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Post by petrushka on Jan 10, 2022 8:08:10 GMT -5
My take is: religion is bad for the soul. Hark back to the crusades, hark back to the 30 year war that laid waste to central Europe (religion more a pretext than anything), oh and don't forget the inquisition - yeesh, that must have been awful. You get Buddhist priests whipping up hatred and genocide in Burma (yeah, the 'peaceful religion'), in Sri Lanka they throw you in jail if you disrespect a stone statue by kissing where it can see you. And let's not forget Muslims blowing up each others' mosques, from Syria to Central Africa to Pakistan. Let's not forget that Islam lives in the year 1500odd; they may become more enlightened with time, get their own Spinoza one day. Not that a lot of American X-tians ever heard of HIM.
When I was 8 I brought home a 'religious education' book from school and read through it in a day. Then I read it again. And again. It was kind of entertaining, and at that age I read _everything_ that was in a book. Slowly, I came to the conclusion: "this is about as real as Grim's fairy tales and Hans Christian Andersen". Long time before I found Science Fiction, but that's what it looked like to me.
Why do you bother with those dusty old tomes, scribbled by a bunch of Mad Monks and copied over and over and over, like Chinese Whispers (that's what I was told much later by some real theologians). Ultimately you will not find any eternal truths; you're wasting your time.
Seriously, Pratchett's Diskworld novels, Roald Dahl's childrens books, Dickens and Jane Austen make a lot more sense, and are one hell of a lot more fun to read. Those promises of Eternal Life are just bait. As the Germans have it: With bacon, you catch mice.
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Post by petrushka on Sept 13, 2021 17:43:38 GMT -5
Please retire, Stephen Beyer before the crazed right wingers completely destroy the US. Breaking News:Political Update for you northstarmom.....Two of the 3 branches of the federal government are controlled by the crazed left wingers. Looks like they are fully in control and steering the rudder of state when it comes to destruction going on in the US. Afraid you are so far down the rabbit hole, mate, you would not know a left winger if you tripped over one lying in the street. Have you started chasing journalists down the street with bear spray like your Proud Boy friends?
The hallmark of fascists is they want freedom for themselves, but they don't want freedom for anyone else. It's one thing being partisan, but once fairness goes out the window? The strategy enacted by your partisan mates matches the strategy of the SA and the SS in pre 1933 Germany to a t. Looking from the outside, when you actually have the historical background knowledge, is very scary. One half of America, more or less, is heading straight for out and out fascism. The bear spray is the start, but already it's batons as well, and talk of camps. Do you even realize what you're letting yourself in for?
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Post by petrushka on Sept 13, 2021 16:12:39 GMT -5
Hey lanie , well one thing that happened is that you made it past the 2-3 year threshold. I've seen research that around that time in a relationship the euphoric 'in-love' hormones subside in [most] people. Doesn't seem to pan out like that for everybody, but apparently it's a thing. Some of us are more passionate than others ..... and many folk just fall into the grey everyday trap of taking the other for granted. {sigh} My wife dropped out after 3 years, as it happens. Although (don't laugh) I've never put it into this particular context. It coincided with a hip replacement, and she never came back into a sexual relationship, but things were actually much worse, she was terrified of passion, intimacy, affection (giving and receiving) due to a really screwy upbringing ... then became abusive to fend me off. Well, all that doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that when I told her I was just the janitor, changing tap washers and lightbulbs, and I was desperately sad and lonely and didn't get my wants or needs met in the relationship: I was done! She took note and began to make an effort at change .... or I would have walked away. There is no point in staying with someone who is abusive and doesn't do anything for you, doesn't even make an attempt. 18 years on, and we're still together. I am much happier with lots of affection and lack of abuse - but I can still see her demons come out from time to time. And there is still no sex, nor will there be. Small consolation that my body is beginning to get 'past it'. The only other thing I can say is: if your DH is muttering imprecations under his breath, then he's not respecting you, and he's probably over the limit of abuse. If he's at all interested in retaining you as a cook and bottle washer, confronting him directly may work - if you make it clear that you're serious, but if he's a gaslighter as you say, that will get you nowhere fast.
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Post by petrushka on Sept 10, 2021 23:03:51 GMT -5
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Post by petrushka on Sept 10, 2021 22:50:59 GMT -5
All I can say is that the Pasifica Peoples and the Maori got access to the vaccine before the European population, due to considerations of much higher underlying health concerns. I don't have uptake statistics, and I don't rightly care to argue them. Any gathering with hundreds of people congregating in one room is a potential hotbed for epidemics/pandemics. In this case it was Assembly of God, rather than an indoor rock concert, or a political frenzy event.
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Post by petrushka on Sept 9, 2021 22:12:31 GMT -5
"Unfortunately, one can get extremely sick or even die despite being fully vaxxed. My fully vaxxed (J&J) partner got so ill with the Delta that he was on home oxygen 5 days and very sick for 2 weeks. A fully vaxxed friend died of Covid. Two fully vaxxed friends were hospitalized with Covid. In New Jersey as of last month, 49 fully vaxxed people had died of Covid. All were 50 or over and 80% had preconditions. The Delta variant seems especially contagious and dangerous even for fully vaxxed people. So, don't let your guard down even if fully vaxxed. Up until a month ago my church was acceding to pretty much all the precautions associated with preventing the spread of Covid19. It seem the worst was behind us. Since then the congregation has gotten pretty lax. No masks, no social distancing, etc. This Sunday I am going to re-institute fogging to sanitize between services, and I will be wearing my mask through the entire service. I can't control what other choose to do, but I can try and minimize the potential for a mass spreading event where I worship. I will also float the idea of furnishing and placing masks in the narthex for those who might forget and leave their mask in the car. The Pasifica population of New Zealand is around 7.5%. Yet in this latest outbreak of Covid, starting from ~ a month ago, 60% of those infected were Pasifica people.
