I was up all last night with back spasms, and this morning I rolled out of bed with a seriously sore throat and one of those sick-headaches that usually portends bad things. I was hoping that a nap, a hot shower, and some oatmeal would clear it out, but I'm still feeling under the weather, so I figured I'd let everyone know.
Fortunately, we have awesome moderators now, so everyone be super nice to the mods while I'm taking (another) nap. I haven't asked them, but I'm pretty sure they all like cookies. I'm partial to oatmeal raisin ones, myself.
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| Homemade Cookies by Yana Ray |
61 comments:
Because that concept - that a person's life is more valuable if that person works a job - is just not one that anyone in the room had considered outside of supervillians.
The bumper-sticker "Republicans for Voldemort" was only partially a joke. We do have a fully functioning super-villain party in this country.
Another way to look at it is that there was always someone worth less. The natives, the slaves, the Irish (though not as much as the myth would have you believe) the Chinese, the free black people, so forth.
In 1948 the Democrats, the party that had been against Lincoln and supported slavery, added civil rights as a part of their platform this led to a rebellion in the party (the creation of the so called Dixiecrat party of Strom Thurmond, "Dixie" refers, more or less, to the part of the US that joined the Confederacy.) After LBJ pushed a civil rights agenda (man was an asshole, but he used his powers for good) those Confederate leaning Democrats were ripe for the picking, which Richard Nixon did.
And since that time the Republican Party has been very much about telling its constituents whose lives are less valuable than their own. It doesn't really matter who. People who can't afford healthcare, those who live in cold climates and will freeze without heating assistance, anyone from a religion not Christian (lip service paid to Jews being not so bad), people with a different skin tone, people with disabilities, not-straight people, whoever.
There's always someone whose life is worth less than the person they're talking to. Hell, for Romney 47 percent of the country could be written off as people not worth caring about. And in the debates for the Republican nomination it was asked what should be done to someone without health insurance who would die without care, the Republicans in the crowd answered for the candidates, shouting that the person should be allowed to die rather than treated.
Because that concept - that a person's life is more valuable if that person works a job - is just not one that anyone in the room had considered outside of supervillians.
The bumper-sticker "Republicans for Voldemort" was only partially a joke. We do have a fully functioning super-villain party in this country.
Another way to look at it is that there was always someone worth less. The natives, the slaves, the Irish (though not as much as the myth would have you believe) the Chinese, the free black people, so forth.
In 1948 the Democrats, the party that had been against Lincoln and supported slavery, added civil rights as a part of their platform this led to a rebellion in the party (the creation of the so called Dixiecrat party of Strom Thurmond, "Dixie" refers, more or less, to the part of the US that joined the Confederacy.) After LBJ pushed a civil rights agenda (man was an asshole, but he used his powers for good) those Confederate leaning Democrats were ripe for the picking, which Richard Nixon did.
And since that time the Republican Party has been very much about telling its constituents whose lives are less valuable than their own. It doesn't really matter who. People who can't afford healthcare, those who live in cold climates and will freeze without heating assistance, anyone from a religion not Christian (lip service paid to Jews being not so bad), people with a different skin tone, people with disabilities, not-straight people, whoever.
There's always someone whose life is worth less than the person they're talking to. Hell, for Romney 47 percent of the country could be written off as people not worth caring about. And in the debates for the Republican nomination it was asked what should be done to someone without health insurance who would die without care, the Republicans in the crowd answered for the candidates, shouting that the person should be allowed to die rather than treated.
I keep trying to respond, but all my posts boil down to me saying "I just don't."
I know I am a Canadian hippie liberal socialist (well, I'm not really a hippie or a socialist, but I've been described that way by people who don't actually know what those terms mean), but it still boggles my mind that people can start with such wildly different premises than I do.
I might have said this on this blog before, but I had a conversation with the American in my office at one point, and she complained that she disliked how (in Canada) a slacker drug-dealer could get put in line for healthcare before her, even though she works hard. Literally everyone in the room gasped. Because that concept - that a person's life is more valuable if that person works a job - is just not one that anyone in the room had considered outside of supervillians.
I keep trying to respond, but all my posts boil down to me saying "I just don't."
