Help me with my learnings!

[ishyface]

Questions for... well, everyone, I guess:

1) How big is the gap between Asperger's Syndrome and high-functioning autism? (From what I understand the two overlap a lot. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

2) What is the Baptist Church's official stance re:stigmata? (Any info about the Baptist Church would be useful, actually- I know very little about it.)

3) What does it feel like to have a nosebleed? (I've never had one.)

4) How do you know when "coffee" is not just coffee but coffee? (Because I just made plans to go for coffee with a friend, but I think said friend may be under the impression that these plans are for coffee instead of coffee. And, um, that could be problematic!)

5) How much does Thomas Hobbes suck? (Like, a lot, right?)

This list brought to you by the Gerald Doesn't Wanna Finish Hir Philosophy Paper Wildlife Fund.

ETA: From the essay I am currently writing on Hobbes' theory of the state of nature:

"Hobbes would have us believe that people tend not to murder their children because of the power of law and the state, but this is nonsense: anyone who has ever been in the same room with a fussy baby for more than ten minutes is sure to wonder why its parents do not simply drop it into the nearest lake and tell the authorities that dingoes ate it."

I don't even care if I am grossly misrepresenting Hobbes here,* I am not cutting that sentence.

* I am, but only because I don't like him.

Comments

This picture is clearly the answer to all questions:

[iamsupernova.livejournal.com]

Re: This picture is clearly the answer to all questions:

[ishyface.livejournal.com]

He is the Way, the truth, and the light.

[strangecreature.livejournal.com]

*concurs with iamsupernova because that made me literally snerk*

3. I constantly used to get nosebleeds like a damn freak in high school. It feels hot, tastes awful because blood's dripping back down your throat too and is... kind of dizzy-making? (Oh yeah, I'm extremely helpful!) For me at least, I was always so frantic to hide it that it felt like ten tons of blood was pouring out of me.

4. Entirely depends on the length and intensity of the sit-and-chat bit after said coffee is purchased. *g* Damned if I know how to figure that one out before you get there though, I'm afraid.

aaaand third time's the charm

[ishyface.livejournal.com]

3. I never thought of it dripping back down the throat. That's, um, kind of gross.

4. *nod* Good point. I shall try to keep the intense hour-long heart-to-hearts to a minimum.

[shitgun.livejournal.com]

3. really? kind of like when your nose runs when you're sick. but thinner? idk, it's awkward.

5. so fucking much.

[ishyface.livejournal.com]

3. Oh, man, that sounds WEIRD.

5. I am basically spending this entire paper flailing my arms and yelling "I DO NOT LIKE YOU SAM-I-AM THOMAS HOBBES." Because ughhhhhh. There's only one thing I hate more than philosophy and that is PESSIMISM.

[1-2-suckerpunch.livejournal.com]

#1-I think they are about the same, really. Wikipedia might be able to help better.

#3-Like your nose running when you're sick, but thicker and a slower drippy feeling. And a lot of the time you can taste the metal-blood flavor in the back of your throat. (This is totally inspired by my new fiction piece, right? If not, you had better go read and comment RIGHTOW.)

#4-You go to the coffeeshop and find out the fun way!

[elorie.livejournal.com]

Well, to begin with, there is no "Baptist Church" in the same sense that there is a Catholic Church with a hierarchy and an organization. Baptist churches (small "c", as in individual churches) form associations or fellowships with other churches, but are historically pretty independent theologically.

There's the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. There are other Baptist associations, but those are the two I know the most about. The latter is what happened after the Fundamentalists took over the SBC in the early 1980s and there was a ten-year fight after which all the moderates took their congregations and went home.

Then there are Primitive or Independent Baptists, which means they are too weird even for the other Baptists and are often the foot-washin', snake-handlin', shoutin' kind of Baptist.

None of these folks to my knowledge have any official stance on stigmata, though the SBC would probably think it sounded too Catholic for them. With Primitive/Independent Baptists, they might take it as a sign of holiness, but only if you could also pick up a snake and not get bit. Cooperative Baptists are a buncha hippies who would probably think it was interesting and would have a long conversation with you about it. You would wind up with an earful of theology, but everyone would have a different opinion on it.

[elorie.livejournal.com]

I should say, the churches are independent theologically *and* organizationally. They are members of an organization, not branches of it, if you follow that.

[ishyface.livejournal.com]

Interesting! As an ex-Catholic that kind of independent organization is pretty alien to me, but intriguing.

I've always been a little mystified by the snake-handling thing, though as I understand it picking up snakes without being bitten to prove your holiness is a fairly common religious motif. It just seems a little weird to make such a big thing about it. But again, it's a Catholic thing- we don't even approve of loud singing in our churches, let alone foot-washin', snake-handlin', and shoutin'. (We don't approve of dropping g's, either, unless we are Irish.)

[mresundance.livejournal.com]

1) McBossy says Asperger's is genetic and can be passed down, whereas autism is not and more of a random mutation of the genes. She did biological anthropology, so you'd better respect her opinion, yo.

2) I would say, based on the fact Baptists are Protestant, uh, no. Protestant faiths kinda don't go for the stigmata thing so much. (It's too icky and visceral and corporal, y'know. Protestants are all about Denial of the Flesh.)

