Termyn8or
Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
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This came to mind reading another thread, and I am not sure if I have ever brought this up before, but I am pretty sure I haven't.
The best fed animal in captivity is the lab rat. Their feed is fortified with sixty some odd minerals and a few other things. Why ? Because they know that deficiencies cause disease. Also genetically, any defective ones are discarded. They are about as close to perfect physical specimens we can get.
So when they pump a gallon of poison throught them a day, and then call it a carcinogen, they know the disease was not caused by something else. This lends some validity to their findings.
Humans get diseases without drinking a gallon of poison a day. Even though some do, what the rats get in a lab is far more proportionally. So in the long run, I say that humans get more diseases from what we don't eat, rather than what we do.
Take a look at what is in Enfamil or Similac. Very little mineral content. They get away with it because the infant already sucked the Mother dry of minerals as a fetus. This is what causes gestational diabetes. In light of this, all the great minds that you allow to mess with your body's internal workings can't figure this out ? Some pregnant Women need insulin, and then all of the sudden they don't. Just how smart do you have to be to start thinking about this ? I think my Father is actually smarter than his doctors. It is just that they have a bunch of specific knowledge which gives them certain abilities.
Sometimes they don't seem to use it though. They will try to prescribe another drug and he will refuse, saying "That is a calcium blocker", or "I don't want an MAO inhibitor". I am a step further, I won't take any of it, but that is neither here nor there right now.
So what causes this lack of apparent reason ? When your cholesterol is twenty points high you don't need a pill that harms your liver, you need to adjust your diet. And that is only if you believe their numbers and believe what they claim the numbers should be.
They check cholesterol in the blood. That means it varies day to day. If you gorged on pizza the night before a cholesterol test, it will read different than if you gorged yourself on a big bowl of cucumbers and vinegar.
So why this apparent stupidity ? Well I have a few theories on that. I guess they are actually suppositions or assertations really, but if I believe them, they are my theories.
While you still can, before February, hook an antenna to your TV and tune in the local PBS affiliate. I agree they have some good material at times. If I watched TV it would most likely be the PBS affiliates. And not much. So much of it is historical in nature that unless it is one of certain subjects, I am usually not interested. Sometimes one is well done and contains very cogent and analytical narration. Sometimes. It is also slanted towards the politically correct. They do stray a bit because the aired a piece about the USS Liberty, which even mentioning is not politically correct.
However that kind of stuff is on at night. Watch it during the day sometime, see what kids today are watching. What happened to that science guy, whatever his name was ? What happened to alot of those shows that stressed learning over entertainment ? Now they try to get a teensy bit of education into a cartoon. Like the kids on the show with the big dog run a lemonade stand, lame shit like that.
Then they grow up and be doctors. They never gained the hunger for knowledge, it is only a means to an end. Dogma is dogma whether it is religous or scientific, and they must follow it because they have nothing else.
In the early years, if one gains the hunger for knowledge, especially science, or should I say the sciences nowadays, they gain a hundredfold. I saw some of these scientific tricks, and got interested. I saw something like an ice nail being pounded into something with a mercury hammer, in person. It was explained. It looked like a magic trick in a way, but the guy had a vat of liquid nitrogen. There were molds for the nail and hammer. Of course mercury becomes solid at those temperatures, and ice condenses and becomes more dense and therefore stronger. Guy had a few other tricks up his sleeve so to speak, like the one with the bottle of water and piece of paper, all kinds of things.
It got me interested. Not for the money it might make me one day, but for the knowledge itself. I can't say it any other way. How many people go to school just to get qualified or certified for some certain job or another ? Do they really hunger for the knowledge, or the almighty buck ?
There may be a certain amount of pride involved, when you have all those plaques on the wall. Certainly a tenth grade dropout would never argue with you, properly, I mean present facts etc. Guess again.
I do have a limited amount of respect for those pieces of paper and sheepskins, but all it means is that you did what was required. Yes it required learning and I don't expect to be talking to an idiot, usually. But the person is their only presentation. By their assertations and responses, you judge their intellect, totally ignoring all the plaques on the wall. You find out.
