The Meaning of Life
Wow! I do believe it has been over a decade since someone has asked the question in a thread!
:cool:

My parents are both Vaccinated for the original COVID 19 strain and are still wearing masks and following the best practices with one advancement.
My Mom surprised me early by asking me out for my birthday in March! An in person lunch celebration :party:
A year ago is the last time I had a chance to sit with her face to face and love each other and never expected it to be a FULL year before seeing her again. I am impatiently, patiently waiting for my vaccine but I am estatic to see her again!
:flower: :flower: :flower:

Man is not trying to "conquer" space as far as I am aware. However, man does have an endeavor to explore space.

Thank you my friends for being my chosen family for the last decade+. :heart:
Everyone here matters to me, especially those I disagree with because without you, my vision of the world would be so very narrow. :flower:
So Thank you and to my dear friend @SapientiasLittleHelper I hope you lurk :flower:

It occurs to me that this forum is an approximation to a Salon. — Banno

It occurred just now? Bullocks!!! I'm going to try not to take it personally but wtf? We had the pub at the last place! Remember?
Anyway I can adapt to a Salon....so what can I get you to drink? (We need a beer or drink icon)

Sliding a cold beer to Sir~ :sparkle:
It's good to see you my friend :flower:

Software issues can make anyone feel stupid. If the extended mind thesis is right, perhaps software interfaces failing to work are rather like having a debilitating and undiagonised condition in a nervous tissue. Irritating, painful. To make matters worse, it is difficult to tell if something is the user's fault or a software issue until the problem is resolved. Irritating, painful, easy to construe as your fault/responsibility. — fdrake

Fucking Brilliant :grin:

Or I'm stupid :/ — Elegans

Nah, we are all learning.
Btw Welcome to The Philosophy Forum!
Tiff :flower:

Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect don't get enough credit. — thewonder

I had no idea where PLUR came from but was utterly impressed by whom was doing it to whom.
I was introduced to PLUR by my eldest son who is a VJ and travelled to Europe for Tomorrowland (Trying to remember the name of it) but taught me the PLUR with the trading of pony bead bracelets. Some he brought back from Amsterdam and Germany are truly artistic.
Such a soul loving tradition has been started and will resume after the end of COVID.
:victory: :heart: :hearts: :cheer:

Philosophers have the worst humour. Nerds. — Benkei

I like thinkers sense of humor, especially when it is processed through the mind of an attorney.

I believe some on the internet hang on every thought that comes out of here. :razz:
In all seriousness, I actually quoted @Banno so it was a portion of his reply.
However, you are on my radar to follow a bit and see what you have to share.
I'm excited that you are here, you seem to have an easy going persona and you are talking with the legendary Banno. :cool:

I wonder how much water this whale is going to displace by the time it's landed. It's not going to be as easy as winning the Goldfish at the state fair.

@Banno
A portion of your reply has been posted on The Philosophy Forum Facebook page.
Congratulations and Thank you for your contribution. :flower:

Eh, I doubt it. Wallstreet will always have the upper-hand at exploiting and exacerbating these trends. Their fingers are in every pie. — Nils Loc

You may in fact be right.
The big difference that I see is that old money has always trusted Wall Street and the younger generation don't trust anyone. They do their due diligence in researching out who they work for, play with and most of all they are very determined to make their money work for them BUT refuse to do something just because that's the way it's always been done.
These kids are going to rock our world one issue at a time and I am impressed as fuck!

@StreetlightX
I'm guessing you are already aware that
Reddit is where free speech has moved to, as it is remaining as a safe community to collaborate in, for the moment anyway.
The other place that I have been watching is on the Crypto Currency boards and have seen some crossover. Doge coin is an example of being up 38% yesterday which was talked about in the Reddit forum.
These kids (18+) are investing their stimulus checks into this toppling of the old school investments. Additionally, Reddit is world wide with people from other countries openly saying that they are putting money in as well.
It seems as though the 1% have a bitter pill to swallow as the curtian is being pulled back.
These kids have time, money and most of all a bet to settle with the man who they feel have been keeping them at the kids table.

Right now Silver is a red herring. It is clear handwriting on the wall that Citidel is Silver in disguise.
These younger, smart as a whip kids got the fat cats of Wall Street running scared and the kids are willing to hold the line.

