In my talk—a bit shakily delivered, I have to admit—I unpacked many of the issues above, including various arguments against asexuality per se being viewed as a disorder, the contention that sex itself is a very odd activity that often causes mental lapses (see chapter 8 on the madness of sex), and the argument that, of course, passions differ among people. I also ended with the skydiving analogy mentioned above, complete with a picture of someone soaring through the air. Could one, by simulating visual and proprioceptive feedback, dupe the brain into believing that the phantom was once again mobile and capable of voluntary movement? Ramachandran developed a Eisenhower’s cholesterol hit 259 just six days after University of Minnesota physiologist Ancel Keys made the cover ofTime magazine, championing precisely the kind of supposedly heart-healthy diet on which Eisenhower had been losing his battle with cholesterol for five years. It was two weeks later that the American Heart Association—prompted by Keys’s force of will—published its first official endorsement of low-fat, low-cholesterol diets as a means to prevent heart disease. Only on such a diet, Keys insisted, could we lower our cholesterol and our weight and forestall a premature death. “People should know the facts,” Keys toldTime.“Then if they want to eat themselves to death, let them.” Bluher, M., B. B. Kahn, and C. R. Kahn. 2003.“Extended Longevity in Mice Lacking the Insulin Receptor in Adipose Tissue.”Science. Jan. 24; 299(5606):572–74.