Watcha Doin' - 2019 Showing 801-850 of 2,486

[Sandra, Moderator]

What a week, Margo! I hope it gets better! *Hug*

[Sarah]

I haven't tried Kombucha but I did water keffir for a while which I believe is quite similar. I quite enjoyed it. I think it died when we were away once and I never started it back up again. Doesn't the kombucha have caffeine in because of the tea or is it broken down with the fermentation?!

Glad your uncle is ok now., MArgo. I lost a lot of data on a laptop a few years back when it went kerput. I was able to download a programme on to my new laptop replacement, bought a gadget to allow me to plug in the hard drive from my old laptop into it externally and I was able to retrieve some of the data. I got back all the important stuff thankfully. Perhaps that is something you could do (or your son)?!

@Lisa - I had the dull ache all day yesterday again. I can cope with that. No more severe pain after that one episode. Today I am fine. Very odd. So I'll just keep an eye on it.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Glad you're feeling better, Sarah. Very weird. Keep an eye on it, appendixes are not to be messed with.

I just looked at the commercial kombucha in my fridge and it doesn't say "contains caffeine" which I believe it has to by law. Maybe the fermenting process removes a lot of it. And it depends what tea you use I guess as well. I just made the strongest black tea brew where you can feel the caffeine radiating off it (which I am waiting to cool) but you can use green tea instead, and even herbal teas apparently.

[Laura (Lclwags)]

Margo that sounds like a terrible week! I'm sorry. :( I'm very glad your uncle is okay and you found him in time!

[Margo]

Thanks for all the sympathy guys! I am quite happy now are my new laptop has just arrived and I've got it more or less set up. Ooh, the buzz from shiny, new things 😊

[Travis]

I don't know how Goodreads falls out of my circle. Well here's how tonight got interesting.

Bil. My daughter cut her hair short and says her name's Scott
Me. Yeah she changed her IG name to Scott like 2 months ago so not surprised. I don't understand these things and I'm ok not understanding it. She's got to be who she has to be .

Other sibling in law. Ok Scott it is

Parents in laws who you k ow will not support this. Nothing but crickets chirping

The last sibling. Ok but I'm sad she is choosing to be unnatural and go against God.

Me. Wait you think God is up there sorting chromosomes. As if he has nothing better to do in this entire universe than worry about the specific sex of each individual human. Don't you think humans are awful important.

And it got very interesting after this point.

What is it they say about friends and family don't talk politics or religion right?
Oh you know I'll take it there. I'll roll my sleeves up and dive Right in that street brawl lol

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Travis wrote: "What is it they say about friends and family don't talk politics or religion right?
Oh you know I'll take it there. I'll roll my sleeves up and dive Right in that street brawl lol"

You and me both, Travis.

But the best thing is that your nibling has an uncle that is standing up for them and who they want to be.

And that will mean the world.

[Travis]

I've been preparing myself for years. Trying to get rid of my own prejudices and become a person with an open mind. I knew one day someone close to us was bound to drop a bomb shell and in that moment I needed to be able to accept it. Think of her struggle. Keep it inside and deal with the consequences of not being herself or going public and taking the hate. And there will be hate. All I know is I don't want to be the guy making someone deal with depression or committing suicide because they're going against the grain. Seriously for about 10 years I've worked on becoming a better person. And I believe I have become one. And that's what this world needs right now . Sick of the hate out there

[Sarah]

You've done amazing Travis! Many people don't realise that they need to be a better person. So good on you for that. And it's great that both yourself and some of the other members of your family are on board and there to support Scott. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall of that argument though - I bet you got stuck in :-)

[Travis]

The lecture on Reality I listened to had a section talking about social "norms" . What I thought was interesting was studies have shown for example let's say you're the average white American. Another whitey does a crime, let's say Rob a bank and kill the clerk. You see it on the news and say why do people make these choices, and maybe try to justify it like, well I can understand robbing the bank but killing the clerk there was no sense in that. Now the same crime is committed but maybe the person is black or maybe a Muslim. Someone who is different. You're the same average white American but when you watch the news this time you say well that's typical these people are always doing dirt like this I'm not even surprised anymore.

It doesn't matter what race, religion or whatever you are the majority of the particular group has that mentality. If the people are like you you ask why does this person do this. If the people are different you say it's typical of those people.

This was studied a lot and no matter what group of people you take the view was the same. And think about it because you know either you yourself or people you know do this. Once I thought about it I was like damn I hear people, including myself do this all the time. I have to include myself because my wife has called me out every time I say these people for a couple years now. Trying to get me to stop doing it and view all people as people. I'm a lot better at it now but when she calls me out I almost never realize I even used "these people". We are such a product of our environment. Most of the time I'm not even trying to be negative it's just a natural way of speaking and classifying people to me. But I see also why we need to try to get away from making these generalizations.

Don't worry my wife keeps me in check. Or tries to.

