Thread Drift

[chickwhorips]

we don't need no education
dun dun dun da
hey! teacher! leave us kids alone...

(sorry can't get youtube at work, gotta put up with my singing)

[Kitsune06]

When Dad OL did a ritual and channeled Hermes"

Dad Out-Law is an ecclectic pagan priest and channeled the god Hermes for a ritual.

I have occasionally seriously wondered when (or if) body modification crosses the line from "art" to just plain sad self mutilation. First there are society-accepted forms of body modification- such as pierced earrings, artificial nails, liposuction, dental braces, breast implants, plastic surgery, girdles, waxing and electrolysis, cosmetic dental procedures, hair implants, etc. (Oh the things we'll do for vanity!) Then, there's "alternative" piercing and tattooing and scarring and branding, seeking pain as ecstasy, etc....so then what about setting yourself on fire, running a knife through your hand, or lopping OFF your ear instead of just having 20 holes pierced in it? Is it ALL "art" and "self expression", even to the point of killing yourself (an extreme example, for sure!).

It's amazing what we will embrace and what we won't. Somehow, it is acceptable to surgically open the natural breast and insert silicone implants, but not to place silicone bead implants in the penis for the purpose of sensation. Somehow it is acceptable to cut the foreskin from an infant male who has no choice in the matter for religious purposes, but illegal, immoral and 'wrong' to remove the hood and labia from an infant female for the same reasons.

Then that makes me think about people who have been through awful accidents and been burned and scarred and amputated...they would give anything to have their bodies be the way they were

I believe the feelings would be because those who have been scarred, who have lost limbs, had no choice in the matter... then there's nullification which is done for one's own personal reasons. I can't argue for or against, but people I know who've been party to it have done so because that offending hand or foot or set of fingers is not in synch with their mental picture of themselves. And this is a need to remove it to the point where one will utterly destroy the limb or appendage to the point where it cannot be saved. Sometimes after this, they're ok and everything 'feels' right to them... sometimes, they have body or gender dysmorphia- apotemnophilia. They will *never* feel 'right' in their bodies, continue to change, remove, etc, but never attain that state of perfection.
To find the line between self-destruction and art, we must ask those who perform these acts. A woman who brands does so safely and with an artistic vision in mind. A woman who cuts self destructively makes slashing movements hither and thither with a razor blade for the sensation and with the intent to destroy.
I think to understand these motivations, however foreign to us, is to have a unique insight into the relationship between the mind and the body. To know that one's 'self' is not necessarily always dictated by the outward appearance.
I would look into the USCOBM for a better definition than I can convey...
I'm lucky... with the sum of mankinds' experiences at one's fingertips available the questioning mind-the internet- available to my young and porous mind during my formative years, I believe I was gifted with understanding of things I would never have otherwise come in contact with... and I think I'm a better person for it, and I love trying to explain things, as well...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well, thanks for the interesting reply Kit. I could get into some good discussion about each of these points, but I'm thinking this stuff is not exactly family bike forum material anymore, so I'll drop it.

Back to thermos/cup discussions, anyone?

Hey, DH and I are busy ordering larger bike bags in anticipation of doing some multiday rides this season! Minus zero temps still, but we're thinking Spring!!!
DAMN but it's cold! I've been gazing at my little cactus dish gardens I made this weekend, trying to feel the imaginary sun...

[Offthegrid]

I'm gagging my mouth right now.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I'm gagging my mouth right now.

Others are probably gagging as well...

[crazycanuck]

Kit..I would click on the links but i'm at work.. eating lunch...

Lisa-I'll send you some desert like heat..it's 38C at the moment & the mercury just keeps on rising.

As I rode in this morning, i could feel the heat from the pavement & that was at 5am.

