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Thinking the unthinkable

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Re: Thinking the unthinkable

#301

Post by dinkumthinkum »

confusedNRA wrote: post #222
jpxxx wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh what a conformist Hell it must be to live in a world where the severely mentally ill don't have in-home access to six semi-automatic weapons. Unpack your baggage before wading in to this one.

If you live in america, you are more than welcome to leave if the laws bother you that much. It's a fundamental right for an individual to own their own weapon. Instead of sitting on the internet making snarky comments to people, perhaps your time would be better spent researching new countries to move to? And if you already don't live in america, why so much attitude?

You keep talking about people leaving America. Is that you would have told the slaves before being freed? Laws are little more dynamic than you seem to imply. But I don't want to argue gun rights with you.

I would like to ask you approximately how old do you think the Earth is?

Re: Thinking the unthinkable

#302

Post by dinkumthinkum »

jpeg_hero wrote: post #68

It's interesting to consider that if the mother, by keeping the troubled child "Michael" in the middle class artificially, she is some how enabling a possible shooter (but still unlikely). If the child was shunned now, sure, he'd end up homeless in LA, but he would be so busy struggling with his daily existence that he wouldn't have the resources or time to go on a mass rampage. The father seems to understand this.

Because poor people don't commit violent crimes? ... ... Really ... ... ?

Re: Thinking the unthinkable

#303

Post by wisty »

confusedNRA wrote: post #209
bambax wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This discussion about "semi-automatic" versus "automatic" weapons actually strengthens the case FOR regulation; automatic weapons are regulated => they're not used in mass-killings; semi-automatic weapons are not regulated => they are used in mass-killings. How one can conclude from these facts that less regulation is better, I don't know. All guns are bad, and the more automatic they are, the worse. The NRA says "gu…

You couldn't even tell the difference between a semi automatic weapon and a fully automatic weapon. Then you make a reply, glossing over the fact you haven't a clue what you are talking about, to then make another asinine post. "automatic weapons are regulated => they're not used in mass-killings; semi-automatic weapons are not regulated => they are used in mass-killings." Could you please extrapolate how semi-automa…

There's no real difference between automatic and semi-auto in terms of how dangerous they are. An experience marksman will use both the same way (as spraying full auto greatly reduces accuracy). An inexperienced marksman with a fully automatic weapon will empty their magazine into the ceiling. Burst fire might be a bit better (it's what the US Army uses), but semi-auto is more lethal than fully auto in the hands of most people.

Overall, murder rates won't change a lot. Husbands and wives will still be able to murder each other. Gangsters will fight with knives, or illegal guns. But mass murders will be harder to pull off. It might also make the police more effective, as they will rarely be outgunned.

Re: Thinking the unthinkable

#304

Post by adrianbg »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #237
polyfractal wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Here in the States (at least, where I grew up), handwriting is a real mixed bag. When you are learning how to write as a small child, it's a big deal to write clearly (for obvious reason). Then you are forced to learn cursive, and its a big deal to write cursive clearly. Then it doesn't matter anymore. Literally everyone stops caring as long as it is legible. It's a weird system. While you are learning t…

I think some schools don't even teach cursive any more. I wonder how those kids write their signatures.

'X'

Re: Thinking the unthinkable

#305

Post by jetti »

commanda wrote: post #188
jetti wrote: post #15

I was reading this and it made me sad. Not because of the obvious content but because of the diagnosis being thrown around and how when reading them my immediate thought was "I hope it isn't a personality disorder". I say this knowing full well that many insurance companies will NOT cover anything related to personality disorders because they feel that they aren't curable. I still remember when I called my insurance…

My heart really goes out to you. Can you imagine replacing "autism" with "type 1 diabetes" in your story and any health insurance company acting that way? Unthinkable. I hope our culture gets to the point where it stops regarding some illnesses as unworthy of care.

Thank you. I am just baffled that an insurance company would pay for an unnecessary test instead of one that was deemed necessary. It seems completely contradictory to how they want to make money.