There are other factors. Some will go to schools and seminars for certifications and such, but they do it because it allows them to stay in a profession they enjoy. There is nothing wrong with that, but I am not switching sides so to speak.
I had an interest in math, but when I was young I didn't think I would ever use algebra. Well one day I had to cut trim for a custom, non standard staircase. I had my miter saw but there was not enough extra (expensive stuff) to make test cuts. So Jack is looking at me funny as I draw lines on the wall and all this, because I couldn't find anything that was suitable to directly measure the angle. Then, I couldn't find my calculator ! Damn. Well, I had cellphone at the time. I turned it on (it was always off when I am at work) and called the olman "Hey, what is the angle of point whatever is was, just gimme the angles to the sine and cosine". Once put up, it all looked like one piece of wood. No gaps.
I learned trig from the olman, but I learned the algebra in school. I never thought I would actually use it, really. And in time I taught him a few things about algebra. There were a few formulae he did not understand how to do. He was a quick study, he knew the basics, hell he needed it for his work. But a few of the finer points he was not getting. I went to NTMA training but had to quit because I lost my transportation there. But I aced the entrance exam. Maybe it's all for the better, because what I did focus on subsequently seems to be doing better for me right now.
Things will probably go good for me the next two years or so, but I will have to adapt. I hope my life experience has prepared me. I have a larger and larger share of an ever shrinking market. I can only ride it down so far. I also know that the time to prepare is now, not when I am under the gun to pay the bills. I have to think about it now.
I have to analyse and adapt. I think I'll be alright, but I won't if I sit here and write this post forever. So to sum it up, who is better suited to adapt to the changes coming ? It could be me. It could be my neighbor who can hunt and fish. It may be the old guy down the street who lived through the depression. I like talking with that guy.
To try to sum it up (in thirty paragraphs or less), you need different perspectives. Education does not just happen in schools. When I don't learn something new every day I feel cheated. It can be anything almost. It is like there is a vacuum in my mind, and nature abhors a vacuum. I want it all, but I want it all, which brings us to this.
I have seen alot of textbooks of course, some of them I would not let go. I mean bring it to the dinner table. Read the whole thing. I call these the thick ones, and have found that they are usually older. It seems now that every little point has too many examples, I get it, move on ! Dammit. Some I have refused to read.
Given all this, now people do not have to "buckle down" and learn, and actually enjoy it if the subject interests them. Now you just watch a show and they get you all ready to work in a fast food joint.
In other words, the kids need to have curiousity for something other than a fucking video game, and know that when they are getting taught, to pay attention. And this should come from people, the schools can't do it. Schools used to be reading, writing and rithmatic. The rest of the learning was done in life. And they survived.
To say this, I have been entertained, but really, I think that stopped when the original Star Trek went off the air. When it first came out we weren't allowed to talk, only during the commercials. But the olman would say things sometimes and we would crack up. But we had to shutup or leave. Later I grew some balls, but that is another story. It went into syndication and we watched the reruns, and I picked it apart. Technical errors. All kinds of them. The fact that all these aliens spoke English means nothing campared to what I was thinking. I'll not bore you with those details at this time.
Thing is, I got a day off because it is the slow season. It's OK, I can afford it, but what am I going to do with my time ? I want to learn something. Howstuffworks used to be one of my favorite websites until they screwed it up.
Maybe I am wrong. My buddy wants just a bit of help to get a GED, math and science are the problem for him. But his goal is to get a better job. The knowledge is just a means to an end. All he really cares about is hunting, fishing, his dog and his olady, in that order. But if the shit really hit the fan, and I mean we are starving, who's the better off now ? At least he can eat.
Changing my path is not an easy thing, to go into that, the outdoorsman type of life. But what if someday in the future all the stores are closed, or maybe I don't have any money ? There are deer around here, also, one single shotgun blast would probably not bring the cops. Survive ?
Like I said - some thoughts.
T
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Some thoughts - 
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