C

[Xrayted]

Hmmm, maybe I missed the big deal of it all. I spend all day with the women at my small town, closed minded community hospital. They talk about spending $180 on a haircut and color. They complain about their manicurist and how she didn't quite get the effect with the glitter like she used to. They are in their late 30's and still use the year they graduated HS in their email addresses. Actually, they identify each other by what year they graduated HS as well. They complain that they are getting fat while stuffing their pie holes with goodies and then doing nothing to work it back off. They all wear the same socks from Old Navy, the same shoes by Crocks, the same scrubs by UA... They read the same books as each other (only christian novels) and then look at me crossways when I read some Bronte or Dante's 'The Divine Comedy'. They won't ask what they are about, they just like to judge my books by their covers. It makes their lives easier to swallow and they are able to stay in their little world and not think about the outside too deeply. I am very much at odds with people who are like that.

I don't pretend to understand why some people do what they do to themselves. I don't expect them to fully understand me either. But I do always try to keep a very open mind and accept them as they are. I tend to be able to find something good in everyone so, I like almost everybody. I have no intention on changing anyone but myself while I'm here on this earth. Along the way though, I have found that we can't fully grow as a person if we shut out everything or everyone who may be slightly distasteful in our eyes. How does one judge what is good to them if they've never experienced anything but?

There are many things I see everyday that I wish I didn't. I've had things happen to me that I wish hadn't. And yet, they are a core part of how I have become who I am. I accept those experiences for what they have taught me. We all make our own choices and then have to live with them. They are not required to make sense to anyone but ourselves to be valid.


It is the wisest of men who understand that they know nothing. -Socrates.

[Xrayted]

Now smile dammit and lets move on, shall we?

[mimitabby]

X, it really is hard to understand why most of America is so stuck.

Makes me feel like chicken little. "The sky is falling the sky is falling!

and they say "Leave me alone, I'm busy watching my 60" tv"

[LBTC]

'Cuda ate through his bootie and licked the sutures so his foot bled again. We don't have bandages, so we put on an old sock and wrapped duct tape around his foot, and his ankle and his knee. He looks like he's trying to be a ballerina....on pointe when he stands on it, and then he keeps kicking his leg back to try to get that thing off his foot. As sad as that sounds, this is an improvement over the buddy collar, or whatever that huge cone is called. With that he just shakes his head around and paws at it trying desparately to remove it.

The thing about border collies is: put them in a new environment with an obstacle and they believe the objective we want them to achieve is to overcome the obstacle. And they usually do.

Can I learn something about life from this?

H&B
~T~

oh, yes, I'll stop at the vet tomorrow to get proper bandage materials, we'll redress it as best we can tomorrow night, let it breathe for awhile, and probably revisit a slightly less agressive duct tape strategy for the next day at work.

[Bikingmomof3]

'Cuda ate through his bootie and licked the sutures so his foot bled again. We don't have bandages, so we put on an old sock and wrapped duct tape around his foot, and his ankle and his knee. He looks like he's trying to be a ballerina....on pointe when he stands on it, and then he keeps kicking his leg back to try to get that thing off his foot. As sad as that sounds, this is an improvement over the buddy collar, or whatever that huge cone is called. With that he just shakes his head around and paws at it trying desparately to remove it.

H&B
~T~

((((((((((('Cuda & T)))))))))))))))

[KnottedYet]

Poor Cuda!

I remember putting t-shirts on my brother's dog so she couldn't lick at a wound on her ribs. Those big cone collar things are really a pain in the butt.

Do you have a picture of ballerina-dog?

[LBTC]

Do you have a picture of ballerina-dog?

LOL I'll have to try to get one tonight if he's still doing it! I was seriously not in the mood to pick up the camera after discovering the soaking rag that used to be a bootie. Maybe it would have been exactly the thing to lighten the mood.

H&B
~T~

[Kitsune06]

you really should still use the elizabethan collar for 'cuda's own good...

[LBTC]

you really should still use the elizabethan collar for 'cuda's own good...

Kit, I would, but he thrashes around until it comes off. He'll hurt himself in the process, and it won't last 10 minutes on him.

I think he doesn't like the taste of duct tape, though, so, so far this morning he's good.

H&B
~T~