Those Who Don’t Take Heed Die of Ingratitude

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

One evening, while in college, I attended an extracurricular lecture held by my college adviser on nuclear proliferation. It was a concern that was close to his heart and I admired his “doing something about it” at the time.

During his talk, he shared the parable of “the frog in boiling water” and it was the first time I had heard it told.

Essentially, it boiled (pun intended) down to this:

If you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will immediately jump out to save its life. However, if you place the frog into a pot of room temperature water and slowly heat it to a boil, the frog will gradually boil to death.

The lesson from the story?

For me, it was this:

Inattention and complacency kills; gradually by degree at first, and then all once.

I believe this applies to people on a personal basis as well as on a grander scale. Consider how much we have progressed since Y2K.  After 911, I became that frog in the water before I jumped out and went Galt ten years later, in 2011.  It was around the time the tsunamis struck Japan and a few months before Ann Barnhardt jumped ship. I couldn’t stop the boiling all around me, so I got out.

For the next several years though, a sort of paralysis set in that was brought about by my anger and fear.  In a sense, I was boiling still, but in a different way; from the inside out, as it were, as I’ve seen others do also.  Earlier this year, I wrote about some of that in another essay, regarding the importance of honesty and how I leaped from that latest boiling pot:

 

I began to recognize the pride behind my fears…  a type of pride that led to resentments and anger.  Beneath all mad is sad and underlying both is fear.  I began to think about faith; how faith without works is dead.  In my own case, therefore, faith became right action; deeds more than words.

…..All I have to do is try my best every day. Seek truth, speak the truth to the best of my ability, and take right action in the hopes it will benefit others; including some I may not ever know.

 

Some of that is why I started my blog in September of 2016.  It was something I could do; even if I did believe that Hillary was going to win the presidency two months later, and after that, it would just be a matter of time before the Stormtroopers darkened my door.

Even so, my decision was made and any caution thrown to the wind. If I became a dissident who was targeted, so be it. If they tortured my family in front of me, or pulled out my intestines like Braveheart, that would be “on them” because I had chosen; and I wasn’t fooled.

Looking back, I’ve come to realize in the ten years from around 2006 to the fall of 2016, I was working through my discontentment like the Kübler-Ross five stages of grief:  Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

 

 

Yet, even now, I still can’t decide if acceptance is surrender by acquiescence or a best-option retreat by way of jumping out of the boiling pot. Or maybe those two constructs aren’t necessarily separate at all.

In any case, there is a certain amount of acceptance that must take place before action can be taken; for either good or bad.

This is the 100th original article I’ve posted since I started my blog in the fall of 2016.  Ironically, my thoughts are out of focus currently and I am not sure exactly what I am trying say; even now as I type.

In many ways, I think I may have said all I can – of that which I am willing to share online, and I don’t wish to repeat myself. Honestly, I’m not sure if I could say anything better than I have already.

At this time, I don’t know.

In the fall of 2016, Donald Trump’s speaking to truth to power inspired me.  However, unless I’m missing something, he now appears powerless to reverse the tide.

Deep down, I may not have expected him to make America great again anyway. He’s just one man.

Nor am I surprised at the Orwellian media censorship taking place today.  Again, it was just a matter of time.  Even if Trump is real, and not a TV actor, he can’t tell corporations what to do, per se. Neither can he slow the force and flow of the overwhelming and inexorable stupidity flowing from therein and all around.

There isn’t much I can do either.  It is frustrating; and acceptance feels like losing, or rather, boiling in hot water.

Subsequently, I will do what I can each day through positive action on behalf of myself and others, as opposed to the wicked deeds that would satisfy my prideful soul.

It’s my leap of faith, if you will.

For a while now, I have chosen to be mentor for my county. Some of my duties include assisting individuals in youth facilities, treatment centers, and the jail. Over the past week, I helped a guy find a decent car for $1,000. Not easy.  I also help to set up meetings where alcoholics and drug addicts can speak to one another and I’ve had two acquaintances over the last month, who I knew from that endeavor, succumb to the Great Beyond: One from liver failure and the other by suicide.

The liver failure was a 30-something gal with children who wasted many opportunities and she actually sort of reminded me of an older Amy Winehouse.  Winehouse was a British jazz and pop singer who boiled to death in her proverbial “pot” around the time I jumped from mine, in 2011.  In the now-deceased singer’s eponymously entitled documentary, “Amy”, footage of her is shown on the night she won a Grammy Award.  Beneath that footage, a voiceover of her best friend spoke of how Amy lamented being sober on the night she won that Grammy because everything was “so boring without drugs”.

Which, for me, raises the question:  Why can’t each day be sufficient?

What’s wrong with the sunrise and why is sunset never good enough?

Recently, headlines were made when an airline employee, by the name of Rich Russell, stole an empty airplane and used it to commit suicide on an island near Seattle, Washington. Russell “chalked up” his actions to the frustration of making minimum wage and for being a “white guy” in a politically correct world.

Once one reaches the mindset of “all is meaningless”, they may fail to realize the anger behind that. And, from there, the spirit of “what the fuck” takes flight. At the very end, though, that anger will bring anyone down in flames; their hair on fire. It possible Rich destroyed himself because he didn’t want to hurt anyone else. Or maybe even that didn’t matter to him anymore.

It’s true that resentment is a misplaced form of revenge; a bitter, poison pill that we, ourselves, swallow.

If only this person, or situation, were different.  If only my job were better and I made more money. If only Hillary would go to jail.

If only the Deep State would wither on the vine.

We hold onto these things and will not release them even after they become nooses around our necks.

Why not just trade them away?  To do so, is akin to jumping from a pot of rapidly heated water.

The 2006 film, “Babel”, starts out with two Arab’s negotiating a deal on a rifle. It’s a fascinating exchange with techniques as old as time.  A similar process can be seen in the 2010 movie, “Wall Street 2, Money Never Sleeps”, whereby Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) leaves prison a pauper and shrewdly leverages one personal exchange at a time on his way to another billion bucks.

It may seem complicated, but there’s nothing that is simpler. For whatever reason, we’ve made it too hard.

What can I do for others today? What can they do for me? How can we work together through honesty and right action?

I remember reading once that girls and boys have differing primary concerns but, in essence, they are similar.  Girls want to be loved and accepted for who they are and boys want to know that they “have what it takes”.  These answers will not be found on social media.  On the contrary, they must be realized live and in person.

It means, boys and girls, we have to show up.

The author and philosopher, Ayn Rand, once said:  “Worry is the inability of Man to deal with his existence”; or similar to that.

Worry is just fear. It is thinking and thinking isn’t doing.

You’re never lost until you become afraid.  Until then, you just don’t know where you are.

Learn.

As for me?  I can build a fire, catch fish, filet them, and cook them.  I’ve shot deer but I’ve never skinned one. Fortunately, I have friends who can do it in the dark while “half in the bag”.  I might learn soon enough.

I’ve never killed another human being and I hope I never will.  On this last Fourth of July, I did kill an angry groundhog in my mother-in-law’s machine shed with a pitchfork and a shovel.  It was like taking out the trash and I felt nothing.

Would it have felt the same if it was someone from Antifa trying to burn down my, or my neighbor’s, house?

I want to believe I would feel overwhelming remorse in the event of killing another human being but, at the same time, part of me fears I won’t feel it any more than I do with the other, lesser mammals.

What would that make me? I hope I never have to find that out.

In the meantime though, I’ll just choose to be grateful.  They say serenity is when your mind and body are in the same place.  That time is now.

I’m grateful for the sunset.

I’m thankful for fresh homegrown honey, apple sauce, and jelly.

I enjoy walks with my loved ones.

And I appreciate freshly harvested, rinsed, and spun lettuce.

It’s the simple things.

Yesterday is gone except for the memories and words spoken.  For the ones I’ve lost, their actions mattered more.  What does that mean for tomorrow when tomorrow’s not here?   What can you do today?  What will you do? It’s all that matters.

 

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters.

― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

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Author: Uncola

I am one who has found the road less traveled while remaining a whiskered, whispering witness to the world. I hope what you just considered was worth the price and time spent. www.TheTollOnline.com

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hardscrabble farmer
hardscrabble farmer

Very nice progression over the years. That is the Socratic method at work in the field.

OutWithLibs
OutWithLibs

If only mankind could comprehend the simplicity of our purpose.
Give the next guy a step up, be kind to your neighbor, praise God, fight for truth, defend what is good. Demand justice. The core of our being is a conscience…for good and evil. I believe most humans want to follow what is good, but evil is convincing, demanding, deceitful…as we see so much in our world, even clothes itself with the robe of “truth” for our own good. Truth is in knowledge, no other way to get there. Search, read, listen, dissern. If you look, it will be there…it will never die. A promise made 2000 years ago, and I believe it in my soul.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”: Ecc 3:1

Thank you for sharing, Doug

card802
card802

The simple things, yes!

The past week I’ve been tied up in emotional knots and feel like I’m about to fucking explode.
Mom died a few months ago, my sister broke down and told us after a long long long battle with cancer, her tumor filled body is telling her her fight is almost over and all she is worried about is how we will deal with her death, dad needs to be placed in memory care, I’m sick and tired running a painting company dealing with the day to day never ending fucking shit, and I’m worried about the future.
I can’t fucking sleep either…..

Mind and body back in the same place, interesting.

