Inspiration – Page 2 – The Procrastination Pen

Sleeping With ASMR

Recently I had a comment on one of these blog items: “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and I realised that is the theme I have unconsciously been following with recent blog items. The rhyme follows on “and Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose”. I have of course covered eyes before for example in the Moran Core blog item.

However, ears – that’s more of a challenge. So to this item which is – you guessed it – an ears exam specifically:

Ears & Nose Examination

This starts a bit louder than I usually like, the patient looks really quite anxious for some reason. This is another one with a dull background throb echoing constantly through the track – I’ll guess air conditioning. The comments indicate that I’m not the first to explore this in terms of ASMR though.

No clues as to where it comes from or to the participants either.

More terms that require defining:

Patent, in this context it means open unobstructed.

Gingiva gums.

It’s only two minutes fifty five seconds and ends abruptly. So lets see what the channel has to offer.

MDforAll is the channel which states that the videos have been obtained from elsewhere, so presumably the content can be a bit random.

The channel contains sixty-seven videos as at today’s date some of which are non-medical. With this many videos we can afford to be a bit choosy about them. There are no playlists and so thinning these down to a handful may take some arbitrary choices.

Searching the videos, it would appear that there are some that feature the same professional and the same “patient” so perhaps we could stick with those. But given the channel is such a resource, perhaps we will be back in the near future to sample some of those other videos.

Pulmonary Examination

This one requires an age verification. At one time I used to include these in the Procrastination Pen playlist until I found that the playlist can occasionally be playing away and then abruptly stop and ask me to sign in to verify my age. Naff that effectively. So this one will not be in the playlist.

At three minutes and eight seconds it is a short one again. The voice is much better here I think so a shame it isn’t going to be included. However I have been debating creating an archive list of items that were in the Procrastination Pen playlist but on reflection didn’t make it. I think this is a natural candidate for that list.

Having watched the video I’m not quite clear what the fuss is about age-verification wise but I’m not about to go questioning YouTube’s policy – life is too short.

Neurological Examination

I notice that the professional here has a badge on her tunic but the visibility is so poor I can’t make it out.

However, the patient states that she is at “Mid Western University” the badge could be similar to the one on the medical professional but I cannot be certain.

The website seems to indicate it should look like this.

Midwestern University has its own YouTube Channel. Two hundred and thirty-three videos at the time I am looking at it but none of them seem to include these two people.

However, it looks a nicely populated channel and maybe worthy of a future visit for ASMR – applicable videos.

George Bush is the president at the time of filming so we know that this is filmed between 2001 and 2009.

Babinski:

(It seemed easier than a definition).

Neck Examination

The patient here is very relaxed. If it wasn’t for the background noise this would be ideal.

It’s only two minutes sixteen seconds and I think in this case it can be included in the Procrastination Pen playlist.

Upper Extremities Examination

This continues in the same way as those seen before. I have often reflected when reviewing videos that if there was a sound filter that worked against forced air systems (such as air conditioning) on the video sound track the quality of many of the videos we’ve seen (and heard) would be so much the better.

PIP Joint (Proximal interphalangeal joints) the second joint of each finger when counting downwards from the finger end.

The medical professional is a bit loud here for me, but I don’t think it’s one to dismiss from the Procrastination Pen playlist. However, it might be one that gets weeded in the future.

General Physical Examination

Wow this is loud! We find that the medical professional is Karen Myers and she is a PA student. I think she says the “patient” is Mrs Dewer but it is quite fast and right at the start of the video so that might well not be correct. I think “PA Student” is a student Physician Assistant.

Nystagmus – eye movement sometimes termed “dancing eyes”.

The video settles down sound-wise (but you may still want to mute the volume a little bit). One of the problems of a playlist is that sometimes the inter-video volume isn’t that normalised – if you’re asleep when this happens it can give you a bit of a start.

Lower Extremities Examination

This starts a little quieter and is quite a good beginning.

Calcaneus – the heel.

If anything with time it becomes calmer – possibly the best one of the set so far. Definitely one for the Procrastination Pen playlist, I think.

Ears & Nose Examination

This is where we came in so eyes, ears and mouth we have covered and nose is covered here.

Cardiovascular Examination

Another one that asks for an age verification so it will not be in the Procrastination Pen playlist. There’s nothing particularly adventurous in this video so I’m not sure why. But as I’ve mentioned it is frustrating to encounter the age verification prompt if you’re half asleep at the time.

It is a shame because this isn’t bad in terms of sound so it might have made the playlist in other circumstances.

Abdomen Examination

Very short at two minutes fifty nine seconds. Perversely there is easily as much flesh on display here but no age verification prompt. Not that we’ll be watching in any case because it is the sound we’re after.

This is quiet – easily good enough for the playlist I think.

