would like to point out that
I highlighted MOST for a reason and I mentioned my limited experience and training. I dont claim my generalizations to be gospel.
2: I recieve your post here {using LYNX _text only_}
Generalizations are legitimate when you mention their limitations.
2: as double spaced And I of course Wonder about THIS
Sometimes, if you refuse to make them at all, you miss obvious facts that are staring you right in the face (such as the PLAIN TEXT of the post you are criticising).
2: and at this number
The English language has words like "MOST" for a reason. SO READ THEM.
2: its back to MY answer to the thread question
I really hate it when people ruin perfectly good conversations by pointing out exceptions to generaly valid observations. When you say "SOME" people think ya mean "MANY". When you say "MOST" people think you mean "ALL" or "THE VAST MAJORITY". Generalizations are a neccesary fact of life. Pouncing on them is easy and sometimes neccesary, but IN THIS CASE (I hope you read the preceding words) adds nothing to the discussion.
2:
2,a AND THE ANSWER IS:
2.b to wear a very heavy mist
2.c of Channel 10
2? an YES : i've seen the Hate
2? up close and first hand
3: I might add
3? so just in case i'll put out a Ch bottle
4U in case some one would like to use some of that

to Hub - Huh? Is something wrong with the posting system... I'll see if the same thing happens when I try to post.

Doodler...

Appreciate your comments. I to, have been hospitalized for depression. Well, it was a partial (day) hospitalization for three days. None of my fellow patients would have appeared at all out of the ordinary if you conversed with them for a few hours. Yet we all had mental problems that created very severe problems in our lives. But none of us had a delusion-producing disorders - the majority had severe depression(both mono and bi-poler).

I have met a few people with severe cases such disorders and they also appear and act normal most of the time. Guess you are right, though, that this may be mostly due to their being properly treated. In the real world, where allot of the severly mentally ill are homeless and neglected, its probably a totaly different story. If there is a lesson in this thread it is....if you have severe mental problems, or others think you do, GET TREATMENT! IT IS THERE AND IT CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERANCE!


I don't know, however, if most of the people calling us are calling from the "real world". Many call from inside institutions - some of the most prolific callers are elderly people with mental problems calling on a nursing home complaint line("They retarded me, they turned my skin black, the killed my mother and brought her back to life...") MOST delusional callers sound unusual in tone of voice, word choice, etc. Takes me only 2-3 words to recognize em'. even when talking about ordinary things. Dont know why this is. Again, perhaps it is just the same people calling all the time. Maybe those who call us are just those who most want attention and they are different from most - and they call us when the delusion is MOST in control of their minds.

Jim - thanks for the story and the refresher on the difference between mental illness and mental retardation(or whatever the PC term is for it today). They are completely different things. Cant really judge the category the "nuts" we hear from in the answering service fall into. However, some of their delusions are really imaginative - most seem to have really good brains that just dont work right.

Your comments(Doodler's) bring back memories of a high school psychology class - we were taught that 'normal' is a relative term. Nowdays sometimes "consumer" is the prefered term for "mentally ill" person - seeing as we all have some irrational thoughts and beliefs.

Another thought....Delusional "consumers" often receive treatment because they allow their delusions to influence their lives to an intollerable degree. Guess the key is to have delusions that does not demand that you actually DO things that are socially forbidden and/or self destructive. I am sure that most of us harbor at least some of these relatively safe delusions....

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cloudy on 2002-10-05 04:08 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cloudy on 2002-10-05 04:10 ]</font>

My my, feeling a bit defensive? I thought I was putting my comments in a very soft frame: do not fit well with any experiences I've had ... Sorry ... I have no idea what your experiences have been with mentally ill persons. ... it might be wrong to make such broad general statements about any group of people.

I hate to think how you would have taken it if I had said what I really thought. What bothered me about what you said was that you claimed to be able to tell, "About 9 out of 10 you can tell a nut by tone of voice even before he gets into his ravings". That said to me you were deciding people were 'nuts' after some interaction on a telephone. Maybe they weren't all 'nuts'. Maybe there were other explanations.

