Comments on: Chainsaws, sticky tape, and matters of life and death http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/ the blog that is not dansdata.com Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:58:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha by: Matt http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4662 Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:28:08 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4662 The original article on the Telegraph is gone. Yesterday there was a message saying that it had been removed, but today it just 404's. The original article on the Telegraph is gone. Yesterday there was a message saying that it had been removed, but today it just 404's.

]]> by: Major Malfunction http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4652 Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:57:22 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4652 It's difficult to encapsulate the connection between madness and creativity in a single sentence, but the way I see it, the link is undeniable and sanity is relative. I recommend a hobby. It's difficult to encapsulate the connection between madness and creativity in a single sentence, but the way I see it, the link is undeniable and sanity is relative.

I recommend a hobby.

]]> by: Stark http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4644 Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:59:48 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4644 Link as requested - <a href="http://www.jumpstation.ca/recroom/comedy/python/arch.html" rel="nofollow"> Monty Python Architect Sketch </a> Love those rotating knives.... Link as requested - Monty Python Architect Sketch

Love those rotating knives....

]]> by: corinoco http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4641 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:22:35 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4641 Funny thing: I read Lovecraft, and my reaction was "meh, just the first emo. These days he'd write 'Twilight'". Surprisingly, or perhaps NOT surprisingly, there is actually some humour out in depression-land; people like me (chronic severe depression, possibly related to Glandular Fever, or severe bullying at school, or just being 2 weeks premmie, depending on who you ask) get jealous of manic depressives - at least they get the manic bit, which actually looks like a whole lot of fun. Sure, they're manic depressives, but they are usually also rather wealthy writers, actors, artists or musicians. I'm an architect - I would love to do a depressing building (properly depressing and downright scary, sort of Vatican statuary meets DFAT in Canberra, with knives a'la Planescape:Torment) but clients just don't dig buildings that give people palpitations. Oh, I'd have sound too - a high-pitched whine, like a fan bearing on the way out, playing through the whole building. I've got this worked out, really. (Link to Monty Python sketch about architects please) Funny thing: I read Lovecraft, and my reaction was "meh, just the first emo. These days he'd write 'Twilight'". Surprisingly, or perhaps NOT surprisingly, there is actually some humour out in depression-land; people like me (chronic severe depression, possibly related to Glandular Fever, or severe bullying at school, or just being 2 weeks premmie, depending on who you ask) get jealous of manic depressives - at least they get the manic bit, which actually looks like a whole lot of fun. Sure, they're manic depressives, but they are usually also rather wealthy writers, actors, artists or musicians. I'm an architect - I would love to do a depressing building (properly depressing and downright scary, sort of Vatican statuary meets DFAT in Canberra, with knives a'la Planescape:Torment) but clients just don't dig buildings that give people palpitations. Oh, I'd have sound too - a high-pitched whine, like a fan bearing on the way out, playing through the whole building. I've got this worked out, really. (Link to Monty Python sketch about architects please)

]]> by: Daniel Rutter http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4639 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:49:46 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4639 I've read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679643524/dansdata">Styron's book</a> too, and liked it a lot. Given my sense of humour, after a while I started finding the sheer staggering <i>depth</i> of his depression funny. It was like the ever-more-overwrought descriptions of horribleness in a Lovecraft story - after a while, you sort of peel off from believing it into just staring at it as a spectacle and wondering what fresh horror awaits on the next page. This'd be horribly insensitive if someone were sitting there telling you his life story, of course, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Styron">Styron</a> isn't even around to take offence any more (pneumonia and old age, not suicide). And there's significant therapeutic value in it, too - it's nice to be able to say "Well, I feel like hand-made shit, but THIS guy used t'<a href="http://www.phespirit.info/montypython/four_yorkshiremen.htm">DREAM</a> about feeling like hand-made shit. And he survived!" You really are pretty royally screwed if you have severe <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatment-resistant_depression">refractory</a> clinical depression. <i>Darkness Visible</i> is about Styron's experience with depression in the 1980s; today, there are more drugs and other treatments to shuffle your way through and see if any help. But it's still eminently possible that your depression will be like nonspecific back pain: It just requires a period of "suffering time", during which you have to stay alive somehow (Styron eventually checked himself into a psychiatric hospital). Then it goes away, no matter what you did. And later, it's likely to come back. I've read Styron's book too, and liked it a lot. Given my sense of humour, after a while I started finding the sheer staggering depth of his depression funny. It was like the ever-more-overwrought descriptions of horribleness in a Lovecraft story - after a while, you sort of peel off from believing it into just staring at it as a spectacle and wondering what fresh horror awaits on the next page.

This'd be horribly insensitive if someone were sitting there telling you his life story, of course, but Styron isn't even around to take offence any more (pneumonia and old age, not suicide). And there's significant therapeutic value in it, too - it's nice to be able to say "Well, I feel like hand-made shit, but THIS guy used t'DREAM about feeling like hand-made shit. And he survived!"

You really are pretty royally screwed if you have severe refractory clinical depression. Darkness Visible is about Styron's experience with depression in the 1980s; today, there are more drugs and other treatments to shuffle your way through and see if any help. But it's still eminently possible that your depression will be like nonspecific back pain: It just requires a period of "suffering time", during which you have to stay alive somehow (Styron eventually checked himself into a psychiatric hospital). Then it goes away, no matter what you did.

And later, it's likely to come back.

