2011.07.01 01:00 - Why aren't we all?

The Guardian for this meeting was No Self. The comments are by No Self.

Wol Euler: hello zaldaan, mary
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Hi Wol
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Zal, why are you sitting in the fountain?
Zaldaan Sirnah: Why aren't we all? :)
Wol Euler: he's doing a wet-arse meditation
Wol Euler smiles.
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Fair enough :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Well, at least I would be dressed for it.
Wol Euler: there are cushions there, under water, for very small gatherings
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Really, Wol? I did not know that
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Hivisitor!
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: It's a great place,visitor
Wol Euler: ah :)
Zaldaan Sirnah: come join us
Zaldaan Sirnah: we were all wet legged
Wol Euler: hellovisitor
Visitor: Hi there =)
Zaldaan Sirnah: there.. with your hands placed like such you appear much more conservative
Wol Euler: this is a meeting of a meditation and discussion group called Play as Being
Visitor: LOL. Well... I can be VERY sophisticated, not so much conservative though!
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Zal, you mean my twat is being covered by my hands?
Wol Euler: we gather here 4x daily to talk about our practices, and matters arising
Wol Euler: (and sometimes just to chat)
Visitor: Oh okay, that's good
Wol Euler: that notecard tells the basics about us
Wol Euler: including our website, http://wiki.playasbeing.org/
Wol Euler: we record these sessions and publish them on the wiki, so that absent members can read what was said
Wol Euler: may we have your permission to include your SL name and your comments in the published log?
Visitor: hmm.. why do you guys need to log? I'm just curious
Wol Euler: so that absent members can read what was said
Wol Euler: we can't all be here every six hours, every day:)(
Visitor: Hmmm... does it register with search engines and stuff?
Wol Euler: yes, it will
Visitor: so someone can google my AV name and it'll pop up?
Wol Euler: yes
Visitor: eh hmm... no for now then if thats okay =)
Wol Euler: okay
Visitor: ^^
Wol Euler: is it OK to publish your words if we change your name, calling you "Visitor" perhaps?
Visitor: sure
Wol Euler: all right
Visitor: yay ^
Visitor: ^^
Wol Euler: :)
Visitor: so whats the topic?
Wol Euler: none yet. Do you have one?
Visitor: Hmmm./... no I don't >.<
Visitor: anyone else here have?
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: They usually kind of evolve out of the conversation
Visitor: well then... lets get a conversation going!
Wol Euler: go ahead :)
--BELL--
Visitor: anyone follow current events?
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: You mean like the demonstrations in Greece and the UK?
Visitor: sure, there's that
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Or Congress tackling the debt problem?
Visitor: it's all related... that's funny though.. they want to raise the debt ceiling
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: They always do, so I don't see why they bother having one.
Visitor: it's like monopoly money at this point, lol
Wol Euler nods.
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: But we're approching the real debt ceiling; with our credit rating being threatened, and our abilit to repay in doubt.
Wol Euler: I think it's a fig leaf, it lets them pretend that all is well,without actually having to *do* anything to make it well
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Fig leaf? lol
Visitor: it's all credit
Visitor: with no real capital
MaryMagdeleine Shilling wonders if she should put her hands back in front of her.
Zaldaan Sirnah: I'm able to focus on the conversation
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Well, there's real capital, but the debt to capital ratio is getting worrisome.
Wol Euler smiles.
MaryMagdeleine Shilling grins mischiveiously at Zal
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: I personally think the solution is for the creditor nations to lend the US enough money to pay of it's debt.
Visitor: they've already been doing that
MaryMagdeleine Shilling grins really mischieviously at that one
Wol Euler: that is what is already happening, asvisitor said :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Well, I was joking.
Visitor: oh lol
Wol Euler: I know
Visitor: it's like...
Visitor: it's like taking out another credit card to pay off a credit card
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: The whole deficit spending is a credit card kyting scheme
Visitor: and you keep doing that
Wol Euler: yep
MaryMagdeleine Shilling:visitor, we chorused
Visitor: actually it really reminds me of a ponzi scheme
Visitor: aka pyramid scheme
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Well, the deficit spending isn't, but other programs are--like social secruity
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: deficit spending is like credit kyting, what you said at first
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Two differernt, but equally bad, practices
Visitor: kyting?