I just got back from two weeks out west in Utah and Arizona, hiking almost 100 miles and photographing. Took a 20 mile round trip hike down into the Grand Canyon to Ribbon Falls. Started at 5:00am, out by 9:45pm, 11.5 hours of total hiking time, temps were over 115 degrees midday. It was just as brutal as it was satisfying and beautiful.
I felt so alive to just exist in the beauty of the day and my only worry was stepping on a rattle snake or meeting a mountain lion on the dark trail back up.
I want to be a vagabond, but 15 families rely on me for employment, kids, grandkids, siblings and soon a father who won’t remember me, keeps me bound.

Well, if nothing else I feel a little better now, so thanks for reminding me it’s really the simple things to be grateful for and I’ll try to get my mind and body back in the same place.

Lone Wolf
Lone Wolf

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle…” – Philo

Keep soldiering on my friend… We’re all in this struggle together…

Llpoh
Llpoh

Card – you have been one of my favorite TBPers. Re your employees, I know the feeling. I am keeping a lot of employees working from afar. But in the end, if it comes down to my health and happiness or their jobs and associated misfortune with losing their jobs, then my health and happiness comes first. I have employeed them and paid their wages for a very long time. I owe them nothing – the contract is and was that they work, and I pay. I met my end, they have generally met theirs.

Re the issues with your family, you have my sympathy. It sucks. My family has gone through those things in recent years, the worst of which was losing a young member of the family in tragic and foolish circumstances. In the end, you will come out the other side. There is no other alternative.

I say this – you owe yourself first and foremost, and your wife if married. All others, even your children, come a far distant second, if they are grown. Your obligation is to raise your children to be self-sufficient adults. If they are adults, they need to care for themselves. With aged and ill parents, the equation is far more difficult. Only you can decide how much you sacrifice of yourself. You only have a given number of active years.

Good luck, and you have my best wishes.

card802
card802

Thanks Llpoh, your reply means a lot to me, you are a grounding force for sure!

Mary Christine

Good advice, Llpoh. Your health comes first. It’s important to take care of yourself. If your health fails, your no good to all those others, and whats more, you become their responsibility.

Robert (QSLV)
Robert (QSLV)

Maybe it’s time to hand the keys of of the money machine over to your apprentice and throttle down a bit. Spend more time in the canyons and mountain tops.

Robert (QSLV)

card802
card802

Thanks, that plan is in motion.

TJF
TJF

Out of the pot, into the fire….

LGR
LGR

One line in particular jumped out at me from your writing, Unc.
“Worry is just fear. It is thinking and thinking isn’t doing.”

Thru the years, I’ve accumulated scraps of paper with inspiration insights. 3 x 5 cards work best.
Back then, goal setting and goal achieving was a priority, to escape from the funk of struggling .

Here’ one from 30 years ago, I think I captured it from a quote box in a church bulletin.
{Why I love Admin’s “Quotes of the Day”…they’re great nuggets of wisdom}

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless
ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves also. All sorts of things occur to help one, that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect, for one of Goethe’s couplets:
‘WHATEVER YOU CAN DO, OR DREAM YOU CAN, BEGIN IT. BOLDNESS HAS GENIUS, POWER, AND MAGIC IN IT’.
–Wm. H. Murray

Another one, self written:
“Acquiring information itself is passive. Experiencing is active. i.e., DO instead of studying HOW.
ACT instead of contemplating. Gain experience thru action instead of studying, reading, seeing, and hearing of it.
Motion beats meditation. Thinking without doing can instill doubt and fear.”

Here’s another one, but it smacks of my faith, and interpretation of particular lines of the Lord’s prayer:
(thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven)…

“Strive for Christlike thoughts and behavior, like:
1. Compliments and Encouragement, instead of insults, judging others, and criticism.
2. Acceptance = His will, not mine, of what I want.
3. Smile at people in public, and ask “How are ya doing?”
4. Patience = Love
5. ‘On Earth’= day to day and out in public.
6. ‘In Heaven’ = in prayer, contemplative thought, on Sundays, or in church.
7. ‘On Earth’ = ACTIONS.
8. ‘In Heaven’ = THOUGHTS
9. Daily bread = regular prayer; lessons, and all sustenance, meals
10. GRATITUDE = Appreciation
Luke chapter 12 teaches:
Be a man of simple means. Don’t covet or desire to accumulate material possessions and treasures.
Don’t worry about things like food, clothing, or the future. Live for today, and plan for tomorrow.
Only consult the past for lessons learned, but none of regret.
Seek first the lessons He tried to teach, and have Faith He will provide.
Be grateful for what you have. Give abundantly, with heartfelt Love”

So, in closing, no offense, in adding my 2 cents of sense.
I always zero in on your posts. They always seem to help me in one way or another.
Thanks.
You’re a good contributor to the Platform.
Don’t stop.
Cheers.

Uncola

Thanks, LGR. It took action to post your comment and I’m glad you did. I, too, am a thought collector

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

I gave at the office.

Unidentified
Unidentified

You crack me up you mangy mutt

Ghost

I do want to thank TMWNN for providing comment count when one hits reply… it saves a shit flinging monkey who is under the weather a LOT of scrolling.

THIS is the one hundredth comment, even though I see that Robert (QXYZ) tried to beat me there.

Mary Christine

Hmmm, I don’t get a comment count except at the top. I also don’t see monikers on my 100 year old laptop. It’s actually 9 years old, 100 years in computer years.
Oh, good to see you here today, Mags. Maybe I should just drive down there and visit you. I like to drive by myself. I just got back Sunday from driving to and from Denver.

Ghost

Haha. I sent you an email… sort of a message in a bottle to let everyone know I’m alive.

So, my son is interviewing for all kinds of jobs with his shiny new degree in comp/sci and a respectable 3.2 GPA to boot! I am secretly rooting for the Denver job because if he takes a job out east, I really won’t want to visit much.

The other day, when I was online briefly, I read a comment from HSF about entering the “meat” world. Well, I’m in the meat world now.

I expect to be much, much better by the end of this week. Of course, I’ve expected that for a couple of weeks now.

It isn’t life threatening. But, if it turns out to be something that has potential to kill me, you can bet your ass I will be on here milking every bit of sympathy out of you monkeys that I can.

MC… you are always welcome to visit me and my goats. (and, you may take Simon home. I think I found wiggle room in my pledge to not EAT him. I didn’t say I would KEEP him.)

Ghost

He’s a top-notch tadpole. The mutt and I are proud we reeled him in back in Mayberry.

Purplefrog
Purplefrog

This is soooo relevant to our present state! What a magnificent “post.” One of the things to be grateful for is the overwhelming turmoil all around us. It make the pathway out much easier to see. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

KeyserSusie
KeyserSusie

@Uncola “Yesterday is gone except for the memories and words spoken. For the ones I’ve lost, their actions mattered more. What does that mean for tomorrow when tomorrow’s not here? What can you do today? What will you do? It’s all that matters.”

As usual Doug, you capture the essence of experience and reveal it in sweet words and insight beyond many people’s vision. You inspire me to act up and I search for meaningful words to respond, and mostly to affirm your courageous words.

In 2006 I spent three months under the scrutiny of a dozen of PhD’s and a psychiatrist where fellow peer inmates gave feedback on a daily and hourly timetable to show alignment with the dogma of healthier living; eschewing chemical substances, disruptive behaviors and sexual acting out. It was a daily show of group therapy where peers and staff would challenge your statements to correct errant thoughts and deeds. I learned how to accept the critical whips and scorns of peers as they displayed how they now owned the official dogma as they cast their subjective opinions on the new and fellow prisoners.

One goal of such constant feedback was to apply social pressure to have the wayward conform to more appropriate mores. I observed most feedback was simply projection. Lip service to please the jailers.

One day the psychiatrist in charge asked me in a group setting what I wanted. A simple question deserves a simple answer however the peers were encouraged to excoriate dysfunctional beliefs and most were eager to show their rehabilitated thinking. It seemed everything was fair game to ridicule. So I became quite guarded in expressing my thoughts. So when the female shrink asked me a simple question I dug deep for an uncola response. I said “I want to be alive; awake – and present”. I nearly fell on floor when she said “Perfect”. It seemed like the only positive statement said to me about my condition.

And so I share something I wrote not long after my experience in Hattiesburg, with slight revisions.

To-day and To-morrow Born of Yes-terday.

Hurry sleep; I bid you come searching my mind quiet among palms, succulents and wild orchids swaying in gentle breezes fresh from Gulf Stream water turned South from Greenland. 



Island rocks, washed by tropic rain steam in the hot noonday sun, are cool now under the muted mantle of the crescent moon; reflecting the disinfected mind. 



Hurry sleep; bring a new dawn song bright with colors of a hue favoring my bruised and battered eyes.  Tell Time by slow moments and movements, with this newness so freshly caught, fresh as a waking dream.  What longing has been rewarded!  New found things rise inside memories. Prelude to past dreams entering the sweetness of the imagination and the present. 

Hurry sleep; bring another day closer to you and your answers to questions unspoken for so long.  Bring me home sweet sleep. 



Yes, yes I say to the risk, the anticipation of a chance, yes to opportunity to create balance to ill fortune’s demise.  Send me scurrying in search of a bed to lay my head in fields of plenty upon leaves of grass.

Uncola

…was to apply social pressure to have the wayward conform to more appropriate mores. I observed most feedback was simply projection. Lip service to please the jailers.

There is “herd instinct” that can be beneficial. Also, strength in numbers. Some of the participants are “willing” and others not so much. It takes honesty, acceptance, and like I used to tell my own offspring: Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.

Thanks, KS. I enjoyed that.

BB
BB

I worry about things to .Like my commercial truck breaking down again. Thank Christ I still have my warranty but it has been a bitch .3 times in 2 months I’ve been waiting in a Volvo dealership or a motel to get my truck back . This is hard for me. Don’t know why but it is.
I think if I died today who would care. My mom ,my cat and maybe Stucky.
Keep up the writing. I’m still out here reading your post. God bless.

