![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 40 to 64 of 117. Go back in thread:
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 2:15:53
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 2:03:41
I do not know / understand about internal american politics...
But the kinds of things I've been saying about our leaders, here...
I suspect most leaders are not as corrupt as our leaders have been. I suspect this because people generally seem to have a better standard of living in the US and Canada and the UK and Australia... I think... From what I can tell... Things are actually worse, here.
Anyway... You need to bear in mind that Trump is the face of America for all the other nations.See...
When Obama was the face of America for all the other nations, then all the other nations awful leaders kept approaching America looking for handouts or whatever so they could better oppress their people. Obama looked like a nice man. A kind man. A man who could be taken advantage of.
Trump doesn't. So much. Trump has an air of... You can try and fair trade with him, but he'll only take you for whatever he can get.
Which means... American is less likely to be approached / harrassed by other nations trying to screw one over on... Well... As many people as they can, honestly.
I don't know if that makes any sense.
This is why I worry about NZ for now. I looked at that UN Speech that our Prime Minister made and it sounded like NZ is aware it's got some things to be looking at and it isn't asking for handouts (to better exploit it's own people). And with the leader we have...
Did you see the line of nations leaders cuing up to speak with her?
I bet they were probably not looking for mutually beneficial fair deals... I bet they were probably looking for someone with a sense of guilt to appease by... Maybe by giving them a hand out so they could better screw over their own people or...
...
Politics is a nasty business.
What is the business?
Well... It's to placate people. Business as usual. Get up. Go to work. Do you work. Sometimes it's the time to buy buy buy! Other times it's the time to save save save! Keep doing that...
And some people have access to lots of resources. And other people have access to lots of... Uh... Pink plastic sausages and the like. Feelings of guilt for bad decisions they make (e.g., for giving in to their constant cravings to over-eat because their bodies won't stop screaming at them since they're so malnourished)...
...
It's just a facade to have us accept the status quo.
Because the alternative... Is what?
War??
Just so long as we believe that would be worse than what we have now.
Nobody eggs the politicians car. People seem to... LIke the fact that there's a guy who is paid, what? They accept it. Don't mind. Don't think that his stuff is there for their taking. Not that our politicians actually live here or buy foods in the supermarkets here. Clearly.
It's a farce.
There is no democracy here. There's nobody home.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 2:33:06
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 2:15:53
Sigh.
I'm alright, I'm just annoyed about how little notice they give us prior to interview.
I suppose I don't know when grades are finalised... I suppose it might actually be a push to rank everyone...
I should get an interview... Since they interview I think 3x as many as they accept. Would be very strange to think I couldn't make an interview with above an A average for the relevant year of study (60% selection) and a just a little below average UMAT score (where the average is for eveyone sitting UMAT in NZ and Australia and further afield -- and not the average UMAT score for the applicants at the particular uni I've applied to -- which would probably be a bit less since they will want Australians to see NZ as a 'absolute last resort' option / a 2nd rate Australia option)...
But, who knows. Apparently I can't can't break 30% for a first year public health essay so... Who knows. Hey, maybe I'll have my old exam grader as one of my interviewrs.
F*ck*ng yay.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 2:50:37
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 2:33:06
and the UMAT is only 15%
60% grade.that's for interview selection. and then 25% from interview and (the journals lead me to believe) 'definite yes' and 'definite no' can be the outcome of interview.
we can't talk about the UMAT questions... and i don't want to...
it was just incredibly odd, to me, that i did really really well on their section two ('understanding people') practice questions (that's not the surprising bit)... I mean... I'm not surprised I did well on that. I mean, I've studied quite a bit of English Lit. My understanding of mood and tone and theme and so on... And then my study of psychology, too. From behaviorism to psychodynamic theories to developmental to freud and jung and so on... My study of de-escalating things and so on...
It would surprise me, no end, if I didn't do really well on section 2. I mean... I've worked really hard at understanding people most particularly (but not limited to) writing... Over how many years?
And practice test seemed to confirm that...
But I did poorly at it in the exam. And the questions seemed... Odd. There was a clear answer in teh practice questions (IMHO) and there was not a clear answer in the actual test questions. It seemed like a personality test, to me. But... Well... What personality characaterists are the looking for?
A good person?
Seems not...
I did poorly. Huh.
Anyway... The UMAT is no longer. England is going to be administering their test for NZ and Australia from next year.
Do I have any reason to expect that would be less of a farce?
And then what of the STEP...
NZ... Makes teh whole wide world look bad. Someone really needs to do something...
Posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 3:01:06
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 7, 2018, at 18:41:27
>the lack of a sharp rebuke of trump is worse than I imagined.
Was that the point? That one group of Americans wish to insult each other? When I listen to Mark Blyth or hear of some older woman who has a self-described 'abnormal love' for Trump, this comes to mind.
Here is David Byrne singing about it 40 years ago. (Do you think?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUrNrZqb1kw
And all this wretched whatever it is (we are close to identity politics?) obscures the similarities of interests......living wage, healthcare, cheaper education, rolling back the wars. The left has a lot more in common with the right than it does with the centre. I don't know how long it will take for corporate Democrats to learn. Or do you agree with Cenk, that they are paid to lose?
