It flooded once, shame on the weather. It flooded twice, shame on me. My sump pump failed... kind of. I was totally unprepared. I thought the first flooding was due to the broken pipe alone. The fire department said two years ago that snow melt and rain would not be enought to flood the space, it was all due to the broken pipe. I believed it. But after two days of virtually non-stop Noah's ark downpouring like I don't recall ever seeing before in my life, it flooded due only to the rain and filled yet again after the first pumping.
Someone said it was the worst since 1917 but I don't know how they come up with that number. Something like 40,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes who lived near rivers. I called the fire department and they could not come to my house because all their rigs were out and there was nobody left to come. They said to call back later. I was soaked to the bone and got 2 hours of sleep that night then worked the next day and came home and continued pumping after work. I am exhausted. Got the remaining water out today, but my furnace is not going to be turned on until I have it inspected. So it is in the 40's inside my house right now. I am staying with my parents.
36 comments:
Aaron,
That's awful. :(
Did only your basement flood? What was damaged? How long did it rain? No matter where we go, we're at constant risk. Life is nothing but risk. I especially liked the way that you closed your post. It engendered empathy. You deftly conveyed a dire sense of vulnerability and helplessness, coupled with grim resolve to carry on for lack of anything better to do.
I never did ask you something rather important. Ever since your heroic escape from chiropractic quackery, at tremendous personal cost to you involving lost time and extraordinary amounts of money, and your job reorientation to the practice of medical sonography, what has your parents' attitude been toward you? Are they disappointed that you haven't married? Are there any specific concerns that they have about you, or are they satisfied overall?
Yours,
Steve
Aaron,
This was anonymously posted to exmormon.org:
Subject: In defense of Biblical marriage
The Presidential Prayer Team is currently urging us to: "Pray for
the President as he seeks wisdom on how to legally codify the
definition of marriage. Pray that it will be according to Biblical
principles. With any forces insisting on variant definitions of
marriage, pray that God's Word and His standards will be honored by
our government." This is true.
Any good religious person believes prayer should be balanced by
action. So here, in support of the Prayer Team's admirable goals,
is a proposed Constitutional Amendment codifying marriage entirely
on biblical principles:
A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between
one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)
B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in
addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron
11:21)
C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a
virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut
22:13-21)
D. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be
forbidden. (Gen 24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)
E. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the
constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be
construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)
F. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry
the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or
deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one
shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law.
(Gen. 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10)
G. In lieu of marriage, if there are no acceptable men in your
town, it is required that you get your dad drunk and have sex with
him (even if he had previously offered you up as a sex toy to men
young and old), tag-teaming with any sisters you may have. Of
course, this rule applies only if you are female. (Gen 19:31-36)
Aaron,
Find the film "Boy A" and watch it. It's considered one of the best films of 2008, and for very good reason.
Also, read Born to Be Good. It is a newly published, fascinating book about the role of emotions in happiness. It sounds dull, or redundant, when I state it that way, but it's an inspired book. Trust me.
Additionally, it is critical that you read Ed ("E.O.") Wilson's On Human Nature.
And finally, I strongly recommend that you subscribe to The Philosophers' Magazine, or at the very least, read it every quarter at Barnes and Noble. You really, really need to know these things, Aaron.
We are racing against time--against cognitive decline, and death. Run far. Run well. Before time runs out.
Steve
Aaron,
You need to know this, too:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm
Steve
Aaron,
I've been downloading various movies via torrents lately, and one of them is Religulous. I just started watching it and was shocked when a female preacher, prancing around, declared: "You need a Holy Ghost enema right up your year end!" Then, she started running from side to side across the lectern, screaming (surely infused with holy orgasmic righteousness).
Really, Aaron, it's simply all too much. All too much, really!!
Yours,
Steve
Oh my God, it was said by Toufik Benedictus Hinn's wife!!!!!
http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/1999/12/Godstuff-Videos.aspx
Holy Enema, Batman!
Yours,
Steve
I am very sorry for your troubles. Damn! It is awful to imagine. I do hope you will soon be home... and warm... and dry.
It is funny, given the other comments, that as I am about to post this comment and see the "word verification" I have to enter I got a good laugh- "beholy" is the word verification. Ironic? Funny? Or just plain freakish?
