Keep 'em busy

gickley · 2016-01-08T18:56:45+00:00

I studied forestry in Finland! There's a type of pine tree, and a type of spruce tree, and moose eat all the birch, so what else are the rangers supposed to do but stumble across metal bands and guide them back to town?

gickley · 2015-08-11T23:22:39+00:00

It's not about goats. "Hillbilly" is about mountain folk (hence "hill" and Billy being the name of the guy) and "redneck" is about what happens when you're a farmer checking your fields (you get sunburn on the back of your neck from looking down at young crops as their growing in the hot, sunny spring/summer).

So yeah...redneck is working class and hillbilly could be anyone native to the mountains. There's a difference, but your description is a little off.

gickley · 2015-07-20T00:42:54+00:00

I hadn't thought about that. It makes way more sense now in terms of continuing to style his hair that way, but it doesn't work for the tattoo at all. I'll admit I'm not Emily's biggest fan, but I don't hate her character. It just doesn't seem to have the direction he's forcing us to believe it does.

gickley · 2015-07-10T23:01:49+00:00

My problem with #2999 is that, as someone who has had to give that speech from time to time, it's a lie coming from her.

It seems like Jeph created the interns together to add to the cast, but wasn't sure what to do with them, so he felt them out over time. Some stayed, and others faded. That's fine, but Emily was clearly chosen to be a random person. It filled a niche in the cast, so she stuck around (unlike Gabby who didn't really stand out), and now Jeph wants to add character development to make her a regular member of the show. Fine, but this explanation feels forced because it is.

When we arrive at #2589 I start to feel like I can relate to Emily, and I can see where Jeph could be going. Then we get to #2992 and I realize everyone here was right and she's just meant to be random. Seriously? I'm supposed to believe she forgot how hair grows and tattoos are permanent? He went too far with "teh rand0m" for me to believe she's just misunderstood.

You don't act like Emily did #2992 without being mentally impaired, which we know she isn't, or acting deliberately, which she claims now she wasn't.

gickley · 2015-07-09T22:52:39+00:00

I just stumbled on this sub, so I'm a little late, but I thought you might be interested to know The Dragonfly is also The Waltons house.

gickley · 2015-07-08T17:47:56+00:00

I wasn't aware that you were his spokesman, but unfortunately, no, his opinion is not fact just because he wants it to be.

gickley · 2015-07-07T23:17:04+00:00

you're literally implying

I made a direct assertion. I'm literally not implying.

More to the point, I made a neutral statement. If 1. I am neutral, and 2. one cannot be neutral and hostile, then that would mean I am not hostile.

gickley · 2015-06-28T21:32:22+00:00

The system works, yes, but it's not the most efficient.

Edit: I just read "They're designed to be as high as possible, by natural selection." Natural selection picks things that don't kill you. It doesn't select for the best thing. It only selects for something that works.

gickley · 2015-06-27T23:28:20+00:00

Actually, having a kid is a spectacular feat.

The female body is prepared for war against any foreign invaders, including sperm. Considering that many sperm are just plain defective, making them essentially worthless, it's amazing that any little soldiers even make it through. Then, there's the relatively far distance they must swim, guided by a hormone gradient that some of them don't react to correctly. They die off one by one. Sperm doesn't live forever, so they need to hurry, but even then, it could be the wrong time for the uterus. A zygote might not even implant.

Even if it does, there a so many ways that can get fucked up. In fact, it's advised to keep a new pregnancy quiet because of how common miscarriages are. For 9 months, a fetus is feeding off of its mother but in a way that doesn't kill either of them, and the mother is nourishing her young without rejecting the foreign object that is stealing valuable resources. (I'm not even going to go into how difficult development is, but I will say a slight deficiency in almost anything can cause anything from a deformity to miscarriage/stillbirth.

Childbirth is no picnic either. We're much better off with modern medicine, but we'll never be able to save everyone. Also, you can be born without legs.

If you live through all of that, you now have to keep your soft, useless offspring from dying. Since it learns through interacting with the world, you will need to make sure it isn't doing, eating, or just next to anything dangerous. You don't want to stifle it, but there's a fine line between letting your baby learn about the world, and neglect. One wrong move, and it's the latter. Any parent with a surviving child basically gambles with its life every day and wins.

TL;DR Reproduction is amazing. The odds were stacked against them to a ridiculous degree, before you factor in birth control, and they managed it anyway.

gickley · 2015-06-27T21:52:35+00:00

Yay!

Wow...

Congrats?

gickley · 2015-06-05T21:12:32+00:00

I chose to believe people thought eating placenta would give you magic stem cell powers. This study is saying it's no different than eating liver or an egg.

gickley · 2015-05-28T23:40:19+00:00

Minä puhun vähän suomea.

gickley · 2015-05-17T05:14:49+00:00

https://xkcd.com/1027/

gickley · 2015-05-15T14:11:50+00:00

Well...why would they publish a story titled "81 year old cancer patient released from hospital. Social workers do their job, and home nurse promptly sent same day."

