Venting.

[Majobu5]

ADULTING. More specifically the none stop barrage of bills. Electricity bills. Gas bill. Council Tax (a system in the UK of local taxation collected by local authorities. It is a tax on domestic property). Food bills. Travel bills. Internet bills. Streaming service bills. Rent.

As great as being an adult is sometimes, adulting can be a real pain in the ass. Cannot wait to start the new job next week, but just thought I'd get that off my chest. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programme.

ADULTING+PARENTING+MARRIAGE=TOO EXPLICIT TO VENT
Enjoy your single, somewhat controllable lives.

[Darth Knox]

ADULTING+PARENTING+MARRIAGE=TOO EXPLICIT TO VENT
Enjoy your single, somewhat controllable lives.

I've heard that China are making microchips you can implant in children to help parents bring some much needed control into the chaos that is parental life. Just something you should keep an eye out for. Maybe see if you can order some off ebay.

[Majobu5]

I've heard that China are making microchips you can implant in children to help parents bring some much needed control into the chaos that is parental life. Just something you should keep an eye out for. Maybe see if you can order some off ebay.

I'm not saying you, Knox, but when ppl you have no kids or aren't married give advice on said subjects, that's when I wish we could go to a Purge

[Darth Knox]

I'm not saying you, Knox, but when ppl you have no kids or aren't married give advice on said subjects, that's when I wish we could go to a Purge

Hence my providing information about the parenting microchip, rather than giving advice.

[Jev Moldara]

I've heard that China are making microchips you can implant in children to help parents bring some much needed control into the chaos that is parental life. Just something you should keep an eye out for. Maybe see if you can order some off ebay.

My parents used a different method to achieve the same results: It was called an ass-whupping if I got out of line.

[ThreadJack]

I never had chicken pox. My doctor told my mother I had a natural immunity after I was exposed multiple times and failed to contract it. Seriously though, washing your hands the day IS a good habit to get into....

[Darth Knox]

My parents used a different method to achieve the same results: It was called an ass-whupping if I got out of line.

Same here. But may as well take advantage of modern technology.

[Vivectius]

Violence in video games doesn't cause children to be violent, it gives them an out let to be violent.

Because I'd rather my daughter blow up a planet in Halo than whack some kid's teeth out while "Lightsaber dueling" with bats.  Except for that one boy.... She can cave in his skull.

My parents used a different method to achieve the same results: It was called an ass-whupping if I got out of line.

Yeah, this had no effect on me as a child. Being on the autism spectrum and having a disconnect between actions and consequences probably has something to do with that.  For example, in my brain, the consequence of punching someone in the nose is that they'll have a broken nose.  That I would get charged with assault never enters into my mind.  Probably why I stabbed a kid with a pencil in first grade for trying to cut in line in front of me.  My brain said "this will teach him not to do that again" not "I might get in trouble for this" or "I could kill him if I drove it in far enough." 

[Taegin Roan]

I never had chicken pox. My doctor told my mother I had a natural immunity after I was exposed multiple times and failed to contract it. Seriously though, washing your hands the day IS a good habit to get into....

I had a grand total of 2 chicken pox. And yes, wash your hands.

Violence in video games doesn't cause children to be violent, it gives them an out let to be violent.

Because I'd rather my daughter blow up a planet in Halo than whack some kid's teeth out while "Lightsaber dueling" with bats.  Except for that one boy.... She can cave in his skull.

I wrote a whole essay on this last semester. Well, actually it wasn't a whole essay, just one of the points.

[Jev Moldara]

Seriously though, washing your hands the day IS a good habit to get into....

Washing your hands after using the bathroom or when you come in from doing some work outside is just a smart thing to do.

It's when people take it to extremes, such as when a parent totally disinfects an entire home after someone coughs once, that we get the superbugs.

And yes, that's the problem with extreme disinfecting and excessive cleaning. Yes, your disinfecting spray kills 99.9% of all germs. Well, that 0.1% that survives? Yeah, they multiply, passing that immunity to their offspring. Now you have just as many germs as before, but your disinfectant is no longer as viable as it should be.

Additionally, that wonderful trend where people give themselves and their kids medications for everything out there? Yeah, that's not helping in the long run, for the same reason as above. Additionally, when you overmedicate, your body builds up a tolerance to the medication, making the medicine less effective over time. So go ahead... pop those vicodin for your mild sprain. I'll just power through the pain, or take some ibuprofen if the pain is really bad. That way, when I need something like vicodin to actually work, such as if I break a bone or something else traumatic, it will actually work, and they won't have to give you stronger, more dangerous stuff to do the same job.

Which brings me to my next vent: Doctors overprescribing to treat the symptoms instead of attacking the root cause. I HATE this practice. When I go see a doctor and he says "we have to wait a few weeks for an appointment to take care of the problem, in the meantime, have these pain killers," I almost always throw the pain medicine prescription away. My pain tolerance is so great that I rarely need them. If there's a prescription for an antibiotic, I get that filled because I'm not a moron. Pain killers, though? No thank you. I'll stick to my ibuprofen when needed and power through the pain most of the time.

[Vivectius]

Washing your hands after using the bathroom or when you come in from doing some work outside is just a smart thing to do.

It's when people take it to extremes, such as when a parent totally disinfects an entire home after someone coughs once, that we get the superbugs.

