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       #Post#: 371--------------------------------------------------
       Random Thoughts....
       By: guest5 Date: July 17, 2020, 9:22 pm
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       I'd feel like a real ass if I died of melanoma considering my
       user name. Hopefully there's an enemy out there thinking: 'don't
       worry bro you ain't gonna die of no fucken melanoma....', by
       now, or all may have been for naught.  :)
       Funny where I wound up in life so far....
       That's always a good point to make to people before you share
       some hard truths, neither of us asked to be here, and nor did we
       make the world the way it was the day we were born. That's two
       things all people, including animals, will always have in common
       from the day they are born, to the day they die.
       All of the worlds problems really are rooted in population and
       demographics.
       When ever a person makes an anti-depopulation argument you will
       notice that they rarely even pretend to truly care about other
       people and future generations. Even the argument, "but then a
       leader or doctor or somebody we really needed may never be
       born", has no sincere compassion in it for the person that has
       to be born and suffer a life of violence, trauma,
       disappointment, disease and ailments, loneliness to varying
       degrees and intervals, physical and mental degradation via aging
       process, and a whole host of other bad shit, just to live a
       short life and die. Now they're even talking about reproducing
       humans to be born in space stations and colonies....
       Bringing consciousness into existence in the material realm
       really is some cruel shit to do. I truly believe worshiping a
       god who would do something like that is evil....
       #Post#: 993--------------------------------------------------
       Let's talk about things not going the way you planned....
       By: guest5 Date: September 3, 2020, 12:49 am
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       Let's talk about things not going the way you planned....
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S26-2RXRdOc
       I think Beau makes some good points here too.
       My biggest take-away from what he said here: (paraphrasing)
       [quote]Things are not going to go how you think they
       will....[/quote]
       [quote]You better believe if this thing kicks off every
       adversarial nation to the U.S. is going to try and flood this
       country with weapons to help Americans tear each other
       apart....[/quote]
       #Post#: 1107--------------------------------------------------
       Reformed Neo-Nazi Explains How People Fall Prey to QAnon Online
       By: guest5 Date: September 10, 2020, 8:08 pm
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       Reformed Neo-Nazi Explains How People Fall Prey to QAnon Online
       [quote]Shannon Foley-Martinez, a former violent white
       supremacist now working to extract others from extremist groups,
       says QAnon attracts people looking for a meaningful connection
       and a way to navigate a world that feels unsafe.[/quote]
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4DkztDjlak
       #Post#: 1659--------------------------------------------------
       Gnostic Concepts in Contemporary Entertainment and Art
       By: guest5 Date: October 20, 2020, 8:42 pm
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       Haven't played this game seriously in quite a while, but the
       latest expansion Shadowlands goes live on the 26th of this month
       and I think I'm about to jump back in the fray. I know
       Aryanists, especially 90sRF probably do not think too highly of
       it because it's in 3D, but it's the only game I've played for
       the last two decades besides Diablo III.
       Anyway, check out this trailer for Shadowlands. I believe it to
       be highly Gnostic in concept. Lady Sylvanas is the queen of 'The
       Scourge', basically the undead....
       Tell me the ending is not Gnostic, almost Mohammaden Gnosticism,
       no?:
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7L_3J6Rl9Q
       [quote]This world is a prison... - Mohammed [/quote]
       #Post#: 2203--------------------------------------------------
       Is Borat racist?
       By: guest5 Date: November 14, 2020, 12:03 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       The comments to the video are priceless!  ;D
       Is Borat racist?
