How to end this epidemic, fast!

I noted today that someone had written the abbreviation “g/l” somewhere, and I wondered what the GoldList Method had to do with it.

It transpired that the abbreviation meant “gains by losses”. Someone wanted to calculate the ration of occasions a certain investment had gained over the month by the amount of times it had lost – irrespective of amount. This was a bit counterintuitive but the guy needs it to build a trading algorithm.

It seemed to me that “gains by losses” is actually not a bad description of our GoldList approach also. You first need to find out what your memory lost in order to give it a chance to gain it on the next pass, rather than spend time repeating what you know already. Mentioning no names but Anki and Supermemo are looking a bit shifty there in the back row, along with Duo and a few others…

The materials used for learning, although some are better than others, are usually not at fault, but rather our phobia of forgetting, which puts the learner off and they go through frenetic attempts to make jolly sure this forgetting business doesn’t happen to them. It is like trying to stop the Coronavirus, ie ain’t gonna happen. Instead we have controlled forgetting, just as we are having a controlled and monitored level of getting the virus planned as we go through a summer of relaxing and then reimposing lockdowns and social distancing measures, whilst behind the scenes making as much equipment as we can and trying to get a vaccine and better tests.

Interesting how “14 days” has been in the news a lot, although the correct timing for quarantining for a population lockdown should be 40 days. This is borne out by Bible revelation and human history. What we actually need is a common fast, maybe even with the Muslims whom I would recommend to extend Ramadan this year and start it early so that we can fast to God for 40 days and stay at home and pray that his hand will be stayed. Atheists are blaming Christians and Muslims alike for the outbreak and they may even be correct, but not in the way they think…

We forget that fasting is commanded by the words and example of Jesus, we forget that 40 days is a period mentioned in the Bible dozens of times in both Old and New Testament, with Noah, Moses and many others using it. There are also 40 years in the wilderness. It is a healing number. We forgot all about it. Even Catholics who do have a joint large fast at Lent for 40 days usually forget what they are doing within days and out come the things they were meaning to give up. Is it any wonder this epidemic coincides so closely with the Lenten period? Where we forget, there there will be reminding. And with the reminding, learning.

So don’t be afraid of forgetting. It’s part of the learning process. Getting sick is part of the healing process, or if not being sick then imposing flesh-curbs on oneself, by the discipline of fasting.

Stay safe, and please use the sedentary time in isolation to push up your results above the targets originally made, this is the best thing you can do in this situation, other than to fast, read the Bible and pray, of course, and sing hymns of praise to the Lord. Certainly I wouldn’t want learning to get in the way of that, to everything there is a season.

Fasting doesn’t add to your salvation, it is by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone, but still it adds a lot of blessing. It strengthens prayer and it strengthens the organism. Jesus Christ took it seriously and His 40 day fast is right at the beginning of His ministry. Even now He is fasting, but this fast of His may be nearing its end “I will not drink from this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s Kingdom”.

People are full of blaming governments for this, other religions for that, the Chinese here, the Americans there, the British, the Swedes, etc etc. People should look to their own fauts and putting a curb on themselves. Dietary or clothing restrictions are a way of doing his and quarantine or social distancing is also, and one which has been known about for a long time. We should curb our eating with our curb in movement. In fact these two go hand in hand unless you want to gain weight while being sedentary.

This is how to end the current epidemic, fast. If all Christians and Muslims do it, staying at home, extending the period and forgoing the pleasant aspect of the iftar, then I know for a certainty that the outcome will be much better than it otherwise would be, and furthermore thise who despise the very idea of God will have no more occasion to criticise us and blaspheme the more against God. They of course will anyway, but at least we will not have given them occasion. We will be clear.