Although the nitrogen is winning
Still we fight and perservere
As a species neverending
On the cusp of satan’s rear.
Our cries are unrepenting
And are jackets darkly stained
We are sick of all the bloodshed
We from now abandon pain

Lets forget all the hardship
Pour hate down the drain
Slawy the past from the beginning
Shaming mainly strangely plain
Redundant scores of feeble lame.

Why did we come why did we tame
So long ago we brought you rain
With naught to lose and all to gain
We did not know your souls remained.
Unbridled horror, unending shame
Our lives for yours, a forced exchange
It may explain why you retained
Our love of grass, we built the plains.

Rejoice with great sorrow, all refrain all refrain
Soon the strength that we borrowed will arise once again.
When your world is in shambles,
Hate the player not the game.
Wasn’t us it was you, who abandoned our name.

Antibiotics: Fight the Good Fight

DISCLAIMER 1: I am so not a doctor. Go see a doctor if you feel like you need one. Seriously.

DISCLAIMER 2: A large portion of information in this blog comes from memory in the course of taking biology and chemistry classes. I sincerely encourage you to ask for sources if you feel like something I've written is bullshit.

On to business.

Recently, I've succumbed to that which I've dubbed the Supercold. I imagine a continuum with the common cold representing one end and the flu representing the other. The Supercold, as I subjectively experience it, lies somewhere halfway between the two, possibly edging upon the side of the flu. For the past week, I have woken up every morning feeling worse than the day before. Though the symptoms for the common cold and the flu overlap greatly, what distinguishes one from the other can often be as simple as the severity of the symptoms, or so wikipedia tells me. In December, I believe I contracted the flu – an intense 3-day sickfest consuming my entire being and knocking me unconscious for the greater part of the day each day. The Supercold has not cost me my ability to amble about the house; indeed, I have been to work every day of the week (irresponsible as it may be to subject small children to my viral presence). Thus, I am reasonably convinced it is not the flu. However, I have never had a cold quite like this before. A sniffly nose, a cough here or there. Whatever. Big deal. Having a nasally voice is usually enough to communicate to people that one has a cold or sinus infection. Walking into work yesterday (the first day I ever went to work knowing that I should stay home for the health of others at work), I tried to say “good afternoon” and instead uttered something akin to “gggggrrrrrrckkk” *hack hack hack, attempt to clear throat, hack some more, cough, deep lung cough, throaty wheeze* “rrrrckkckkkkggggrkckk” after which I was able to somewhat audibly communicate “wow, I sound like shit today.” Then I proceeded to march my sick ass into a room full of children and eat lunch with them. This, my friends, is the Supercold.

Viral infections such as rhinoviruses (cold viruses) and influenza (the flu) have their parties in the winter, replicating promiscuously in whomever they can infect for as long as their host's immune system takes to respond with appropriate force. During the course of a virus's nesting (a term I totally just invented to refer to the period during which the virus is establishing its presence in your body without receiving an immunological response), your immune system is kind of caught with its pants around its ankles, so to speak. Then, once your immune system gets off the crapper, it puts a jolly good effort into getting rid of these weird little geometric invaders (I like to think of viruses as Mooninites). At this point in time, bacteria may very easily come into play. A weakened or preoccupied immune system is like a big flashing “VACANCY” sign for bacteria. Many times, people with viral infections will develop secondary bacterial infections as a result of their suppressed immune systems. Thus, if you go to the doctor and get antibiotics (medicines that destroy or inhibit reproduction of bacteria), you will sometimes see improvement in your cold or flu symptoms. Antibiotics do not treat viral infections, though, and that is the core of my problem.

I have made the conscious choice not to go to the doctor primarily because I have no health insurance, and I could spend my money on way better things, like alcohol or video games. Secondarily, overuse of antibiotics is becoming more and more of a scientific buzzphrase as we start to see its effects more obviously.