Given the age verification issue has begun to bite I have created a procrastination pen playlist for any that we encounter with that prompt. |(Some people reading might be bothered to try to watch them). I regard it as a pain in the progress of night-time listening.

The videos requiring Age verification playlist is here:

(I have moved any from the main Procrastination Pen playlist that I have noticed require this into the above list.)

The archive playlist of videos that were once in the main Procrastination Pen playlist but have been found (after repeated review) to not exactly meet that high standard is here:

I only maintain that list in case I archive one of your favourites.

The MDforAll playlist on the Procrastination Pen channel is here:

The playlist of all videos covered so far in this blog is here:

I hope that you find it relaxing.

If you enjoyed this blog article why not follow this blog.

Photo by Kaiwen Sun on Unsplash

Sleeping With ASMR

This channel was recommended in some comments to another ASMR video. This may or may not work out for the best. I search all over the place for inspiration. It is not until I have had a chance to listen to any of the videos that I understand whether the recommendation produces a complete loss (In terms of The Procrastination Pen playlist). This sort of thing happens all the time. On that note feel free to recommend to me any ASMR videos that you have found helpful. It might be that they will turn up in a future blog article.

The channel this time is sebsss it contains four videos so a nice number for one blog post. The fourth video seems to be a drinking video so not really on message for a medical examination focus. Perhaps it will feature in the future if I ever move onto drinking ASMR. The videos range from twelve to ten years ago in terms of posting. The drinking video is twelve years ago and seems a nostalgic portrayal probably only of interest to those who were there.

This leaves three all of which are more recent than the drinking video. These three maybe more suitable for a blog of this type:

Tobradex Patient Teaching

This is the most recent video which was posted ten years ago. However, the sound quality is not great. The speaking is a bit fast. Rapport does not seem to be there. There is really nothing calming or relaxing about this particular presentation. If anything, I was just waiting for it to be over.

Not in the least ASMR stimulating so this one will not be in the playlist

Head to Toe

This video was posted eleven years ago. There are no notes with this one, however the medical professional from the above video appears as the “patient” in this one. Here he appears as “Tom Smith” – whether genuinely or not (Smith being a common obfuscation name). The presentation is a little busy – we’ve seen this before and it seems to be a characteristic of assessment videos – i.e. those produced by students as part of their course.

I think the medical professional introduces himself as “Matt” (something) and that he will be the “Senior” but it is all a bit jumbled and I may well be wrong.

There appear to be no clues as to the location other than the crucifix on the wall and I guarantee searching for “Tom Smith” isn’t going to get me any further.

Given Tom Smith is in a number of these videos I’d make a guess this is his channel.

The background noise is a bit high on this one. It takes a while to settle down but once the examination is under way it isn’t terrible.

Not Hollie Berry standard but worthy of inclusion in The Procrastination Pen playlist I think.

Head to Toe Assessment

The background noise is as intrusive as the last one. As with the previous video there are some good moments. Tom Smith as the patient again – but a different medical professional this time Melissa. This video is also posted eleven years ago. Again there are no notes to guide as to which establishment this is. Sadly the badge on the shoulder of Melissa is a little too small and out of focus to be useful. The letters seem to be HNMC school of nursing with the nearest establishment I can find as Holy Name Medical Centre. Great I thought – crucifix – holy name. Only their symbol is a dove not a purple cross and the only Melissa I can find there is not this Melissa.

Again I think it belongs in the playlist – but I think an edited version would be even better (particularly if it was feasible to smooth out that background noise).

Overall not as terrible as at first thought, although all of these are now subject to review and I am producing an archive list of items once in the main playlist but upon reflection don’t quite meet the grade.

(This offers regular readers the opportunity to still find their favourites).

The Tom Smith playlist is here:

The overall playlist which contains the majority of videos featured in this blog is here:

The videos which failed the grade on review are now in this archive list here:

I hope that you find these playlists relaxing

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Photo by Maddy Weiss on Unsplash

Sleeping With ASMR

The video quality for this one is a tad poor. And perhaps I don’t mean a tad. However it is quite different to what we have had before and it is partly because of its age and its purpose. This one is recorded (to video cassette tape I assume) in 1996 and reflects its time I think.

The sound quality is actually not as bad as in some of the other videos I have already featured on this blog (and no doubt many to come). There is no loud equipment noises in the background for example.

It is designed to inform/educate and as such is calm and unadulterated by extraneous sounds (such as a snazzy backing track for example). It’s recorded at the University of Michigan – Department of Neurology, February 16^th 1996.