I know I am a Canadian hippie liberal socialist (well, I'm not really a hippie or a socialist, but I've been described that way by people who don't actually know what those terms mean), but it still boggles my mind that people can start with such wildly different premises than I do.
I might have said this on this blog before, but I had a conversation with the American in my office at one point, and she complained that she disliked how (in Canada) a slacker drug-dealer could get put in line for healthcare before her, even though she works hard. Literally everyone in the room gasped. Because that concept - that a person's life is more valuable if that person works a job - is just not one that anyone in the room had considered outside of supervillians.
Hope you get better soon, and that some sort of real healthcare system emerges after people get used to the Affordable Care Act and decide that they'd actually like some real health care, please.
Hope you get better soon, and that some sort of real healthcare system emerges after people get used to the Affordable Care Act and decide that they'd actually like some real health care, please.
What is the point of a government supposed to be, if the citizens don't have basic levels of body security?
And I didn't learn my lesson and again lost a post. Still not sure what's happening to make them disappear though.
Was going to have a "Pick me, pick me," thing where I then listed what government is for (according to people I disagree with) but I'm in too much of a hurry to write it now.
The short version is that to understand America right now you have to understand the Republican coalition because they are in large part responsible for bringing us to the point we're at and are also mostly responsible killing any attempts to move to a different place.
A non-exhaustive list of parties in the coalition follows:
1) Those who think the government should not exist except for, they concede, to provide a military so that... I'm going to say, "Canada" can't invade and take over.
2) Those who think that the government should exist to serve business even if it is at the expense of the actual people.
3) Those who (some for racist reasons, some for scapegoating reasons, and a very few for "the law is the law and should be enforced no matter what it is" reasons) think the most important thing the government can do is to stop Mexicans from coming into the country illegally. And not by increasing the legal means by which Mexicans can enter the country.
4) People who think that religious freedom means, "Freedom from the possibility of noticing that other religions even exist, and freedom from having things that my religion disapproves be legal."
And so on. What you should notice is that none of this involves anything about keeping the people safe from anything short of invading armies.
What is the point of a government supposed to be, if the citizens don't have basic levels of body security?
And I didn't learn my lesson and again lost a post. Still not sure what's happening to make them disappear though.
Was going to have a "Pick me, pick me," thing where I then listed what government is for (according to people I disagree with) but I'm in too much of a hurry to write it now.
The short version is that to understand America right now you have to understand the Republican coalition because they are in large part responsible for bringing us to the point we're at and are also mostly responsible killing any attempts to move to a different place.
A non-exhaustive list of parties in the coalition follows:
1) Those who think the government should not exist except for, they concede, to provide a military so that... I'm going to say, "Canada" can't invade and take over.
2) Those who think that the government should exist to serve business even if it is at the expense of the actual people.
3) Those who (some for racist reasons, some for scapegoating reasons, and a very few for "the law is the law and should be enforced no matter what it is" reasons) think the most important thing the government can do is to stop Mexicans from coming into the country illegally. And not by increasing the legal means by which Mexicans can enter the country.
4) People who think that religious freedom means, "Freedom from the possibility of noticing that other religions even exist, and freedom from having things that my religion disapproves be legal."
And so on. What you should notice is that none of this involves anything about keeping the people safe from anything short of invading armies.
The verdict is that I'm sick and I should probably rest or something.
$85 well spent!
Get well soon.
Get well soon.
Good god. First of all, that all sounds terrible and virtual hugs.
Secondly, I know I speak from a Canadian perspective, but how can a well-to-do country not provide free ER services for their citizens? What is the point of a government supposed to be, if the citizens don't have basic levels of body security?
I hope you get better soon.
Oh for the love of fuck, my post has disappeared and apparently my periodic saving so that this eventuality doesn't lose everything was, for whatever reason, not done by me this time.
Anyway:
May I rant?
Of course.
And I hope the ranting helps because I don't have much to offer except the hope that things get better and that, someday somehow, you are able to have non-asshole doctors*.
Unfortunately, this being America, the solution appears to be: Be obscenely rich. Then you could have a hand picked personal doctor who was chosen not only for their talent but their lack of being an asshole. Furthermore if the personal doctor ever started to fall down on the not being an asshole part, or you had to deal with other doctors, in America extreme wealth indicates that you're a person actually worth listening to.
