Ash Wednesday

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February 15th, 2018 at 2:49:02 PM permalink
Wizard
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Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: FrGamble
Face, I wouldn't call this a derail. I'd call it possibly an attempt to get back on track, for both of us.


Sorry for the derail, Padre. I'm still thinking of a challenge for myself. Feel free to suggest anything.

As for something on your end, are there any strings you could pull to get a Vatican license plate? I know I asked you before when you went to the Vatican, and I very much appreciate you looking into it, but perhaps there is some angle you could think of. Maybe write to whatever agency manages the license plate of the Vatican. I'm happy to make a $1,000 donation to a mutually agreeable charity if you're successful.

Here is a challenge idea for me. It will have to wait until winter but I'll jump into a freezing cold body of water somewhere and post a video proving it.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
February 15th, 2018 at 2:50:20 PM permalink
petroglyph
Member since: Aug 3, 2014
Threads: 25
Posts: 6227
Quote: Wizard
This is an issue I've changed my position on. I used to say "Heck yeah, tax anyone who isn't me, especially if they are blowing second-hand smoke in my face." However, since I feel that smokers actually benefit me by dying early and consuming less retirement money and medical care, I should be thanking them -- as long as they keep they don't exhale withing 20 feet of me.
A lot of truth there. Smokers go ahead and die like we are supposed to. It's the healthy people that live way beyond expectancy that drain the trust funds and at 90, move into a care facility, setting new records on longevity before getting hooked up to machines that grant them even longer "life".
The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW
February 15th, 2018 at 3:35:52 PM permalink
Wizard
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Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: AZDuffman
As a question, when you did your work at SSA, did you take smoking rates into account in your models?


I was a short-range (ten year) actuary. The long-range (75 years) actuaries were the ones to worry about life expectancy. I'm not sure if they looked at that specifically or not. If forced to guess, they probably listed declining smoking rates as one of many reasons Americans are living longer but didn't dive into the deep end with study on it.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
February 15th, 2018 at 3:37:32 PM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: petroglyph
A lot of truth there. Smokers go ahead and die like we are supposed to. It's the healthy people that live way beyond expectancy that drain the trust funds and at 90, move into a care facility, setting new records on longevity before getting hooked up to machines that grant them even longer "life".


You're absolutely right. At the risk of changing the topic, I strongly support increasing the Social Security retirement age.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
February 15th, 2018 at 3:37:50 PM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: FrGamble
Face, I wouldn't call this a derail. I'd call it possibly an attempt to get back on track, for both of us. You've called the quit line - biggest step in umpteen years and I've engaged the Wizard to come up with some crazy incentive to remain true to what I feel God is calling me to do. I think you feel a change a coming too. I know you through your writing and the brilliant way you share a story. You have a gift and as you remind me on occasion, you are a really good guy. Don't give up and may I humbly suggest calling upon a higher power. Or at least a couple of people who love ya to help.


I appreciate the permission and compliments.

The "higher power" stuff just doesn't work for me. Can't work. Same as I'm not inspired by horoscopes. It can't pass the logic check, and while I think you're not exactly supposed to logic check it (hence - Faith), my head just can't accept it. It doesn't work that way. WON'T work that way, at least not for me.

That being said, I've been on the Jesus for quite awhile now, going back probably close to two years ago when you kept saying (mostly to EB) "try". I must say, if anything, my attempt to "try" and your comments here have only made me more sure that religion is everything I've thought it to be, which is little more than wishful thinking. BUT, yes, there are certainly things within Philosopher Jesus, which is what I view him as, that have been helpful. Just the idea of aspiring to rise to the level of His teachings... I don't need to break logic to see that particular good. It's very good and very real. And trying to live it has helped. Mix it with a bit of purposeful self-brainwashing (things like joining Reddit and subscribing to ONLY /justrolledintotheshop, /carporn, /getmotivated, /wholesomebpt), forcing yourself to do at least one good deed of the day, staying the hell out of political topics, it does help.

