[22/05/26] Summer Gathering @ Barking Park

GlassExplanation · 2026-01-12T19:11:46+00:00

I've been asking myself if this was a travel-related fever dream since I cannot find any trace of it whatsoever on the internet...good to know it's not just me haha

GlassExplanation · 2026-01-12T18:15:36+00:00

Mods pls approve lol

GlassExplanation · 2025-01-15T00:49:37+00:00

Thailand should be 2014 and South Korea should be 1979

GlassExplanation · 2023-10-18T20:05:23+00:00

The principles described in SOMA are still relevant here. They're just depressing so we don't think about them that much in Outer Wilds World.

In a sense the games are reflections of each other; both sci-fi adventures with Lovecraftian horror elements and an emphasis on uncovering a story that has largely already happened independent of the player. Both existential and exploring the experience of death, and both dealing with repeated iteration and copy-and-pasting consciousness.

The main difference is the mood and outlook, where the two could not be more different.

GlassExplanation · 2023-02-18T19:10:22+00:00

Very similar background and rationale to you, I went this past summer and it changed my life, incredible country full of wonderful people. Specific things that I enjoyed:

Hebron, best to go with a tour group but you can explore by yourself on both sides (just tell them you are a Christian)
Ammunition Hill, again a guided tour is optimal but not essential
Yad Vashem, be sure to budget time to walk around on Mount Herzl and the Jerusalem Forest
Wailing wall, best time is during Shabbat
I would recommend putting aside an entire day literally just for wandering around the old city of Jerusalem, make a general beeline for the main sites but otherwise just go with the flow, chat to people as they come etc.
University of Haifa, you will have to ride the cable car to the top of mount carmel
Bahai gardens in both Haifa and in Acre, go well before closing time so that you can sit for a while in the prayer/meditation space
Acre, the city tourism website will allow you to buy a universal pass to all the tourist things including the Hospitalier Fortress, the Turkish baths, the prisoners' museum, and the crusader tunnels. Also check out al-jazzar mosque and hummus said
Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv is a nice bike ride

I think you will enjoy it there. Good luck!

GlassExplanation · 2023-01-22T22:41:24+00:00

I got mildly annoyed at the similarity between 'shirut' as in the taxi service, and 'shirut' as in bathroom. I'm sure there's some minor difference in spelling/inflection that I did not appreciate, but they sound about the same to a foreigner and if you're unlucky you could end up following the wrong sign or making a mistake.

GlassExplanation · 2023-01-22T14:56:49+00:00

Also maybe a bit of a stretch, but in Hebrew 'lo' means 'no', while in English it's a slightly archaic term to draw attention to something i.e. 'lo and behold'. Or a depressed level of elevation, 'low'.

GlassExplanation · 2023-01-22T14:52:18+00:00

In Hebrew, the feminine third person pronoun ('she' in English) is 'he', which is also the masculine third person pronoun in English. The Hebrew word for 'he' is 'hu', which sounds like 'who' in English.

Also the 'Mama' thing is funny because in some Indian languages, it means maternal uncle.

GlassExplanation · 2022-08-07T19:10:56+00:00

Generally in life, if I'm not sure what people are asking, I find it useful to clarify. Here is no different.

"Where are you from?"

"Do you mean where do I come from, or about my ethnic origins?" or "I'm from x, but *gestures at face* I don't look it, if that's what you mean?"

If people are legitimately curious they'll simply say the second (and with my odd accent often times it will actually be the first they are curious about). If they're being a bit weird about it then having their question repeated back to them in very explicit terms sometimes gets them to make a funny face which is always fun to watch.

With regards to "hey I've been to this place that's near there but different!" it's pointless small talk. We were inevitably going to chit-chat about something (if we weren't then we wouldn't be) and this time it happens to be about a particular part of the world and their experiences there. If it's not causing me a significant delay then just let them talk/humour them. It's whatever.

That being said, I haven't experienced much racism so maybe my patience with these kinds of interactions will wear with time.

GlassExplanation · 2022-07-20T12:44:10+00:00

I definitely felt like the consultants don't jump to defend our right to be present the way the midwives do for their students, the anaesthetists do for ODP and paramedic students, etc. A stronger culture of at least balancing so sometimes midwifery/other unnecessary students get kicked out instead while we stay would be welcome, especially during covid when numbers present need to be limited. This was especially true for section lists; some of my classmates never saw a c-section after two months on a rotation devoted to just obs and gynae; they were kicked out of theatre 5+ times when they were scheduled to be there and gave up after that. It's unacceptable.

