http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/moving-forward/

Let’s hope this is the beginning of a new trend.

And yes, we all make mistakes. And we should all be willing to just… let… them…. go….

It is regrettable that Dr. Hall wore the t-shirt, even though I sympathize with the message (seriously, TAM is in a big hotel that has both and sometimes participants in rodeo, roller derbies, BMX races… none of those participants would be covered by any JREF policies). At best it was divisive, at worst it threw gasoline on a smouldering situation. While the reaction to the shirt has not been as vile as those lobbed at Ms. Watson for politely explaining that being invited to a room in the wee hours of the morning in an enclosed space makes her uncomfortable, it is still not warranted.

We do not need to forever condemn a person for one (or a few things) they have done, and forget what they have done on the whole. For example: I have the most wonderful mother-in-law in the world. I love her to pieces, and she has been there for every medical crisis with our oldest child… but I am still quite angry over her trying to take over our wedding (she turned a simple small wedding with appetizers into a large wedding with full dinner: I actually canceled everything, and that included losing the dress deposit money, and then had mostly what I wanted in a wedding in her living room). That was over thirty years ago.

“@BillyJoe – I’ve always been rather fond of “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.””

Firstly, I don’t accept the concept of sin.
Secondly, even if I did, those without sin should not cast a stone, because who knows the other’s situation.
Thirdly, it is too negative.
Fourthly, it’s from the bible which is full of contradiction, malice, and retribution.

The antidote:
Treat others how you like them to treat you.

Okay that may not work for a masochist. Someone suggested the more onerous….treat others how they would like you to treat them. Hmmm…that would not work if the other person is a masochist but you’re not a sadist. How about….treat others as they would like you to treat them provided it is not contrary to how you would treat others. Nope, I can see a problem there also…
Damn language.

Still, it’s better than my brother-in-law’s version….Do unto others and split!

It was fun though, for sure.

Oh and FYI, I have decided that I really need to focus on some things in the next few weeks and that SBM and NeuroLogica commentary is proving to temping a procrastination outlet, so I will ensure my inability to comment by giving my password to a friend to change it so I can’t log in. Drastic measures are sometimes necessary. So tomorrow morning will be my last contribution(s) to the blogs for a few weeks. I still am, after all, human it would seem.

@Chris – yes, we should compare speech therapy experiences sometime. Because my son’s hearing loss is unilateral (no hearing one ear, typical hearing -with tubes- in the other) he does very well. Things have worked out for him because he qualified for our area oral hearing impaired program, which had incredible speech therapy integrated into an intensive pre-K and kindergarten program.

@nybrgus – LOVE the sea creatures! You did a wonderful job. The facial expression on that anglefish is brilliant. Thanks for posting. Also, I was very proud to see my alma mater on your redneck curriculum.

@BillyJoe – I’ve always been rather fond of “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Amen.

@BJ: I actually have little issue with that. Kathy clearly seems cognizant of her intentional blind spot there and while I can’t be certain, I’d be willing to bet that she is against legislation based purely on any religion including her own. She said that this may not make her a “True Skeptic(™)” but I sort of disagree. She is merely a skeptic who hasn’t (for whatever reason) turned the critical inquiry towards that specific facet. She is still wrong on the matter, but I am certainly not right on everything. And it is how the person acts on it that counts in the end. Would I encourage her to turn that skeptical eye towards religious claims? Sure. Would I consider her a bad person or a bad skeptic for not doing so? Not at all. Now if she wanted to use her religion to claim we should prevent gay marriage or some such silliness then yes, I would absolutely call her out on that. (sorry to “call you out” kathy – I hope you took it in the genuinely positive manner with which it was intended)

My own step father is extremely religious (well he was… I think he is getting to be less and less so). My mother told me that when he found out I was an atheist he actually went to bed that night and was utterly confused, commenting that I was such a good person, so caring, etc how could I be an atheist? And then he felt afraid for my eternal soul and actually started crying and praying for me. Yet if my mother hadn’t told me this I never in a million years would have guessed. In fact, I never in a million years would have guessed he was religious at all! He has always been pro-equality of everyone and everything, even back in 1970′s Tennessee when he was in medical school. So I can’t begrudge these folks that much and I can certainly understand the sociocultural reasons why someone otherwise skeptical would retain religious thought.

And you know that I am no accomodationist. But I am also not one to fall for a Nirvana fallacy and think everyone must be 100% skeptical 100% of the time on 100% of things, especially something that is so deeply socioculturally ingrained. As this thread has shown us, we are all still human after all.

Chris’ commented reminded me.

Here is a photo of the costumes. I am the one on the right in the anglerfish costume. My friend is the jellyfish. Both were completely handmade by me from scratch, and both had multiple lights including fiber optics (well just the anglerfish had fiberoptic) for night time.

And I am jealous about any artistic abilities. Good on you for making a living at it.