But dude... I remember you saying once that purgatory wasn't as bad as hell. The pain of purgatory was simply the absence of God's love. And I told you then, and I'll tell you now... you have no idea how f#$%ed up that is. To view a colorful sight and see only grey, to feel a soft breeze and feel only cold. To KNOW you love someone, but to FEEL nothing... I laugh at your hell. People always worry about folks becoming suicidal, as if that's the worst thing that could ever happen. The proverbial "End of the line". Ha. There is no end. There is no bottom. There are many, MANY things worse than death, down where the broken people stay. To feel like even death is too good for someone such as yourself... it's a f$%^ing trip, man.


....uh.... that got dark quick. Sorry. I guess I said all that to say yeah, a change is definitely coming. Here's hoping it's a positive one, and not what I suspect is the beginning of my descent into dementia.
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
February 15th, 2018 at 3:58:59 PM permalink
petroglyph
Member since: Aug 3, 2014
Threads: 25
Posts: 6227
Quote: Wizard
You're absolutely right. At the risk of changing the topic, I strongly support increasing the Social Security retirement age.
Reading about viewpoints on that a few years ago, I read that there was an acceptable difference between pushing a desk and pulling a plow. I believe it's not the years that get you, it is the miles.
The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW
February 15th, 2018 at 4:16:50 PM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Wizard
I was a short-range (ten year) actuary. The long-range (75 years) actuaries were the ones to worry about life expectancy. I'm not sure if they looked at that specifically or not. If forced to guess, they probably listed declining smoking rates as one of many reasons Americans are living longer but didn't dive into the deep end with study on it.


You got the nerd in me interested. I didn't even know there was a difference, I mean makes sense, but who thinks of it? What didh? short-term actuaries do and deal with?
The President is a fink.
February 15th, 2018 at 4:33:50 PM permalink
Aussie
Member since: May 10, 2016
Threads: 2
Posts: 458
Quote: Face
Can you Americanize that? Is a "packet" equal to "one pack of 20 cigarettes"? That seems too ridiculous, so perhaps a "packet" equals "10 packs of 20 cigs each", what we call a "carton"?

Here in NY, taxes are THREE TIMES THE COST. A bootleg, unstamped pack of premium cigs, like Marb or Newport, costs about $2.50. With the stamp, like you'd see in stores, they're $11 and change. One pack. 20 cigs. Half a days worth (=p). Eleven freaking dollars.

I suppose what with my extreme mental problems regarding money, it'd be enough to quit. But I live in Indian Country. $2 a pack, $20 a carton, and now that they're grown, processed, packaged AND sold completely within Indian Country, no way for the State to come in and shut things down like they did in the mid 90's. $20 cartons will likely be around as long as I'm alive, a length of time which shortens probably 3 days for every one I spend.

It's a really f#$%ed up thing. Along with snorting, I used to freebase (smoke cocaine). When my guy with the great stuff moved, I stopped that week. It was simply a lesser product being offered after he was gone, and was no longer worth the spend. Took less than zero effort, and this is supposed to be the worst thing to kick. I was on opiates daily for TWELVE YEARS. Again, when my supply dried up (loss of insurance), I stopped on the spot. I didn't seize, shake, itch, sweat, hallucinate, feen, nothing. Sucks to be in so much pain again, but there was not one single mote of addiction troubles at play.

But cigs, man... I recall our own gore campaign. Was commercial featuring an autopsy of a guy who is now younger than I am now. Died of a heart attack. They removed his aorta and squeezed it like a tube of caulk, which caused all the fatty deposits (of which there was a ton) to come oozing out. It was the most traumatic anti-smoking thing I had even seen. And see it I did. A lot. And EVERY SINGLE TIME it reminded me of how badly I wanted a smoke. And I went and had one every single time.



A determined individual, indeed.




A “packet” is on average say 35-40 cigarettes. Bigger packets up to about 50 obviously cost mere.
February 15th, 2018 at 4:48:07 PM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: AZDuffman
You got the nerd in me interested. I didn't even know there was a difference, I mean makes sense, but who thinks of it? What didh? short-term actuaries do and deal with?


We should make a separate thread about it. I could talk about it all day long.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
February 15th, 2018 at 4:51:23 PM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Wizard
We should make a separate thread about it. I could talk about it all day long.


Please do, at your leisure of course. We need some new topics, and Face and myself can't build stuff in the cold weather....... :-)
The President is a fink.
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