Interesting Facts

[Abstract Debauchery]

Mosquito repellants actually do not repel mosquitoes. Instead, they hide you. You are litereally being hidden from the insects as it blocks their sensors to find you. At times, they land on you and figure out what you are, which is why sometimes it appears that the spray doesn't work.

Urea, a chemical found in human urine is added to cigarettes to give them that flavor you love so much.

According to suicide research, Mondays are the most likely time of the week for one to kill him/herself.

A portion of the water you drink has already been drank by someone else... several times over.

The average female orgasm lasts four times as longer as the average male orgasm.

 

[Richard B Riddick]

• The per student cost of some public schools in America is HIGHER than the cost of Harvard tuition and 2 to 4 times higher than the per student costs of comparable private schools. Socialism, ftw.
• Titanium is as light as aluminum and as strong as steel. The main drawback is its more expensive.
• Bruce Lee was 5 foot 7 and 150 pounds bench pressing 400 pounds. He was known for kicking a bag in excess of 300 lbs hard enough to make it swing upwards and hit the ceiling.
• The federal reserve is the 3rd central bank the United States has had in its history. The first two central banks died.
• American banks, specifically goldman sachs, profitted handsomely from Greece's debt.
• Its estimated that a mission to the moon would cost a minimum of $100 billion. More than 2x Bill Gate's net worth.
• Cholera sounds like a mysterious illness, in reality it simply means puking and diarrhea until you're too dehydrated to continue living or you recover from it.

 

[Sepalcure]

Boring fact time.

- Of the 37 school shootings reviewed by the U.S. Secret Service, bullying was involved in 2/3 of the cases.
- The first vampire movie is supposedly Secrets of House No. 5 in 1912. F.W. Murnau’s silent black-and-white Nosferatu came soon after, in 1922. However, it was Tod Browning’s Dracula—with the erotic, charming, cape- and tuxedo-clad aristocrat played by Bela Lugosi—that became the hallmark of vampire movies and literature.
- For most of the twentieth century, many researchers associated homosexuality with upbringing. Freud, for example, postulated that overprotective mothers and distant fathers contributed to male homosexuality.
- Reports of attempted abortions by ingesting savin (oil from juniper bushes) were common in the early nineteenth century, as well as accidental deaths from savin overdose. Savin was the single most commonly employed abortifacient in the United States during this time.
-Although it is much colder on Mars than on Earth, the similar tilt of Earth’s and Mars’ axes means they have similar seasons. Like Earth's, Mars’ north and south polar caps shrink in the summer and grow in the winter. In addition, a day on Mars is 24 hours 37 minutes—nearly the same as Earth’s. No other planet shares such similar characteristics with Earth.

 

[Lirael]

I found this one out whilst on a First Aid course the other day and it's important as well as interesting...so here it is:

- About 85% of people who die in car crashes (at least in the UK) could be saved if people only checked they were breathing, opened their airway by tilting their head back carefully and performed CPR on those who needed it. Far too many people are worried about breaking the neck and/or bones of victims and refuse to move them. They tend to wait until the paramedics get there. However, it takes only 3 minutes for the brain cells to die from a lack of oxygen. The paramedics take roughly 10 to arrive.
- Also, few people will actually wake up during CPR. CPR acts like a life support machine as you push oxygen into the body then pump it around with 30 chest compressions before repeating the process.

 

[Richard B Riddick]

-The edges of coins are notched to prevent people from filing away a tiny portion of the precious metals it contains and passing the coin on to someone else.

-If antarctica were terraformed and its ice melted, sea levels would rise in excess of 60-200 feet.

-JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and other writers were all part of a group known as the inklings. Kind of like a little mafia writing clan?

-The flea is the living thing with the largest penis in proportion to its body size.

-Hexcode color is based on RGB values. RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue. Colors are 6 digits in length and numbered in a hexadecimal format. The first two digits represent red, the second two represent green and the last two are blue. #000000.

-CDs and DVDs are more or less the same technology as vinyl record players with an extremely tiny laser replacing the needle.

