by littlerockguy 3 Replies latest jw friends
I remember seeing Kim Peek on TV when I was in London and I couldn't get over what all the mind is capable of; very sad of him recently passing away.
I just came across this documentary about Daniel Tamet. I haven't heard of him before. If you haven't check out his ability with numbers and words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbASOcqc1Ss
LRG
thanks for posting
MIAMI – After 27 years as a news reporter, the single most memorable person I have met was not a president, a deposed leader or a movie star.
Kim Peek, the man who inspired the title character in the Oscar-winning movie "Rain Man," remains the most interesting and confounding individual I ever reported on.
When I heard he passed away earlier this week, I was both sad and relieved. Mostly, I was relieved for his aging father, Fran Peek.
Kim, was a "mega-savant" who was considered a genius in 15 different subjects, from history and literatures to music and dates. But, even though he knew so much, he could not take care of himself.
His father, a single care-giver, worried nine years ago when we profiled Kim for the Today Show, who would be there after he was gone? Who would take care of Kim?
Kim’s passing answers a father’s fears.
I can still hear Kim saying "I just did it Kerry!" And the larger than life, gentle soul, telling me he thought I was special. But clearly, he was the one who was special beyond words.
When I occasionally give speeches about being a reporter, I still show this report.
It is the single most captivating and memorable story I'v eever worked on because we still don't have the answers.
Do we all have Kim’s abilities? If so, why can’t we tap them?
Watch this story and share it with your relatives and friends and, like me, I think you will be touched by one of the most unique souls who ever lived among us.
Click below to watch the Today Show story that originally aired on Dec. 26, 2000.
Fascinating documentary-many thanks for posting.
Happy Christmas :)
Stephen
The plot thickens :)
In his latest book Fragments of Heaven [ 10 ] , Tammet discusses his Christian faith, including biographical accounts of his journey to faith from an atheistic adolescence to his conversion to Christianity in 2002. Fragments of Heaven explains the reasons for and nature of Tammet's faith and life as a believer. [ 11 ] [ 12 ]
http://www.optimnem.co.uk/blog/2006_08_01_archive.html
I think many people are surprised to hear that I believe in God and that I am a Christian. I think this is because many assume that autism and belief in God are somehow incompatible. In fact other autistic writers, such as Temple Grandin, have written about their own spiritual beliefs and practices.
I struggled for a long time with the concept of God - I wasn't interested in something that I could not see or hear or touch directly. As a teenager I began to read the writings of G. K. Chesterton, an early-20th century English journalist who wrote at length about his own journey into faith and defence of Christian ideas - and found myself gradually more and more receptive to the possibility of faith.
I became a Christian at Christmas 2002, aged twenty-three. At that point in my life I had arrived at the conclusion that Christianity was true. Extremely challenging and puzzling concepts (for many if not most people) such as the Incarnation and the Trinity made a lot of sense to me. It seemed right that God would choose to come into the world, to reveal Himself to us, in a way that we could all of us relate to - as a man among men, a human life lived like other lives: as a child, a worker, a friend, a teacher, a Son.
In the Trinity there was the idea of God as being both a mystery and a reality that each person could in their own way relate to: the living, breathing personification of Love and of Relationship. God wasn't something unknowable or untouchable but a tangible presence: the idea of Trinity was something I could picture in some way in my head, and understand and accept.
Faith isn't easy - but I consider it a blessing and a gift. Quite often, in sudden unconscious moments like an awakening, I realise that I am a member of the mystical body of Christ - something far bigger and greater than I can begin to comprehend, but nonetheless something in which I do not feel a stranger, but at home.
POSTED BY DANIEL AT 11:32 AM 58 COMMENTS
More faith nuggets here :)
http://www.optimnem.co.uk/blog/2006_09_01_archive.html
http://www.optimnem.co.uk/blog/2007_05_01_archive.html
Blessings,
Stephen
