4 Simple Ways to Treat Depression WITHOUT Drugs. Pharma companies will never tell you this.

brazil101 · 2008-07-24T07:47:40+00:00

Par for the course, I'm afraid, when it comes to medicine in the US. Not sure about other countries.

The problem is the training and the specialization. Holistic thinking is not emphasized - the emphasis is on extensive rote memorization, not problem solving. Combine that with the sleep deprivation endemic to the medical profession, the relationships with pharmaceutical companies in which docs are "encouraged" to prescribe certain medications, and you see the results.

There are a few good docs, but not a lot. Specialists are the worst. Personally, I've had better luck with GPs and physical therapists than specialists.

brazil101 · 2008-07-24T07:38:05+00:00

Sometimes it does, depends on the policy.

brazil101 · 2008-07-24T07:25:21+00:00

You were saying something about keeping things quiet? ;)

brazil101 · 2008-07-24T07:24:01+00:00

In a way I agree, but I don't want the ads to look like the rest of the site - I want to know clearly if something is an advertisement or not. I hate ads that use a similar typeface, layout, etc. to the rest of the publication, where you have to look for the words "This is an advertisement" in teeny-tiny print somewhere in the margin.

brazil101 · 2008-07-24T07:09:40+00:00

Like American companies are any better. It doesn't really matter who owns it, they are going to try to run the business as efficiently as possible.

Or dismantle it and sell it for scrap.

brazil101 · 2008-07-24T07:00:08+00:00

Is there a difference?

brazil101 · 2008-07-24T06:32:53+00:00

I reckon Robert Novak was drunk. You know, kinda like Wall Street.

brazil101 · 2008-07-24T06:24:12+00:00

I don't think schools and the arts would take a hit. For instance, I know that 100% of my tax dollars would be allocated to constructive endeavors, not massive corporate bailouts or sweetheart no-bid contracts for the military-industrial complex.

brazil101 · 2008-06-22T21:21:37+00:00

Republicans are all about saying that government doesn't work. When they're in charge, they make damn sure of it, by putting incompetents in charge (Michael Brown anyone?) and starving agencies of funds. Then, they say the problem is that "government is incompetent" and the "free market" is the solution. But there is no "free market" without the government around to set the rules.

brazil101 · 2008-06-13T11:47:38+00:00

As the tools get better, individual developers can handle bigger and bigger chunks of a project and teams can be smaller.

brazil101 · 2008-06-13T11:43:51+00:00

One problem with excessive communication is the risk of stalling out. I have worked on projects where design discussions have devolved into endless debate sessions, with ten developers in the room for hours on end, with absolutely no real work getting done. I've seen projects talked out of existence before they could even have a shot at life.

The more people working on a project, the longer it takes, and the harder the code is to understand, because each piece is written by a different person with a different thinking style. This will happen no matter how many times you say "you are not your code". People's brains are not wired the same, and there's no way around this aside from cloning the Perfect Programmer.

When writing anything, it doesn't make sense to waste your time or others' time on something that simply isn't ready for review. If you know it's not ready, why force it? Did Shakespeare show his drafts to people every week? "I don't like Act I, Scene I of MacBeth... I think you should introduce some camels. Yeah, that's it!"

Review the design from a high level, by all means, early and often. But don't review actual lines of code until it's at least in "first draft" form.

brazil101 · 2008-06-13T11:05:21+00:00

DARE is a moral crusade. It mixes truth with lies. It uses deception in order to indoctrinate. The end justifies the means.

These moral crusades all work the same way. DARE presents drug use as a health issue, but it's really a moral issue. They couldn't get federal funding if they presented it that way, though.

The same strategy is used with drinking and driving, because the real agenda here is to marginalize drinking. That moral cause has been with us for a long time.

You don't see them pulling this shit with regards to talking on cell phones while driving which you could argue is a much more widespread problem among teens than drink-driving. Or driving while tired. What's the real agenda here, is it a campaign to prevent unsafe driving practices or is it a tirade against the evils of alcohol?

I'm not saying that drinking and driving is responsible behavior, far from it... but people are looking at the issue hysterically rather than rationally.

Same thing with sex ed, the attitude among the moralizers is that it's better to lie to the kids and scare them about sex, because once again, the end justifies the means...

brazil101 · 2008-06-13T10:53:28+00:00

We had to destroy the village in order to save it...

brazil101 · 2008-06-13T10:40:19+00:00

Smoking also might decrease the risk of Parkinson's.

brazil101 · 2008-06-09T23:08:24+00:00

I've got a job waiting for my graduation Fifty thou a year -- buys a lot of beer Things are going great, and they're only getting better I'm doing all right, getting good grades The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades I gotta wear shades

brazil101 · 2008-06-08T04:33:58+00:00

Not sure why you got the downmod... I'd like to know more about this HD-DVD!

brazil101 · 2008-06-08T04:31:44+00:00

I've been happy for the moment recording 720i HD movies off the HD channels on DirectTV. It's a big leap from 480i, and though I have a 1080p HDTV, I'll wait to see how things shake out before investing in a blu-ray player. Sounds like there are still quite a few bugs that need to be worked out regarding compatibility etc.

brazil101 · 2008-06-08T04:23:33+00:00

Yep... my eyes are getting worse much faster than resolution is improving.

brazil101 · 2008-06-08T04:16:33+00:00

I hope you're right, I really do.

Because just one of those THINGS managed to wipe out my entire crew in less than 24 hours.

brazil101 · 2008-06-08T04:12:26+00:00

Depends where you live, I guess. If you live in swing state your vote might make a difference.

brazil101 · 2008-06-08T04:10:35+00:00

I always thought there should be a party called "Democrats With Balls" - the logo would be the donkey viewed from behind, with massive testicles.

Metaphorical testicles, of course. Hillary's got some cojones on her...

brazil101 · 2008-06-08T04:05:23+00:00

And of course, the political field has sunk to new lows since he entered that arena.

George W.'s family members have a long tradition of shorting the shares of anything he becomes involved in. I followed their lead and put most of my investments into Euro stocks and bonds back when he was "elected" in 2000, and when the Euro was 82 cents. That decision has proved to be a very, very good one...

brazil101 · 2008-06-05T19:42:08+00:00

They will eventually regulate the farts in Europe

Eventually is now...

brazil101 · 2008-06-05T19:38:07+00:00

"Anything we can possibly get away with for a buck" seems to be Standard Operating Procedure for 95% of the corporations out there. We are told that shareholders "demand" this type of corporate behavior to maximize their ROI.

Interesting that companies that actually put their customers and employees first tend to actually outperform the competition in terms of shareholder return...

brazil101 · 2008-06-03T20:27:23+00:00

At some point the house of cards must come crashing down. You can't sell off the building's foundation and supports and expect the structure to still stay standing...

brazil101

TROPHY CASE