       [quote]Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Borat’ films skewer American
       prejudices while depicting Kazakhstan as backwards and
       anti-Semitic. Are the ‘Borat’ films racist? #Borat
       #SachaBaronCohen #Kazakhstan[/quote]
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVNdYZhHdlI
       #Post#: 3597--------------------------------------------------
       Using your voice is a political choice | Amanda Gorman
       By: guest5 Date: January 24, 2021, 2:52 pm
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       Using your voice is a political choice | Amanda Gorman
       [quote]For anyone who believes poetry is stuffy or elitist,
       National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman has some
       characteristically well-chosen words. According to Amanda,
       poetry is for everyone, because at its core it's all about
       connection and collaboration. In this fierce Talk, Amanda
       explains why poetry is inherently political (in the best way!),
       she pays homage to her honorary ancestors, and she stresses the
       value of speaking out despite your fears. "Poetry has never been
       the language of barriers, it's always been the language of
       bridges.[/quote]
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plU-QpcEswo
       #Post#: 3610--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Using your voice is a political choice | Amanda Gorman
       By: guest5 Date: January 24, 2021, 6:47 pm
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       Marlon Craft - Do The Work (Official Music Video)
       [quote]Me and the OUR.S movement are hosting a week of
       collaborative non-profit events with dope organizations that are
       "doing the work" in NYC.[/quote]
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa0Uj_d2DTM
       They don't want to do the work that much is now obvious to
       everyone who did do their work. Many only care about themselves
       and feeling good. Those of us who have been paying attention can
       now clearly see where these attitudes lead lazy cowardly people
       who only care about feeling good.
       If the world is a negative place talking about and acknowledging
       this fact is not negativity, it is realism....
       #Post#: 3676--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Using your voice is a political choice | Amanda Gorman
       By: guest27 Date: January 26, 2021, 7:35 am
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       [quote]If the world is a negative place talking about and
       acknowledging this fact is not negativity, it is
       realism...[/quote]
       When you just acknowledge it that's realism. When you fight it
       that's idealism. When you bring negativity to the light, and
       kill the light, that's negativity. When you bring negativity to
       the light, and kill the negativity, that's positivity.
       (Do the work. Don't just do the dirt.)
       #Post#: 3677--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Using your voice is a political choice | Amanda Gorman
       By: guest27 Date: January 26, 2021, 7:48 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [quote]Marlon Craft - Do The Work (Official Music Video)[/quote]
       These lyrics are brilliant thanks for sharing. I hope this stuff
       actually gets to people.
       "yo I ain't tryna do the work, homie I could keep it vegan
       but **** free range I need free-range feasting
       on anything need my dollar fries and i won’t apologize
       I’m tryna economize and I ain't tryna do the work"
       "i just think you’re /
       a little immature if you think i could make a change
       i’m just tryna make some change homie i ain’t tryna do the work"
       "i protect my own feelings and i watch you get hurt
       cuz there's nothin I can do, there’s nothin I can do
       that I can add, but there's just so much that I can lose. lose"
       #Post#: 3786--------------------------------------------------
       Why It Pays to Be Grumpy and Bad-Tempered
       By: guest5 Date: January 28, 2021, 10:51 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       I've believed much of what is said in this article to be true
       for a very long time, intuitively. Interesting that someone put
       it all in an article. I cannot help but laugh at the fools who
       jump on the unrealistic 'positivity' bandwagon, or don't believe
       that anger is an important emotion therefore attempting to
       suppress it. Suppressing emotions because they make you
       uncomfortable will lead to a much earlier death than expressing
       anger and frustration ever will. This has always been intuitive
       for myself, apparently not most people who are quick to jump on
       any new bandwagon that comes rolling down the street. "Positive
       vibes only!"
       Why It Pays to Be Grumpy and Bad-Tempered
       [quote]Being bad-tempered and pessimistic helps you to earn
       more, live longer and enjoy a healthier marriage. It’s almost
       enough to put a smile on the dourest of faces.[/quote]
       [quote] On stage he’s a loveable, floppy-haired prince charming.
       Off camera – well let’s just say he needs a lot of personal
       space. He hates being a celebrity. He resents being an actor. To
       his ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley's friends he was apparently
       known as ‘Grumpelstiltskin.’
       Hugh Grant may be famed for being moody and a little challenging
       to work with. But could a grumpy attitude be the secret to his
       success?