The Neurologic Exam part 1

This video is of sufficient quality that it crops up in a number of ASMR video compilations which are the kind of ASMR videos I do not watch anymore. It is too much like a box of sweets in which a good twenty percent of the sweets you do not like. Compilation videos are complicated by the fact that no one seems to be able to get the inter-clip volumes to agree. If you start off at a quiet sleep-friendly volume you can be woken sometime later by an individual with a predisposition to bellow. This is John Wald and Douglas Gelb in a demonstration of how to run a Neurologic Exam but who (presumably inadvertently) have good voices for ASMR. In this I feel that Douglas edges out John slightly. Which is good news because in this video he also does the majority of the talking.

Johnwaldmd is the channel (presumably the John Wald MD in the video footage although somewhat more advanced in years I would suggest). I’m guessing a great many of the people who watch the ASMR video compilations were probably as yet unborn when this video was first recorded.

There are only seven videos in this channel and it is obvious that we will not be looking at many of those; some of them appear to appeal to quite a narrow audience (probably family and friends).

I think we can consign four of these into the metaphorical ASMR bin without further review, leaving the above one and two others. Part two of the above presentation:

The Neurologic Examination part 2

This is the “review” section which effectively is giving instruction on how to perform the neurologic exam. In my view this is not as wonderful from an ASMR perspective so I think it won’t make the grade for the playlist.

There is also this video:

VTS 01 0

This is both silent and only 30 seconds long so it may have been some kind of test…

So one video only this time around folks.

On that basis I have not created a playlist for johnwaldmd.

The overall playlist containing all the videos featured in this blog is here:

I hope that you find it relaxing.

If you liked this blog article why not subscribe to this blog.

Photo by Daniel-Eduard Doman on Unsplash

Sleeping With ASMR

Here I’m being completely unfair – I stick with the medical theme for ages and then change tack without warning.

What can I say? This was a YouTube suggestion I watched and I liked. That said it is outside the normal progress of ASMR blog items and so is a bit of a wildcard. I’ve included it because some readers may well like it.

There is also an associated website.

Woodblock Printing Process … in 3-D spatial audio

David has a reasonable ASMR voice not quite Dr James Gill, but still pretty good for ASMR. The video is not subdivided into sections and so it is to be hoped YouTube will not intrude with one of their noisier adverts.

There is a great write up in the notes about what was involved and the aim of the video – this is somewhat more than we have been used to of late – some of the videos reviewed recently having nothing in the way of notes (and sometimes just one sentence).

It is interesting to hear how much of a noise problem there is where David is trying to work. The sort of thing that makes me fear city breaks. That kind of outside noise would be enough to keep me awake for days.

I’m also in admiration that he can get up at 3am and still function. At that hour I would be an incommunicative zombie.

David obviously has a great deal more patience than I have.

After the intro there is no speech, so it’s an unusual one for me as I prefer people talking quietly. Think of this as a treat for people who get ASMR from brushing sounds, paper sounds, scrubbing sounds and so on.

There is a certain magic in watching the image emerge, a privilege I would not normally have as I’d be listening to the video rather than watching it.

As such I think this one is going to need special treatment as it does not really belong in the existing playlist. It’s more an ASMR item blogged for other people rather than myself.

At nearly one and one quarter hours this is a bit of a mammoth and probably stands on it’s own. However I am in the habit now of reviewing the channel on which it is found for any other ASMR-related content.

David Bull is the channel also the name of the person doing the carving.

I make it one hundred and thirty five videos at the current time, which is rather too many for a blog item. Given this is a diversion from the main subject I had better strongly limit this for fear of rebuke and shock-horror loss of reading public.

Sadly I can’t find a playlist (provided by David) that includes this one.

The playlists available include:

I think not to test your patience too much, I’m going to focus on the last one as it contains only four videos (however I fully intend to return to David’s channel in the future).

Creation of the Fox Moon woodblock print

Ukiyoe Heroes (11) : Fox Moon – preparation for carving

This video starts with David again, as we have established, he has quite a good voice. The printer though is not at all good in terms of ASMR.

This, unlike the previous one, is narrated and so is much more in keeping with our normal ASMR video.

Ukiyoe Heroes (12) : Fox Moon – carving the key block

David has a cold so less talking sadly. The carving is fascinating but of course usually I would not be watching it. There is persistent background noise – possibly air conditioning.

There is also a guest appearance from David’s neighbour.

The speed of the carving activity is quite extraordinary.

Ukiyoe Heroes (13) : Fox Moon – carving the colour blocks

This consists of initial impression taking. That is in which the key block is covered with black pigment and a test print taken. This is lovely to watch but for us that isn’t really the point. There is a radio or similar playing in the background at intervals.

This is quite chilled and quiet, much better with the narration – well until the hammering starts anyway.

Ukiyoe Heroes (14) : Fox Moon – proof printing

This is the more fun stage in terms of visuals in that you start to see the images building up. There is some kind of background fan type noise happening. It is again very calm and if it was on theme would probably be top of the pops. However carving wasn’t really what I was trying to achieve.

