Pamela Galli
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Posts posted by Pamela Galli
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19 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:
Yes, very much this.
The difference between "blind faith" and real faith, is that illusion of certainly possessed by those who adhere to the former.
Blind faith is really just ignorance or intellectual laziness. True faith is a virtue precisely because there are no guarantees and no certainty; it is predicated upon, not merely a lack of knowledge, but an awareness that one does not and can not know.
Without that awareness, there is no free will involved, no sense of choice, and hence no "giving" of oneself -- because without it, you are simply taking the deity for granted. Scepticism isn't just present in faith -- it's an actual precondition for it.
One of my favourite bits from the poems of the brilliant Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (who became a Jesuit priest) is from his "Carrion Comfort," in which he wrestles with his own scepticism and despair in sort of dark night of the soul, and suddenly realizes that "That night, that year / Of now done darkness I wretch lay wrestling with (my God!) my God." That "wrestling" with God was intrinsic to his sense of spirituality -- it is what made it live.
(I say all this acutely and self-consciously aware that, as an agnostic, I myself seem to be incapable of this kind of faith. But I admire it nonetheless.)
Well said, Scylla!
I credit Kierkegaard with teaching me this: the one free choice we can make is whether to believe In God or not — because when we make choices about what to believe based on, say, logic or scientific evidence, our belief is compelled: eg we are not free to not believe in gravity. We are not free to not believe 2 + 2 = 4. We have to believe these things, we can’t choose not to.
But there is no proof God exists or doesn’t exist. There is evidence on both sides but no proof. We are in fact free to choose, and we remain free to choose — because doubt is always present.
There is no faith without doubt.
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4 minutes ago, Joenas Jewell said:
I was just talking to friend about this in SL. I have been away for several years been in and out like on average the past 4 years three times a year. I have LOADS of real $$$$ invested in products bought in SL and I had a great time while here before then. ANYWAY, NOTHING has changed money wise with SL in Land Purchases, rentals, etc, etc, etc. Even purchasing L$ , WHY? It is not 2010 any more and the Economy is tanking pretty bad right now are those at the top of Linden Labs unaware of what they need to do to keep people here and or bring NEWBIES into this great reality?
I thought of starting a petition about this same subject, if Linden Labs does not get serious in retaining it's customers and bring prices down in that retention and to bring in new ones then like most GREAT ENTITIES it will eventually be no more, at least not like those of us who have been around for over a decade remember it to be.
LINDEN LABS PLEASE MAKE THING MORE AFFORDABLE BASED ON WHAT IS GOING ON IN RL.....Heck all gaming platforms right now are having 50 -70% discounts for retention and Newbies why are you not doing the same??????
There must be a thousand threads on this topic.
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There is a difference between selling stuff and creating stuff. You can do one without the other, or both.
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8 minutes ago, MichaMoz said:
That's entirely anecdotal whereas it is a fact that I am spending less time and $ on SL and not planning on renewing my premium membership.
That’s entirely anecdotal.
I OTOH, have sales data.
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Love this social distancing party!
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I can confirm what Lewis says: people who have not been in SL for a while are pouring back in.
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Wow, this is the most detailed comprehensive info (from s Korea) I have seen!
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51 minutes ago, roseelvira said:
i am overtired. With this cv 19 worry and hubby is high risk from his cancer surgery and the Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and due to the ARDS he has to be on continuious oxygen .I was told in a few months he may be able to be off it but for now he is still at 3 liters ,,,, they tried to lower it but he is not ready yet ,,, he was able to handle a few hours on being at 2 liters but his recovery time started to take longer and longer ,,, but day by day
i am up at 3 am every morning ,,,cleaning and disinfecting everyting !!!!!!!
I clean after the nurses / the pt and ot come and do what they do ,,, i clean again and again ,,,, ,,, when they deliver the oxygen canisters i have to clean the outsides of the canisters before bringing them in and make sure that every thing is sealed properly ,,,, so i am always on high alert.
The down time i get is when i am able to read and enjoy the threads or go inworld to work on something i am makeing for the sl home,
When i have to venture to the pharmacy for new or refill of one of his prescription s ..... I take more than required precautions ,,, i wear plastic gloves ,,, i carry hand wipes and sanizer , and i bundle as if going into a snow storm with the winter scarf covering my face from the nose down ,,,, i do not care that people stare ,,, i have to make sure i do not carry anything back ,,,, also since i have very long hair in real life put it up in a bun and wear a knit hat so the spors if air born will not get in my hair ,,,,,, i have a plastic bag in the inside doorway so when i return i put every thing into it and and other item in a different bag and then put food and items in safe contaniers i have in the house i have a stack net to the doorway so nothing that could be contaminated goes in i dispose of all boxes bags etc before i enter in to the house from the encloed doorway breezeway the clothing dump right to the washer hat jacket scarf jeans socks anything that the jacket did not cover ,,,, ,,,, i change my shoes as well the ones i wear out stay in a plastic bag and i put them on outside and take them off out side ,,, so ,,, yes i am exhausted ,,, I am not complaining // i am grateful for every second and when i spoke my wedding vows years ago in sickness and in health ,,, i meant every word!!!!!! ,
i try to hide how tired i am ,,,, I joke , i pray , i do my gratitude journel ,,,,
i know how precious every second is ,,,
i just wish i could sleep a sleep without my brain being in high alert mode so any little noise i wake up ,, if he sighs or yawns i wake up ,, and then try to get back to sleep is a task in itself
,,,, so if i am a bit over sensitive please forgive me and try to understand
,,, and to make it worse they are out of my fav icecream ,,,, so now yous know ,,,, hugs love
I know how grindingly exhausting it is being a caregiver, Rose. All you can do is what you would advise anyone else to do in your position. Get rest even if you have to go in a different room or ask for help if possible.