Zaldaan Sirnah: I wonder about interest rates on debt varying.
Wol Euler: *kiting
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: That's what it's called when you use one credit card to pay off another
Zaldaan Sirnah: I presume there's juggling involved
Visitor: oh ok
Wol Euler: if the US loses its current rating, they will go up
Visitor: i think they should have let the banks fall, and bailed out the tax payers
Visitor: not the other way around
Wol Euler: further reducing your ability to pay back the balance
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: I first read about it in a Mad Magazine, an old one, that was paradying this dumb TV show I had never heard of about a man with a year and a half to live (although the show lasted 3 years); they had it that he paid for everything by kyting--had enough credit cards to lat a year and a half.
Wol Euler: oh, no,visitor, can't do that! that would have meant letting rich people take a loss!
Visitor: lol =)
Wol Euler: that's socialism, when you do that!
Visitor: actually what it would do, is let the market decide on whether or not they want the current status quo
MaryMagdeleine Shilling:visitor, and that's a good thing
Visitor: most of us would take that money and put it into our homes, or use it to buy a more convenient place to live to take the recession
Visitor: or heck, worsrt comes to worst, if most people used it for shopping sprees... that would also be good for the economy
MaryMagdeleine Shilling nods
Zaldaan Sirnah: set aside how much is available for "the job" and let everyone choose what they want to do with it?
Visitor: well I'm not sure how they would divide up the money exactly
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: yes, the sum total of millions of people deciding what direction the economy is to take, rather than 575 people.
Zaldaan Sirnah: problem with that is it would dilute it so it would inherently be ineffective at the levels necessary for the large organisms
Zaldaan Sirnah: they are hungry you know
Visitor: I'm not in the stats bureau, but I'm sure there's a way you can bail of the people with 3.5 trillion dollars, and have that money stimulate the economy positively
--BELL--
Zaldaan Sirnah: probably could get a working healthcare system if you gave a small portion of it to someone smart to figure out a solution
Zaldaan Sirnah: I bet they could figure out a workable system in a day or two
Visitor: healthcare is weird
Zaldaan Sirnah: my body doesn't think so
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: heh. I ccan see the Want ad now: "Wanted one wise and noble man, willing to assume absolute power, and do what's right for everyone."
Visitor: any democratic country in the world has a better healthcare system than the US
Visitor: but for some reason, those demands were never realized when they should've been. this is all stuff workers rioted over in the 18th and 19th century in europe
Wol Euler: that's close to true,visitor, at least on the basis of healing-achieved-per-dollar-cost
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Well, it depends on whether you like standing in line for your health care, i suppose
Wol Euler: I don't stand in line here, mary
Zaldaan Sirnah: the argument is that none are of the size as the U.S., which doesn't fit exactly because the human organisms needs do not vary that much in the U.S. compared to other countries.. so it's merely quantity.
Wol Euler: and I can choose any doctor I want
Visitor: the rich can still have their hospitals
Wol Euler: and they will even pay for preventative care, like me taking a week at a spa
Visitor: but no one is left behind
Visitor: also
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: No, the argument is that coercion and bureaucracy doesn't imporve healthcare.
Visitor: workplace injuries are major
Visitor: wol where are you from?
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: yeah, and that's usually covered, either by the corporation or the government
Wol Euler: from the European point of view, it looks like the argument is that changing the system would mean that a few rich people lose power and influence
Visitor: because part of the problem is a lot of ameriacns look at what's happening in Ontario, Canada as their reference point for public health care
Visitor: and in Ontario we have a very bad system since the 90s, and there's reasons for that
Wol Euler: I live in Germany
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Or England, we often look at England
Visitor: yeah
Visitor: germans fought hard for their health care
Visitor: 1848
Visitor: also
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Or the Russian Health Care program
Visitor: one of Bismarck's selling points for a unified Germany was better healthcare
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: We don't even think about th eGerman one.
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: If you asked the average American, they would say, "Oh, Germany has a health care system? Since when?"