 

[Sepalcure]

-Fining is a process used by most wineries to remove particles and impurities from wine. Typical fining agents include isinglass (a collagen from sturgeon fish bladders), gelatin and ox blood.
-Abraham Lincoln was the only U.S. President to hold a patent. It was for an invention to buoy boats over shallow rivers.
-One pound of peanut butter can contain up to 150 bug fragments and 5 rodent hairs. Mmm I like my peanut butter chunky.
-A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences, Institue of Medicine estimates that hospitals make preventable medical errors that kill as many as 98,000 people each year.
- Bacteria multiply between temperatures of 40 degrees and 140 degrees F, so be careful when reheating food in slow-cookers or chafing dishes.
-If you spell out all the numbers individually, (one, two, three..etc.) you’ll have to get to a thousand before you find the letter ‘A’.
-Did you know that mosquitoes can get viruses from you? If you have malaria and get bitten by a mosquito then that mosquito now has malaria. Rofl, that's pretty funny.
-The term “Mayday” used for signaling for help comes from the French term “M’aidez” which is pronounced Mayday and means “help me”. But I knew this one already because I took four years of French.

{bonus facts are bonuses for you guys.}

P.S. speaking of mosquitoes and malaria ...
-The word "malaria" comes from the Italian word ‘mal’ and ‘aria’, which means bad air. This derives from the old days when it was thought that all diseases were caused by bad or dirty air. It is estimated that malaria causes 250 million cases of fever and approximately one million deaths annually.

 

[Richard B Riddick]

-Today, most of america's crude oil comes from canada and north america.

-Peeing on sea urchin spines embedded in a person's skin as a form of treatment is an urban myth with zero medical value created to embarrass people.

-In 1913 the United States income tax was 1%. 6% for the wealthy. Today, its much higher and tomorrow it will probably be higher still.

-Toy yoyos are based on a weapon used in the philippines.

-A tiny fraction of northern europeans of scandinavian descent(IIRC) are immune to contracting HIV and AIDs.

-The founder of Pixar is a former disney animator who was fired from his job for proposing disney make a cgi movie. lulz

 

[Will Graham]

-The edges of coins are notched to prevent people from filing away a tiny portion of the precious metals it contains and passing the coin on to someone else.

This is not correct for the euro and I think it is probably not correct for American currency. I was told (and the internet seems to agree) that the edges of coins are designed so that the blind can tell what coin it is by rubbing the edge, similar to braille. Also if you really wanted to, you could easily file a bit off most coins.

 

[Richard B Riddick]

This is not correct for the euro and I think it is probably not correct for American currency. I was told (and the internet seems to agree) that the edges of coins are designed so that the blind can tell what coin it is by rubbing the edge, similar to braille. Also if you really wanted to, you could easily file a bit off most coins.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/11368048
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/11255227

 

[Sepalcure]

If I may intercept, Richard ...
Regarding the coin grooving ...

"The use of edge milling was first introduced on higher value coins to make it easy to know if some precious metal had been filed from the edge of a coin. Even today very few gold coins have plain edges. In modern times one very useful reason for this feature is to help those with impaired vision distinguish between one denomination and another. The use of fine and coarse reeding is often to help with this too." (http://www.wbcc.fsnet.co.uk/sub009d.htm)

"The dollar, half-dollar, quarter, and ten-cent coin denominations were originally produced from precious metals (gold and silver). Reeded edges were eventually incorporated into the design of these denominations to deter counterfeiting and the fraudulent use of the coins, such as filing down the edges in an attempt to recover the precious metals.

The one-cent and five-cent pieces are considered "minor" coins of the United States and with the exception of the wartime nickel, produced from 1942–1945, other minor coins never contained precious metals.

Currently, none of the coins produced for circulation contain precious metals. However, the continued use of reeded edges on current circulating coinage of larger denominations is useful to the visually impaired. For example, the ten-cent and one-cent coins are similar in size; the reeding of the ten-cent coin makes it easily identifiable by touch."

Frank has a point about the necessity of grooves in coins; how else would a legally visually impaired person be able to differentiate between penny or a nickle?

Also, additional information to counteract your argument was also found here; note that this specifically addresses the euro, Europe's currency. The following document additionally aids the visually impaired through the usage of extensive written description on each note and coin identified : http://www.atkielski.com/PDF/data/euroguide.txt
I would implore you to take a quick perusal of that. Historically, coins were indeed grooved to prevent one from shaving off the metals as that was considered theft of a nation's currency ... however this was at the time. Presently, coins are grooved in order to aid a visually impaired person in the proper identification of aforementioned coin - that is, so they can denote the specific type of coin they are handling.

 

[Richard B Riddick]

Frank has a point about the necessity of grooves in coins; how else would a legally visually impaired person be able to differentiate between penny or a nickle?