@frank
You my friend are not charged with taking any flack about how "we" handled it. As always, I believe we do the best we can until we know better. When we know better we do better.
You are an Angel that lacks recognition for having to sacrifice your own safety to help others.
It is not something that I will ever forget not take for granted.
Thank you for caring for those who need care. It's really that simple, Thank you from the bottom of my heart :heart:

Both my youngest indian and I want the vaccine.
Having said that I am overcoming a lot of resentment when my youngest tests Positive for COVID when he has followed every rule of the virus mitigation a available. NicK was out with two friends, having a beer to ward off his depression who both tested positive for Covid-19. My immediate feeling is why? Why the fuck would you put yourself at risk having almost died in May from an Aortic dissection? You KNOW what the fuck happens to you on a ventilator!
Nothing just a fuck off attitude and I am left to come to terms with one person's choice of action and ALL of us facing the consequences.
Correlation? Causation? Fuck, I don't know, no one knows.
I'm testing negative even though I have been the one exclusively caring for my Indian. He is recovered.... recovering.... he is very afraid of the long term damage to his organs. He didn't want me to get it because he said he would know if I got it from him.
I apologised for getting upset about NicK increasing the risk and we don't know our indian contracted Covid-19.
Just curious:
How would you handle the virus mitigation going forward in a house with differing opinions about COVID?

Not sure what they read, but I'm shivering under a bunch of blankets right now waiting for this conspiracy covid fever to pass. — Hanover

God help us my friend :heart:
I'm not the only one that would not be the same without you in my life but I might be the only one here to say it out loud.
May the Wings of Angels surround you and keep you and your family safe and from my lips to God's ear that he understands our need and nurses you back to good health. :flower:

This is the same crowd who earnestly believed Obama is the Antichrist. This is the crowd who fears there are nano-trackers in the covid-19 vaccine.

They aren't going away. — frank

This nano tracker idea would be novel if we weren't all willing to pay for the one most carry in their pocket.

Stay healthy my friend :flower:

xmas 2020 ...

"No one ever lacks a good reason for suicide."
~Cesare Pavese — 180 Proof

It takes strength of character to seek out a reason to live while the darkness of life bears down upon us.

new year, new fear
2021
We will Rise my friends, We Will Rise :sparkle:

It would seem that a dream better than owning a quaint B&B would be to stay at a quaint B&B for free forever, right? — Hanover

How many keys do you want to your new time share? Offer to purchase cabin and take a cut of the profit we can make renting it out while you are away.
How can you refuse an offer like that? :up:
In fact, I could pull some strings to make sure it is decorated for the honeymoon :flower:

The I have a dream type, a world where people have figured out that if you don't bother other people they will not bother you. — Sir2u

This is the dream I was looking for, Thank you for sharing :flower:

I have a short term dream that is now a goal. That is to connect people around the world who would be willing to become an "Angel" for their desired locations. More to follow my friend :sparkle:

My life dream is Winterbury Bed and Breakfast.
12 private cabins and a main lodge which has a restaurant for regular hours and a fridge that guests can raid during off hours as desired :clap:
My recipes are tops and I have learned enough about F&B and Hospitality to do it right. :100:

What do you dream about?

When my cousin got married, his wife was heaven. Two weeks later, she became purgatory. Long before her divorce, her in-laws were hell. — Miguel Hernández

Lol Welcome to The Philosophy Forum!

Yep. I think it's the mRNA vaccine, so it's new technology. I've heard the side effects can suck. — frank

I had the first shot of the shingles and that was rough but I am willing to go through the crap feeling to stay safe and see my Mom and Dad :heart:
Mom called to let me know that my brother in law, who is a teacher for those with learning disability has been hospitalized in Chicago, Covid-19 positive, on supplemental oxygen and being given Remvesidere (sp?).
I'm stuck in a depression but I am sure I am not the only one.