I recall being in biology class at Oklahoma State. We had a lab to test bacteria's ability to mutate into forms that are immune to antibiotics. In the course of a week, we developed a strain of E. coli that was resistant to the common antibiotic amoxicillin. A WEEK. E COLI. In this very easy and practical demonstrate, it was impossible to ignore bacteria's amazing ability to grow resistant to anything that threatens it. Seems logical, as bacteria have been in existence for millions of years and are still going strong.

In this rambling discourse, we finally approach the heart of why I feel compelled to write about this topic. Irresponsible use of antibiotics is lowering the effectiveness of the medications that we so rely upon. I chose not to go to the doctor, not only for financial reasons, but because I knew my young, relatively healthy body could contend with these foreign invaders given enough time, rest, nutrition, and hydration. To expose whatever bacteria may have been reproducing in my body to whatever antibiotic I might have received from the doctor would contribute to the overexposure of bacteria in general to antibiotics in general. Already pharmaceutical companies are working to stay ahead of the game and develop new, more effective antibiotics. This falls back on the consumer who will soon have to pay higher prices for patented medications to treat different forms of the exact same bacterial infections simply because our trusty, dusty fillintheblankicillins are just no good anymore. I implore those of you who do not have naturally suppressed immune systems to let your bodies do the fighting when it comes to viral infections. If after 7-10 days, you still feel like total shit, it might be time to see a doctor. The secondary bacterial infections may have started to become more of a nuisance than your body can readily handle. But honestly, our species has existed for perhaps 50,000 years alongside bacteria and viruses. Some people die. You are the progeny of those people who made it into their childbearing years without dying due to bacterial or viral infections. You're stronger now. Don't cheapen it by relying on antibiotics when you have a perfectly good immune system evolved so nicely to help you oust these foreign invaders.

Another point: When your doctor gives you antibiotics and tells you to take them for a full 2 weeks, LISTEN TO YOUR DAMN DOCTOR. If you start feeling better after 5 days, awesome. That doesn't mean the bacterial infection is gone. It means it's starting to get under control. If you stop taking antibiotics after those 5 days, you give that bacteria the opportunity to continue replicating in your body and potentially mutating into a form that is resistant to the antibiotic you have taken. Keep taking your antibiotics for the full 2 weeks to ensure that ALL of the infection is gone or incapable of reproducing. It is a thoughtlessly irresponsible course of action to stop taking your antibiotics before the prescribed period.

I should stop this train of thought before I start harping on how people are more inclined to believe their friends or their feelings than their doctors who spent an inordinate amount of time in grueling school to figure out what ails people.

Basically: Give your body a good fighting chance against what ails it. If after a week or so things are still awful or getting worse, trust in modern medicine to take care of you.

Take vitamin C, zinc, super-B complex, and magnesium as supplements for your immune system, overall metabolism, and muscle support rather than taking medicines that treat the symptoms of viral infections, such as loss of energy or muscle weakness. That's my very, very amateur advice.

After 5 days of 12+ cups of water, 5 grams of vitamin c, 2 tablets of super B-complex, 1 tablet of magnesium, and 12+ hours of rest ALL DAILY, I have woken up on the 6^th day feeling practically chipper. It was the worst cold I've ever endured, but I've made it alive and really no worse for the wear. And I have not contributed to the overuse of antibiotics. It makes my heart warm.

Cheers,

Rachel

What is this “Meta-Theism” of which you speak, and more importantly, who cares?

First, the etymology of the word itself.

meta-

1. a prefix appearing in loanwords from Greek, with the meanings “after,” “along with,” “beyond,” “among,” “behind,” and productive in English on the Greek model: metacarpus; metagenesis; metalinguistics.
   (source: dictionary.com)

the·ism

–noun

1. the belief in one god as the creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of revelation ( distinguished from deism).
2. belief in the existence of a god or gods ( opposed to atheism).
   (source: dictionary.com)

For rhetorical purposes, it was suggested to me to incorporate a hyphen so as not to mislead a casual glance into seeing “metATHEISM” and thus associating it inappropriately. From these definitions and with my own interpretation, we arrive at a word representing the concept “beyond god/gods”.