Also, additional information to counteract your argument was also found here; note that this specifically addresses the euro, Europe's currency. The following document additionally aids the visually impaired through the usage of extensive written description on each note and coin identified : http://www.atkielski.com/PDF/data/euroguide.txt
I would implore you to take a quick perusal of that. Historically, coins were indeed grooved to prevent one from shaving off the metals as that was considered theft of a nation's currency ... however this was at the time. Presently, coins are grooved in order to aid a visually impaired person in the proper identification of aforementioned coin - that is, so they can denote the specific type of coin they are handling.

Quick question - have you ever tried running your fingertips over braile and seeing if you can distinguish the difference in patterns?

Whether you, Conor and whoever is saying I'm wrong about this from anonymity realize it, blind people often have a highly developed sense of touch. If they can read braile patterns, they can distinguish one coin from another by running their fingers across the face of it.

But, its all a moot point.

I was referring to the original reason for it. I can't help it if overzealous people take an offhand comment out of context.

 

[Sepalcure]

Quick question - have you ever tried running your fingertips over braile and seeing if you can distinguish the difference the patterns?

Whether you, Conor and whoever is saying I'm wrong about this from anonymity realize it, blind people often have a highly developed sense of touch. If they can read braile patterns, they can distinguish one coin from another by running their fingers across the face of it.

But, its all a moot point.

I was referring to the original reason for it. I can't help it if overzealous people take an offhand comment out of context.

To answer your first question, no, I have not come into contact with braille during my lifetime nor have I ran my fingertips across it. However, I feel that that's irrelevant to the point I'm trying to make. Indeed, one can distinguish a letter "B" from "A" by running the pads of their fingers across the dots while using the braille system. I fail to see how this strengthens or has anything to do with the fact that coins are manufactured with grooves to aid visually impaired people. (1)

How am I doing it from an anonymous standpoint? I'm being rather direct and it's not as if I'm hiding my identity whilst stating facts to counteract a simple misstep in your post. I concur with the fact that coins were originally manufactured with grooves to prevent one from shaving off metals (e.g. silver, gold, nickel, etc.) as this was a form of theft at the time. Actually, you can not blindly state without proper validation that a visually impaired person can distinguish a penny from a nickel if they run their fingers across the face of it. Some more information to educate you on how a legally visually impaired person distinguishes specific notes and coins from one another will be cited here: "How does a blind person identify money?

Coins such as nickels, pennies, dimes, and quarters are easy to tell apart. They all are different sizes, and quarters and dimes have ridges around them, while pennies and nickels are smooth. There are many ways that paper money like one, five, ten, or twenty dollar bills can be identified. Some blind people like to keep different bills in separate places in their wallets, especially if it is a larger bill that they perhaps do not often carry with them. The most common way to tell paper money apart is to fold the bills in different ways. Each person will have his or her own way of folding them; there is no standard for everyone. Maybe a five dollar bill is folded in half the long way, and a ten dollar bill is folded in half the short way. Or maybe the ten is folded twice. A one dollar bill might be folded one way or not folded at all. Or maybe a twenty dollar bill is folded in fourths or not at all. Everyone uses his or her own methods. When we get money back from someone else, we ask which bill is which and then fold it." (taken from http://nfb.org/nopbc-questions-kids-ask)

Basically one can state that the methodology of identifying a coin or a dollar bill for a visually impaired person is highly varied. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that you're making a blind assumption. One man may be able to identify a coin by running his fingers over the face--another blind man may use another method. There is no widely accepted method by a consensus--it is based on individual preference and knowledge. (3)

Actually, in your original post, you never specified that coins were originally minted and grooved for the purpose of preventing the shaving of metals. Claim responsibility for your own errors or else someone else will gladly point out your faults.

-The edges of coins are notched to prevent people from filing away a tiny portion of the precious metals it contains and passing the coin on to someone else.

You used the word "are" which in that context denotes that you are referring to the action of notching a coin as being performed solely in the present. You gave the action a present tense. What you probably should have stated to make it factual and correct was, "Coins were notched with edges ..." It's a simple error but at least now you see where you went wrong.

 

[Richard B Riddick]

I fail to see how this strengthens or has anything to do with the fact that coins are manufactured with grooves to aid visually impaired people. (1)

I think people underestimate the degree to which a person's senses can be trained. There are card sharps who have a sense of touch highly developed enough to keep track of where each card is as they shuffle a deck.

