Dragomira

Hey #6, I have been getting serious about my exercise recently and have found body weight exercises to be extremely helpfull. These are simple exercises you can do with little to no equipment anywhere at any time. A few sources of information I have found: http://www.startbodyweight.com/ He covers the basics of body weight exercise and some simple progressions. You can start at any fitness level and work your way up (even if you have never done it before). http://www.12minuteathlete.com/ If you are short on time, this might be usefull to you as well. You can do these exercise programs in 12 minutes and be done for the day. I have found the key of good exercise to be consistency: doing it every week or even every day. Once you make a commitment, stick to it (make sure your commitment is realistic, though). Also, it becomes really easy to exercise if you make yourself want to do it. Not just because it is good for you, but because you want to be healthy and fit more than that extra piece of candy or whatever. For tips on setting goals, motivating yourself and the self-discipline to execute on your commitments I find http://www.actualized.org/ to be really helpfull. Hopefully this helps. I wish you the best of luck with your own health and fitness goals.

Hey everyone, I am a 20 year old student Biomedical Sciences (master) from Holland. I got into FDR januari this year and have been trying to talk to people about it since april. So far I have found that only my uncle shares my libertarian ideas and that my parents and two younger brothers are unable to do anything other than spouting propaganda and cultural bullshit when I raise the slightes philosophical topic(even though I am convinced they are able to think critically if they set their minds to it. They seem reluctant/opposed to do so). I would love to join this skype group. My Skype user name: Dagmar Bouwer (i think, I don't use Skype much until now). I don't speak Deutsch though, just Dutch .

Hey beast, thank you for posting this. This thread has been usefull for me as well, since I have been thinking about the same things myself. I am currently working on my master's degree, first year, and I still live with my parents due to practical/financial reasons. I started listening to FDR since januari and have started from the beginning, while keeping up with the new stuff. I cannot say I was openly abused in any way, but I honestly don't remember much about my childhood. Since I started actually paying attention to how my parents treated me, I found they had no real interest in me (or my siblings, I have to younger brothers) aside from all the practical stuff (how is school? what are your marks? how is (insert shared interest)?). We only really come together during dinner and talk of nothing of significance. When I bring up some philosophical subject, they are either not answering or changing the subject. I started reading RTR and told my parents I did not know whether they really loved me or not, since I could not tell from their behaviour. My mother seemed upset in the moment and we had a conversation about it, but she had seemingly forgotten about it the next day and had never acted anything I had said that night. From this it is clear to me that my parents have no interest in me, my interests (which they openly dismissed, with the excuse that they cannot understand them (philosophy or biomedical sciences)) or my feelings (since I have expressed them without them acting on it). I will continue to gather more 'evidence', but I fear my conclusion will remain the same. Now I am in the process of talking to my other family members (aunts, uncles etc.), since I realize I never really knew them. Just last Friday I discovered my uncle is a liberal and agrees with most of my views (as an anarcho-capitalist) when provided with the right arguments. We talked for four hours about our views without interuption and I can honestly say I have never had such a conversation with my parents. I recommended the FDR website and youtube to him in the hopes that he will persue it. I am certain we will have many more conversations on philosophy. I hope you can find something of use to apply in your own situation. If there is anything I have learned so far, it is that I can only get to know someone (truly) by asking them questions about their interest and to keep asking to see if they can accept any irrationanilities on their part (which will likely be present in all of us).