Stucky

Yes, BB, I would care if you died today. A lot.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

Hey, Beebs, I was for you when everybody was against you, that must count for something. But your right, Stucky stood up for me as he did for Sensetti and so many others. I wonder if anybody would dare knock down his statue if we erected one to honor the Austrian raccoon hunter?

subwo
subwo

I realize as I age that the only thing privy to oneself are their thoughts. I note that I must complete surveys when I go for a visit with my health service provider. Always the questions of self harm and antisocial thoughts. Once anyone documents depression, etc. one is tagged for life. I had a couple of friends go to the navy fat farm (weight control program) years ago and some shoreduty puke diagnosed them with being sexually abused by their relatives though the men never said any such thing.

I enjoyed this as the simple things I life are the best. Couldn’t see the shooting stars this weekend due to cloud cover but those things I look forward to.

James the Wanderer

“Mental health” has been weaponized against the people, along with all their other “health records”.
When I was a kid, your doctor kept your health records – in longhand penmanship, on pages kept in a folder. My doctor’s folders were kept in the hall in a cubbyhole-type cabinet that stretched thirty or forty feet along a corridor – it was a multi-man practice, and some had such poor penmanship that the nurses had to write them (if they were ever to be read again by a human being!).
Now major pharma companies and everyone else can read your records. Ever read those HIPAA disclosures? They basically say “we can show anyone who asks”. And since they are computerized, how long before someone who really wants to can hack them?
NEVER admit to depression, or even loneliness – your health history will be used to deny your 2nd Amendment rights, forever. There is a method in their intrusive, abusive, coercive madness, and it isn’t to help you, ever.

SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
Unexpected
Unexpected

Well, look who’s back. It’s been a while, Smash. iforget and Smash the Control Machine on the same thread. Somebody pinch me

comment image

Ghost

I showed up, too. Wonders do NOT ever cease.

Uncola

Thank you to all of the commenters thus far. Much to think about. Simple pleasures, indeed. I always enjoy that first cup of coffee in the morning

Unreconstructed
Unreconstructed

I was on the job, constantly pissing and moaning about whatever. A fellow worker looked at me and said, “You know I was feeling sorry for myself because I did not have any shoes until I met a man that didn’t have any feet.”
Shut me up real quick. That was over forty years ago and has stuck with me ever since. I have to constantly remind myself, “It can always get worse.”
The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 4: 11-13 something about being content no matter what condition he found himself in.
Great writing Doug.

Uncola

So true. There is a huge difference between being defeeted and defeated.

PlatoPlubius

Paul was the man!

Eph. 3:1
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

He understood what life is all about.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Great message, Unreconstructed. And Paul was imprisoned when he wrote that……
Outwithlibs.

pyrrhus
pyrrhus

Very idealistic and spiritual, well done! But what do you do with the rest of the population, which includes most women wanting to nurture everyone (at no cost to themselves) through a welfare/police State, and being genetically predisposed to favor invaders/”immigrants”???

PlatoPlubius

Pyrrus et al,

What I have come to learn is that all I can control is what I do and how I act… this should not be contingent upon how others act towards me…

Unfortunately I am flawed and sometimes it does…

A great quote I came across can be best explained with the old cliche,
“When life hands you lemons, make some lemonade.”
It’s not what happens to us in life it’s how we deal with it that often separates us from one another. I can see this with in my own family dynamics, a story for another time perhaps.

I think our pride gets mixed up in our perception of others sometimes and it can be a bit skewed. For instance, a thought might pop into our heads , “well, I’m working hard on me, why aren’t they working hard on themselves?”

It is an easy pit to fall into and I would argue we are all guilty of it at some time or another…
Free will is a gift and everyone is fighting their own internal battles.

After working in public education for 15 years in varying capacities sometimes i have to remind myself that
“You can lead a thirsty horse to water, but you can’t make it drink it.”

This ties into the parable about sowing seeds as well… we may never witness the fruits of our labor, especially as educators …but I always try and remember the Hippocratic oath that doctors supposedly take and uphold,
“Do no harm”
Easier said than done, after all we all fall short.
Realizing all of this after years lost in the world has brought me back to my spiritual side and faith in God’s divine will.
It is a constant internal battle, some bad habits are hard to break.

Anyways, I know for many on here I have rubbed the wrong way, for that I am sorry, I am what I am, an asshole, but I’m trying!

Thank you Uncola for sharing your thoughts with us and inspiring us to do more good in our communities, something that has been on my heart for sometime now.

Much love to all, even my enemies. Maybe someday we can share a beer together ?

Lgr
Lgr

Plato, the more I read of you, the more common ground I find, after earlier rejecting your sometimes coarse opinions.
A good trait for all is to try and minimize hypocrisy.
You, Stucky, Admin, EC, Llpoh, Farmer, RiNS, Francis, nKit, and a very few others brainiacs round here have strong abilities to call it out when they see it, especially if blatant.
I try, but still sometimes miss the mark, which is the archery definition of sin.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

So, we have a talent for calling out blatant BS? We must be superheroes.

Blatz
Blatz

Filo or phyllo (Greek: φύλλο “leaf”) is a very thin unleavened dough used for making pastries such as baklava and börek in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Filo-based pastries are made by layering many sheets of filo brushed with olive oil or butter; the pastry is then baked.

Filo
Baklava.
Spinach pie.
You’re not Greek,
are you Ray. Yes?

all in fun hombre.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

I see right through you, Sudsy. Your not drunk are you, Barney? Yes?

Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous

Well, then you really ARE a superhero. The man with x-rey eyes. Or Suds transparent?

Ghost

LGR has all that lovely homebrew in various stages of fermentation, so his ability to smell something gone bad is probably awry.

Anonymous
Anonymous

last thing wanted is things gone bad. if there was a mistake in the process, a connection lost, or a missed cue, then a more private consultation might mend.

James
James

When life hands you lemonades throw em in their face and tell em to give ya’s the beer you asked for!

pyrrhus
pyrrhus

I agree that we should do our best, support our communities, and love others…But we also have to be aware of, and be willing to confront the existential threats to those communities, which are very great at this time.

ApoloDoc
ApoloDoc

Great post (once again!), Doug, and many great comments as well. As someone who seeks to follow after Jesus, I must remember what His Word tells us: we are broken, fallen creatures. Me, you, and everyone else. And yet we are also image bearers of God. Wow, what a contrast! Jesus told his followers not to worry, that everything was in the Father’s hands… even little birds. I know how I want many things to go in life, but then I remember Jesus praying in Gethsemane: “Not my will, but thy will be done.”

Picture what that was like, so troubled by what He knew was to come that He literally was sweating blood! But He did what He needed to do. Just what you and I must remember. It gets hard, I confess. Having lost my wife to cancer a few years ago has made it hard to stay motivated, to keep “seeking to do what I can do” as the world continues to deteriorate around us. I have told patients over the years that this life is merely bootcamp for eternity, and yet how quickly I can forget it!

Trump’s election took some of the ‘immediacy’ out of my concerns, but the cake is already baked. The debt cannot be paid and our moral decay keeps accelerating. All I can do is the next task, one that is right ahead of me and seek to serve my God, a big piece of which means helping others to understand TRUTH.

James
James

One thing I have great appreciation for is music,as the song says”When I was stone blue/rock n roll sure helped me through”.Music got me through tough times/was in a band for a time,and,just made my life a little easier.I recognized this yet again while reading this article(tis long): https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/08/no_author/the-southern-muse-of-ronnie-van-zant/ ,you got some time a great read and gets you to actually think,about as good as any article can do.

Grizzly Bare
Grizzly Bare

I read that this morning and it made me think of Unc’s article here, so I’m back with a link.

PlatoPlubius

Grizzly,

So funny you posted this,
I was about to and saw you did it.

A simple man in a complicated complex world.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

Simple minds think alike, Pluto.
I’m just messing with you, I like Grizzly also.

PlatoPlubius

Touche! Douche
Hahaha
Or should I say
EL Coyote?

ApoloDoc
ApoloDoc

This has been a main theme song in the latter years of my life.
Thanks for the reminder!

Suds
Suds

…Blues knockin on the back door.
I can’t jump from the 2nd floor.
Turn up the radio higher & higher. Rock & roll music set my ears on fire…

It is a jam, James.

It’s only rock and roll, but I like it.

As for Skynard, ‘Simple Man’ is good, but I’ve always tapped fingers and toes to this one.

Baby, I’ll guess the rest.

https://youtu.be/tMT72lXLv-g

Jamesjamescarter556@hushmail.com

I had tix for Skynard at Boston Garden for Nov.,1977(still have tix in me collection)plane went down in Oct.,sigh,missed em and the world lost a great band.I have original Street Survivors album with flames,after 100 thou pressings changed cover due to crash.I had tix for Philly for Zep,me dad was going to get me Boston show tix also,sigh,you know what happened!I will say saw many bands in 70’s as a teen from 1975 on,couple hundred shows,was very lucky!Oh,and Dad,thanks for all the tix for me and friends,RIP!

Ghost

I liked Gimme Two Steps.

Uncola

Well, James, I finally found some time in the still of this night to read that article. It was pretty great.

What a fantastic tribute to RVZ, his band, and Dixieland.

Notice that Mama doesn’t tell her son to be simple, or simple-minded, but a simple kind of man. Human affairs may be complex to the point of incomprehension, but what makes for a good life is still and always to be found in the simple virtues and simple pleasures.