Trouble is, if there's a switch one can flip to become extremely rich, I haven't found it yet. (There's a reason I'm {trying to} apply for SSI. In theory they estimate six weeks before they get a copy of my birth certificate from the hospital {original wasn't good enough for them} and then it takes, if everything goes right after that, a third of a year just to get a "yes" or a "no".)
Hopes, wishes, and prayers are sent your way.
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* Asshole doctors come in various forms, as you well know because I've learned about at least one form from you. For a lot of those forms there's probably not much that can be done to test for assholicness. But for those who are assholes from the get-go, it should be possible to weed them out, and not too difficult either.
The problem would be twofold, first convincing people this was necessary, second convincing them that the groups doctors are commonly assholes to (fat people, for example) are groups doctors shouldn't be assholes to.
If those two things happen and it should be pretty simple: have a diverse group of evaluators worked in amoung the doctor's first patients to see if the doctor is an asshole then, and have evaluators** periodically worked into the doctor's patients later on to see if the doctor has become an asshole. Still doesn't catch the ones who know to save their assholicness until it's too late for the patient to back out, but it's better than nothing. And as far as I know, nothing is what we have now.
** Again note that they should be diverse. If they're all thin white men, for example, then that doesn't help to figure out if the doctor is an asshole to women, or people outside of a pretty narrow color range, or people who are not thin.
Oh for the love of fuck, my post has disappeared and apparently my periodic saving so that this eventuality doesn't lose everything was, for whatever reason, not done by me this time.
Anyway:
May I rant?
Of course.
And I hope the ranting helps because I don't have much to offer except the hope that things get better and that, someday somehow, you are able to have non-asshole doctors*.
Unfortunately, this being America, the solution appears to be: Be obscenely rich. Then you could have a hand picked personal doctor who was chosen not only for their talent but their lack of being an asshole. Furthermore if the personal doctor ever started to fall down on the not being an asshole part, or you had to deal with other doctors, in America extreme wealth indicates that you're a person actually worth listening to.
Trouble is, if there's a switch one can flip to become extremely rich, I haven't found it yet. (There's a reason I'm {trying to} apply for SSI. In theory they estimate six weeks before they get a copy of my birth certificate from the hospital {original wasn't good enough for them} and then it takes, if everything goes right after that, a third of a year just to get a "yes" or a "no".)
Hopes, wishes, and prayers are sent your way.
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* Asshole doctors come in various forms, as you well know because I've learned about at least one form from you. For a lot of those forms there's probably not much that can be done to test for assholicness. But for those who are assholes from the get-go, it should be possible to weed them out, and not too difficult either.
The problem would be twofold, first convincing people this was necessary, second convincing them that the groups doctors are commonly assholes to (fat people, for example) are groups doctors shouldn't be assholes to.
If those two things happen and it should be pretty simple: have a diverse group of evaluators worked in amoung the doctor's first patients to see if the doctor is an asshole then, and have evaluators** periodically worked into the doctor's patients later on to see if the doctor has become an asshole. Still doesn't catch the ones who know to save their assholicness until it's too late for the patient to back out, but it's better than nothing. And as far as I know, nothing is what we have now.
** Again note that they should be diverse. If they're all thin white men, for example, then that doesn't help to figure out if the doctor is an asshole to women, or people outside of a pretty narrow color range, or people who are not thin.
have a diverse group of evaluators worked in amoung the doctor's first patients to see if the doctor is an asshole then, and have evaluators** periodically worked into the doctor's patients later on to see if the doctor has become an asshole.
Medical shadow shopping?
have a diverse group of evaluators worked in amoung the doctor's first patients to see if the doctor is an asshole then, and have evaluators** periodically worked into the doctor's patients later on to see if the doctor has become an asshole.
Medical shadow shopping?
Hope you get well soon.
Also hope the system gets better soon, for what little good that'll do...
(ETA: and by "that", I mean hoping, not the system getting better, damn ambiguous referents...)
I usually feel like I'm addressing things "To Whom It May Concern"
Same here - I usually do a "whichever of you is appropriate" when I'm not sure. Agnostic polytheism is fun.