I would say this is very unlikely to occur with the basic molecules that make up genetic material, like DNA or RNA. This is what I learned a few years ago during my study (Biomedical Sciences): - RNA has self-replicating ability and can also function as basic genetic material, but is unstable and limited in its length. DNA is much more stable, since it can form double-helix structures, but has no self-replicating ability as far as I know. - At low temperatures (- 80 degrees Celsius), these molecules can be stored reliably, especially DNA. - At high temperatures (+ 70 degrees Celsius), the DNA strands are seperated from each other, but can return to their double-helix structure when cooled down. With these properties in mind and assuming that RNA and/or DNA are the requirements for replicating organic life, I would say it is unlikely that genetic material could leave the boundries of this planet in its basic form (single molecules). RNA would likely be too unstable and DNA cannot (as far as I know) replicate without some sort of protein. However, packaged in cells of some description (like bacteria or multi-cellular organisms), it might be possible. I remember hearing about some bacteria species that have the capability to almost completely shut down cellular processes and go into 'hibernation', making them highly resistant to any outside influences. I would say the anthrax bacterium is infamous for its spore-forming ability that allow it to remain viable for a long time under harsh conditions. Just last week a researcher at the hospital that I work at (doing my internship at) told about a strain of tuberculosis that could shut down all of its molecular processes when exposed to stress factors (like antibiotics), making it highly resistant to antibiotics and allowing the tuberculosis to remain inside the patient/host until 'it saw fit to awaken', generally when the immune system was compromised.

Thanks for the advise! I have considered that my attempts to get my family to become curious may not result in any changes in their behavior. If this is so, it will be a lesson for me. In science, a negative results is still a result. I have heard Stefan say many times that the odds of them actually changing are slim, but that the attempt is still worthwhile. Even though I fear that they will not change, I want the certainty of actually experiencing it for myself, so that I can move on in peace if necessary. If they do change their minds, I feel it will improve their lives and increase our happiness. In that sense, I have nothing to lose.

Hello everyone, I am a 21-year old female student, currently doing the first year of my master Biomedical Sciences in Leiden, Holland. This study mainly focuses on training researchers in the ways of researching the human body in health and disease. My personal interest in this field is tumor immunology, mainly the cellular side of the interaction. I cannot say I had a great interest in philosophy before I was introduced to it by Stefan. At my highschool philosophy was offered as a course, but it only taught the opinions of past philosophers from what I heard of my fellow students, not how to think of these topics yourself. I did not myself attend this course. During my bachelor, a 3-week course of scientific philosophy (wetenschapsfilosofie) was offered, but this was, again, repeating what the teacher taught us and some history on the scientific method. When I watched the Youtube playlist 'Introduction to philosophy' and started listening to the podcasts (from the start, I am now at podcast 493), I fell in love with the way of thinking and the application of it to a broad range of topics. I came across freedomainradio in January of this year and have not stopped listening and reading since. Currently, I am doing an internship with a research group in the LUMC (Leiden Univerisity Medical Center) and have a lot of not quite mentally intensive tasks. During this time I like to listen to the podcasts (up to 6 hours a day, roughly). Where before I thought absolutes only existed in science, I now know that the same methodology can be applied to really anything. For the first time I can think clearly, but I also immediately felt like anything I thought I knew was not based on truth, but on illusions. The past three months have been quite an emotional rollercoaster, following along with the first podcasts. Starting at anger for our 'beloved' democracy, to almost hatred for my parents for being so limited in their thinking. I could not watch the news or read newspapers due to my anger at the blindness to the immorality of it all. It seemed like everything I heard about governments was confirming what I already knew, yet no one seemed to take this evidence to its logical conclusion, even the researchers at the department were I work. After reading Real-Time Relationships I realize that they simply cannot do this. My anger has subsided and I now feel a great need and enthousiasm to talk to my family and test whether my theories hold true and if they could be persuaded by rationality. I know I must do this a gently as possible, but I feel that my family does not fear me (yet) (I have had some good conversations with some of them). I feel I must be patient with them and not to threaten them with my own way of thinking before I understand how they think. I hope I can 'plant some seeds of philosophy', if anything. Since podcast 468 I realize how different I am from those around me and that I must recognize this difference to be able to communicate with them succesfully. Sorry for this rambling, but I felt I needed to get this off my chest. I hope to be able to contribute to this board and imagine I will learn a great deal by doing so in the presence of likeminded people. As a poor student, I cannot contribute financially to the show, but I hope to be able to do so by spreading it, for starters among my fellow researchers, collegues and family.