Demosophia

Ugh. It sounds interesting, but it's one of those blogs where the writer is forcing his text fontsize to some hopelessly tiny dimension. On my screen resolution, it's an experience significantly inferior to "reading the fine print", which I've never found all that onerous. At least with a contract, you can hold it closer so's you can focus.

I roomed with someone with chronic fatigue for five or six years. He's still under the cloud, so to speak. He never struck me as intellectually restricted - the "shallowness" the writer talks about. Instead, it seemed to be a biological energy sort of thing - he was constantly asleep or sleep-walking. Of course, we suspected that 80% of the problem was the vast array of experimental drugs the doctors had him constantly cycling through.

The "shallowness" sounds more like some depressive episodes I've had. It might be an indirect depressive side-effect rather than a primary effect of the chronic fatigue.

It sounds interesting, but it's one of those blogs where the writer is forcing his text fontsize to some hopelessly tiny dimension.

I've taken to using Netscape 7.1 because I can set it up such that preferences and bookmarks are shared between my XP and Linux box. And I have the font preferences set to override those of the site, which enables me to read most blogs pretty well.

You are probably right about the physical aspect of CFS versus West Nile. But it suggests that there's a physical structure that may be impacted by the same chemical imbalance that causes the fatique. The other attributes that point to diminished capacity are not there in CFS, at least not to the same degree, or as obviously. But if the shallowness is simply less recognizable, that might lead to some over-confidence. My friend believes he's something of a philosopher, but seems nearly incapable of making some of the more rudimentary ethical distinctions we take for granted. And he can't seem to argue the points very well, though he tends to think his arguments are unassailable. I have thought for a long time that it was willful, but it may not be. He may have no idea there's anything wrong, and simply sees himself as "oppressed" by all his "up tight" friends.

Daniel seems extremely aware of his predicament, and is therefore very unlikely to exhibit such misperceptions and lack of self-assessment. (If anything, the absences become even more conspicuous to him.) But even with the obvious differences I still can't help but think that Sleeping Sickness and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome may be related in some respects.

Thanks for the comment, by the way.

Thank you. I would have noticed earlier, but I’ve been out of it.