To Teenwolf

I learned something recently. when life keeps helping you, like when you help an old lady, suddenly, I learned that life is warning you about something. like when you are thinking of shrimp and suddenly someone will say shrimp or plate of it.

at what point do you suddenly say, why am I having these revelations. and then I realized, it's because I am being warned that I am going to be tested. and over the last 30 years, every revelation that I have ever had has been building up to the moment of my test.

the moral of the story, when the universe opens up to you and freaks you out, it's because it's building up faith because you are going to be tested. and it's trying to let you know ahead of time.

for example, why, all these coincidences. why would life seem to be so kind to me and then suddenly do something to me bad. it's because it's warning you to keep having faith. when life is good to you, it's really setting you up. it's trying to warn you not to lose faith. because something bad is going to happen.

[nullnor]

this is my new explanation for coincidences. angels don't exist. external reality doesn't exist. but just for a moment say it does, and it's been grooming you. every time you need money, something always comes through. for 30 years you've been saying, this is really weird. and then you say, how can all these events be random. but what if they aren't random. what if it's some kind of external contest.

none of that really matters to mere mortals right. it's just a thought experiment I had.

just my weak attempt to draw TW in these discussions again. ..if he told me to get vaccinated, I might listen to him.

[nullnor]

life makes two types of people, dandelions and lily. it always has. dandelions are ugly yet thrive no matter what. a lily is beautiful, and thrives under perfect conditions, but any drop of rain or sign of problem it wilts.

this is the greater discussion. I am a lily. but you are going up against dandelions in a time of draught and that's not a war you can win. we just don't care. our life has been hard, we don't care if it rains. we have no teeth, we do drugs and abuse ourselves, we are one step away from homelessness. we have nothing to lose. and you are telling us to get vaccinated. why? because your life is so good. and you are afraid of too much rain. you are afraid of wilting. yeah I am comparing the virus to lilies getting too much rain.

life makes two types of people, dandelions and lilies. she hedges her bets to make sure one of them survives.

[nullnor]

you know that saying there are no atheists in a foxhole. you wouldn't see me advocating vaccines on my deathbed. what would the point be, you are already fucking dead.

[Gregg]

life makes two types of people, dandelions and lily. it always has. dandelions are ugly yet thrive no matter what. a lily is beautiful, and thrives under perfect conditions, but any drop of rain or sign of problem it wilts.

this is the greater discussion. I am a lily. but you are going up against dandelions in a time of draught and that's not a war you can win. we just don't care. our life has been hard, we don't care if it rains. we have no teeth, we do drugs and abuse ourselves, we are one step away from homelessness. we have nothing to lose. and you are telling us to get vaccinated. why? because your life is so good. and you are afraid of too much rain. you are afraid of wilting. yeah I am comparing the virus to lilies getting too much rain.

life makes two types of people, dandelions and lilies. she hedges her bets to make sure one of them survives.

If you look at a Dandelion closely it has it's own beauty. If you see a large field of Dandelions it can be spectacular.

The floral meaning of the dandelion is that it is a gift to a loved one that will provide happiness and is a promise of total faithfulness

[Teenwolf]

this is my new explanation for coincidences. angels don't exist. external reality doesn't exist. but just for a moment say it does, and it's been grooming you. every time you need money, something always comes through. for 30 years you've been saying, this is really weird. and then you say, how can all these events be random. but what if they aren't random. what if it's some kind of external contest.

none of that really matters to mere mortals right. it's just a thought experiment I had.

just my weak attempt to draw TW in these discussions again. ..if he told me to get vaccinated, I might listen to him.

I'll come back if you do, nullnor. This place is a lot less interesting without you. I hope you're vaccinated by now.

I'm positive that if cats could talk, they would tell you to get vaccinated. Any intelligent creature would. (My own weak attempt to draw you back in)... hope you're well, and hope you choose to come back.

[Gregg]

I'll come back if you do, nullnor. This place is a lot less interesting without you. I hope you're vaccinated by now.

I'm positive that if cats could talk, they would tell you to get vaccinated. Any intelligent creature would. (My own weak attempt to draw you back in)... hope you're well, and hope you choose to come back.

Nice to hear from you too.

[Gregg]

I'll come back if you do, nullnor. This place is a lot less interesting without you. I hope you're vaccinated by now.

I'm positive that if cats could talk, they would tell you to get vaccinated. Any intelligent creature would. (My own weak attempt to draw you back in)... hope you're well, and hope you choose to come back.

For Nullnor.

[Sour Masher]

I'll come back if you do, nullnor. This place is a lot less interesting without you. I hope you're vaccinated by now.

I'm positive that if cats could talk, they would tell you to get vaccinated. Any intelligent creature would. (My own weak attempt to draw you back in)... hope you're well, and hope you choose to come back.

