zanshin

Sure, people have their own agenda, but mice are pretty much everywhere. There are scones, macaroon and cheescake as well as pies.

World Peace to go, for one. Isn't the world supposed to end on the solstice anyway? Okay, if I can't have any peace, and the world doesn't end...then I want to be excused from Christmas shopping and presents. I must have a defective X chromosome, really dislike shopping, don't even like going to the grocery store, makes me feel too domesticated.

I agree you didn't mean to say you liked mice pies, but it was a deliberate ploy to tease the felines with visions of mice pastries. I think I have tinselitis from the tea and gingerbread cookies.

I agree having brandy and toffee in the fridge could appeal to tastebuds. But no brandy with tofu, no mashed potatoes, carbs are vicious and no one should ever eat them. It's turkey all the way, afterall it's Xianmastide.

"The opposite of internal considering and what is in part a means of fighting against it is external considering. External considering is based upon an entirely different relationship towards people than internal considering. It is adaptation towards people, to their understanding, to their requirements. By considering externally a man does that which makes life easy for other people and for himself. External considering requires a knowledge of men, an understanding of their tastes, habits, and prejudices. At the same time external considering requires a great power over oneself, a great control over oneself." - Gurdjieff Dog training actually seems like a good simple example. External considering via Gurdjieff not so much unconditional love and being a servant to others, but a way to ultimately get what you want too. Sort of like positive reinforcement in dogs training. Dogs are simple; we know they like treats, praise, petting and playtime. So the dog trainer can use these things to shape desired behaviors, while ignoring or calmly redirecting undesired behaviors. The dog learns that things that make the owner happy will make the dog happy too. This method helps dogs be happy and peaceful and life becomes easy for both the dog and dog owner. Some trainers use negative reinforcement which would be things like yelling, hitting, confining or making aggressive absolutist statements toward the dog. Perhaps people do have inherently vicious tendencies and we really shouldn't keep ourselves as we may be inherently dangerous to dogs and most other life, since we frequently use these methods. The negative methods make for unhappy dogs with vicious tendencies and life is not easy for anyone.

Can I have an evil twin? Unless...I am the evil twin. Bwahaahaa. Oop, no, no goatee, I must not be that bad. Welcome back Templetao.

I think simply the realization that there is more than the conventional life and dying on the yacht cracks the nutshell. But then it depends what kind of tree is in there and there are lots of factors that influence how it grows. Although I'd love to live on a yacht for at least a month or so, sail away for a while, boats are probably no good for trees and nuts.

We don't understand conciousness or how life originated, scientifically there's really nothing there.

I don't care for organized religion, but people do seem to have a need for formal framework to come together to recognize events like weddings and funerals. The churches here run food pantries, collect for disaster relief and build wells in third world countries. Organization is not all bad.

Eating a little tobacco is good for pigs. Kills worms and digestive parasites.

Never ask for pork chops at the Halal butchers, but the other meat there so much better than the supermarket. We should all be vegetarians anyway to lighten up on the planet. I am a bad environmentalist in this regard, I eat meat 2 or 3 times a week. It is tasty.

Muslims are hard to cook for and some more meticulous with restrictions than others. Better do kabob joint for takeout, Muslims do make some tasty lamb dishes.

Had an interesting discussion with an s&m sub once re. idea that being a good and obedient "slave" was adaptive thru much of history and she found it a natural path.

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Soylent Green seems like a really bad idea. Never heard that saying but Chinese are good dinner party guests. It gets really tedious to cook for people with dietary restrictions.

Some dogs, like Border Collies and Labs tend to have innate skill sets pretty diverged from baby wolves, specialists.

http://www.populationconnection.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_us Developed countries are slowing down because it has gotten to be sort of a luxury to have kids with all the expectations of providing for them and education required for them to have "middle class" standard of living.

Probably should, before we drain the oceans to make it a nice place for people to live.

Yes, I would be very fussy about it. Where are we going to put the solar collectors without deserts anyway? We figured out wetlands are important at least slowed down draining swamps. Why do you want the whole world to be the same?

And we probably use more than 5-10% of our brains. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=people-only-use-10-percent-of-brain

I think the theory we used to be aquatic explain some of the neonatish characteristics. http://www.primitivism.com/aquatic-ape.htm

Chocolat and that other Johnny Depp movie Don Juan De Marco, emotional without making you feel like you've been traumatized after. Another film by requiem for a Dream director called Pi is more intellectually interesting although not quite as emotionally intense. And I like A River Runs Through it. Cool Hand Luke and Breakfast at Tiffany's for old movies.

How about juxtaposing them? I had a fairly productive youth, which I don't regret as now I am comfortably able to be more dissolute. Except, I do get tired and just want to go to bed in early evening. It is hard to get wild and partay in the afternoon. Oh yeah, that's right I didn't really like the whole partay vibe when I did do it when I was younger, I just thought that's what young people were supposed to do.

The villages in the mountains seem strange to me. Rural flatlands the people are spread out and have land, even in villages people have yards and space. But in mountains people live all clumped up in the holler. I grew up near Appalachia so some came from poor people and miners, but have noticed people clumped up even in more affluent communities in the Rockies. I would not want to live in mountain village, want to live on the mountain.

Horus, Thoth and Isis, Nike and a few other Greek goddesses, the Harpies. The Mothman in modern times.