Tassie Dave’s Comments (group member since Mar 27, 2011)

Tassie Dave’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

Tim Minchin is a great aussie comedian/actor/songwriter and he's also a major voice in the skeptical critical-thinking/pro-science/anti-pseudoscience community.

He has some great pro-science songs & comedy routines on youtube. Some are a bit NSFW ;-)

If people find comfort in alternative medicine/treatment, that's good.

As long as they don't use it for serious medical complaints and more importantly, as long as the "practitioner" of alternate treatments don't try to treat serious medical issues and get their clients to go to real doctors for that.

Jan wrote: "I read somewhere that homeopaths spend on average way more time with a patient than general practitioners (a luxuray which people have to pay for of course!)"

My doctor will spend as long as I need with me on each visit and it doesn't cost me a cent to visit.

It does help that I live in a small town (pop. 1,700) and Oz has UHC :-)

I only mean the pseudoscientific alternative treatments that have no basis in reality and rely on a belief in "energies" or physics that don't exist. Water having a "memory" of what was once in it, for example. (Homeopathy, Reiki, Iridology, Aromatherapy etc)

Herbal remedies have a long history among humans and if it works, good. Humans have been using natural plant remedies for thousands of years. A lot of our drugs originated as naturally grown products. Hypnotherapy won't work for everyone, but it does work for a lot of people and it is safe to try.

Alternate medicines if they are used for minor problems and to ease minor symptoms, even by placebo, are ok.

I'm more worried about people using it solely for major illnesses, or carers (parents or guardians) treating their wards with alternate medicine or treatments.

Iain wrote: "This is a SF and Fantasy reading group so of course Homeopathy has a place. It would be sympathetic magic if it worked. "

In a book sure. But in real life it's important that we don't give it (or any other "alternative" pseudoscience treatments) any legitimacy or facade of being a substitute for science based medicine.

I barely noticed the italics. The only time they become a distraction, is when they are used for whole paragraphs in some books. A word here and there doesn't bother me.

As to continuity "errors" or continuity choices made purposely, "24" (the TV show) if binged has some of the most egregious ones.

In one of the early seasons, Bauer is standing in an empty field having just called the CTU team. The next episode starts, with the clock showing it's seconds from the last scene. JB is now standing in the same field with the full CTU team working, tents set up and gear everywhere. Something that would have taken hours in real time.

There are plenty of these that watching a week apart you may not notice, but watching back to back become glaringly obvious.

Counterpart is brilliant. It was a creative move to set it in Berlin. It gives it a real cold war spy thriller feeling.

The bridge between the worlds is, unapologetically, a modern day version of Checkpoint Charlie and the tensions between the two worlds is very much a Cold War analogy.

The second season does feel a bit rushed. After they learned there wouldn't be a Season 3, the writers adjusted the script to give the story closure. But overall they did a good job of wrapping it up.

Trike wrote: "The whole bit about “I was born in 1982”, “I was born in 1979”, “I was 13” made me imagine I could hear Tassie Dave crying out in anguish."

I was imagining you crying out grandpa ;-)

It does make me feel old when I had left school and was out in the workforce in 1979 :-?

You win ;-)

I did joke, but we do occasionally get a bad winter. The infamous '91 I mention above, my town was snowed in for 10 days straight. All mountain passes were buried with several feet of snow and snow covered the whole island even on the beaches.

I guess the thing I'm looking forward to in Summer is warmer weather and hopefully being out of lockdown restrictions by then.

John (Nevets) wrote: "I’m sorry, but I’m not sure you have winter down there."

Those northern islanders don't ;-) but here we have severe winters. When it snows we get inches of it. I remember the winter of '91 when it almost came above my shoes. It didn't melt for many hours.

and cold. There are days here where it struggles to get above single figure temps C. It even occasionally drops below 0C overnight. Never during the day though.

(view spoiler)[Ok ok, we don't get real winters in Oz, but it is cooler than summer ;-) (hide spoiler)]

Silvana wrote: "I watched only half since I kept thinking ''Arithmancy! Did you even read the books??""