I usually feel like I'm addressing things "To Whom It May Concern"
Same here - I usually do a "whichever of you is appropriate" when I'm not sure. Agnostic polytheism is fun.
And I think we've reached the point where I have definitely officially derailed the thread. Sorry Ana.
And I think we've reached the point where I have definitely officially derailed the thread. Sorry Ana.
By the way, if any of my comments come across as flippant towards those who hold strong beliefs, I apologize - that's not the intent of it. I have deep respect for religion and faith, I just don't happen to have a religion or a faith at this point.
By the way, if any of my comments come across as flippant towards those who hold strong beliefs, I apologize - that's not the intent of it. I have deep respect for religion and faith, I just don't happen to have a religion or a faith at this point.
"'Please help Ana feel better soon' seems like it should work regardless of who it's addressed to; as long as it says 'c/o Ana' on the package, I figure the celestial post office can sort out the appropriate patron-god/dess recipient."
I like the idea of a celestial post office.... :-) That makes me really happy for some reason. Being that I'm a Christian-flavored not-quite-agnostic (I guess I'm a confuzzle?) I usually feel like I'm addressing things "To Whom It May Concern" and just try to send good vibes people's way.
I'm glad you're starting to feel better, and I hope it continues. <3
"'Please help Ana feel better soon' seems like it should work regardless of who it's addressed to; as long as it says 'c/o Ana' on the package, I figure the celestial post office can sort out the appropriate patron-god/dess recipient."
I like the idea of a celestial post office.... :-) That makes me really happy for some reason. Being that I'm a Christian-flavored not-quite-agnostic (I guess I'm a confuzzle?) I usually feel like I'm addressing things "To Whom It May Concern" and just try to send good vibes people's way.
I'm glad you're starting to feel better, and I hope it continues. <3
I usually feel like I'm addressing things "To Whom It May Concern"
I have made prayers to, "Whatever gods may be," in the past.
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One prayer that was undeniably answered (though random chance could most definitely have been what answered it) was when I was skiing on a trail that left me going a lot faster than I had expected and was too narrow to use any of the usual means of slowing down. Which, of course, means trees that I very much didn't want to smash into on either side.
I shouted out "Jesus!" probably more as an expletive than the opening to a prayer, though I don't remember what was going through my head at the time other than panic, and then, "Help!" which was in fact meant as a request to whoever might be listening, and Jesus in particular since I'd already invoked the name. (I think, on reflection, it was "Jesus!" as an expletive and then that made me realize that divine intervention would be appreciated so, "Help!" as a prayer.)
After which I fell down and ended up safely in the snow (as opposed to hitting a tree). At first I was somewhat disappointed at the divine intervention or lack thereof, and threatened to pray to someone else next time. Then, with a bit of mental distance, I realized that a safe fall was probably the best of all possible outcomes at that point, so I count it as an answered prayer. Whether by Jesus, someone else, or sheer random chance (the last of which has a lot in its favor since there is certainly nothing miraculous about a skier falling down) doesn't really matter. Prayer answered.
Doesn't happen to me a lot, but it did that time.
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Hey, I take so long to write that there are more posts.
Besides, I might be wrong about the whole no-deity thing! And in that case, someone who gets on better with the mysterious than I do is a good person to talk to said mysterious about me.
There is a day on which saying a prayer for someone can get them out of Purgatory and into Heaven according to one variation of Catholic belief. The first such day after my mother's mother died my mother and I made sure to pray for her on that day. Are either of us Catholic? No. Do either of us believe in Purgatory? No. Do either of us believe that my mother's mother, a staunch Catholic, would have gone to Purgatory instead of Heaven if Catholic beliefs are correct? No.
But she was a Catholic and what if she was right about Catholic belief and for some reason ended up not making the cut for Heaven and was instead tossed into Purgatory? Seemed better to say the prayer than not.
While we did this my mother recalled praying these prayers as a child. She always made sure to also pray for, "And whoever doesn't have anyone else praying for them," one day she asked if her older sister did the same. Older sister had never even considered the idea, and didn't see any point in trying to help people she didn't know.
