Snowflake's Forum

The WaPo writes ( not paywalled ): When one of the world’s wealthiest investors offers parents advice about assets just before one of the biggest family holidays of the year, a lot of people pay attention. In this case, experts say they should listen. When your children are mature, have them read your will before you sign it,” Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett wrote this week in an unexpected letter to shareholders. “Be sure each child understands both the logic for your decisions and the responsibilities they will encounter upon your death.” “In my experience, I have seen bad things happen when children are surprised,” said Lawrence J. Macklin, president-elect of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. “Most parents want to treat their children equally, but some find that it’s appropriate not to, for whatever reason — maybe one child has been very successful and the others are not.” Buffett, 94, said he’d seen families brought closer together by discussing a w...

There is just so much to choose from. Paper weight Thoughtful and  always appreciated milo-style straw hat kit for do it yourself craftpersons Beverage coasters for the shell shocked Snoop Dog cook book Always popular! For the discerning prepper Inspiring ornaments! More for the discerning  prepper For the discrete drinker Fun dice Just $7.99 + tax at Amazon What goodies are on your list?  By Germaine: Naught naughty, mostly . . . . I think

  Freeze Peach 🍑   Cartoons and memes about snowflakes, snow, blizzards, etc. Remember, this is Snowflakes Forum. How about Show and Tell Day ? Pictures or links to pictures Got anything that needs showing and telling about??  Go for it!! (by PrimalSoup)

  You suddenly find that money is no object.  You can do what you want and never even think about the cost.  A million or a billion, doesn’t matter. There are those that win the lottery and within a year have either lost it all, usually through wasteful and stupid actions. You will never run out of money.  Will you stay the same, live it up, or something in between> Bunny wouldn’t change.  Would buy the unoccupied house next door, tear it down so can widen the driveway, and put a ton of trees on the rest.  Maybe a storage building.   J.P. Bunny

Draft                                                                                 Dan T.   Not sure if Dan forgot that he had a pending in the works or just changed his mind. So here is SNOWFLAKE to the rescue. Anything you want to say to Dan T ? Any comments? Any sage advice?  Will Dan T get mad I highjacked his planned thread that never got written or posted. ( Hint: have some fun with this one, we all be friends on here) 

Bumper stickers you’d like to see. (Go ahead, get crazy.) 😜 Make up your own, or list one of your favorites. (by PrimalSoup)

  Sequels, prequels, part II, III, XXV, spinoffs, unnecessary backstories, alternate universes, remakes, reimagining ….  Whatever happened to Hollywood coming up with new ideas?  The show biz saying is “always leave the audience wanting more.”  But, we just get more and more of the same. Three great Star Wars films, and six unneeded ones.  Do we really need to know the backstory of how Darth became nasty?  Why not let us use our own imaginations?  How many times to we need to be told the Superman or Batman origins? Do you think the industry has mainly given up with originality, and reheating the same dinner over and over again? Just so Bunny isn’t painted as a total curmudgeon, the original Planet of the Apes is a classic.  Tim Burton`s remake utter fertilizer.  But, the new ones are great. J.P.  Bunny

  A deer was spotted in McBride on Sunday sporting a black jacket with high-vis reflectors. Not cool. Now hunters can see it more easily.  Most of the comments on Facebook were either as confused as I had been, or just funny. One individual commented that I’d caught a deer on its way to work. Others said that it was about time deer started being safe around the highway. Conservation Officers have been made aware of the situation. The Rocky Mountain Goat Weekly newspaper serving Valemount, McBride and the Robson & North Thompson Valleys https://www.therockymountaingoat.com/2024/11/oh-deer-high-vis-wearing-deer-spotted-in-mcbride/ I don't know which is funnier - the deer wearing a safety vest or the name of that newspaper.  “I am floored that whoever did this was able to do this,”

  Let’s reflect a little on something we all share here.  The love of SNOWFLAKE’S FORUM. So, what does this site give to you (e.g., a sense of community/comradery; a place to express yourself; a comfortable/routine habit that gives you pleasure; it has interesting subject matter [pats self on back] 😁; etc.)? (by PrimalSoup) 😘

  At the bakery,  fluffy bread dome filled with almost liquid cream cheese and bits of apples.  Cheesecake and Mounds Bars are what do it for Bunny.  Hedonistic bliss. What does it for you? J.P. Bunny

  Let’s call them the/a Yin and Yang dichotomy: 1 and 2,  What do you care the most* about and the least about? *(outside of family, as family is always the obvious answer) Any explanations for your choices are a bonus. 

