kilroy_jones

This may not sound the way you intended.

I think you read way too much into that person's reply. They are questioning to basis of the article, which is something that should be encouraged, whether you agree it disagree.

How does that work?

Taiwan is included as part of China on this map, which it's not. WHO also excludes Taiwan from participating and gaining access to important information that can save people. Thank the WHO for making the world a little less safe by withholding information from those who need it.

I think people made fun of him more because of the associated elitist attitude. How many people have the time, space or resources to procure a live animal? Though I admit the imagery of someone like a Manhattan broker slaughtering a pig in his 15th floor apartment is darkly comical.

At the same time, I agree with you, he is right in that we've become detached from what we eat, but that goes for all food. Even the idea that something so routine for many people today, and to almost everyone prior to the 20th century, would be an "experience" to most of us in the modern world is just odd.

You're right that they're natural processes, but they aren't natural to us. Our bodies naturally respond the day and night cycle, and even the seasons. By naturally, I mean at a chemical/genetic level. The breaking of a day into hours/minutes and such is an abstraction of these, and doesn't have a physiological basis as far as I'm aware.

Leave your phone at home and go walk for 1-2 hours. You get a little exercise and as long as you're just cruising along level ground then you can space out for long stretches.

This is true for the metro, but bus lines require Chinese for the most part. There are some really good apps for transport in Taipei.

They are not patriotic to the mainland government. There are few people in Taiwan that want reunification. Both greens and blues want to maintain autonomy, it's just the level to which they want it that differs.

Women have far more pressures than men, especially Asian cultures in comparison to modern western cultures.

At first I wrote ugly convoluted code.

Then, upon seeing the light I wrote clean and organized code.

Now I write what many see as ugly convoluted code because I see further down the line than they do.

Asians dating white people may come less from seeing other Asians as inferior, but from a desire to escape their own cultural trappings. Depending on how conservative (traditional) the family is, many Asian women I know prefer dating non-Asian men because it doesn't come with the same expectations from their family. They can escape the make babies, make money, deal with a mother-in-law pressures, which may be much higher in an Asian household. The micromanaging of any potential children by both sets of parents would be significantly less as well.

In general there may be less pressure to conform and perform, from their partner, and more importantly from the family, when dating a white person.

The question then becomes is that the type of student you want to create? Any elementary school teacher who frequently rewards students with candy can tell you horror stories of what this sort of system leads to. Every task becomes a bargain of 'what will I get for doing this?' as opposed to building an innate desire to learn.

Education is broken, but going this route won't fix much. Fixing standardized tests, or scrapping them, along with eliminating things like the SAT would go a long ways is creating better learners, instead of better test takers.

And yet the severity and timing of them can be evidence.

DDG works for most stuff, but I've found Google to be better for niche topics and for anything related to a forum content. When searching for "reddit" + something else Google does a better job.

Can you point out where the people in my hospital example lied? If they never claimed to be doctors, but dressed up and acted as them, is it a lie? Lies come in many forms, some are explicit and others less so.

I don't see them as fools, but as charismatic and intelligent people who have found a way to garner adoration, fame and other benefits by exploiting psychologically weak and vulnerable people. Whether they do so knowingly or not varies from guru to guru. I think many of them do start off with good intentions but quickly find themselves buying into the mystique others have built up around them. They are often as weak as their devotees. Dass falls into this camp in my mind. Is it wrong, no, but I feel it's important to point out.

What has Ram Dass taught that was anything more than feel good self-help level material put into a palatable form fit for those wanting to hear soothing words?

Sure, he was intelligent, had a PhD, and was a likeable guy. He also spent much of his early years doing drugs (LSD experiments) and bouncing around ashrams in India with less than reputable gurus.

The guy was quoted as saying Jerry Garcia was a Bodhisattva, if that says anything about his state of mind.

He was, like most gurus, exceedingly arrogant at times. 'It is useful here to remember that your guru, even though you may not have met him in his manifest form knows everything about you, everything.' Who says stuff like that?

Dass was no more put together than anyone else, especially considering how he boucned around with ideas, even becoming a devout evangelical Christian at one point. The guy was put on a pedestal by people and he made the best of it.

There is tons of stuff that weighs against the guy, but I'm on mobile and out and don't remember much. I don't consider him to be wholly malicious in his actions like many purported 'gurus,' but he is still a scam artist for letting others follow him while reaping the benefits.

Let's say you get sick. So you get in your car and drive to what Google maps says is the nearest hospital. You arrive, and people dressed as nurses and doctors are bustling about. They check you in, perform some tests, give you some medicine, and you pay before you leave. The medicine sort of works you think, and with time you get better.

A week later you find out that the hospital was actually run by people that had little formal training as doctors. Some took a few classes on Coursera or first aid training, but none really devoted themselves to the profession beyond a cursory level. But they seemed so professional you think, but then again without medical knowledge how would you know? On top of that you find they've been using their position to influence medical opinions behind the hospital, gain fame, and earn large sums of money from desperate people looking to be healed. Sure, they inadvertently cure some people, and others just got better due to time.

To me this is like Ram Dass and so many other gurus. Their lies are layered under the façade they present and under the ideas they explain, most often poorly and without context. They may inadvertently help people, but just as much they are preying on those desperate for answers and help. They are unqualified scam artists who know just enough to be dangerous. The lie is embodied in who they purport to be and in the help they try to provide.

Perhaps lies is not the best word in this case. Is there a word in English for someone that gives advice knowing that they themselves are not qualified to do so? Like if I were to confidently give you medical advice despite not being a doctor. Putting on a façade?

I never understood the fascination with these gurus. They repackage old ideas and dress them up a bit before using them to lure in weak-willed and gullible devotees. Most, and Ram Dass was no exception, were incredibly flawed people, albeit intelligent and charismatic, with clear psychogical issues.

Dass bounced around between gurus that exploited women and men before returning to the US to do much the same. That, the drugs, and the lies over the years just makes whatever he says unpalatable.

Americans consume way more than the average person in S. America or China and produce way more CO2 per capita.

How can you say that wealth is not a zero sum game when resources are finite?

It's bad because wealth provides power, and power is currently being wielded to take away the autonomy of those who are poorer. Economic means are used by the obscenely wealthy to do some pretty horrid things, from buying elections to covering up their child sweatshop operations. Wealth inequality rapidly leads to general inequality in the eyes of the state.

We have a long ways to go before we could adequately cope with immortality. As is, I could see us misusing and abusing it to a rather extreme level.

As a bit of an introvert I learned to read and type Mandarin before speaking. Just didn't talk to people, but absorbed what I saw in the cities I lived in. Reading menus led to signs led to comics led to books. In fact, my reading is still better than my speaking or listening skills.

The project itself is not in Mandarin, are they? Thought it was just the docs, which shouldn't be a big deal as they will get translated.

The Nepalese are extremely friendly, and I don't regret going, I just walked away with different feelings. For me it's not about guilt, it's about the shock of being part of a global economy that is at its core exploitative. That I live comfortably while these people don't have basic medical care, and my little splurges are equal to a days wage for them. Basically it was a window into the incredible, and unnecessary, inequality that exists. Something that didn't really hit me fully until I experienced it first hand.

I never felt at ease backpacking. In places like India and Nepal you spend most of your time playing tourist alongside other people's poverty while enjoying advantageous exchange rates that exist for all sorts of horrid reasons both past and present.

I've been a CS and ICT teacher at the high school level for over a decade now. It really depends if this is an elective course or not.

I'd be more than happy to share experience and materials. Email is in my profile.