Stranger things

[old3bob]

21 hours ago, Taomeow said:

The thing is, the amount of data to process is always, at all times, infinite.  It's a matter of how vital a particular type of data is for the species' surviving and thriving.  Ignoring (and forgetting, let's not forget) what's irrelevant is part of intelligence, as well as learning to discern meaningful data within huge amounts of random "information" and differentiate it from irrelevant "white noise."  

 

 

who have over 50 words for "snow" of different types -- they now assert that "200 words" 19th century explorers offered is a myth, but over 50 have indeed been documented today, and whether those explorers lied or the other 150 words have been lost since it was true is debatable.  I have reasons to believe it's the latter.  In any event, over 50 is still plenty and it means treating "snow of different types" as information when it becomes necessary.  In Russian, there's 107 words for things "snow and ice," of which I personally could probably name about two dozen or more off the top of my head.  But this is not vital information for me since I'm not a a reindeer herder surviving an extremely harsh environment due to, among other things, treating various types of snow and ice as vital and meaningful data to process.  And I doubt a native of SoCal would name nearly as many in English unless they're a linguist with a special interest in the subject -- though I also doubt there are as many words for "snow and ice" in English.  

 

My point is, the whole world, the whole existence, is data, is information -- and a huge chunk of intelligence is not "the more the merrier" approach to it but, rather, the opposite.  Pick and choose what is and what isn't worth processing out of your environment and its events and patterns, "make it your own," build it into the very neural net of your brain and the physiology of your body -- and hey presto, you're intelligent. 

Unfortunately, an onslaught of modern devices, phone centered childhoods especially, keep shrinking this ability in humans.  Information addiction is like any other -- little ratlings who were given sugar water growing up become addicted to sugar and their whole lives become about access to sugar.  But they fail all intelligence tests against controls who weren't given this addiction.

 

in random association on Eskimos:  For many generations a big part of their diet was fat from the animals in their area, like straight fat mixed with whatever type of sweet they might happen to have (which was given to me by an Eskimo gal while I was living in Alaska)... doesn't sound very healthy does it but they seldom died of heart disease, that is until they starting eating a more "western" or white man's diet!

[Taomeow]

 

12 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

 

 

 

Those of past eras appear knowledgeable & enlightened for having 50 words for snow.

 

Can we guess what their lifestyle was from photographs of the era?

 

They didn't know what germs or bacteria were. They often dug cesspools for outhouses in places where it would contaminate the local water table, causing them to live in states of perpetual illness. Many did not wash eating utensils after using them or bathe regularly.

 

They often lacked access to books or libraries. Lacked opportunities and potential for networking. Had little or no travel options. 

 

Many lived their entire lives in small confined spaces, seeing the same people, hearing the same stories, menial work being their only career option. There was no inflow of data. There were no new ideas. No new books to read (if they were literate or owned books). No new stories.

 

Those of today tend to not recognize how drastically life changes over eras of history.

 

 

 

What you're talking about is the outcome, not of a lack of information but of an an excess of exploitation, poverty, back-breaking work, absence of opportunities brought about by unfair and unjust social conditions, unavailability of education, and keeping the population downtrodden as a matter of policy for millennia of "civilization." 

 

In the same era the image you posted depicts, my hard-working and successful great-grandparents, who had seven children but weren't poor or uneducated, had a very different life from what you've described.  They lived in a little settlement in Central Ukraine for as many generations as the available records account for.  All 7 children got higher education (except for my grandmother, the youngest, who dropped out of med school before graduating when her first child was born, and became a nurse.)  Two of the boys went to Heidelberg University in Germany for theirs, one of the girls, to Moscow, and two, to Kiev. 

Both great-grandparents were killed in the beginning of WWII aged 87 and 91 respectively, and were never sick of feeble.  My grandmother lived to be 93, and all her siblings who didn't perish in wars and revolutions (the two Heidelberg brothers did) also died in their 90s, in most cases of the first-ever illness of their lives.  When one of her brothers contracted herpes at the age of 89 and went to see a doctor for the first time, the doctor told him that his biological age was about 50.  Education wise -- well, a pediatrician, an artist painting decorations for the Bolshoi Theater, an accountant, etc., and as for no new ideas...  no new books to read...  no new stories... of everything you mentioned, nothing applies.  And like I said, the reason it doesn't apply is, they were not poor.  (Not until the revolution that is, afterwards, yes, very poor for quite a while.  But those who survived "history" bounced back.)

