SpiritDragon

Still working my way through volume 1 and I do find it to be great reading. I look forward to getting to volume 2. I'm not surprised that you are finding all sorts of things that you didn't know though. As a life long member going on four decades of mortality and having served a mission and reading plenty of church history over the last several years, in particular, I'm still finding all kinds of new and interesting tidbits as well.

I very rarely check in any more as it mostly seems like a waste of time for me these days. I'm busy with young children and when I have gone to the effort to share thoughts they don't appear to be helpful to anyone, so I figure I might as well spend my time with my family instead of trying to share insights with people I don't really know and doubly so when what I share is not helpful anyway. I did try for a time a couple years ago to work with some fitness help as that's something I do, but I started to just feel like a nag and people stopped responding so I stepped away from that too. That's on top of the fact that too often I just felt all of the conversation was becoming toxic and participating wasn't uplifting. Perhaps, I need to check in and try to contribute more again?

Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Sorry to hear that. Is it a temporary job loss, or the end as you know it? My jobs have also been closed down for the time being.

I should add to that - this also assumes we are tracking all cases of the flu, and that is surely not likely to be the case either.

I don't disagree with that premise at all. I think that could very well explain higher death rates in certain parts of the world compared to others. If you don't look for it, you won't find it and should logically end up with a higher rate of complications and deaths because only the worst cases are being tracked. The thing is that to bring these death rates into the range of the flu we'd need to concede to there being around 17X more cases out there than we're picking up. Sadly, we'll never know the true rates because we only ever have the imperfect monitoring systems in place that we have and whether there is more of the disease out there than reported (I'm confident of that, but not confident were 17-fold behind) or the disease is as lethal on a case by case basis as the charts show, the fact is that a lot of people are going to get very sick and many will die. The big questions that remain for me are will this disease mutate like a flu and get added to the list of ubiquitous diseases going about? The good news is that so far it's not really problematic for kids so even if it does continue to circulate once it has made it's rounds initially, it will have killed who it will kill and the rest *should* be immune or at least partially immune via recognition of a previous mutation. If for the foreseeable future kids get a non-serious illness which leaves them immune to a serious illness later in life than it's really best to have them get it young, but this presupposes that a later mutation isn't worse for kids. My other concern is to find out if it could be a virus that can go dormant like a herpes virus and resurface anytime immunity is compromised - that will not be a good scenario. Time will tell, we just don't have the info we need at this time, but the info we do have is compelling enough to warrant some concern and not simply dismiss this issue as over-hyped scare tactics.

Great visual in there:

Yeah, I wondered if I should bring that up too. I'm not going to go digging for sources, but I've been hearing that flu case fatality rates are thought to be around 0.1% in an average year. 20% mortality should be self-evidently false as we don't see one in five people drop dead every year from the flu (not even one in 20 assuming a 20% case fatality rate and a 1/4 of the population being infected). Even in the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that is so widely touted as the worst in recent history, the death rate among those infected is predicted to be around 2-3% (according to Wikipedia for what it's worth), which is quite comparable to what we are seeing with the new Coronavirus, which puts the latest outbreak potentially among the worst viral killer in over century, but the common seasonal flu is nowhere near this catastrophic. It won't be the end of the world, but it is certainly worth taking some precautions such as making sure some food storage is in place and so on... nothing Church leaders haven't advocated for years

This seems pertinent to the discussion at hand.

I missed that. In fact, I rewatched it and still missed it, but it sounds like a noteworthy point for sure.

What a sadly concerning thought. Strangely, I can see this being not only true, but somehow the media will have painted a weird picture of how normal it is that while everyone condemns pedophilia now it will be thought untenable that we held that position even though it's the position nearly everyone holds.