A blind person who can read braile(which is NOT easy as far as I can tell) would probably have a sense of touch developed enough to tell one coin from another without the edges being molested.

You used the word "are" which in that context denotes that you are referring to the action of notching a coin as being performed solely in the present. You gave the action a present tense. What you probably should have stated to make it factual and correct was, "Coins were notched with edges ..." It's a simple error but at least now you see where you went wrong.

Typos & errors happen. Especially in offhand comments when people aren't thinking about them.

Besides, it is possible there are still coins in circulation which contain precious metals which have grooved edges, so possibly what I said is still accurate to a degree.

 

[Sepalcure]

I think people underestimate the degree to which a person's senses can be trained. There are card sharps who have a sense of touch highly developed enough to keep track of where each card is as they shuffle a deck.

A blind person who can read braile(which is NOT easy as far as I can tell) would probably have a sense of touch developed enough to tell one coin from another without the edges being molested.



Typos & errors happen. Especially in offhand comments when people aren't thinking about them.

Besides, it is possible there are still coins in circulation which contain precious metals which have grooved edges, so possibly what I said is still accurate to a degree.

*le sigh* Okay ... I did not state that a visually impaired person would not be able to identify a coin via the action of passing their fingers over the impression of the face on the coin. I said that one can state that there are a plethora of methods a blind person can use to identify a dollar bill or a coin; their methodology could vary from one blind person to another. Your point proves nothing. Secondly, it's a fact that when one sense is considerably impeded in some way than the other senses are more acute to compensate for that loss. Thus, a blind person will have a greater sense of touch, smell, hearing, etc. than someone who is not visually impaired in some way.

Thirdly, indeed people miscalculate and make errors all the time.

Especially in offhand comments when people aren't thinking about them.

Unless you state otherwise, I'm going to make the assumption that you were indirectly referring to my earlier statements as being condescending to you in some way. I wasn't posting those statements to offend you or to come off nonchalant or cool in my usage of language. I was merely trying to point an error you failed to admit to until I pointed it out.

Besides, it is possible there are still coins in circulation which contain precious metals which have grooved edges, so possibly what I said is still accurate to a degree.

Many coins are still in circulation that have grooved edges and have been minted. What you stated however isn't necessarily accurate, the functionality of the grooving and/or reeding was originally used to prevent the act of counterfeiting however that is no longer a problem. One can easily distinguish a counterfeit coin from an authentic one, provided that they are equipped with the proper knowledge. What some reeded coins are useful for in modern times however, is that it helps one distinguish different coin denominations from each other through touch alone.

 

[Richard B Riddick]

*le sigh* Okay ... I did not state that a visually impaired person would not be able to identify a coin via the action of passing their fingers over the impression of the face on the coin. I said that one can state that there are a plethora of methods a blind person can use to identify a dollar bill or a coin; their methodology could vary from one blind person to another. Your point proves nothing. Secondly, it's a fact that when one sense is considerably impeded in some way than the other senses are more acute to compensate for that loss. Thus, a blind person will have a greater sense of touch, smell, hearing, etc. than someone who is not visually impaired in some way.

Thirdly, indeed people miscalculate and make errors all the time.

1. I don't accept the explanation and believe it to be political tomfoolery. Its the realistic equivalent of the government claiming they need to takeover the internet and implement a centralized login system to make passwords "easier to remember". Like you said, there is no system in place to allow blind folks to distinguish a $1 dollar bill from a $20 dollar bill. If the government or minting agencies gave two shits about blind or handicapped people, one might think they would have a system in place to allow them to distinguish the difference via touch. There is a contradiction present that may be important. The more likely explanation may be the government doesn't want people to think of the real reasons why the edges of coins are grooved. They don't want people to think about the fact that the copper present on pennies is worth more than one penny. And, they probably don't want people thinking about fiat currency, the federal reserve and other sensitive issues. Hence, they try to pretend they care about blind and disabled people because it serves their own self-interests.

2. The next time you see braile somewhere--the plastic top of fast food beverage cups has them, sometimes. Try to see if you can read it or even distinguish the dots present. Maybe my sense of touch is dull, but it seems to me to be extremely difficult.

Unless you state otherwise, I'm going to make the assumption that you were indirectly referring to my earlier statements as being condescending to you in some way. I wasn't posting those statements to offend you or to come off nonchalant or cool in my usage of language. I was merely trying to point an error you failed to admit to until I pointed it out.