 

In the US, 1 in 32 children now has autism.  In CA, it's 1 in 22.  50% of the population (sic! -- half the country) are either diabetic or pre-diabetic.  I'll spare you the rest of the statistics -- of cancer, cardiovascular, neuromuscular, immune disorders, infertility, psychiatric and mood disorders (25% of all women are on antidepressants) -- but those are absolutely horrifying. 

 

When my grandmother described to me how they would make homemade ice cream for the whole family on Saturdays (fresh cream from the neighbor's cow and wild strawberries from a nearby forest), or how she had 17 anthrax patients under her care and every single one of them survived, or how...  well, I don't think they had it all that bad.    

[Nungali]

 

[Sanity Check]

17 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

 

What you're talking about is the outcome, not of a lack of information but of an an excess of exploitation, poverty, back-breaking work, absence of opportunities brought about by unfair and unjust social conditions, unavailability of education, and keeping the population downtrodden as a matter of policy for millennia of "civilization." 

 

In the same era the image you posted depicts, my hard-working and successful great-grandparents, who had seven children but weren't poor or uneducated, had a very different life from what you've described.  They lived in a little settlement in Central Ukraine for as many generations as the available records account for.  All 7 children got higher education (except for my grandmother, the youngest, who dropped out of med school before graduating when her first child was born, and became a nurse.)  Two of the boys went to Heidelberg University in Germany for theirs, one of the girls, to Moscow, and two, to Kiev. 

Both great-grandparents were killed in the beginning of WWII aged 87 and 91 respectively, and were never sick of feeble.  My grandmother lived to be 93, and all her siblings who didn't perish in wars and revolutions (the two Heidelberg brothers did) also died in their 90s, in most cases of the first-ever illness of their lives.  When one of her brothers contracted herpes at the age of 89 and went to see a doctor for the first time, the doctor told him that his biological age was about 50.  Education wise -- well, a pediatrician, an artist painting decorations for the Bolshoi Theater, an accountant, etc., and as for no new ideas...  no new books to read...  no new stories... of everything you mentioned, nothing applies.  And like I said, the reason it doesn't apply is, they were not poor.  (Not until the revolution that is, afterwards, yes, very poor for quite a while.  But those who survived "history" bounced back.)

 

In the US, 1 in 32 children now has autism.  In CA, it's 1 in 22.  50% of the population (sic! -- half the country) are either diabetic or pre-diabetic.  I'll spare you the rest of the statistics -- of cancer, cardiovascular, neuromuscular, immune disorders, infertility, psychiatric and mood disorders (25% of all women are on antidepressants) -- but those are absolutely horrifying. 

 

When my grandmother described to me how they would make homemade ice cream for the whole family on Saturdays (fresh cream from the neighbor's cow and wild strawberries from a nearby forest), or how she had 17 anthrax patients under her care and every single one of them survived, or how...  well, I don't think they had it all that bad.    

 

 

 

There was a time around 12 years ago when it was impossible for the public to take the US deficit seriously. It didn't matter what facts or statistics were cited, if you brought up the deficit, no one listened to anything you had to say. Since then people have begun to educate and learn enough to realize the deficit can affect them. Witnessing those small shifts in public sentiment indicate people are capable of learning & becoming smarter over time. 

 

Once that is established, the only remaining question: what is their ceiling for learning and growth potential?

 

Maybe they are capable of only learning a little? Maybe they can learn a lot? 

 

Anyways thanks for the feedback.

 

 

[Shadow_self]

28 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

There was a time around 12 years ago when it was impossible for the public to take the US deficit seriously.

 

Given the entire currency system is based on a complete and utter scam, its hard to take anything related to it seriously to be honest

[Sanity Check]

14 hours ago, Shadow_self said:

 

Given the entire currency system is based on a complete and utter scam, its hard to take anything related to it seriously to be honest

 

 

There was a government led campaign for fiscal responsibility in the US around 2008 - 2012.

 

Quote

In the fall of 2012, the Comeback America Initiative led a campaign called the "$10 Million a Minute" Bus Tour. The tour covered about 10,000 miles and stopped at universities, technical colleges, businesses, and more in over a dozen states. The tour's goal was to bring national attention to the economic and fiscal challenges that face our nation and various nonpartisan solutions that should be able to gain bipartisan support.

 

Along with former Fed Vice Chairman Alice Rivlin, Walker danced the Harlem Shake in a video produced by The Can Kicks Back, a nonpartisan group that attempted to organize millennials to pressure lawmakers to address the United States' then $16.4 trillion debt.^[18]

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M._Walker_(U.S._Comptroller_General)#Campaign_for_fiscal_responsibility}

 

Head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) did a nationwide tour to encourage americans to do more to prevent what might eventually become a future economic crisis.

