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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/11/23 in all areas

  1. https://eppc.org/publication/a-science-based-case-for-ending-the-porn-epidemic/ This is a long read. But for anyone who has the patience, it was incredibly fascinating. Also incredibly scary. Beyond the porn epidemic itself, the implications re: homosexuality, incest, pedophilia, interest in trans stuff, etc., etc., are not in line with the established group think of the day at all (you're born that way, you can't help it, you can't change it, etc.) Note: He throws in the random conclusion at one point "The point is not to try to start a moral panic about the internet turning men gay—the point is that it’s not turning them gay." But the comment doesn't seem to align with the logic and evidence given behind the rest of the article at all. It seems like the more logical conclusion would be that it did, indeed, turn them gay, and then they did, indeed, stop being gay once they stopped feeding their brains on porn. But even that conclusion seems spurious. Drawing concrete black-and-white conclusions from such things when the reality is extremely complex and influenced by so many variables is problematic. Meaning, it seems reasonable, to me, to conclude that satisfying the shock lure that in turn feeds our brain certain chemicals and alters our brain chemistry is almost certainly a factor in sexual orientation, but that doesn't mean it's going to be a one-to-one reality of sexual orientation either. tldr responses are welcome, btw, but just be aware.... you may not know what you're talking about then. And just because of how fascinating the concepts are, I recommend taking the time and actually reading the article. There's a lot of value there when it comes to thinking through these issues.
    2 points
  2. When I went virtual, it was such a load off my shoulders from what truly did feel like babysitting. Virtual teaching has its own challenges (now I feel like I'm babysitting adults on occasion), and I feel a lot happier. I think we've sunk so low into the need for schools to handle everything I don't think society can worm its way back out. Elsewhere there was a discussion about the possible benefits of 4-day school weeks. Some of those perks were more planning/prep time for teachers (which has evidence in its favor). Of course, someone came screaming about the people who couldn't care for their children on that fifth day. You seem like a jerk if you say "not my problem, the local economy and community will figure it out".
    2 points
  3. Most recent numbers I could find show that West Virginia is #1 in antidepressant prescriptions. Utah came in at #16.
    2 points
  4. Isaiah tells us that changing ordinances separates man from G-d (apostasy). Some, especially critics, will point to adjustments of ordinances to societal evolution as changes. What we learn from this scripture is more about what changes to the divine pedagogical/symbols of ordinances constitutes. Which also goes along with what Christ taught – that the ordinances are sculpted for man and not man for the ordinances. The other thing we learn from Isaiah is that divine law, ordinances and covenants are all tightly coupled and that they come from G-d as a set that is not complete (perfect) with out the other parts. We most often relate an ordinance to a covenant but sometimes neglect or forget the associated law(s). The Traveler
    2 points
  5. Matt. 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. This is not something spoken of often in the Church, at least not from what I've seen, though it may be related to the hastening of the work which is spoken of. Does anyone have any thoughts on what this verse implies? For example: What is the threat that practically dooms the elect if allowed to persist? How are these days to be shortened? Why is this considered a departure (a shortening) from the intended course of events rather than how the Lord was going to handle it all along? What are the implications, such as: is the work done differently, will grace be granted more freely, etc? Does "shorten" refer to something other than time?
    1 point
  6. person0

    Arizona Election

    EXCLUSIVE: Katie Hobbs’ Office Threatened County Board With Arrest, Indictment If They Didn’t Certify Results | The Daily Caller For this to be true, it would also have to be true that the election outcome was not impacted by voter disenfranchisement. You may or may not believe the issues that took place were sufficient to have impacted the result, but if it they were, then your assessment is invalidated. The problem for the Lake team is not in proving the disenfranchisement happened, nor is it in proving the law was broken (they successfully established both of those things at trial), instead, the problem is proving that the issues were the result of intentionally malicious acts, which is a much higher standard.
    1 point
  7. When we were homeschooling across the 2010's, I lost count at all the mommies we encountered with similar stories. Some had become school teachers to earn an income and learn how to homeschool their kids. Others never considered homeschooling until the schools got bad enough they pulled their kids, sometimes themselves. At one homeschool co-op, my kiddos learned science from a molecular biologist with a PhD, who had some sort of biological switch flip in her, and she totally vacated academia and the business world to be a regular old stay at home homeschooling mom. She was an interesting person.
    1 point
  8. Good article. Very well researched and completely spelled out.
    1 point
  9. JohnsonJones

