EIDA, an initiative within ORFEUS, is a distributed federation of datacenters established to (a) securely archive seismic waveform data and metadata gathered by European research infrastructures, and (b) to provide transparent access to the archives by the geosciences research communities.
Respectful and fun place to work, but there's a lot that could be improved regarding work life balance and actually ensuring the culture is followed through on
Maybe. It's a small company with pay that is not competitive but very flexible hours and family freindly
Lately, a troubling situation has been occurring with some regularity. Many of my friends, enduring trials and suffering of their own, explicitly downplay the seriousness of those situations in recounting them to me. They use phrases that are meant to acknowledge the profundity and difference of what we have endured this year; that acknowledgment, I appreciate. But somehow, it ends with me feeling set apart from my friends, rather than drawn together. That separation, I do not appreciate.
For example, a few days ago, while I sat and waited in one of many parking lots, a friend came over to the window to share her joy about our upcoming trip to Lourdes. I said how excited I felt, how unreal it all seems, and a comment about how I’ve been struggling with prayer and faith this year. “It’s been a year” is a refrain I throw around a lot; I threw it in here. She answered that she also feels like God has been testing her this year and calling her to grow in her faith. And then instantly appended, “But nothing like what you’ve been through.”
This is a woman whose family has had an unexpected baby, multiple moves, and a child requiring surgery in the last several months.
For my part, I have (until now!) been reluctant to share the truth of how hard this year has been, even when people ask. This is, in part, because during one of Oscar’s inpatient stays, we were in the same hospital at the same time with two of my friends, each there with their young daughters, both of whom are fighting cancer.
I felt ridiculous at the time asking for prayers for Oscar when these girls are fighting for their lives.
Are there levels (or perhaps varying depths) of suffering? I absolutely think so. None of us have ever endured the agony of suffering that Christ Himself endured. So if ours is less than His, then mine or yours or Oscar’s can certainly be more or less than any other human’s. The pain of childbirth is worse than the pain of stubbing a toe. So I think the notion that some suffering is more profound than other suffering is not, in and of itself, a problematic notion. The fact of it is true.
What is problematic, though, is allowing that “hierarchy” of suffering (for lack of a better word) to come between us. Our family’s trial this year should not, does not constitute a pedestal. I am no more or less holy than I was a year ago at this time. And that’s not what my friend was suggesting. But just as celebrations bring people flocking to share in others’ joy, I wish suffering could, as a rule, unite rather than separate us.
C.S. Lewis described pain as “anxiety that gnaws like fire and loneliness that spreads out like a desert.” Myself, I experience it as living inside a vast empty bubble.
The word compassion literally means to suffer with (com = with, passion = suffer). The Greek word that gets translated as “compassion” in the Bible is splagchnizomai, which literally means “moved to the bowels.” To put it more plainly, compassion is the sick, breathless feeling you may get, as if punched in the gut, when you see a pitiable fate befall another person. Their suffering and pain becomes yours in a visceral way, in every sense of that word:
Sometimes, though, it is easy for our compassion to get sidetracked into something closer to pity. This can mean pity for ourselves, for the sufferer, or pity for others, for those looking into the glass box from the outside. And sometimes, at least in my case, compassion can even get sidetracked into pride. “I thank thee, God, that I am not like other men.” It is easy — even encouraged, both by secular culture and by prosperity gospel — to assume that things are going well in my life because of my own right actions. As if somehow the blessings that have come to me are earned and deserved, not freely given.
This common experience is felt in the tsk-tsking of tongues, the sad head-tilt, and the uncomfortable silence that often comes in response to an honest answer about Oscar’s progress. Phrases such as “I could never do that” and “I’m so thankful for my healthy children” reinforce those feelings of distance, of being set apart to live inside a bubble. And I even do this myself, in comparing Oscar’s medical situation to those of other “sicker” kids (to say nothing of greater suffering elsewhere in the world!), and feeling unworthy of mercy and support as a result.