@Vort I can appreciate your take on this. I don't feel that I have missed @Sunday21's point as much as I was responding to her OP asking fellow Canadians what we think of the upcoming election. I had already shared my likely voting intentions and expressed that I hadn't seen the racist Conservative ad yet and would need to look into it. After looking into it, I shared these thoughts to further articulate my position which I realize is very different from hers. The province of Alberta is typically the most conservative in the country and as far as Albertans go, I tend to be even more conservative still. I'm not surprised that my opinion differs from most Canadians, but I do struggle to understand how one in three Canadians in the polls can still back Trudeau. We do have many Canadians that are greatly concerned about freedom of speech, but unfortunately not enough voters realize the importance of it, seeming to think it's already protected while turning a blind eye to the fact that someone like me can't even express my opinions out loud or in social media because I would lose my job and have an incredibly hard time finding another one. As far as I'm concerned I've already lost freedom to express myself without the thin veil of anonymity offered by a forum such as this. The very censorship they opposed when it was censoring them, they favour now that it's censoring me. While I don't like a lot of what the left have to say, I stand up for their right to say it too.

@Sunday21 Okay, I'm a little bit more caught up on this. First of all, I have to say I don't actually see the pulled Conservative ad as racist. I find it racist that it is considered racist. I see a man walking into Canada (assumed to be illegally crossing and escorted by the RCMP into the lap of luxury on the tax payers dollar once over the 49th parallel). Everyone has a skin colour, be it white, black, brown, red, yellow or some mixture of all of the above. What colour would be acceptable for the ad? To me the skin colour is irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that we've had a run on the Canadian border and some one needs to address it. I'm all for good people immigrating through the proper channels, but this walking across and then living off the system while I bust my butt and make sacrifices to keep my family afloat while paying into this system that doesn't pay me back except for the rare medical visit - it's aggravating to say the least. Maybe it's just the Alberta boy in me, but it seems like we don't need illegal mooches getting a free ride while continually being told our taxes need to go up to pay for all of the social programs (read indoctrination centres/leftist propaganda machines). Trudeau senior created serious East/west tension which had started to subside somewhat, but Trudeau junior has western Canada wanting to separate again because of his gross incompetence and lack of ethics and the fact that the east outnumbers the west and can continue to vote for us to make transfer payments to the have not provinces. This while trying to destroy our fossil fuel and agriculture based economy so that we'll all be a third world mess soon enough. I also see the opposite side of the empty country thing, I suppose. It seems to me that less labour would mean that jobs might actually have to pay fair market value, not because of minimum wage increases, but because to remain competitive and get the best people wages would need to go up, even for lower tier jobs, people would actually need to work instead of just show up some of the time knowing it's hard to fire them. I mean, I get that there is a balance point and we can't just have a dearth of viable employees leading to not being able to run business, but I think we're too far the other way where people seeking labour is outpacing opportunities, so why add more people looking for work to the mix (or worse, more people getting a free ride while the rest of us work to provide for them as well)? I also can't help but see the irony in the leftist policies that have left families broken and requiring both parents to be in the workforce while viewing children as an optional burden leading to the situation where we don't have enough native born citizens to carry our own economy. The solution they put forward is to accelerate the problem by bringing over an ever-increasing stream of newcomers, but not addressing the issue that our own citizens either can't afford to raise children, are too busy working to make ends meet, or too elitist to be bothered with such menial tasks as chasing babies. What we need is a strong reset of family values, wages that allow for single income families to more viable and families with lots of kids raised with good values instead of an ongoing influx of people who fundamentally disagree with our values but will gladly take advantage of our stupidity.

You mean we can't just spend on everything and let the budget balance itself? (Just in case it's lost in translation this is what Trudeau has actually said, that the budget will balance itself.)