    Arizona Election

    I didn't watch the video, nor am I from Arizona. What I've read in the News was that there was a Republican district that refused to certify. Ironically, if they refused to certify by the deadline it meant that the Democratic candidate automatically won as those Republican votes would NOT be counted. The CATCH was that if they refused to certify and DEFIED state law by refusing to certify, than it could lead to a crisis. The crisis was NOT made for Arizona, but was to make a point that ALL elections EVERYWHERE could be decertified and counted as unable to be counted (similar to some ideas that were actually done in Germany so that the Nazi party would eventually gain control. Normally do not want to Godwin the thread, but the TREND is actually REALLY BAD when people seem to be taking pages out of the Nazi playbook directly) causing unrest. So, there was the double whammy. The IRONY is that it was a REPUBLICAN district. There was no way it was going to go to the Democrats and no way the Democrats could have changed the direction it was going. The only votes to be discounted were the Republican votes counted by the Republican party leaders over the voting district. This meant that the ONLY corruption there could have been from...Republican leaders. They were basically calling themselves corrupt. It doesn't mean that there isn't Democrat corruption, but the way it's been reported from Arizona isn't the way to try to prove that. This also is the PROBLEM Kari Lake is having. She says all this, but has NO EVIDENCE that can be held up in the court of Law...even from the Republican Judicial side of things. The judge is an appointee of a REPUBLICAN governor, at least from what the news is telling me. This judge dismissed the case, but she IS appealing it. It could go somewhere, it may not. Right now it is up to the courts to decide, but thus far, she doesn't seem to actually be making much headway. IF she is having this much trouble from her OWN party which in theory is on HER side, it means that she has a LONG way to fight.
    1 point
  10. About a decade or so back (and a few computers ago...) I read a study which suggested that high altitudes had an effect on brain chemistry due to the thinner oxygen supply. Basically, past a certain altitude it was as if you were taking downers or sedatives. For people who had ADHD, anxiety, and other such issues that left them super-charged the higher elevations sometimes meant that they no longer needed their medications to function. But for people who are already "normal", the effect can be akin to a malaise or even a depression. Sadly, I no longer have my link to this study and so was never able to follow up.
    1 point
  11. I've been in a few nasty fights at work with people who were "just on marijuana."
    1 point
  12. I'm a nurse, and decided to get my MBA so I could leave the acute care setting because of all of this...and more. I wasn't able to do my job. A once great healthcare organization lost their way due to greed and outside social pressures, and decided it was better to look good on the outside than to do good on the inside. Our current Primary president is a teacher, and left her job about 4 years ago due to all of this...and more. She now teaches her 5 kids at home, and according to her, the entire family has had their lives improved.
    1 point
  13. Folks would be surprised to know who owns many of our favorite companies, and what else is in their business portfolios. They all have other streams of revenue...the adversary, pathetic as he is, has positioned himself well.
    1 point
  14. Perhaps you and I are of the same older generation. I joined the army when I was 17 (Vietnam era) under a special induction that would allow a two year hiatus to serve my Church mission. The military was definingly a culture shock for me – the language more so than the violence. I grew up in a household that raised chickens and rabbits for meat along with hunting and fishing. I was somewhat used to hunting and killing things. Interestingly, after being in the military I no longer enjoyed hunting. The point I wanted to make is that killing things and the associated gore was not made so glamorous in the movies. However, it seems that our society has shifted in such a way that violence and associated gore is somewhat glamorous, especially in entertainment. What is odd to me is that everyone with me in the military seemed to adjust to being away from home. There was a lot of loneliness, but I do not recall depression as being such a debilitating issue. No one was allowed to go home because being away was mentally difficult. I sometimes wonder if the vicarious experiences dulls the scenes of youth today such that encounter with realities of life causes psychological breakdowns. It is odd to me how many youths struggle with leaving home in our current society. In ward counsel we were advised not to criticize youth because it is interpreted as judging them and it has become very difficult for them. That the new Strength of Youth pamphlet no longer indicates that tattoos, excessive percings, revealing dress habits and other such things are taboo. Maybe I have lost cognative powers - but it does seem to me that times are a changing. The Traveler
    1 point
  15. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/IDW?p=IDW&.tsrc=fin-srch IDW Publishing. US comic book company generally regarded as one of the "Big Six" of the industry. In the mid-2010s they started cramming personal politics and "modern sensibilities" into a number of their books, including the licensed "Transformers" and "G. I. Joe" books they were doing for Hasbro. Whenever people complained, IDW ignored it... barring Joe writer Aubrey Sitterson, who was allegedly picking fights on internet forums with the people who were criticizing his material. 2017 happens. IDW spends so much out-of-pocket trying to produce a pilot episode for one of their in-house titles that they don't have enough money left over to pay a surprise tax hit. Their titles are still popular enough that if sales remain strong, they can finance their way out of it. But they don't remain strong, as Sitterson issues a radioactively hot take about 9/11 that causes the two biggest G. I. Joe fan sites to declare a 100% media blackout on all things IDW unless Sitterson is fired. Hasbro has to get involved. ...Twice, as that November Sitterson opens his mouth again on social media, unleashing a 26-part Twitter rant where he literally admits that he was making changes to the book based on his personal politics (such as making one Hasbro-original character he didn't like into a racist to justify getting rid of him and completely reworking another Hasbro-original character because the Hasbro design offended him). No one knows what went down behind the scenes, but Sitterson was fired and his book cancelled. The entire "Hasbro Shared Universe" that Sitterson's Joe book was a part of would come to a hasty conclusion at the end of 2018 ahead of their Hasbro licenses coming up for renewal, leading to speculation that Hasbro was not going to renew. Hasbro did renew, but IDW squandered their opportunity. Hasbro cancelled their Joe and Transformers licenses effective at the end of last year, and the status of their other Hasbro licenses is in limbo. For the past month, IDW's stock price has been dipping below $1 / share, a price so dangerously low that they risk being de-listed. That price is so low that some of the more uniquely successful indie creators, like Ethan Van Schiver and Eric July, could actually afford to purchase controlling stake in the company. If IDW does collapse, I can only imagine the consequences for the industry.
    1 point
  16. A thought. When one has to focus on doing something in a particular way, they tend to remember it more.
    1 point