Insomnia

[OldMcDonald]

You have a sharp mind for someone who has been farming all his life. I am not saying that farmers are dullards. They are pretty good at what they do on the land. Your grasp of things, however, is astute across a wide range of subjects.

I am an educated peasant. I suspect you know gey few farmers for many others are also educated peasants.

I know more than a few who can match my aged 11 scholarship to a government free grammar school specifically for those who achieved that scholarship; a University degree, in my case majoring in law and accountancy. Also the necessity to understand crop nutrient requirements and animal feed needs - such as the following paragraph from a paper I wrote two years ago:

I do not profess knowledge of medicines for humans, having extremely rarely taken any. I do have a good knowledge of basic human nutrition and an extensive knowledge of animal nutrition. My wife studied human nutrition as part of her qualification as a Home Economist – accepting it was a long time ago. For 50 years we have formulated farm animal rations and are well aware of the need to maintain correct ratios of minerals; minimal daily quantities of vitamins and minerals; toxicity possibilities of excess intake and the antagonism between various vitamins and minerals. Obviously all this knowledge is not stored in our heads and we keep up to date on developments or past ideas being challenged.

....................................

There is no reason why you should know that a huge number of farmers are well educated. We do not shout out about it. We just produce the food that keeps the rest of the planet alive. You buy it from a supermarket. You do not need to know who produces it any more than I need to know who produced the computer on which I am typing this response. That is the way of the world. Everybody is important. There is an old saying about a horse losing its shoe which resulted in the loss of a Kingdom.

 

[Molalla1]

OMcD . . . most farmers are as you know are very intelligent.

 

[sree251]

I am an educated peasant.

You are not a peasant, Mac. Neither was Jesus a carpenter. Carpenters cannot turn water into wine.

A peasant is an uneducated person, of low social status, who tills the soil to eke out a living. Insomnia is not a problem for the peasant who is too tuckered out after the day's labor. He sleeps like the dead till dawn. Insomnia is a disease of the gentry, that class above the peasant and beneath nobility.

People suffer sleep disorder. Other animals don't; not even the horse who sleeps standing on its legs.

 

[OldMcDonald]

You are not a peasant, Mac. Neither was Jesus a carpenter. Carpenters cannot turn water into wine.

A peasant is an uneducated person, of low social status, who tills the soil to eke out a living. Insomnia is not a problem for the peasant who is too tuckered out after the day's labor. He sleeps like the dead till dawn. Insomnia is a disease of the gentry, that class above the peasant and beneath nobility.

People suffer sleep disorder. Other animals don't; not even the horse who sleeps standing on its legs.

I am a peasant, or at least was. Also an atheist and do not believe water can be made into wine.

For most of my life I have exactly fitted your definition - which is just about word for word that of my "English" English language dictionary, with the exception of the word uneducated.

Consequently a peasant is not necessarily an uneducated person, although I admit that in addition to knowing farmers who are highly educated (and some being very rich, not peasants) I also know many who were undeducated, particularly my neighbours in Portugal, a number of whom could not read or write because of their lack of education. All of them were in the same position as me - peasants ekeing out a living.

I have had neighbours in England, Australia and Scotland who had the bearest minimum of education. Some of them were not peasants either, they were well off in monetary terms.

I would not generalise about insomnia and the class of person who is affected by it. I am sure in actual cases it is not a class conscious sentient affectation that attacks only a certain social level of person.

You are wrong about horses. In a 24 hour "day" equines sleep less than most species, adults for perhaps 3 hours, but very young foals, like most very young animals sleep a lot longer. They can sleep standing up, but they lie down for most of their deeper sleep requirements. I have heard of other animals that actually do have sleep disorders. Talk to a veterinary about it for more info.

 

[tradosaurus]

I am a peasant, or at least was. Also an atheist and do not believe water can be made into wine.

There are no atheists. Everyone has a belief (without evidence) of some sort. Some believe in evolution, some in the Trinity, some in an expanding universe.

 

[MossRoad]

There are no atheists. Everyone has a belief (without evidence) of some sort. Some believe in evolution, some in the Trinity, some in an expanding universe.

Strictly on a definition of words issue, Atheists don't have a belief. That's the exact definition of the word.

 

[CalG]

Strictly on a definition of words issue, Atheists don't have a belief. That's the exact definition of the word.

Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll have an afternoon nap! ;-)

 

[MossRoad]

Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll have an afternoon nap! ;-)

I believe you.

 

[BravoXray]

There are no atheists. Everyone has a belief (without evidence) of some sort. Some believe in evolution, some in the Trinity, some in an expanding universe.

We are all atheists, some just believe in one less god than others.
Don't remember who's quote that was.

Evolution and the expanding universe are hardly religions, and are a little more proven by the scientific method than any religion is by any method.

 

[OldMcDonald]

There are no atheists. Everyone has a belief (without evidence) of some sort. Some believe in evolution, some in the Trinity, some in an expanding universe.

This thread is being led even further away from the OP's starter.

Of course there are atheists. It is a word used to describe people like me who do not believe in any gods or spiritual beings. The word itself actually means someone without belief in god or gods. In other words someone without religion. It is a very simple concept.

I am sure there is no reason why an atheist could not believe in evolution - did you know that Darwin was a religious man and did not agree that evolution and Creation are mutually exclusive?