Aaron,
I've quite accidentally hit upon an enormous, unimaginable intellectual gold mine online. Suffice it to say that I spent the entire night downloading books worth hundreds of dollars, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. These aren't "popular" books, but hard-core philosophical and neuroscientific books. For instance, I now have the book Human by Mike Gazzaniga, that I've so often mentioned. It is absolutely crucial that you read it. It will revolutionize your understanding of human behavior and affect.
I spent most of the night downloading rare and expensive philosophical books, such as R. Collingwood's An Autobiography and another highly recommended book entitled The Retreat of Reason. I was particularly pleased about another one that I'd found about the metaphysics of the person--that is, it attempts to address the question: What is a person? and how that has evolved through the millennia.
E.O. Wilson is there. John Cacioppo's book, Loneliness is there, but only as an (unabridged) audiobook. There are thousands and thousands of these books, Aaron, spanning the physical and social sciences, linguistics, literature, and so on. Amazing! I mean, there are rare volumes here that simply aren't obtainable in a library; they were scanned from long out-of-print paper copies. And in the case where you could buy them as rare books, they are extremely expensive.
In any case, assuming that you read something other than blogs and CNN these days, you would find this priceless. However, I would need to teach you how to use it. It's pretty straightforward, but there are some nuances.
Most of the books are PDF's. I really must get Mike's book over to you. How, best, can I do that? Do you have a me.com account?
Yours,
Steve
PS I finished watching Religulous. People are crazy, aren't they? Of course, the movie was deliberately framed in such a manner as to present only one side of the story and make unwitting victims look gullible or out-and-out stupid. Religion is far more nuanced than Bill Maher would have one believe, rendering the movie a satire or comedy at the very best. It was an unsuccessful movie, unlike "Boy A," which makes me want to read the novel by its British author. However, that movie is so depressing that you really need to take powerful mood elevating drugs before, during, and after watching it. The depression that it will produce may be irreversible.
Hey Aaron,
You've probably solved the problem by now. But, if you still need to get the water out, you can buy what the plumbers call a "Blue Angel". It's just a portable pump but it means business. It moves water - fast. Anyway, it's a drag. We have a sump pump in our cellar. I run the dehumidifier into it during the summer. Keeps it oiled and running.
I've got all the water out. Bought a new sump pump and have it hooked up just in case. I called the heating store I bought the furnace from and the tech said to dry the place out well and fire it up and see what happens. It will either work or it will destroy the furnace and cost me another $2000 to replace it.
Last time we used these propane dryers which worked very well. We borrowed them from a construction manager my brother knew. I am hoping to be able to rent them somewhere today after work.
Pat (and ARon),
I read that part of The Scalpel and the Soul that talks about "Sarah Gideon." Well, there are problems in paradise. I found this just now:
Sarah Gideon" case may be deceptive and misleading
This read clearly as an impressive first hand personal account of neurosurgeon Allan Hamilton's own investigation into a clinching case for the separation of human self from the physical brain. It is on pages 188-204 of his book The Scalpel and the Soul. He describes personal interviews with doctors and with the patient herself, reviews of medical records, consultation with colleagues, conversations and arguments overheard concerning it at the hospital where the procedure was done, etc., etc.
Unfortunately this may actually be a sort of fictional story albeit with some truthful elements derived from several different actual events (including the famous Pam Reynolds case). If that is the case it is worthless as evidence in debates on the subject. It would also greatly detract from the overall credibility of his book. The problem is the way the "case" is presented. It would be ok if it were made clear that it is a fabrication of a hypothetical stereotypical case combining elements derived from different actual events. This sort of tactic in a popular book only strengthens the skeptics.
I found the following post on this subject by someone who attempted to get further information on the case, at Back from the Dead? by Michael Tymn — Gaia Community :
"Addendum (added March 28): After posting this entry several days ago, I attempted contact with Dr. Hamilton in hopes of obtaining more information on the "Sarah Gideon" case. I just heard from Dr. Hamilton and he explained that some of the stories in the book, including this one, are amalgams, or blended stories. I had suspected that the names were pseudonyms for privacy reasons and recalled Dr. Hamilton mentioning this in the Introduction. However, I had overlooked the fact that he also mentioned that some of the stories are amalgams. It appears that the "Pam Reynolds" case is part of the amalgam. I infer from Dr. Hamilton's comments that there is a case or two that actually "plugs the holes" in the Pam Reynolds case, but for patient privacy reasons the name(s) cannot be given."