 

I did what I could to push this. 

[Shadow_self]

12 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

 

 

There was a government led campaign for fiscal responsibility in the US around 2008 - 2012.

 

 

Head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) did a nationwide tour to encourage americans to do more to prevent what might eventually become a future economic crisis.

 

I did what I could to push this. 

 

There is no "addressing debt" unfortunately

 

It is perpetual as as per fractional reserve banking (as is inflation)

 

 

 

[Taomeow]

18 minutes ago, Shadow_self said:

 

There is no "addressing debt" unfortunately

 

It is perpetual as as per fractional reserve banking (as is inflation)

 

 

 

 

It's absolutely government overspending, then overprinting in order to keep overspending, then overspending and overprinting, then overprinting and overspending, and on and on ad nauseam.  Everyday people have nothing whatsoever to do with it.  The only way to address it would be a government by the people, for the people... which isn't even a pipe dream anymore, it's something out of a different dimension, not connected to ours in any way.   If there ever was a wormhole to that dimension, they blew it up.  

[Sanity Check]

1 hour ago, Shadow_self said:

 

There is no "addressing debt" unfortunately

 

It is perpetual as as per fractional reserve banking (as is inflation)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21 by Sanity Check

[Shadow_self]

4 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

 

It's absolutely government overspending, then overprinting in order to keep overspending, then overspending and overprinting, then overprinting and overspending, and on and on ad nauseam.  Everyday people have nothing whatsoever to do with it.  The only way to address it would be a government by the people, for the people... which isn't even a pipe dream anymore, it's something out of a different dimension, not connected to ours in any way.   If there ever was a wormhole to that dimension, they blew it up.  

 

i agree with you. The problems of overspending and overprinting are inbuilt though

 

 

Nice simple explanation that covers some of the main bits without bogging one down

 

Also, this video is old, the scam has since worsened

 

Technically speaking, in 2020, required reserve ratios against net transaction deposits were reduced to 0% for all banks, basically removing the reserve requirements altogether

[zerostao]

The US debt increases 100,000$ every second of every minute of every hour of every day.

That doesn't count derivatives, whatever those are.

Be mindful, a few posts are bordering on the political. If they cross that borderline,, Those, need posted in Current Events.

 

It's not exactly the gilded age anymore. Or is it gilded age accelerated on steroids [and greed] ?

 

Edited August 22 by zerostao

[Taomeow]

All right, to prevent it from veering political, let me post something really strange and entirely apolitical.*   I think a pensively smoking cat should fit the bill.

 

*Nothing is really apolitical though if one looks deeper.  E.g. into the history of politicizing smoking.  Or cats.  

[Nungali]

3 hours ago, Taomeow said:

...

*Nothing is really apolitical though if one looks deeper.  E.g. into the history of politicizing smoking.  Or cats.  

 

 

? 

 

Is that like   Trumping your cat '? 

 

 

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

 

Is that like   Trumping your cat '? 

 

 

 

Or like Biden using this argument in his July debate with Trump:  "You have the morals of an alley cat.”   

 

It's worth noting that per CNN (!), Biden's dog, Commander Biden, was involved in 11 separate biting incidents at the White House, chomping on officers/Secret Service agents and putting some of them in the hospital.   https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/politics/commander-biden-biting-incident/index.html

 

I won't comment on the morals of that dog, however, to avoid politicizing dogs too.  

 

 

[Master Logray]

Trump's body condition is worthwhile to be discussed.  He is still full of vigour.   He probably is living against most internal cultivation principles.

[Taoist Texts]

1 hour ago, Master Logray said:

He probably is living against most internal cultivation principles.

one would think so, but no, he did grasp the most important one:

Trump believed the human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depleted. So he didn’t work out. When he learned that John O’Donnell, one of his top casino executives, was training for an Ironman triathlon, he admonished him, “You are going to die young because of this.”

https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/15/politics/donald-trump-exercise/index.html

 

[Master Logray]

45 minutes ago, Taoist Texts said:

one would think so, but no, he did grasp the most important one:

Trump believed the human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depleted. So he didn’t work out. When he learned that John O’Donnell, one of his top casino executives, was training for an Ironman triathlon, he admonished him, “You are going to die young because of this.”

https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/15/politics/donald-trump-exercise/index.html

 

 

Well he sounds a bit like cultivators and TCM.