Thanks for posting the link

Ghost

I know you have read Homer’s Odyssey (or at least the Cliff Notes).

Odysseus claims he would choose a simple life over being a king were he to do it all again.

Would you choose the same?

Ghost

Well, would ya?

Al
Al

My first day of fasting begins today and my plan is not to eat for 21 full days for I will only drink loads of water.

So your post is a great launching pad so thank you for that.

Why am I fasting well to be honest it’s for many selfish reasons…

1. I am overweight and my knees can no longer function so it’s lose at lot of weight or change job and I refuse that outcome.

I have studied the how’s and nots of fasting but if any of you can share your experiences with fasting would be much appreciated.

I did a trial run last week for two days and it was not hard to do though I am off work since having another knee cleaning surgery so I have this Window of time that I do not want to waste.

2. You shouldn’t smoke cigarettes when fasting and I found during my trial run that it didn’t bother me to not smoke so I want to quit for good.

3. I have become introverted around those I love for I speak more online and that needs to change it’s just they don’t see what’s coming and they have made it clear that they don’t want to see either.

I hear fasting is an excellent way of factory resetting ones own body and mind as you would do to your computer when things no longer work as they should.

4. I want some transcendance time and I shall speak innerly to my maker who has always been with me for we both require some solitude time together to be more as one.

These are my selfish reasons why I started fasting today and I feel ok.

Lastly and I feel a need to say this even though I do not know why is I am not afaraid of death but I won’t foolishly go looking for it as well my sister and daughter are registered nurses and a great doctor.

James
James

Al,walking is one of the best ways to lose wieght/get in shape and just get to know your area a little better.Look online for 4mg nic tablets if you feel you may break,they help a lot and better then lighting up a smoke,short term can get at cvs but 1/2 price for same product on the big E,good luck in your endeavors!

Al
Al

Thanks James…

I’m trying cold turkey first tho

PlatoPlubius

AL,
I am no doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express recently…

No, seriously.

I bought some green veggies and granny Smith green apples recently to make my juice I normally drink when I fast. So, know that you inspired me to get up off my lazy ass this morning and make it.

I used to be extremely overweight until one day my ex and I watched a documentary on Netflix entitled “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”…the knowledge and inspiration we got from that propelled us into action and so we bought a juicer and began our journey.

We were able to fast for 8 days, drank water whenever I got the tummy grumbles and had juice for breakfast lunch and dinner.

I remember one day probably 4 or 5 days into it one of the kids had left out some Ritz crackers on the kitchen counter and had such a commanding impulse to snatch it off the counter and shove it into my mouth. Truly hilarious. At any rate , i developed a newfound appreciation for the act of eating…

Fasting reminded me why we eat in the first place, it wasn’t for the feeling the food gave me (comfort food) or how good it tasted, but for survival. In a culture saturated with food options that in itself was mind blowing for me.

You mention fasting as a reset down your body, Indeed from my personal experience with fasting and juicing i found that to be true. It resets your metabolism and cleans all the excess sugars and toxins outta your blood and vital organs so they can regain homeostasis and begin working at optimal levels.

I noticed that my energy levels were more balanced throughout the day.

If you haven’t thought about juicing with your fast I suggest looking at an amazing resource entitled the Juicing Bible…amazing book!

I wish you the best of luck! Take pictures before you start and a month after and you will be so proud!

Al
Al

Weight 270.2 today no pics tho and thanks for sharing your knowledge.

PlatoPlubius

The weight just starts falling off man if you can keep the fasting up.
You do feel weak at times so don’t over-exert yourself.

I was pushing close to 300 lbs when I first started.
Didn’t exercise or anything until I was done fasting. Then I would have a juice as a meal replacement and eat a balanced dinner.

I got down to 240 , I was in pant sizes I hadn’t been in since high school…dropped down to near 36 in waist, for someone my height at 6’3 I almost looked too thin
Hahaha

The trick after it all is seeing yourself how others see you, cuz most my life I was overweight I still thought of myself that way…

The mind is a trip.

Again, I don’t say this braggingly just hope to encourage you on your journey.

Again good luck and food health.

Ghost

I can’t help but note the irony here…
Firstly, fasting is a perfectly good way to lose weight, as long as you stay hydrated and don’t get stupid.

Secondly, walking is the best exercise for anything.

Now, the irony part. I lost all the weight i wanted to and then some. I am now in the process of trying to STOP losing weight.

Mary Christine

Did you have your thyroid checked? That was my problem. I’m telling ya, Maggie, you can’t beat a good naturopath.

Mark
Mark

Al,

Good luck on the fast!

I have been fasting from 3 to 10 days, three or four times a year since the 70’s. I combine them with saunas and an occasional colonic irrigation (major internal flush extremely powerful depending on the state of your colon) towards the end of the fast. I weigh 10 pounds more then I did in 1971 and I’m more muscular.

If your a Bible believer/reader the spiritual bennies are amazing.

Positives: Fantastic way to detox, lose/control weight, clear your mind, reboot and establish your control/discipline over yourself and your appetites.

Negatives: Sex drive drops during, breath gets bad…tongue gets coated (get a tongue scraper if you don’t have one) can get an occasional headache…but the negative symptoms aren’t that bad and the positive is wonderful!!!

Read books on fasting while fasting…keeps you encouraged and knowledgeable about what is going on in your mind/body.

I had an important speech to give recently and went on a 5 day fast ending the day before the speech. Went to the podium trim – 12 lbs lighter and bouncing with clear eyed energy.

Make sure you break it slowly and the right way.

Ghost

a tongue scraper?

Really?

Mark
Mark

Oh yea, by the 3rd, 4th day there is a toxic film on the tongue you can scrape off.

Maggie
Maggie

Now I gotta get me a tongue scraper.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

Nice knowing you, AI. First, excess water is poisonous. Second, you can’t go 4 days without nutrition. Let’s not overdo it. Eat a little bit once in a while, I’d like to see you stick around.

My doctor said I need to cut out women, alcohol and smoking. I already quit drinking, smoking goes next. – Old Pangloss

PlatoPlubius

Apolo,

You said,

“…we are broken, fallen creatures. Me, you, and everyone else. And yet we are also image bearers of God. Wow, what a contrast! ”

Great observations…i wonder if this is where much of our cognitive dissonance originates from. This never ending battle within each one of us.

Good luck and God bless.

Onnie

I like that you forget the words sometimes, Uncola.

The purpose of a fish trap
Is to catch fish,
And when the fish are caught
The trap is forgotten.

The purpose of a rabbit snare
Is to catch rabbits.
When the rabbits are caught
The snare is forgotten.

The purpose of words
Is to convey ideas.
When the ideas are grasped
The words are forgotten.

Where can I find a man
Who has forgotten words?
He is the one I would like to talk to.

― Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

Where can I find a man
Who has forgotten my dinner?
He is the one I would like to talk to.

― El Coyote, The Way of Shih Tzu

i forget
i forget

Word•noise forgetters ain’t easy to find. Water, what’s that?

The nuthatches, finches & sparrows outside my window can’t shut up, either, but don’t seem to take the chatter too seriously. Which just might have something to do with its pleasureableness.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

They forgot the words to the song.

i forget
i forget

Unchained melodies….

Stucky

“I did kill an angry groundhog in my mother-in-law’s machine shed with a pitchfork and a shovel.”

No shit? Murderer.

I’m not sure but, you might have been one of my tormentors regarding my 2×4 clubbing of One Dastardly Racoon. Even if not, somehow you seem to have escaped the wrath I received for my justifiable coonicide. Maybe it’s because you “hid” your own murderous ways (a shovel AND a pitchfork … you clubbed him AND Stuck him???) with all those pretty thoughts about loving sunsets, apple pies, and little dogs. Very sneaky, if you ask me.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

It comes from experience, if you have to confess anything to the old battle-ax, be sure to do it amid a crisis; a blackout, a wildfire or as you are getting arrested for a DWI.

Aw heck, another sobriety check, dammit. BTW, I tipped the cute waitress $50. because she let me ogle her cleavage, you’re not mad are you? I mean, I may be going to jail for a long time. Tell the kids I love them. You can re-marry if you can’t wait for me. I’d wait for you.

Uncola

LOL

Stucky doesn’t miss much. First I trapped it, then I used the pitchfork to pin down its neck and then used to the spade to sever its spine.

I didn’t have my glasses but it was the meanest little groundhog; like a little grizzly.

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Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

Grizzly Bare isn’t that mean, I like the poor noob. Watch out, Griz, Pluto, you may suffer the wrath of Doug.

PlatoPlubius

Honestly,

I have grown to like Uncola’s thoughtful prose.

The genuinessness seeps through in his writing .

Of course I don’t agree with everything but how boring sould that be if we all agreed all the time?

I look forward to the time when he pens numero 200

RiNS

..

Never knowing what branch to cling to
when his head caved in….

Mary Christine

Groundhogs are dangerous creatures. One almost ripped my dogs nose off. Of course he was stealing her babies and killing them.

Gayle
Gayle

Thank you For the thoughtful essay. One of my personal challenges is trying to maintain peace of mind amid the enveloping madness. Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” This is a weighty command.

A few years ago I spent a weekend at a Benedictine monastery at Big Sur. This was an item on my bucket list as a result of having read Kathleen Norris’s books about the Benedictines. A lapsed, then restored, Protestant, Norris discovered a Benedictine monastery in her area and began a long and spiritually fruitful relationship with the monks and their routines of lectio divina, silence, and hospitality.

