Aetherous

I think I saw a documentary on Oak Island...there were connections with some Masonic symbolism, and there was quite a large booby trapped shaft which some speculate has treasure kept at the bottom. I think maybe no one has been able to access it, or it got flooded?

Center-right, more populist than most. Here are the others:

http://www.esotericarchives.com/

What Chinese sources are you referring to here?

I love it. I often think of how much better it would be if qigong actually performed real actions, and didn't pretend to. becomes becomes

FBI now associates the Proud Boys (a group which tried to distance themselves after Charlottesville march) with the alt-right and "far right extremism": https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/19/proud-boys-fbi-classification-extremist-group-white-nationalism-report?CMP=twt_a-world_b-gdnworld

Nice, I didn't know of this one before.

It seems true to me, to some extent, that the future isn't in our hands. No matter what, life happens to us and it isn't always pretty. But in another sense, the future is in our hands. Our negative actions in the present moment will have negative consequences, and our positive actions will (hopefully) have positive consequences in the future. The chain of cause and effect is sometimes hard to distinguish, but it still works in one way or another... For instance, a person can be doing horrible things and not be caught. They can actually seem very lucky, and end up being a success in all visible areas of life (romantic, traveling, wealth, family, etc), having everything a person could want. To them and others, it might seem like there's no link between action and consequence. What's unseen is that perhaps their character is so degraded that they live their life without any sense of fulfillment or peace. It could also be the case that they eventually get caught. In another instance, though, a person can do great deeds for others that seem to go entirely unrewarded, or perhaps are even punished ("no good deed goes unpunished")...and perhaps the only reward is that their positivity plants a seed in others so that decades later those others will become good; in other words, it can happen that positive consequences are entirely unseen by the person doing positive actions. Another thing - they might sleep better at night than most people, and actually enjoy each moment of their life, despite it being incredibly challenging due to having no success in any arena of life (broke, lonely, etc). On the flip side...other times, you do good and you get good results. Let's say you help an elderly person cross the street, and they think you're a very nice young person, so as a result they introduce you to a beautiful family member your age...who becomes your spouse, and your life is enriched. Or you do bad and get bad results. Let's say you do an armed robbery at a store, and get caught and go to prison for years. Sucks don't it? So, the results of our good or bad actions are sometimes hard to discern, but they are there in some form or another. They shape our future to some extent, although not in reliable ways. Life still gives us lemons, and try as we might to make things easy for us, our efforts will fail. Some teachers say that bad things happen to good people due to negative actions which we were responsible for in past lives, which would really strengthen the viewpoint of karmic ripening. Some of us find that hard to believe, and think that this is just the nature of life - that it challenges us. Anyway, it's mostly unpredictable, so it's true that our main responsibility is our response in each moment.

Scott's "apple pork chestnut sage" Stuffing I saw this recipe 3 years ago, and have made it for each Thanksgiving since then. It's become tradition. I'm posting it here ahead of Thanksgiving, in case anyone wants to give it a shot. Sometimes chestnuts can be challenging to find locally. I couldn't relocate the recipe online last year, so decided to just wing it from memory, and it turned out perfect...perhaps even better. So this version is slightly modified, and ingredient portions depends on the intuition and kitchen experience of the person making it. Some people insist that it's only called "stuffing" when it's cooked inside the bird, but where I come from, "dressing" is gravy, and "stuffing" doesn't have to be cooked in the bird. So, this is stuffing. Here are the ingredients and preparations before cooking: Celery, chopped into smallish pieces Onion, peeled and then diced...I tend to use more celery than onion Chestnuts, roasted that day and peeled, then torn open in medium size chunks...I use a lot of this compared to what recipes will recommend, but not an overwhelming amount In my experience, sometimes stores have some rotten chestnuts. Sometimes half of what I got would be bad. Keep your receipts, take pictures of the bad ones, and plan on the possibility of running back to the store on the day that you roast these in case you need more...I think most grocery stores would agree to give you more for free if a lot of them were bad. If the chestnut chunks are too small, the other flavors will overpower their sweetness, so keep them good sized in order to get that flavor Sourdough bread freshly baked that day from a bakery, torn apart so the pieces are medium sized...spread them out in a pan in the oven, and cook them until they're crispy like toast, but not burnt Granny smith (green) apples, diced up into smallish pieces...these will cook along with the pork, because the original recipe had a kind of "apple pork", which I was never able to find in stores, so I've tried to mimic it. Fresh sage leaves, get a bunch, take half of them and chop them up, and leave the other half. Sage isn't a very strong spice/herb, so don't skimp too much. Turkey broth, low sodium kind Plain ground pork, cook it up in a pan first so that it's just safe to eat, along with a little bit of turkey broth and the apple chunks...perhaps throw in the apple chunks first so they soften up and are more able to meld with the pork Salted butter...use this to coat the pan (something like a 9x9 pan), as well as place generously sized chunks on top of the dish Okay so, cooking it: Preheat the oven to 350 or 375, or something. Doesn't have to be exact because you'll be watching it. Have your salted butter out, so that it's room temp (easily spreadable, not melted at all). Cook pork and half of the apple pieces, and add a little bit of broth, in a pan until the pork is cooked and safe to eat. Put all of the prepared celery, onion, chestnuts, toasted bread chunks, cooked apple pork, other half of apple pieces, chopped sage into a mixing bowl. Mix them up fully. Use your intuition...for real. If something seems like there's not enough of it, add more. Imagine what each ingredient will contribute, and imagine what the final flavors should be like, and adjust based on what you feel is best...it'll turn out better this way. You'll know when it feels off, and when it feels right. Have the 9x9 (or whatever) pan coated thickly with salted butter so that nothing sticks, and so it'll taste amazing. Be a little bit generous here. Put the mixed ingredients into the pan. Add turkey broth so it almost reaches the top. Be sure to pour it over every bread chunk on top. Toasted bread chunks should still be sticking out over the broth on top...if not, you've added a bit too much broth. But get it close to the top, so that the stuffing doesn't turn out to be dry. It's possible to add more during cooking if need be (if it seems like it's really drying out). Put generously sized chunks of salted butter on top in various places. Those will melt down and add a ton of amazing flavor. I think I used an entire stick of butter for the one pan last year, and it was the right decision. Cook it up...when not following an exact recipe, I just let it go for 10 minutes without looking, then check every few to a couple minutes after that. You want it to be golden brown and crisp on top, but not yet burnt. Then it's done. I can't remember if I used aluminum foil over it for a period of time, and then removed it at the end to brown the top. Put the fresh sage on top, in any way that you like...chopping it up, tearing it into small pieces, just putting whole fresh pieces on there...do it before serving so that they still appear green and fresh. If you put it on there 5-10 minutes before, it'll cook the green color out of the sage and won't be as enjoyable. Serve warm-hot. Everything in this tastes good, especially together, so it's very unlikely to go wrong. Edited the cooking instructions to include the part about cooking the pork first.

