Yet another discussion entailing the chicken and the egg...

Establishing causality is tricky but there is usually free will and choice involved in the decision.

 

In many cases mental illness is the product of a life style not the organic cause. Can we both agree that most on the streets are NOT former war vets or pain medication patients?
Disclaimer: I've had close family relatives fall into the pit of drug addiction and seen up-close/personal the resulting brain damage that presents as mental illness.

Yes we can as I have family members in that pit as well...

I just do not like to use "many" and "most" as a qualifier. You fall into a trap of generalizing.

Are there people that systemically abuse the welfare system - yes

Are there people that would like to but cannot get out of their addiction cycle - yes

Are there people caught in financial circumstances beyond their control - yes

And so on and so forth... Can you paint all of these people with one brush? No.

https://www.veteransactionnetwork.net/4_states_battling_large_homeless_veteran_populations/

https://www.militarytimes.com/veter...tionwide-rises-for-first-time-in-seven-years/

Now to me those are large numbers...

 

Establishing causality is tricky but there is usually free will and choice involved in the decision.

Yeah... at least at the beginning... but then things get out of hand and whatever sliver of self-control existed is lost...

 

Yeah... at least at the beginning... but then things get out of hand and whatever sliver of self-control existed is lost...

For people with mental issues there isnt. You just want to gain control over your situation.

I had health problems, not mental, epilepsy. There is no free will when you have no control over your health. I happen to take same meds they use to treat bipolar. Side effects are dreadful, but I have high tolerance for drugs. Nothing is easy and one needs to be very self aware. Who is self aware when they are young? Especially in a society that promotes eternal happyness and quick fixes for everything?

https://www.dualdiagnosis.org/bipolar-disorder-and-addiction/

 

Yeah... at least at the beginning... but then things get out of hand and whatever sliver of self-control existed is lost...

To me that's why we can't just paper over the role of drug abuse in the American homeless problem with mental illness or poverty. If we want long term solutions then the need is early intervention into mental health and drug abuse, not a boarding home for beggars to keep them out of sight.

 

For people with mental issues there isnt. You just want to gain control over your situation.

I had health problems, not mental, epilepsy. There is no free will when you have no control over your health. I happen to take same meds they use to treat bipolar. Side effects are dreadful, but I have high tolerance for drugs. Nothing is easy and one needs to be very self aware. Who is self aware when they are young? Especially in a society that promotes eternal happyness and quick fixes for everything?

https://www.dualdiagnosis.org/bipolar-disorder-and-addiction/

Sorry to hear about that ... I have a 19 year old daughter with cerebral palsy (she's an angel) and had epileptic episodes when very young. So we had to keep her medicated for a while, during which she was not her normal, cheerful self. She's fine now, epilepsy-wise, and has had no further episodes nor need for that sort of medication.

That modern society promotes the search for unabashed happiness being enjoyed in complete blissful stupidity, and quick fixes for all problems physical, emotional and spiritual is a sad subject that I think should be discussed in its own thread ... otherwise we'll never see the end of it here, I think.

 

Back on topic. I guess pretty much anything will offend a mental twit, including a Christmas song.

https://www.wwaytv3.com/2018/11/30/radio-station-drops-baby-its-cold-outside-over-metoo-concerns/

 

Back on topic. I guess pretty much anything will offend a mental twit, including a Christmas song.

https://www.wwaytv3.com/2018/11/30/radio-station-drops-baby-its-cold-outside-over-metoo-concerns/

I guess we need to ban this one too.

The gold digger's national anthem.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/02/us/neil-degrasse-tyson-patheos-allegations/index.html

Katelyn N. Allers, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, told Patheos that Tyson grabbed her arm and reached into her dress while looking at her tattoo of the solar system.

I wonder which planet he was allegedly looking for?

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/02/us/neil-degrasse-tyson-patheos-allegations/index.html

Katelyn N. Allers, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, told Patheos that Tyson grabbed her arm and reached into her dress while looking at her tattoo of the solar system.

I wonder which planet he was allegedly looking for?

Probably the wedgy near Uranus.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/02/us/neil-degrasse-tyson-patheos-allegations/index.html

Katelyn N. Allers, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, told Patheos that Tyson grabbed her arm and reached into her dress while looking at her tattoo of the solar system.

I wonder which planet he was allegedly looking for?

He was just looking for the God Particle.

 

I don't get the article. He denies it but admits it?

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/02/us/neil-degrasse-tyson-patheos-allegations/index.html

Katelyn N. Allers, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, told Patheos that Tyson grabbed her arm and reached into her dress while looking at her tattoo of the solar system.

I wonder which planet he was allegedly looking for?

Neil's a well known horn-dog:

 

I don't get the article. He denies it but admits it?

Don't you give "awkward and incredibly intimate" handshakes.

"You extend your thumb forward during the handshake to feel the other person's vital spirit energy -- the pulse," he wrote.

 

The worst handshake is a dead fish handshake. For some reason Asian foreigners (to the US) don't understand how to give a proper American handshake.

As a member of a cycle touring organization, I get to host many people from all over the world. Most people I host know how to shake hands but those are mostly Europeans. The Asians on the other hand are horrible at it. My guess is it is because it is something they don't do much so they don't get much practice.

I am a bit bold so the first time we meet and I get a typical dead fish handshake, I ask them if they would be offended if I teach them how to shake hands like an American. Everyone I asked was very appreciative of the handshake lesson. Firm but not crushing. It is a real skill to get it right. Almost everyone picks it up during their stay and wished someone had taught them earlier in the trip. A lot of my guests have already traveled across the country staying at the home of other hosts.

The dumbest handshake is the fist pump with explosion.

 

http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/lo...r-running-naked-with-oreos-wedged-in-buttocks

BYRON, Ill. (AP) -- Ten football players at a Northern Illinois high school were suspended from the team for three games last month after they ran across a field naked with Oreo cookies wedged between their buttocks.

 

http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/lo...r-running-naked-with-oreos-wedged-in-buttocks

BYRON, Ill. (AP) -- Ten football players at a Northern Illinois high school were suspended from the team for three games last month after they ran across a field naked with Oreo cookies wedged between their buttocks.

Guess no one told these boys that is not were you put Oreo cookies. I hope they weren't planning on dunking them in milk afterward.

 

Guess no one told these boys that is not were you put Oreo cookies. I hope they weren't planning on dunking them in milk afterward.

​

 

Meanwhile in Canada...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calg...at-pincher-creek-emergency-services-1.4924224

 

Meanwhile in Canada...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calg...at-pincher-creek-emergency-services-1.4924224

I hope this is not about Oreo cookies.