In the essay Welcome to Holland, the author describes a child’s special needs diagnosis as akin to preparing for and embarking upon a vacation to Italy, only to find they have been diverted permanently to Holland. While all their friends are still over there enjoying Italy!
I am acutely aware of my new citizenship in Holland these days. I am meeting and befriending lots of Dutch, navigating the maze of unfamiliar streets without a map. But is it any wonder I feel isolated from my friends in Italy, even when they call to chat long-distance? Is it any wonder that I miss their close companionship? Or that I feel disoriented at the thought of building an entirely new, Holland-centric social network that by definition excludes so many of the people who have supported our family through every twist and turn, up to now?
In everyday interactions, my friends and relations are clearly moved by our story and Oscar’s journey. Then why lately, in so many cases (like the ones above), where suffering was clearly present on both sides, did I feel that suffering was the thing dividing me from my friends, rather than uniting us? If some suffering is greater than other suffering, does this mean that some suffering is more compassion-worthy than another? No. All suffering, even trivial, is worthy of compassion. As Simcha Fisher once put it, God dries all tears, even first world tears. And creating, labeling, and reinforcing hierarchies of suffering is one of the things that creates separation and builds bubbles.
What is good in any painful experience is, for the sufferer, his submission to the will of God, and, for the spectators, the compassion aroused and the acts of mercy to which it leads.
We are called to look with what Fr. Michael Gaitley calls “the merciful gaze,” to put on the eyes of Christ and see our suffering brothers and sisters, and be moved (to our bowels!). Moved not just to pity but to action. Christ’s call is always first and foremost a call to relationship, with Him and by extension with our brothers and sisters united in Him. Just as we are called to accompany Him on His road to Calvary, metaphysically and spiritually, we are called as Christians to accompany suffering wherever we see it, of any degree, physically and materially. The merciful gaze rightly leads to mercy in action. Our identification with Christ’s great Passion on the cross should help us to identify tiny replicas of that passion in the world around us.
I commiserated with another friend whose family had a medical crisis this month, mentioning how I have PTSD after every hospital visit. She replied that it had given her “just a glimpse of your world this past year.” Her child was sped to the hospital in a screaming ambulance while police questioned her family, looking for (absent!) evidence of child abuse. This she called “just” a glimpse of suffering.
I appreciated so much that she took the time to acknowledge me in the midst of her own trauma. She extrapolated from her own situation, imagined ours, and reached out to say she thought of us — what a rare gift. But how I also wish she had not used that qualifier “just,” or continued “I’m not sure I’d still be able to function.” She did function, in that awful moment. The glimpse was so, so real. And I wish she (and you all!) knew that she is just as strong as I am, that I am just as weak as she is, that I am no different on the inside of the bubble than I was on the outside.
The hard truth is that we do live in Holland now. We do live in a bit of a bubble. But some words and actions reinforce that bubble, while others allow us to see through, reach through, or even step through for a visit.
In my next post, I will share some ideas about how to support families in times of crisis, especially families living with chronic, ongoing needs.
Welcome to the Faith Temple Church in Batesville, MS.	We are a Christian community	and would love to have you join our family. Please join us for Bible study, worship, and	prayer.
The reason why women and men have disagreements when it comes to the knowledge of Game, Red Pill, MGTOWs, PUAs, etc, is because the information that is being tossed their way is blunt, raw, and simply too brash when it comes to their trained thought process on women, relationships, and life as a whole. From birth until adulthood, when it comes to love and romance, they have had a idea planted in their head as far as what is the “right” and even “wrong” things to do. This idea has been so engrave inside them that anything that goes against that belief is the same as a Christian hearing information from a Atheist. Its the same as a Hip Hop fan being told that POP music is where the “real” music lives at. And its the same as telling a drug addict that being sober can give you a much more higher high than any drug can muster up.
