Turtles and things

I know it’s been said a dozen times before, but it always bears repeating … I’m not the sort of person to tell you categorically Do Not Use This Or That Word.  So I’m just going to tell you to be Very Very Careful if you’re thinking about using “Judeo-Christian.”  You have better odds of winning the lottery than of using “Judeo-Christian” in a meaningful way.  Seriously.  It does not mean what you think it means.

The term was first used in 1821 to mean “Jewish converts to Christianity,” and was next used in 1829 to describe a kind of church that would appropriate Jewish rituals in order to convert Jews.  So there’s a bang-up start to the concept right there.  After the Holocaust was when people really started slinging it around, largely out of the “standing by and letting the Most Civilized Nation On The Face Of The Earth™ murder six million people was not a good look for us” brand of guilt.  In this sense, it’s been used for decades to imply either that Judaism and Christianity are really the same thing (hint: they’re not), or that Judaism kind of inevitably melts into being Christianity, so there’s no more sense in thinking about Judaism on its own than there is of thinking about the little bits of stuff in the pot that haven’t melted away and become soup yet (hint: we’re still here).  More recently, I’ve noticed that some of my more woke academic colleagues have started to use “Judeo-Christian” as a fancy way of saying “white people.” 

Just don’t.  Please, don’t.  If you’re using “Judeo-Christian” the traditional way, the odds are overwhelming that you’re just gussying up the word “Christian,” because most of what is described as “Judeo-Christian” actually doesn’t have much “Judeo” in it at all, because, and follow me closely here, Judaism and Christianity are two different things.  If you’re using “Judeo-Christian” in the woke way, know that you are intentionally shutting out a minority group that, although it comes in many shades of skin tone, is still a target of white supremacy, and that you are being an active danger to us.  So, if you want to say “Christian,” say “Christian.”  If you want to say “white people,” say “white people.”  If you’re going to use Jewish people as a prop in your argument, make sure you really mean it.

The old testament is the whole TANAKH (holy book from the Jews) the new testament is the part with Jesus.

Judaism and christianity is deeply linked, Jews scholars don’t want to accept Jesus as the Messiah which is why they are still two separated groups. But christians literally worship the same God and study the whole TANAKH and hold it very dear to their heart.

So, Judeo-Christian is a very useful word which includes the obvious union of both groups since it’s almost the same faith.

Jews still believe in the laws of the Torah, Christians don’t have to follow the laws, they follow what Jesus told them to hold on to (which includes the 10 commandments besides the sabbath because Jesus became the sabbath but many Christians still hold on to the sabbath anyway.)

Islam as much influence of Judaism because Muhammed used Judaism as his base. Islam has mostly the same figures in the Quran. But the message of the Quran has a major difference than in Judaism and Christianity.

An example:

In Judaism and Christianity, God is all loving. In Islam Allah is an unknown all power who judge you after you died. Allah can me sensed or no one can talk to him. Many Muslims have no idea about their Allah because it’s not wanted to be close to him. In Islam you must prove yourself. In Judaism and Christianity you must trust and love God first before any other requirements may be asked for.

The idea of interpreting the Tanach through Talmud where alternate meanings are presented through arguments between the Rabbis is a uniquely Jewish idea. The Talmud is a sacred text in Judaism and there is simply no Christian equivalent. In fact Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees (who were involved in writing the Talmud) can be seen as a rejection of this form of interpretation.

Furthermore, Christian interpretation of the Old Testament is influenced by the gospels and beliefs about Jesus. This often reflects in the ways in which Christian translations of the Old Testament place different emphasis than copies of the Jewish Tanach.

The most important law is to love God and that’s what Christians do.

And the old testament isn’t influenced by the Gospels and no one says that. The old testament influenced the new testament and foreshadows it.

Also, saying “the old testament…foreshadows [the new testament]” is inherently an interpretation influenced by the Christian Gospels. It presupposes that Judaism and Jews were just waiting around to find completion and not a people with extensive cultural traditions of exegesis through PaRDeS that is independent of and doesn’t necessitate your Jesus. 

Aber the “not foreshadowing”, tell that Jesaja 53.

You can’t look at Isaiah 53 without looking at the fifty-two chapters that inform and precede it and the commentaries that explain it. I don’t know enough about Ashiʻyā’ to try to explain what he says or means within Islam. 

like, what other song can make that claim?

-healthy

-common

-normal

Questioning isn't:

visual deficit (including colourbindness; colourblind individuals often have difficulty identifying threats in action games because they don’t stand out from the background for them)

repetitive strain injury in the hands, wrists or forearms (common for anyone who performs manual labour for a living)

arthritis and other degenerative joint conditions (both those due to age and those comorbid with many autoimmune disorders)

dyslexia (a common symptom of even mild dyslexia is the inadvertent mirroring of sensory-motor responses under pressure, e.g., moving your hand left when you meant to move it right - which is a big problem for action games!)

sensory processing disorders (delayed reaction to visual stimulus is a common symptom)

spatial processing disorders (see above)

chronic pain

propensity for motion sickness

-happens sometimes

-means are in a comfortable enough space where they can question their identity and arrive at a conclusion that works for them

-often find our new things about themselves and how they express and relate to their gender

-doesn’t mean there’s some hidden force trying to make people trans

-is not an excuse to make hrt and surgeries harder to access

aka why tf am i procrastinating on The Thing (more like a flowchart, actually)

lots of people who have executive function difficulties worry about whether they’re procrastinating on a task out of laziness/simply wanting to be a jerk or mental struggles. this checklist might help you figure out which it is at any given time! (hint: it’s almost never laziness or being a jerk.) (obligatory disclaimer: this is just what works for me! something different might work better for you.)