100 points to Ravenclaw :-)

As I mention every other time these threads are started, some of us are in Winter ;-)

The biggest thing I am looking forward to is the re-start of Footy (aussie rules). My team played the opening game of the 2020 season on March 19th. Then the pandemic hit :-( Thankfully that seems to be almost over here. So .....
Footy starts back on Thursday (the 11th)

Dark (the fantastic German sci-fi Tv series) starts its final season on the 27th of this month.
Umbrella Academy is back next month.

John (Taloni) wrote: "I took a look and am displeased at being forced into plant names when stuff like Time Dilation and Relativity are available to others. *hrumph!*"

or Heat Death of the Universe :-)

There are some great plant names if you get creative.
Sequoia is a strong name

Terpkristin the OG Sword and Laser Member. Good job TK.

A couple of comments I want to make on the homeopathy discussion.

“It’s not like real medicine, but it still works”. The first half of that sentence was correct, the second half is categorically wrong. It is pseudoscience and doesn't work as anything but a placebo.

Also the FDA was mentioned in relation to homeopathy. I acknowledge that you mentioned it isn't FDA approved as medicine, But it should also be mentioned that no homeopathy substance is FDA approved at all and won't be approved. The FDA's own guidelines warn against taking homeopathic treatments for anything.
https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information...

My own definition of "Homeopathically Good Book":

(view spoiler)[A book that superficially looks good, and for a while, seems to be enjoyable, but that, actually, has no substance and ends up not being in anyway satisfying.
You find out the author has never written before and their total writing training was a Community college course that they signed up for, but never came back to after the first free lesson.

or, another definition:

You find a really good book, like say “Dune”, and you find one really good sentence in the book. You tear this part out and feed it to a chimpanzee. You sit the chimpanzee in front of a typewriter and get it to push the keys. Then whatever ends up on the pages you publish. It will have the “essence” of Dune, making it, homeopathically, just as good.

That last definition may sound silly, but it is no sillier than how actual homeopathic "medicine" is made.
(hide spoiler)]

Rant over ;-)

Tom wrote: "Kim's Convenience is a sneak attack of amazing comedy. OK, See you."

lol Good one Appa 😊

I would include:
Nnedi Okorafor, Rivers Solomon & Samuel R. Delany

An Unkindness of Ghosts would be my pick of their books for the most topical about societies tackling racial divides.

Trike wrote: "Tomorrow you’re Fourteen Walker"

Some mornings I feel like I need one ;-)

(view spoiler)[2 years from tomorrow I'll really feel like I need one :-? (hide spoiler)]

Trike wrote: "I’ve already forgotten what mine was. One Hundred Thunderclap, or something."

Being old does that ;-)

Thankfully I'm a sprightly youth (until tomorrow :-? ) and I remember mine is "Fourteen Mitre Saw"

I agree, Steve Carell is really good. I enjoy most of his work and his comedic acting style is best when he holds himself back a bit.

I do find it funny and have had many laugh out loud moments and I hope it gets a few more seasons.

It is more subtle comedy than I was expecting from the trailers. That is a good thing.

Trike wrote: "I just saw it as “Texicali”, which probably doesn’t mean anything for non-Americans"

True Dat ;-)

If I had to guess (without using Google) I'd say it's a Californian who comes to Texas to visit a Dude Ranch wears a 10 Gallon hat and says "Howdy Pardner" and "Yee Haw" a lot.

or is it a Texan Who visits LA and says Dude and Cowabunga while trying to surf.

;-)

Is it culturally insensitive to stereotype other white people? :-?

I'm not sure if my brain has a laziness filter, but I don't really pronounce long new words in my brain as I read.

The first time I see a new long word, like Teixcalaanli, I will try and pronounce it and check the pronunciation is right, But after that I just skim over it as I read and my brain registers it without trying to get it right.

It more than likely just ends up as Texans ;-)