I think the way to manage this is to create a David Bull playlist and not to add these ones to the overall playlist.

The David Bull playlist is here:

The overall playlist (which this time does not include the items featured in this blog post, but does include those from previous blog posts) is here:

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Sleeping With ASMR

This one is a confessed cheat. Where to find an ASMR video? Well why not choose a channel dedicated to ASMR? However, if anyone watching this can identify the original source of this video, I would be very grateful – perhaps I’ll follow up with a further article to show the original video unadulterated by editing.

Hand and Wrist Examination (ASMR)

In fact this might be a way forwards for me as I have been trying to stick to the more po-faced approach of avoiding those videos dedicated to ASMR and trying instead to find ASMR videos by choosing a subject area – i.e. accidental ASMR videos. But hey, why not get a leg up from the work other people are doing in this area.

I notice it is entitled “ROM and MMT”. Here ROM is Range of Motion, MMT is Manual Muscle Testing.

This perhaps will give me a new category of ASMR videos to search for in the future.

Trace is the “patient” and Jane the medical professional. Judging by Jane’s T-shirt design she is working in Occupational Therapy. However, the entwined snake emblem (Caduceus it appears to be called) is widely used it seems (from a Google image search), so this does not reliably tell me where she works.

Jane has a pretty good voice in terms of ASMR and Trace does not get a lot to say. The surroundings are not typically medical, I would guess someone’s front room. It was uploaded six years ago, but potentially it is older than that. Presumably this video was once on a medical channel and has been snaffled and probably edited to enhance the ASMR effect.

I would make a guess that the two know each other and that potentially this is a student video used for assessment. (There are a large number of these and I guarantee some will appear in future blog items).

Not unexpectedly, ASMR exams – for that is the channel we are dealing with – has a great range of videos. Because the channel owner has done all the work for me, in general the videos are excellent for ASMR.

Twenty six videos as at today’s date ranging in posting date from nine years ago to five years ago. (Which is sad as it looks like the channel is no longer maintained).

It would not be the first time I choose to blog about an item that is now thoroughly out of date.

There is one playlist on the site:

This features only six of the twenty-six videos for some reason, and all seem to have been posted nine years ago. It does not include my chosen video above. You get that as a bonus-extra on this occasion.

This gives me a nice shortlist of videos to cover in one blog post. However, given the other content is good, I will make a point of following on with the remaining twenty (probably spread over a few blog posts to avoid those articles getting too long).

Apologies for the sequential nature of these articles.

I suspect you’re keen to get to the playlist – in which case scroll to the end and there you will find it.

Physical Examination #2 (ASMR)

Fans of this blog should be familiar with this one. It has had an entire article dedicated to it and it is already in the playlist.

Physical Examination #3 (ASMR)

The title at the start of the video is “Abdominal Examination” there is no indication of the originating channel.

The participants are Dr Thomas and Mr Jones the “patient” apparently. It gives on screen prompts to indicate which stage the examination has entered. Dr Thomas’ voice is good: lovely and quiet. No Vicki Scott but great anyway. Both characters could easily be of Welsh extraction (I’m not great at accents) but there is no other clue as to which institution this is.

The abdominal exam looks positively painful but Mr Jones seems completely unfazed by it. It is all very calm.

Strangely at 5:48 it suddenly changes to “Cardiovascular Examination” and Dr Thomas introduces himself to Mr Jones again. Then at 12:18 it becomes “Respiratory System Examination” and Dr Thomas introduces himself to Mr Jones again.

This is the sort of video I dislike – one that was several distinct videos edited together to make one long one.

This is a shame because Dr Thomas has an excellent voice but it’s right down there with ASMR loop videos for distraction – it will not be in the playlist.

I wish I could find the original, separate, videos as they would be of a quality that I would definitely include in the playlist.

Physical Examination #4 (ASMR)

The video quality is not marvellous. In fact, I think I could describe it as fuzzy.

The intro states it is health assessment 3310. The closest I can find is NSG 3310. This seems to have been offered through an institution called Troy University.

There is a channel for Troy University and it has a great number of videos (read too many to count right now). Checking if there are 3310 assessment videos for Troy University we get a list (for example

and

) but I was unable to find this one.

The “patient” is Luke. Presumably students watching this would know who the medical professional was here. At nearly forty-five minutes this is another lengthy exam video, they must be covering every angle.

The voice here is marginal in ASMR terms (I’ve probably been spoiled by Hollie Berry).

Still it is good enough for inclusion in the playlist. (Perhaps it will be one that falls victim to a future weeding process).

Another term I was not clear about prior to this is “Auscultate” – listening to sounds from the chest.

Associated with this is the term “egophony” this is the use of the E sound. If the E is heard to sound like an A then it is diagnostic.

“Stereognosis” the ability to perceive what a solid object is without actually looking at it.