I have emailed Dr. Hamilton on this myself, and am waiting for a response.
In other words, Alan Hamilton is flat-out lying! This story is a complete fabrication and retelling of the Pam Reynolds case.
But let us state it in the most charitable terms possible. Let us suppose that the fantasy story were literal. So the psychotic bitch overheard what a few individuals in the operating theater were conversing about during her surgery, and repeated the conversations back after her surgery. So what? What the fuck does that have to do with extra-sensory perception, never mind remote out-of-body perception, still less the NDE?
What's happening here is a case of outright fraud to spur book sales and pander to a gullible public. Just because someone is put under general anesthesia (or a standstill is performed on her) does not mean that the brain isn't functioning, encoding memories, and so on.
Upon reading the fantasy story, my first question was: What evidence is there that action potentials are needed in order for memories to get encoded? Is it not possible that action potentials are only part of the mechanism by which the brain works, and only a gross one at that, not at all reflecting the nuances of the brain's multifarious computational mechanisms?
I don't understand how anyone could get excited about conversations that occurred in the presence of the body of a surgery patient under standstill being retold after the surgery. The straightforward explanation is that her auditory nerves somehow carried the vibrations of the conversations over to her brain, where it interpreted and encoded the conversations in memory, period.
But the fact is that the story is completely made up! This is the way that urban legends get started. Do we even have any evidence that there is a Pam Reynolds? If so, who are her doctors? What are their addresses and phone numbers? Have they been psychiatrically evaluated? Were or are they on medications? Is Pam Reynolds a pseudonym?
"Patient privacy," my arse! Were there to be a real case of remote (distant) out-of-body perception, fully documented and irrefutably demonstrated, it would single-handedly overturn the very foundations of physics, chemistry, biology, philosophy, anthropology, economics--in brief, everything!
Bullshit!
Steve
Aaron,
http://hotgiraffe.msk.ru/books/McEwan-Saturday.rar
If you don't know what a rar file is, you'll need to get MacPAR Deluxe to decompress it. Google it.
Yours,
Steve
PS You do realize that the extraordinary source that I mentioned yesterday has links to just about every Ian McEwan book ever published, do you not? I would explain this in private to you, but I cannot, for you are blacklisting me in your e-mail account.
ARon,
Among a variety of other insults, how can we accept the fact that one of the smartest people in the world, Daniel Tammett, is:
1. Homosexual;
2. Christian;
3. Does not believe in reincarnation?
He believes that ideally, a child should have both a mother and a father, and thinks that homosexuals are fundamentally different (though in an amoral way) from heterosexuals.
He really is a Christian who believes in the so-called incarnation, trinity, and so on, and that, in short, the universe was created by God as an expression of his creativity and love.
As if this isn't outrageous enough, he disbelieves in past-life regression because of his disbelief in reincarnation.
To summarize, he seems simultaneously intelligent and ignorant. That is to say, his hardware is first-rate, but he has no worthwhile data to work with, and is essentially running Windows Vista as a neural operating system.
It makes me want to scream!
Do you suppose that his thinking is rigid--what cognitive-behaviorists would call binary? Perhaps once he latches on to an idea, he is incapable of letting it go, of changing his mine. Once concluded, forever resolved.
If he were heterosexual, the situation would be altogether intolerable.
Yours.
Upin vermont,
I came across yoru comments elsewhere suggesting that the "psychotic Hamas" is responsible fro he current blood bath. I invite you to read this and also look up some recent statistics on who has been BREAKING the ceasefire periods 79% of the time, since year 2000: ISRAEL.
Hi Naj,
Thanks for posting your insightful message. I took a class on the Middle East, and was shocked by what I learned. The Jews that emigrated to Palestine en masse in the 1900's displaced the Palestinians, who had fewer and fewer options: no opportunity to educate themselves, no opportunity to do something meaningful with their lives, and no opportunity to escape. When an artificial state, Isreal, was declared to exist, and the British left, the powder keg exploded.