New Camaldi, as my monastery is called, offered immersion into relatively unsullied nature crowned with a 180 degree view of the blue Pacific (from my sparsely furnished but comfortable room), lovely gardens, and delicious healthy food. The silence was interrupted only by birdsong and some muted human-created noises like a small plane droning overhead. Four times a day, starting with the 5:30 a.m. service, the monks gathered for lecto divina (holy reading) during the liturgy of the hours. Silence was broken as monks and guests read and sang various Psalms.

During the chaotic years following the fall of Rome, Benedict of Nursia established a Christian community that was completely removed from the larger society, a move designed to not only escape it, but to establish strict order for those who wished to grow spiritually away from its influence. Today’s Benedictines continue to operate their monasteries in adherence to Benedict’s original principles. This is an appealing answer for some of us who wish to escape the descending secular tyranny.

I am waiting for my recently ordered book The Benedictine Option by Rob Dreher to arrive. In it, he addresses this issue. Jesus said to be IN the world, but not OF the world, and some would argue the Benedictines choose to escape the world instead. Dreher is going to explain to me how Believers, in this post-Christian culture, can fulfill both the command of Jesus and use Benedictine principles to do so. I am looking forward to a good read which perhaps can show me ways to find more peace while staying where I am.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

Aw, cheer up Gayle. It’s almost September. I know school is starting now but in the old days, September was the month dreaded by kids and anticipated by parents. My mom would take us to the local thrift shop run by a little old white lady. I recall a prize jeweled belt, I didn’t know it was a girl’s belt, I was only 10, that I wore forever. Good thing it was the hippie era, a great time to let it all hang out.

Uncola

Thanks, Gayle. And just for the record, I’m no monk 🙂

ApoloDoc
ApoloDoc

I do enjoy the beauty of God’s creation far better than the works of man, but it is a tad difficult to make disciples when we are out of the world. I can spend several days up in the mountains and not see another soul. We are to use our gifts for the body of Christ so it always seemed to me that the monastics were ‘opting out’ of that responsibility. A season of withdrawal from the world, a “social detox” is certainly helpful, but in the end we have work to do here.

When my wife had come to terms with her cancer, she was quite happy as she was going to ‘graduate’ from this world. She did not like my being left here, but otherwise she was ready. Shoot, I’m ready now, but clearly I have more work left. I see my role as preserving a Christian remnant, teaching a younger generation, and participating in the rebuilding (if I live that long) after the collapse.

This site has become a true “go to” for me, but I rarely comment. It is too easy to get drawn into silly arguments online, and I don’t do well with irrationality! Maybe I will participate a bit more, and one of these days I might even submit something to Admin.

TheTruthBurns
TheTruthBurns

I agree with you! One point to remember is that each day is a GIFT so Enjoy it! We can prepare for the Bad Times but until then Enjoy Everything. How about taking a nice dump on a comfortable toilet in your own bathroom – many people in the World don’t even have this taken for granted Comfort – Enjoy a Hot Shower – a Home Cooked Meal – Your Own Bed! Think about what You Truly NEED vs Wants: NEEDS – Roof over head, Clothing, Food, Sanitation, Utilities, Gas in tank, Job or means of Income, Communication device, Love of Family & Friends – Maybe for some a belief in God. What else do you NEED? 95% of things in life are Wants – Not NEEDS. I started all over from scratch at 45 after moving across country & never felt so free as when I had few possessions – now 10 years later we have somehow managed to acquire More Crap but I am Thankful & Grateful just the same. Do you Possess Things or do Things Possess YOU? Peace, Love, Joy & Blessings to You ALL!

PlatoPlubius

Great points.

There are so many comforts we take for granted…

I think it was Montesque who warned,
“Luxury ruins Republics,”

for this very reason, people become soft and take for granted the comforts luxury provides to them. It’s not until they are removed from that environment or the luxuries are taken away do people tend to realize how comfortable their lives truly were.

robert h siddell jr
robert h siddell jr

There are a hundred times as many funded leftist groups and protesters in America than there are Conservatives; there are a lot more frogs in the pot than people that have jumped out. The numbers of Useful Idiots in the streets prove that they are not being persuaded by logic; that they and the FSA are hopeless. TPTB are raising interest rates and have already toppled the Housing Domino. They intend to crash the Economy, start race riots, make full use of SWAT Teams/MIC and their MSM to take the House this November. Fights are not always won by the biggest and most heavily armed; Conservative men and women have a Purpose and a Spirit that reaches Heaven and a backbone of Steel that the Liberals will not understand until it crushes them like fat overcooked frogs under tank treads.

Mark
Mark

robert h,

Check this out, follows up on your thoughts.

Internet tech giants are conspiring to steal the 2018 mid-term elections
Posted on August 13, 2018 by Don Koenig

Internet tech giants are conspiring to steal the 2018 mid-term elections

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

He said he suddenly realized he had a few screws loose. In time we may find we are out of our minds, we are anti-everything and everybody. The world is against us, us! Haven’t we played the part of don Quixote to an ungrateful world, righting wrongs and saving damsels in distress? Perhaps it’s time to board our airship, do a few loops and bite the dust in a hail of glory. Let them wonder at what they lost. https://youtu.be/4wrNFDxCRzU

PlatoPlubius

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Anonymous
Anonymous

And another good music video.
Pattern?

Stan
Stan

Stucky

One “Christian” book that left a lasting effect on me, even to this day decades later, is titled “As a Man Thinketh” It’s a very short book, under 100 pages, one of the best selling self-help books of all time, and based obviously on Proverbs 23:7 — “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

An obvious question would be — “OK, what should I think about?”

The answer is in Phil 4:8, one of only about 10 Bible verses I can still recite by heart” — “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Recalling to memory just those two verses still help cure most of my depressions (usually, not always).

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

Stuck, I have read that great minds suffer great depressions. I guess my shallow mind is a blessing; my depressions are equally shallow, sometimes I can’t tell if I’m depressed.

I usually treat my depression with comics, Bizarro by Dan Pirarro is a definite cure.

An interest in small boobs is a sign of depression – Doc Pangloss.

(I thought, I have this wealth of sayings from a bunch of smart white folks, I should compile it someday. It may be of value one day if and when they become extinct.)

Grizzly Bare
Grizzly Bare

The Doc doesn’t know what he’s talking about. As a connoisseur of the perky petite cupcakes, I can say with conviction that they make me very happy.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I do not claim that anybody knows shit, I simply recall stuff I heard. On this occasion, my friend was criticizing my then GF’s fried eggs. What do you think, we don’t know about cupcakes? I didn’t waste all that money at the strip club to just study gazongas, aka Maggitas.

Grizzly Bare
Grizzly Bare

I know it. I wish I could better recall stuff I’ve heard. I’d sound a whole lot smarter.

Maggie
Maggie

Hey!

Stan
Stan

Gratitude brings balance to life. It takes your eyes off yourself and on to others. When this happens then peace and joy begin to well up in your soul. When one compares themselves with someone else your eyes are on yourself. Then pride starts to foster, then the “have’s and have nots” enters the mind, then jealousy, envy, anger is born. Action on these emotions brings a price to pay and ultimate self distruction.
Simple GRATITUDE is for easier and so much more happier and productive.

Stucky

“I have chosen to be mentor for my county. Some of my duties include assisting individuals in youth facilities, treatment centers, and the jail.”

I’m writing to Da Pope to nominate you as Saint Uncola, Patron Saint of TBP Curs. hey hey, just kidding.

I selected your noble deeds only to contrast them to mine, a 180 degree difference …. and so the other non-saints here can find comfort knowing “hey, at least I’m not as messed up as Stucky.”

Here’s my point. I used to be like you … especially the going to jails part, as I went with my then father-in-law to jails throughout Indiana/Ohio/Michigan giving Bibles, hope, and prayers to inmates.

But, I’m now in my 60’s. I no longer give a Rat’s Ass. What I want is solitude. I want to retreat from the Amerikan public, most of which I find despicable. I desire to be left the fuck alone as much as possible. I envy the people on those “Alaska” reality shows, people who live above the Arctic circle, and don’t see another human being for months. Lord, that’s a Beautiful Life!

I’m becoming more like Rich Russell. Not that I’m going to kill myself! But, in sharing the same realization that life IS meaningless … even King Solomon said so, and God made him the wisest man who ever lived. Why should I argue with God? BTW, just because life is meaningless, doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy life.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I soon will be 60 and as I age I wish to be left alone. I go out to shop for what I need and prefer to order online without interfacing with other shoppers. I do volunteer driving old, poverty stricken, and disabled youth around. Yesterday I entered a nursing home looking for a rest room as I awaited a pick up. Devastating to see no staff on front desk and about a dozen people just sitting in wheelchairs without any music or distraction. No one talking. I hope I take a bullet before I get to that stage. Medicaid and Medicare were not made for us.

Uncola

I’m pickin’ up what you are laying down there Stuck. And, I get it. I’ve been your fan since I was a lurker, long before I started posting here. I’ve always appreciated your honesty – and your curiosity – but, at the same time, sense you hold much back (like me) in using this place as a “processing bin” of sorts testing…, testing…, 1, 2, 3. echo, echo, echo, anybody out there???

As you likely know, given our mutual history here, I have a dark side; and a temper. In fact, sometimes I use language in the way Rich Russell used that airplane. To be sure, if profanity were harming someone, I’ll use it like a chainsaw in a daycare.

But, that said, I am trying REAL hard over here. A well-worn path is a rut. So I TRY to get out by taking new steps until later, I have new experiences that I can’t deny.

For me, that’s what this piece was about.

Which brings me to one other item of which I have, perhaps, been remiss in stating before. I saw this piece on Steve Quayle’s site listed as “Thoughtful Essay” and I realize that without JQ, no one would read my stuff.