[Taomeow]

"I get my exercise serving as pallbearer to my many friends who exercised all their lives" -- Winston Churchill 

(a fat dude who smoked cigars and drank cognac and lived to be 90.  Trump, however, never had a drink in his life, or smoked, so, you never know...)

 

[old3bob]

.

Edited August 23 by old3bob

[Taomeow]

Once again @old3bob, please take this to your Trump political thread.  What @Master Logray and @Taoist Texts brought up and I responded to is not about "megalomanic monstrosity of twisted sickness," it's about the "strange" behavior of non-exercising and what might be the "traditional" rationale behind it.  There was already a mod warning in this thread to keep it away from political stuff, and I would like for it to stay here and to keep posting and reading about "stranger things" rather than have it moved to Current Events and wither in its "stranger" capacity.       

[old3bob]

43 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

Once again @old3bob, please take this to your Trump political thread.  What @Master Logray and @Taoist Texts brought up and I responded to is not about "megalomanic monstrosity of twisted sickness," it's about the "strange" behavior of non-exercising and what might be the "traditional" rationale behind it.  There was already a mod warning in this thread to keep it away from political stuff, and I would like for it to stay here and to keep posting and reading about "stranger things" rather than have it moved to Current Events and wither in its "stranger" capacity.       

 

ok, btw do you know who is against exercise?  and there is the political (to some) trump cat picture innuendo which is apparently ok?

Edited August 23 by old3bob

[Taomeow]

Thank you for heeding my request.

 

18 minutes ago, old3bob said:

 

ok, btw do you know who is against exercise?  (and there is the trump cat picture innuendo which is apparently ok?)

 

The cat picture posted by Nungali was in response to my talking about "politicizing cats" -- an apt example IMO, and funny.  I don't think mentioning a politician's name or an image of a cat fashioned as a politician, or a politician's dog, is off limits, but to be on the safe side, I'd take emotional outbursts of sentiments we all have against particular political personalities elsewhere, in compliance yada yada.

 

"do I know who is against exercise?"  I believe many old school taoists are.  (Taiji is not "exercise," anymore than just learning to live in one's body in a more efficient, smart, physiologically sound, energy-saving fashion overwriting bad "civilized" body use habits and safeguarding it from harm, whether from the outside or from the inside, to the extent possible and to the best of one's ability, is "exercise.")     

 

I don't think moderate exercise is harmful though, and I do believe that to keep moving and to prevent or at least postpone as much as possible the loss of our natural ability to move effortlessly in many versatile ways (which we all had growing up), or to have fun in the process or from the process, can't be anything but beneficial.  But I am not a believer in obsessive strenuous exercise, and much less in competitive sports, and even less in professional sports as a path to good health and longevity.  In fact, I have reasons to believe that the opposite is true.     

  

[Master Logray]

2 hours ago, Taomeow said:

Once again @old3bob, please take this to your Trump political thread.  What @Master Logray and @Taoist Texts brought up and I responded to is not about "megalomanic monstrosity of twisted sickness," it's about the "strange" behavior of non-exercising and what might be the "traditional" rationale behind it.  There was already a mod warning in this thread to keep it away from political stuff, and I would like for it to stay here and to keep posting and reading about "stranger things" rather than have it moved to Current Events and wither in its "stranger" capacity.       

 

 

There are frequent speculations that the higher echelon of the CCP can live up to very senior age is because of a full team of Qi Specialist that keep on pumping them with Qi, in addition to all the best modern medicines and treatments.    Sure Trump should have all the medical resources, but he won't be the only one who can afford such.   Clinton 78, and Biden seem not so successful in keeping a healthy body and mind.   He coincidentally talked like a TCM practitioner in the battery example.  It could be a conspiracy theory, but rather interesting. Longevity is every Taoist's interest.

 

 

[old3bob]

the orange guy is against exercise, but not golf or big macs   Btw my response(s) was to the title of this thread but there are different opinions on what passes for strange!

[Taomeow]

I have some info about how people with power and money who also happen to be health-conscious (not all of them are) go about improving their odds of dancing on everybody else's graves.  Leaving the most so-called "conspiracy" (aka clandestine) stuff out of it (although I could tell some stories...), I'll cite the male nurse who gave me a couple of vitamin and mineral IV infusions during the pandemic (the so-called Myers cocktail).  It's a slow drip (taking at least an hour), and he had nothing else to do during that time, so we had nice chats.  He told me things about his pandemic employment adventures, and then mentioned that his most steady and significant income was coming from administering various IV goodies to his wealthy private clients.  Some of them do this all the time, plus extra stuff as needed to clear up things like hangover or jet lag...