Should be getting a vaccine soon. Thank you Pfizer!!!!!!! — frank

Will you be taking it? I already have a chair outside the facility! Hit me up! :strong:
Actually I am a needle FREAK so I am more worried about the pain than the reaction to the vaccine. :yikes:

First responder in our group of friends is Covid 19 positive. NicK and I are the only ones in our group of friends who HAVE not contracted Covid 19. I pray she is okay because her better half only has one lung and they have 4 kids under the age of 13.
:pray:

Purgatory is starting each day knowing nothing about Algebra, painstakingly learning it only to go to sleep with a headache and wake up like it never happened. :rage:

@Tobias
Thoughts?
@Benkei
The two members above have written some amazing thoughts on love. Which is why I ask them their thoughts.
My personal philosophy?
Meh..
twisted idea that is still guilt laden for me with some serious Catholic underpinnings.
Maybe it is different for a woman because at least for me the goal of masterbation is to orgasm.
Given the goal, the way to get me there is to lose the need to control the way I am going to feel and let my mind float above (total cleared mind) what is driving me there, to climax BUT that is where I am snapped back to the realities in my mind and it blows any chance of achieving of my goal.
I have all but given up so I guess I have failed my moral duty in Kant's eyes.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth and if I could get my change I will be on my way.
Tiff

@Sir2u
May the Wrath of Mother Nature pass you and your family (including your students) leaving you safe and healthy. I am sending my energies to defend your space on this Earth and allow for the storm clouds to break open to sunny skies and calm waters. :pray: :sparkle: :flower:

Pre-op appointment for Friday is requiring a negative Covid-19 test taken tomorrow and then I am supposed to wear a mask in my home and public.
Flipping bonus: no one can be with me before the procedures, before they put me out via vein line. I am a freak about needles and I am so absolutely terrified about being put out in a surgical center and waking up in the hospital ALONE because something didn't go as planned.....
I've debated waiting longer than I have but I really can't wait anymore. I'm considering going to a hotel for a couple days just to be alone without the pressures of the ranch.
~pacing

I think from contact to symptoms is around 5-7 days. In the hospital we stop treating infected people as if they're contagious after 21 days (though I think the real number is around 14 days). — frank

Thank you for helping me understand :up:

Thankfully I am Covid-19 negative.

Component Results
SARS-CoV-2, NAA
Your Value
Negative
Standard Range

WHYYYYYYY???????? — Maw

Calculated risk to be blunt honest. I attended the ceremony and left without hugs from anyone. I left and the others at the ranch stayed for the reception of drinking, buffet food and fuck all.....

""Feels Like Rain" Buddy Guy
(originally by John Hiatt)

Down here the river, meets the sea
And in the sticky heat I feel ya' open up to me
Love comes out of nowhere baby, just like a hurricane
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain

Lying here, underneath the stars right next to you
And I'm wondering who you are and, how do you do? How do you do, baby?
The clouds roll in across the moon, and the wind howls out your name
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain

We never going to make that bridge tonight baby
Across lake Ponchartrain
And it feels like rain
And it feel

Down here the river, meets the sea
And in the sticky heat I feel ya' open up to me
Love comes out of nowhere baby, just like a hurricane
And it feels like rain
And it feels like rain

@frank
How on God's Green Earth could anyone not get this? I'm absolutely dumbfounded at the selfish behavior around me.
Btw: if person A is COVID 19 positive, how long is their incubation period? How long after person A tests positive is person B at risk if person A doesn't know when they contacted it?

Let us hope for a negative result, Tiff! — ssu

2-3 days for the test results.
@Benkei Right? How to pray for a negative feels counter intuitive. Kind of like leaning into a right hook! :yikes:

I'm going to be tested because a good friend has tested positive and we attended the same wedding a Saturday ago. 120 attending, multiple states and only 2 people were wearing masks with no physical distancing.
Preparing for impact... NicK and I were the only two.

I think that Trump is finally losing it. The election, I mean. — ssu

Don't count him out just yet. What I see on your map representing Arizona is inaccurate as far as I can tell. There are a sea of Trump flags down the street but then again, as I have expressed in the past, we take our rights seriously and Beto O'rourke is what keeps people around here awake at night.
There might be a shred of truth to the silent supporters that will rise up on election day.

I realize this is a longer article so please scroll on past if you have no interest in how our current reality is changing some of us. For those who wish, I will drop this here and see if anyone can relate.