       The pressure to be positive has never been greater. Cultural
       forces have whipped up a frenzied pursuit of happiness, spawning
       billion-dollar book sales, a cottage industry in self-help and
       plastering inspirational quotes all over the internet.
       Now you can hire a happiness expert, undertake training in
       ‘mindfulness’, or seek inner satisfaction via an app. The US
       army currently trains its soldiers – over a million people – in
       positive psychology and optimism is taught in UK schools.
       Meanwhile the ‘happiness index’ has become an indicator of
       national wellbeing to rival GDP.
       The truth is, pondering the worst has some clear advantages.
       Cranks may be superior negotiators, more discerning
       decision-makers and cut their risk of having a heart attack.
       Cynics can expect more stable marriages, higher earnings and
       longer lives – though, of course, they’ll anticipate the
       opposite.
       Good moods on the other hand come with substantial risks –
       sapping your drive, dimming attention to detail and making you
       simultaneously gullible and selfish. Positivity is also known to
       encourage binge drinking, overeating and unsafe sex.
       At the centre of it all is the notion our feelings are
       adaptive: anger, sadness and pessimism aren’t divine cruelty or
       sheer random bad luck – they evolved to serve useful functions
       and help us thrive.
       Take anger. From Newton’s obsessive grudges to Beethoven’s
       tantrums – which sometimes came to blows – it seems as though
       visionary geniuses often come with extremely short tempers.
       There are plenty of examples to be found in Silicon Valley.
       Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is famed for his angry outbursts and
       insults (such as “I’m sorry, did I take my stupid pills today?”)
       yet they haven’t stopped him building a $300 billion company.
       For years, the link remained a mystery. Then in 2009 Matthijs
       Baas from the University of Amsterdam decided to investigate. He
       recruited a group of willing students and set to work making
       them angry in the name of science. Half the students were asked
       to recall something which had irritated them and write a short
       essay about it. “This made them a bit angrier, though they
       weren’t quite driven to full-blown fits of rage,” he says. The
       other half of the group were made to feel sad.
       Next the two teams were pitched against each other in a game
       designed to test their creativity. They had 16 minutes to think
       of as many ways as possible to improve education at the
       psychology department. As Baas expected, the angry team produced
       more ideas – at least to begin with. Their contributions were
       also more original, repeated by less than 1 percent of the
       study’s participants.
       Crucially, angry volunteers were better at moments of haphazard
       innovation, or so-called “unstructured” thinking. Let’s say
       you’re challenged to think about possible uses for a brick.
       While a systematic thinker might suggest ten different kinds of
       building, it takes a less structured approach to invent a new
       use altogether, such as turning it into a weapon.
       In essence, creativity is down to how easily your mind is
       diverted from one thought path and onto another. In a situation
       requiring fight or flight, it’s easy to see how turning into a
       literal “mad genius” could be life-saving.
       “Anger really prepares the body to mobilise resources – it tells
       you that the situation you’re in is bad and gives you an
       energetic boost to get you out of it,” says Baas.
       To understand how this works, first we need to get to grips with
       what’s going on in the brain. Like most emotions, anger begins
       in the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure responsible for
       detecting threats to our well-being. It’s extremely efficient –
       raising the alarm long before the peril enters your conscious
       awareness.
       Then it’s up to chemical signals in the brain to get you riled
       up. As the brain is flooded with adrenaline it initiates a burst
       of impassioned, energetic fury which lasts for several minutes.
       Breathing and heart rate accelerate and blood pressure
       skyrockets. Blood rushes into the extremities, leading to the
       distinctive red face and throbbing forehead veins people get
       when they’re annoyed.
       Though it’s thought to have evolved primarily to prepare the
       body for physical aggression, this physiological response is
       known to have other benefits, boosting motivation and giving
       people the gall to take mental risks.