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8 minutes ago, Marigold Devin said:
Oh I so wanted to share with you a video of our lovely late comedienne, Victoria Wood, parodying Coronation Street, but the BBC have removed it from Youtube because of copyright infringements !
So here is something just as marvellous. I think. Good old northern England humour.
And staying in the How are you Feeling thread - I'm feeling great. Bathed and in my long baggy nightdress, pretending everything is ok in the world, and it is while I'm here, safe on this thread.
Thank you! I am a huge Anglophile. I love British shows and literature.
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Supermarket checkers and nurses are at greatest risk of all.
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24 minutes ago, Cindy Evanier said:
I went on a rant on my RL facebook about the TV station replacing a soap opera (Coronation Street). Fair enough they are rationing the pre recorded episodes but at at time when all the old dears who have religiously watched it for 40 or 50 years are possibly stuck home alone, their replacement to this programme was Star Bloody Wars.
The existence of Coronation Street is one of those quirky things that make the Brits so freaking adorable!
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6 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:
Yesterday, my Governor officially gave a Stay at Home order for the entire state, effective this morning. Mostly I'm glad about this because I wasn't feeling comfortable with the piece-meal stuff that was going on before, with different areas having different rules.
The economic impact of this is scaring me more and more every day. I KNOW that we need that stimulus package, but 2.2 TRILLION - Ugh. And unemployment claims hit 3.3 MILLION last week, which is more than 4 times the previous record. That is just the totals through last week - and we know that is going to continue to rise.
Apparently Denmark has come up with an idea that other European countries are planning to copy https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/denmark-freezing-its-economy-should-us/608533/
But in order to do anything like that we would have to convince the so called president he thought of it first.
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1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:
I don't disagree that the term "lockdown" is being avoided here because of connotations. Even "stay at home" is avoided, they are using stupid phrases like "remain at home please" while letting all business stay open that respect social distances.
It’s not being avoided. I watch msnbc many hours a day and everyone, news people, experts, politicians, use lockdown at least as much as they use other terms, and no one thinks they mean prison lockdown because they understand the context.
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54 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:
Nope. Once again - stop misrepresenting me.
I just quoted your entire initial post. Anyone can see what you wrote. About storage space.
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Well it’s already more or less moot — clearly we are not going to do anything at the federal level as the report suggests, plus certain states or cities or counties have already moved into Suppression mode. No one anywhere in the US has suggested Wuhan levels of suppression are an option. The whole report is about the value of buying time to save lives, but to be effective we can’t have states behaving like those who choose the option of doing almost nothing at all. Like, say, Florida, which is gearing up to be a bloodbath.
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On 3/21/2020 at 1:16 PM, Solar Legion said:
Do you have three to eight weeks of food, medication and other supplies as well as the storage space for it? If you do then whoopdie doo! You're lucky.
Not everyone can do so, be it for financial reasons, logistic reasons or both.
For me? Even pooling together the resources available between myself and the others I live with, we'd be lucky to be able to amass the supplies we'd need - which does include medication. As far as storage goes? We'd have to take up floor space in the apartment itself.
The store room in the basement is prone to flooding when it rains and the 'common area' spaces have been taken up by things belonging to our upstairs neighbors. This includes a good chunk of the garage space.
If anyone is confused: This building is a two story house that was converted into two identical two bedroom apartments. In addition to the entry area (thankfully not cluttered up) the shared spaces include the attached garage (supposed to be split between the apartments) and the main basement area (where there are hookups for a washer and dryer per unit as well as two wash basins and the HVAC units).
Most of that basement space has been taken up by the upstairs neighbors' belongings - no idea what half of it is and I frankly do not care. It is bad enough that even if we had our own washer and dryer (we don't, they do) we'd not be able to use them. As it is, we'd have to move their stuff to install them.
Heaven forbid we try to talk to them ... The last time was a disaster and a half and made it quite clear we were dealing with people who believe they own the bloody building.
TL:DR - The petition can rot.
What’s all this about storage space? Are you attempting to convince people that the report is about convincing people that they need to never leave their homes? That they must store weeks of supplies or prepare to die?