Re: Thinking the unthinkable

#306

Post by koide »

ForrestN wrote: post #246
elpachuco wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>What other goal would there be? The goal for the drastic measures my mom took was to not loose her child. That he stopped being such a big brat was a bonus. He was still strong tempered, but at least he would no longer test my mother. And the threat of a beating kept the rest of us in line. We knew not to test her. All of my brothers and sisters grew up to be decent human beings. In case you are wondering, my broth…

I'm not saying that beating your children will necessarily ruin their lives, or that children who are beaten can't grow up to be functional adults. But two things are true, to the best of my knowledge: - Beating does a worse job of correcting behavioral problems than more humane methods - Beating contributes negatively to how your children feel, in general Again, this doesn't mean that beating makes you sick, or that…

But, how to act after people have tried everything they could think of to no avail? Is medication a better solution than some spanking (especially when it's unclear a mental problem exists)? I wouldn't be so sure about that.

Re: Thinking the unthinkable

#307

Post by Mz »

jetti wrote: post #305
commanda wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My heart really goes out to you. Can you imagine replacing "autism" with "type 1 diabetes" in your story and any health insurance company acting that way? Unthinkable. I hope our culture gets to the point where it stops regarding some illnesses as unworthy of care.

Thank you. I am just baffled that an insurance company would pay for an unnecessary test instead of one that was deemed necessary. It seems completely contradictory to how they want to make money.

I am sorry about your situation but also curious as to how you think insurance companies work (if you don't mind me asking).

Re: Thinking the unthinkable

#308

Post by jetti »

Mz wrote: post #307
jetti wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. I am just baffled that an insurance company would pay for an unnecessary test instead of one that was deemed necessary. It seems completely contradictory to how they want to make money.

I am sorry about your situation but also curious as to how you think insurance companies work (if you don't mind me asking).

They negotiate a rate with providers in the network and pay out based on that. My point (and I don't think it was very clear) is that the system currently is set up (for at least that one company) so that if you don't have autism they will pay for the exam (which isn't cheap). Since there is no barrier to getting an exam, everybody could go and get the exam and for the majority of the people the insurance company would pay because they would (most likely) not be diagnosed with autism. The insurance company would pay out for all of these people for a useless test. Granted that this is only if a bunch of people wanted to waste their time and the time of the doctor(s), but it would still not be beneficial to the insurance company.

Re: Thinking the unthinkable

#309

Post by Mz »

jetti wrote: post #308
Mz wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sorry about your situation but also curious as to how you think insurance companies work (if you don't mind me asking).

They negotiate a rate with providers in the network and pay out based on that. My point (and I don't think it was very clear) is that the system currently is set up (for at least that one company) so that if you don't have autism they will pay for the exam (which isn't cheap). Since there is no barrier to getting an exam, everybody could go and get the exam and for the majority of the people the insurance company wou…

I am sorry, I don't really get what you think they do here. I worked for an insurance company for five years. The longer I worked there, the more policies I canceled. I am sure they won't go extinct just because I think what they do makes Darth Vader look warm and fuzzy, but their test policy is exactly in line with their goal: If you are diagnosed with autism, they don't want to cover treatment.

If you actually need treatment, they want to find a way to limit their liability. They want most people paying in to need little or nothing from them. They work like Las Vegas in that they design the game so the house wins much more often than it loses. It is the only way to pay the employees and keep the doors open. But at least Las Vegas has the redeeming value that you can view any small gambling losses as the cost of entertainment, as no different from buying, say, a movie ticket to be entertained for the evening.

Edit: But thank you for replying and have an upvote for indulging my curiosity.

Edit2: This is a criticism specifically of health and life insurance. Car insurance is another ball of wax and I think has more redeeming value.

Re: Thinking the unthinkable

#310

Post by shrikant »

kamaal wrote: post #158
polyfractal wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re handwriting: If you are still into improving your handwriting, buy yourself a fountain pen. It makes it a lot of fun to experiment with new characters and drastically alter your handwriting. I've always had meh handwriting. Not horrible, but not pretty either. I've been slowly converting my scratchy characters over to smoother, more flowy characters with embelleshments, since fountain pens make it so easy to play.…

Hand writing is a big thing here in India. And generally many super intelligent kids lose out to mug pots because of hand writing. Coming to my case, I consider any one who boasts about great hand writing a loser. The moment I stopped writing exams I started giving a damn about hand writing. Hand writing improvement initiatives were the biggest things I hated in school. It was a exercise in futility. Looking back I f…

Haha, so true. I wrote a couple of incoherent rants about this way back in the day:

http://shrik.theswamp.in/2004/03/presentation.html

and

http://shrik.theswamp.in/2004/03/presentation-2.html

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