Talking along these lines 'white genocide' seems just around the corner.
You remember in the 60s there were a whole batch of musos who went all over the centre and the south, and on the whole, they wrote with generosity, I think. Nothing like that now.
Posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 3:07:24
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » beckett2, posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 3:01:06
Anyway, you have heard it all before. You can't pay attention to identity politics of your economic policy destroys jobs. I recall Obama and Clinton saying that they would all get better jobs.
There is more light/difference between the Democratic and the Republican Parties now?
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 3:46:14
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 3:07:24
people make money off people being uneducated.
that's why the push for that.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 3:49:25
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 3:46:14
many men do not want women to know how to prevent pregnancy
and so on...
many people do not want women to know that there are medications to induce miscarrage, too.
they'd rather their med students practice procedures.
the former is a little more of the giving the power back to the women thing. the later is more... repeating whatever it was that got her into that mess in the first place.
tis a nasty business.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 3:58:27
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 3:49:25
It's like those old videos where you have white people vising some place... And all the little kids run out and want to touch them and climb all over them because they are a novelty.
there's no sense of personal space, at all. They just grab and hold on and clambour over.
That's what it feels like, here.
Outside the overcrowded lecture theatres in Auckland for Health Science First Year courses. LIke... 700+ students all milling about. Physically bumping into each other tee hee! There's no sense of personal space.
Trying to swim, or whatever. Grocery shop. People always have some pretense / excuse for touching you. Bumping into you. Bouncing off one another all the time. There's no sense of personal space, at all.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 4:41:37
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 3:58:27
I suspect the UK has taken over the Med testing because the Aussies started doing what is oh so prevalent here...
Taking the piss out of the situation.
What do I mean?
Well...
There was a whole book about the test. A well written book. As you would expect, given how much money we pay for the test. You would expect them to have editors, and the like.
In the section on 'disability' there was a typographical error. Like... They didn't bother writing that section properly.
They asked for information... That year they asked about what secondary school you went to (whether it was a private australian or whether it was a public / New Zealand school). It was clear all New Zealanders (including those from our private schools) were considered to be on a par with the public Australians as far as they were concerned.
That year they also asked whether you had purchased or attended any other preparation material.
I suppose I got disability accommodations, that year.
It turned out that the way that works is that a particular dignosis means you are 'entitled' to a particular accommodatin. So.. For Autism Spectrum you get a smaller testing room (I think up to 10 people or something like that) and... 10 minutes for every hour. Or something like that.
I didn't know what to do about any of that, honestly. But it was done.
So... When I sat the UMAT next time (without requesting accommodations) I guess... They had to give me a slightly lower score this time, because I had less time. Right?
But then... What about all the study preparation I did for it this time that I didn't do last time?
And what about their f*ck*d up questions this time? They asked what gender we were... And then they asked a bunch of questions that mentioned or used 'statistics' in the question.
We pay them for the privaledge of sitting this test, remember.
It is used to decide who gets to study Medicine.
What is this... Psychology from the 60's because we haven't managed to learn it yet?
?
?
?
what the f*ck.
Where does the money go?
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 5:27:57
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 4:41:37
of course i realise that the NHS is in trouble... the government is wanting to reduce spending to them and that can't be good i would imagine... i don't imagine healthcare would get cheaper, all of a sudden. it must mean (i would think) that they have decided that the thing should / will take a dive...
and of course...
the queen and so on isn't getting healthcare from the NHS. clearly. so there must be some kind of private system going on.
and what is perhaps scarier about that is that it isn't talked of, at all.
whereas at least in the US it is clear to everyone (the world over) that there is such a thing. that it costs a great deal. that it can be problematic if people want every freaking test under the sun (that that might not be in their best interests, even). that insurance companies paying is a kind of waver to privacy / confidentiality (if you want to go that way). that access is a genuine issue / problem / thing. a genuine thing.
we just redefine 'access' so it's that people have access to the patient. the patients organs and tissues and genetic information. that's what better access means. it's not for the good of the patient. it's a taking the piss kind of irony that has us believe cuts can be cut and access can be improved.
thus far...
the US has given me a curriculum. something that seems worthwhile learning.
i know it's just the start and probably more fool me... but it's the best i've been offered thus far. Australia: my hard work didn't pay off. i don't know if it was that they pre-judged me or what... it's possible there is some master plan where what i'm told and what my school is told are two differnet things (or whatever). who knows... they say you can't compare your score from year to year but your percentile place from year to year can be compared, surely...
anyway... England moving in... the restructure of the NHS... i'm suspicious.
maybe they do want to get us thinking further afield than Australia.
I am concerned I won't end up with a quiet place to study.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 6:40:16
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 5:27:57
something about how the best defence is a good offence.
Trump is fairly offensive.
The rest of the world is on the defensive.
If that makes sense.Our last Prime Minister should have been seen as offensive by his own people long before he was.