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19 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:
Ah yes, because chastising others for pointing out the wrong words have been slung around is going to change anything.
It is not a lockdown - period.
The only "disgraceful" bit here is that there are those who cannot be bothered to accurately describe what they mean.
Stop using the wrong words to describe what you're suggesting and perhaps more people will agree/understand.
Oh so all along what you have been objecting to us not the procedure of staying in your home except for essentials, but the terminology, which is widely used interchangeably IN THIS CONTEXT? You don’t really have a problem with staying home, just with it not called by your preferred use? Because NO ONE has suggested that any of the terms mean preventing anyone from leaving their homes. You are trying to make people believe that is what is being proposed, while no one has done that.
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49 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:
I never said you couldn't. I'm saying they can NOT prevent people from buying food. If they do (and yes the Repugs would, if they could get away with it) they'll have more than riots to worry about.
I swear, people neither really read what I type nor listen to the words I speak. It all goes in one ear and out the other if it even goes in one ear.
Fug it. Not worth the hassle.
That’s not what you said Selene. Not at all. We have enough people at the highest levels make stuff up, giving people reasons not to comply, we don’t need more.
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3 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:
Perhaps stop calling it a "lockdown" to stat with.
Stay at Home/Shelter in Place is not a lockdown.
Yes it is, in this context, which anyone who pays more than glancing attention to the news is well aware of. No one in any party has ever suggested locking people in their shelters, either physically or legally, so they cannot get food, and it ridiculous to suggest otherwise. Stop it. Stop spreading any false narratives about what we are being asked to do to save millions of lives.
Disgraceful.
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7 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:
So, like, I have this bad habit of checking my email first thing in the morning, while I drink my morning coffee. This can be a good or bad thing. Today it is going to set my mood to: more depression. I'm so worked up about the SL relationship that is, at *best* on hold right now due to COVID-19 and the change it caused in availability (see earlier post), that I "worried" off all of my fingernails to the quick and so of course from that brilliance my fingers hurt. That was how I went to bed last night.
This morning I got the new determination for my food stamp allotment. Because I moved and have a new rent, they have to refigure the amount. That's normal. That's even reasonable. I don't like to talk specifics on money, but for those of you who aren't familiar with the system let me blow off some steam and rant a moment.
My disability income is *below* the official poverty level of $12,760/year for one person. BELOW that. Yeah, when I say I'm poor, I ain't joking. The MOST a single person can get from food stamps is $194/month. That's less than $50/week. That does NOT include things like toilet paper (should you be able to find it), dish soap, vitamins or my box o'wine. It is FOOD, period, which does include vegetable seeds for home gardening...I'm disabled and live in an apartment, but hey, the govt will pay for vegetable seeds. Yay?
When was the last time you went shopping and could manage with less than $50/week? It can be done. I have done it. But... it ain't easy and you really do not get a good healthy diet. But still. That $194 *does* help.
So when I got the below-poverty-level disability decision, my monthly income was LESS THAN my rent. I wasn't living in a fancy place, it is just rents here are just unbelievably stupid. I was able to get rent assistance from the little town that I live in ... surprise, whew and yay! That assistance was based on many things, including me applying for subsidized housing. My food stamps had to be refigured because of that help from the town. Common sense would say "Still very poor" and needs food help, right? Nope. While I still qualified the Food Stamps went from $194 to $113. mmmkay
My recent move put me into subsidized housing. My income hasn't changed but now my rent is income based and is 30% of my income. That helps tremendously. Not to mention that this place is much nicer than my other apartment, literally across the street. The recent move means another reconsideration for Food Stamps.
Today I learned that because my rent lowered, my Food Stamps have gone to... get this: $16/month. Hahahahahaha. I'm still under poverty level. I still have bills. But apparently I don't need to eat, or as they figure it, I'm so flush with cash now, on my very very low income (that's literally how it is referred to), that I just need $16 for the essentials.
The "good" news? I guess now I can go back to having my groceries delivered. My new apartment has steps that have to be navigated and due to my disability it is difficult and dangerous for me to carry things down stairs. Of course I checked Instacart and basically their website laughed at me for available delivery times.
So, my anxiety is through the roof right now, and my fingers hurt.
No clue where you live but sounds like Texas, one of the states who punished Obama by forever refusing to expand Medicaid.
As we speak, tho, the Democrats are fighting to expand SNAP (food stamps) as part of the bill they are working on. Other people like Chef Andres are working on a food distribution plan. We — everyone on the planet — are going to have to work together to survive. And vote.
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Is the Universe a computer simulation?
in General Discussion Forum
Posted · Edited by Pamela Galli
No, because you don’t have a choice whether to believe in the EB or not.
Believing in God is a completely free choice. You can choose to believe or disbelieve because there is no train of logic or proof compelling belief one way or the other. Either way is an act of faith.
ETA You don’t have a choice whether to believe in the FSM either.