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: lol
Visitor: lol.. well apparently the average american thinks hindus did the 9/11 attacks
Wol Euler: well, frankly, if you gave the average American a map and asked "where is germany", they'd be helpless
Visitor: so lol...
Wol Euler: IMHO
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: You're kidding,visitor
Visitor: nope
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Everyone knows it's the Jains
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: lol
Visitor: actually
Visitor: LOL
Visitor: a few reporters went around
Visitor: asking americans about what year it happend.. what day.. etc
Visitor: and a lot of people had no idea
Wol Euler: opinion surveys like that should always hvae a follow-up question or two: "Do you know what a hindu is?"
Visitor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcJyhZLUUIU
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Wol, good idea. They'd probably say a hindu is an Arab
Wol Euler: yep
Wol Euler: hello dash
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: So they wouldn't be off that much.
Wol Euler: you're up late, or very early
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: I don't see Dash
Wol Euler: wait for it
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: oh, there is someone
Visitor: a sikh man in texas was shot
Visitor: after 9/11
Visitor: because they thought he was arab muslim , because of his turban
Dash Earthboy: good morning y'all :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Hi Dash
Visitor: morning!
Wol Euler: because arabs wear turbans, right.
Visitor: lmao
Wol Euler sighs.
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Well, as long as he wasn't ARab hindu
Visitor: NO arabs wear turbans nowadays, unless they're rural farmers
Dash Earthboy: i'm liking the smaller circle :)
Visitor: or imams
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: They wear tents
Visitor: in their pants!
Visitor: =o
Wol Euler: what they wear is not a turban,either.
Visitor: keffiyah
Visitor: which is like...
Visitor: it's what yassar arafat wore
Visitor: it's basically a bandana
Visitor: but yeah it's really sad
Visitor: but yeah it's really sad
Visitor: sikhs get so much shit
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: You going to share that with us Dash, or make us die from envy?
Visitor: envy?
Dash Earthboy: would you like?
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: oh, thank you so much for asking, Dash
Visitor: ^^
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Thank you, Dash. you're a real gentleman
Dash Earthboy: ty i've had a good teacher :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: I might be able to stay up long enough now to get ready for bed.
Dash Earthboy: heheh
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Who's that? Dash.
Dash Earthboy: :) @ Wol
Wol Euler blushes and smiles.
Visitor: =D
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: /m/me smiles at Wol
Dash Earthboy: we're talking about fashion today?
Visitor: we could!
Dash Earthboy: just asking :)
Wol Euler: go ahead
Dash Earthboy: heard about turbans and such
Visitor: yeah
Wol Euler: actually we were talking about the cost of ignorance
Dash Earthboy: ah!
Wol Euler: (effectively ...)
--BELL--
Dash Earthboy: last night I was talking to a friend in RL who was insisting I should get some ThermaSilks before heading out West around where Korel has been
Dash Earthboy: Korel attends some of our later sessions here normally
Wol Euler: when would you go, dash?
Dash Earthboy: planning to leave next weekend
Dash Earthboy: after my dental appt on Tues
Wol Euler: but it's summer there too :)
Wol Euler: even if not as blisteringly hot as you are used to
Dash Earthboy: trying to not burden the local dentist with doing any more pro-bono work for me
Dash Earthboy: yes, I've lived out in Utah before :)
Visitor: hey, those dentists get paid the big bucks to do what they do!
Dash Earthboy: this dentist has been very kind to me :)
Visitor: my parents spent like
Visitor: a fortune
Visitor: getting my teeth streight when I was a kid
Dash Earthboy: and how do you like your teeth now?
Visitor: they're good
Visitor: I can get dates now, lol
Dash Earthboy: heheh, I was thinking how I've been blessed with good teeth by going against the conventional wisdom
Visitor: my teeth were horrible
Visitor: its in the family
Dash Earthboy: ah!
Wol Euler smiles.
Dash Earthboy: my family wasn't that fortunate
Dash Earthboy: neither eyes nor teeth are genetically that great
Visitor: it's hereditary
Dash Earthboy: then some bad medicine cinches the deal for my sisters
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: I''m still reeling ove there being dentists in Utah.
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: I thought Mormons have perfect teeth.