1) do I honestly intend to start the task despite my lack of success?

yes: it’s a Brain Problem. next question

no: it’s shitty to say one thing & do another. better be honest with myself & anyone expecting me to do the task.

2) am I fed, watered, well-rested, medicated properly, etc?

yes: next question

no: guess what? this is the real next task

3) does the idea of starting the task make me feel scared or anxious?

yes: Anxiety Brain. identify what’s scaring me first.

no: next question

4) do I know how to start the task?

yes: next question

no: ADHD Brain. time to make an order of operations list.

5) do I have everything I need to start the task?

yes: next question

no: ADHD Brain lying to me about the steps again, dangit. first task is ‘gather the materials’.

6) why am i having a hard time switching from my current task to this new task?

i’m having fun doing what i’m doing: it’s okay to have fun doing a thing! if task is time-sensitive, go to next question.

i have to finish doing what i’m doing: might be ADHD brain. can I actually finish the current task or will I get trapped in a cycle? does this task really need to be finished?

the next task will be boring/boring-er than the current task: ADHD brain. re-think the next task. what would make it exciting? what am I looking forward to?

I might not have enough time to complete the task: ADHD brain wants to finish everything it starts. (if task is time-sensitive, go to next question)

i just want to make the person who asked me to do it angry: sounds like anxiety brain trying to punish itself, because I know I’ll be miserable if someone is angry at me. why do i think I deserve punishment?

no, I seriously want to piss them off: okay, i’m being a shithead

7) have I already procrastinated so badly that I now cannot finish the task in time?

yes: ADHD brain is probably caught in a guilt-perfection cycle. since I can’t have the task done on time, i don’t even want to start.

reality check: having part of a thing done is almost always better than none of a thing done. if I can get an extension, having part of it done will help me keep from stalling out until the extension deadline. i’ll feel better if I at least try to finish it.

no, there’s still a chance to finish on time: ADHD brain thinks that I have all the time in the world, but the truth is I don’t. 

reality check: if i’m having fun doing what I’m doing, I can keep doing it, but I should probably set a timer & ask someone to check on me to make sure I start doing the task later today.

8) I’ve completed the checklist and still don’t know what’s wrong!

probably wasn’t honest enough with myself. take one more look.

if I’m still mystified, ask a friend to help me talk it out.

okay

A hiker rescues a lost hiker and begins to lead them back through the woods across the quickest path. When they face a huge mountain, the lost hiker realizes that their rescuer is equipped with solid boots, thick pants and a warm jacket, along with extensive mountaineering equipment in a climbing pack on their back. They themselves are only wearing a light jacket, casual shoes, and jeans.

“Here’s the mountain!” their rescuer says. “Let’s start climbing!”

The lost hiker looks at them. “Are you crazy?! I can’t climb this!”

“Sure you can!” the their rescuer says. “It’s easy! I’ve done it, so can you!”

“But you have all this equipment,” the lost hiker says. “I don’t. There’s no way I can get up there without it.”

“Why don’t you go get equipment then?” their rescuer asks.

“It’s very expensive!” the lost hiker says. “And my car is on the other side of the mountain!”

“You’re just being lazy!” their rescuer replies. “I’ve conquered harder mountains in my sleep!”

“But I don’t have the equipment!” the lost hiker repeats. “I don’t even know where to start!”

“Just start anywhere!”

So the second hiker tries to climb up.

“No, no, no, you’re doing it wrong!” their rescuer says. “Use your rope!”

“But I don’t have a rope!”

“You’re just making excuses,” their rescuer argues, rolling their eyes, continuing up the cliff side.

The lost hiker grows winded at ten feet up and stops to take a break.

“You’ll never get up at that rate!” their rescuer says.

“But I’m exhausted!” the lost hiker replies. “You’ve done this more than me!”

“So just keep going then! You’re just being lazy!”

That’s Louis Rossman, a repair technician and YouTuber, who went viral recently for railing against Apple. Apple purposely charges a lot for repairs and you either have to pay up or buy a new device. That’s because Apple withholds necessary tools and information from outside repair shops. And to think, we were just so close to change.

Have an iPhone and are in need of repairs

Have a friend with that problem

Hate Apple and are more than happy to spite them in some way

So I asked the internet, well how hard IS it to repair? And I saw this guy’s video, and while I am no techie, I AM fueled by spite, so I was all “oh, they do that shit on purpose specifically so they can charge me $1200 bucks or make me buy a new computer hunh? FUCK THEM” and I bought all the tools I needed for about $25 and I bought all the parts I needed for about another $25 and I watched a few tutorial videos, and I replaced my own keyboard.

So, once you are doing the actual deed, it becomes pretty obvious that they are finding creative ways to make this much harder than it has to be on purpose. On thing that stood out to me is, instead of all the tiny screws being the same size, there are about two dozen very slightly different sizes. They could easily be all the same size, or like, two sizes at most, but no.

These mother fuckers will take a panel that screws into place and they’ll use a different size screw for each corner. They are so close that you almost cannot tell them apart visually, but they each will only screw into the matching corner. Like, it’s a pretty clear “fuck you” to anyone trying to do repairs.

Irwin is too handsome for just one Happy Halloween picture.

… you’re way more likely to run across people that are so severely damaged that they operate like actual monsters.

My friend was abused by a man in a position of power/influence who was a serial predator. As is common with abusive relationships, when she got out of it, she still cared about him. She had to learn to turn that off. When she reported him, he told her she'd ruined his life. She had to be able to turn off her empathy towards him to do that, but she knew that if she didn't report him, he'd continue to use his position to abuse others.