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Comment: Constructive approaches... (Score 5, Insightful) 552

by dex22 (#47074987) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Communication With Locked-in Syndrome Patient?

I'm truly sorry for what has happened.

Many people are addressing how to communicate, but few are addressing what to communicate. At this time, your sister-in-law is tired, afraid, and a new mom. Her mental stamina is low and she is trying to heal. Making it harder, her potential to heal won't be apparent immediately, and can take several weeks or months to show.

Let her spend time with the baby. If things go badly this may be her crowning achievement, and if things go well, this may be her greatest mental uplift giving her the energy to heal.

Spend time listening as well as talking with her. Always give her comments to you priority over your comments to her. If her time is limited, there's much she will want to say - you have to let her get it out.

Just take things day by day. There will be good days and bad days. Bad days can actually be good news - healing is tiring, and while her brain swelling goes down and she recovers she will be extra tired. As parts of her brain switch back on and fumble to find their mental feet, she will sometimes seem off-balance.

Finally, given the affected area, modify your expectations of touch. Contact is important, but it should be somewhere she is connected to. If she can't move or feel her hands (which are two quite separate things) but she can move her eyelids, contact with her face might work better. Give her a say in that - she will guide you. Touch and intimacy are vital to her wellbeing.

I hope she makes a full recovery. She may well not. Take what you can get, listen to her, and do the best you can as a family to work with what you now have.

Congratulations on the new baby. I hope they will grow to know and enjoy their mother.

Comment: Re:Lesson #1: (Score 1) 501

by dex22 (#45124453) Attached to: Lessons From the Healthcare.gov Fiasco

I wrote a tasteful missive about the dangers of politicians of all creeds, stripes, colors. When it came time to click "submit" I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Modern politics is brought to us by the Seventh Circle of Hell. I laugh so that I do not cry.

The first steps of progress in making things better would be if one party gained some competence, and the other turned off their Petty Hate Machine(tm). You, humble reader, can decide which party is which. Choose the one that makes you happiest and upmod accordingly ;)

Comment: Bitcoin saved my home... (Score 4, Interesting) 403

by dex22 (#44903811) Attached to: Homeless, Unemployed, and Surviving On Bitcoins

A few bitcoin donations helped me make my mortgage payment last month, and I have a little left over. Things are picking up but it's still really tight. I had to have emergency dental surgery (blessed wisdom teeth) too... There is a point that you reach when you're desperate that you still feel the shame of begging, but the need overwhelms it.

I'll just leave this here: 17S6drtGpJXer6qA5V6XhP3snasGWANBjc

Comment: As an indie filmmaker... (Score 5, Interesting) 187

by dex22 (#43562963) Attached to: Hollywood Studios Fuming Over Indie Studio Deal With BitTorrent

As an indie filmmaker, I understand the dilemma. Granted, I'm at the low end, and don't get to work with name actors, but the problems stay the same until you have to start worrying about territories and distribution - and this is a dispute about controlling distribution.

If I invest, say, $20,000 of my own money in a project, I need to be reasonably confident about making at least some of that money back or I don't get to make another movie. I don't have a patron or rich lover to fund what I do, so... I have to not make consistent losses.

Facing this reality, the main way I make money is through private showings in indie theaters, selling disks direct, and then when the economic potential of the production seems tapped out, sticking it somewhere accessible so at least it is seen by *people*.

That doesn't really work. I don't know what else to do. I have a couple of really fun hard sci-fi ideas I'd love to develop, but the audience is hard to reach and still get paid enough to just cover my costs... Or I can participate in the conventional distribution system and be SURE of making no money.

Unless there's some rich benefactor or wealthy single lady out there *grins* my really very specialist movies have no chance of being made or seen by a wide audience.

Bittorrent breaks the distribution problem, but doesn't help the money problem.

Comment: Re:Air resistance. (Score 1) 1184

by dex22 (#41157073) Attached to: White House Finalizes 54.5 MPG Fuel Efficiency Standard

The new Mazda CX-5 in the US gets about 33 mpg on the highway. The new CX-5 in England gets 60mpg combined. Why is the US so far behind production EU models?

The main difference is the US car has a pokey gasoline engine, and the EU version has a turbo diesel with more power and torque.

Draw your own conclusions as to why this situation exists.
