Snowflake's Forum

 Come on, I know I am not the only one feeling this way. Get your humbug out! Can't stand Halloween, say so. Too early to be seeing Christmas items in stores, say so. Wish to go a day without hearing something about Trump or Biden, say so. Can't find one decent thing to watch on tv, say so. Whatever has got your shorts in a knot, let us know about it. Maybe one of our Dear Abbys will have an answer for you. My answer to all concerns will be the same: Coming soon to a street or town or village in Canada And if one of you brings up Israeli Palestinian conflict, a double bah humbug on you! 😡

  In April, 2022, AlterNet published this piece on "humanity" being responsible for degrading  40 percent  of the land on this planet.  I wrote back on Disqus, saying that most people -- certainly most Third World people -- are responsible for very little of what's happening to their natural surroundings.   In addition to contraceptive advice and services being bottlenecked  by irresponsible American gag laws (underwritten, without any pushback, by all  U.S. taxpayers), there are the land grabs being inflicted on indigenous peasant and subsistence farm communities by many of the worst corporate strip-miners and polluters. Here is my piece of talkback: "So the UN, the political arm of the global fixit industry, blames 'humanity' for 'degrading' 40% of the world's land? Did billions of peasants and small farmers in the Third World do all that? Or should we look more closely at First-World corporate polluters and their working-class tag-alongs, who

You’re on the couch today.   So, what’s on your mind?   The holiday season, health issues, work issues, the kids, politics, religion, money, (other usual suspects).   What do you want to talk about? We are each other’s sounding boards here, so let it out.   “We’re listening.” (by PrimalSoup)

Are you up for a quick game of “complete the phrase?” I picked some random nouns.   Now you complete the thought: The toast _____ Baby _________ __________   dive Candy ________ _________ watch Love and _____ Red _________ Blank ________ ______ covers Chocolate ____ Mom’s _______ _____ something Stinky _______ Yes, wipe that sleep out of your eyes and start up the old engine. One rule: No cheating (looking up suggestions or at other posts below before you complete your answers).   Say (write) the first thing that comes into your head, boom, no thinking it over. Let’s see who thinks like we do (most similar answers). Bonus: If you want to do a second set with funny (holiday themed, naughty, etc.) answers, I encourage that too.   But do the first one first.   (Has anyone ever followed my rules??)   Well, hope springs ______. (by PrimalSoup)

 What are YOUR favorites?        AlextheKay is diabetic and can't have any of them (sob)     

It’s a toughie: Must we have evidence to know the truth? We all know about “truth.”   You got your casual (subjective…less holy) truths, and your hardcore (objective…more holy) truths.   And if we’re fair, there does seem to be a place for both, in the greater scheme-of-things.   As a collective, we are that (let’s call it) “malleable” (bendable), when considering the amount of evidence needed for truth. Webster defines truth as: Now, for some questions: On a scale of 1-10, 10 of course being highest, how holy (special, important, revered, grounding) is truth to you?   If it depends, what does it depend on? Are there any truths you take on faith (casual truths), even though there is no direct evidence of them?   If yes, list some of those truths? Where does casual “truth evidence” come from (e.g., your personal feelings/desires and experiences, lifelong indoctrination, hearsay, misinformation, other)? In other words, who or what provides/has provided it? Can you

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was a focal point of a deadly white nationalist protest in 2017 has been melted down and will be repurposed into new works of art. The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, a Charlottesville-based Black history museum, said Thursday that the statue had been destroyed. The Charlottesville City Council voted in 2021 to donate the statue to the heritage center, after it proposed a Swords into Plowshares project that would melt the statue and repurpose it into “public art that expresses the City’s values of inclusivity and racial justice,” according to the proposal submitted to the city. https://apnews.com/article/lee-statue-charlottesville-melt-aac4792236a680465776c0f2788343cd This gem from Don Jr. The survey found Biden's current approval rating among Democrats is 75 percent, a double-digit drop from September's 86 percent. The Gallup poll also recorded his overall approval rating at 37 perce

  and we're more scared than before!! Asked ‘What is the biggest threat to humanity posed by artificial intelligence?’, two leading chatbots dispensed equally apocalyptic responses: ‘The biggest existential threat to humanity from artificial intelligence (AI) is the potential development of superintelligent AI systems that could surpass human intelligence and act in ways that are not aligned with human values and interests,’ wrote ChatGPT. When asked the same question, Google’s Bard built on ChatGPT’s ideas. ‘If AGI is not aligned with human values, it could pose a number of existential threats to humanity, including accidental or deliberate destruction of humanity,’ it said. ‘AGI could accidentally or deliberately harm or destroy humans if it is not programmed with our best interests in mind. For example, an AGI system that is designed to maximise its own power or resources could decide to eliminate humanity as a threat.’ ChatGPT said: ‘The concern is not about the AI we have toda