Liberals feel justified being rude to anyone who doesn't "think" like them. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/27/why-are-liberals-rude-to-republicans?CMP=share_btn_tw

I don't know enough about the Laozi to give that much of an informed comment, but my impression from having read a couple different versions of it from time to time over the years, is that it would be more about transcendence as opposed to idealizing imperfection. For instance, it's said that being ethical (or however one wants to translate the word) is basically a loss of the Dao. This doesn't imply that being unethical is the Dao...that would be at the bottom of the list. Those two things (ethical vs unethical) are a duality, and the person who strives for being perfect ends up having many failures...think about Catholic priests...due to the nature of how one side of the coin follows the other. But there's a transcendent way which is more effective.

Probably far right extreme authoritarian.

I was basically in the same spot. I think I'm pretty socially liberal, so I don't have a problem with being left...but the test didn't seem all that accurate.

I was just thinking about this. In the Chinese calendar (applicable to yin yang and five element theories), November 7th was the first day of Winter this year. In the calendar system we know, "winter" begins on the winter solstice, but for the Chinese solar calendar, winter solstice is smack dab in the middle of the winter season...it's the peak of winter. So we've definitely been in it. What to do: I think it's a time to get more rest than typical, stay indoors more, have some good heating indoors so it's comfortable. In your imagination, picture a log cabin way out in the wilderness, on a cold windy night with some sleet causing ice to form...where you're inside and there's a fireplace radiating warmth and making it cozy, protecting you from the cold outside...that gives you the idea of what it means to have indoors heated. If we were more connected to nature these ideas would make more sense, and sound completely logical. It's a good time to wear more clothes, and have throw blankets to cover you, so that you feel comfortable. In summer it's natural to wear hardly anything, like shorts and a light t shirt...in winter you should have pants and a sweater. If you're cold, put on more. Bad time to sweat, since that means your inner warmth is leaving the body. So don't become hot...just comfortable and warm. Stews are good. Cold salads are maybe not so good, unless eaten with warming things at the same time. Great time of year for qigong and warmup type exercises...just warm the muscles up, keep the body moving and flowing, and get the heart rate slighly elevated through the moderate movements...but no pouring sweat doing strenuous workouts. Intense workouts, such as lifting to the max of one's ability, drains kidney qi. Light workouts increase qi. Here's Unschuld's translation of Neijing Suwen chapter 2, telling what to do in the winter (with my own interpretations and the traditional commentary's ideas in parentheses): Here's the section from the Yin Shu (the oldest book on what we'd today call qigong) translated by Vivienne Lo: It's not as clear for me what to make of that section. Enter the chamber means to have sex...so, not good to do it during the sleeping hours. The Yin Shu also says at the very end: So...work the body to promote warmth and expel cold, but don't work so hard or get so warm that you sweat, which would drain out the natural warmth. Qigong movements that are more physical in nature are what you want. And emptiness or silence type meditations, as per the Neijing section above...which is basically the opposite of what the Neijing says to do in the summer: "Cause the qi to flow away, as if that what you loved were located outside." Here's a blog that I also look at for different seasonal times and what to do during them.

I looked again last night as I made the post, and that portfolio I described currently yields 8.5% in dividend payouts in a year. I think it's something that doesn't change so much on a daily basis, but every once in a while there might be a big change in one of them. I'm not sure how these will do whenever the market finally crashes...I suspect them to stay roughly the same due to it being a pretty diversified and safe form of real estate, as well as one energy fund. Maybe one day when I gain enough knowledge, and then paper trade for a good amount of time first to ensure I'd be successful. I'm interested to hear more about how you do before market and after market earnings reports - I'm not sure where to find those?

Even in America, liberal means completely different things all the way from right to left. The US is a "liberal democracy", which is what the American right seeks to "conserve". There are "classical liberals", which is how many on the right think, or define themselves. The original use of the term "right wing" in France would be the opposite of what the American right wants, as they are strongly opposed to monarchism and aren't authoritarian.

Talking statistics is one thing...making claims based off of them where it paints the "race" (actually, skin tone) as worse than others is where it crosses the line, in my opinion. You could go back and reread your words, and tell me which one it was. Anyway, this race stuff is all a side point and I'm kind of taking the thread off topic with it, so I'll stop. I don't care all that much if it's what you believe; just pointing out the truth in case you want to consider it. It's pretty common for white people to be denigrated (as most feel like if it's a majority group, or one that has had more power compared to others, then it's okay to bring them down a notch), so I think everyone is quite used to it. That doesn't make it less racist in any way...it just makes it tolerated racism.

Hey, I can take some constructive criticism, but racism is just stupid...not at all factual.

Whew, I don't ascribe to these racist ideas. I do think whites are still a slight majority (the actual number is around 60% if you don't count latinos...look back at the census site). I don't think "white" is even a race...I'm mostly Finnish and Norwegian, think there's quite a bit of difference between that and let's say British people. Italians are often counted as white, and they're completely different. Irish are different. Spanish are different. Georgians are different. Just like I don't say "black people are lazy and dumb", I also don't say "whites are destroying creatures who will even rape in order to breed". We've gotten a lot of people on the left pointing fingers and claiming that others are racist lately, but these ideas ARE actually racist.

I recently got interested in this. I took the advice of a passive income investor, and did research looking for high yield funds which had dividend yields that either consistently increased or didn't drop down for over 5 years, whose stock price tended to rise over time more or less...in sectors like real estate where it's more reliable than stocks, and perhaps real estate indexes. I put together a group which (when I last checked) when combined brought home over an 8% dividend yield. For those who don't know about this...that wouldn't be the total return for the year, it would just be the dividend payouts. If the prices went up, the returns would be higher than that. When I actually jump into this, I'll want to check how these are doing each month and listen to any news about them...definitely more hands on than long term index investing. I plan on using this high dividend strategy in a Roth IRA, so that when the time comes that I'm no longer reinvesting dividends, I'll simply be able to withdraw the money/receive the dividends as a cash flow without paying taxes. Here were ones I picked, which more or less fit the requirements (if not, for other reasons they seemed good): 25% HEP 20% KBWY 15% GLAD 25% ARI 5% APTS 5% DEA 5% O On dividend investing, please anyone feel free to correct me or share any tips.

I wonder if you set a stop loss and/or limit orders?

I'm scared of that after having attempted it with crypto (day and swing trading between alt-coins). We truly never know where the stock will go after executing the trade. Apparently there are many ways to minimize risk and to better predict the direction of stocks...some people are consistently successful at it...as of right now, it's all pretty much over my head.

LOL Each of us are stupid sometimes, but I think this third possibility is really the truth. Edit: Luke, should I delete this response? You deleted your post.

From the little I've read, they used socialism to convince the public, and then implemented totalitarianism.

Yes, they took these philosophical texts and mythologized them. Laozi was said to have appeared in a vision to someone, and became a deity to be worshiped in the first organized school of "Daoism". A savior figure to protect against an end times scenario, rather than a sage (or a group of people writing as if one philosopher)...despite the fact that the Laozi (text) itself sounds nothing like this, and came more from a time of "warring" schools of philosophy. Lots of different schools of Daoist religion popped up over the years, almost entirely different from each other at times. Besides studying history, to me it seems like the best way to get an idea of what Daoist religion is today would be to join a temple/get initiated or ordained as a Daoist. I haven't done this, but know others who have, and it seems like that's the way to understand this stuff. To me, it looks like you'd have to do a lot of work with various deities...so if you're into that sort of thing, dmattwads, maybe learning religious Daoism the real way is how to get the answer.