I concur with the writer who said that there are only two viable solutions: have a single state comprised of both Jews and Palestinians, or equitably (equally) divide the land and create two states, one for the Jews and one for the Palestinians.
The war between the two has always been about one thing, and one thing only: land. All the rest is a diversion from the real problem.
Steve
Everyone,
Check this out:
www.happier.com
Steve
Speaking of happiness, ironically, depression appears to be destroying Daniel Tammet's father (and now, mother):
http://autisticsavant.blogspot.com/2007/04/daniel-tammet.html
Aaron,
I was deeply impressed by outgoing President George Walker Bush's physical agility in deftly evading the apparently inevitable collision of two shoes thrown consecutively by Mohammadan freedom fighting journalist Muntadhir Al-Zaidi against the president's face. Do you suppose that the president has a personal trainer? He looks as if he could run a marathon. Not only that, but his demeanor was so composed, absent of the slightest trace of anxiety, confident, and smiling. I think that he did an excellent job of representing the United States in what was, quite possibly, his finest moment.
While Mr. Al-Zaidi's sheer muscular power was impressive, we are forced to conclude from his appearance that much of the momentum achieved in his throws came from the presence of an astounding quantity of lipid cells relative to muscle fibers, catalyzed by a spontaneous squirt of epinephrine and norepinephrine and some voltage spikes in his insula and amygdala, unchecked by his orbitofrontal cortex. I believe that we may safely assume that Mr. Al-Zaidi did not have a personal trainer at the time.
Yours.
Steve
I had a premonition on December 30th, 2008, that something was very wrong with Steve Jobs. I had a dream about him, where I overheard a frail, shaking Steve, walking with a cane, saying that it was much worse this time; the cancer was in his throat and lungs.
Of course, I dismissed this as ridiculous. There was no reason to believe that he had cancer, much less that he had it in his throat and lungs. Then, after I got up and browsed the web, I read an announcement that Steve had a "hormone imbalance." And now, just over an hour ago, we learned that he would be taking a medical leave of absence for six months.
Upon having my dream, I wrote to a friend, saying that by March 30th, I saw very serious trouble ahead for Apple. It is now just over two weeks after my dream. Although I've received no further intuitions as to what will happen, in accordance with my original prophetic vision--and I am stating this here for the record:
Within the next ten weeks, and definitely by March 30th, 2009, Apple and Steve Jobs will be in serious trouble.
I don't know if this means that Apple's share price will decline substantially (e.g. 20%), or if Steve Jobs will die, or if his illness will take a turn for the worst, but simply keep what I said in mind:
Apple, Steve Jobs, Something Bad, No Later Than March 30th, 2009.
This is very bad news, indeed.
Steve
Aaron,
I think that I might buy a $3,000 17" MacBook Pro soon. It depends on whether or not I can find a new contract that would necessitate such a purchase. Did you know that 10% of companies now require that you buy and use your own laptop at work? Remarkable. In any case, I had to use my own at a previous contract, and since that laptop has bitten the dust, and I need quite a powerful Mac to run Windows effectively within a virtual machine, with any luck, I'll place the order within a few weeks.
I sincerely hope that Steve Jobs not only doesn't die, but recovers fully and continues to lead Apple for at least another decade. What do you suppose the probability of that is?
Yours.
Aaron,
Incidentally, I have a PDF of Robert Wright's The [Im]moral Animal. I'm sure that you'd enjoy spreading it to your array of New Age and fundamentalist acquaintances. Ironically, it is those who most need to read such books who won't.
I'm Yours.
Aaron,
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/01/how-the-brain-g.html
Could this explain why people such as you do not believe in Christianity, whereas Daniel Tammet does?
I'm Yours,
Steve
Aaron,
Are you still staying with your parents? Where on earth have you gone? There is so very much to write about, but you're nowhere to be found.
Steve Jobs: Dying of cancer.
Flight 1549: Plane destroyed, geese slaughtered.
King George: Abdicating.
Joseph Smith: Still dead.
Come Back,
Steve
Aaron, Pat[rick],
I think that you should watch this, particularly at 3 minutes and 30 seconds in:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid353515028?bctid=416343938
Yours.
Steve
PS Lest we forget about homosexual ex-Senator Larry Craig, please read:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/08/AR2009010803482.html?wprss=rss_print/asection
Charming.