No worries, I understand.

What you may be missing is, I wasn't taking this very seriously and listed items off the top of my head without really thinking about them.

Many coins are still in circulation that have grooved edges and have been minted. What you stated however isn't necessarily accurate, the functionality of the grooving and/or reeding was originally used to prevent the act of counterfeiting however that is no longer a problem. One can easily distinguish a counterfeit coin from an authentic one, provided that they are equipped with the proper knowledge. What some reeded coins are useful for in modern times however, is that it helps one distinguish different coin denominations from each other through touch alone.

Alrite, alrite. You got me there.

 

[Sepalcure]

1. I don't accept the explanation and believe it to be political tomfoolery. Its the realistic equivalent of the government claiming they need to takeover the internet and implement a centralized login system to make passwords "easier to remember". Like you said, there is no system in place to allow blind folks to distinguish a $1 dollar bill from a $20 dollar bill. If the government or minting agencies gave two shits about blind or handicapped people, one might think they would have a system in place to allow them to distinguish the difference via touch. There is a contradiction present that may be important. The more likely explanation may be the government doesn't want people to think of the real reasons why the edges of coins are grooved. They don't want people to think about the fact that the copper present on pennies is worth more than one penny. And, they probably don't want people thinking about fiat currency, the federal reserve and other sensitive issues. Hence, they try to pretend they care about blind and disabled people because it serves their own self-interests.

So you're basically stating that the government doesn't have specific modifications of certain items and objects in place to help handicapped and visually as well as hearing impaired people use these items and/or identify them properly? That they don't care to help people with certain disabilities? I have to politely disagree with you there. For instance, let's just hypothetically say that I were to be blinded by some shattered glass getting embedded in my eyes. Let's say that it tore into my cornea and further damaged both of my retinas, rendering me visually impaired; okay so I have a variety of ways that I can approach this impairment. I can read books once I am taught to properly and completely read and comprehend braille, I can be provided a seeing-eye dog with the proper legal documentation in place, indicating that I am visually disabled and the dog was not acquired simply as a pet. The dog would be able to aid me in walking, crossing the street, he might be trained to open doors via the usage of using his mouth to pull door handles toward his body, etc. I have access to documents that can be "read" to me via a computerized voice on my laptop, provided I can purchase it. I can utilize a refreshable Braille display to help me type documents. As a matter of fact, I can purchase a keyboard that has braille on the keys so I can type and "feel" each letter that I'm typing. The government provides and approves the usage of certain facilities and objects that cater to hearing impaired and visually impaired people. It would be foolish to state that they could care less about a blind or deaf person when there are a variety of services, modified objects, etc. that are usable by disabled peoples. I don't get why you went into a whole tirade about what the government may or may not want us to know about the grooving and reeding process; it's irrelevant to the original point that I was making. You're going off-topic. It's almost as if you're taking on some conspiratorial tone here; there's nothing occult about what I provided to you. It's all there in print and essentially on the computer screen. If you search hard enough you'll note that the origin of coin reeding and minting are all provided in various formats and are all (for the most part) very cohesive and consistent in their validity. All of what you stated at the end is a matter of opinion; those are not validations made on your part.

2. The next time you see braile somewhere--the plastic top of fast food beverage cups has them, sometimes. Try to see if you can read it or even distinguish the dots present. Maybe my sense of touch is dull, but it seems to me to be extremely difficult.

I've seen braille on plastic cups before however I would not be able to properly identify what the dots represent. I'd need to be 1) properly educated on the concept and specifications of braille and the technical aspect of it by someone who is trained to teach it and 2) I would possibly need some documentation with a chart of some sort, defining what the dots represent to help me. Of course braille would be difficult if you lacked the knowledge of understanding and defining it. One cannot comprehend what they do not know.

No worries, I understand.

Good. I'm glad that you do.

What you may be missing is, I wasn't taking this very seriously and listed items off the top of my head without really thinking about them.

I post in this thread with the intent of listing facts from valid sources. One states a fact, citing a valid source, in the event that someone challenges them to concede that they may have made an error in their claim. So what you're saying is that you weren't really stating facts, you were just spewing random things you might have known without proper validation -- in essence, I could search for these "facts" you stated to dispute or validate them. They're claims until proven to be valid.

