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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  2947 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: November 2, 2016

Have you ever thought that maybe child prodigies are actually people who have been reincarnated with their memories intact?

Religious stuff. Skip if you’re not interested. This week Baha’is are celebrating the anniversaries of the births of The Bab and Baha’u’llah. I went to the observance last night. It’s the first time I’ve seeked out the Baha’i community in almost a decade and the first time I’ve seeked them out since I’ve moved to this city. The turn out was pretty large, which is good an to be expected because it’s an important event. They’re a bunch of good folks and they now have my e-mail address to send me event calendars and newsletters, so I’ll try to do things here and there when work permits. As an aside, I did discover that praying in private is a lot easier than praying with others. The emotional tempo is different for both situations and when I pray with others my mind wanders.

I looked up UNICEF on Wikipedia yesterday, cause reasons. I’m very much confused as to why their stance on adoption is controversial cause it seems pretty reasonable. If any of the great minds of Hubski could fill me in on what I’m missing, that’d be great, cause I don’t see it. On a related note, every single person I’ve ever talked to about these things have nothing but great things to say about Doctors Without Borders. It’s amazing that a large, international organization has been able to receive so much praise and avoid a lot of criticism. Either they’re paragons of integrity and discipline or they have a really, really good PR team.

Last week someone told me “gonna” wasn’t a real word. I told them to Google it and STFU. I know my english.





kleinbl00  ·  2947 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Adoption agencies end up being parallel NGOs with their own agendas. Romanian orphanages alone are a treasure trove of study subjects for the darker corners of child development.

There are ample criticisms of orphanages in the developed world. In the places UNICEF hangs out they generally fare worse.

ThurberMingus  ·  2947 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    I’m very much confused as to why their stance on adoption is controversial cause it seems pretty reasonable.

My take-away from that summary is that in the time while UNICEF is setting up their system, other adoption options grind to a stop. So it's a short term sacrifice for a longer term goal. And that is favorite entry point for critics. (Expert politicians/hacks raise this to a new level by sabotaging opponents then claiming the ideas could never have worked)

user-inactivated  ·  2947 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hmm. I wonder if politicians mapped out their goals in concrete, achievable steps, they'd be less likely to encounter resistance.

user-inactivated  ·  2947 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Nothing is a "real world". Language is made up - as in, everything is up to people using it. Which is why you have regional differences, accents, people speaking mixed language etc. You can use whatever you want for whatever you want, and as long as two people understand each other, you have a human language. With that in mind, it's silly that people would try to control it like that.

I've had an enlightening argument about it with johnnyFive a few weeks ago, which triggered an identity crisis on the matter of languages. The whole purpose of what I study crushed before my very eyes as I tried to recollect whatever's left hanging into a coherent picture. The paragraph above is the result, just as the idea that I'm not doing anything of value with the education I'm getting.

    Have you ever thought that maybe child prodigies are actually people who have been reincarnated with their memories intact?

No, and it doesn't sound right now that I do. People don't reincarnate, so there must be a more tangible explanation. Differences in brain structure would be one of the quickest to reach for.

Why did you spoiler out a whole paragraph on your latest religious experience?

user-inactivated  ·  2947 days ago  ·  link  ·  

My logic is, it counts as a real word if it's in the dictionary. If someone took the time to recognize it, define it, and record it, it's a word with value. So, "gonna" totally counts. A made up word, like "zoogoppledoo" wouldn't.

The child prodigy thing is just a small offhand thought. :)

I covered up the religious thing cause it's not always polite to talk about religion in mixed company. Since this is Pubski and not an actual thread dedicated to the subject, I figure it'd be polite to cover it.

user-inactivated  ·  2947 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    My logic is, it counts as a real word if it's in the dictionary.

That's not the logic linguists use. There are no "real" words because all words are ultimately made up.

    I covered up the religious thing cause it's not always polite to talk about religion in mixed company.

You shouldn't be ashamed of what you think is important or try to hide it just because it might offend someone. It's you. What others think of you don't matter.

Besides, it's Hubski. You were able to convert me, a raging anti-religious zealot, into a more thoughtful perceiver of religion and faith. Why would you think this place would shoot at you for it?

user-inactivated  ·  2947 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    That's not the logic linguists use.

Good thing I'm not a linguist. ;)

As for the shadowing of the text, it's more out of curteousy than anything else. :)

b_b  ·  2947 days ago  ·  link  ·  
user-inactivated  ·  2947 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Well that's depressing.