“Graphesthesia” recognising writing on the skin by touch only.

“Brachioradialis” a muscle of the forearm.

Luke seems about as entertained as a small child being asked to “stay still and stop making a noise”. I’m sure he went on to develop a fantastic medical career but he certainly isn’t keen here. Possibly because this is being recorded on a Sunday and he could be out relaxing and having a good time.

Barack Obama is the president so we know this was recorded between 2009 and 2017.

Physical Examination #5 (ASMR)

Twenty-five and a half minutes so a more usual length. This time we get an introduction which tells us it is the Northeastern Physician Assistant Program 2010.

A search on this reveals this channel: redbreadproductions

Where we get the same video but in three parts – this looks like it is going to be one featured in a future blog post

Out of interest the three videos are:

and

I will cover these properly in a future blog post.

This means that this one must be a compilation

Initially it is entitled “The General Physical Examination”. It is going well until the clunking sounds of the weighing scales which are designed to awaken the dead. After that though it calms down a reasonable amount. The medical professional and the “patient” in this seem to be having a lot of fun making the video. I am guessing it is educational in intent.

At the end the thanks go to Rebecca Scott Ph.D, PA-C and Rebekah Saunders, PA-SI.

I’m guessing Rebecca did the exam and for our purposes she has a very good voice. If the video is a compilation this is invisible so it can go into the playlist.

Physical Examination #6 (ASMR)

This one starts with an intro stating “Stritch School of Medicine IPM Physical Exam Series Head to Toe Examination on a Male”

Stritch School of Medicine redirects to Loyola University Chicago

The only one that references Stritch appears to be this one:

Entertaining I’m sure but zero on the ASMR scale.

So how does our video size up?

Dr Michael Koller – searching for him indicates that he has a page of original videos which will be worthy of a future blog post perhaps.

John is the “patient” here. Dr Koller does not at first seem to have your classic ASMR voice. This improves as the examination commences. Although he isn’t going to be a James Gill. The video at just over forty minutes is getting on the long side. It is also on the fuzzy side so we are to be thankful it is the sound that we are focused on. It’s good enough I think so I’m going to add it to the playlist.

Yes I know that there are only five videos here – for some reason YouTube informs me that one of the six videos in this playlist is hidden. I’m still not clear why this is.

I’ll split up the remaining twenty and post them in the next few blog posts.

The playlist for ASMR Exams is here:

The playlist covering all videos featured in blog posts thus far is here:

It may be possible to identify the source organisations for some of these videos, in which case I may do some follow up articles delving more deeply into them.

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Photo by Jenny Jackson on Unsplash

Sleeping With ASMR

Firstly apologies – the sound quality on this is not the greatest. I mean what the heck is that background humming going on? However, it’s also a piece of fun. Even the “patient” finds it highly amusing. In this one the patient will have to go by “X” as they are not identified at any stage.

I’m not sure if it is the giggles which makes it so effective. Usually I dispense with any videos that have the least kind of annoying sound in them. But in this case after a few seconds, it became just background hubbub which I could ignore. Your mileage may vary.

Chest, Lungs, Heart assessment by Nikko Holloway NU 607 Advanced Health Assessment Dr. Wildinger

Initially Nikko (assuming that is the person’s name) is a bit on the loud side, but it soon settles down till the background hubbub is increasingly distracting. (Sadly I have no way of filtering such noises out). It derives into giggles pretty quickly and at one stage they have to quit filming altogether (Warwick medical school this is not).

Nonetheless it was enjoyable and it’s a shame there aren’t any more in this series. (Preferably without the sound of Hades air-conditioning, or whatever it is). I wonder whether Nikko passed whatever assessment it was that she was completing (I’m assuming of course that this is part of an assessment process for a medical establishment.)

Sadly Nikko Holloway (for that is the channel) has only uploaded this one medical examination video. In total there are three videos but whilst the voice is reasonably relaxing, I’m not sure that the others qualify under the medical examination criteria.

For completeness here are the other two:

X- Treme Makeover N. Holloway

This indicates that Nikko attends Jacksonville State University (spring 2020 semester).

Sadly it isn’t up for much in the ASMR stakes so this one will not be in the playlist.

Recording #2

Again it is not up there in terms of ASMR-i-ness (an established term) so I will not add this one to the playlist either.

There do not appear to be a huge number of subscribers or comments for this one so perhaps this is an ASMR find. In any case I hope you find it relaxing.

I haven’t created a playlist for this (it’s one video) however it is in the long playlist of all videos featured in this series.

Why not subscribe to the playlist on YouTube and then you will get automatic updates as I change it.

It’s been a short one on this occasion. More next time.

If you liked this why not subscribe to the blog.

