Happiness is viral

Recent Comments

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  Ben on Morning Smoke
  It sounds like they are ready for "The Talk".You know, the one where you gently explain that Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, and certain Gods likely do not actually exist -- except as tools to make children obey. And that they, just like their father and almost EVERY AMERICAN, got a big (steaming) dose of Heyzeus poured into their young impressionable mi... »
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  Erich Vieth on Medicare for anyone who wants it
  Niklaus: I assume that the big package gets more overall consensus, since most folks can find something they like in a big complex bill. I do like many of the features in the Obama proposal (as described on the White House site). I would not leave the payment system in the hands of for-profit insurers, however. There's not need to scoop profi... »
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  Dan Klarmann on My disorientation
  I'm with Alison. I regularly stretch my imagination to see the roots of how we came to be and are still becoming.It is a trip to realize how few of the atoms that were the adult me three decades ago are still part of me. Even neural tissue and bone exchanges ions busily. Yet memory (malleable as it is) persists.It is a hoot to see how most of our a... »
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  NIklaus Pfirsig on Medicare for anyone who wants it
  The reasons the house bill is so large is that it is comprehensive and contains language that specifically targets various abuses of medicare by corporations. This is not only limited to insurance companies, but also to such practices as "dumping" by corporate employers who, rather than contribute to a private health-care benefit plan for their emp... »
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  Alison on My disorientation
  Disoriented, Erich? I think of the same things, and I feel amazed and excited. The size and historic scope of the universe itself all the way down to our own, more limited, earthly existence,gets me all pumped up. In my lifetime, most of the mysteries will still remain unsolved. The fact that we're aware they exist, though, and that people are ... »
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  Planeten Paultje on My disorientation
  Best ride ever. Too bad about the people who are scared to death about it and try to stop the ride, mostly by pretending it all simply doesn't exist. »
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  rachel locke on How unique are you?
  what really blows me away - and maybe its solely due to my naivete (sp?) - is that not only do they know where i live and what my phone number is, but how OLD (or young) i am! But somehow, and this actually makes me feel better, they seemed to have missed the mark a bit on the spouse - i'm sure he'd find it funny to learn that he is GK Locke. »
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  Rachel Locke on My disorientation
  Yeah, I'm there all the time. If i think about it too much, i just get more bewildered. And why am i writing a neurobiology of disease textbook??? »
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  Erich Vieth on Medicare for anyone who wants it
  For comparison, a bill currently being considered by congress is 2,300 pages long.http://budget.house.gov/doc-library/FY2010/03.15.2010_reconciliation2010.PDF »
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  Erich Vieth on Medicare for anyone who wants it
  President Obama made a backroom deal last summer with the for-profit hospital lobby that he would make sure there would be no national public option in the final health reform legislation. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/ny-times-reporter-confirm_b_500999.html »
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  Erich Vieth on Morning Smoke
  I tell my two daughters that scientists have no sacred cows. They ask rigorous questions about all aspects of human animals, including the question of why some human animals believe in God. I tell them that to be good scientists, they will need to have the courage to study themselves, because absolutely nothing should go unexamined. I don't yet k... »
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  Tim Repole on Using the U.S. census as a teachable moment
  Erich, Brynn: Thanks for the informative replies. You've taken what was an abstract concern for me and made it very concrete. Considering that history it's hard to imagine that they'd be bold enough to put those reassurances in the envelope with the form. »
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  GSLeader on Don’t buy Girl Scout cookies
  Our money we earn does go for all girls. There is no individual benefit for the girl who sells the most and no punishment for who sells the least (other than incentives from council which I have no control over..I even work the numbers to make sure everyone gets something). No one pays more or less for outings based on cookies sales. We earn thi... »
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  Derek on Morning Smoke
  Interesting post. I suppose it raises the question of parenting and in what direction your hand points with your children in these matters? Not being a parent myself I cannot say, but being raised in a family that seemed to foster logic in all situations helped shape who I am today. My parents never required anything of us as far as religion goes, ... »
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  Brynn Jacobs on Using the U.S. census as a teachable moment
  Hi Tim. I came to make the same point as Erich, so I guess I'll just have to add some more recent history. The New York Times reported in 2004: I've given this a lot of thought over the past few months, and I think our form will be returned with the sole answer "2". »
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  Erich Vieth on Using the U.S. census as a teachable moment
  Tim: Welcome to DI. I thought you might find this blurb from Wikipedia to be of interest:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census »
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  ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC on Catholic Answers: don’t even lie in the same bed . . .
  Unfortunately....Those who object to the TRUE CATHOLIC CHURCH founded by Jesus Christ giving them FULL AUTHORITY, to guide, teach and sanctify...object because they know that by their own lives they have been condemned and they reject and refuse because they DON'T want to change their sinful ways...including the priests who have fallen away from t... »
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  Niklaus Pfirsig on Sin, Sex, Secret Societies
  Dan, (warning: slightly off-topic) I have used several ebook readers over the years. I find the useful for carrying volumes of reference information, more than for casual reading. The basic concept has not done well in the US, but has been very popular in Europe and Asia for several years. They aren't for everyone, but for those of us who use th... »
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  Niklaus Pfirsig on How unique are you?
  My real name (Niklaus Pfirsig is a "handle" I've used since the BBS days when the web was not widely available) is surprisingly more common than I expected. There are 4 in the Nashville area, two of whom I've met. One is a wealthy inventor and businessman, one is an auto mechanic, one is an elderly retiree and one is me. To add to this, severa... »
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  Mark Tiedemann on Talking about God is no longer religious
  Good point, Dan. As far as that goes, though, I find all oaths offensive, whether of a religious nature or otherwise. They are no guarantor of anything and serious violation of personal conscience. »
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