Wise Quotes Collection

[jupiviv]

Good to see ya Diebert.

Now I get the sense Dan stopped caring or having time or energy to care that much.

Probably the latter. I haven't seen a menoftheinfinite video by him for a long time.

jump-start here or elsewhere

The best way to do that is to get a significant portion of the old members(except Alex, Laird and their ilk of course) to join up. But the problem with that, as with any reunion, is that it is almost impossible to successfully repeat a social situation after a period of time without also repeating the quondam personal situations of the individuals involved in it.

Certain people in similar situations get together and collectively do something tangible, but it gradually dissipates as the individual members' lives progress and diverge from each other. This is especially applicable to internet forums where the very notion of "group allegiance" is ridiculous.

This forum has had its share of good discussions, and I think they should be preserved instead of being buried under verbal sewage, which they most likely will if it remains active.

[Dennis Mahar]

a pair of drama queens.
storm in a teacup.

[SeekerOfWisdom]

lol yeah they make a great pair.

Jup it'll be buried under our sewage because you have to click page "60" instead of "45".
All those people who read your past contributions daily must be devastated.

Imagine an enlightenment forum that wasn't filled with such egotism, you are completely oblivious.

[jupiviv]

a pair of drama queens.
storm in a teacup.

What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in guerrilla warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, kiddo.

[Diebert van Rhijn]

But the problem with that, as with any reunion, is that it is almost impossible to successfully repeat a social situation after a period of time without also repeating the quondam personal situations of the individuals involved in it.

While true, I've a hard time seeing this forum as a social setting with "personal situations". If that's the case overall it should stop immediately! Perhaps I see it more as a machine to maintain or otherwise park it in a museum.

This forum has had its share of good discussions, and I think they should be preserved instead of being buried under verbal sewage, which they most likely will if it remains active.

I shared that outlook some years ago. It's now for me almost a morbid fascination around this process of burial and decay, natural as it may be. But still I'd like to see a cross-over between Google Circles and a classic forum structure where you can branch off discussions in various ways and formats without completely becoming fractioned and unhinged like most discourse nowadays.

[SeekerOfWisdom]

Am I getting killed too? Let me know so I can cancel any plans I've made and drink some milk, wouldn't want it to go off.

[jupiviv]

I've a hard time seeing this forum as a social setting with "personal situations".

I meant IRL in general for forum members, and also their motivations, interests etc. I recently asked Kevin why he doesn't post here anymore. He said he's bored with the place. I feel much the same, tbh. One can try in vain to stimulate a real discussion about enlightenment for so long.

But still I'd like to see a cross-over between Google Circles and a classic forum structure where you can branch off discussions in various ways and formats without completely becoming fractioned and unhinged like most discourse nowadays.

Both Kevin and David have recently opened up blogs, but there isn't much going on there.

[Diebert van Rhijn]

Both Kevin and David have recently opened up blogs, but there isn't much going on there.

That's the thing, that format where there's one stream of comments is not conductive for discussion. When you get hundreds of comments one needs to be able to quote, format, moderate, split off, combine and so on. Otherwise you end up with uninteresting short feedbacks on the original article existing rather isolated in content and continuation. The social network sites have some interesting aggregating functions but just no ways to organise in depth discussion on any topic. Which makes me think social media encourages and rewards a shallow type of communiation centred around childish feelings, pictures and video's. Disposable, short-lived isolated bites of information. While philosophy is about bigger themes which only become more clear when seeing them appear in writings and more complex dialogs over a longer period of time. Therefore I'm not that interested in any blog or video project of anyone. Of course other audiences might still take away something from that.

[Dan Rowden]

Good to see ya Diebert.

Now I get the sense Dan stopped caring or having time or energy to care that much.

Probably the latter. I haven't seen a menoftheinfinite video by him for a long time.

I haven't been able to make any vidoes due to my personal circumstances. They changed some time back - I had to move and didn't have my own internet etc. Then came the stroke which changed my circumstances again. I'm not able to make videos where I'm currently living. But I haven't ruled it out into the future, which is to say it's not about interest or caring. Mind you, the same cannot be said for the forum...

jump-start here or elsewhere

This forum has had its share of good discussions, and I think they should be preserved instead of being buried under verbal sewage, which they most likely will if it remains active.