]]> by: Ben K http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4637 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:15:02 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4637 Nice to hear some discussion over the responsibility side of things, rather than just hearing rhetoric about our 'rights'. Some people wonder why our society is disintegrating into individualistic materialism, while never raising the thoughts about what are my responsibilities to my fellow man. I think this discussion on the free speech aspect is a good one - thanks corinoco for sharing about your experiences, I hope people reading it may stop and think how their freedoms affect you, and act responsibly Nice to hear some discussion over the responsibility side of things, rather than just hearing rhetoric about our 'rights'.
Some people wonder why our society is disintegrating into individualistic materialism, while never raising the thoughts about what are my responsibilities to my fellow man.
I think this discussion on the free speech aspect is a good one - thanks corinoco for sharing about your experiences, I hope people reading it may stop and think how their freedoms affect you, and act responsibly

]]> by: corinoco http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4636 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:59:49 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4636 "13.It's obviously all the fault of violent video games, we'd all live forever if it wasn't for those." Well, they DO improve your eyesight, news that made me very happy indeed, given my poor eyesight! Funny - I was always told when I was young that playing Elite would ruin my eyesight, though the problem I have would actually be cured by it! Righto, where's Crysis? But... Oh, no! It's got guns in it! That might give me suicide ideas! (see what I did there?) Seriously, I feel very strongly about one side or other of this argument, I just haven't read the article well enough yet to understand which side. For the record, I'm another who has seriously contemplated suicide, and done the drug-and-therapy dance to deal with it. My experience is pretty much exactly the same as opus7600, though the drug I was prescribed has some interesting online data (luckily for me) stating how nasty ODing is. Lucky that I too have a strong aversion to pain, a strong desire to not leave a horrid mess or psychologically scar train drivers. In my experience, ideation is the worst thing; it just eats you up, you think of nothing else for days. Adding the Lifeline or BeyondBlue tag (as is currently done in the SMH these days) is a good idea - at least it gives you the knowledge that there might be a way out. As for reading about detailed attempts? Reading about other people's experiences is actually what helped me fight the damn Black Dog (William Styron's 'Darkness Visible' and Winston Churchill were helpful for me, Michael Leunig is OK in small, careful doses). Reading about chainsaw-based contraptions certainly doesn't affect me, though I consider such things rather crass. If I lived in, say, Thailand I might not think that way as Bhuddism seems to have a healthy (for them, I guess) disrespect of the body, as they consider it merely a vessel. The front pages of Thai newspapers have to be seen to be beleived! Reports of a 'quiet, painless, easy' method would have got my attention, though I am still fearful of mucking things up and ending up with crippling brain damage. Maybe not exactly a rational fear, but it's done well to actually keep me alive. "13.It's obviously all the fault of violent video games, we'd all live forever if it wasn't for those."

Well, they DO improve your eyesight, news that made me very happy indeed, given my poor eyesight! Funny - I was always told when I was young that playing Elite would ruin my eyesight, though the problem I have would actually be cured by it! Righto, where's Crysis?

But... Oh, no! It's got guns in it! That might give me suicide ideas! (see what I did there?)

Seriously, I feel very strongly about one side or other of this argument, I just haven't read the article well enough yet to understand which side.

For the record, I'm another who has seriously contemplated suicide, and done the drug-and-therapy dance to deal with it. My experience is pretty much exactly the same as opus7600, though the drug I was prescribed has some interesting online data (luckily for me) stating how nasty ODing is. Lucky that I too have a strong aversion to pain, a strong desire to not leave a horrid mess or psychologically scar train drivers. In my experience, ideation is the worst thing; it just eats you up, you think of nothing else for days. Adding the Lifeline or BeyondBlue tag (as is currently done in the SMH these days) is a good idea - at least it gives you the knowledge that there might be a way out. As for reading about detailed attempts? Reading about other people's experiences is actually what helped me fight the damn Black Dog (William Styron's 'Darkness Visible' and Winston Churchill were helpful for me, Michael Leunig is OK in small, careful doses).

Reading about chainsaw-based contraptions certainly doesn't affect me, though I consider such things rather crass. If I lived in, say, Thailand I might not think that way as Bhuddism seems to have a healthy (for them, I guess) disrespect of the body, as they consider it merely a vessel. The front pages of Thai newspapers have to be seen to be beleived! Reports of a 'quiet, painless, easy' method would have got my attention, though I am still fearful of mucking things up and ending up with crippling brain damage. Maybe not exactly a rational fear, but it's done well to actually keep me alive.

]]> by: fawktastic http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4635 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:56:54 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4635 It's obviously all the fault of violent video games, we'd all live forever if it wasn't for those. It's obviously all the fault of violent video games, we'd all live forever if it wasn't for those.

]]> by: TwoHedWlf http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4634 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:25:32 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4634 Haha, Lego suicide box! "Please choose method of death: Disassembly and thrown in a box in the closet..." Haha, Lego suicide box! "Please choose method of death: Disassembly and thrown in a box in the closet..."

]]> by: Major Malfunction http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4633 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:16:55 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2009/03/29/chainsaws-sticky-tape-and-matters-of-life-and-death/#comment-4633 Dan wrote, "How bizarre would a suicide have to be to make it acceptable... [SNIP] ...Setting up a W. Heath Robinson contraption of string, rolling balls, clockwork robots et cetera that culminates with a trigger being pulled?" Just put the Lego down and back away. Slowly... Dan wrote, "How bizarre would a suicide have to be to make it acceptable... [SNIP] ...Setting up a W. Heath Robinson contraption of string, rolling balls, clockwork robots et cetera that culminates with a trigger being pulled?"

Just put the Lego down and back away. Slowly...

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