I think in both your cases, it was unfortunate you were made to feel unwelcome and that your opinions were not being taken seriously. In nullnor's case, there was a pretty heavy data dump phase there, which made it hard to keep up. I hope he knows not everyone was ignoring him as much as overwhelmed by the sheer volume of posts and perplexed by some of them (at least I was). He was the only openly vaccinate hesitant person here, so he was a valuable voice to be heard. I don't think those who were dismissive of his position were trying to be dismissive of him.

Unfortunately, that was not always the case with you, as you obviously had a pretty vicious back and forth with GITH, but I respect your and nullnor's decisions to step away, even if I feel compelled to point out that opinions about the desirability of your participation or lack there of were not universally held. Many of us valued your voices as outliers to the echo chamber, even if there were occasional bouts of disagreement or confusion about the the articulation of your positions. But again, if it doesn't feel worth it, or you would rather step away than put individuals on ignore, I am pro-choice--whatever adds to someone's happiness without hurting others, I am all for. While I wish we had more voices here, if it ain't worth the hassle to post here, or it creates stress, why do it? Clearly this is the case, although it bums me out when that spills over to the fantasy sports forums. The hot topic stuff, ideally, won't taint the enjoyment of the sports stuff, but it obviously can and does sometimes.

[nullnor]

the story war of the worlds left an impression on me politically. the way i heard it, republicans were sitting around some kind of fireside chat when it happened. and it was the democrats that went around banging on doors stating that Mars had invaded Earth. and the republicans replied wtf your crazy. this was a long time ago. times have changed but i wonder if it's an essence or example of who we are. nowadays you'd think republicans are more crazy. so i live my life according to two principles, Orson Wells and George Orwell. War of the Worlds and 1984. I always thought it would be the republicans that rewrote history. fascism vs socialism vs communism. which one will create the ultimate dystopian world.

it will take something extraordinary to sort it out. and we live in extraordinary times. for me almost everything i uttered politically for 30 years was shattered. i attacked and drove away more conservatives here than everyone combined. i am at peace with it because they are dandelions. they'll be fine. my god it took me 30 years to grow thicker skin. my problem is i am a Libra. not as wishy washy as a Pisces. but seeking balance is a curse.

I was also very influenced by H.G. Wells the Time Machine. life without competition isn't life. you can never just have one side. everything has a role and a purpose. i learned this watching the TB and DAL game last night. and i wondered Native American names for teams isn't wrong because it's a slur, it's wrong because it glorifies war and competition. but it's not wrong to glorify competition. life without competition isn't life. Cowboys vs Buccaneer's that's a good fight.

so imagine when the permafrost melts. the billions of ancient viruses that have been in suspended animation. this is part of the natural defense in the universe. what happened to the Martians in War of the Worlds? they died from viruses. as remote as the chance is, aliens can never invade the planet. this also applies to time travelers. even if you could, you can never survive going forward or backward in time because you have no immunity to that timeline's viruses.

what concerns me is if we do this over a virus that kills 2% of the people. and it's a pretty bad virus. a coronavirus having a cleavage site like this, is fucking truly alarming. biotechnology-wise it is time to take the gloves off. it's competition. because there is way much worse out there. in the permafrost. by default coronaviruses have three different ways they can attack you. they are masters of disguise. but how will we react as a species, when a worse virus comes along. we've already shown how far we will go at 2%. there are no more 100 year pandemics. they will happen more frequently.

did you know the word vaccine is Latin 'for cows'. the first vaccine was for smallpox. the milk maids. they caught cowpox. and it protected them from smallpox. the fact is we catch our viruses from our farm animals. and through natural selection this exposure both kills us and protects us. this is why more advanced civilizations on Earth are able to conquer and invade. Europeans in America. but under rare circumstances, can be thwarted. for example, Europeans trying to colonize New Guinea. they never had exposure to a wild virus like Malaria. and the home team won. just like in War of the Worlds.

Ancient viruses in the permafrost are huge viruses. all the ancient viruses are. they are DNA ones with tons of genes. they eat other viruses. some are as big as bacteria. and they have been dormant for millions of years. maybe billions of years. and when they awaken, they'll make their progeny look like a common cold. we'll end up looking like aliens or time travelers with no immunity.

we need to have a better naming system for viruses. instead of naming them by variants or locations, we should name them from the animal that caused the zoonosis. for example, Kookaburra virus, it makes birds friendly. be careful it's only friendly because it has a virus!

[nullnor]

If you look at a Dandelion closely it has it's own beauty. If you see a large field of Dandelions it can be spectacular.

The floral meaning of the dandelion is that it is a gift to a loved one that will provide happiness and is a promise of total faithfulness

dude that was beautiful. i totally already knew that. but it was great hearing you say it. it's true.