In large part, it was Admin and the other contributors and commenters here on TBP (including you) that inspired me to post online. Courage is contagious. And “what the fuck” works both ways: For good or bad.

JUST
comment image

Grizzly Bare
Grizzly Bare

Unc, I think personal responsibility fits in there somehow. We strive to take care of ourselves and our families. Face what must be done, because if we don’t we just wither and die. Maybe you’ve come to a place in your life where you’ve handled what you had to and now want or need the challenge of more responsibility to take on. I think those people who are willing and able to look for extra responsibility beyond their own family are what propels civilization forward.

P.S. I don’t believe anyone is ever done saying what they have to say until the lights go out.

i forget
i forget

Life has motives. Drives. The human form of life takes motives, builds a scaffolding around those, calls it meaning. Meaning is a myth, made of myths. And mythra is the unbeatable reptile that glories in the war of all against all.

Possible to see & synthesize that in 1st grade. Or even earlier.

North, to Alaska, indeed.

Unreconstructed
Unreconstructed

Stuckey. Your comment reminded me of a story I heard once. Stop me if you’ve heard it.
Middle aged man—fed up with the rat-race—sells out and moves to the Alaskan wilderness to be ALONE. After about 6 months and old mountain man shows up at his cabin; introduces himself and announces he’s having a party the next night at his camp about 15 miles downriver and he’s welcome to come. “Sounds good to me. Probably time I got out and met my neighbors.” Mountain man says there probably gonna be some pretty hard drinkin’. “Hey I was in liquor sales for 25 years and I can drink with the best of them.” Mountain man says, with all that drinkin’ there’s probably gonna be a lot of fighting. “I used to box Golden Gloves. Shouldn’t be a problem.” Mountain man says there’s gonna be a lot of fucking going on too. “Hey, I been alone out here for six months that may be just what I need.” Mountain man starts to leave. “Hey what do I need to wear.” Mountain man says, “Don’t make no difference—just gonna be the two of us.

Ghost
Tommy
Tommy

Good piece….great piece, actually. Feel the same in many ways -normally I NEVER read these pieces. Glad I did.

Peaceout
Peaceout

Great post Uncola provides lots to think about.

We recently spent two weeks in the mountains of central Idaho, disconnected from society and everything that goes with it. No non stop MSM negative Trump chatter, no internet, TV, phone service, nothing. Just in the moment with yourself and the people we were with. It took about a day to put the phone down and quick checking to see if by some miracle or atmospheric phenomena service had returned. Never looked at the phone again until the day after we returned home. It was liberating.

I was amazed at how dependent I had become with technology, how constantly checking for calls, messages, checking the news, checking stock prices, constant updating information had controlled my life. I don’t do facebook or Twitter so I can’t imagine how much more controlled those people that do use them are. It was eye opening how controlling that little phone has become in my life.

Uncola’s message of the little things are what’s important was my take away during our time in the Idaho wilderness. Sitting for hours alongside a beautiful waterfall, catching the sunrise peek over the ridge line behind a mountain lake, the sky filling with evermore stars as the night sky darkened. An awareness of inner peace and sense of satisfaction envelopes you when you can just be in the moment, without distraction from outside sources.

I don’t think you need to put yourself in a remote environment to unplug from all the screens that dominate our day to day lives, I think you just need to make the choice to do so. Take a big segment of time each day and unplug and be in the moment with where you are and who your with, sharing the simple things around you. It can’t hurt.

BB
BB

Thanks Stucky ,El Coyote and anyone else who might care .I get into these moods and it takes me a little time to get over myself. The thoughts and words are appreciated.
Al ,I have never been on a fast but I think prayer would help. I had heart surgery recently and I lost over 30 pounds because I was just to sick to eat much. The weight will come off within weeks if you can stick it out.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

Beebs, don’t forget that Gayle said your an institution here. Therefore you are not allowed to die. Verboten!

Maggie
Maggie

It should say “you’re” an institution, moran. Then, say there, they’re, their.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

I made a joke about him being a mental institution. Grammar advice from a lady who can’t find her cell if it was, nevermind.

Maggie
Maggie

I’ve never liked talking on the phone.

Filomeno Reyes - Quippy
Filomeno Reyes - Quippy

I asked for your number
You waited for my call
I was at the bar wondering what to say
Closing time and no words came
Sleep tight, goodnight? How cliche’.
It’s 5 am, I haven’t slept a wink
Wondering if I should call
Now I’m pissed off, I think
Why do you make life so hard?

Al
Al

Merci, thanks

hardscrabble farmer
hardscrabble farmer

“Do the best that you can in the place that you are, and be kind.”

-Scott Nearing, The Good Life

Arizona
Arizona

WELL the real fight is about to begin,THE LORD says when the LEAVES FALL,america falls,we know many things are coming,including the nibiru mini solar system,the WORLD reset is coming,TIME ENDS on september 11,2018,the 70 years are up,the world HAS NOT REPENTED,STOPPED THEIR BOGAS WARS,and NOW ISRAEL is under attack,its all written in our BIBLE who americans hate,this will end badly for this country,SO stay glued to the LORD,call his name,and PRAY he hears you,Don’t take the Micro-chip or the mark of the beast…IF you do,the lord says YOU WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN….so don’t do it……

Maggie
Maggie

Do you have a good link on the nibiru business? I came across that and wondered if the group of watchers is still there…

Llpoh
Llpoh

Wrong thread!

Ken31
Ken31

I can’t believe I had never heard of a lettuce spinner. I am buying one right now. This is an awesome day.

Ghost

Finally, am able to read this. It has been quite a journey you have travelled tadpole. I am glad your road crossed mine over in Mayberry.

This will be 97. I want to give TMWNN a special thanks about comment count being available to me without scrolling. It is a feature only a comment counting shit flinging monkey could appreciate.

Cue Shithead in 3. 2. 1.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes
Ghost
Mary Christine

I just wanted to say I read your post yesterday and it inspired me to get away from the keyboard and go outside. The sun had come out after a much needed rain. The dust had settled and the air always smells so clean.

I spent entirely too much time working on something and really needed to step away. It’s not done but I have to put it aside for now and focus on chores.

The other thing is you set me to thinking about was whether I have made the right decision to step away from a ministry I have been involved in for the past ten years. I am concerned that it has become too top heavy. I supposed I could focus on another type of ministry. More to think about.

My husband is amazing in that he is always ready to help out a neighbor and people seem to gravitate to him. He makes friends easily. He can start a conversations with just about anyone. Me, not so much. I’m totally an introvert and it’s hard for me to make friends. It’s something I need to work on.

I haven’t had a chance to read all of the comments yet. I will come back later. By then you’ll be over 200.

Edit: Oh, I see how the comment count changes, now. Thanks, Maggie for making me watch for it. You don’t see it in a reply unless you page up to check it.

Homer
Homer

The trouble with being so far down the reply list is that no one read it because they are all read out.

The truth is that people prefer the status quo, they abhor change even tho change is the true nature of reality. People will tenaciously cling to their belief structure regardless of whether that belief structure is still relevant. It equates with the “frog boiling in the pot”.

Why this is so, I suspect, is that we identify with our belief structure-it is us-it is our Ego. The trouble is we are not our Ego, but that’s a discourse for another thread.

Things will not change until a belief structure is altered. Reality’s job is to alter that structure and people are dragged kicking and screaming into a new future. One more in concert with what is, not what we believe it is. Yes, it will be painful as the Ego is refashioned. So real change isn’t going to happen until the people feel the pain and the pain forces us to adjust to a new reality.

P.S. You know what a person believes by watching their actions–that has predictive value!

Uncola

@ Homer.

This new comment plumbing is pretty cool because the threads can be sorted by newest, oldest, and most voted.

EGO is an interesting concept. I’ve heard it said that EGO is an acronym for Edging God Out (and for the unbelievers “God” = Good Orderly Direction).

Either way, I once read a fascinating exposition as to why, and how, EGO is pathological (It was from an e-mail a friend sent to me and I can’t find it now). This is hard for me because, since reading Ayn Rand in high school, I’ve taken her view on Ego (or egoism, to be exact). In other words, I’ve always thought it was my ego that paid for all my cool stuff. Is that pathological? Immature? Materialistic?

The reason I haven’t written about all that it is that I haven’t figured it out. I’m still learning; and I believe my above essay may be a part of that process.

Perhaps the answers could be found within the meanings underlying “egoism” (self-centeredness) vs. “egotism” (insensitivity / lack of awareness). I’m not sure. Yet. But that’s OK because I still have some time.

Uncola

Also, Homer, when you say:

P.S. You know what a person believes by watching their actions–that has predictive value!

Faith? Perhaps actions are, indeed, the evidence of unseen things. Motive?

Thanks for your comment, Homer, and taking me down old paths

Homer
Homer

Of course, Uncola, even tho Ego and egotism have the same root word, they are completely different in their meanings. It’s kinda like the word “demand” in economics. The meaning is determined from the context in which it is used. Like God, what we mean varies from person to person and we act as if we know what the other person is talking about. It’s a common delusion that we understand what another says and means by his choice of words. Until we can experience each others minds, it’s just a crap shoot that we get it right.

As an example, Trump’s tweet about Omarosa being a dog that got the progressive liberal dems’ knickers all in a twist may not be comparing her to an animal, a “dog”, but merely a reflection of the failure of his plan which was helping her by giving her a job, which just didn’t pan out. Plans that don’t turn out right are just dogs like cars that don’t meet expectations.