  "WAR IS A RACKET. "It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope.  It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... "A RACKET is best described, I believe, as something that is NOT what it seems to be to the majority of people.  Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is really about. "It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. "Out of WAR a few people make huge fortunes." Major General Smedley D. Butler, U.S. Marine Corps, two-time Congressional Medal of Honor winner.  From his speech and booklet, War is a Racket. Can be found on  Amazon .

  Let’s call them the/a Yin and Yang dichotomy: Q1: What’s wrong with the world*? Q2: What’s right with the world? (by PrimalSoup) ___________________________ *world : the state of humanity’s existence on planet Earth/in the universe (i.e., you decide what that means).

  Yes, the Xmas season has been here since Halloween ended.  Time to decorate the house, tree, pet, whatever.  Once Bunny moved out and lived on his own, never seemed to be any reason to do so.  Moved to Japan, also no feeling to do so.  Xmas illumination outside homes are popular here, but Bunny still not moved to do so. Some spend months getting their homes ready.  Take pride in their decorations. Which type are you? J.P Bunny

Center: Milky Way galaxy Left: Small Magellanic Cloud Lower left: Large Magellanic Cloud Physicists seem to have figured out a plausible way to detect the presence of dark matter. At present, dark matter is believed to be ~85% of all matter un the universe. We just can't see or detect it. The rest is regular matter like sticks, rocks, bullets, thermonuclear bombs, potatoes, fish and fuzzy kittens that can be used to mediate various kinds of interactions between people and whatnot.  The detection idea is actually pretty simple. All we need to do is put up a slew of satellites that detect high energy gamma rays and wait for a nearby supernova explosion that precedes the formation of a neutron star. Nearby means in the Milky Way galaxy (~400 billion stars, maybe a lot more) or one of our two close galactic neighbors, i.e., the Large Magellanic Cloud (~30 billion stars), 160,000 light years from Earth and the Small Magellanic Cloud (~3 billion stars), 190,000 light years away. Bot...

There have been many philosophical arguments throughout the ages for the existence of God, and by venerable philosophers with minds far better suited than our measly, day-to-day, hustle and bustle, white-noise-saturated ones.  Men (mostly men) who (let’s say) "thought about theology for a living."  Some holy men, some not. So I was thinking this morning, what is the best case to be made for the existence of God, the Entity?  What is it that makes that Concept fly among humanity?  And fly it does.  Let me list a few arguments that come to immediate mind: There has to be a First Cause God’s existence has been documented in holy books. Good enough Historical Jesus, the ultimate authority, said so My parents/caretakers ( my ultimate authority) said so Majority of earth’s population say so.  Majority rules I personally know it because I feel it in my soul It has never been disproven, so that makes it as good as/the same as “true”. (It/God gets the benefit of t...

  Nico Rinehart posted  this video on YouTube the day before Veterans Day, on why the playlists run back 30 to 90 years every holiday season.  This is one reason why I enjoy watching videos by commentators young enough to be my children, or (almost) my grandchildren: this thing is thoughtful and informative, and this guy, at least, refuses to put down the older generations and the songs and ideas that were new when Mom or Grandpa was his age. It's a little less than 10 minutes; that should be short enough.

  I wrote the following in response to a no-longer-published  Patheos Nonreligious blog some seven years ago.   I must say, the original story is a pretty sad reflection on "pro-life" Christian hypocrisy. Jennifer A. Nolan to 👩 [who asked what Americans would do to help young women facing "crisis pregnancies"]: "Probably nothing. "Your overgrown neighbor to the south has a self-righteous fantasy problem. As long as we're making all the right noises, conservative or liberal, we're all set. We don't have to solve any actual problems or help any actual people. It's all about our self-image; otherwise our political factions would have made peace with each other on time for Jimmy Carter to win a second Presidential election. "I work at a call center to raise money for causes like the ones being discussed here. I've had at least a dozen elderly ladies respond to my requests for fiscal support with "Uh, no ... I'm all set....

 Listening to the radio this morning a discussion came up about making friends when we are in retirement age. Like, real friends, not just mutual interest friends or close aquaintances. The kind of friends you make when you are younger and become life-long friends. Or the kind of friends you make as parents when you make friends of your kid's parents.  The argument went that once the kids have grown the friends you already have are enough, it is either hard to make new friends or the interest in making new ones just isn't there any more. Made me reflect on my own life, and have to admit, my closest friends are ones that I have known for many years or from my younger years.  I have made some new friends, but not what you would call "close" friends. More like buddies.  BTW, I am not talking about romance, there are a lot of happy couples who met later in life, but am talking about friendships that are friendships. Even if your lover that you met later in life you refer...