It got really very bad, indeed.
I mean, he was pulling the pig-tails of waitresses, and so on...Our current avatair doesn't make any more sense / coherance than Trump, however.
Sure she gave birth to her baby in the hospital renowned for sexual abuses of infants. Sure, sure, sure she did. And is her baby's blood in storage in the basement right there with the rest of the Nations?
It's just not the slightest little bit plausible, at all.
Posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 8:35:41
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 3:46:14
Some people, yes. Betsy deVos? But not the overall society. Well, the idea of a Commonwealth has been under attack for most of my life. These people are the morbid symptoms of which Gramsci wrote... The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.
If we take this to its logical extreme where 1 or 2 families own (say) 95% of everything no one will have any money to buy their products.
Posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 8:38:41
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 4:41:37
For a US visa they ask 'Are you a terrorist?'
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 13:27:42
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 3:07:24
> Anyway, you have heard it all before. You can't pay attention to identity politics of your economic policy destroys jobs. I recall Obama and Clinton saying that they would all get better jobs.
>
> There is more light/difference between the Democratic and the Republican Parties now?Not to insult, but to point out, this is b*llsh*t and we know it.
Then I learn two winning incumbents have pending felon charges. Will they serve their constituents from prison?
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 13:34:05
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 1:45:53
Omg, lane issues. I remember that from when I swam in a huge indoor pool at the YMCA. That and there was a rooftop track, and some people would run the opposite direction to the rules. Swimming with 6+ people in your lane and in the adjacent lanes. Oh well, it was a crowded city.
I just read that Auckland is in the top ten most expensive cities to live.
>do american people have guidelines on teaching / learning or...
I think there is, but standards vary from school, meaning the meeting of those standards vary.
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 13:40:30
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » alexandra_k, posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 8:38:41
> For a US visa they ask 'Are you a terrorist?'
Apparently our terrorist quota is full atm. Today 13 dies in a night club shooting in Southern California. He was a gunner in afghanistan. The sheriff on the scene said, "Dean alluded to these earlier attacks, saying the carnage in Borderline is part of the horrors that are happening in our country and everywhere, and I think its impossible to put any logic or any sense to the senseless.
When asked by a reporter what it looked like inside the venue, Dean responded: Like hell.
No Country for Old Men.
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 13:45:32
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 13:40:30
The past 24 hours have been insane here.
Trump has lost it. The WH released altered videos.
But there is this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/11/08/year-old-man-asks-be-declared-claiming-age-is-fluid-gender/?utm_term=.28e98673f05e
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 13:52:50
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 8:35:41
Have you seen this book? http://a.co/d/4drDfCg
The Majority Report mentioned it. I'll never get to it--but it looks interesting.
There is also a conversation at The Intercept podcast with Chris Hedges. https://theintercept.com/2018/11/07/chris-hedges-on-elections-christian-fascists-and-the-rot-within-the-american-system/?campaign=homepage-podcast-intercepted
Maybe you've seen it.
Posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 15:27:17
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 13:27:42
>Not to insult, but to point out, this is b*llsh*t and we know it.
You mean there is NO difference with the corporates?
We are so fortunate. For all of its faults the ALP and the Greens are different.
Posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 15:30:18
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 13:40:30
Somehow the wars come home.
I was really shocked to see tanks or was it armoured vehicles on the streets of Ferguson under Obama.
Well, really, he was groomed for his future from a long time back? No idea by whom. Citibank?
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 15:31:05
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 15:27:17
> >Not to insult, but to point out, this is b*llsh*t and we know it.
>
> You mean there is NO difference with the corporates?
>
> We are so fortunate. For all of its faults the ALP and the Greens are different.I'm not sure I understand. I'm not strictly talking of reps vs dems if that's what corporates are.
AU is much better off, agreed.
Posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 15:33:48
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 13:52:50
Not the book which seems interesting.
But Hedges, most probably, I've heard just about everything of his.
I want to look up his ordination ceremony on youtube. He was talking about it somewhere.
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 15:40:40
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 15:30:18
> Somehow the wars come home.
>
> I was really shocked to see tanks or was it armoured vehicles on the streets of Ferguson under Obama.
>
> Well, really, he was groomed for his future from a long time back? No idea by whom. Citibank?I don't know, but he's disappointing. As much as I find him charming and intelligent. He looks frightened now, while he was out stumping recently. I feel sad. Like, yup, we're really in the sh*ts.
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 15:44:23
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » beckett2, posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 15:33:48
I would care much less except for our climate. There just isn't the time. Just recently I heard someone (my mind is scrambled from input--sorry) that they find comfort in history. I thought of you. I wish I could because I am thinking the jig is up. I think about this all the time. Literally. Which is why I was diagnosed with GAD. Lyrica is the only thing that seems to keep my thoughts from swimming.
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 15:45:40
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » beckett2, posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 15:33:48
After my child was born, I realized how real everything is. Does that make sense?
Go forward in thread:
Psycho-Babble Politics | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.