 

[Richard B Riddick]

The government provides and approves the usage of certain facilities and objects that cater to hearing impaired and visually impaired people. It would be foolish to state that they could care less about a blind or deaf person when there are a variety of services, modified objects, etc. that are usable by disabled peoples. I don't get why you went into a whole tirade about what the government may or may not want us to know about the grooving and reeding process; it's irrelevant to the original point that I was making. You're going off-topic. It's almost as if you're taking on some conspiratorial tone here; there's nothing occult about what I provided to you. It's all there in print and essentially on the computer screen. If you search hard enough you'll note that the origin of coin reeding and minting are all provided in various formats and are all (for the most part) very cohesive and consistent in their validity. All of what you stated at the end is a matter of opinion; those are not validations made on your part.

The government cares as much about disabled people as much as it does about waging a war to "free" people in Iraq. That's a bit low, but I don't see a better way to phrase it.

There are marketing campaigns and propaganda & then there are real reasons for things.

Maybe one day I'll make a post on socialism and people might see how inefficient and poor a system it is.

I've seen braille on plastic cups before however I would not be able to properly identify what the dots represent. I'd need to be 1) properly educated on the concept and specifications of braille and the technical aspect of it by someone who is trained to teach it and 2) I would possibly need some documentation with a chart of some sort, defining what the dots represent to help me. Of course braille would be difficult if you lacked the knowledge of understanding and defining it. One cannot comprehend what they do not know.

All the dots feel the same to me & I can't distinguish one from another.

Its not necessarily an educational thing so much as it has to deal with touch and sensitivity.

I post in this thread with the intent of listing facts from valid sources. One states a fact, citing a valid source, in the event that someone challenges them to concede that they may have made an error in their claim. So what you're saying is that you weren't really stating facts, you were just spewing random things you might have known without proper validation -- in essence, I could search for these "facts" you stated to dispute or validate them. They're claims until proven to be valid.

Well, if I knew you were going to read it and object strongly, I would have tried harder to make certain it was accurate.

 

[Sepalcure]

The government cares as much about disabled people as much as it does about waging a war to "free" people in Iraq. That's a bit low, but I don't see a better way to phrase it.

There are marketing campaigns and propaganda & then there are real reasons for things.

Maybe one day I'll make a post on socialism and people might see how inefficient and poor a system it is.

I feel that your comparison is rather far-fetched. I personally know people who have either served in Iraq, are going to, who know someone who was or is currently stationed there, etc. Regardless of my preferential standpoint on the war, I have a great deal of respect for the soldiers. However I digress ... how can you say that the government cares very little about disabled people? This isn't even a proper thread for debating, the last thing I want to do is antagonize or even fully debate with you here; but honestly, how can you make that baseless assumption? Do you personally know someone who's disabled? Have you ever witnessed a disabled person struggle to function normally in society? Are you or have you ever been disabled and have you been denied governmental assistance? If you haven't then I think you should (and I'll state this kindly) refrain from making such baseless assumptions. The government is required to lend out assistance to those who are impaired in some way, provided that the impaired person provides medical documentation that proves that they are disabled in such a way that they require assistance. Governmental assistance also known as disability insurance and disability insurance benefits have specified qualifications and prerequistes but essentially anyone can apply. I hate to throw personal shit in as an example but I will: my mother recently applied for disability because she had a hysterectomy procedure done. She'll be unemployed for the next additional 3 weeks, you're required to be out of work for 6 weeks in order to properly recuperate. The government once they go through the process of checking her papers will then offer her assistance in the form of payment while she's recovering. That's bare minimum coverage. However, if my mother (god bless her and god forbid) were to ever be permanently disabled by a debilitating condition then she could get permanent coverage, meaning it wouldn't only last for 6 weeks. Anyway, point is, the government cares and you're just stating an opinion and a rather weak one, to me, at that.

All the dots feel the same to me & I can't distinguish one from another.

Its not necessarily an educational thing so much as it has to deal with touch and sensitivity.

