GM James Plaskett presents another of his
coincidence files: one which I actually inspired.
(Eadon who is mentioned below is me, of www.eadon.com.)
- JE.
Plaskett writes:
Lorbor / Lobor
At 9 p.m. on August 10th 2000 I logged on to
the ICC [
Internet Chess Club] and one
of the first things that I saw go by on my screen
was a comment made by J. Eadon, whose handle
is eadon-com, in the 103 [
Chat] Channel,
which is supposed to devoted to religious discussion.
He was saying to someone that since we know
that people who suffer brain injuries undergo
damage to their brain function and/or personality
disorders that this proved that the brain was
the generator of personality and so, logically,
there was no rational reason to assume that
the personality might survive death.
I came in and mentioned the work of Prof. John
Lorbor (I was not 100% certain of the spelling
of his name and seemed to remember seeing it
as Lourber somewhere, perhaps in Colin Wilson's
Beyond The Occult) in the 1970s and the Yorks
TV Documentary that stemmed from it in 1980
Is Your Brain Really Necessary? He had found
many hydrocephalics with excellent intelligences
after he began brain s canning of such patients
in the mid seventies. One patient had a measured
IQ of 126 and had passed a maths degree at Sheffield
University with 2nd class honours.
When I had spoken to Lorbor(?) in 1989 I had
said that as I understood it if it were possible
for such a man to exist (he specified that the
guy was not anxious to come forward because
he did not want to become regarded as a curiosity)
then this just changed everything about what
we thought we knew of the brain's functioning.
He agreed.
Materialists have countered by saying that the
normal parts of the brain are there in these
cases but they are smeared around the cranium.
Also, Dr S. Blackmore told me in 1989, very
often the head is greatly enlarged. Lorbor said
that externally this manıs head appeared normal.
Prof. G. Botterill told me that he thought that
Lorbor had not distinguished between volume
and size, and William Hartston said that such
cases are not that important as we are now beginning
to understand that the functioning of the brain
is far more flexible and variable than was previously
supposed. In 1989 I had mentioned Lorbor's work
to Dr Michael Coleman and he had first doubted
it, but then the next day his own son affirmed
that he had been taught it as part of his University
course. Coleman then switched tack and said
that the parts of the brain are there in such
cases but just smeared around the skull.
I had said to Lorbor that his findings deserved
a Nobel prize. He responded that that would
be difficult to arrange for he was a member
of the committee. I said that in view of the
lack of follow-up to these sensational facts
(he had retired in the early eighties) I would,
were my name John Lorbor, be a very sad man.
He replied "You don't know how sad I am."
He told me that brain scanners were only available
in the mid seventies and that the brain does
not show up on x-rays. Hence the remarkable
nature of some hydrocephalic patients had not
been suspected before that. Since then there
were fewer and fewer of these cases, due to
improvements in ante-natal care. Most were now
to be found in the third world. Thus they were
studied far less.
About 6 hours before this I had logged on to
ICC and played a game. I noted that Richard
Lobo, who now lives in San Francisco but whom
I knew in the late seventies in England before
he emigrated there, was a spectator. His ICC
handle was Lobor. I said hi. He responded. I
then, on what I thought to be a very long shot,
asked him if he was going to pay me $20 for
my book COINCIDENCES which was to be published
on August 14th. To my surprise he said "Sure".
I had drawn his attention to it a few times
before, but I did not really think that it would
be his cup of tea. But he promptly forwarded
me both the money and his address.
When talking that evening with Mr Eadon in the
103 channel I mentioned that I knew Dr Blackmore
and that she was mentioned in my book. I then,
mentioning that sales were going quite well,
said that I had made a sale that morning and
then gave the purchaser's name, his ICC handle;
Lobor.
Mr Eadon then said that perhaps I ought to ask
[Lobor] to write an introduction for the book.
He then shortly after that said that he assumed
that this was the same man- Lorbor??
I said no. They were quite unconnected and that
was pure coincidence.
Update:
James Eadon had posted several examples of my
coincidences at his
website,
and he soon was to add that one, noting that
it featured himself. On the evening of February
8th 2002 I was again chatting in channel 103
of the ICC [Internet Chess Club] under my handle,
Parsifal. Although a whole stream of
observations and notifications went past on
my screen, the comments made in 103 were only
visible to the forty-six or so of us in that
channel. We all knew each other and the serious
comments were interspersed with daft banter
Parsifal(GM)(103): I said that there's
going to be a letter of mine in the Fortean
Times coming out next week
...
Parsifal(GM)(103): there was actually
one in last month's too, on a subject dear to
eadon: - the work of Lorbor with people with
no brains
Parsifal(GM)(103): anyway
eadon-com(103): come on pars, we all
think your anti-darwinism is cute - but please
don't start spreading your shite all over the
bleeding press
dlh(103): what is a work of Lorbor?
eadon-com(103): lobor showed that u can
think without an interior
eadon-com(103): not so surprising given
that all neurons are on the surface of the brain
eadon-com(103): which survived
dlh(103): is it related to sex, eadon?
Parsifal(GM)(103): next one's about why
I think Darwinism is garbage, but also expressing
caution to those who had previously written
pieces praising the intelligent design alternative,
as I observed that there we want to know what
designed the desgner
Parsifal(GM)(103): all good stuff
eadon-com(103): no pars
eadon-com(103): it is just wrong
(James Eadon (
eadon-com) had earlier
joked that he was a worshipper of "The Walrus".
I picked up on that.)
Parsifal(GM)(103): Walrussian, eh?
eadon-com(103): yeah
Parsifal(GM)(103): sad case that eadon...
dlh(103): indeed Pars, Kant shot down
the design argument many moons ago
eadon-com(103): care to join the cult?
eadon-com(103): u get an afterlife with
lots of virgins as a bribe
eadon-com(103): design argument is dead
in the water. So is the theory that darwin was
wrong
dlh(103): eadon, what do the womenz get
when they die and go to heaven? john Travolta?
Parsifal(GM)(103): he's in my book
Parsifal(GM)(103): Walrussian
Parsifal(GM)(103): hmmmmm
eadon-com(103): Travolta is a Scientologist
- he'll probably be on comet Hale-Bopp instead
dlh(103): lol eadon
Parsifal(GM)(103): my wife reviewed a
book, and then went on to cite it- along - amazingly
enough - with TWO other people, as one of her
books of the year in The Daily Telegraph. It
was called BIOLOGICAL EXUBERANCE - and was about
animal sexuality
Parsifal(GM)(103): some of those walrus
shots...
A few minutes later a chap under the handle
of ³daddoo² piped up with
daddoo(103): Lorber
I responded
Parsifal(GM)(103): Lorber, Lorbor, lourber,
I am still confused...but I have correspondence
from him someplace
...
A moment later I decided to log off and announced
my intention thus
Parsifal(GM)(103): I must away to compose
my next great masterpiece
But at just that instant a challenge to a game
appeared on my screen It read -
Challenge: Lobo (2739) Parsifal (2909) rated
blitz 3 0
Rating changes: Loss: -23 Draw: -7 Win: +9
You may accept this with "accept Lobo", decline
it with "decline Lobo", or propose different
parameters.
Parsifal(GM)(103): ... I may be some
time
Parsifal(GM)(103): and LOOK who just
challenged me, eadon!!
I accepted Loboıs challenge... and lost.
ICC kept records of all games played by GMs
and it turned out that of the more than eight
thousand games that I had played this was the
only one Vs Lobo . (Note that he is a different
player to Lobor, the handle of Richard Lobo.)
Do you agree or disagree with Plaskett's arguments?
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