New Testingstan

He's a douchebag? What a shock?

there's some evidence (as in, scientifically tested shit) that money reduces your empathy

is that a casuation thing or a correlation? i could believe either way but it is hard to accumulate massive amounts of money when you aren't a son of a bitch in the first place

reverse causation

hurm

having a lot of money won't necessarily make you horribel

but a lot of the traits needed to acquire money (via standard businessmang means, unless you're some awesomeng greased litening prodigy) do require certain dickishness traits, like lying

but then again being born with lots of money and privilege also separates you from a lot of the plights of the common mangs and so you don't empathize with them


there is no empathy in heaven because there is no suffering there...


maybe its not the money itself, but the... well, not really suffering, but the hardship, which is related to empathy levels

if you haven't felt anything liek it yourself, you totally won't really know what the others are going through when they're in shit, and so you won't really care...

well the thing I saw was on Why Poverty (I'll post up the links when they're online in Jan), and it was to do with monopoly: they started off one player with double the money, let them roll two dice to move, and let them collect double money when they passed go; whereas the other player only used one dice and was generally at a massive disadvantage. The player with all the advantages consistently (over a bunch of different games) acted really arrogant and entitled, showing no sympathy for the other player & thinking they diserved to win - and they got much more annoyed when they had to hand over any money, even though it was a tiny amount compared to their total, than the disadvantaged player.

Obviously, drawing conclusions based upon people playing a game for wider life is not 100% reliable. There was some other stuff there too, I've got to rewatch that documentary.

Why is NYU's website taking forever to fucking load? Blegh. I feel like I should take a course or two on basic programming so I don't run into any more brick walls in case the new employer wants me to start writing VBA crap.

I get a call from Dad today and apparently he had thrown a guy over a desk at work and into some boxes. The guy wanted by him and rather then say anything he just pushed him into the wall.

I've suspected for some time that my father has some issues from his Cyprus tour in '72 and now I'm convinced. But he won't go for help because "It's not what you do"

I love my father and he's a good man but he's also the product of another time.

Any ideas?

I'm guessing you've already pointed out that you've found the services of mental health professionals to be very helpful and worthwhile.

You could try likening it to a physical malady, like a broken ankle: You can try to limp around the problem, but you can't fix it by just toughing it out yourself, and there's no shame in going to the doctor to have it taken care of.

Does Canada provide mental health services to its veterans as part of veteran benefits? If so you can also put it this way: he's served his country, and now it's his country's turn to serve him. It's not a handout, it's his country trying to put things right after putting him in a terrible position.

Do you know any other veterans his age? It might be good if you were able to say you knew others from his generation who got help and found their quality of life improved for it.

evilsoup wrote:well the thing I saw was on Why Poverty (I'll post up the links when they're online in Jan), and it was to do with monopoly

ah the good old power corrupts truism striking again

i'll def be watching that when it is up

I got a confirmation letter today, I officially have a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Modern History and a minor in Russian Studies. Apparently all of that is my degree title too.

Meanwhile, the yes/no letter as to whether I get into a Masters, supposed to be mailed in NOVEMBER remains unseen. Uni, please get your stuff together.

Congratulations. What's the masters going to be?

Thanks.

It's a Masters in Research. I spend the first year doing postgrad coursework in my area (modern history). Second year is a thesis, in which I'll be writing about American television in the 1990s, and its place in American history.

uraniun235 wrote:I'm guessing you've already pointed out that you've found the services of mental health professionals to be very helpful and worthwhile.

You could try likening it to a physical malady, like a broken ankle: You can try to limp around the problem, but you can't fix it by just toughing it out yourself, and there's no shame in going to the doctor to have it taken care of.

Yeah, I've tried those on him. No results so far, I asked Mom (she's an RN) to see if she can convince him. She's trying.

Does Canada provide mental health services to its veterans as part of veteran benefits? If so you can also put it this way: he's served his country, and now it's his country's turn to serve him. It's not a handout, it's his country trying to put things right after putting him in a terrible position.

We do yes, that's how I get my treatment. It certainly won't be difficult to get them to pay for anything. I just got to get him assessed, getting him in is the hard part.

Do you know any other veterans his age? It might be good if you were able to say you knew others from his generation who got help and found their quality of life improved for it.

Hmm...not in Vancouver but I know a bunch here that I could get to contact him.

Thanks Bill

Well, shit. My bike just got stolen. Had bought it less than three weeks ago. €350 just went poof. Not as if I had monetary issues anyway, but this is going to throw my budget a bit.