And yes, that's the problem with extreme disinfecting and excessive cleaning. Yes, your disinfecting spray kills 99.9% of all germs. Well, that 0.1% that survives? Yeah, they multiply, passing that immunity to their offspring. Now you have just as many germs as before, but your disinfectant is no longer as viable as it should be.

Additionally, that wonderful trend where people give themselves and their kids medications for everything out there? Yeah, that's not helping in the long run, for the same reason as above. Additionally, when you overmedicate, your body builds up a tolerance to the medication, making the medicine less effective over time. So go ahead... pop those vicodin for your mild sprain. I'll just power through the pain, or take some ibuprofen if the pain is really bad. That way, when I need something like vicodin to actually work, such as if I break a bone or something else traumatic, it will actually work, and they won't have to give you stronger, more dangerous stuff to do the same job.

Which brings me to my next vent: Doctors overprescribing to treat the symptoms instead of attacking the root cause. I HATE this practice. When I go see a doctor and he says "we have to wait a few weeks for an appointment to take care of the problem, in the meantime, have these pain killers," I almost always throw the pain medicine prescription away. My pain tolerance is so great that I rarely need them. If there's a prescription for an antibiotic, I get that filled because I'm not a moron. Pain killers, though? No thank you. I'll stick to my ibuprofen when needed and power through the pain most of the time.

It is always more profitable to treat the symptoms than cure the cause.  Which is why I have a massive amount of respect for what Jonas Salk did.

[Majobu5]

It is always more profitable to treat the symptoms than cure the cause.  Which is why I have a massive amount of respect for what Jonas Salk did.

That's where the money is. So much money is pharmaceuticals, you have to wonder: do they really want to find cures to certain things, like cancer, for one? Frustrating when they ask for money for cancer research cuz how much is actual BS, and how much is truly going to finding cures

[ThreadJack]

That's where the money is. So much money is pharmaceuticals, you have to wonder: do they really want to find cures to certain things, like cancer, for one? Frustrating when they ask for money for cancer research cuz how much is actual BS, and how much is truly going to finding cures

That is something I loathe about charities! It's always hard to tell what goes to the actual cost and how much is eaten up by things like advertising cost, merchandising, and general "getting the word out." Not to mention overhead for things like facilities and paying any employees.....it kinda turns me off to donating to be honest.

[Darth Tepes]

That is something I loathe about charities! It's always hard to tell what goes to the actual cost and how much is eaten up by things like advertising cost, merchandising, and general "getting the word out." Not to mention overhead for things like facilities and paying any employees.....it kinda turns me off to donating to be honest.

That's why I don't donate money unless I am 100% sure where it goes.  Food, clothes and toy drives I will though.

[Darth Knox]

As someone who has worked in the charity sector for the past 7 years (Cancer Research, Sue Ryder, MacMillan and Mind)  I can tell you that as a whole, the nature of charitable organisations has changed considerably in recent years. They have had to, in response to a number of external developments, such as change of policy at a Government level, the banking crisis that affected the global economy and the prevalence of technology amongst a whole host of other things.

Most charities are now adopting business style models and using that as a means to generate income. On the whole (and obviously I cannot speak for every charity out there0 60% of funds raised for charities goes towards funding research/helping the target demographic (whether that be children, the homeless, those suffering from an illness etc). The remaining 40% is used in advertising and marketing, developing new sustainable fundraising strategies overheads, wages etc. There will always be people who disagree that charities should pay their staff, however, as an industry, if charities want to survive (and that is a real threat - charities ceasing to exist because they cannot raise enough money and/or do not have enough people getting involved) they have to pay for staff.

There are many sections to most charities too. The general public are usually only aware of the certain aspects: charity shops, collection tins, street fundraisers, leaflets, tv adverts. However, behind the scenes some of the bigger charities have hundreds of staff members dedicated to ensure that the amount of income they receive stays at the same level and hopefully also increases, year on year. This is particularly tricky as charities do not produce a tangible product, goods or service that the public can buy. Rules exist that if charities want to continue to enjoy the discounted overhead rates and incentives they receive they cannot produce and sell goods in the same way a Walmart does (just using Walmart as an example. First American company that came into my head).

Please remember, that charities are run on donations. And yet they need to be run like a business.

When I worked for Cancer Research UK, it was estimated that a good Community Fundraising Executive earning £24,000 a year could help generate £250,000 in donations. When I was there, as an organisation raised over £650 million a year. 60% goes directly to fund research into developing cures for the 200 types of cancer that exist. Thanks to that research, 2 in every 4 patients now survive. But they are not satisfied with that. Their current aim is to make that 3 in 4 patients, hence the need for continued income, research and expenditure.

There are still some areas on charitable work that relies on volunteers, most notably charity shops. But the need to use some of the money receive to pay for staff, overheads etc is just the way of the world.

Lastly, if you really are thinking about donating to a charity and want to make sure you know where you're money is going, every charity is legally required to release their financial annual report that shows (in detail) all sources of income and all methods of expenditure. These reports can usually be downloaded free from their website or you can contact the charity directly to request one be sent to you.

As you can tell, I am quite used to the attitude of some people towards donating to a charity. I had to deal with such questions regularly. But let me remind you that if everyone starts to think the way you guys mentioned, then ALL charities will eventually cease to exist and the good work they do (in some cases more than the Government) will disappear.