Recent posts

#21

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by garbon - Today at 05:06:56 PM

Having said that my experience of GPs would not be that they are advocates rather than gatekeepers And a GP's receptionist is the fiercest gatekeeper of them all.

So again all Canadian experience.  YMMV.

Yes, doctors are quite strict about getting access to the doctor.  But once you get in to see them they're paid the same whether it's 2 minutes or 20 minutes.  So whatever gets you out of there quicker is what they'll often go with.  If you're asking for a sick note, the quickest response is to write a sick note - it would take much more time to investigate, ask a bunch of questions, and challenge whether you're really sick.

But yes that doesn't mean your GP is going to go to bat and make a bunch of phone calls or whatever on your behalf.

(My wife works as a medical assistant for three doctors - one GP, one surgeon (who has to do surgical consults), and I forget what the third one does.  They're lovely people, but you can definitely see the failings in the system from her stories)

Yeah as Sheilbh said, here in the UK very different. GPs are 99% gatekeepers, 1% patient advocates. I've never even seen the same GP twice.

#22

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Admiral Yi - Today at 04:56:46 PM

The first time I scanned Raz's list of genocide chants I thought fuck, expel them all.

Second read through I noticed they're all directed to Israel proper.  Nothing threatening to Jews at Columbia or in the US.  So maybe no expulsion?

#23

Off the Record / Re: Indian Elections 2024

Last post by Josquius - Today at 04:24:58 PM

Based off my experiences with one Indian guy (so yeah. He could just be a werido) Islam as the foreign invaders religion certainly seems to be key to the hate.
I remember a few times he spoke about how great things were in ancient India, free love peace and glory, until the fire nat... Muslims invaded.

I get the feeling that some of it might be displacement of some of the post colonial inferiority complex about the UK since English and other colonial introductions are so core to India they can't really be challenged nor would it be wise to.
Islam on the other hand is a far safer target to bash.

#24

Off the Record / Re: Indian Elections 2024

Last post by Admiral Yi - Today at 04:15:52 PM

So I really tend to dislike the casual use of the word "lying".

In order to lie, you have to know what you're saying is false, and yet say it anyways.  If you believe in something false and say it, you're not lying.  An ardent flat earther is not lying when he/she says the world is flat - they are just badly mistaken.

So sure - in some alternate history, maybe the relationship between hindus and muslims would be completely different.  But as they say - if grandma had wheels, she'd be a wagon.

The BJP views islam as the religion of foreign invaders.  Whether they're right to or not doesn't really matter.

I agree with you about the meaning of "to lie."  That was exactly my objection to the anti Gulf War chant "Bush lied, people died."  However using the word lie does seem to have helped you understand my point.

And my point is that the BJP professes *not* to view Islam as the religion of foreign invaders, just a foreign relgion.

#25

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by HVC - Today at 04:14:40 PM

The King of Queens?

Fits as being a lower class family comedy.  Hardly any cultural impact though IMHO.

It's having a meme revival.

#26

Off the Record / Re: Indian Elections 2024

Last post by Barrister - Today at 03:58:42 PM

I get that am I'm suggesting they're lying.  That at least in part the reason they feel animosity towards Islam is because it was the religion of the conqueror.  The religion of the tax collector, of the judge, of the punisher.  that if, as in Indonesia, a couple Gulf merchants had shown up and told them about this great religion that helps you stop drinking so much, they would not feel the same animosity.

So I really tend to dislike the casual use of the word "lying".

In order to lie, you have to know what you're saying is false, and yet say it anyways.  If you believe in something false and say it, you're not lying.  An ardent flat earther is not lying when he/she says the world is flat - they are just badly mistaken.

So sure - in some alternate history, maybe the relationship between hindus and muslims would be completely different.  But as they say - if grandma had wheels, she'd be a wagon.

The BJP views islam as the religion of foreign invaders.  Whether they're right to or not doesn't really matter.

#27

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by HVC - Today at 03:55:04 PM

Never got the obsession with sick time. Either you get one person perhaps slacking, or you chance getting more people in the office sick. Second outcome seems worse to me. And besides, if someone is slacking then chances they're doing more wrong than just calling in sick and are underperforming so you fire them... we'll, from a NA perspective I guess, don't know how easy it is to fire someone over yonder.

Very difficult to fire people in most jobs. And that would be an immediate unfair dismissal claim at the tribunal.

Make it easier to fire people, problem solved!

Kidding... mostly some of the worse employees I've had the privilege of working with were union employees. They knew it was hard to impossible to get rid of them. I hated working with the union in disciplinary actions. Some I ended up getting rid of (well, the call to fire was their managers but somehow I had to deal with the union ) when they fuck up bad enough.

#28

Off the Record / Re: Indian Elections 2024

Last post by Admiral Yi - Today at 03:52:52 PM

Again, so I'm hardly a BJP apologist nor member.

As I understand it (and I can be wrong) though if you're a hindu nationalist you only care about India.  Islam (and to a much lesser extent Christianity) were brought in by outside invaders.  Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism are native Indian religions, not brought by outside invaders.  What happened in other countries is immaterial.

(No idea what they think of Zoroastrians who arrived as refugees, but given the incredibly tiny numbers it hardly matters)

Oh - I came across the term they use - "Dharmic religions".  Which basically just means what I said - religions that originate in India, and are hinuism, buddhism, sikhism and jainism.  The fact that buddhism is probably more popular outside of India than inside of it again just doesn't factor in to it.


Edit: pretty sketchy stuff (Quora) suggests that Zoroastrians are actually on pretty good terms with the BJP due to mutual antipathy with muslims.  Sigh.

I get that am I'm suggesting they're lying.  That at least in part the reason they feel animosity towards Islam is because it was the religion of the conqueror.  The religion of the tax collector, of the judge, of the punisher.  that if, as in Indonesia, a couple Gulf merchants had shown up and told them about this great religion that helps you stop drinking so much, they would not feel the same animosity.

#29

Off the Record / Re: Indian Elections 2024

Last post by Barrister - Today at 03:32:11 PM

Yi's point is that the set [foreign faiths] and [the faith of the invader] are not a perfect one to one. [Foreign faiths that came here peacefully] are still [foreign faiths], but not [the faith of the invader].

Yi gave examples of foreign faiths that arrived peacefully - Islam in Indonesia, Buddhism in China, Japan, and Korea.

Again, so I'm hardly a BJP apologist nor member.

As I understand it (and I can be wrong) though if you're a hindu nationalist you only care about India.  Islam (and to a much lesser extent Christianity) were brought in by outside invaders.  Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism are native Indian religions, not brought by outside invaders.  What happened in other countries is immaterial.

(No idea what they think of Zoroastrians who arrived as refugees, but given the incredibly tiny numbers it hardly matters)

Oh - I came across the term they use - "Dharmic religions".  Which basically just means what I said - religions that originate in India, and are hinuism, buddhism, sikhism and jainism.  The fact that buddhism is probably more popular outside of India than inside of it again just doesn't factor in to it.


Edit: pretty sketchy stuff (Quora) suggests that Zoroastrians are actually on pretty good terms with the BJP due to mutual antipathy with muslims.  Sigh.

#30

Off the Record / Re: Indian Elections 2024

Last post by Jacob - Today at 03:21:20 PM

Yi's point is that the set [foreign faiths] and [the faith of the invader] are not a perfect one to one. [Foreign faiths that came here peacefully] are still [foreign faiths], but not [the faith of the invader].

Yi gave examples of foreign faiths that arrived peacefully - Islam in Indonesia, Buddhism in China, Japan, and Korea.