Snowflake's Forum

  First and foremost, when things go right (i.e., as I want them to) My pets My husband, though I could choke him sometimes ;) Days when I feel good Thinking Writing Blogging Warm breezes of summer Distant sound of thunder Whenever I manage to lose a couple of pounds (tough gig at my age) Looking up at the stars Lightening bugs And you? What makes you happy? (by Primordial Soup) 

 This may seem like an obvious question, but..... Do you (if you haven't already) plan on taking a Covid 19 vaccine? As silly as it may sound, there is some hesitation towards the vaccine: Less than 50 percent of Americans have received or want to receive a Covid-19 vaccine.  31 percent intend to “wait and see” and  20 percent of Americans do not want to be vaccinated. Americans' perception that leaders are incompetent, untruthful, and uncaring may be a factor in the hesitation or refusal to be vaccinated. Leaders who demonstrate competence, character and caring are needed to improve the number of Americans who are willing to be vaccinated.  https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/head-strong/202102/why-people-might-reject-covid-19-vaccine There is also worry that any vaccine won't be effective against new variants. Not to mention people who think they are "immune" once vaccinated and act as they can't be spreaders: Could people still be infectious after they...

  WE LIVE in a nation of biased media, few would argue that isn't true. SOME media, like Fox, just outright lie and fabricate stuff. WHEN they do, a segment of the population buys the lies because it confirms their own political bias. EXAMPLE; Coca-Cola staff told in online training seminar ‘try to be less white' Coca-Cola raised some eyebrows this week for promoting an online training seminar that urged employees to “try to be less white” in order to combat racial discrimination. https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/coca-cola-staff-online-training-seminar-be-less-white NOW simply reading the headline, most of us would think WTF? BUT the attempt by Fox to put a spin on this can easily be defeated by reading the real story: Did Coca-Cola’s Diversity Training Tell Workers ‘Try To Be Less White’? Opponents of critical race theory and diversity training railed against Coca-Cola in February 2021, but with no real evidence. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/coca-cola-training-less-...

 First, we would need to define "Greatness." In terms of military might, yeah ok, but..... There are those who would argue our "Freedoms" or our "Constitution" make us the Greatest, but there is so much we have to answer for, so my personal answer would be NO. This has nothing to do with Trump, and his MAGA chant. I have posted the following video before, but posting it again because watching it, we can say SO many of the points in the video are SPOT ON, and still or maybe MORE relevant today. Then weigh in, IS America the greatest? OR is America only the greatest in some things?

  If you could magically have any job/career/post of your choosing, and that would include instantaneous knowledge of what all that job entailed, what would it be? I’d love to be a crew member on the USS Voyager Star Ship. And you?   Go ahead, imagine away! (by PrimalSoup)

Australia passes law to force Facebook and Google to pay for news   Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The Parliament of Australia has passed a final version of legislation designed to force Google and Facebook to pay to link to news articles. The passage of the News Media Bargaining Code marks the end of a contentious months-long negotiation between the Australian government and the two technology giants—which are singled out in the code. Google and Facebook have long argued that they shouldn't have to pay a dime to link to news articles, since the links send valuable traffic to news sites. Over the last decade, Google has successfully  beaten back  efforts to undermine the principle of free linking. But over the last couple of years, governments in Australia and Europe have become more determined to force American technology giants to financially support their domestic news industries. In 2019, the European Parliament  created a new "neighboring right" ...

…write a good/interesting OP?   Some thoughts, FWIW… Writing OPs reminds me of building a delicious cake from scratch.   You need all the right/quality ingredients to make it a success. Just like a cake needs flour, eggs, milk, pan, oven, etc., a good OP must have the same building blocks, elements, if it is to be successfully consumed, with pleasure, by your audience.   It really hurts when someone turns away from your cake, especially because you know you didn’t give it your all. ;( So, that being said, let’s examine some of those OP elements: -Like first impressions, your title (such as mine above) is your initial foot in the door.   Make the title intriguing, mysterious, leaving the reader wanting more, so s/he is willing to take that all-important second look.   See if you can play on their human curiosity. -You’re gonna need a plot (the flour); some focal point to the OP.   The best kinds of plots are the ones the reader can relate to. ...

 

  How ‘bout something on the lighter side today.   Let’s talk food, a rather innocuous subject.   Who doesn’t like food?   Well, one of my old bosses, that's who.   He claimed to be a breatharian.   Got all the nutrients he needed from the air.   Each morning, he’d bring in one piece of bread, folded in half, with something or other inside, wrapped in plastic wrap, and it stood there, on his desk, looking back at him until IT finally won (he gave in and ate it).   Anyway… Here are some of my favorite strange-ish combos : -Green burritos with a lot of mustard and onions -Tomato Sandwiches on nutritionally empty white bread, with mayo and salt (sometimes toasted) -Cheese, hot pepper and mustard sandwiches -Egg sandwiches with tomato and a little mayo… and salt (I see a theme building here ;) -Just to drag my husband in on the act, strange Dutchman that he his, he likes mashed potatoes with green peas and applesauce, all mixed up toget...