I just saw this today and it reminded me of what @Vort has been warning for years:

Hey @Sunday21 Sorry, I'm so late to the party. I haven't logged on in months as I've been very busy and didn't seem to be being missed I have a severe dislike of Trudeau and I can't believe (okay, I can, but don't want to) that the party is supporting him. He should have been turfed when SNC Lavalin broke. Now he's had at least two major ethics breeches and his Black Face business also shows a lack of judgement (I don't actually see it as racist, though I find it absurd that as a leftist he gets a pass, but we know if Scheer or Bernier were found with Black Face it would be blown up and all the media would bring out the pitch forks and start salivating). Sadly, the Canadian media has been bought off by Trudeau so it's even worse than the usual leftist news slant because they're getting paid by the Liberal Govt. to continue on as a failed business model. Elizabeth May and Singh strike me as full of empty promises and would be an unmitigated disaster to even surpass the joke of a government we've endured the last four years. I haven't seen the ad you refer to about the Conservatives and will likely have to check it out, but honestly they are the party I'll most likely vote for. I actually could find myself supporting the PPC most of all, but don't see them overthrowing the liberals so I would strategically vote conservative for the best chance of throwing out Trudeau.

I'm late to the party (as usual) but I thought it'd be fun to take the quiz. Here is my result. I was worried they'd be absolutely ridiculous questions, but they weren't. I got the one wrong about the four truths of Buddhism. Questions are always easy when you know the answer, I'm surprised that more people wouldn't have done much better since I don't feel particularly well versed in world religion and only missed one. Amusing.

Thank you for your insight. I find analogies to be a lot like parables, they have a useful lesson that is taught in a memorable way, but certainly can be overworked into unintended meaning. I don't believe that anyone who has ever taught the chewing gum analogy has intended to portray that those who have sinned are worthless (we've all sinned). That said, I have no problem with the chewing gum analogy falling by the wayside in favour of other teaching styles that are less likely to be misinterpreted. I should also clarify before it gets turned around on me - I'm not suggesting this analogy rises to the level of the Saviour's parables, I just find parables to be very similar to analogies as far as being a way of teaching something through imagery and story for effect.

That's how the gum analogy was taught to me in a combined Sunday School class many years ago. The object lesson involved bringing out a stick of spearmint gum and asking if anyone wanted it (plenty of hands went up) followed by chewing it and reissuing the offer (no hands went up). We were taught breaking the law of chastity has permanent (in mortality) consequences like the gum that had been chewed. It's best to stay pure in the first place for this reason. However, some of us may have already strayed from the ideal and it's important to understand that through the atonement we can be made clean again and just like a fresh stick of gum... with the caveat that some consequences like STD's and pregnancy could still bring about lifelong challenges that we would not have had to face if we hadn't strayed in the first place. I've never understood the push back against what seems to be a fine analogy.

I'm sorry to hear that you had to go through this. It sounds like you're mostly better now, but for what its worth the following may help: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC139995/ Wakame seaweed appears to have a reasonably potent antiviral activity that helps with all manner of herpes infections from the common cold sore, to Epstein Bar, and even your current pain-in-the-face Herpes Zoster/ Varicella Zoster. You can see in the charts how those taking the preparation were able to clear lesions faster and reduce pain. Although the preparation used in the study doesn't appear to be commercially available, wakame seaweed is very available. Unless you are allergic to shell fish which can contaminate seaweed products, or really need to watch your iodine levels, it's quite safe to simply ingest seaweed or pulverize it and encapsulate it if you can't take the taste. It might help. In the mid-twentieth century Doctor Fred Klenner also reports having successfully clearing both chicken pox and shingles lesions within 72 hours with sufficient vitamin c. This was done intravenously, but many claim to have had success using oral dosing protocols to bowel tolerance similar to the one I'll link below: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v01n05.shtml The bioflavonoid Quercetin is also thought to exhibit potent antiviral activities and also helps to act as a natural antihistamine which could make it helpful for reducing redness and itchiness. B vitamins help the nerves to function at there best and may help the damaged nerves heal and reduce the likelihood of post-herpetic neuralgia. Of course, none of this is meant to act as medical advice. Simply sharing information that you may find valuable in researching for yourself which very well may, and probably should, involve discussing ideas with your doctor and/or pharmacist. Here's to a smooth recovery!

