Taniwha420

That escalated quickly.

Never trust a Campbell.

It's other common name is the European Fat Dormouse.

I don't see why the need to shame. Some of us like our dormice with some fat on them.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_de_Coca

Late 15th c., Spanish. A fascinating blend of Moorish and Gothic architecture.

I once heard an architect talk about the kind of monstrosity someone without a budget would build. There's something about this castle that feels like that to me. I suppose they was a lot of gold coming into Spain at that time.

"Had a relationship with ..."

Sex with a minor. Hmm ... sex with a minor. I could swear we had a word for that.

I often cringe a bit at the rhetoric coming out of the men's rights corner, but the gender bias around sex with minors in so consistent.

Hydroelectric dams. Pump water uphill when the energy isn't needed for something else. Hydroelectric is a good variable energy source too. Probably not very efficient, but simple.

They do. Not to belittle the plight of women in Afghanistan (women who are members of the Afghan culture?), but cats have more freedom than just about anyone I know. Certainly got a lot of freedom from responsibilities.

Yes, because it was a mistake to totally rearrange our lives around that new technology, right? Cities built with the car as a central design principle aren't that great to live in, right? So we're approaching AI with caution in case it's mass adoption generates levels of pollution we don't really want to experience?

I'm not a medical professional, but I've got a few in the family and my own experience to go on.

Medical professionals do not seem to respond well to self-diagnosis. I'd stop at the list of symptoms, and then see what they say. If they point in a different direction be ready to hear it, but at that point I'd maybe say something like, "Hmm, Y could be it. I've wondered if it might be X, do you think that's possible?" By asking a question instead of telling them, you're framing things as them as the expert rather than you being adversarial, or preempting their work.

It's a bit silly, but as a professional in a different field it is absolutely infuriating how people with one hour of amateur Googling will toe-to-toe with me with years of intensive study. I'm not saying you're wrong, just some point ego kicks in for just about anybody. Let them be the expert.

I suspect you already know this, but DO NOT ask for particular medications. That's something people with "drug seeking behavior" do. Ask if there is something that might help. If it's not what you want, then, "I've tried that before and I didn't find it helped. It's there something else?" Maybe then you could say something like, "is a ketamine infusion an option?"

As for the clerks at the desk ... err on the side of not telling them much, i.e. "I've got these three symptoms and I'm really concerned. If this goes on for X more days, I'm going to be in a bad place. Dr. Familyphysician said she wanted me to see Dr. Specialist as soon as possible." They're professional gate keepers. Allow them to feel important for helping you. Don't give them any reason to shut the gate on you. It's their only real agency. Don't give them a reason to use it.

Be conscious that there are a lot of problematic patients. A lot. DON'T look like one.

Motivation.

Is it? There are plenty of Jews and plenty of Muslims who are not involved in this and see it as wrong. Plus, that's such a broad statement as to be meaningless. We could equally say government is the problem, but there aren't many advocating for anarchy. Or people are the problem. I'd be more inclined to say tribalism is the problem, the very foundation of an "us" vs. "them" mentality. Sometimes assholes pick a fight and call it religious. There's a strong case to be made that war has become much more brutal and far reaching since the Napoleonic wars and the rise of the nation-state. I mean, we can blame religion ... that certainly erases the need to look within ourselves and ask why humans do this to each other.

It's a bit like pretending Nazism was a German problem and pretending like the same dark forces don't exist now and in many people everywhere.

There are definitely some religious dickheads, but there are dickheads of all stripes.

If religion is so vile, how do we hold in tension the fact that religious people are often behind the most charity towards the marginalised and disempowered? Atheists talk a good game, but rarely leave their armchairs to do anything positive. Religion can become a tribal marker, but it also is one of the main forces working against tribalism.

That's kind of the point: there isn't an authority on English. The closest we come is a bunch of English elites making up informal rules on grammar, spelling, and pronunciation and judging everyone else for not using their version. ... And a bunch of try-hards who enforce their arbitrary and often nonsensical 'rules '.

If it parses, it rolls.