The Dash

FTLComm - Tisdale - Wednesday, November 27, 2002

We need not be Sherlock Holmes to see more in this world than is obvious since a major portion of our brain is dedicated to interpreting visual information. The first four years of our lives we go through an extremely intensive self training programme to teach ourselves to see and apparently in the next few years the reverse is true, as we refine the elements of vision and perception, filtering what we may construe as unimportant information. However, research into perception has shown that people can relearn what they first discovered as children and allow their minds to work with the information that is available.

One of the unusual aspects of several drugs, some prescription and some illegal, is that they interfere with perception and/or, impair the brain enough to allow a wider range of thought.

The mathematical explorations involving the "chaos theory" have widened scientific awareness that almost everything is a clue. In Douglas Adams two novels about the "Gently Detective agency" and the other titles "That Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul," Adams has a detective who believes in the "chaos theory" and this leads him to remarkable conclusions that otherwise would never have been possible. Just as the writers for the original Star Trek series once had Spock the "logical" Vulcan explain that when we explore all the possible conclusions and find no solution we must therefore consider the impossible.

The uniformity of thought among us is particularly difficult on those people who are not exactly close to average. Differences in perception occur and remarkably creativity seems to be related to a persons willingness to consider a wider range of possibilities in the world around them.

With this in mind, let us consider the dash of a vehicle. Essentially, the dash is that wasteland of space beneath the windshield and was given its name from the wall at the front of a buggy that prevented mud and manure from smacking into the driver and passenger. For most of the history of the automobile, the dash was a metal space to hold the instrument panel, perhaps a radio and heater controls. The installation of a glove box in it was a major innovation and it was not until Ralph Nader crusading about the mayhem (his book "Unsafe at any speed") on the highways did auto makers realise that padding the thing was a good idea. Modern vehicles have explosive airbags in the dash and despite the efforts of designers to make the dash impossible to place things on it and have them stay there, owners uses this place beneath the glass as a shelf.

I have shown on this site several interesting examples in the past of the oddities I have seen such as greenhouse plants set on a truck dash and a little place mat under a bobby head dog ornament. Some people keep the dash in the vehicle clean of articles and only dust is found on the dash, while others use this place as a place to display things as though it were a office desk ,where the user is sort of expected to add their personal articles like family pictures, pens, clocks and little ornaments.

You will find a connection between the dash and the mirror in many cars as it also is consider a place to hang objects like, dice, Saint Christopher medals and dream catchers. Dream catchers hanging in a car are always unsettling to me as the purpose of a dream catcher involves sleep and surely the owners do not contemplate sleep while operating their car, well let us hope.

This dash, at the top of the page was photographed yesterday and belongs to perhaps a business machine salesman or repairman. Let us check it out for artifacts and speculate about what they might mean.

Dental Floss Handy and practical but a tad dangerous, one would hope that the road is empty when this driver gets both hands in his mouth       A floppy disk The 3 1/2 floppy disk has been obsolete for a long time (four years) as it is unreliable in saving data and can only handle 1.4 Mb of information less than a single picture in most cases. Is this a really conservative computer user, the label has been reused so maybe his just frugal.       Subway coupon card This could mean the owner has a weight problem and likes the low calorie Subway sandwiches and as you can see there is the purchase of a foot long one and a six inch one. But the coupons are ready at hand so he must be a frequent Subway customer.       Two packages of catsup This person eats in their vehicle and must spend a good deal of time on the road. Grab some fast food and on his way. Once again let us hope he does his eating on empty roads. Try to get catsup out of one of those bags with one hand and you will see how decorative your clothes look with red stains.       Hair Brush Hold on, up to now I have been assuming the driver is a male but a hair brush, men like to keep up appearances even while on the road but this would mean this person is young enough to still have hair which cuts down the number of possibilities. However, women feel the pressure to look good much more and that hair brush would come in handy. Need more evidence.       Telephone cable This suggests the service or supply of some telecommunication equipment as that is at least a twenty foot cable and is wrapped up in the manner of what would come with a new device, but not in a plastic bag. Hmmm, removed from the package of the new equipment, replacing existing equipment, a cable already in place why waste the cable take it out might use it elsewhere some place.       Black fuzzy ornamental figure This appears to be a suction cup bottomed figure of some kind with bright white or silver markings. The clean dash or relief mold chemical on the vinyl prevented the suction cup from holding the object in place and it now is resting on the dash.       Cell phone head set Now this makes good sense, if you are going to be eating and flossing on the road that will keep both hands busy so you need to have the cell phone plugged into your ears. By the way the studies are not yet conclusive about cell phones and hands free devices, some have suggested that this is a safer thing to do while driving then hold the phone up to your head but most likely it is safest because if you use a cell phone a lot there is a lot of microwave energy coming from the antenna of a cell phone, with a head set you reduce the chance of brain cancer. But as for driving safety, jury is still out on that one.       Butter patty Not certain if this is a butter patty or not it could also be a lip cream container which would further suggest the owner is female.       FruteWise A partly eaten confection. Few men, even those watching their weight are likely to select a fruit bar, so this suggests the owner is female.       Promo pad Off to the left hand side of the windshield is a pad of promotional material, advertising or note pad still in a plastic wrapper.

The beauty of an exercise like this is that confirmation or not of the speculation doesn't matter it is the process that is interesting. Many people watch one or both of the CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) shows on CTV where science and educated guesses are used to solve each week's set of horrific crimes. Here is a little game you can play, no one dies and you can just let your imagination "go for it."

The need to be practical and sensible is not necessary for sound mental health, everyone needs to step out a little and let their minds go "a bit."

Timothy W. Shire

Return to Ensign - Return to Saskatchewan News   This page is a story posted on Ensign and/or Saskatchewan News, both of which are daily web sites offering a variety of material from scenic images, political commentary, information and news. These publications are the work of Faster Than Light Communications . If you would like to comment on this story or you wish to contact the editor of these sites please send us email.   Editor : Timothy W. Shire Faster Than Light Communication Box 1776, Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada, S0E 1T0 306 873 2004