Steve
Aaron,
Why are so many people opposed to Reverend Jeremiah Wright?
http://abcnews.go.com/blotter/Story?id=4443788&page=1
The simple answer is this: they don't want to hear and be forced to acknowledge the truth.
Of course, Saddam Hussein Obama is an atheist.
Yours.
Steve
Aaron,
Why doesn't anyone talk about the Great Earthquake of Lisbon on November 1, 1755, anymore? Surely you remember it. It was the one in which the parishioners of the churches were destroyed, while the visitors to the brothels were preserved, which, theologians have speculated, was a deliberate message sent by Father to demonstrate his fury at their hypocrisy and iniquity. Yahweh clearly has an ironic sense of humor.
I'm still grieving over the geese so mercilessly executed by Flight 1549's merciless jet engines. :( How tragic and unfair!
Yours.
Aaron,
This is for your use, to monitor religious growth and (more importantly) decline:
http://www.thearda.com/demographicmap/displayRCMSmap.asp
Yours.
Aaron,
Ludwig Wittgenstein said that whatever reason we're here for, it does not appear to be to enjoy ourselves. This is a perspicuous and sagacious observation. There's simply too much suffering. Way too much. Isn't even the slightest bit too much?
Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you were married to a female that you loved deeply, and whom loved you deeply, with healthy and smart children that you were raising together? Think about it carefully.
You would have a built-in support system with increasing redundancy over time. As your children grew older, they would become increasingly capable of helping you more. As the time for your earthy demise approached, you wouldn't be alone. You would have grandchildren--adults, themselves, by that time. Your body would die in warmth and comfort.
Would that be enough for happiness, Aaron? We know that 50% of our happiness is genetically determined; we have a set point. Well, what if it turned out that there were an individual who was 100% happy. Such a soul would never experience depression or remorse, only delight or, at worst, a very transient numbness at a profound loss.
In such a case, watching a child die of cancer would have no effect. Watching suffering in Africa from starvation and AIDS wouldn't perturb his happiness. If we had such a constitutionally happy individual--if we had many of them--wouldn't the very foundations of our civilization be in deep trouble? I suspect so.
What incentive would there by for people to want to help others if those who had the power, money, knowledge, ability, and status to do so were, themselves, entirely happy?
Indeed, social intelligence (enabled by mirror neurons, which facilitate empathy) dictates that when we see others in pain or suffering, we, ourselves, will echo that suffering internally with lesser intensity. But if this system were to malfunction, or not function at all due to perpetual happiness, those who are unhappy, those souls who are miserable and suffering, would surely perish.
Is it good, then, that we are all capable of both suffering and happiness, although to varying extents?
It's interesting to note that only 6% of people who report being in excellent health are unhappy. Physical health and happiness go together. It's not that physical health will necessarily make one happy, but without it, one is swimming upstream.
It's so very difficult to find a reason for living, by which I mean something to inspire passion and the commitment of energy and belief. Science has demythologized so many such artificial reasons, that it's hard to imagine finding a "real" one. Can there be a universal reason, or are we stuck living out the results of traditional myths that everyone no longer believes in but, by a social fiat, professes to in order to promote group cohesion?
People don't go to a church to pray to an imaginary god, but to verbalize their troubles to their friends.
Evolution explains it all, Aaron. It's the key upon which a full understanding of human behavior will become possible. The greatest progress toward that end has come from neuroscience, whose explanations are predicated upon the validity of evolutionary theory. There is no alternative. Evolution is a fact. It is only the details that remain to be worked out.
Why do highly intelligent people believe in a sky god, anyway? Why, really? It appears that many, and maybe most, of us need an external reason for living and can only find meaning through the esteem of others (such as an imaginary sky god with whom one has an imaginary one-sided relationship).
Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, and Bill Gates have two features in common:
1. They are all college dropouts; and
2. They are all billionaires.
Three...of nearly seven billion souls. Those aren't very good odds.
I know that research suggests that a surplus of money doesn't make one happier. But really, does any sane person believe this? Research also suggests that Californians aren't any happier than, say, Wisconsonites. This is absurd!
Wisdom is the art of knowing that we're being lied to, and clearly in both of those cases, we are! I don't know what would bring about happiness, but I'm quite certain that being a billionaire living in California can only help.