Photo by Mac Reddin on Unsplash

Sleeping with ASMR

For some reason Cranial Nerve Exam has generated a whole heap of videos and not surprisingly a number of these have people commenting that they are great for ASMR symptoms.

Helpfully BrainLine (for that is the YouTube channel where you find today’s video) provides its own playlist for Dr James Kelly (however they call him Dr Jim Kelly on the playlist) which is here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe2Je5-cHxP3DqeLtIRlhCW4gxmgbsPyV

However I am in no sense stating that these are all good for ASMR.

In addition, this playlist is no less than twenty one videos long (and I think that is stretching your patience a tad much for one blog item). As luck would have it the first two are the ones that concern a medical examination and so I will limit this blog item to just those two.

Today’s video is this one:

Cranial Nerve Test

By the way I had not the least idea who Pat LaFontaine is but he turns out to be a famous former ice hockey player.

Hence (I am sure) why his name appears in the title of this video. To ice hockey fans I apologise for my ignorance. All I can say is that he has a marvellously calm voice. (He might be a resource for ASMR videos in the future – if anybody has found any please get in touch).

Dr James Kelly turns out to be something of a superstar himself, his YouTube playlist bio states that he was “the neurological consultant for the Chicago Bears”. All I can say is that he has a great soothing voice and is very much worth listening to if you need to be chilled before falling asleep.

By the way this video is the one that started the now famous phrase “sandwich breath” which appears to occur very often in the comments of a number of ASMR videos. No I have no idea why either but a number of ASMR fans seem to appreciate the fact that other fans are also aware of it.

The BrainLine channel is huge. There are so many videos I am not going to set about counting them so I will limit myself to medical exams and Dr James Kelly (so I’ll start with that playlist).

Of the twenty-one videos contained in this playlist by far the majority are interviews to gain the benefits of Dr Kelly’s expertise on brain health.

In terms of medical examinations there is only one further video:

Neuropsychology Test

This is equally as great as the first one in my opinion.

Both of these will now go into the playlist.

The Dr James Kelly playlist is here:

The playlist of all items featured so far in this blog is here:

I hope that you find them restful.

If you liked this blog item why not follow this blog

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Sleeping With ASMR

One of the consequences of entering the fifth decade of being alive (which no one seemed to warn me about when I was somewhat younger) is that it is almost impossible to get to sleep. And having got there, to stay in that state for any period of time.

I have tried various hacks for this over the last years, to varying degrees of success, and by chance I happened upon the fact that ASMR works for me.

The little reading I’ve managed to do seems to indicate that only some people are affected.

It also appears that different people have preferences for different sounds.

For me, the most potent trigger is a person speaking quietly and calmly.

Sadly though the effect soon wears off, and over time the same person – with the same speech – stops working.

This means that I am more-or-less constantly looking for new material, which may be of some merit for this blog and for people who react in a similar way.

For some time I have avoided revealing that I find ASMR helpful in that a number of commentators respond to it as if it is akin to some kind of sexual perversion.

However for me it feels more of the kind of attention I would see on a David Attenborough programme in which one monkey is grooming another and both monkeys are more relaxed as a result.

As science progresses it appears that there is more acceptance that relaxing to ASMR is not necessarily a sexual experience.

Hence it is moderately safe to give some recommendations around ASMR that I have found work for me.

I am also getting some playlists together on YouTube for those who do not have the time to look around for ASMR videos.

(Most of the ASMR material I find on YouTube at the moment – although other ASMR resources exist.)

Recently I came across an article for a Welsh stone carver who has been an ASMR discovery after he published some YouTube videos about his stone carving.

There are only three and I found them effective. Three is a suitably short number to start with to see if you feel the same way.

My playlists are here:

https://www.youtube.com/@theprocrastinationpensite

the playlist for Leuan Rees is here:

I will be assembling further ASMR into a complete playlist here:

please feed back if they are effective for you or if you have any further ASMR material which would be worth considering.

Sadly these videos no longer work for me so I am looking for new material, which I will shortly publish here.

I hope that you find them relaxing.

Photo by Colin White on Unsplash

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Turn Again

Sometimes the message is an unwelcome one; I re-encountered an album recently. An album

which is an old favourite. One of the tracks has an uncomfortable message that I am still not keen to hear.

(If you haven’t heard this album by the way then you are missing something; in my view the best album this group have produced).

I was reflecting that blogging (and indeed writing) is unrewarding today as there is no audience. It might be no coincidence that the rise in streaming media has coincided with a decline in the time that people spend with a book. (There is one pot of time, if I spend it on one thing I can’t spend it on something else).

Some people have an engaging writing style, and some people don’t. My experience is that the things I like to write about are not stimulating to the few remaining readers out there.

The popular approach seems to include changing my message to make it one that the potential reader may like to hear. Writing and marketing merging until they become synonymous terms. Is the purpose of writing simply to sell something?