Some of the future is already here, but of all the Star Trek devices and gadgets, what would you like to have for yourself (or for humankind)?: I know, I know... hard to pick.  They are all so great!  Some are not even listed here.  List your favorite three, and say why, if it's not already obvious. (by PrimalSoup)

  Way back in the mists of time, we would laugh or make fun of what the old farts did or said.  Now, many of us are the old farts, and we are doing the same things. For one, Bunny now makes the grunts or other sounds when sitting down or getting up. What old fart things are you now doing? J.P. Bunny

  Bunny has never been able to abide any corners on the fingernails, or having them protrude past the top of the fingers.  Way back when, if noticed it at work or on the train, impossible to ignore. Bite, rip, whatever to smooth it out.  Nasty bloody fingers.  Have learned to keep clippers and a file nearby.  In the car, in the desk, in the daily backpack, within easy reach at home… Will get strange looks if pull out a nail file around people, but they are told it keeps Bunny from doing something nasty to them.   What icky habits have you tamed? J.P. Bunny

 Why make home made mac and cheese, when you can just out and buy............. Perfectly fine food, right? Or not............. A federal judge said  Kraft Heinz  must face a proposed nationwide class action alleging that it defrauded consumers by claiming its  Kraft  macaroni and cheese, one of its best-known products, contains no artificial preservatives. https://www.fastcompany.com/91229708/kraft-mac-cheese-will-have-face-this-class-action-lawsuit-heres-why Mind you I gave up the Kraft dinners years ago. BUT I still have a fix............. Never liked canned soups, and when I want a bowl of quick soup, any Knorr will do, despite........ Knorr Soups Ingredients: Contains- corn flour, Refined wheat flour (maida) Dehydrated vegetables or chicken shreds Vegetable fat Salt Sugar Glucose syrup Spices & condiments Some varieties also contain certain vegetable powder, soy sauce powder, yeast extracts, and milk in some form Scary stuff, but I love me a bowl of Knor...

Come on, admit it, you watched that "fight" , didn't ya? Tyson has indeed been incredibly lucky to make it to this point in life, to have stumbled into a lucrative second (or third) act as an entertainer and  cannabis salesman.   But a boxer?  He’s not that anymore. Get real. It was never in doubt.  … well, the best thing that you can say is that it happened and nobody got seriously hurt.  https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2024/11/16/mike-tyson-loses-jake-paul-age-matters-boxing/76351869007/ So, just to see what a real fight aught to look like I watched a real fight on youtube  yesterday... So, any boxing fans out there? Anyone who thinks, as I did, that the Paul/Tyson fight was a joke? Any boxing fans out there that have a favorite fight they remember fondly?   

Freeze Peach 🍑   You could just make a title: Ask a Question So, go ahead.  Ask us a question... about anything.  You are now in charge. (by PrimalSoup)

  You do it.  Others say you’re nuts.  Too bad, you do it anyway. Bunny doesn’t like it if get all comfy in bed, drift off to sleep, then, the alarm goes off.  That’s it?  Can’t turn over and sleep more because you have work, or things to do.   Bunny has trained himself to wake up sometime between 12:00 and 3:00.  Wake up, look at the clock, do a quick mental calculation, and smile as can sleep again for a few more hours. Others put it down as crazy.  Care not as it makes sleeping more pleasurable. What is it you do that make friends and family roll their eyes or snigger? J.P. Bunny

 No, this is NOT about the election results. Though it could be. 😐 So, whatcha gonna do when you get the blues? Tell us, because we really do wanna know (us all being friends here), what gives you the blues? And what you gonna do when you feelin' the blues? (Stop watching the news for starters, very depressing) Other than that, what you gotta do is play yourself some of them blues. Nothing like blues music to get over the blues, beats country, don't it? Living is easy If you take the time to wonder You're gonna feel stronger When you're riding with the blues

  Some are very competitive and need to win at what they do.  They need to succeed.  If start something, must finish it.  If they don’t come in first or win, unhappy and vow to win next time. Some don’t mind.  If you don’t win, you don’t win.  Life will go on. Which type are you?  Gotta be on top, or just comfy lower down? Bunny most non competitive.  No crying if lost or didn’t make it. J.P.  Bunny

The boffins at NYU got some data indicating that kidneys and nerve tissue cells outside the brain are capable of learning and forming memories. This is not evidence that those cells or organs are conscious or experience qualia. (Qualia are the internal and subjective component of sense perceptions, arising from stimulation of the senses by various kinds of stimuli.) But it is an early indication that things we do repeatedly to our bodies can lead to learned biological responses by cells and tissues outside the brain.  This research relied on applying chemical stimuli to cells in vitro in a protocol designed to show whether cells and tissues outside the brain can exhibit a massed-spaced effect. As we all know from grade school science, the massed-spaced effect is a hallmark feature of memory formation. Oh, we don't all know the the massed-spaced effect? Well OK, actually it's pretty simple:  1. The massed effect comes from exposing cells, tissues or whole organisms ...