Overall, game and red pill is disgusting to them and serves them no purpose. Its a dangerous alternative and makes little to no sense as how a man can act in such a cold blooded and methodical manner, and how a woman can act in such a way that sounds more closer towards The Joker from “The Dark Knight” movie, than a actual human being when it comes to gaining sex or commitment from a man. The problem I feel like they have is that they are viewing Game and The Red Pill from a “Real life” view. Meaning, they don’t understand that the reason their kids have toys to play with is because there is someone in a sweat shop making it. Nothing is created without the nuts and bolts being laid out first.
The feelings both men and women have when it comes to love and relationships are connected to their childhood belief when it came to Santa Clause or a Boogeyman. That fear of something out of reach and unknown to even me as well too, lead me to think there were powers out of reach that were greater than me from a sci-fiction perspective. Like GOD had a plan for each and every person big and small laid out in blueprint fashion before they were even born, or even a thought and concern for the mother and father. This leads them to go through not only their love life, but life in general from a POV of “something will change”. A pov as if their life was the human form of the end result of a lucky lottery ticket. A cartoon or family show where every wraps up in either 15 minutes or 30 minutes always. Basically, men and women while view life in a way that is more closer towards Clark Kent than them thinking they are Superman, they still seek out love in terms of “being lucky”, or hoping for FAITH in a system that is exclusivity made for them. Old and young. Here is paragraph from my favorite blog called “The Rational Male” to extend what I am saying, or, to add more respect where I am inspired from:
I was in class, surrounded by (mostly) much younger students than myself, all very astute and as intellectual as they come for mid twenty-somethings. At one point the discussion had come around to religion and much of the class expressed being agnostic or atheist, or “spiritual, but not religious”. The rationale was of course that religion and belief could be explained as psychological (fear of mortality) constructs that were expanded to sociological dynamics.
Later in that discussion the idea of a ‘soul mate’ came up. The professor didn’t actually use the word ‘soul’, but rather couched the idea by asking for a show of hands as to how many of the class believed “there was a special someone out there for them?” or if they feared “the ONE that got away.” Damn near the entire class raised their hands. For all of their rational empiricism and claims to realism in regards to spirituality, they (almost) unanimously expressed a quasi-Karmic belief in connecting with another idealized person on an intimate level for a lifetime. -The Rational Male (Soul Mate Myth)
In the video above, you see Dick Masterson the author of the book “Men are better than women” on the cancelled TV program “The Tyra Banks Show” talking about the truth of the game in a blunt manner with no fluff or chaser. Just straight to the point without any filter or regard to say the right thing to please the females. As he finishes the other two guys there (In private) would agree but, while the women on the couch as well as the 98% of females in the audience are around, the politically correct tone is used in order to fan the flames that Dick just laid down in front of everyone. This is where it became interesting for me as I view this again later in life after digesting more of the red pill knowledge.
It became interesting because lets be honest, the women who are seen hugged up with the black dude on the couch KNOW Dick is right when he is speaking on game and how women react to certain cues that men pull off. They understand it just as much as men understand it. The thing is, they (as I have said here) want to believe in Santa Clause. They want to still feel that what he as a man is saying is real from the perspective of a man made idea. Granted, every idea in this world has helped and hurted men, society, and humans as a whole period, but, at the same time this is still based in only what WE can see. This world around us is only known from our perspective as humans. We don’t know what is truly out there. So, to circle back to what I am saying when it comes to the IDEA of love, romance, relationships, etc, this is merely crumbs on the dinner plate.