Your brain is working overtime to keep you safe right now. It has adjusted to a whole new reality and learned in a relatively short amount of time that what was once benign is now dangerous. For many people, these new fear associations are so strong they can even be triggered when the threat isn’t imminent. Has your stomach clenched during a concert scene in a movie? Or did looking at pictures of the Rose Garden Supreme Court nomination ceremony make you recoil? That’s your brain’s learned fear response in action.
A fear of crowds isn’t inherent — most of us didn’t have this response to large groups of people pre-Covid-19. So, how did we develop this new anxiety so quickly?
Over the past seven months, the country has taken part in a giant fear-conditioning experiment. We have learned that crowds are a high-risk situation for contracting Covid-19, so we don’t go to places with crowds anymore (most of us, anyway). Not only that, we have developed a physiological fear response (sweaty palms, knotted stomach, shallow breathing) triggered by this new conditioned stimulus. Pavlov would be so proud.
Fear conditioning is when you learn that a previously neutral stimulus (a crowd) predicts a dangerous or unpleasant situation (a deadly disease). Eventually, the neutral stimulus starts to trigger the fear response on its own, even when the dreaded outcome isn’t possible, like when you view a crowd scene on TV. You can’t catch Covid-19 from a movie filmed in 1989, but the association is so strong that your brain produces a fear response anyway when you watch the New Year’s Eve party scenes in When Harry Met Sally for the 17th time (or maybe that’s just me).
The classic fear-conditioning experiment is giving mice a brief electric shock right after a sound is played. Initially, the mice freeze in response to the shock (their natural reaction), but soon they start to freeze in response to the sound, even before they’ve been shocked. The mice have learned that the sound predicts the shock, and their fear response kicks in early. In the final stage of the experiment, the mice continue to freeze in response to the sound, even when no shock comes. The fear conditioning is complete.
Fear conditioning is one of our most deep-rooted forms of learning, because it helps us to avoid — and therefore survive — potentially dangerous situations. It sits at the intersection of emotion and memory, controlled in the brain by the amygdala and hippocampus, which are involved in processing fear and memories, respectively. The two brain regions work together to learn, contextualize, and remember new situations that are potentially dangerous and warrant a fear response.
If you experience the previously neutral stimulus (a crowd or a noise) enough times without the scary event (Covid-19 or an electric shock) following, the conditioned fear response will start to decay. You’ll stop reacting to the situation as if it’s dangerous, and the connection in your brain will weaken. This means that eventually, when the risk is over, you will be able to go to a concert and not have a panic attack. But that’ll probably be a while.
This made me think of optimism bias
What about the people (like some in our government) who have also heard that crowds increase the risk of catching Covid-19 but go to large events with lots of other people anyway? They likely are experiencing something called optimism bias: “Sure, the coronavirus has infected more than 7 million Americans and killed over 200,000 of them, but it won’t infect me. I’m special.”
For an Elemental article I wrote in August about how our brains process risk, I spoke with David Ropeik, author of the book How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don’t Always Match the Facts. He says:
When we take a risk, we engage in something that’s called optimism bias. That is, it won’t go as bad for me as it will for somebody else. And we use that all the time to do all sorts of risky things — drunk driving, jaywalking, speeding, going out in the sun without protection for our skin, you name it — so that we can do stuff that’s risky. That’s the rationalization tool used for taking risks. “It won’t go as bad for me as somebody else.”
Unfortunately, wishful thinking doesn’t work on the novel coronavirus. But distance and masks do.
Try this to snap yourself back to reality
Starting to feel your fear conditioning wear off or your optimism bias slip in? Think of the most horrific outcome of what would happen if you caught the coronavirus, or read a few stories by people who have lost a loved one to Covid-19 or have been scarily ill themselves. Seriously. Evocative stories or images drive home how great the risk really is and can shake you out of your apathy or denial.
A colleague recently recounted her own terrifying and drawn-out experience with the virus this spring. She writes:
The terror of being on the early end of a not-well-understood disease, of being at the mercy of a never-ending array of bizarre and worrisome symptoms, of feeling like there was no one who could help, of feeling better only to feel worse again, of being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, of my four-year-old asking me, “Mommy, can you please keep your eyes open?” was too much to bear.
Keep that in mind the next time you think about going to a football game or a political fundraising event.

I think I've always had an optimistic bias.
sheps labeled me as an eternal utopia seeker.
I'd like to think I am trying to live the love out of life :flower:
But at this moment in time I am too scared to participate if others don't wish to as well.
I make no political statement about it, I just slip out the back. My absence should be enough said. Until someone has lived one hour on the receiving end of not being able to be with your loved one in their absolute hour of need?
Save it.