I am thinking that the Ego is like the movie “The Matrix”. The Ego is the Matrix, the Unconscious is the resistance, and Neo is the Super Conscious. The Ego (Matrix) is what we are in contact with, daily.
Most are unaware that there is a resistance or Neo. Oh, sure we give lip service to the Unconscious and Super Conscious, but that is vastly different than experiencing those realities. The difference is kinda like the difference between reading Playboy and having a loving relationship with a bona-fide in the flesh real woman.

What the great mystics thru the ages have said is that we are living in the “Country of the Blind” and there is much more to reality and I truly believe it. The short story, not David Bishop, but H.G. Wells.

Uncola

Interesting to consider EGO as an outside entity. (i.e. Matrix, World). Like in the movie Scarface, Al Pacino’s Tony Montana was swallowed by the World, or matrix, or grid, where our physical bodies reside.

I, too, like to use movies and books as references because they are outside representations that can’t be pointed to as independent ideological frameworks on the way toward a mutual understanding.

Also, interesting, by my aforementioned definition above – to consider the world, matrix, grid, as being pathological.

Much to think about. Thanks again, Homer

mangledman
mangledman

Very good uc. When life gives me lemons, I still think of a little salt and tequila!! With life’s uncertainties we learn to live love and accept each day with what we wake up with every morning. Again I say well done. Vanity vanity says the prophet.

Uncola

CORRECTION: Just noticed a typo in the 2nd paragraph of my last comment above:

…. like to use movies and books as references because they are outside representations that can’t be pointed to..

“can” (be pointed to) was what I meant to say

Maggie
Maggie

Homer, this is interesting.

Where does Hubris fit into this schema of Ego and Egotism?

PlatoPlubius

Excellent comments Homer.

Ego is inherent in us all. It can be considered a driver like survival instinct as well but something that can be reflected upon, analyzed and to some extent minimizes or maximized at various times or situations if we have trained ourselves to be cognizant of its influences.

Your thoughts reminded me of cognitive psychology , particularly the concept of schemas. Schemas are patterns of developed ways of taking incoming stimuli and making sense of them quickly that develop over the course of our lifespans. Schemas are influenced by genetic/biological precursors like levels of aggression and awareness as well as experiential factors.

Schemas can be changed. Schemas also have a hierarchy and I would argue that our Worldview is the parent schema and is what you elude to in your most poignant thoughts above. It can be difficult to alter our schemas, especially our worldviews. Some would say this has something to do with the plasticity of our brains….alzhemiers patients, for instance, have been found to have a decrease in synaptic plasticity which many suggest is directly related to the memory loss that typically happens….
The old saying, if you don’t use it you’ll lose it comes to mind.

At any rate, thinking inside of our mental boxes and not expanding our Worldviews is directly influenced by our egos. If we think we have the answers already then we aren’t going to put months cognitive energy necessary to rewire our synapses and in turn our schemas.

PlatoPlubius

Attitude is another influencer tied to ego.

Our attitudes can definitely prevent us or allow us to learn and change, adapt, our cognitions.

Jack
Jack

Thanks for posting this. I am also working on the journey and moving toward the do, rather than the think. This site reminds me in some ways of the old LATOC which had the best forum that I have ever participated in.

RiNS

Uncola

Read your comment in the sky king thread then decided to come here finally and read your bit. Being one of those Frogs, I must admit that I spent way too long in that pot. Not enough time to be cooked but it was getting close.

I have spend years dealing with the five stages. I got thru them all.
Should be free but still overcome by contempt. It is the condition in which many now live.

Maybe Rich Russell as well. Maybe…

I don’t have much to say these days. For years I have gone back and forth about writing a whodunit. Yet I hesitate as I know the world has changed and not, it seems, for the better. We live in a time that extols the mundane and smirks at the noblesse of virtue. How does a Man exist with meaning in a world that takes greats pains to mock them. Derides masculinity as being toxic. Praises the victim and derides anything courageous..

These days one can be famous, à la Kim Kardashian, for having a big ass and not much else.

comment image

The brave Kim out saving the world.
Shaking and breaking what she got.
One pantsuit at a time.

The Men that are held to esteem, like Musk, are not brave. Rather, they are scoundrels, liars and cheats.

comment image

We are all being asked to follow Elon.
Just don’t drive one of his cars
Or you might become a frites!

And still yet I am looking for that spark. Then I look up after reading a couple of threads here in TBP, my usual morning routine and see this staring at me

comment image

it hit me all at once
Been staring at walls
While the daisies wilt away….

Uncola

Thanks, Rob. That was great. You’re onto something with the walls and daisies. I’ll be thinking about that one for some time.

RiNS

yeah, some days the walls talk. That painting was done by my Wife’s Great Grand Mother. About a hundred years ago. Maybe the Spirit of that old lady is trying to tell me something.

Might go something like this…..

A fellow named Yobo said
Its about time to write…
But I say not just yet.
See the weather is too nice..

Been too long in a pot
Waiting for it to boil
I quit making that bet
Gettin’ tired of the toil

So nice it is to think
I can inspire one a bit.
Ripples in a pond.
To which I submit.

p.s. just having a bit of fun. For some reason of late I am caught up in cadence and rhyme of language.
It to shall pass. Anyways hopefully you can take my picture and expand on it.

I’d like that…

Cheers and Humbly yours in Odin,

RiNS

Maggie
Maggie

An odd thing happened to me when I went downstairs and actually logged in on the desktop computer.

I opened My Documents and a folder with all your correspondence opened. I read some notes I’d made. Weird, huh?

RiNS

Could it be a sign
that maybe its time
to break out a pen
and get it started…

4-5

comment image

Been reading a bit. Weird that happened to you. Maybe it is a sign.

I have always balked at the idea of writing a whodunit. Just doesn’t work for me. Not because it shouldn’t be written. Rather it is because I really don’t think it matters enough to people round here. Why dig up the past when them lies were buried those Men.

Trevor Eagles got away with telling a big one. He was able to slink off and resume a career. Did well. Power to him for navigating out of that swamp. So far..

Me I just got stuck. That was my fault.

Yep, I decided their were only two options. There were many more of course. And still I gave away my agency. Something I had loads of, the morning of, May 29th. That day I flew high. Way too high it seems for the folks where I live. And so all was traded for chips in a starring role of a theatre built only for one…

I have wondered what the message would be if I decide to open the doors and let the people in. Like it was said above, been thru the 5 stages. Made it all the way and I still harbour a deep seated contempt.

For Eagles
For Phillips
For The Justice System
and For the Government.

What I have learned, belatedly, is the contempt never goes away. Which is fine as long as it is handled with care. Realize it is best to wear gloves when touching it. Otherwise it seeps into every pore.

It is….

Why the opiod epidemic is running rampant.
Why there are calls for censorship online.
Why protests quickly devolve to riots.
Why Mr. Russell got his wings..

Could go on but….

The fact that my nemesis is named Eagles does makes me laugh…
I do wonder sometimes how the wax is holding on his wings…
These days though, not as often..

Still yet, by times, I fly too high.
Not as much as before but still
Maybe I am just not brave enough
And yet I do listen to my father.
Have decided to not be Icarus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pmgtyw2n8w

Maggie
Maggie

It was weird. In fact, I opened the folder and in a bizarre little blip of the screen, Word opened up a document and when I started reading it….

wait

for

it

(Never underestimate the impact of the dramatic pause.)

It seemed as if it was a BRAND NEW letter, written this week, with your first words something along the line of this (my own paraphrase):

You said the STORY wanted to be told, but it wouldn’t tell itself. I made a note at that point to myself which said:

When stories tell themselves, they make up half-truths.

That is why they need writers who will try to force the truth out of them at ballpoint.

RiNS

Yeah weird. All the synchronicity. Looking up from my chair the other morning and see that painting on the wall. I went and got a camera.

Ripples in a pond…

Gotta say I have come along way and now finally see it in third person. After years sitting in the departure lounge I have boarded the flight and reached the destination.

So it is. With a lot help and the occasional kick in the arse from my online friends on TBP. The honesty and frankness here being the best cure for this misaligned soul.

Anyways gonna read some more. Finished the book recommended by Vixen Vic.

I really liked it. Shone a light on how trivial life can be…

Next one is this…

comment image

Filomeno Reyes - Quippy
Filomeno Reyes - Quippy
Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

Kim’s going to make a great FLOTUS

Mary Christine

Homer thought he would be the caboose. Not so fast, Homer. That’s my job, to get in the last word, maybe, if Maggie doesn’t horn in.

Did you notice, Uncola, silly comments aside, that your essay seemed to mean something different to everyone? You seem to be the observant type so you probably did.

Yo said “I’m grateful for this site and the minds that I have met here. I’m grateful that I have been able to speak my thoughts and occasionally attempt to practice the art of writing and have my words published here”

So true, isn’t it? I can’t say it any better but it bears repeating.

There is a lot to be grateful for, as a cancer survivor, I try not to take my time for granted but as life shifted from a struggle to get through each day back to a more normal type of living, I have begun to notice that it’s become an effort for me to remember that time should not be wasted. Normalcy has a way of making you complacent.

Speaking of being normal, I am grateful that the people who write the essays, and the people who visit TBP and comment, are for the most part, not normal. I mean that as the highest compliment. I would not have stuck around if you were normal. Thanks for being “abnormal”! You all keep me sane, so I am not wondering if there is anyone else out there who thinks like I do.

Uncola

Did you notice, Uncola, silly comments aside, that your essay seemed to mean something different to everyone?

Actually, MC, I did notice that. For the most part, this one was either loved or hated. Based upon the e-mails and comments on my blog (and one other site) I saw words like “magnificent” and “epiphany” while simultaneously being called a pussy, snowflake, and coward, and blamed for not standing up and fighting to MAGA.