       All these physiological changes are extremely helpful – as long
       as you get a chance to vent your anger by wrestling a lion or
       screaming at co-workers. Sure, you might alienate a few people,
       but afterwards your blood pressure should go back to normal.
       Avoiding grumpiness has more serious consequences.
       The notion that repressed feelings can be bad for your health is
       ancient. The Greek philosopher Aristotle was a firm believer in
       catharsis (he invented the modern meaning of the word); viewing
       tragic plays, he conjectured, allowed punters to experience
       anger, sadness and guilt in a controlled environment. By getting
       it all out in the open, they could purge themselves of these
       feelings all in one go.
       His philosophy was later adopted by Sigmund Freud, who instead
       championed the cathartic benefits of the therapist’s couch.
       Then in 2010 a team of scientists decided to take a look. They
       surveyed a group of 644 patients with coronary artery disease to
       determine their levels of anger, suppressed anger and tendency
       to experience distress, and followed them for between five and
       ten years to see what happened next.
       Over the course of the study, 20 percent experienced a major
       cardiac event and 9 percent percent died. Initially it looked
       like both anger and suppressed anger increased the likelihood of
       having a heart attack. But after controlling for other factors,
       the researchers realised anger had no impact – while suppressing
       it increased the chances of having a heart attack by nearly
       three-fold.
       It’s still not known exactly why this occurs, but other studies
       have shown that suppressing anger can lead to chronic high blood
       pressure.
       And not all benefits are physical: anger can help with
       negotiating, too. A major flashpoint for aggression is the
       discovery that someone does not value your interests highly
       enough. It involves inflicting costs – the threat of physical
       violence – and withdrawing benefits – loyalty, friendship, or
       money – to help them see their mistake.
       Support for this theory comes from the faces we pull when angry.
       Research suggests they aren’t arbitrary movements at all, but
       specifically aimed at increasing our physical strength in the
       eyes of our opponent. Get it right and aggression can help you
       advance your interests and increase your status – it’s just an
       ancient way of bargaining.
       In fact, scientists are increasingly recognising that grumpiness
       may be beneficial to the full range of social skills – improving
       language skills, memory and making us more persuasive.
       “Negative moods indicate we’re in a new and challenging
       situation and call for a more attentive, detailed and observant
       thinking style,” says Joseph Forgas, who has been studying how
       emotions affect our behaviour for nearly four decades. In line
       with this, research has also found that feeling slightly down
       enhances our awareness of social cues. Intriguingly, it also
       encourages people to act in a more – not less – fair way towards
       others.
       Harsh, but Fair
       Though happiness is often thought of as intrinsically virtuous,
       the emotion brings no such benefits. In one study, a group of
       volunteers was made to feel disgusted, sad, angry, fearful,
       happy, surprised or neutral and invited to play the “ultimatum
       game.”
       In the game, the first player is given some money and asked how
       they’d like to divide it between themselves and another player.
       Then the second player gets to decide whether or not to accept.
       If they agree, the money is split how the first player proposed.
       If not, neither player gets any money.
       The ultimatum game is often used as a test of our sense of
       fairness by showing whether you expect to get a 50-50 share or
       whether you are happy for each person to be in it for
       themselves. Interestingly, all negative emotions led to more
       rejections by the second player, which might suggest that these
       feelings enhance our sense of fairness and the need for everyone
       to be treated equally.
       Reversing the set-up reveals this is not just a case of sour
       grapes, either. The “dictator game” has exactly the same rules
       except this time the second player has no say whatsoever – they
       simply receive whatever the first player decides not to keep. It
       turns out that happier participants keep more of the prize for
       themselves, while those in a sad mood are significantly less
       selfish.
       “People who are feeling slightly down pay better attention to
       external social norms and expectations, and so they act in a
       fairer and just way towards others,” says Forgas.
       In some situations, happiness carries far more serious risks.