I don't so much think that science has lost, or at least not that the scientific method has lost, but that the way we fund and disseminate "science" has lost credibility. The problem is that science is bought and paid for by corporations with financial and political interests. Even if the scientific method is applied properly the stink of biased funding makes it hard to believe results. This goes for nutrition, climate change, economics and basically everything that can be scientifically studied. By discontinuing studies that start to show preliminary results that aren't in the funders best interest useful information stays out of the literature while plans can be made to set the conditions such that the desired outcome will be found. Continue to fund enough studies designed to bring about a certain outcome and others that may show contrary information can be dismissed as outliers which will statistically happen but shouldn't cause any great concern. I don't have the answers, but it seems like as a society we've lost more and more trust in government and corporations to get things right.

Indeed. People want to be entertained and real world violence is gut wrenching and not as much entertaining. For real violence I can simply watch the news and look out around my neighbourhood (like the fight in the street last night). I just find the theatrics of fight scenes too much these days, but I can still appreciate the time and talent that go into it. Kind of like how professional wrestling barely resembles wrestling at all, but is still entertaining to those who enjoy that type of thing. The athletes still need some serious conditioning to pull off the stunts they perform and need to be able to take a beating, they just also need to be able to follow a script and act out a persona. My point being that I'm not really suggesting the movies have to change how they portray violence (though they are and do change over time), but that to a large degree my knowledge of the topic has decreased the entertainment value for me. The movie makers can focus on making money by entertaining their base and don't need to cater to me - they'd go out of business as the last time I saw a movie in a theater was three years ago and that was because it was free, it was at least another three years prior to that where I went to a movie I paid for.

I really enjoyed that movie as a kid. I might still, but haven't seen it as an adult. Having trained in a variety of martial arts in my youth I really enjoyed martial arts movies. Having focused more on pure self defense as an adult, most action scenes are somewhat ruined for me because it seems apparent too many opportunities to resolve the struggle are wasted in the name of entertainment. Sword fights that are supposed to be struggles to the death using wasted strikes like punching with the hilt of the sword or kicking someone over when it could have just as easily been a death blow among other similar themes just irritate me a little these days. The quest might stand the test of time for me though because it's supposed to be showcasing different styles in a tournament, so it's understandable if they're not using the most effective means to the end because it should be against the rules and may not fit the style being trained. I haven't checked out the bad reviews, but I'd venture a guess that some of them are because of feuds over what style should have prevailed.

This is a completely fair point, and perhaps because of mortal weakness this is something that those who need to adjust the most are the least likely to do. It seems to be that there are legitimate snowflakes running around being offended at everything and legitimate bullies out there bringing everyone down. There might not be much hope for these. As for those of us who don't go around looking to be offended or trying to be obnoxious jerks there is hope that we can all do better at finding middle ground and recognizing that the person asking us questions we'd prefer they didn't means no ill intent and also perhaps those who go around prying into people's personal lives can also learn to better recognize when a relationship is deep enough to go to such places.

For what it's worth, when I could continue to visit people that I had home taught it was easy to just continue. Having had people move and having a less active companion recently replaced by my wife and getting assignments from the relief society to drive little old ladies around which wouldn't be able to get in our vehicle through all the car seats anyway... the transition hasn't gone so well at this point. I knew the old system and could simply broach the topic of, "hey I'm your home teacher, when can I come by?" but now it seems so much more awkward like I'm supposed to just naturally strike up a friendship with no clear reason to express why. I don't imagine this will be everyone's experience, but in my ward they wanted us to pick people who aren't as active as they could be and befriend them without them knowing we are ministering to them. I'm now re-assigned to someone I used to home teach but hadn't really kept in touch with since being reassigned. It's incredibly awkward to try to find reasons to spend time together without just coming out with it. It'd also be awkward to just come out with it because it could so easily appear that I only care about getting an assignment done and not the individual since we weren't in contact other than the odd encounter shopping for the last few years, but not because I don't like him or don't care, but because life is busy and we don't share common recreational pursuits and are at different life stages making visits challenging. The fact is I only visit my own family every three or four months and have friends over/visit them in their homes even less frequently than that. I also have heard others mention difficulty with people not making time for ministering brothers and sister because they are no longer "required" monthly and they prefer less frequent visits.