For a long time I have avoided writing the blog. The content seemed to be the sort of stuff only my mother would have read. Given she wasn’t available any longer what would be the point in writing any more. Some of the old articles I wouldn’t write today anyway as my beliefs continue to change.

Missing, for me, are any opinions – any opinions that I cared about. However having spent a while reading the comments on Twitter and some of the more inflammatory newspaper web sites I am quite certain that I do not want feedback of that sort about anything I have to say.

However the song tells me “the things I should have said…” Once in a while an article affirms that writing is an act which is enough in itself. Some indicate that perseverance is sufficient even where no one reads it. Sometimes writing for yourself is just as valuable as writing for someone else.

It is also absolutely possible that some people might be reading the material but due to a lack of interaction will be invisible. In the end perhaps just writing, for no good reason, is actually enough.

I can of course mute out the people who disagree with my childish opinions and maybe that is the best thing to do if it allows me to keep going.

Anything that will permit what is left of my imagination to flow.

The song nags: “…dreams lay unrevealed ‘til they were rotten”. (I always imagined it was dreams lie unreleased till they were rotten…).

It is better to do something than avoid doing anything because no one is paying attention.

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Wreck of the Week

My search for a wreck of the week brings up this week the hard cash that underpins a lot of the nostalgia boom we have seen recently:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2560739/Now-thats-fixer-upper-Wrecks-classic-cars-selling-MORE-new-models-prices-rusting-roof.html

“Barn Find” vehicles fetching equal to or more than fully restored vehicles; frenetic bidding over dusty relics; a craze for originality between buyers with infeasibly deep pockets.

This is a world that I can’t even tessellate with. The cars described would have been beyond my reach ten years ago and are beyond my reach today.

However, as we have seen with anything carrying a blue oval, the effects of this are not just confined to the rarefied heights of hedge manager salaries.

It has become (and looks likely to continue for a while to be) very difficult for a person of moderate to modest means to get involved in the classic car hobby.

However I remember a similar time in the 1980s where classic cars started to look a great investment. People bought crumbly wrecks gave them a cheap respray and flogged them for serious money.

Then there was a downturn: several people who bought cars as an “investment” got burned. The upside being that the guy who wanted to tinker in his shed got a look in once again.

We can hope that cars will start to return to sensible in the near future. However, sadly the keys to that E-Type I’ve always dreamed off are likely to remain in someone else’s hands in perpetuity.

“Rust in peace” searches this week bring me to this article https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/2092341/stunning-pictures-show-how-nature-has-reclaimed-cars-left-abandoned-across-europe/ featuring the work of Roman Robroek who loves to take pictures of abandoned cars. I took a chance that the name was unusual and believe that I have found the photography site that the article is about:

https://romanrobroek.nl/#transport

It is a fascinating site which causes me to regret the fact that I cannot operate a camera (even if given instructions designed for a five year old).

Some of the pictures are truly beautiful. In the case of the cars I do wonder where they are and if anyone will step up and try to save them.

Even better I have been in touch with Roman and he is happy for me to use some of his pictures in my blog. So I am very happy about that and grateful thanks to Roman. (The featured image in the blog this week is one of his).

This week’s YouTube video is a light hearted effort from Pathé set in Reading.

This shows a very different attitude in 1963 to today – cars having no value at all when they got to a certain age. As a result cars were dumped – quite literally anywhere that a person could find to dump them.

The announcer refers to the introduction of testing, which leads me to suspect that the MOT is not as venerable as I once thought.

It appears the MOT was introduced in 1960 so just 3 years prior to the film. A very large number of vehicles initially failed and so the requirements for testing were enhanced. (Presumably this was because the roads had many unsafe vehicles on them).

Initially cars older than 10 years were tested (many failed). In 1961 this became 7 years, in 1967 it became 3 years. Since then the requirements for the age of vehicles haven’t changed but the items being tested have increased with time.

The film takes a comedic approach which includes a very strange episode at the end involving explosives. This is more akin to something you might have seen a circus clown performing.

Many of the cars in the film would be very desirable today so it is sad to see that they were just discarded.

However the vehicles would have been merely 10 or so years old at that stage and 10 year old vehicles today have limited value. Little has changed.

I checked the example of LJ2393 (the smoking vehicle in the latter part of the film). It is not on the DVLA database. So it did not survive. No wonder that vehicles of this age are valued – precious few seem to have made it this far. The exploding vehicle has registration HH – TR645 which is an odd plate. Being the suspicious type I checked it. It is invalid and so almost certainly the vehicle isn’t a vehicle at all but merely a film prop.

This week I was sent details of some marvellous BBC sound effects which include some early car sounds and car-related sounds. http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk/

This is listed as “Cars: 1.6 GL (Manual) 1982 model Ford Cortina. Exterior, tickover recorded near exhaust”. Which for anyone who is wondering what a car of the 1980s would sound like is pretty close to how I remember.