Oh well. I was going to see the police tomorrow anyway. I'll just report it to them.

I think I deserved myself a few glasses of whiskey for tonight.


On the plus side, The Hobbit was pretty entertaining. The 3D was handled well, I think. Though the high FPS rate made it seem kinda awkward, video-gamey at time. Especially the whole goblin sequence (dude that was a trippy use of perspective with the glasses on).

Oxymoron wrote:Well, shit. My bike just got stolen. Had bought it less than three weeks ago. €350 just went poof. Not as if I had monetary issues anyway, but this is going to throw my budget a bit.

Oh well. I was going to see the police tomorrow anyway. I'll just report it to them.

What sort of lock did you have on it? Please tell me you didn't spend 350 only to get a dinky little wire cable to protect it, because those things are basically useless.

my dad's bike was stolen a couple months ago too, right after buying it new pedals and doing an overhaul

if someone stole my bike i'd prolly be doing 25 to life if you catch my meaning

@ Zod : guilty as charged.

@ ADR : who gives a shit, honestly ? It's just money, and I have no urgent problem with that. Tell you what, I hope the guy get some bucks for his bang, 'cause if there's something that annoy me more than thieves, it's people half-assing what they do.

Woe is me, I'll just have to use my city's hyper-efficient public transit system.

Oxymoron wrote:@ Zod : guilty as charged.

Precision : I had used that same lock for years in the exact same conditions with my old bike, and NEVER had any problem. So I had no reason to think it might be inadequate.

I really wish I could get a straight answer out of Kaiser about whether or not they're going to start covering SRS next year. All I've heard is secondhand info from multiple independent sources that they're going to start covering it, but nothing in writing. So I don't know if it's only some group plans, all group plans, if your employer has to opt in, if it's on the individual plans, etc etc...

Oxymoron wrote:@ ADR : who gives a shit, honestly ?

I've had the same bikes for a looong time. I'd miss them.

My dad's situation was even worse though. He's had that bike for ages, done a lot of work on it himself, and he doesn't have much money. I bought him a new one, and it's a really nice looking bike that will surely serve him well for many years to come, but he's like me - we both get attached to these objects.

Oxymoron wrote:

Oxymoron wrote:@ Zod : guilty as charged.

Precision : I had used that same lock for years in the exact same conditions with my old bike, and NEVER had any problem. So I had no reason to think it might be inadequate.

Do yourself a favor. Next time you get a bike pick up one of those u-bar locks, like the kryptonite series. Any idiot with a pair of wire cutters can take care of a cable lock in ten seconds.

Oxymoron wrote:Well, shit. My bike just got stolen. Had bought it less than three weeks ago. €350 just went poof. Not as if I had monetary issues anyway, but this is going to throw my budget a bit.

Oh well. I was going to see the police tomorrow anyway. I'll just report it to them.

Okay, I'm curious. Why were you going to see the police "anyway" in the first place?

Zod wrote:Any idiot with a pair of wire cutters can take care of a cable lock in ten seconds.

Kinda like any idiot with a screwdriver and whatever they used to unhinge the door can steal my car in a few minutes. As I discovered...

Luckily the police found it.

But I found out the hard way that apparently my car is one of the easiest vehicles to steal. As relayed to me by the police, my insurance company, the body shop guy...

RogueIce wrote:

Oxymoron wrote:Well, shit. My bike just got stolen. Had bought it less than three weeks ago. €350 just went poof. Not as if I had monetary issues anyway, but this is going to throw my budget a bit.

Oh well. I was going to see the police tomorrow anyway. I'll just report it to them.

Okay, I'm curious. Why were you going to see the police "anyway" in the first place?

Because we have received what is very obviously a scam letter, and as is my duty as a citizen, I was going to report it to the authorities so that they are aware of this particular scheme, in order to prosecute those responsible for it.

RogueIce wrote: Kinda like any idiot with a screwdriver and whatever they used to unhinge the door can steal my car in a few minutes. As I discovered...

Luckily the police found it.

But I found out the hard way that apparently my car is one of the easiest vehicles to steal. As relayed to me by the police, my insurance company, the body shop guy...

I don't think that's nearly on the same level of obvious.

After a bit of cleaning myself, I'll be going to the Gendarmerie station a few hundred meters away to declare the theft of my bicycle ; then with the police certificate of theft or whatever you would call that I'll go to see my insurance company and see what can be done.

After that, I'll use the bicycle location service offered by the City - I always never use my bike anyway, so no need for me to invest in a new one.