It seemed everyone here was kind, perhaps, because they know me and my past writings. Others elsewhere, not so much. But I will say the positive e-mails and comments far outweighed the negative; including one guy who used to be a publisher in Switzerland and a very nice physician from New Zealand, just to name a few.

Maggie
Maggie

Me horn in?… you gotta come meet Simon.

Maggie
Maggie

Hello, again, it’s me. I just wanted to say “Hello.”

I also wanted to acknowledge the most excellent word play in the form of a nod to an entire era of music. It was a language of its own; the songs and sounds of the 70s, with Peter Frampton trying to make us feel like he did and Bob Seger taking us on a long ride east of Omaha to turn the pages. If there was an era of music that might qualify for the Eclectical Award, the 1970s would definitely be in the top tier. (No, not Ecclesiastical, you moran. I am punning on eclectic. Look it up if you don’t get it. Let the tadpole have his moment.)

My son and I went to a movie, for old times sake. It was quite an interesting ordeal. And, when I say “ordeal,” I mean it was a typical trip out with him since moving here and him getting all grown up and stuff. I drive him nuts half the time; he drives me nuts the other half. Even when we are talking, our discussions trend toward bickering that is comical to people watching but exasperates me. Then, when I get exasperated, he stops and we start the process again, my son and I. Our language is our own, with words used in contexts few people would understand. Usually, we end up laughing together,which is a tug on this mother’s heartstrings. My son has been very stressed and serious this past two years. It might have been difficult for a rather strong-willed mother to let go, if it hadn’t been for a certain stronger-willed man who told me it was time.

So, we bickered, then laughed. Then watched the movie, during which I felt a bit flushed and got up to walk out and around for a bit, which seemed to really bother the dude in the hallway tearing tickets. I returned to the theater and lifted the armrest and lay down on the seat, which bears mention only because that was probably when my phone slipped from my purse into the posh leather recliner, where it now will buzz at 10 a.m. to remind me to check the goats water tank. But, since the first show tomorrow is at noon, I will have to call it myself, just to remind the theater staff about my son and my return trip to try to find my phone.

While my son explained to the ticket lady that I just needed to check the restroom while he checked our seats, I slipped on past the dude in the hallway, headed for the bathroom, where my son was to call my phone. After hearing nothing and seeing nothing, I stepped out and heard ticket tearing guy telling my son he could not let him into the theater for another hour and ten minutes. I slipped off down the hallway and went back into the theater, where I heard my phone happily signaling me it was right up there in the second row front and center. After doing my best to kind of do the escape and evade maneuver through the seating to locate my now silent phone, I found the pair of chairs I’d reclined in and, as if on cue, the damn phone went off again but even with the recliner completely reclined and me on the floor, I could not see the light. The thing is under the cushion above the reclining mechanism. As soon as it stopped chirping (well, you knew it was gonna be dogs or birds), I backed out of that row on the floor and hit the exit in a speed walk.

My son was seated on a bench beside the exit, dialing his phone. “Stop!” I yelled, “my phone is ringing inside that chair.”

Ticket tearing dude basically told me too bad. My son burst out laughing and said it was the best movie date we’d had since seeing the last Harry Potter movie together and I suggested a beer instead of the ice cream we’d had at the first one a decade earlier.

So, I haven’t told Nick I lost my phone again. I am hoping if I call the theater tomorrow and talk to a real adult who cares about returning clients instead of a surly ticket tearing dude with a bad attitude and a popcorn clerk with a nasty nose ring. But, my son knows me well. If the manager tells me he can’t get that phone out for me, I will call that phone throughout the day tomorrow, happy that I had just charged it and that I’d forgotten to turn the volume down on the chirping that alerts me someone wants to bother me.

If I lost the phone, I think I will take note of the fact that this will be the fifth phone I’ve lost in the past couple of years. Think about that. Why do I lose my phone so much out here in the boonies where it is the only way to reach out to the rest of the world. Hmmm. The only way to connect to the rest of the world. Especially when we are under heavy cloud cover and can’t get a direct signal via antenna or dish. Hmmm.

I told you I’d gotten used to being offline more and more, being in the “meat” world as HSF so interestingly put it the other day. So, if the manager says the phone is lost to me if it requires opening up that chair, then I think I’m going to admit once and for all that I am not interested in keeping up with a damn phone. Funny, but I’ve never lost my Beretta. Or the 30-06 or even the 22 rifle. But, I lose that damn phone in chicken nests, goat feeders, hay racks and bunny pens. In mulch beds, gardens and bushes. In the dishwasher and in the hamper. And, now, in a recliner in a newly upgraded movie lounge where I may or may not ever be allowed inside again.

But, if the manager won’t give me the opportunity to at least try to get the phone without being an ass, I will post my phone number here in the morning and all you monkeys can call it off and on all day long until the battery dies.

A good essay, Doug. I am so happy you found your voice.

RiNS? I was reviewing some old files and realized your story is evolving. Is good how that happens, eh?

Oh, the pun is also ironical. Another play on words, moran. I create my own vernacular sometimes.

Those who DO take heed will be grateful, not dead.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

(No, not Ecclesiastical, you moran. I am punning on eclectic. Look it up if you don’t get it. Let the tadpole have his moment.)

I may have used that fancy word a time or two here. I don’t know why you are so abusive, are you that insecure?

I liked the story above, thank you for sticking to the story, I’m enjoying your writing now. You have a genuine voice, authentic tone, thick skin and varied experiences, you’re a born writer, I hate you and Uncola. I hope you two enjoy your time together.

BL
BL

The 70’s were tacky as shit. The clothes, the women’s lip/lib , pimp movies (shut yo’ mouth) and disco crap with bell bottom pants. Bleeeehh!!

Maggie
Maggie

My son says I overthink the obvious. That’s the sort of comment that drives me nuts because it almost makes sense.

I have been on here a lot today. I am probably going to pay for it.

Maggie
Maggie

Wow!!! I had the sheet music to this when I was a teenager. No kidding. Hear that piano? that’s me! LOL

BL
BL

Maggie- Did you get the Neil Diamond Christmas album? I just love when joos sing songs about Jeebus.

Maggie
Maggie

You ARE a girl! Kidding. I wasn’t a big Neil Diamond fan, but he sang some pretty love songs in my starry eyed girl days.

Filomeno Reyes
Filomeno Reyes

We were visiting in Chicago on a day trip from Rantoul. A couple of girls were going crazy cause they claimed they’d seen Neil Diamond in a coffee shop there. I grew up with ND’s songs, do not fuck with him.

BL
BL

What does not liking that joos market Christmas albums (THINK about it) have to do with being a girl?

Maggie
Maggie

You find something to BITCH about regardless of topic. Why should my posting of Neil Diamond’s Hello Again suggest I own the Christmas Album (I don’t and never did) and then, when I ignore the obvious attempt to jump into the fray over whether Jews should make Christmas albums, you bring it up again as if I MISSED the irony of a Jew selling a Christmas Album.

I just like Diamond’s voice and never, ever did I think about his religious, ethnic or political leanings. I thought our mutual friend would sense the sentimental drift (nods toward Dickens, who got paid BY THE WORD… which is why almost all of his stories include a dying child, which is good for many pages of emoting prose).

So, Bea… I’ve been out of the loop for quite a while for a variety of reasons, but none of them have a damn thing to do with Joos. And your attempt to interject that sort of contentious thing into my little shout-out to my old TBP fuddy buddy with whom I’ve carried on some of the most profoundly inane discussions ever held was just kind of needy. Needy equals girlie.

BL
BL

Maggie – You must have missed the many times I flamed Flash over Bob Dylan who also schmucked the goy into buying his Christmas album, it’s what I do. Not needy just tired of joos making money off Jeebus. It really had nothing to do with you, it is a personal crusade.

Maggie
Maggie

Noharmnofoul, Beal Ever. We are all very frustrated, for a variety of reasons.

1971. Corn is a four letter word which bonded Richard Nixon and Monsanto, which btw is owned by Bayer.

To combat rising food prices, Nixon sold us all out and turned the American Farmer into Kulaks, dependent upon government patented seed and government approved chemicals to improve production. Corn subsidies began for farmers willing to commit to Monsanto’s maximum yields for corn production.

Corn. In the United States, a quarter to a third of a gallon of oil goes into every bushel of corn.

Bayer and Monsanto… all illness starts in the gut, they say. Big Pharma and Big FARMA with the patented key to everyone’s heart, health and hearth, as well as their medicine chest. What could go wrong?

…The new, combined company would sell 29 percent of the world’s seeds and 24 percent of its pesticides. Once combined, their revenue would be $67.11 billion, which would make them the 70th-largest economy in the world, which means they’re larger than 120 countries, including Croatia, Libya, and Bolivia. Of course, that slightly undersells their power, since Croatia doesn’t control a major part of America’s food supply. Croatia also didn’t supply the United States with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War or supply the Nazis with Zyklon B gas during World War II.

1971 was when Monsanto bellied up to the trough and started what seems to have been a process of “fattening us all up for market” on corn.

http://www.cracked.com/article_24346_bayer-purchased-monsanto-and-we-are-all-screwed.html

Filomeno Reyes - Quippy
Filomeno Reyes - Quippy

Profoundly superficial, hmm. Needy? Hardly.

Thank goodness I went through menopause, I didn’t need him anymore – Mrs. Pangloss

Col. B. Bunny

The frog in the water example makes no sense. The instant the water starts to get too hot it jumps out. It doesn’t think “Oh, the temperature rise is only gradual so the rule us I have to stay. “

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