This is merely something small in the grand scheme of things when it comes to the truth of the world. If me as a man only focuses on strictly what would make woman happy always, she as a female from a animal standpoint will look at me as a weak person. Or, as Patrice O’neal points out here from the 5:16 to 7:22 mark, I start to look like her food. The point I am making is, despite the fact that when the black man in the video starts to dip the medicine that Dick is selling in some food coloring, it still wont change the fact that the medicine bottle remains the same, and the medicine itself its science proven. They or, more so the only woman speaking in the video besides Tyra, WANT to believe the black man’s political remix of the game more so than to actually face the truth staring them in the face. They know swimming in water without knowing how to swim is fun, but that doesn’t want to stop them from chasing the FEELING of danger and the unknown. Sure, the woman in the video can throw a un-creative joke towards Dick and have the females in the audience laugh, but that doesn’t change the Principe of what he still said. They are using concepts and ideas (that was man made in order to get the pussy) as imaginary friends in real time.
I have talks with some friends and family about this and, I can still see the hope when it comes to men and women. There is nothing wrong with it from a standpoint of you as person understanding how to turn that off and not let that even suck you into a system of slavery. But, majority of men not just women don’t see it from that alternative at all. The video game is real to them. There is a end goal towards this. This is the truth even though it came strictly from us as a species. What was once a game of distraction has become the “what is” to them. They were trained from the birth about rules, beliefs, and systems outside of their own thought before they even had a chance to create one. Me myself, I still struggle with not becoming trapped in a box training to figure out my patterns and keep me restrained. Not for just the system of life alone but for me myself internally. This is a fight beyond others. This is a fight with a system we as men have helped built on our own against our own will, but at the same time it has helped our survival. Its a mind fuck to say the least.
These concepts and ideas that I am looking at from a understanding of a Mechanic also help me stay sharp and stay on my toes. The negatives of the world help strengthening the positive. Both sides play for the same team with it comes to positive and negative and can leave you as a person stuck in a jail cell battle internally with them, but at the same time it keeps you as a person going. You just can’t let it win but also not always play with it. You must treat this life as your pet. Nothing can or will stop you. Don’t even let it THINK that it can. Because thoughts will then become actions and actions will then become buildings. Cement you can no longer knock down.
Men need to simply stop the confusion of what can be and simply learn how to live in the mindset of being able to “Kill the bunny” as The Rational Male points out here using the same video, with women, and also as I have said life as a whole. There is no end game here. There is no end point to all of this. This is merely a pit stop on the long road in life. You can not women become the end of YOUR book. You are still writing yours. How can that be misunderstood as selfish when talking on a higher level? Granted, I am not saying that after figuring out the world with this angle that things will become easier always no, but, it gives you a blueprint to see the world from a objective angle at all times with no purpose or ending. Simply mastering it. Its like a long game of Tetris. How many blocks can you spin and flip to make a shape before it reaches the top?. It must be like that with everything especially women. You can have faith in the hopes that I and many others that blog about the same subject are wrong, but still wont change the fact that it works. Its a game. Learn to treat it as such from a child perspective, and a adult perceptive. You must have fun but never forget why you are.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a new way of providing support for people living with disability. It’s a whole-of-life approach, a major reform of disability services in Australia, designed to provide the right support according to each person’s needs and goals. The NDIS funds people’s lifetime supports and puts people with a disability at the centre of the system, allowing them greater choice and control and funding matched to their support needs, goals, and aspirations.
As of 1 January 2019, the NDIS will roll out across the Hume region of Victoria, and people with a disability living in Greater Shepparton, Moira, Mitchell, Strathbogie, and Murrindindi will be able to access the NDIS. Many people in this region are already accessing NDIS supports with FamilyCare.
An Australian citizen or permanent resident, aged under 65 years, and have a permanent disability that significantly impacts their everyday functioning and participation in social activities and work.
You can find out more about the current access criteria for Victoria by the NDIS website. www.ndis.gov.au
One on One Support: Individual support tailored to the participant’s goals, including personal care and high-needs support.
If you would like more information about the supports that FamilyCare can provide to you or someone with a disability, or if you would like information on the NDIS, or pre-planning assistance, contact: IntoRec on 03 5823 7041, or email intorec@familycare.net.au