 My daily walk is becoming spooky.  It's almost Hallowe'en!  Neighbors are getting into the spirit with displays large and small.   And on the other side of the tree It reminds me of a trip my twin sister and I took to New Orleans around Hallowe'en.  There was a house there that truly understood the holiday: How is your neighborhood looking these days?  Got any snaps to share? Upload them, or AlextheKay Will Come For Your BRAINSSS!

Okay, yesterday was rather brutal, here in Snowflakelandia.  We had some  serious discussions going.  That's good.  And we all lived to tell about it.  That's even better.  Now, let’s lighten up. Is there such a thing as luck? Webster defines luck as: What do you make of “luck?”   Do you believe in it?   Is it a real thing?   Do you have any experiences to tell us about?  [sic]  Disqus. (by PrimalSoup)

I was going to post this as a comment on Snowy's OP, but instead, I want to pose the following questions to our group as a whole. Something has caused way too many people to become unbalanced/clinically insane. Here in the U.S., we have become a somewhat mentally unstable country, and no one seems to be able to figure out the antidote/cure. Like any slippery slope, it just keeps getting worse with time, and in almost an exponential way. 1.) What are the causes?  What is that something? [Your analysis here] I'm wondering, is it guns? Is it social media? Is it mainstream media? Is it xenophobia? Is it paranoia? Is it widespread drug use? Is it dark free speech? Is it lack of the stability of a nuclear family? Is it poor role models?   Is it the widening wealth gap? Is it the glitz and glamour/sex and violence of Hollywood?   2.) What happened to us?   Does anything in particular stand out to you? [Your analysis here] And what is the result/product of these “somethings”? W

  Alleged white supremacist with kids named ‘Aryan’ and ‘Nation’ charged with running down Native American woman while on meth A 28-year-old alleged white supremacist in  Montana  — whose young children are named  “Aryan” and “Nation”  — was arrested over the weekend, nearly seven months after she allegedly killed a 22-year-old Native American woman,  striking the victim  with her truck while driving on narcotics and fleeing the scene. Sunny K. White was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with five felonies, including one count of vehicular homicide while under the influence in the death of Mika Westwolf, authorities confirmed to Law&Crime. White was released from Flathead County Jail on Sunday after posting $200,000 bond,  jail records  show. (was released on bail? wtf?) When questioned by a Montana State Trooper, White said that she had been passing a bottle to one of the kids when she struck a deer. She said she continued driving without stopping. More: https://lawandcri

Safest States in America (2023) https://wallethub.com/edu/safest-states-to-live-in/4566 Certain states keep their residents safer than others. In order to determine the safest states in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 52 key safety indicators grouped into five different categories. Overall Rank*   State Total Score   Personal & Residential Safety   Financial Safety   Road Safety   Workplace Safety   Emergency Preparedness   1 Vermont 68.27 4 2 10 1 9 2 Maine 65.85 3 7 8 20 2 3 New Hampshire 65.71 2 4 1 43 3 4 Utah 63.81 29 1 7 2 4 5 Massachusetts 62.93 5 10 2 24 10 6 Connecticut 60.00 1 38 17 26 16 7 Hawaii 59.87 17 13 22 12 12 8 Minnesota 59.83 18 3 4 9 23 9 Rhode Island 59.52 8 26 9 34 8 10 Wyoming 57.22 13 11 14 22 21 11 Iowa 57.01 6 18 3 6 47 12 Washington 56.86 37 6 29 5 6 13 Virginia 56.77 26 5 18 3 31 14 Arizona 56.26 32 19 45 7 7 15 Idaho 55.52 12 27 15 44 14 16 Indiana 54.77 11 39 25 11 29 17 Maryland 54.75 27 22 21 17 22 18 New Jersey 53.54 7 36 20 29 24