Trying to back up and run through all the messages and suggestions and comments that people have sent my way over the last week or so. Its been a bit busy, and sometimes a bit tough. The Neil deGrasse Tyson post occupied some of my time, and reminded me more of game theory than discussion theory. An open battleground free for all is not the same as an orderly duel in the Skepti forums. I realized antis play dirty and just keep pounding you with the same information. If you debunk it, theyll still repeat it an hour later, because the thread had so many comments, anything meaningful was buried anyway, and only a masochist was going to read the whole thing. So it became an endurance test to not let them paint the wall with lies and just keep wiping it clean and putting science back up. The tough part came when my live in partner, Faith, went to get her MIBI test on Tuesday morning and failed it miserably. I told her to study for it, but it wouldnt have helped anyway, its a heart test. For two days, as they monitored her in hospital, I was very afraid for two things. The first of course, was that shed need open heart surgery, like I had 3 years ago. She did a damn good job of helping me recover, and it would be pay back time if she had surgery and of course Im up for it, but I also care for a brother with a neurological condition who needs help with his daily living and cant go far without a wheelchair and me pushing it. I seriously wondered how wed deal with that, but my philosophy is, just do whats in front of you, dont get all worked up about what might happen, just do whats there. Ah, but theres more than that to Faiths story. Shes lived with kidney disease for years, her kidney function has been barely above requiring dialysis for almost 5 years now and weve stubbornly watched diet and minerals and blood chemistry and shes hung in there, no dialysis yet. But if they decided to try to fix her heart, there was a good chance it would be the last shot in the kidneys that her kidneys could actually take, so for a day there, I was facing the idea that Faith might face heart surgery, then be put on dialysis, then sent home a couple of weeks later for me to care for and help her heal. Gulp. Scared the shit out of me, her too I imagine. Its sobering to realize how fragile life is. The good news came today. They examined her, rushed her straight in, put two stents near her heart to clear the vessels, and her kidneys didnt blink from the dye. Shell be home in two days, and shes up and walking about already. No open heart surgery, no dialysis, and I made sure to save some chocolate chips so she can make some cookies when she gets here. It reminded me, once again, why I love science. Three years ago when they saved my sorry ass after a heart attack, it wasnt prayers, candles and woo that saved me. It wasnt my chakras that needed detoxifying. It was science that was needed and I had to put my trust in the hands of 14 people, who worked 11 hours, as a team, using science that wasnt invented yet when I was born, to save me. I was completely in their hands and it was the most humbling experience of my life and I will be eternally grateful for these real life angels that do this every single day somewhere. Sometimes you just gotta trust the process, trust the science and understand that people really are trying hard. They really do care, theyre not corporate shills, theyre not there to lobby for Big Pharma and Monsanto. Theyre people, when someone gets up at 5AM and comes in to work on someone, and its life and death if they screw up, and they get it right, they know what the hell theyre doing. Its called science. It was really hard not to get mad in that Neil deGrasse Tyson thread. I heard such crap directed at me, the scientists and rational people whove become my friends, and at our motives for being there, that I just wanted to take them to a cardiac ward, or take them to somewhere where research is going on with genetics and people are trying to find cures for things, or where people are trying to feed people who are hungry and help them grow crops efficiently to support themselves, or cure diseases on the crops they depend on, and show them what kind of people are really doing this, and ask them why, in their heart of hearts, they so lacked in compassion and human decency, that they would let people suffer and die from their fear mongering and first world, self centered activism that was painting lies on NdGTs wall, like it was just all some sort of game to get media attention and that all that mattered was winning. Yeah, it was hard not to get mad, and right now, Im mad as hell.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 06:38:42 +0000
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