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That said, I think that the problem a lot of people have with other people praying for them is that a lot of such prayers are passive aggressive. Either in presentation, "I know you don't believe," contempt seeps through, "but I'm going to pray for you," or in the nature of the prayers themselves, "God, please help Suzy through this horrible time and lead her to the truth of our religion."
I usually feel like I'm addressing things "To Whom It May Concern"
I have made prayers to, "Whatever gods may be," in the past.
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One prayer that was undeniably answered (though random chance could most definitely have been what answered it) was when I was skiing on a trail that left me going a lot faster than I had expected and was too narrow to use any of the usual means of slowing down. Which, of course, means trees that I very much didn't want to smash into on either side.
I shouted out "Jesus!" probably more as an expletive than the opening to a prayer, though I don't remember what was going through my head at the time other than panic, and then, "Help!" which was in fact meant as a request to whoever might be listening, and Jesus in particular since I'd already invoked the name. (I think, on reflection, it was "Jesus!" as an expletive and then that made me realize that divine intervention would be appreciated so, "Help!" as a prayer.)
After which I fell down and ended up safely in the snow (as opposed to hitting a tree). At first I was somewhat disappointed at the divine intervention or lack thereof, and threatened to pray to someone else next time. Then, with a bit of mental distance, I realized that a safe fall was probably the best of all possible outcomes at that point, so I count it as an answered prayer. Whether by Jesus, someone else, or sheer random chance (the last of which has a lot in its favor since there is certainly nothing miraculous about a skier falling down) doesn't really matter. Prayer answered.
Doesn't happen to me a lot, but it did that time.
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Hey, I take so long to write that there are more posts.
Besides, I might be wrong about the whole no-deity thing! And in that case, someone who gets on better with the mysterious than I do is a good person to talk to said mysterious about me.
There is a day on which saying a prayer for someone can get them out of Purgatory and into Heaven according to one variation of Catholic belief. The first such day after my mother's mother died my mother and I made sure to pray for her on that day. Are either of us Catholic? No. Do either of us believe in Purgatory? No. Do either of us believe that my mother's mother, a staunch Catholic, would have gone to Purgatory instead of Heaven if Catholic beliefs are correct? No.
But she was a Catholic and what if she was right about Catholic belief and for some reason ended up not making the cut for Heaven and was instead tossed into Purgatory? Seemed better to say the prayer than not.
While we did this my mother recalled praying these prayers as a child. She always made sure to also pray for, "And whoever doesn't have anyone else praying for them," one day she asked if her older sister did the same. Older sister had never even considered the idea, and didn't see any point in trying to help people she didn't know.
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That said, I think that the problem a lot of people have with other people praying for them is that a lot of such prayers are passive aggressive. Either in presentation, "I know you don't believe," contempt seeps through, "but I'm going to pray for you," or in the nature of the prayers themselves, "God, please help Suzy through this horrible time and lead her to the truth of our religion."
Yes to the idea of praying a prayer you don't particularly believe because it's someone else's belief, and you support their faith. When religious people I know are ill, I occasionally pray for them. Or if someone wants to say grace, etc. But I figure that if I make a heartfelt prayer, surely the mysterious wouldn't care that I don't believe. Like Pascal's wager, only with a more kindly deity.
Yes to the idea of praying a prayer you don't particularly believe because it's someone else's belief, and you support their faith. When religious people I know are ill, I occasionally pray for them. Or if someone wants to say grace, etc. But I figure that if I make a heartfelt prayer, surely the mysterious wouldn't care that I don't believe. Like Pascal's wager, only with a more kindly deity.
I used to be a staunch Anglican - I was brought up that way - I was a Server in my school chapel (helped the Reverend during the services) and went on to read in Church at my Secondary School. Then things went really badly wrong in a couple of ways and I decided that any God who was prepared to inflict that amount of pain wasn't worth my adoration/worship. Plus I kept being told by various clergy that if I submitted to God then everything would work out in the end (sorry, haven't seen much evidence of that.)
Eventually I took a rather pelagian view of everything and have since subscribed to atheist/deist philosophies. But I dislike passive aggressive type prayers, Chris Hitchens wrote in his last book, Mortality that he often found people coming to visit him who wold pray for him and tell him, "I'm praying for you in your illness and that you'll turn to God."