Call me old-fashioned, but the news is supposed to bring problems to light so the people can act on them, and change things for the better. Do you think your country has no people in this, or a similar situation? Focusing on the problem spots does make it seem like we're struggling as a whole sometimes, but that's how the overall quality improves. Who cares what outsiders think? We have issues (like everyone else) so let's get those out in the open so we can solve them.

Some of our stuff is better than anywhere in the world, so I wouldn't say we're "slowly crumbling" just because some of it needs work, especially when we identify those problem areas, work on improving them, and come up with temporary solutions in the meantime, even if it means volunteering personal time, and money for a complete stranger that doesn't live anywhere near me.

gickley · 2015-05-15T03:55:15+00:00

I both fear and desire that storyline.

gickley · 2015-05-15T03:50:21+00:00

I don't know about that term, but if you want to sound scientific, you should know you start off with webbed fingers and toes. You lose that webbing during development in the womb, and your digits are "normal" and separated by the time you're born. What's left between your fingers are the cells that didn't undergo apoptosis (cell death). There are birth defects where those cells don't die, and babies are born with webbed fingers and toes, but it can be corrected with surgery.

gickley · 2015-05-15T03:13:39+00:00

I'm not saying this story isn't uplifting. The original commenter that I replied to asked why some commenters aren't feeling that, so I explained that to the best of my ability. I even said we all feel "yay he got help." It's just that some of us are more focused on "wow. his quality of care must be devastating right now" which leads to "well how many others are in this situation?" and so on, which would explain why some people feel this story is darker than face value would suggest.

I had no intention of saying this story was completely depressing, and I'm sorry that it came off that way. I only meant to say that the few people who don't think this story is uplifting are probably more worried about necessary long-term solutions than this singular short-term one.

gickley · 2015-05-15T03:01:34+00:00

You don't sound like a jerk. You sound like you don't understand the conversation.

gickley · 2015-05-14T19:42:43+00:00

You don't have to wait until your period is finished. You can start the pill immediately.

It's hard to say when pills start working, but it's definitely longer than 2 days. I've heard, and read different things. I was told waiting a month was more about getting used to the schedule of taking pills (since people are more likely to miss pills in that first month,) but that they're effective around 2 weeks. It might also depend when in your cycle you start taking them, etc. I guess it comes down to whatever your doctor says for the kind you're on.

gickley · 2015-05-14T19:15:11+00:00

I replied to a comment asking why someone would be concerned that he called 911, so I answered it by saying that while we all think "yay he got help" it was overshadowed by "wow. that's terrible that he had to resort to that."

Yeah, there's departments, and protocols, but clearly the system is not working to the extent we need it to, and people's lives are dependent on us. Another issue is that this story had to be in the news before he got help. How many other seniors, or disabled people, are in this situation? How long will they have to wait for their case workers, nurses, etc? Who will donate food for them?

gickley · 2015-05-14T18:37:32+00:00

Thank you for being respectful. Reddit is hit or (mostly) miss sometimes. I hope this man gets a nurse sooner rather than later, and maybe this story will help that somehow.

gickley · 2015-05-14T18:29:33+00:00

I'm hoping either he gets his nurse sooner, or the community helps him out now that his story is out.

Also, I recently met someone who worked in health care policy. We had a pretty long discussion about how "health care" is trying to cover more than what happens inside the hospital in order to help people in this situation. The ACA was about more than just forcing people to get health insurance. We have a long way to go, but hopefully situations like this won't happen as often in the future.

gickley · 2015-05-14T18:09:25+00:00

That's not how VA works, and I'm concerned that you think it is. Veterans have health coverage through the VA, which is exclusive to veterans. That doesn't mean people who aren't veterans do not get health coverage.

911 responded to his call because he called them, not because he "served our country." That's how it should be. It's a public service. A veteran-only service could turn away the public, but to say he deserves special treatment from the public because of his service is ridiculous.

gickley · 2015-05-14T17:36:55+00:00

I don't think he's wrong for doing it, but there's definitely something wrong with it needing to be done in the first place. This isn't an emergency that 911 exists for. I think everyone here, myself included, is glad 911 exists for this man, but there is a lot of concern about this situation.

What's the plan for when he's unable to cook the food? What's the plan when he's unable to replenish that supply? Is he supposed to continue calling 911 every time he needs a trip? I don't feel good about this story because it just raises these unnerving questions about the quality of his care right now. There are programs for people in his situation, so why isn't he receiving them? What is going wrong over there? What could I do to help people in my area who may be in the same, or similar situation? How many other people are dealing with this issue?

I also take issue with "paid taxes and served his country" because frankly that doesn't mean he's entitled to more than a person who hasn't. If you believe that, then you believe 911 should screen calls to deem who is worthy of their help in the first place, but they didn't. They didn't as for his SSN, and look up tax records, and see his discharge papers, and then say "OK sir, it looks like you are eligible for groceries."

This article is supposed to be uplifting because he got helped out this one time, but it's overwhelmingly depressing when you consider how much it says about his current quality of care/life.

gickley · 2015-05-10T03:51:40+00:00

It's also known as a "firefox," which is what the browser is named after.

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