Wuzzums

Actually if physics is right the two copies won't finish the same exact podcast if we're talking about this at an atomic level. If we were to let the podcast unfold regularly, go back in time, do everything you said of doing then the end result will be again 2 different podcasts (different from each other and different from the first pdocast we witnessed before traveling back in time). You cannot act upon a system and expect it to behave as if nothing acted upon it. It's the observer effect. But I'm just talking about this at an atomic level, at a macro scale things will go on the same. Not exactly the same, but as close to identical as physically possible.

Yeah, it was my mistake for not explaining what I meant by comfortable. I meant by it that no matter how you act or what you say the other person will respond positively to it. Like a constant positive feedback regardless of the input.

Somehow I don't see superbowl fans as being FDR's target audience. It's tantamount to a gym commercial in a McDonald's joint.

A book that helped me was The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Not so sure it can help you with your addiction but what it can do is show you how to replace one habit with another of your choosing.

Isn't feeling comfortable around someone you just met a red flag in itself?

Never, because I don't see them as conversations. Someone starts talking to a stranger about something they're never looking for a conversation, they're just saying "here's my point of view, please reinforce it". They're just talking to themselves out loud, and if it's addressed to someone then they at least won't look crazy.

I think it's a great idea. I'm pretty good at drawing people and whatnot. So if you want my help, I'm game.

This guy believes he can fight "rape-culture" by writing a poem about it whilst spinning in a circle. If he's serious about it, why does he stop at rape? He should write poems about wars, cancer, AIDS, national debt, anything really. I just can't take people like them seriously.

There's this movie, The Collector (it even has a sequel). It's basically the logical continuation of the Home Alone series. A thief breaks into a house only to find out the whole place is booby-trapped with make-shift lethal devices and the family inside is being held hostage by this serial killer. Most of the traps are references to the Home Alone movies except they have a deadly twist to them.

Lymph nodes act the same way as veins. They take fluid away from the tissues and back to the heart. In contrast, arteries are the ones that bring blood and implicitly nutrients to the body including tumors. However the fasting idea makes sense. It should halt growth progression the same way it halts tissue repair. But cancer has no interest in sustaining the body's equilibrium (homeostasis) thus it eats up the resources of other tissues. One tell-tale clinical sign of cancer is a rapid decrease in weight not associated with diet or exercise.

Lots of people die healthy. Health is usually defined by the absence of disease. A gunshot to the head isn't a disease.

During my oncology clerkship I've met this woman in her late 40s. She looked as if she was in her 30s, lived in a village, peak physical condition, everything she ate she grew herself, non smoker, non drinker, no chronic diseases in the family, never took a pill in her life, never had to ever go to a hospital. She had lung cancer, stage 4. She didn't even exhibit a respiratory symptom like a cough or anything, she came in because of a complication due to the metastasis. Life's not fair.

Nah, we're good. Thanks anyway.

Competition will lower prices down for healthcare considerably (several orders of magnitude lower, I can give examples). If people were to only give 10% of their paychecks to charity, those charities would run on a surplus of funds. Also elderly people usually have families and in a state society it's still their family that takes care of them if it's needed, regardless of how much the government likes to brag how it feeds the hungry and takes care of the elders.

I think it's about interest. People won't bother with things they have no interest in, hence they won't understand it. It's not that they're not capable of understanding, they're just superficial about it. Like for instance: a lot of people read "1984" but only those that really liked it also understood it. Or I have some friends that I asked long ago if they believe in god and they have the a wishy washy "not really but yeah but kinda but sort of" kind of an answer. Me being a staunch atheist I put forth my views and they just agreed with me. Religion bears to real weight in their lives. Or recently I was watching this presentation of the "true" origins of the Sphinx. Really in-depth stuff, from my perspective at least, but I just couldn't be bothered to follow. My life is not gonna change in the slightest whether the Sphinx was built 3000 years ago or 10000 years ago. So about the science of taxonomy, are you just incapable of understanding it or just lazy?

Maybe you're feeling anxious because you're separating from your previous state of mind and implicitly from old relationships which will make you feel disconnected and alone. You're waiting for replies because you wanna know you're not alone or maybe you want someone to tell you everything's gonna be alright. Personally, I don't know 'bout the last part... yet. But there's no turning back from the truth, just keep walking forward.

Well if you're so concerned with what others might think then the answer is simple: dump her. I mean, what's the point? the reason why you're with your girlfriend is social acceptance anyway, right? So why jeopardize the much needed opinions of other people for the sake of someone who's company you enjoy. Right?

People always like to point out that when a dog is mean it's not its fault, it's the owner that made it that way and they should get punished for it... not the dog. But when it's a child they just draw a blank.

Everything you do has a reason behind it , like wearing tinfoil hats and other haberdashery. Thus by the semantics of the word you can judge any action as "rational". But I think you're implying reason = logic. So let's check the logic behind stabbing someone to get their chocolate bar. You didn't take in account all the other factors like the dangers of having to fight someone to the death, dealing with the aftermath, etc. Why is it logical to stab that someone to get the chocolate? Why not just take the chocolate forcefully? Why not convince the other person to give you the chocolate? Why not trade? If having the "I use brute force for my own gain" kind of approach gives you an evolutionary advantage then all of us would be doing it. But we don't, empathy and a consciousness are far more beneficial than brute force thus it is logical for you to employ them for success. Of course because we live in such a world then those who are evil do get away with it but they're in the minority, (4% of the population give or take). Much like thieves get away with it because nobody likes thieving, but if we all were to steal then stealing wouldn't exist so no one benefits.

I was gonna change my name once, last name "Majesty", first name "Your". But you can't use pronouns as names. What a bunch of bull...

I'm in the same boat, as are most of us I think. I've always said that if being gay is a choice then all of us would've made the switch. Stefan's advice would be that you find and join social activities which you enjoy, that will raise the chances of finding someone with similar interests... finding common ground and all that. That's what enjoying someone's company really boils down to. But like you said, finding someone of the opposite sex with similar interests is like trying to date a Chinese girl and you don't speak Chinese. What I noticed is that people get married left and right, but seldom have I seen a couple with the same interests that are not limited to sex, material gain and complaining about their jobs or life in general. So don't panic, there's no party out there that you're missing.

Firstly ask yourself, what are you looking for in a woman? And what is said woman looking for in a man?

Hmm, I get comfort from knowing there's an end to things, the other scenario simply terrifies me. Grief also has an end. When someone you care about passes away they'll leave a hole in your life. I don't know why people say that believing in an idyllic afterlife gives them comfort, because the hole in your life, this life, is still there regardless. You're still gonna have to deal with the loss even though you think it's temporary. If faith brings comfort to people then funerals would be full of joy and laughter. So yeah, in the absence of religion the loved ones left behind get comfort from the same place the believers do.

I liked how Hitchens puts it. Life is like a party, and when you die you must leave but the party goes on without you. But if there's life after death then the party goes on forever and you can never leave, and the Big Guy upstairs insists that you have a good time. Or how Mark Twain puts it: "I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience..."

Does 2+2 still equal 4 in your "New Math"? Because if so I have some bad news for you: it's still "Old" Math.