Ford Cortina 1982 Tickover Download audio

Back to Wreck of the Week proper and another ruster drawn from the nation’s favourite auction site.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192460868689?ul_noapp=true

This one struck my eye because it is just up the road from me and very close to where my partner is working currently.

I say is, however the listing has been ended because the vehicle is “no longer available” so we have to assume it found a buyer, eager or otherwise.

Originally listed at £2,300.00 sadly there is no automotive equivalent of the land registry to determine what it actually made in the end. (Even if there was – the absence of any registration details makes such a search impossible).

We’re treated to 5, yup 5 gleaming pictures of marvelousness to sate our nostalgia demons. The text doesn’t do much more to convey anything:

“1966 FORD MUSTANG

SOLID SHELL

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET

THERE IS NO PAPERWORK WITH THIS CAR

I CAN DELIVER FOR £1.50 PER MILE

CAR LOCATED NEAR ROYSTON HERFORDSHIRE

CASH ON COLLECTION

PLEASE NOTE THE ANGLIA AND FAST BACK ARE NOT FOR SALE”

I’ve left the shouty text in place this time to convey the full-on nature of modern auction site listings. If someone was speaking like this I would rather be at the other end of a very long room.

Now Royston is a big place but for those not of the United Kingdom (or maybe those of its further flung elements of this nation) here is the approximate location of said vehicle:

So what are we getting in this “What you see is what you get” auction.

Shame it is not for sale that Anglia looks much more my cup of tea to be honest. I can’t see enough of the vehicle beyond it to make out what it is, but what a marvellous place with all these pieces of automotive history lined up just ripe for the restorer to feast his eyes upon.

In any case from the text we can ascertain that the car for sale is in the foreground, none of those in the background are so hands off sonny.

All we know about it is that it is 1966. There are no registration details and given there is no paperwork it is easily feasible that the car was never registered in the UK – we’ve covered the niceties of the NOVA system before.

However some comments on the impact where you have no documentation at all are here:

http://www.nsra.org.uk/newforum/showthread.php?61208-NEW-IMPORTATION-RULES-NOVA-(Notification-of-Vehicle-Arrivals)

Put it this way I am not certain I would want to wind my way through the various departments to satisfy them that the vehicle has been properly imported and that all relevant taxes have been paid. It is not clear what happens if you don’t satisfy them but an unregistered car is without value (unless you want to limit it to the race track) and unpaid tax can become an expensive problem…

So apart from the soft-porn focusing (we’re kind of used to that now I think ) what have we. No engine, no gearbox, no front wings, no ancilliaries, no suspension, little or no braking system, no front panels. In fact it appears more like the before in a banger race.

As it stands though what can be seen does not look excessively rusty. So it is possible that this could be used to reshell a car that was completely gone bodywise but had most of the parts.

Unlike a previous Wreck of the Week featuring a Mustang this one has a windscreen and so perhaps there is some hope for the interior.

To be fair, if you’ve been following Wreck of the Week for any period of time then you will have seen much rustier prospects but potentially not cars that have less included with them. (Even the windscreen wipers are absent from this one).

What surprises me from the pictures is that you can fit a stonking V8 between those suspension turrets but scale is something that photographs may not convey well.

Ok, the interior is not quite (but almost) a pond. Heavy moss growth indicates that starting on the car now before it gets much worse is probably an astute plan. The algae covered item may well be the front offside wing although there is no sign of the normal use of car-as-shed approach. This means that there doesn’t appear to be the usual smorgasbord of spares that some of these adverts entice us with.

Not a particularly easy view of much of the interior but apart from the previously noted no gearbox problem, there are no carpets, no seats, no dashboard, a steering wheel which is missing some parts.

On the upside it does look relatively intact metalwise – not much call for Joe le welder here. (Those fans of the welding art form can groan now).

I’m unclear why the rear footwell is a storage vessel for odd fastenings – perhaps it had visions of becoming a shed and never got that far.

Perhaps a better focused version of one we’ve seen before. So no clues about the rear, the boot area, the underside (other than what we can glean from the interior shot), the rear wheelarches – other glass in the car and so on and so fifth.

Well that’s it, no more images to enthral us.

So necessarily a brief one this week. You’ll have to go and do some real work now.

Next week lets hope someone who was a true David Bailey. Preferably one with laryngitis of the advertising text as well.

If you took this one home please let us know what you did with her, it would be fascinating to discover what kind of future she has..

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Image source Roman Robroek http://www.romanrobroek.nl

Credit to the property website from which the original idea (for Wreck of the Week) came:

http://www.wreckoftheweek.co.uk/

(Whilst that site looks at crumbly ruins this one looks at crumbly panels).