What was/is the connection? Mega-churches. :-(
Looks like the breach in the dam has been largely stopped. We're down to 10-20 cases a day now, but around 1000 people got the virus. Geographically contained in the city of Auckland, by now. All from one man who brought it into the country. It remained undetected for just a little bit too long. Damn, but this is scary business, particularly in view of what northstarmom said re. vaccinated people ending up in hospital wards.
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Post by petrushka on Jul 11, 2021 0:29:52 GMT -5
No posts here for 2 months!
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Post by petrushka on Jul 5, 2021 17:11:05 GMT -5
Incidentally I am just killing time here, going into hospital in less than 2 hours to get a new knee put in. I just hope that I'll still be able to walk out again!
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Post by petrushka on Jul 5, 2021 17:07:24 GMT -5
I like science when there were only Electrons Neutorns and Protons. If you think a SM is complicated, get a load of the following. The Map of Particle Physics | The Standard Model Explained (Youtube video) All right, so let me see if I can get this right.
"Leptons" is obviously a misprint, that must be Lipton's, who make tea - hence the green colour. Green Tea. "Muon", Green Tea with milk --- an abomination! in fact "Strange" as it's called directly above. "Quarks" are next as we're already talking dairy products. We, in the iliasm group can probably relate to "Top", "Bottom", "Up" and "Down" - except it's just not happening for us! "Charm", well, we're right back to the tea, and little old ladies who are prim and proper, drink tea but do not put out. "Boson" - he probably has a girl in every harbour, and while at sea ... cough cough (poor midshipmen) "Gluon" - yeah, well, something must hold it all together I guess.
"Neutrinos" - not a clue. Might have something to do with the fallopian tubes?!? "Photon" - who brought Vietnamese soup into this? Guess they grow tea besides coffee ...
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Post by petrushka on Jun 18, 2021 1:40:07 GMT -5
About to get my first vaccine shot next Wednesday. I registered for it 3 weeks ago. It seems we don't get deliveries of a large portion of what was ordered. Fortunately there is no Covid at large in the population here. But still. Better safe than dead (or suffering from 'long covid' for that matter).
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Post by petrushka on May 24, 2021 17:38:40 GMT -5
Ok, ok: I DO know a metaphor when it bites me in the arse - I know perfectly well what Hawking was talking about.
I just let my inner Terry Pratchett loose - picture it, Hawking - what reason did he have to look at his feet. He probably spent most of his time looking at the universe in his head.
Most amazing human being. f.w.i.w.
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Post by petrushka on May 24, 2021 3:37:45 GMT -5
Stephen Hawking “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up.” I also wanted to correct my previous post 5,000 to 300,000 tons of space dust and dirt falls on the Earth every day.to 5,200 tons of space dust and dirt falls on the Earth every year according to space .com. The higher number is suggested to be the amount of dust entering Earth's atmosphere but most burns up because of friction with the air. Easy for him to say, he wasn’t going to fall flat on his face after tripping over the cat and break his wrist in the process! I say: always look where you are going, always look where you’re driving! I was looking out the right side window of my car one day because I didn’t want to hit a bus coming out of the bus terminal, and rear-ended the car in front of me that had stopped for a pedestrian crossing (barely a fender bender, but still). Lesson learned! Don’t listen to Stephen!
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Post by petrushka on May 19, 2021 3:41:29 GMT -5
I have never been on birth control and actually ended up going down the IVF route because my GP couldn't understand why I hadn't got pregnant. That's how far I have gone to protect his image. Now I am middle aged and unattractive and in poor health. The more down I feel the happier he is. I know what the options are but I am stuck. Funny thing is if he had just been honest the no sex might not have been a deal breaker. But I resent that to protect himself he hung me out to dry. I am waffling. Once again I am thankful to have found this forum.
You may have to explain to the GP that wind pollination works for tomatoes, but not for humans?!?
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Post by petrushka on May 15, 2021 15:10:50 GMT -5
Interesting detail about the laundry. Houses in NZ typically do not have a basement to stick laundries into. Instead, people put them into attached garages or into a nook off the hallway. Being European, we are used to have the washing machine [in the kitchen or] in the bathroom. We don't even have a dryer, we have a clothesline.
I designed the house to be totally wheelchair friendly. wide internal doors, no split levels, no stairs, no thresholds. Bad knees for decades. In fact, I am getting one replaced in July, and I hope like hell that it all goes well, so I don't have to use the wheelchair features just yet.
Sex? {laughs} Sex don't even enter into it!
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Post by petrushka on May 11, 2021 18:56:05 GMT -5
Rose, seriously?
Congratulations! I really hope it goes well for you.
Me too. Talking to a lawyer on Monday. Still trying to find other divorcees to chat with for realistic expectations and such.
Realistic expectations can vary hugely. At one end there's the lucky people like myself, who spent $350 on the lawyer, and gave my 1st wife $5000 as her half share of the tractor that her father bought for us as a wedding present - actually, that was everything he contributed since I had paid the other 5000, and she walked away and went trekking the Himalayas again - footloose and fancy free as she liked it.
On the other hand there's people like my former landlady here who's been pursued by her ex husband with vexatious lawsuits, stalking, damaging her car, her water meter, spraying her garden with weed killer for years now. Apparently the judges are by now aware of his shenanigans and he gets short shrift at the courthouse, but it's been constant worry and upset for her, she was worried for her safety as well, we had to go rescue her a couple of times when he had boxed her in in a friend's house.
All sorts of idiots out there. Your stbx may just react in similar ways, going on what I remember of his past character descriptions by you, and go down the harrassment route. Make sure you have a safety net of people who can have your back.
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