3) IDK. :p

4) Uh, IDK again.

5) So, so much. But your essay probably won't.

[eustaciavye23.livejournal.com]

Right, Aspergers is genetic; whereas, we have yet to pin down the causes of autism (or at least all of them). Some people blame childhood immunization, diet, hormones/neuro chemistry, or even possibly RH factor issues during pregnancy/birth.

[ishyface.livejournal.com]

1. V. useful! Thank McBossy for me (and update your journal to tell us all about her, I am CURIOUS).

2. Ooh, good point re: denial of the flesh. Protestants do tend to dislike the body and its associated viscera.

[montrealais.livejournal.com]

3) you are so lucky! I get frequent nosebleeds in winter due to dryness. Initially it just feels like a very insistent, copious runny nose. It doesn't hurt in any way, it's just annoying, and you have this faint but slightly gross blood tang in the back of your taste sensorium.

4) go have the coffee. If the person in question is flirtatious, or seems to be hanging on your every word, or seems to be trying to impress you (hopefully in ways that are not douchey -- I mean by being considerate and witty and so forth) then it may, indeed, be coffee. (Even if not, it might still be coffee -- but any of those ones are pretty good indicators.

[ishyface.livejournal.com]

3. It is still the taste thing that grosses me out the most, dude. Truckloads of dnw!

4. I shall keep my eye out for those. *sigh* I am way too naive for my own good. In the future I think I should get someone to approve all my decisions for me, lest I end up naked and chained up in someone's basement by accident.

[montrealais.livejournal.com]

Also, w.r.t. Hobbes, go find John Ralston Saul's The Doubter's Companion (your library almost certainly has a copy; it was a big bestseller in the early 90's) and read his entry on Hobbes.

[ishyface.livejournal.com]

Will do!

[foucaultonacid.livejournal.com]

1) in the new dmsv-asflkj, none AFAIK - they're rearranging it so it's a spectrum - if yr high functioning, yr high functioning

2) not so sure - but they don't let vampires take communion

3) sometimes really relaxing - i get them when my neck muscles seize up or if it's too dry - and the bloodloss lets you kinda chill again... other times, it's just a pain in the ass... well, nose.... as for feeling, generally, not much - it's more the sensation around the nose...
4) because it has a full body in your mouth but doesn't taste bitter or burnt.... ohhhhhh - you don't mean coffee as in great goddamned coffee, you mean, come up to my place and have some coffee and other fluids.... hmmm... ask, I guess... ask, what kind of coffee are we having...
5) in inverse proportion to how much calvin and hobbes rock

ETA check to see if plural of dingo is dingos or dingoes ...

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

1) in the new dmsv-asflkj, none AFAIK - they're rearranging it so it's a spectrum - if yr high functioning, yr high functioning

Which is stupid of them as there are features of Asperger's that don't equate to high-functioning autism.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

1. I don't think anybody has clearly defined it. They're talking about redefining Asperger's entirely.

2. Uh ...

3. The Spontaneous Dry Cold Mountain Air Nosebleed feels like you suddenly have a really runny nose and then you put up a tissue or something and it's BLOOD. If you tip your head back, which you're not supposed to do, crud runs down your throat and may leave a gross taste in your mouth.

Also, if it gets as bad as my mom's do, you need to shove one o' them tiny bullet tampons up there to help plug it.

4. I dunno, I drink tea! Hurr.

5. Not as much as Rousseau.

[eustaciavye23.livejournal.com]

I kind of liked Rousseau, but I didn't have to read him for school so that might have made a difference.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

3) What does it feel like to have a nosebleed?

Gross. To be honest it feels no different to having an impossibly runny nose, except it's blood instead of liquid snot. It's when it dries and you have crusts of dried blood in your nasal cavity that it becomes really unpleasant. :D

1) How big is the gap between Asperger's Syndrome and high-functioning autism?

One has slightly different features to the other.

[ishyface.livejournal.com]

1. Could you elaborate a little more? From what I've heard/read/picked up along the way, people with Asperger's generally don't encounter the kind of verbal difficulties as people with autism (although I think verbal tics are one of the signs of AS?), and are generally less likely to be perceived as "mentally disabled" than autistics. Some of my sources may be less than stellar, though.

3. ew. ew. crusts. ew.

[iamthelolrus.livejournal.com]

1) They really are basically the same, because neither one is very well defined. I think it's mostly how high functioning somebody is? But as far as I know nobody really bothers with something like that...it's usually called autism and left at that. Maybe tonight when my mom's home I can ask her more...she's done a lot of research on it. I have a nephew who has high-functioning autism...which is what I think it's officially called, and he's in an autism support class. (And he gets to go swimming, which is his favourite thing ever, so he's very excited about this class. :3) But my mom said he basically has Asperger's? IDK. Also I think Asperger's can go even farther into high functioning...like if you are high functioning Asperger's you may never even realize you're anything more than a little weird? Cause my mom thinks I may have it, even.

Lol sorry for the rant. XD

And!

3) Basically like a really runny nose. Or like water running out of your nose? Just really liquidy. And weird. But I've never thought it was that unpleasant...

