Eh. Wouldn't it also be blasphemous to compare the mind of God to the mind of men?
I don't know how Maimonides is viewed among Orthodox Jews, but his whole ineffability of God seems to cast serious doubt on the efficacy of any analysis built out of experience of human writers. Afterall, does anything in Orthodox Jewish belief preclude God from writing in multiple voices, styles, ideological agenda?
I imagine the blasphemy comes in when the authors suggest that the variation was due to variation in the "conduits" or "transmitters" of God's chosen words.
So far have gotten back responses from two doctors / doctors-in-training. They both strongly suggest seeing a social worker to find out what resources are available vis-a-vie cleaning your apartment, improving your living situation, etc.
They also suggest you might take vitamin B and folate supplements, but you should check with your doctor to see if you have any deficiencies that may be contributing to your chronic pain and tiredness (as you mentioned in the eating vegetables and meat post).
Finally, there are a number of follow-up questions. You don't need...
Many thanks. Good advice all. The resources you're suggesting are particularly helpful.
I will hopefully have many of those books in the next few weeks depending on shipping to Beijing.
I am hoping that I can get into a program before leaving the country, but regardless I am committed to resigning and moving by middle of next spring.
I am also looking at the terminal masters programs in the U.K. I know Cambridge has some.
I've sent an overview of your situation to all my friends who are doctors or training to be doctors. I will let you know their opinion. (I've also included information from your meat and vegetables post).
I strongly suggest you do not wait for them to get back to me and consult with local experts as soon as possible.
Also, if anyone in the LW community has medical training or knows someone who does who would be willing to offer an opinion on this, I encourage them to do so.
Yes. Asking them to drop you on a street-corner with a lot of people probably won't go over too well.
How is your time currently distributed? Is there anything you're currently using your time for that you would be willing to and have the ability to redistribute towards social activities?
Obviously, this is going to subject to cost-benefit considerations, but some sense of how much flexibility you have here will help point towards realizable social activities.
Three suggestions then:
Enlist the help of your family to ferry you to population centers, friends, or wouldbe friends; eventually you'll have non-family relationships that are strong enough that these new friends can come pick you up on the way elsewhere thus reducing the burden on your family.
Look into activities, hobbies, etc. that involve other people. People often gather around crafting something, music, political activism. You may also find some public debating societies interesting. There are also some public speaking clubs like Toastmasters whic
If you're uncomfortable, then you can stop here, right now...also, later. No one should feel they need to reveal more than they want. I will not be hurt if you decide you want to stop.
I'm trying to build a profile so that I can think of ways you can find interesting people nearby.
By evaluation process what I mean is...how long do you take to decide whether you want to continue or discontinue talking to someone. In other words, if you meet someone for the first time, when do you know whether they are interesting. By adjusting this process you might be able ...
I would like to go to grad school for physics and philosophy.
The Situation:
I did my bachelors in Economics at a very good American university, but I only did moderately well.
I took mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and wave phenomena. I also took theoretical multi-var, linear algebra, and abstract algebra, basic statistics, econometrics. In philosophy I've only taken a course on Kant's ethics.
The Constraints:
I have not taken quantum mechanics, statistical thermodynamics, or any science-relevant philosophy (i.e. metaphysics, epistemology, philo
If your health deteriorates further then you will not be able to complete your planned move, much less do something drastic like move now.
If your environment has toxic fungus, you cannot live for a year there and expect to be in any condition to move, to apply for a visa, or perhaps to be out of the hospital. I am trying not to be alarmist, and would very much like the opinion of better informed readers on the relative danger/safety of your situation, but you need to examine how much you weigh the inconvenience of moving or doing something about the proble...
8-hours to grow fungus on cooked food seems far too fast.
I am not an expert on this. You should find an expert on this either here or in your local community to look at conditions in your apartment.
My concern is that you may have fungus/mold elsewhere in your apartment (perhaps behind the dry-wall i.e. in the walls) or elsewhere, and that this fungus is releasing spores that're growing in your ramen.
As a preliminary measure, I suggest improving the ventilation by keeping the windows open and maybe the front door to create a cross-breeze.
Do you have access ...
You've provided a lot of useful information towards coming to possible paths to the goal you've posed.
I've a few more questions mainly around the strictness of your constraints that I hope will clarify the space of reasonable solutions.
I'm also trying to point towards a profile for what you consider the boundaries of an interesting person as well as easy heuristics for filtering to find these people.
Regarding (1):
Can you provide some elaboration around what you mean by an "interesting person?"
What heuristics do you currently use to determine wh...
Alternative balance activity:
Just stand on one foot and try twisting your torso from one side to the other or from from to back.
If this is too easy, carry a heavy object like a thick book. If this is unwieldy, try soup cans.
Vary your angular momentum by practicing torso twists with your arms out or your arms in or with varying weights.
Try the same while standing on the ball of your foot.
Try while reaching above your head, to the side, et cetera.
Other options:
Board: Old skateboard (I've found these on the street, should be easy to find in a few yard sales), cutting board (if you've a side you don't use for food preparation and are good about cleaning or use a towel to insulate), cut off part of a 2x4
Pivot: Rolling pin, small rocks (though not pebbles)
What about practicing balance?
You don't need to buy a special balance board or exercise ball for it. You can just use any board on a pivot of some sort...say a plywood board on a solid rubber ball (depends on your weight).
Balance will protect you well into old age and practicing it should strengthen your leg joints, abdominals, and lower back, as well as forcing you to be more aware of your body's position, movement, breathing, etc.
For entertainment, you can listen to music or an audiobook.
As for sweating/comfort it is definitely on the less strenuous side of things and can be done indoors with air conditioning (though this may be an expense you don't want to incur).
Run the experiment:
For entertainment - try different levels of water flow with your existing speaker setup and see if there's any overlap between the range of "audible entertainment" and "acceptable cooling." The experiment is fast and cheap. Edit: You may not be able to find the right level of cooling without first doing some exercise nearby to heat yourself up.
For safety - Assuming you've found an optimal level of water flow, try dancing at various levels of intensity with a friend present in the bathroom to catch-you/call-an-ambulance/help in case of severe accident. Not quite as fast as the first experiment, but contingent on it and still free and relatively easy - plus amusing for a friend
Dance in the shower?
Even fairly restrained dancing over an extended period can elevate your heart-rate and trigger many of the benefits of exercise.
If you have a shower and live in an area where cold water is provided for free, then there is no cost. Additionally, this should address your sweat issue much like swimming in a pool.
It is indoors which eliminates sunlight.
Vis-a-vie the boredom constraint. Dancing to music by itself may be a varied enough activity to keep you mentally engaged. If this is insufficient you might consider audiobooks or talk radio....
I up-voted because: