Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[Carol the Dabbler]

They should gradually become less frequent and less bright over time.  At least, that was my experience.  Eventually I would notice them only if I turned my head suddenly in a dark room.  And I haven't seen any flashes at all for years now.

One thing I recommend for anyone who's not quite as young as they used to be is the Amsler Grid, which looks sort of like a quarter-sheet of black-lined graph paper..  You can print your own from any number of sites, and put in on your bulletin board or the front of your fridge.  Whenever you think of it, you cover one eye and stare at the center of the grid for a few seconds, then repeat with the other eye.  If the grid doesn't look quite right with either eye, you need to see an ophthalmologist.  If I had known about that home test sooner, I wouldn't have a small blind spot in one eye, because they could have started the treatment sooner.

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

On 10/8/2026 at 4:42 AM, J.P. said:

Yupp. They look like micro-Dementors. They float. Sometimes they stay on the peripheries of my vision, but sometimes they can be really annoying.

Wait until you start seeing flashes caused by vitreous detachment. 🤩
Getting old is such a sh*tty journey.

I just read about it, it indeed sounds freaking fun! I really think we are not supposed to live beyond Victorian age expectancy because the body doesn’t seem happy. The stupid thing is our brain only matures around age 30. I think there is a big flaw in the design. We are bipedal with weak spine as well! @(#@$@*&

On 10/8/2026 at 10:57 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

Oh, that was fun!  And it wasn't just the flashes, whenever I looked at a bright, uniform surface (e.g., a clear blue sky), it looked like drops of muddy water on a clean windshield.  The eye doctor told me it would probably go away, gradually, but if it didn't, I should come back.  And if it got worse, I should come back real quick, because it might be the beginning of retinal detachment, which if not treated immediately, could cause blindness.

 

My husband had retina detachment (I wrote attachment that would be mildly threatening) before the ‘supposed’ age, and he had multiple eye issues. When I asked him (he is one year older than me at 50), he said he had them since a while ago and they were swimming freely that he had ignored them.

Regarding retina detachment, it was very serious because as you had said, it would lead to blindness. We were told to drop everything and he was admitted to the hospital right away. The journey to recovery was torturous. The detachment area would determine the sleeping position because the retina would be ‘glued’ back and they would inject bubble to hold it in place. He had to sleep in downward position (if I remember correctly, for two weeks), and he had another treatment with bubble (this one not for retina) and he had to sleep in sitting position. Bubble means no flying, no strenuous activities.

 

 I’m really not a fan of getting older. We should dedicate all time and money to make replaceable body parts possible instead of AI and wars. Another @^$(*@$^

[Van Buren Supernova]

On 10/5/2026 at 8:13 PM, Fantasy Lover said:

I don't, I'm starting to get grey hairs though which I find annoying 

My grey (more like silver) hair journey is quite weird.

I had one quarter of silver hair when during my teenager years (probably starting from 12), I was bullied because of it, and I remember mom would help with cover them up because of that. Kids are horrible!

It was consistent throughout my uni year where I wore it proudly and a friend made it a hobby to braid them together (it actually looked cool imo). I forgot about it when I started working after uni. (I was around 23) I always kept my hair tied anyway. One day I realized I didn't have them anymore. Yes, my hair had turned all normal again! It continued that way and now it 'ages' normally. I have normal amount of grey hair for my age.

Not sure what caused it. No genetic, nothing fancy. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

2 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

We should dedicate all time and money to make replaceable body parts

As you presumably know, we do have pretty good replacement teeth, eye lenses, heart valves, hip joints, knee joints, ankle joints, and functional (if not identical looking) replacement feet, and probably several other things.  I don't think I'd want to live in a totally artificial body -- though if that eventually becomes commonplace, it might not seem so weird.

2 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

I had one quarter of silver hair when during my teenager years [....] and a friend made it a hobby to braid them together (it actually looked cool imo).

I had something slightly similar, though I was around 40 at the time.  My hair still had its color -- except for a clump of silver hair in front of each ear.  My hair was long and unruly, so to keep it out of my face, I would make a braid in front of each ear, using the silver clump for one of the three strands.

I thought it looked pretty cool too!

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

On 10/11/2026 at 11:49 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

As you presumably know, we do have pretty good replacement teeth, eye lenses, heart valves, hip joints, knee joints, ankle joints, and functional (if not identical looking) replacement feet, and probably several other things.  I don't think I'd want to live in a totally artificial body -- though if that eventually becomes commonplace, it might not seem so weird.

Nah, those are not good enough. I want to pluck my eyeball and replace it accordingly. Perhaps change my knees or other joints by taking them off just like a figurine. Spine? Pull it off, or maybe there is some kind of zipper to make it easier.

I don’t want to live longer. I just think that living creatures deserve to be healthy until the end of life.

Btw, some Japanese scientist have researched a way to block a protein that suppress tooth development. There is hope to get new teeth if bad ones fall off!

 

On 10/11/2026 at 11:49 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

I thought it looked pretty cool too!

Silver Braided Sherlockians can be a cool band name.

[Carol the Dabbler]

3 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

some Japanese scientist have researched a way to block a protein that suppress tooth development. There is hope to get new teeth if bad ones fall off!

That does indeed sound promising -- as long as they can limit that development to just the teeth that need replacing.

This could turn dental implants into a passing fad, like video tape cassettes -- only problem being that the people who already have implants would be kinda stuck with Beta-Max.  (I had one implant put in, but the dentist screwed up, so I had to pay an oral surgeon to remove it.  Not fun.)