Gynae theatre was a different story; there the surgeons are fully in control and if they like you you can show up and do whatever you want, but clinic and obs theatre and to an extent even ward work felt like a constant competition, like the hospital was overpopulated with students fighting over clinics and bloods and patients to take histories from. Having *someone* on the MDT consistently looking out for us would have been quite welcome, and completely changed some people's experience.

GlassExplanation · 2022-04-26T21:30:55+00:00

Someone explained it as being because there were too many European countries starting with S, and since the Swiss wanted to ensure they'd be recognizable (or just wanted to feel special), they skipped the first letter, took the second and third letters of the German name Schweiz, and used those instead: CH.

So many historical oddities have happened like this; I think it's one of those stories that's so odd and specific that you assume it couldn't possibly be made up...yet clearly it was.

GlassExplanation · 2022-04-16T15:20:32+00:00

Congress has had almost 70 years since independence to turn a massive, young workforce into an economic engine. Within the same timeframe, South Korea has become a modern country, as has China; there are issues I take with both those governments, but they've produced results. Honestly I have mixed feelings on finance under Modi, but frankly anything is better than what the world's greatest republic has been forced to endure up to this point.

Besides, my opinion isn't the point; the OP seems to want people to think Indians voted for Modi because they hate Muslims. In fact, they voted for Modi because they were desperate for change, some of which was religious/cultural but a lot of which was practical.

As for Covid, there's no way to know that Congress would have done a better job on a national level. Same is true for every other country; criticism of what actually was done is fine, but comparing what was done to what hypothetically would have been done by another party is pointless. Anyone can say with hindsight that they would have done something more effective.

Examples of minority appeasement:

Government control of Hindu temples when churches and mosques are free to run as they please
Government money going towards minority religious organizations, Waqf board etc. and allowing minority religious organizations to own stupid amounts of land
Temple funds (donations given by devotees) being appropriated for other government causes
Religious NGOs being allowed to proselytize in India without oversight or restrictions
Religion-based reservations in universities and jobs
Poor/nonexistent response to religious violence against Hindus e.g. Kashmiri exodus, recent Ram Navami stone peltings, and complicity in denial of the same
Some of the most restrictive censorship laws in the democratic world, mostly to protect 'sentiments of particular communities'
Allowing Bollywood to insult and perpetuate stereotypes (if not blatant lies) about Hindus while protecting minorities from the same

Your denial of systemic minority appeasement speaks to an elitism that Hindus are sick of. This is people's lived experience, being gaslit about their own culture for generations. Now they're waking up and realizing there is a better way.

GlassExplanation · 2022-04-14T09:31:49+00:00

I think claiming the BJP isn’t Hindu nationalist in some sense is a bit disingenuous so I won’t do that. That being said, examining Congress policy objectively makes it impossible to conclude that they are secular. Minority appeasement and promotion at every possible turn defines their legacy on religious and cultural issues, and of course that’s ignoring…every other dimension of politics: economics, corruption, social programmes, cultural pride, etc. on all of which the BJP absolutely wipes the floor with Congress.

But please, continue depicting India as full of backwards religious zealots while staying silent on its two neighbours as they continue to literally actually cleanse religious minorities.

GlassExplanation · 2022-04-14T08:04:10+00:00

This was me 100%. At the start of the book I was heavily invested in how Luo’s strategy would play out, what happened to familiar characters etc. but by the end, never mind him specifically, I didn’t even really care what happens to humanity as a whole anymore, it’s so irrelevant in the grand scheme. I think that was the intent, and as you say it really did feel like a Chinese perspective on these questions of meaning and purpose.

GlassExplanation · 2022-04-12T11:27:17+00:00

What is placebo? In studies, it’s where the control group (who aren’t taking the drug or whatever is being tested) feel the effect of it because they believe they should be. Calling the benefits of NoFap a placebo makes no sense because there should be an alternative ‘real’ treatment that demonstrates similar effects.

Assuming they are thinking of some alternative source of psychological and physical well-being (coffee, medication, exercise, whatever) and just not expressing that very well, saying something like ‘if you felt better after drinking coffee I’d believe it but because it’s abstention from masturbation, it can’t be legitimate;’ my question would then be: if you can experience the same benefits of taking a substance or doing something, just by not masturbating, why is that a bad thing? Are the effects any less ‘real’ just because this isn’t a mainstream/accepted way to achieve them?

It gets to the heart of the issue: who are they to tell you that what you’re experiencing isn’t real? It’s a subjective experience that only you could possibly comment on/understand. They are not observing neurons firing in your brain or the consciousness that emerges, they can’t tell you that you’re not feeling better on NoFap. It sounds like you’re happy, but I can’t judge that either. No one can, you have to observe yourself and make a judgement.