I used to be a staunch Anglican - I was brought up that way - I was a Server in my school chapel (helped the Reverend during the services) and went on to read in Church at my Secondary School. Then things went really badly wrong in a couple of ways and I decided that any God who was prepared to inflict that amount of pain wasn't worth my adoration/worship. Plus I kept being told by various clergy that if I submitted to God then everything would work out in the end (sorry, haven't seen much evidence of that.)
Eventually I took a rather pelagian view of everything and have since subscribed to atheist/deist philosophies. But I dislike passive aggressive type prayers, Chris Hitchens wrote in his last book, Mortality that he often found people coming to visit him who wold pray for him and tell him, "I'm praying for you in your illness and that you'll turn to God."
I don't believe in any sort of deity, or even that the universe is more than random chance organized in a structure, but I can't imagine being upset if someone prayed for me (as long as it wasn't in a passive-aggressive way.)
The way I see the world, people caring about you is pretty wonderful, and someone praying for me would count in that category of "someone doing something nice for me because they can". Besides, I might be wrong about the whole no-deity thing! And in that case, someone who gets on better with the mysterious than I do is a good person to talk to said mysterious about me.
I don't believe in any sort of deity, or even that the universe is more than random chance organized in a structure, but I can't imagine being upset if someone prayed for me (as long as it wasn't in a passive-aggressive way.)
The way I see the world, people caring about you is pretty wonderful, and someone praying for me would count in that category of "someone doing something nice for me because they can". Besides, I might be wrong about the whole no-deity thing! And in that case, someone who gets on better with the mysterious than I do is a good person to talk to said mysterious about me.
Good to know that you're feeling somewhat better. I hope this trend continues, and indeed accelerates.
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The god I believe in, for which I have very few details because the belief kind of just happened independently of any religion*, is of the sort I tend to use capital letters for**, and I use the word "God" along with female pronouns. I don't think that this god actually has gender, but I tend to visualize her as female, hence the pronouns. (A lot easier to visualize a young woman (why would a god have cause to age?) than to visualize something that is everywhere, probably most present in the pervasive cracks of reality and the quantum probabilities that we assume random though I'm not really sure on everything that follows the comma.)
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* That said, I think a lot of people, both historical and contemporary, have said a lot of true things. While I don't believe that there would be any set up where someone should have to die for our sins, I think Fred Clark knows a lot about the truth of God. More than I do.
** God, rather than god, though any given God, existent or not, is part of the set "gods" as "Gods" is a proper subset of "gods". But God, capital, tends to carry more connotations. Things that don't automatically apply (though they certainly can apply) when discussing people like Zeus or Artemis or Loki. More love, more knowledge, more power, more... stuff. And, no, that isn't a typo in the sentence before last, or if there is one it isn't "people". I consider gods, lowercase or uppercase, existent or nonexistent, people. I might make an exception for naturalistic pantheism*** or something like that.
*** Footnote to avoid stacking parentheticals.
Natrualistic pantheism, assuming I haven't confused the name with something else, is the belief that God is everything. Period. That's it. Thus God=The Universe. The universe which, absent a consciousness (and naturalistic pantheism does not claim one, though it also -as far as I know- doesn't deny one exists), I would not consider a person.
Naturalistic pantheism and things like it are a big part of why I tend to get very frustrated when people don't define what they mean by "god/God" before getting into a religious debate. It's like having a debate on the nature of fnord. I was going to make up a nonsense word, but "fnord" popped into my head and I decided to go with that.
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I don't think I've said anything to start a religious flame war. If I have then let it be known that all that I say is merely my beliefs or, where talking about verifiable facts, my understanding/memory. I definitely have not set out to insult anyone and if I have insulted, offended, or hurt anyone, simply say how I did it (and of course that I did it) and I will:
1) Apologize.
2) Endeavor not to do that again.
Good to know that you're feeling somewhat better. I hope this trend continues, and indeed accelerates.
