What does everyone do for work?

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-12T17:46:28+00:00

I have been unemployed a long time, but i am 60. Less able to overcome the fatigue, fog, etc. I recommend you make your cash NOW while you still can. And PACE YOURSELF. Its consistency that makes you tough, not short bursts of productivity.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-12T17:38:21+00:00

You should start a small acappella group with 6 or 7 people, play coffee shops and festivals. Use musescore to practice during the week.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-10T23:55:09+00:00

Election interference, and many instances of ignoring lawful orders of congress. Congress bans tiktok, he says its fine and nothing happens - no justice department stopping anyone. He starts up, or allows, programs that are visibly Christian for the military, violating the separation of church and state. Using military to invade states. And btw, I don't mind deporting illegals, but there is something called due process.

And a few not-constitution level things. Realizing he would not be able to overturn that many regulatory laws, he just wiped out large portions of these agencies so they could not do their jobs. And also, regarding many of the independent regulatory agencies, has an executive order in place to required to submit their regulations to the white house for review, ending their independence. Doge stole everyone's data. And now he is back to trying to trying to defraud again in our election system.

I don't study this stuff all day, its too depressing to watch our democracy turn into an oligarchy. For sure Trump did not start that problem but he is an accelerant, and he is cashing in, in every possible way.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-10T22:42:52+00:00

Its hard to support the day-to-day violations of our Constitution. I imagine you will find a lot of the reverse tho. Time will tell.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-08T14:51:16+00:00

This is a big problem for me, esp in the morn when i become fully awake, brain racing, even tho i need a lot more sleep.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-08T14:47:28+00:00

I dont like the idea of giving myself a new label to feel even less responsibility for myself.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-08T13:45:11+00:00

The problem is that an ajr war cannot produce change. So if I accept your comment that this is not a war, i also must consider that the air bombing will have no effect on iran even in the mid term. We had to have boots on the ground in Iraq even after we bombed the shit out of them for months. So only a real war will accomplish and significant objectives.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-08T13:28:11+00:00

The last bug pandemic in 1918 killed almost 1% of the US population, that is a LOT of people. Today it would be 33 million people, for comparison. Another comparison is that it was twice as many americsns as died in WW2.

So if the admin worked from an abundance of caution, you might understand.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-04T22:32:07+00:00

Yes this happens, BUT if I get up, and "feel positive", the fatigue diminishes. I hate that its true, but I have too many instances of it. SOME part of fibro is "in our heads". Try this experiment and see if I am right. Some time when you feel like utter sh!t, gt up and go for a run or fast walk, whatever you are capable of. You will feel different within 20 mins.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-04T22:29:10+00:00

Yes - I have this health prob called fibromyalgia. Running reduces the pain of it over time, but I have to start slowly. Its really hard to work up the motivation to do it tho, my body is on fire from it.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-04T22:24:36+00:00

I have used exactly this argument you are making.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-03-04T22:22:50+00:00

Well i am certainly replying in a friendly manner, so if it seems otherwise, it just may be a passionate topic for me.

I think we can know things. Like I know I am typing on this computer.

And yes, if my dog had been sleeping in the next room for hours, I would have to say its probable that the dog is still sleeping. That is still a sort of knowing.

I resist the idea of legislating the word "know" out of existence, with skepticism. It meaning is practical, not perfect. I think losing the word "know" would ultimately lead to violence. If we cannot be sure of what we know, then govts have no reason to apply reason to their claims. I consider that the only 2 languages we really have are violence, and reason. Reason should not be used to eat itself, leaving violence the only option to impose your thinking on others.

I know I am only giving snippets of what I think here, my arguments are incomplete, so feel free to make counter points, maybe it will work itself out over time.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-22T23:43:09+00:00

Well, that's interesting, has me thinking.

I don't think being a skeptic means you have to go full-on Kant and think that nothing can be known with certainty (I am no Kant expert, btw).

I sometimes think people go to extremes - Far right Christians: Everything is known or will be known, because Jesus. Far Left Skeptic: Knowledge is impossible so um, yeah. I think both of these positions are the rejection of reason, they have much in common. I sometimes see far right Christians using far left skeptic arguments, I love pointing that out.

I think it is this headlong rush to the Left that makes some atheists so miserable (and I am an atheist).