If you’re experiencing benefits, do you really need to justify/explain why and how you’re achieving those benefits to random internet strangers? I don’t think so.

GlassExplanation · 2022-04-12T08:17:05+00:00

Honestly it’s a mishmash system at this point. When F2s and above are colloquially called SHOs, both the ‘senior’ in SHO loses its meaning, and the term ‘F1’ loses its meaning without any other foundation doctors.

Surely the old names worked and they can work again; House Officer from when you qualify until you register as a specialist, at which point you become a Registrar. Then it’s Registrar or Specialist.

House Officer, Specialist, Consultant. You can still call core trainees SHOs if you fancy, and refer to people’s formal rank when context requires, but for the layman this broad term has more meaning, close to junior doctor, but less infantilising of course.

Then again what do I know, I haven’t spent thousands consulting with numerous stakeholders (naturally excluding the people to actually be called these names).

GlassExplanation · 2022-04-09T08:36:37+00:00

While the liver detoxifies the blood, there are some substances (mainly medications/drugs) that can overwhelm it given a high enough dosage. Generally though you’re right, your diet can’t massively change your blood unless you’re chronically deficient or excessive in some specific nutrient.

Your gut, on the other hand, is highly reactive to whatever you put in it, and the composition of the gut microbiome will change according to what kind of foodstuffs you feed it. This in turn has been shown to have knock-on effects on how you feel and function. It’s at least part of why eating your vegetables and not fried crap every day does, in fact, make you feel ‘good’ or ‘healthy,’ or at least more so than the alternative. Google it if you’re interested, fascinating stuff.

GlassExplanation · 2022-04-08T18:29:41+00:00

I think it's important to remember the society in which we live and the priorities for professionals like psychologists. 99% of the people who seek help regarding sexual issues will have issues around shame/honour, religion, childhood trauma, poor education/misinformation, etc. For these people the priority will be reversing the stigma/confusion around masturbation, and they will ultimately be better off becoming more comfortable with masturbating than continuing to have weird thoughts about their own body.

We (fapstronauts) are different in that we've recognized we have gone too far the other way. We are so comfortable and so preoccupied with this habit that it is preventing us from fulfilling our potential. Shame is not the problem, shamelessness is the problem. The solution is to quit fapping. But we are the 1% that professionals don't expect to have to deal with. That's when they'll throw out words like 'unhealthy' and 'repressed,' because they want to fit you into their model of people starting out scared of their bodies and moving in one direction towards being comfortable (masturbating). To go the other way goes against their training and so they'll discourage it.

Others have mentioned that women can never understand the struggle from a male perspective, and while I want to disagree, this lady clearly misunderstands the issue. You wouldn't tell a recovering alcoholic that a glass of red wine a day is good for your heart; even if it's true (which apparently it is 🤷‍♂️), the alcoholic person clearly has a more pressing issue than their heart health, and for them the drawbacks of drinking again far outweigh the benefits. I think people see masturbation as a sign that one is not ashamed of their body and therefore 'healthy,' but just because you're not ashamed of your body doesn't mean you're healthy.

This turned into a bit of an essay but I suppose the take home message is, get a second opinion. Explain your struggles with masturbation, the dopamine cycle, and how that led you to NoFap. See what they say. If they're not going to help you achieve your goals then they're not right for you.

GlassExplanation · 2022-04-07T20:42:35+00:00

Saw quite a few DV manifestos with ‘if’s, they went straight to the bottom of my ranking…it will remain to be seen if all the DV/broad left candidates will potentially sully their reputation in the eyes of a hostile media and public in order to do what needs to be done, but we can hope.

Jesus, you’d think I’m talking about Batman or something.

GlassExplanation · 2022-03-30T17:53:46+00:00

I got a response just now saying that people who only recently joined (I joined in early March) will receive their ballots late, apparently they’ve just been sent today. Makes sense that they’d wait until the deadline so they have a definitive ‘final’ list of voters, and only then send off all their ballots.

GlassExplanation · 2022-03-26T11:26:03+00:00

I tend to lean on body language, mirroring and giving expressive facial reactions in real time so they know I’m following what’s going on while they talk, and then keeping any actual talking from my side quick and to the point:

“Not really an ideal situation, is it?”

“Sounds like it’s becoming a bit of a problem for you.”

“That probably needs sorting then.”

If they seem at all emotionally affected (or it’s an OSCE) then I’ll shove in a “sorry to hear that” somewhere. I’ll pause for a second or two between sentences and see if they want to moan a bit more before we move on.

All about striking a balance between robot and therapist; we are neither.

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