I just hate to see people stereotyped, that's all.

__________________
~~ ><>><> ~~ ><,,> ><,,> ...`;=;p d;=;' /\/\^/\ ^^ ^/\/\_
Democracy Now! - The lost art of investigative news reporting.

<a name="20021005.5:32"> POST 20021005.5:32 aka dR T. Leary ?
On 2002-10-03 10:53, HUb' wrote: To: HUb'
ABOARD THE ASR-7: days befor Young'Uns thphoon
Con? Combat: we hold a small contact
ploted dead in the water 8000 yards off the
starboard bow, designated skunk "alpha"
Con: aye..
Combat? Con: can you I identify "ALPHA"
.. Negative possibly a sub periscope?
or maybe a small Life raft size object?
...very week and intermittant
Con?: Conbat current recommend course for intercept
345 degree would give ETA 4:32 in 20 minutes
Con... Aye 345 eta 432 : Aye?
-------------------------------
we had just begun the watch when "alpha" occured
======================================
what can i tell you the facts and figers of the
above sea story are pur dilllusinal
"Alpha"'s not however Its a tru story
documented in infinate detail in the Ships
log {believe whateever you like
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
this story of how Gramps Grabed the wheel muxh to long and complex
for thesee LYNX {Text only} exchages andwould require many graphics and much fist waving to convey

<a name="20021005.4:32"> POST 20021005.4:32 aka DR T. Leary ?
On 2002-10-03 10:53, HUb' wrote: To: HUb'
ABOARD THE ASR-7: days befor Young'Uns thphoon
Con? Combat: we hold a small contact
ploted dead in the water 8000 yards off the
starboard bow, designated skunk "alpha"
Con: aye..
Combat? Con: can you I identify "ALPHA"
.. Negative possibly a sub periscope?
or maybe a small Life raft size object?
...very week and intermittant
Con?: Conbat current recommend course for intercept
345 degree would give ETA 4:32 in 20 minutes
Con... Aye 345 eta 432 : Aye?
-------------------------------
we had just begun the watch when "alpha" occured
======================================
what can i tell you the facts and figers of the
above sea story are pur dilllusinal
"Alpha"'s not however Its a tru story
documented in infinate detail in the Ships
log {believe whateever you like
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
this story of how Gramps Grabed the wheel's much to long and complex
for thesee LYNX {Text only} exchages and would require many graphics and much fist waving to convey

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUb' on 2002-10-05 09:11 ]</font>

<a name="2-10-07.ltr"> POST 2-10-07.ltr aka Letter2PDX
On 2002-10-05 09:02, HUb' wrote:
From: "Manley Hubbell" hub@hubert.rain.com

To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
at this time 6:11 A.M. on NBC
Subject: A S R 7
U/I get the Loose Moose word
Date: 5:36 AM 10/7/02
6:12 A.M.
6:12 A.M. about School
6:12 A.M.
http://www.aracnet.com/~pdxavets/hardtack.htm
6:13 A.M. code blue in Montomery Co, /Prince George Co.
6:13 A.M. vidoe
6:14 A.M. upto 6:12
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...#20021005.4:32
so becaus there are
more lines skipprd
than double space
http://www.badastronomy.com/
if you can figure out
how to read this
good luck try ever 4th line?
When the results of the 2002 Oregon Governors race,
anyway this letter will be sent from the 386
I in which I ran my write in campPain for the "PACIFIC" party candate}
when it gets there later today or tomorrow? 6:16 A.M. 2-10-07
are available on computer.. i'll post a link at badas.
6:11 A.M.

Beskep and Dave

I think if you read my post again you will note that I'm criticizing the general public not the folks in the hospital.

The comment about medication was perhaps poorly worded and for that I apologize. Most of the patients my acquaintance deals with are self admitted and minor medication IS all that is needed to control unwanted symptoms. I don't see any problem with that, do you?