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The god I believe in, for which I have very few details because the belief kind of just happened independently of any religion*, is of the sort I tend to use capital letters for**, and I use the word "God" along with female pronouns. I don't think that this god actually has gender, but I tend to visualize her as female, hence the pronouns. (A lot easier to visualize a young woman (why would a god have cause to age?) than to visualize something that is everywhere, probably most present in the pervasive cracks of reality and the quantum probabilities that we assume random though I'm not really sure on everything that follows the comma.)
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* That said, I think a lot of people, both historical and contemporary, have said a lot of true things. While I don't believe that there would be any set up where someone should have to die for our sins, I think Fred Clark knows a lot about the truth of God. More than I do.
** God, rather than god, though any given God, existent or not, is part of the set "gods" as "Gods" is a proper subset of "gods". But God, capital, tends to carry more connotations. Things that don't automatically apply (though they certainly can apply) when discussing people like Zeus or Artemis or Loki. More love, more knowledge, more power, more... stuff. And, no, that isn't a typo in the sentence before last, or if there is one it isn't "people". I consider gods, lowercase or uppercase, existent or nonexistent, people. I might make an exception for naturalistic pantheism*** or something like that.
*** Footnote to avoid stacking parentheticals.
Natrualistic pantheism, assuming I haven't confused the name with something else, is the belief that God is everything. Period. That's it. Thus God=The Universe. The universe which, absent a consciousness (and naturalistic pantheism does not claim one, though it also -as far as I know- doesn't deny one exists), I would not consider a person.
Naturalistic pantheism and things like it are a big part of why I tend to get very frustrated when people don't define what they mean by "god/God" before getting into a religious debate. It's like having a debate on the nature of fnord. I was going to make up a nonsense word, but "fnord" popped into my head and I decided to go with that.
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I don't think I've said anything to start a religious flame war. If I have then let it be known that all that I say is merely my beliefs or, where talking about verifiable facts, my understanding/memory. I definitely have not set out to insult anyone and if I have insulted, offended, or hurt anyone, simply say how I did it (and of course that I did it) and I will:
1) Apologize.
2) Endeavor not to do that again.
Damn. I'm sorry to hear that. I've been ill lately myself* and I definitely wouldn't wish illness on everyone. I hope you get better soon.
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I'm not sure if I've asked you this before. I know you're religious, I know very little about your religion. Is there any god you'd like me to pray to when I pray for something for you? When I don't know a religious person's preference in god I generally pray to the god that I believe in and ask that god to also pass on the message to the individual's preferred god, whoever that may be, assuming both of them (both gods that is, the existence of the individual I generally don't consider a matter of faith) exist.
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And you're right, it does look like a three. I read it as "Metapost 3" Even though I knew it had something to do with illness because I came here via current comments where the comment in question was Thomas Keyton's meaning that I knew it was about illness. (Or injury I suppose, but I assumed illness.)
Now that I know it says "ill" (all lowercase for simplicity of reading) I can see that the letters aren't the same but if not for the fact that I know it must say "iLL" in the opposite case instead of "Lii" in the opposite case there's no way that I'd be able to tell that the i was an i instead of an L. Put the two side by side and I can see the difference, but how that difference is supposed to indicate which is which I fail to see.
All of this is proof positive that capital "i"s need their crosses intact. Cross the capital "i"s and dot the lowercase "J"s. A capital "i" should be like a T that has an equal and opposite crossbar on the bottom. Shorter crossbars than the the T, yes, but crossbars none the less. (Maybe you make a capital i, by taking a T cutting the crossbar in half, moving half of it to the bottom, and then centering the two half crossbars which are now at the top and bottom.)
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* And there's a sort of chicken or egg thing about the cause. Have I been ill because I missed my medications and went into withdrawal, or did I miss my medications because of unrelated illness? Either way, two days on in a row of remembering medications, one more and that'll be a streak.
Damn. I'm sorry to hear that. I've been ill lately myself* and I definitely wouldn't wish illness on everyone. I hope you get better soon.
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I'm not sure if I've asked you this before. I know you're religious, I know very little about your religion. Is there any god you'd like me to pray to when I pray for something for you? When I don't know a religious person's preference in god I generally pray to the god that I believe in and ask that god to also pass on the message to the individual's preferred god, whoever that may be, assuming both of them (both gods that is, the existence of the individual I generally don't consider a matter of faith) exist.