[Travis]

Another interesting thing is when they try to find differences between people they are very much the same world wide. Comparing people across the globe showed people are pretty much people. Take into smaller classifications and that's where people are very different. So break it into the easiest example white people stand here black people stand there. The differences between the whites or blacks amongst themselves shows a lot of diversity and differences but to study as a white black single group they're pretty much the same
I can't remember if they used examples to help explain but I think you get what I'm saying. And what it's proving is things like racism or whatever is just man made hate. Science cannot justify these things because the people who look like you are more different than the people you're hating on.

I can't explain that any better I hope it makes sense. Just makes you think about the world a little different is all

[Kristie, Moderator]

Sounds like an interesting course, Travis. And good on you for standing up for Scott. It's good that they have support and maybe some of your other family members will learn some acceptance through what you said.

Rusalka, I love the term nibling. We don't use that here, but I find it adorable and very useful.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I just learnt it the other day. I love it. Particularly with our 17 and growing nieces and nephews, nibling just saves time. And it's adorable. My 25 year old nibling, and soon to be a mother herself, maybe object it's too kiddie but stuff her. She's making me a great aunt at 35, I will call her what I wish!!!

Sounds fascinating Travis. In my psych courses we called it ingroup and outgroup behaviour. Anyone we identified with was an ingroup. So in what you are describing it would be Christian, probably white, people. And the outgroup are the others, black people, Muslims and the like.

The thing I find interesting about this behaviour is we are so quick and fluid with our definitions of ingroups. So you will find something in common with people as soon as you can, particularly if you agree with them. Ethnicity, religion, age, political affiliation, member of YLTO. Something that helps you clutch to a same group as them. So much evolutionary survial in it.

Beth, Peggy, Prayga, etc would be able to explain it much more than me. But TLDR: fascinating!!!

[Janice, Moderator]

Great discussion. I may have to check into that course on audible. I haven't done any of the Great Courses that they have.

[Travis]

Redefining Reality this is the course. Probably there are more to the series. Not sure if I'm interested enough to want to delve in to deeper meanings. It may start to go over my head. I liked this one quite a lot though

[Margo]

Travis, Scott is very lucky to have you their side. I'd say that discussion was interesting lol Like you, I know I too have a number of inbuilt predjudice to overcome and I try to check myself as much as I can. I have been reading up on trans issues as someone close to me is going through a similar think. There is a lot of predjudise out there and I agree that it is not easy to overcome. So much of it stems from religion.

In Ireland there is a big debate on trans issues at the moment. Much of it is focused on the influence of autism and social media on the person expressing the need to transition. It's a difficult one.

Best of luck to Scott. He needs to decide what is right for him. Who invented pronouns anyway :-)

[Sandra, Moderator]

I think the change is happening and we all are part of it. It will take a while, though.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Margo wrote: "Who invented pronouns anyway :-)"

I ask myself the same question since I started studying French...

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Sandra wrote: "Margo wrote: "Who invented pronouns anyway :-)"

I ask myself the same question since I started studying French..."

I know! Who decided a table was male, and a chair was female?!?

[Margo]

Yes, I straggled though that in school - as for german 😨

[Travis]

This may not be exactly the right way of looking at things but for me if something can be compared to cows it makes more sense. So I got to thinking I've seen calves with 3 eyes, a nose and a half, 5th arm coming out ribs. I have a cow right now with 2 ears in one. What we credit these cases to is early on twins are started but you don't have twins you have one calf with part of another. Kind of like conjoined twin but not to such an extent. That got me thinking. We can accept these because we can physically see this with our eyes. So with that mindset why can't we have a human who basically has the mind of one sex but the body of the other. Essentially saying a girl was formed but a boys brain was put in. Or hormones or whatever. You can't fix this. The person is what they are. We can't see a person's thoughts or feelings like we could if they had an extra body part in a strange place. Which to them they do have a strange body part . They're genitalia isn't right, but for us we look and say penis-boy.

Like I say this may not be exactly right but if I think about it like this it all makes sense to me. It allows me to go from I'll never actually understand any of this to I may not understand it but yet it makes sense. Logically for me it makes sense

[Jenn]

I think that is very well said Travis.

[Janice, Moderator]

That's very astute, Travis.

Changing the subject a bit.. Alberta is in the middle of elections and it's a testament to the division and hatred going on in the world. We have an NDP government right now. (New Democratic Party). There's been a lot of turmoil over oil in the last couple of years and people are angry. There are some people who have been going around and ripping down the NDP campaign signs, scratching vehicles with their keys if there's any display of NDP stickers, and urinating on them.

I don't care what your political leanings are. We are all entitled to our opinions. But to damage other's property because you don't like their opinion is ridiculous.