Meta-Theism has been an idea floating around in my head for longer than I could put a name on it. So much fruitless debate happens amongst the religious and the non-religious; pitting faith against science, no one has gained or lost ground, but what we have lost are time and energy. A pervasive element of philosophy permeates both the scientific and the faithful, so it seems that one could go beyond the level in which we get bogged down in differences and find an idea under which all can be discussed without the incorporation of theistic boundaries.

• Pick any religion, and you will find do's and do not's. It sometimes comes to the point where the do not's are believed in so strongly that even discussion of them is offensive and grounds debate or even personal musing to a halt. However, it has been my human experience that there are differing levels of direct control one has over one's actions versus one's ideas. If you believe stealing is bad and do not want to be bad, you can exert the effort not to steal. However, covetous ideas infiltrate the human mind as surely as innocuous, impertinent, or invalid ideas. Strange, strange things come into our human minds, and we are without the faculties for preventative measures. I ask you, reader: Why then would ideas be bad if you can entertain them without acting upon them? I am an advocate for learning, thinking, empiricism, testing boundaries, continually asking why, learning how to be satisfied when the answer is negative or unknowable... Is it wrong to expound upon ideas without limit? That, I feel, is where the fundamental difference between theism and meta-theism lies.
• Joe Nickell at Skepticon 3 brought forth a very interesting point in his lecture. He contends, essentially, if an atheist asserts that there is no god, the burden of proof is upon him/her to uphold that claim. Here, we get into what differentiates meta-theism from atheism. There's no need to get into the debate of theistic existence whatsoever. Do your cognitive exploration above and beyond those bounds. We human beings exist on this tiny planet, whatever your definition of existence may be. I assert that we are allowed to entertain, explore, and expound upon any ideas without needing to take theism into OR out of account. Thus, meta-theism, the idea of philosophy, empiricism, anything and everything at all being discussed beyond the consideration of theistic beings, breathes life into fields that previously got stuck due to an inability to get past the asinine debate of whether or not god/gods exist.

From this description, one may infer who I hope to target and incorporate to be a part of this project. In a word: EVERYONE. The beauty of this idea is the emphasis on the individual, the impossibility of perfect cohesiveness across cultures, neighbors, even on the level of the individual him/herself. We all have different ideas, and there exists no person now nor before who has the authority to say your thoughts, feelings, ideas, etc. shouldn't matter. They matter to you. They matter to others who are interested in what you have to say. I am one such individual, and I implore anyone who has anything to say on any topic to please become a part of this project.

To contribute to this blog, please email your contributions to metatheism@gmail.com. Please include how, if at all, you would like to be credited. In general, I can't think of any guidelines to adhere to. If you want to talk about explicit material, we can incorporate disclaimers. If you want to troll, well, some people find that funny. If you cannot convey your contribution in an intelligible fashion, just don't blame me if other people flame you. Nothing is off limits here, not even the discussion of theistic ideas. Meta-theism as an idea exists only to become the ideological medium through which it's considered perfectly okay to talk about whatever you want to talk about without a burden of proof unless you declare something as FACT. Sourcing is a MUST to maintain the integrity of this blog. If your contribution lacks a source, do not be surprised to see [source needed] added in. I will always be willing to update your posts with whatever evidence you can provide. May I suggest, in general, to simply be open and honest when something is your opinion. Don't burden yourself with proof you can't find. Simply concede that it's your opinion or your experience.

So that is the idea of meta-theism. Who cares? At least I do, and I wager there are plenty more who do as well. Please, world wide web. Share yourselves with me. With us. Personal anecdotes, art, music, essays/research articles, pictures... Name something. Then send it to me, please.

Cheers,

Rachel