I will say, in all honesty, that I have lacked the motivation to post more regularly and meaningfully. I admit, by and large, the current crop of posters doesn't generate that motivation for me and having to deal with people like Alex and Pincho tires me significantly (post-stroke I tire fairly easily). The other problem is that we have not has any meaningful new members in ages. 99.99% of registrations in the past year have been spammers (I spend a ridiculous amount of my time here doing admin getting rid of the fuckers). This is probably because not much else has been going on - Youtube and so forth. i.e. the "advertising" of the forum has dried up.

We'll see how things go into the future, but the idea that the place may be past its use-by-date is one I acknowledge.

[Dan Rowden]

Both Kevin and David have recently opened up blogs, but there isn't much going on there.

Kevin has a blog? Where?

[Dennis Mahar]

seeker

Am I getting killed too? Let me know so I can cancel any plans I've made and drink some milk, wouldn't want it to go off.

It's a medical drama.
there's an ailing patient
consulting physicians with an air of tragedy
a flurry of stethoscopes, symptoms, diagnoses
a call for a priest to deliver the last rites

[Dan Rowden]

25 CCs of adrenalin, stat!

[Leyla Shen]

I like to think of this place as Lethe and Elysium at once; the same place inhabited by both the virtuous, and the undead who remain condemned to a life of repetition...

[Dennis Mahar]

25 CCs of adrenalin, stat!

Aha, an injection of humour.
nice one.

you do a great job Dan in trying circumstances.
any assumption you have a panic button is completely wide of the mark.
I 'get' your omniscience.
that is the point of philosophy.

[Kunga]

Jupiviv is a lobotomised hippie bimbo.

What the fuck did you just fucking say about you, you little bitch !

[Tomas]

I like to think of this place as Lethe and Elysium at once; the same place inhabited by both the virtuous, and the undead who remain condemned to a life of repetition...

The forum is great though my wonderful writings have been on the decline since 1492.

Repetition? This place is instant karma!

There's about five posters here besides Dan, David and Kevin worth reading and (but) I'm not one of them. Even my last daughter still at home says I am old and staid. The nerve of some people.

[jupiviv]

I haven't been able to make any vidoes due to my personal circumstances. They changed some time back - I had to move and didn't have my own internet etc. Then came the stroke which changed my circumstances again. I'm not able to make videos where I'm currently living. But I haven't ruled it out into the future, which is to say it's not about interest or caring. Mind you, the same cannot be said for the forum...

Sorry to hear you had a stroke. If you do get around to having more time to spend on the internet, I think you should invest it on youtube videos.

Kevin has a blog? Where?

http://theabsolute.net/essays/

[jupiviv]

When you get hundreds of comments one needs to be able to quote, format, moderate, split off, combine and so on.

Youtube's commenting system is pretty good, because a few people can have a meaningful discussion even amongst 1000s of other comments. You get a message if someone replies, and you can filter out users just by flagging them. It does have a lot of technical problems however, especially after all the recent format changes for no apparent reason.

[Bobo]

The other problem is that we have not has any meaningful new members in ages. 99.99% of registrations in the past year have been spammers (I spend a ridiculous amount of my time here doing admin getting rid of the fuckers).

You could try to change the registration form. For example put a question asking for "the name of one person quoted on the linked page at the 'welcome to the genius forum' on the introduction of the forum". And see if it has any results.

[SeekerOfWisdom]

Dan I'm glad to see you don't participate in the same over the top antics as solway. I swear you can't go 5 minutes reading anything from that guy without a personal reference to himself as a zen master or the greatest writer alive.

[Dan Rowden]

The other problem is that we have not has any meaningful new members in ages. 99.99% of registrations in the past year have been spammers (I spend a ridiculous amount of my time here doing admin getting rid of the fuckers).

You could try to change the registration form. For example put a question asking for "the name of one person quoted on the linked page at the 'welcome to the genius forum' on the introduction of the forum". And see if it has any results.

That's one option, I guess. Kevin has done a bunch of things already but today's spammers are determined little suckers. Fiddling with the PHP is Kev's job anyway.