       It’s associated with the cuddle hormone, oxytocin, which a
       handful of studies have shown reduces our ability to identify
       threats. In prehistoric times, happiness would have left our
       ancestors vulnerable to predators. In modern life, it prevents
       us paying due attention to dangers such as binge drinking,
       overeating and unsafe sex.
       “Happiness functions like a shorthand signal that we’re safe and
       it’s not necessary to pay too much attention to the
       environment,” he says. Those in a continuous happy haze may miss
       important cues. Instead, they may be over-reliant on existing
       knowledge – leaving them prone to serious errors of judgement.
       In one study, Forgas and colleagues from the University of New
       South Wales, Australia, put volunteers in either a happy or sad
       mood by screening films in the laboratory. Then he asked them to
       judge the truth of urban myths, such as that power lines cause
       leukaemia or the CIA murdered President Kennedy. Those in a good
       mood were less able to think sceptically and were significantly
       more gullible.
       Next Forgas used a first-person shooter game to test if good
       moods might also lead people to rely on stereotyping. As he
       predicted, those in a good mood were more likely to aim at
       targets wearing turbans.
       Of all the positive emotions, optimism about the future may have
       the most ironic effects. Like happiness, positive fantasies
       about the future can be profoundly de-motivating. “People feel
       accomplished, they relax, and they do not invest the necessary
       effort to actually realise these positive fantasies and
       daydreams,” says Gabriele Oettingen from New York University.
       Graduates who fantasize about success at work end up earning
       less, for instance. Patients who daydream about getting better
       make a slower recovery. In numerous studies, Oettingen has shown
       that the more wishful your thinking, the less likely any of it
       is to come true. “People say ‘dream it and you will get it’ –
       but that’s problematic,” she says. Optimistic thoughts may also
       put the obese off losing weight and make smokers less likely to
       plan to quit.
       Defensive Pessimism
       Perhaps most worryingly, Oettingen believes the risks may
       operate on a societal level, too. When she compared articles in
       the newspaper USA Today with economic performance a week or a
       month later, she found that the more optimistic the content, the
       more performance declined. Next she looked at presidential
       inaugural addresses – and found that more positive speeches
       predicted a lower employment rate and GDP in during their time
       in office.
       Combine these unnerving findings with optimism bias – the
       tendency to believe you’re less at risk of things going wrong
       than other people – and you’re asking for trouble. Instead, you
       might want to consider throwing away your rose-tinted spectacles
       and adopting a glass half-empty outlook. “Defensive pessimism”
       involves employing Murphy’s Law, the cosmic inevitability that
       whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. By anticipating the worst,
       you can be prepared when it actually happens.
       It works like this. Let’s say you’re giving a talk at work. All
       you have to do is think of the worst possible outcomes –
       tripping up on your way to the stage, losing the memory stick
       which contains your slides, computer difficulties, awkward
       questions (truly accomplished pessimists will be able to think
       of many, many more) – and hold them in your mind. Next you need
       to think of some solutions.
       Psychologist Julie Norem from Wellesley College, Massachusetts,
       is an expert pessimist. “I’m a little clumsy, especially when
       I’m anxious, so I make sure to wear low-heeled shoes. I get
       there early to scope out the stage and make sure that there
       aren’t cords or other things to trip over. I typically have
       several backups for my slides: I can give the talk without them
       if necessary, I email a copy to the organizers, carry a copy on
       a flash drive, and bring my own laptop to use…” she says. Only
       the paranoid survive, as they say.
       So the next time someone tells you to “cheer up” – why not tell
       them how you’re improving your sense of fairness, reducing
       unemployment and saving the world economy? You’ll be having the
       last laugh – even if it is a world-weary, cynical snort.[/quote]
  HTML https://getpocket.com/explore/item/why-it-pays-to-be-grumpy-and-bad-tempered?utm_source=pocket-newtab
       Most modern Westerners: "Let's just all come together and sing a
       happy song while we pop Soma and be positive. Positive vibes
       only!"
       Do you not realize it's idiots like you that are destroying this
       planet? You make me sick! :D
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