[ishyface.livejournal.com]

1. That's really cute about your nephew. :) I think I've only met one autistic person in my life. He was, iirc, very high-functioning, but he was perceived by a lot of kids around him as weird and anti-social, which is basically the worst thing you can be in junior high, so he was kind of shunned. Some people have mentioned that they think I might have Asperger's, but I don't think I exhibit enough of the traits associated with it to be anywhere on the spectrum.

3. Like when you breathe underwater and it comes out your nose? Bizarre, man.

[flukycoda.livejournal.com]

eeewwwwwww nose bleeds. i have had millions and millions of these. they are warm and salty and metallic. UNPLEASANT.

and i am probably the only person on your flist who thinks hobbes is da bomb. mostly just coz he's funny. and life IS in fact nasty, brutish, and short. and people, as a collective, suck big hairy donkey balls and need to be controlled for that reason. GO HOBBES. or is it HOBBS. either way, go him. (don't defriend me because of this.)

[ishyface.livejournal.com]

DEFRIENDING THE HELL OUTTA YOU :(

(except, you know, not)

I think Hobbes is kind of arguing against the idea of people as a collective sucking big hairy donkey balls, though. What I got out Leviathan was that he thought people as individuals were donkey teabaggees, which was why they needed to be controlled by the state, which makes them a social collective and therefore gives rise to morality by way of law and punishment. I'm pretty much the worst philosophy student of all time, though, so I could def. be wrong.

Also, I very rarely pay attention to what we're actually learning in class because my prof has such an interesting accent. He's a Ukranian-Canadian who's spent a lot of time in London and Prague, and the result is so fantastic it makes what he's actually saying way less important to me than the way he's saying it.

[eustaciavye23.livejournal.com]

LMAO @ the Hobbes bit. I did a presentation on some work of Jonathon Swift's (I think it might have been Tale of a Tub) examining the potential dialogue between Swift and Hobbes, with a focus on Leviathon. It was a pretty intense presentation, and reading Hobbes was not easy. I love philosophy and early political theory; however, I don't think I actually retained much of what I read. Good luck with your paper, what is the subject?

As for having a nosebleed, sometimes you don't really feel anything at all and just realize that blood is trickling out of your nose. Other times it hurts slightly and is rather disgusting. I don't get very bad ones, so I might not be the best person to answer that question, but at least you have gained one person's perspective on the issue.

The Asperger's/autism overlap question is rather difficult. I won't get into specifics because I am too lazy right now, but people with asperger's syndrome have a specific set of traits or habits that differ from other people within the autism spectrum. I think intelligence might also be a factor. There are plenty of people with Asperger's syndrome who are quite brilliant and focused, but lack the ability to relate well to others. My mother's best friend has a daughter with Asperger's syndrome and if you didn't know her very well you would think she was absolutely normal if a bit shy and traditional. On the other hand, my cousin has autism, and a significant speech impediment. He can barely take care of himself, but he is not at all stupid. He reads, retains information, and can explain what he knows as long as he feels comfortable. He will never go to univeristy (unlike my mom's friend's daughter) but he does have, at the very least, an average IQ. I can look into the more psychological/medical specifics and get back to you if you want.

[eustaciavye23.livejournal.com]

btw I like Hobbes as well and look forward to having time to review what I read and possibly pursue the topic of that presentation once I return to school. *digs through filing cabinet to find contents of presentation*

[bleedingcherub.livejournal.com]

1. First of all be careful because this is becoming a pretty political issue. The PC stance is that there is just *differently* functioning autism, and Asperger's is the label given to those autistics very compatible with neurotypical society though they are in fact autistic. This is my stance also, with the added complication that I don't think autism is just one biological process/thing, I think it's more of a behavioural category.

3. I've only had one from coke, but I didn't notice it until I felt the drop of blood on my other skin. So, evaporation/wetness? But then coke is a topical anesthetic, so yeah I don't know.

4. Act casual but not unattractive and see how ze acts. The whole thing about coffee is that it can be anything, and your friend knows this, so if you don't like hir like that it's not going to be offensive.

5. I dunno, Hobbes seems to have got it right in some ways. My first excuse to myself to clear out "bad thoughts" is always "well think of the consequences." Even without a state and formal law, local custom would get you offed/hurt if you did something wack.

re: 5

[rawkenr0ll.livejournal.com]

ah, but you've grown up in a society that preaches selfishness and dependence on authority. what if you hadn't? just because you do it doesn't mean it's human nature, which is the issue with hobbes: just because his society did it didn't make it true of everyone everywhere forever.

[rawkenr0ll.livejournal.com]

nosebleeds don't hurt- if the blood goes inside instead of out, it feels like when you have a runny, stuffed nose. if not, it feels like normal nose.

also WOW YEAH HOBBES BLOWS. and explaining why was HARD because people are STUPID.

idk the answers to the others.

[thebloodybird.livejournal.com]

4. I can never tell either - I managed to possibly date someone without knowing at the time of (this did not end terribly well) - but if you find out, let me know!

5. SO MUCH. FUCK, I HATE HOBBES. /impotent fury