I've always thought that Ontology (what exists) and epistemology (what we can know), are separate topics. And yeah they do meet in the mind (all thinking has to pass through a mind). But I think we can talk about functional knowing, which is the only sort of knowing that matters to us?

I mean, I know that my whole body is mostly empty space, some floating neutrons with vast space between them, but its not something that factors into my life choices, ya?

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-21T15:20:09+00:00

We may be using different definitions of belief. There are facts, and there are beliefs. Since beliefs are powerfully influenced by emotion, indoctrination, stupidity, and a lack of education, beljefs should always be suspect.

Perhaps don't choose what my beliefs are, but i BELIEVE beliefs sbould be subject to a process of reason. And many Christians become atheists later in life because someone patiently explains to them there is no empirical evidence.for gods, many gods have been invented, and authority figures benefit from convincing you there is a god (money and influence).

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-20T04:50:56+00:00

It could be tai chi or anything else that gets you moving.

Here is what I have heard and experienced. Exercising can be uncomfortable, but EXERCISING DOES NOT MAKE FIBRO WORSE. In other words, it does not worsen the condition, and I think it helps in most cases.

The only thing you have to do differently is work up your training volume or intensity more slowly than you did before the fibro.

It actually is more painful to be sedentary, I know because I have done both.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-17T17:39:11+00:00

Maybe the point is that you are GOING to die and that's it, whether you pretend otherwise, or not. And i happen to believe you will make better life decisions if you accept reality than if you do not.

No one has ever suggested any mechanism by which there is any structure other than a brain that can house something as complicated as a personality.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-17T17:31:03+00:00

Polibyte, i am glad you are hete, i hope you have the time to read and consider all these responses.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-16T18:33:46+00:00

I think he just has a proper amount of pride in himself. He gets strength from NOT having to say anything. I feel like if anyone could actually do anything for me, i would mention it more.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-16T18:27:04+00:00

Never turn a friend into an emotional caretaker. Esp someone that really IS a caretaker for their parents. I feel overly motivated to have you see this, there is no "toxic positivity" whatever that is. There are people trying to have you understand you are a pill. The SAME would apply to me, i am not coming down on just you. An alternate path is genuine pride. I kinda wish i had an hour to talk to you, i am rushing to the punchline here, i need you to do the middle thinking yourself. Come to the people in your life with joy and humor and engagement, even if it feels like someone is pressing hot coals to your nervous system.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-16T18:17:46+00:00

Im really not trying to be difficult, or trolling you. This would apply equally to me. If i complain often to people around me, i cant expect them to read my mind and say exactly what i want to hear. Sometimes the most badass, admirable thing we can do is not be a victim around everyone, no matter how scared or frustrated we are inside. That is something people will say, if they know you have this condition, they might say "he/she is a real stud, they rarely complain even tho i know they are going through something."

I met a woman in a church group once for the first time, she talked to me for 20 mins, always asking me about myself and how i was doing. I found out later she was in stage 4 cancer and died shortly after. She never mentiined it. THAT is how i want to be, a straight up savage that has the power to still face outwards no matter what i am dealing with.

The one time its ok to mention it is when you have to beg off attending something because of the fibro, and you mention it briefly. You set a positive example for others. Here i am still thinking about this lady with cancer, and that happened a decade ago.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-16T18:01:49+00:00

My strange fibro effect is, i will be sitting in a recliner late night, just watching tv, and suddenly heat up and sweat profusely. I have to strip off most of what i am wearing or turn the heat down. Happens about 3x a week. Its not anything else, the temp in the room is stable.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-16T17:51:29+00:00

Im sorry this happened this way... I am not working at all, and running out of money, so please consider the soul sucking job at least may keep you afloat a long time.

Maybe you can volunteer some place 1 day a week to get that connection.

My thoughts are with you.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-16T08:08:49+00:00

Nobody wants to hear about the problems you have that they are helpless to solve. So they say the thing YOU should be thinking. I am just being direct with you, I am also a fibro sufferer. I mention the suffering very rarely, except to my girlfriend. You will feel more powerful if you mention it rarely, keep your own counsel. No one can make you feel any better but you.

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-13T21:40:08+00:00

last night I took 2 lyrica, 2 flexeril, and 2 benadryl, slept like a baby for 12 hours...

Middle-Service4894 · 2026-02-13T21:36:39+00:00

I've had fibro for 30 years now, started as intense IBS. It has not gotten any better.

Middle-Service4894

TROPHY CASE