[Travis]

You have to respect people. Sounds like Canada is turning into the US

[Travis]

Unfortunately I am not surprised though. I've been watching this political rift grow in Canada. These things have a way of escalating to crazy. Believe me. Pretty much seen it all at this point down here

[Travis]

And all across the world as long as we divide ourselves into political groups I don't see the crazy coming to an end. Division never leads to unity

[Margo]

Re trans: Sounds like solid thinking to me Travis.

Janice that's terrible, unfortunately you're right when you you say it's sympathetic of politics the would over at the moment. Look at the uk tearing itself apart over brexit. At least ireland is united on that issue - we don't want them to go!l Plus watching their parliament makes most governments look good - okay, there are SOME exceptions lol

[Jenn]

It feels like everything is coming to a head (around the world, not just here - I am in Alberta like Janice), I just wonder what the aftermath is going to look like . . .?

[Janice, Moderator]

Yes, Travis. Canada is following in the US's footsteps. There is so much unrest and divion globally that it makes me wonder how things are going to resolve.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Same over here. We are expecting them to call an election any day now (and should have on the weekend but the government wanted to use a loophole that allows the taxpayer to pay for their election advertising for the next weeks until they call one), so it will just get worse and worse.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Interesting book news, is that they just announced the Stella award winner tonight. It's an award for Australian women writers. This year The Erratics won which is set in Alberta, Canada. So that may pick a few people's fancy for many reasons.

More details: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-0...

[Janice, Moderator]

Rusalka wrote: "Interesting book news, is that they just announced the Stella award winner tonight. It's an award for Australian women writers. This year The Erratics won which is set in Alberta, C..."

I shall have to read that! The cover photo is spot on for that area. Okotoks is just west of Calgary. It makes me feel nostalgic of the area where I grew up.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I thought it was near you, but wasn't sure. Glad I let you know :D

Figure some people may need a read set in Canada. And I usually want to let you know our award winners for any Aussie author tasks, you may as well read the best of the best

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Also that was "piques a few people's fancy" but autocorrect sucks.

[Marnie]

Added it, Rusalka. Not a book I would have heard about...

[Kristie, Moderator]

That book looks interesting. I added it as a maybe read because it isn't readily available here. Amazon states it is "out of print".

I was a bit confused by the tags on this book until I looked at your link. It sounds like fiction set in Alberta and I was surprised to see nonfiction and biography tags. It is actually based on the author's life.

[Lisa]

I have just watched the first full length trailer for the live action remake of Disney's 'The Lion King'. OMG, it looks amazing! The nostalgia! Scar looks a bit different from what I was expecting but I don't care at all. The Lion King has always been my favourite Disney film so I really can't wait to watch this new version.

Has anyone else watched the trailer yet? What do you think?

[Peggy]

My sister showed me today. It looked beautiful!! But it looks so realistic that it makes no sense the lions are talking, so I'm not sure yet what to think. I have never liked series or movies where animals talk, unless it's animation and clearly not real anyway.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Oh I have to look for the trailer now.

[Cherie]

Peggy wrote: "I have never liked series or movies where animals talk, unless it's animation and clearly not real anyway..."

You did not like The Incredible Journey or Babe?

[Peggy]

Nope. I don't even think I've watched it, because talking animals annoy me so.

[Sarah]

Peggy wrote: "My sister showed me today. It looked beautiful!! But it looks so realistic that it makes no sense the lions are talking, so I'm not sure yet what to think. I have never liked series or movies where..."

I'm with you on this! Talking realistic animals don't make sense.

[Lisa]

Cherie wrote: "Peggy wrote: "I have never liked series or movies where animals talk, unless it's animation and clearly not real anyway..."

You did not like The Incredible Journey or Babe?"

I loved Babe! Such a sweet little film.

[Lisa]

Peggy wrote: "My sister showed me today. It looked beautiful!! But it looks so realistic that it makes no sense the lions are talking, so I'm not sure yet what to think. I have never liked series or movies where..."

It's funny, I used to really love films/series where animals could talk when I was a kid, mainly because I thought it would be the coolest thing ever if animals could talk like humans. I think I fancied myself as a mini Doctor Dolittle. Lol. So now I don't bat an eyelid when I see realistic animals talking in films.

[Lisa]

Just heard that Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is on fire. The spire has already collapsed. What a horrible thing to happen to such a beautiful, old and iconic building :( I really hope the firefighters get the fire under control soon and that some of it can be saved.

[Peggy]

It's shocking! So strange that this is happening. It doesn't look good..

[Saar The Book owl]

It's just bizarre that this is happening. It stands there for so long and seeing it burn feels so strange.

[Sandra, Moderator]

It is incredibly sad. 2 hours of fire and so little is left. :(

[Sarah]

Such a shame.

[Lisa]

Peggy wrote: "It's shocking! So strange that this is happening. It doesn't look good.."

It's very strange. Apparently there were renovation works going on and they are wondering if they are somehow linked to the fire breaking out. I have also heard that some people are suspecting arson.