response 65 of 365:

Oct 3 07:46 UTC 2000

re#64: I am so sure that is not the case above.  I mean come on.  She is
not doing a bit about rubbing her buzzer, assuming the above is a she. 
She is clearly not doing a bit about 'trains and tunnels'.

And now that you mention it where did Freud say what you claim?  I have
most if not all his writings somewhere in my library?  Cite!

response 67 of 365:

Oct 3 11:23 UTC 2000

Maybe you're feeling guilty about not flossing enough?

response 69 of 365:

Oct 3 14:12 UTC 2000

All right, since Sarah said it was all right to rant elsewhere, here goes.

First off, the concept of the Dream Encyclopedia is patently absurd. You can't
go to a book (or a person) and say, I dreamed about penguins, donkeys, and
toothpicks... what did that mean? True, there are cultural meanings to
symbols, but dreams are personal, not cultural, events, and personal meanings
can and do override cultural ones.

So, the first thing to do when you have an odd dream is to ask YOURSELF, what
do these symbols mean? Do you have memories about teeth? When you think about
teeth, what sort of feelings do you get? Could the word be a pun in some way
-- perhaps a play on teats, or a reference to a person? What other aspects
of the teeth seem relevant?

THEN, *maybe* go to some dictionaries of cultural icons (including dream
dictionaries) to get some ideas about the cultural meanings of the item --
keeping in mind that those meanings may have changed, or that they may simply
not apply to you. Think about how teeth are perceived of in this culture, and
perhaps generate your own cultural definition. Think about what contexts you
see teeth in, and where you see mouths but not teeth, and how it makes you
feel, and how it seems to make other people feel, and what you've heard people
say about teeth.

All this time, keep in mind that sometimes a duck is just a duck... perhaps
you were clenching your teeth in your sleep, and that carried through to your
dream. then it may be not the teeth themselves that's relevant to your
unconscious processing, but rather how you chose to build a story around them
... why, when faced with the conscious fear of losing your teeth (typical when
grinding your teeth in your sleep) did you choose to create a story about
living in Victorian times and not being able to get to a dentist? Perhaps you
have an anxiety of taking modern technology too much for granted. Perhaps you
want to give yourself up to more fantastical modes of thinking, but are afraid
of leaving certain benefits behind?

Of course, it would be a lot easier to just get some dream dictionary
definition of "teeth means how you view relationships" or some equally
juvenile poppycock, but then you'd just find out what someone else might have
thought having had your dream. No good to you.

response 71 of 365:

Oct 3 15:03 UTC 2000

Brighn knows everything about anything, Sarah, you'd best listen to him.
*quiet snicker*

response 73 of 365:

Oct 3 15:29 UTC 2000

        Hey, I argue with Brighn more than the average guy, but you have to
admit that when he's right, he's right.

        If he's wrong, then you might go about suggesting ways in which he is
wrong rather than saying "you're a know-it-all", because that only proves that
you're the sort of person who can be "louder-than-a-know-it-all".

response 75 of 365:

Oct 3 16:26 UTC 2000

        Okay, short question:  How do I set in motion a script to 
ask the question in this item in four days, creating it now.  ie, like
reposond,when=+4days?

response 77 of 365:

Oct 3 17:13 UTC 2000

(thanks for the support, john and carson)
(and yes, they've argued with me plenty. the difference is, they DEBATE...
they bring forth points of their own, instead of just sarcasing.)

#70> Actually, I support that theory to a point. I do think that most dream
images are manifestations of random neurological impulses... that's in my
post, actually, if you read between the lines. What's relevant is how the
brain then creates a narrative around those random images. You may be thinking
about teeth because you're grinding your teeth in your sleep, but why all that
other stuff? 

My general approach is to take the obvious stuff out right away and see what's
left -- Sarah lives in a Victorian neighborhood, so it's not a surprise (as
she says) that she dreams about a Victorian time period. If she's grinding
her teeth in her sleep, it's not surprising she dreams about losing teeth.
Putting that together -- that her teeth are being lost because she's living
in a Victorian era -- isn't all that surprising, either. It's the added
component -- that she's apparently giving some level of consciousness to her
teeth (they're rebelling against the lack of technology) -- that I'd
immediately pursue.

(Remove the H... sorry, Sara.)

For the record, here are the topics that I am most opinionated about:
Language/linguistics
Oneirology/dream interpretation
Theology in anthropological and sociological context
Sociology and psychology
Ethics

Go ahead and ask me the carburetor size of a 76 Mustang, the economical
ramifications of Clinton's program, the systematic differences between C++
and Pascal, or whether I think Moss will take his team all the way this year,
and I'll stare at you blankly. There are plenty of things I know little about,
and will readily admit as much.

response 79 of 365:

Oct 3 17:17 UTC 2000

I don't do dream therapy. Thanks.

response 81 of 365:

Oct 3 17:27 UTC 2000

Actually, the crown is where the seeds are. The question is, are
those "sesame" seeds?

response 83 of 365:

Oct 3 17:42 UTC 2000

In re: dreams -- does anyone else have a dream "neighborhood" that they dream
about on a regular basis? I have two. One is my hometown, filtered through
most of the places I've lived, and one is my office, which is *definitely*
not my real physical office, since it has lots of secret floors and elevators
that go to them, and like that. I always enjoy the office dreams, since there
are some way cool places hidden away in it.

response 85 of 365:

Oct 3 18:05 UTC 2000

  The following is a question on returning to the motd screen (which includes
the last login time et cetera) after it vanishes:

On Fri, Dec 18, 1998, C. Keesan posted in Co-op item #50, response #37:
>  For those of us who cannot remember how to back up after the motd goes
> whizzing by,...

  I could hardly have expressed it better myself; how does one back up to
return to the motd screen after it goes whizzing by?

response 87 of 365:

Oct 3 18:34 UTC 2000

It's hard to tell what games the mind's playing at any given time. Mine likes
to pun for instance. Once I dreamed that I'd died, and that a group of friends
were holding a funeral, and one with a Southern-ish accent mourned of me
walking between the veils. A few days later, I was at a do in A2, and went
through a doorway where my Val and Val Szopko were chatting, so I had to walk
between them. I was halfway through before I saw the pun (which is why the
accent was important). One of my many precognizant dreams, too, though a
rather mundane one. =}

As to the scrolling issue, I have my telnet set to buffer 250 lines. that's
one solution for getting around the "whizzing by" issue.

response 89 of 365:

Oct 3 19:16 UTC 2000

You can read the motd by typing "motd" (or "!motd", whichever's appropriate)
at the command line.  If it scrolls by too fast, try "motd | less".