Dash Earthboy: my dentist here is in Georgia :)
Visitor: georgia in the caucuses!?
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: The State or the Republic?
Visitor: =D
Dash Earthboy: and no, Mormons don't have flawless anything :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: We chorused again,visitor
Visitor: i'm always saying that
Visitor: LOL
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Dash, I know, they are here to aim for perfection.
Visitor: hey but I've been saying that since way before the 2008 thing
Visitor: or was it 2007?
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: If the guys get it, they get to be God and are assigned a planet.
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: The girls get to be Mrs. God.
Wol Euler wonders what "the 2008 thing" was
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Aseroth?
Visitor: it was the Russian conflict in Georgia
Wol Euler: oh, right
Dash Earthboy: :)
Visitor: It was a huge thing at least on the American news
Wol Euler: not so much here :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Yeah, it upset a lot of people when the attacked Georgia, but the Carolinas came to the rescue.
Visitor: LOL
Dash Earthboy: heheh
Visitor: actually its funny when
Visitor: the 1991 "gulf war" broke out
Visitor: people thought they were invading the gulf of mexico
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: omg!
Wol Euler is not surprised at all, sadly.
Dash Earthboy: took BP to accomplish that
Dash Earthboy: last year
Visitor: lol yeah... sad news
Dash Earthboy: Zaldaan, are you up late or early?
Wol Euler: asleep at the wheel, perhaps
Dash Earthboy: i'm up a couple hours early today myself
Dash Earthboy: :( @ Wol
Dash Earthboy: hopefully not driving that way :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: "They ran through the briars and the ran through the brambles, they run through a hole where a rabbit couldn't go; they ran so fast the hounddogs couldn't catch 'em; down the Mississsipi to the Gulf of Mexico"
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Ok, I get random this time of morning.
Visitor: lol
Dash Earthboy: *remembers keeping his mother awake while she drove
Visitor: anyway...
Visitor: I'm going to get going!
Visitor: was fun!
--BELL--
Dash Earthboy: Mary, sounds like the Battle of New Orleans
Wol Euler:visitor, just a mo pls
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Dash, have your dentist drill while you're driving; that'll keep you awake
Visitor: oki
Dash Earthboy: byevisitor
Dash Earthboy: sorry I missed your departure last night Wol
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Yikes, i took my coffee into inventory, and this happened.
Dash Earthboy: i was afk for just a few
Wol Euler: look away, alt-leftclick on something
Dash Earthboy: heheh Mary, it DOES keep one UP
Wol Euler smiles.
Dash Earthboy: at least the way I make it :)
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Dash, lol
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: Well, I'll be standing soon, as I need to log
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: But this is kind of funny
Wol Euler: not to worry, dash (about missing me)
Dash Earthboy: we left the lovebirds to themselves
Wol Euler smiles.
Dash Earthboy: well, Julia was still there...she came back after leaving for short while
Wol Euler: there :)
Wol Euler: goodnight mary, sleep well
Dash Earthboy: g'nite Mary
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: goodnight, Wol, Dash
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: ty
Zaldaan Sirnah: re
MaryMagdeleine Shilling: nite, Zal
Dash Earthboy: hey Zal
Dash Earthboy: exciting day Wol?
Wol Euler: the day is just starting :) 11am
Dash Earthboy: yah
Wol Euler: work, but not too long
Dash Earthboy: some here will be getting off at that time today
Dash Earthboy: and not returning to work until Tuesday :(
Wol Euler can never remember whether the US holiday is July 1 or July 4
Dash Earthboy: wonder why I keep typing the frowny face ?
Wol Euler: freudian slip? :)
Dash Earthboy: i'm meaning to type the smiley face :)
Dash Earthboy: freud huh?
Dash Earthboy: you could be right :)
Dash Earthboy: my mother issues...
Wol Euler smiles.
Dash Earthboy: glad you went with the smaller circle this morning ;)
Wol Euler: I shall have to leave too, sadly, it's time for me to get cleaned up and dressed
Dash Earthboy: sounds good Wol
Wol Euler: enjoy the day, or sleep well, or even both
Dash Earthboy: have a good one & hope to see ya later :)
Wol Euler: bye for now