[Leyla Shen]

Tomas wrote:

Repetition? This place is instant karma!

Well, I'm no specialist on Buddhist philosophy but from what I can glean of it, that is repetition! I thought the idea was to break free from karma (to attain enlightenment)?

The forum is great though my wonderful writings have been on the decline since 1492.

You mean your poetry and political analyses?

Now that you mention it, why don't you ever seriously and openly tackle the tougher philosophical concepts discussed around here?

[Tomas]

-Leyla Shen-
Well, I'm no specialist on Buddhist philosophy but from what I can glean of it, that is repetition! I thought the idea was to break free from karma (to attain enlightenment)?

-tomas-
Enlightenment has already happened to my soul. The "physical attainment" takes somewhat longer. Besides, who's keeping score around here? Other than Dan, the brightest of the original three, there's four others here who I bother to read on a regular basis. Of those four, only two continue to post. The other two I go back and re-read quite regularly.

-Leyla-
You mean your poetry and political analyses?

-tomas-
The poetry and political stuff are passing fancies best left to the brothel now titled worldly .. I'd post more of the poetry but no one bothers much to read it here. The political changes from day to day and is best left in my mind, too divisive for this forum.

-Leyla-
Now that you mention it, why don't you ever seriously and openly tackle the tougher philosophical concepts discussed around here?

-tomas-
I've not much disagreement with David and Dan only with Kevin and he's scram-moosed from here.

As far as tackling the tougher philosophical concepts, I see them rather easily. Guess it comes from my hardscrabble upbringing then being Drafted into the army, sent to Vietnam to kill the yellow man for his shortcomings. Those ghosts are difficult to shake and I probably (if judging by fellow veterans experiences) never will break free.

It ain't easy resolving killing people for no reason (in my minds eye) just because the government told me to do so. The polar opposite was to be sentenced to five years hard labor at Fort. Leavenworth for refusing to be drafted.

I've done the veterans therapy, Veteran's of Foreign Wars membership sitting around talking and talking drinking coffee and breathing the fumes of other's cigarette smoke til 1 AM in the morning. Same with American Legion memberships those days were OK but the same applies philosophically .. tackle the issues as they come and resolve them before going to sleep. At the end of the day after work I just want to hug my wife, kiss her on the cheek and then tell my daughter that I love her as much as ever and maybe a little more today. The resettlement issues (coming back physically and spiritually wounded), even taken trips back to Vietnam and connect with the peoples relatives I've killed. Four separate digs to look for left-behind veterans bodies that were unaccounted for.

I'll never leave Vietnam behind, war is the oddest thing I've encountered. If you haven't done it you would never understand.

Besides, I'm sixty-one later this month, I have a wife that loves me (we've been together 45 years) and our last daughter still at home.

What else is there than 'all you need is love.'

[Leyla Shen]

Tomas:

I've not much disagreement with David and Dan only with Kevin and he's scram-moosed from here.

Somewhere around here, Dan alluded to Kevin's sense of humour. I can't even imagine him laughing, myself; though I'm sure he has, at least on the inside!

I'll never leave Vietnam behind, war is the oddest thing I've encountered. If you haven't done it you would never understand.

I don't doubt that for a second.

Besides, I'm sixty-one later this month, I have a wife that loves me (we've been together 45 years) and our last daughter still at home.

Humanity. How things change from one generation to the next. In my parents' day, one held down the same job for just as long.

What else is there than 'all you need is love.''

Well, there's -- let me see -- Genius Forum and (as I was just discussing with someone else) the love involved in the propagation of wisdom? Are they mutually exclusive?

[SeekerOfWisdom]

Leyla- "the tougher philosophical topics discussed around here"

Is there another main forum I don't know about?
Or are you in the same humorous mood as Alex?

As far as I can tell philosophy (including any related to enlightenment) hasn't been spoken about in years. All that I see is me and Dennis continuously talking about nothing, plus a few arguments involving Dan and his moderating of posters like Pincho.

You two are also on the fringe here, its an odd experience me speaking toward you, don't you think? If we had Kunga here we'd have the four most different people in existence.