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And you're right, it does look like a three. I read it as "Metapost 3" Even though I knew it had something to do with illness because I came here via current comments where the comment in question was Thomas Keyton's meaning that I knew it was about illness. (Or injury I suppose, but I assumed illness.)
Now that I know it says "ill" (all lowercase for simplicity of reading) I can see that the letters aren't the same but if not for the fact that I know it must say "iLL" in the opposite case instead of "Lii" in the opposite case there's no way that I'd be able to tell that the i was an i instead of an L. Put the two side by side and I can see the difference, but how that difference is supposed to indicate which is which I fail to see.
All of this is proof positive that capital "i"s need their crosses intact. Cross the capital "i"s and dot the lowercase "J"s. A capital "i" should be like a T that has an equal and opposite crossbar on the bottom. Shorter crossbars than the the T, yes, but crossbars none the less. (Maybe you make a capital i, by taking a T cutting the crossbar in half, moving half of it to the bottom, and then centering the two half crossbars which are now at the top and bottom.)
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* And there's a sort of chicken or egg thing about the cause. Have I been ill because I missed my medications and went into withdrawal, or did I miss my medications because of unrelated illness? Either way, two days on in a row of remembering medications, one more and that'll be a streak.
Get better soon!
Get better soon!
Chocolate Chip for me! Extra large, hope that you're feeling better soon.
Chocolate Chip for me! Extra large, hope that you're feeling better soon.
Hoping that you're feeling better soon.
Hoping that you're feeling better soon.
I totally eat raw cookie dough. In fact, when I was pregnant I splurged on the super-expensive pasteurized eggs so I could safely make and eat cookie dough without worrying about salmonella.
I totally eat raw cookie dough. In fact, when I was pregnant I splurged on the super-expensive pasteurized eggs so I could safely make and eat cookie dough without worrying about salmonella.
I used to make cookie dough without eggs, so I could eat unlimited quantities without fear.
Now I just eat the cookie dough anyway. Nom!
Virtual hugs for Ana.
I used to make cookie dough without eggs, so I could eat unlimited quantities without fear.
Now I just eat the cookie dough anyway. Nom!
Virtual hugs for Ana.
Get better soon!
Get better soon!
Hope you feel better soon Ana! I know this great tea-recipe that is supposed to help sore throats and clear one's mind.
All y'all need is basil leaves, cumin and ginger slivers-dump in a pot of water and boil. Then filter out the water and use it to make tea-you can store the water in the fridge for upto a week.
Hope you feel better soon Ana! I know this great tea-recipe that is supposed to help sore throats and clear one's mind.
All y'all need is basil leaves, cumin and ginger slivers-dump in a pot of water and boil. Then filter out the water and use it to make tea-you can store the water in the fridge for upto a week.
Are you willing to take the risk and try Uncooked Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough? Had a roommate who insisted one taste was the fast track to salmonella; so far I've had 50 years of tasting and not dead yet.
Peace and blessings, please recover soon.
Are you willing to take the risk and try Uncooked Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough? Had a roommate who insisted one taste was the fast track to salmonella; so far I've had 50 years of tasting and not dead yet.
Peace and blessings, please recover soon.
I hope you feel better soon.
I hope you feel better soon.
Here, have a cookie recipe :)
Set-Cookie: LSID=asdfqewrty; Domain=example.org; Path=/testcookoies; Expires=Wed, 13-Jan-2021 22:23:01 GMT; Secure; HttpOnly
Prayers and best wishes for your recovery!
Here, have a cookie recipe :)
Set-Cookie: LSID=asdfqewrty; Domain=example.org; Path=/testcookoies; Expires=Wed, 13-Jan-2021 22:23:01 GMT; Secure; HttpOnly
Prayers and best wishes for your recovery!
I bake superly good chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies. With molasses.
Feel better soon.
I bake superly good chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies. With molasses.
Feel better soon.
I prefer crispy gingerbread cookies. I'd post a picture and offer the mods, but I couldn't figure out how.
In any case, hope you feel better soon!
I prefer crispy gingerbread cookies. I'd post a picture and offer the mods, but I couldn't figure out how.
In any case, hope you feel better soon!
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