The statistic regarding attacks that I quoted however is from a very reliable source. The relatives I refer to are not specifically relatives of patients in the psych wing, just relatives of hospital patients in general. The point I was trying to make was that you can't make generalizations about the way people react. If this was unclear I apologize for that also.

Dog

On 2002-10-05 03:54, Cloudy wrote:


Doodler...

HARD Question in the 80's
a very low time
I did go to the Local VA
it did not take me long to decide
what help I would get would not be
in my interest So I decided up front
to limit my number of trips UP pill hill
to 15 ROUNDS
those were not easy {as you may Know}
its USE OF FORCE
i scored it as 6 to 5 with 4 even
anyway the results were they BUILT a NEW
VA Hospital {believe what you like}
Boo
I put a link to OHSU
..
and I think MY Family Historys being written into there {Sad}?

On 2002-10-05 03:54, Cloudy wrote:


Doodler...

HARD Question in the 80's
a very low time
I did go to the Local VA
it did not take me long to decide
what help I would get would not be
in my interest So I decided up front
to limit my number of trips UP pill hill
to 15 ROUNDS
those were not easy {as you may Know}
its USE OF FORCE
i scored it as 6 to 5 with 4 even
anyway the results were they BUILT a NEW
VA Hospital {believe what you like}
Boo
I put a link to OHSU
..
and I think MY Family Historys being written into there {Sad}?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUb' on 2002-10-07 19:21 ]</font>

"About 9 out of 10 you can tell a nut by tone of voice even before he gets into his ravings". That said to me you were deciding people were 'nuts' after some interaction on a telephone. Maybe they weren't all 'nuts'. Maybe there were other explanations.

I just hate to see people stereotyped, that's all.

-----

I think if someone says "I am the president of the United States and Aliens told me to call you" it is pretty safe to say he is a nut [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img], at least at that moment, political correctness issues asside . These are the people I am talking about.

If he isnt and is just pulling your leg, he is deliberatly wasting your time (we deal with real emergency calls) and deserves to be slandered a bit. This may be a rationalization - but I believe you would find it excusable if you worked where I do.

As to generalizations about large groups of people - we all use them. Life on the street in real life would be impossible without them. The question is whether they are
generally accurate and also NOT used to judge individuals in important situations (ie, who to ask out, who to hire, etc.). Only generalizations that are not accurate even most of the time and/or are used innapropriatly are stereotypes. Unfortunatly, there are plenty of these out there.

Another type of stereotyping is to stereotype people's IDEAS. That is what you are doing if you put words into people's mouths and give people's comments the most extreme and least plausible interpretation. All I am saying is that it rarely surprises me when someone says "The aliens made me God" or something like that. Again, 9 times out of 10, the tone of voice or word choice makes em' sound wierd even before the nut starts into his ravings. Yes, there are some people with the same vocal clues that never say anything obviously nutty. But that is very rare. And it still puzzles me.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: cloudy on 2002-10-14 19:57 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cloudy on 2002-10-14 20:07 ]</font>

<a name="20021025.ASR"> page 20021025.ASR aka ASR 2-10-25
On 2002-10-05 09:00, HUb' wrote: To: 20021025



Con? Combat: we hold a small contact
ploted dead in the water 8000 yards off the
starboard bow, designated skunk "alpha"
Con: aye..
Combat? Con: can you I identify "ALPHA"
.. Negative possibly a
1:October 25, 2002
2:Anyway the ensin JOD did turn the ASr STB
3:and of course the course change changed
4:the angle on the bow of the ocean waves
5:THINGs were happen rather quickley
6:and the was lots of comotion and some
7:degree of confusion:
8:
9:
10 Before Gramps took the Wheel
1: We did a wheeling Turn
2: its part of a man overboard drill
log {believe whateever you like3:
4: and eventuall came alongside the
5:Green Japenese Glass fissing Float
6: abou three feet in Diameter
now back to the UFO tail 2-10-25 2:44 P.M. PST