Wittgenstein died relatively young of cancer. What did his life amount to? At least he had the good sense to be gay, and handsome, although in spite of all that, he was never able to find The One.
Devastating.
Yours.
Aaron,
Read this:
http://everything2.com/e2node/Laurel%2520Rose%2520Willson%2520%252F%2520Lauren%2520Stratford%2520%252F%2520Laura%2520Grabowski
Yours.
Aaron,
Next to the now ascended Lady Diana, I think that this woman is the most photogenically titillating in the entire world:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vgEA7CHGLe8/SW8S0BKSsbI/AAAAAAAAAMk/6Ih_Wqrlo6I/s1600-h/hillary2.jpg
Yours.
ARon,
I just love this blog post. I'd never have found it without you:
http://generalsystemsvehicle.blogspot.com/2008/12/vatican-watch-pretend-country-opposes.html#links
The Pope and his little wizards...
O! This remarkable Australian has a felicity with words, particularly the adjective (and verb) "fucking."
BAM!!
Yours.
Aaron,
I'd like to share Robert Wright's Nonzero with you, but how? I would e-mail it to you, but you won't let me. You really ought to read it.
You would be stunned by the dozens of thousands of dollars' worth of books that I've grabbed over the past few days. There's a great deal that I'd like to educate you about, but you've never seemed interested in finding out.
Why not?
Yours,
Steve
PS In your ultrasonography work, have you ever found a teratoma?
I own nonzero and read it through as I have already discussed. I often wonder about the state of your hippocampus.
http://duplicitous46xyprimate.blogspot.com/2008/01/nonzero-robert-wright.html
There are many things I would like to educate you about too, but some things cannot be taught.
Teratomas? Yes.
Aaron,
Keep in mind that until recently, I hardly ever visited your blog, and I've certainly never read your post about Nonzero until now. The state of my hippocampus is questionable, but even if impaired, it appears to work well enough for me to write elaborate messages castigating you in the severest degree behind a veil of feigned politeness. :)
Incidentally, how is your hippocampus doing (not to mention your insula and amygdala)?
Have you read Steve Pinker's How the Mind Works? If we replaced all bibles with that book, human civilization would be closer to the truth than ever before. It all makes such perfect sense and forms a coherent and compelling picture of human origins, motivations, and behavior, across virtually every domain of human inquiry and activity worth exploring.
I really believe that you suffer from some type of dopaminergic problem, Aaron. You're not motivated to work hard. You're not passionate about anything. You exist, but you're not living happily and passionately. Would you disagree with my analysis--actually, my diagnosis? Given the evident facts, it's hard for me to believe that you could mount a compelling case to the contrary.
Things can improve. Meaning can be found even in an absurd world where one is annihilated by death (not that I'm suggesting that that's what happens). I really, truly think that you should be taking some type of SSRI or SNRI, at the very least Wellbutrin.
I'm Yours.
Aaron,
Why do people engage in self-annihilations, not to mention the unlawful annihilations of others?
See:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/28/family.dead.california/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
Just because a husband and wife decide to kill themselves does not give them the right to murder their children first. Furthermore, are there any laws against suicide? After all, there are laws against euthanasia almost everywhere. How can suicide be any different?
There were over 70,000 job losses on Monday and Tuesday. One can scarcely imagine how many individuals will be fired by the end of the first quarter of the year. How many others will commit suicide as the result of this, or of losing the houses that they live in due to their inability to pay their mortgages, and so on?
It astonishes me that sociopaths like Lafayette Hubbard can start religions that procure for them $1 million per week, whereas hardworking individuals can't make enough money to survive. What we see every day is simply Darwinian selection at work, albeit in a context rather far removed from the environment of evolutionary adaptation.
People are unlucky in different ways, some as the result of their anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry, and others as the result of environmental conditions. Of course, usually the two come together in ways whose outcome is difficult to predict. We are, of course, talking here about the mental effects and not so much the somatic effects, even though the two are clearly related (and perhaps identical, if the identity theory of mind is correct).
Well, what's to be done?
Perhaps everyone should return to reading Brian Weiss's Messages From the Masters. :-)
Yours,
Steve
Steve
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