Honestly, we should be posting facts and not even getting off-topic; this would be considered spam due to the context. Anyway ... to a blind person the dots have specified meaning because they were taught to distinguish one dot from another pair of dots, so on and so forth. It is an educational thing as well as a matter of touch and sensitivity. That's like saying, I know how to interpret American Sign Language because it's a matter of me seeing it. You have to learn the concept and comprehend before you can properly utilize it. It's a matter of learning and practice -- Helen Keller couldn't communicate properly until she was taught how to properly sign and comprehend the meanings of the certain signs. She had to touch objects and process the sensory information in such a way that she could apply the texture of the object to the meaning and identification of it so ... the roughened coarseness of sand on adhesive + paper = sandpaper, for example. An American deaf person will be rendered incommunicable unless they learn how to use ASL (American Sign Language) in the States or (if they're partially deaf) have some sort of hearing aid or are taught how to properly enunciate certain words and correct their speech; it is not innate and it is not just by the sensitivity of the other person's senses.

 

[Richard B Riddick]

I feel that your comparison is rather far-fetched. I personally know people who have either served in Iraq, are going to, who know someone who was or is currently stationed there, etc. Regardless of my preferential standpoint on the war, I have a great deal of respect for the soldiers. However I digress ... how can you say that the government cares very little about disabled people? This isn't even a proper thread for debating, the last thing I want to do is antagonize or even fully debate with you here; but honestly, how can you make that baseless assumption? Do you personally know someone who's disabled? Have you ever witnessed a disabled person struggle to function normally in society? Are you or have you ever been disabled and have you been denied governmental assistance? If you haven't then I think you should (and I'll state this kindly) refrain from making such baseless assumptions. The government is required to lend out assistance to those who are impaired in some way, provided that the impaired person provides medical documentation that proves that they are disabled in such a way that they require assistance. Governmental assistance also known as disability insurance and disability insurance benefits have specified qualifications and prerequistes but essentially anyone can apply. I hate to throw personal shit in as an example but I will: my mother recently applied for disability because she had a hysterectomy procedure done. She'll be unemployed for the next additional 3 weeks, you're required to be out of work for 6 weeks in order to properly recuperate. The government once they go through the process of checking her papers will then offer her assistance in the form of payment while she's recovering. That's bare minimum coverage. However, if my mother (god bless her and god forbid) were to ever be permanently disabled by a debilitating condition then she could get permanent coverage, meaning it wouldn't only last for 6 weeks. Anyway, point is, the government cares and you're just stating an opinion and a rather weak one, to me, at that.

1. Respect for soldiers has nothing to do with a governments motivations or reasons for doing things. Unrelated!

2. The US government cut the budget to New Orlean's levees to fund the Iraq War prior to Hurricane Katrina which was the main contributing factor to them breaking. Concern for the welfare of people isn't the only reason the government does things. There are many examples which illustrate this.

3. Mistaking theory for fact. In theory, the government is completely moral and ethical institution. Just as all of us, in theory all love each other and get along. There's a big dfference between theories and how things should work on an abstract level and how they actually occur in the real world.

4. I'm sorry to hear about your mom. But, you're operating from a flawed precedent. This isn't a black and white issue where the government is either entirely good or entirely evil. There are shades of grey present. In some instances, yes, the government is a positive influence and helps people. This doesn't necessarily imply that their methods or motivations are sound however nor that they are incapable of evil. Nor does it imply socialism or the government is efficient or favors the best answers to problems, etc.

Honestly, we should be posting facts and not even getting off-topic; this would be considered spam due to the context. Anyway ... to a blind person the dots have specified meaning because they were taught to distinguish one dot from another pair of dots, so on and so forth. It is an educational thing as well as a matter of touch and sensitivity. That's like saying, I know how to interpret American Sign Language because it's a matter of me seeing it. You have to learn the concept and comprehend before you can properly utilize it. It's a matter of learning and practice -- Helen Keller couldn't communicate properly until she was taught how to properly sign and comprehend the meanings of the certain signs. She had to touch objects and process the sensory information in such a way that she could apply the texture of the object to the meaning and identification of it so ... the roughened coarseness of sand on adhesive + paper = sandpaper, for example. An American deaf person will be rendered incommunicable unless they learn how to use ASL (American Sign Language) in the States or (if they're partially deaf) have some sort of hearing aid or are taught how to properly enunciate certain words and correct their speech; it is not innate and it is not just by the sensitivity of the other person's senses.

You could read a book on how to do a backflip. It doesn't imply you'll have the athleticism or balance to do one.

Knowing how to read braile is pointless if you lack the touch sensitivity necessary to distinguish individual patterns.

Blah, blah.

 

[Dionysos]

This isn't the debate section. This is a thread for telling interesting facts, and commenting on them. Please try and avoid derailing the thread.