'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
and somewhat on the left, but the political effects of that are nowhere near as badAnti-science attitudes don't have to be political to be harmful - antivax activism kills more people than creationism.
OMG, was reading a Washington post parenting chat, and the "expert" was antivax!! I just about plotzed.
Oh Lady Gaga, tight, low-rise PVC is no one's friend.
Holy shit, Jilli. I was unaware you had Lyme. I just wrote an essay about my old neighbor's experience with Lyme and what happened when she tried to treat it with raw bison liver and meditation.
I solomnly swear I will not follow that sort of path to treat the damn Lyme. Yeah, I was diagnosed in ... November? December? Around then. I also have a bonus of CFS and cat scratch fever. So I'm on some hellacious antibiotics, vitamin shots, and a massive handful of supplements every day. I'm not thrilled about it, but having a diagnosis is better than not knowing why I felt like crap all the time.
OMG, was reading a Washington post parenting chat, and the "expert" was antivax!! I just about plotzed.
Yeah, there is no schadenfreude in dead children. There's no "I told you so."
It just makes me profoundly sad.
I get irrationally angry about alt med. I've been having horrible stomach problems and ended up in the hospital thinking it was my appendix about to burst I was in such intense pain. Five bazillion tests later concluded it was IBS. The doctor suggested fiber, peppermint oil, Prilosec, and an appointment with a dietician. Peppermint really does help, and he said they don't know why. I have this odd feeling that I'm in placebo-land, but I'd sacrifice a chicken if I was in that kind of pain again and someone told me it would make it stop.
I get how fear and pain can twist your perspective.
Allyson, my IBS has led me to a vast sea of knowledge about it. If you're interested, I'd be happy to share.
OT was written in Hebrew. NT was written in Greek, not Aramaic.
True, although there is a small portion (bits of Ezra, Daniel and a couple of other places) where Aramaic is used.
I'm an atheist, Wallybee is a Christian, Ryan was just baptised as a Lutheran. The Christians I've known best are my parents and my wife, and I'm a big fan of what I've seen in them. (Not to mention my own time as a Christian, I took it very seriously indeed).
That said, I agree with Allyson, tommyrot, TB et al about the harm that closed-minded forms of religion -- and this isn't at the fringe of religion -- have caused. I find it's the closedmindedness rather than the religious belief that's the problem, but at this point it's inextricable.
Like I said, Ryan's been baptised as a Lutheran. This is a pretty open-minded church. Wallybee still finds their Bible studies frustrating as they do little more than push the party line, and I've been wryly amused by some occasional comments along the lines of "Obviously you slept with that girl from your reunion the Catholics/Baptists/insert-church-not-beginning-with-an-L is wrong, and probably insulting God".
The usual qualifiers apply, being religious isn't synonymous with being closed-minded, nor vice versa. Nonetheless, I will take a poor view of anyone at church who wants to tell Ryan that his atheist father should be looked down on, preached to, dismissed, scorned or pitied on the basis of religious belief.
Allyson, there's a couple of articles about alternative medicine in the latest Economist: [link] [link]
(My favourite quote: "The world’s advertising-standards offices should thus crack down on bogus claims—including the idea that there is such a thing as “alternative medicine” in the first place. If it works, it is a medicine and should be regulated like one. If it doesn’t work, it isn’t a medicine.")
That would be awesome, Steph. I find the whole thing embarrassing. And painful.
Steph is an excellent resource for dealing with IBS. I know that, in my experience, once I was diagnosed it got better. I assume because I wasn't feeling the same level of stress over what it could be and also because I wasn't as scared. Still totally sucks sometimes but I haven't landed back in the ER, so it's some level of win.
Totally understand. The doctor thought it was an ulcer, and so did I. My eyes were watering with the pain. I was eating so many Tums, which was actually making it worse.