The Supreme Court nominee

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Here is a problem no one has thought about (you read it first on Epicurus Today):

We will soon see Amy Coney Barratt on the Supreme Court. Ms. Barrett is a member of extreme and exotic christian group who “speak in tongues”.

In the last 80 years I have failed to discover in which “tongues” these people actually speak: Babylonian? Assyrian? This puzzlement must be true of most Americans. Thus, when she pontificates upon some issue or other, who, aside from her fellow charismatics, will understand a word she says. She will certainly need an interpreter – but from where?

As it happens, in a former life i was High Priest in a Temple dedicated to the God, Sham. Our tongue was Ancient Babylonian. Although my Babylonian is now a bit rusty, I may be the only person able to translate it with ease. For instance, Ms.Barratt, interpreted by me, will advocate for women’s rights, birth control, a woman’s right to choose, separation of church and state, abolition of church schools, fair elections, higher taxes for the super-rich and counting all mail-in ballots.

Problem: keeping her in a trance.

Does this feel familiar?

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Drumbeats of Doom

France has a new political buzzword: “ensauvagement”, meaning “descent into savagery”. Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, has long used it to depict a country she claims is under siege by criminal violence she blames on immigration.

And, after a spate of violent incidents this summer, the term is gaining traction. In July, a bus driver was beaten to death in Bayonne after telling a group of young men to wear face masks. Then, a young woman died in Lyon after being dragged along the road by a car taking part in an illegal race. Last month, fans of the Paris Saint-Germain football club rioted when their team lost the Champions League final. Such incidents have attracted “wall-to-wall coverage” on right-wing websites and social media. And they seem to be driving a change in attitudes: some 60% of French people now think violence is on the rise, and Le Pen’s inflammatory rhetoric is being echoed by politicians from President Macron’s government. But the idea that France is descending into “some apocalyptic twilight world of migrant-driven violence” is a lie aimed at stirring up racial hatred: violent crime has actually fallen steadily since the 1990s. Alas, “facts or no facts, the drumbeat continues”. (Político (Brussels) and The Week, 19 September 2020)

My comment: The United States is not the only country where lies and disinformation abound. I blame social media. The sort of people who seek to undermine sane government and tranquil life were always around. They are nutters – people who think, for instance, that Hitler never died, but is still around (now aged about 140!). But now they have limitless outlets for hate and discontent, used by ruthless politicians and born trouble- makers, picking on immigrants, black people etc, fixing Courts and elections, everything that benefits them, not society at large.

Epicurus was unusual in that he welcomed slaves, women (unusual then), people of a variety of races, backgrounds and origins to his garden. We, too, should champion humanity – decent, law-abiding people, preferably with senses of humor!

Learning from experience

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“Dives sum, si non redo eis quibus debeo” (Plautus, Curculio, 377)

Translation:
“I am a rich man as long as I don’t pay my creditors”.

Comment: Who do we know who fits this bill? No prizes for guessing!

Meanwhile, once upon a time I ran a company in London. There were three large and prominent potential customers in Wales. A friendly competitor told me to avoid them – they didn’t pay their bills. Naturally, I was a bit cavalier about this advice, nice guy though he was. I duly got the business and, guess what? None of the said companies ever paid us. Stupid of me? Yes? I believed the customers more than the competitor. I hope the creditors had super tropical holidays at my expense. Somebody had to benefit from my stupidity.

Relevance to Epicureanism? Peace of mind; being satisfied with what you have; be careful about ambition; trust those you know and be careful of those with “reputations”.

People who keep seeing the same doctor have lower death rates

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Seeing the same doctor doesn’t just give the comfort of a familiar face – it might save your life.

An analysis reveals that 18 of 22 studies from nine nations with varying health systems found that people who saw the same doctor over time had lower death rates (BMJ Open, doi.org/crmj). The studies used different methods to measure continuity, so it wasn’t possible to get an overall estimate for how big the fall in mortality is. However, one recent study of people with diabetes found that those with a high level of continuity had a death rate half the size of those with low continuity.

The link could be down to people with poor health needing to see different doctors, but the studies tried to account for this. Earlier research showed that people who see the same doctor consistently take up preventative care such as immunisations more often, are more likely to follow medical advice and have fewer unnecessary hospital admissions.

Familiarity may also improve patient-doctor communication.

(The above appeared in print under the headline “Having one doctor is better than many” in the New Scientist. 7 July 2018).

My comment: The current news is that GPs in small practices are finding hard to stay in business. Fewer people are attending surgeries, and reimbursement from insurance companies does not cover expenses. This is a threat to all of us, especially the elderly, who rely on doctors to keep them fit. This is just one aspect of the dysfunctional US health service, which seems to concentrate on profit first and health of the sick second, if that.

Light relief

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Two 80 year old men, Mike and Joe, have been friends all of their lives.

Joe was dying and Mike visited him every day.

One day Mike says ” Joe, we both loved our rugby all our lives, and we

played together on saturdays for many years. Please do me favour, when

you get to heaven, somehow you must let me know if there is rugby up

there”. Joe looks up at Mike and says ” Mike you have been my best

friend for many years. If its at all possible I`ll do this favour for you”.

Shortly after that Joe snuffs it.

At midnight a couple of nights later, Mike is awakend from a sound sleep

by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him “Mike—

Mike wake up its me Joe” You’re not Joe he just died a few days ago”.

“I`m telling you its me, Joe” insists the voice.

“Joe where are you?”
p
” I`m in heaven”, replies Joe, “I’ve got some really good news and a little

bad news for you”.

“Tell me the good news first” says Mike.

” The good news is there is rugby played in heaven, and, better yet, all our

old friends who died before us are here too. Better yet, we`re all young

again. Better still, its always spring time and it never rains or snows. And

better yet, we can play rugby all we want and never get tired or injured”.

“That`s fantastic” says Mike. ” Its beyond my wildest dreams, so what`s

the bad news?”

” You’re in the team for Saturday”.