Someone mentioned earlier that this was a total flop. Honestly? I’m right there with them—it was a massive dud. It’s not a comedy, it’s definitely not an action flick, it misses the mark on sci-fi, it fails as a parody, and even that attempt at showing a mother-daughter bond? Total miss. From where I'm sitting, the whole thing was just a waste of time. If anyone actually saved the movie, it was Jamie Lee Curtis.
I haven't posted on my own Master threads in a long time, mostly because I bailed due to that one moderator, @Master, who had absolutely no clue how to moderate and couldn't stay impartial if his life depended on it.👍
When a person starts seeing how much faith actually matters, they become someone whose conviction is strong enough to drive their every move. Just like faith builds up inner strength, people build up their own courage.
We’re out here making our mark, basically immortalizing everything our bodies stand for. It's all about proving once again what everyone else keeps forgetting.
Look, if a virus doesn't have a host, it’s game over—it can't survive or spread. I never actually thought they were aiming for herd immunity; I think they were just trying to identify and isolate the threat as fast as they possibly could. Honestly, I think there are still plenty of countries pulling this off. Everyone points to New Zealand as the gold standard, but the US is making some solid moves too. As for those other places you mentioned where cases went through the roof? They just waited way too long to act, especially in high-density areas where the virus spreads like wildfire because so many people end up being asymptomatic superspreaders without even knowing it. I remember seeing an estimate for Italy suggesting that if they had jumped on measures just three weeks earlier, they could have saved nearly 90% of the population!
I'm totally with you on one thing, though: big corporations, Big Pharma, and even certain parts of the government are absolutely going to profit from this and exploit the situation. There’s zero doubt in my mind about that. It wouldn't even surprise me if they were the ones driving the whole agenda. Peace, man—it makes perfect sense to me why things aren't changing when you consider the underlying realities regarding COVID-19.
I’m not even going to get into debates about why infection numbers aren't skyrocketing everywhere. If the virus is actually under control and there aren't enough hosts left to sustain it—aside from a tiny handful—then that's just how it works. Plus, people are being super careful because nobody wants to deal with that nonsense again. That 0.1% figure? That’s the total mortality rate for the flu, not broken down by age groups.
Look, I’m not speaking from the perspective of American news outlets; I’m looking at all the available data from around the globe. I don't care if the local media is blowing things out of proportion or not. If you want the real deep dive, go search for English-language sources and actual studies. And honestly, since you mentioned questioning everything, I highly recommend you do exactly that—but maybe look beyond the usual domestic sources, especially those "alternative" ones. It’s actually pretty sad that the average citizen doesn't bother learning the basics of how an infection works. You shouldn't need to wait for a crisis in London, Rome, Madrid, or Paris to grasp the basic principle of timely prevention when dealing with something that has a proven exponential spread potential. If mortality rates blow past hospital capacities, you end up with unnecessary deaths in other departments and chaos in ten other sectors. There is no winning combination here; every economy is going to take a massive hit. The only real question is whether we're looking at 10, 100, or a thousand deaths per million people. Either way, everyone loses, regardless of whether some idiots let the virus loose or not.
Chris Williams said:Based on what the WHO statistics have been showing lately regarding seasonal flu deaths, I guess it might be worth considering which specific parameters we should actually be using to measure this. 650.000 People across the globe, yet so far we only have an approximation. 110.000 I suppose one could wonder about the actual number of COVID deaths, though I suspect the truth remains somewhat elusive.
I suppose seasonal flu deaths tend to climb across America every year. It seems like there might be some ocular infection or irritation occurring. I suppose we're looking at a figure around 60,000 people.It seems like they might just end up killing them off, I guess. 500Maybe it's just the inherent frailty of the elderly, I suppose.
As of today, I suppose the number of people suffering from COVID here in America has reached... 1400I suppose some people just died, if that's even the case. 21Perhaps it’s just a matter of Muhammad and those who are elderly or infirm.
Look, there are plenty of studies out there on COVID-19 mortality rates. We're looking at something around 1%, whereas the flu sits at about 0.1%. Some folks have thrown out random guesses from specific states—nothing solid, mind you—claiming a 0.4% rate for COVID-19, but even that is still four times higher than the flu. That is absolutely massive!
Bottom line: we're talking about the death rate relative to the number of infections. Why are there "only" 110,000 cases right now? It's because people in most countries are staying isolated. If the virus were allowed to run wild like it might in a place like Sweden (even though they have some measures in place), we’d be seeing more COVID deaths in just 14 days than we see from the flu in an entire year. Second, the transmission is key—this thing spreads way faster and easier than the flu. Third, you've got hospital capacity. Developed nations are already having to perform triage because the healthcare system is being hit harder than any flu season ever could. I mean, the flu sucks, sure, but it's not something where we need everyone suddenly acting super civilized about wearing masks and stuff to prevent total collapse.
Regarding the annual global mortality rates tied to the flu: Quick facts: Every year, an estimated 290,000 to 650,000 people die globally due to complications from seasonal influenza (flu) viruses. This figure translates to roughly 795 to 1,781 deaths every single day caused by the seasonal flu. Sources and info:
Seasonal flu death estimate increases worldwide - CDC Up to 650,000 people die of respiratory diseases linked to seasonal flu each year - World Health Organization (WHO)
I suppose I have to wonder why people aren't just staying home; why they don't stop going to work, why kids are still in school, why bars remain open, or why traffic hasn't ground to a halt. Why doesn't life simply stop, making it so you can only step outside to walk the dog? It seems strange when you consider that the elderly population—those already struggling with comorbidities, cancer, or other severe illnesses—die from the flu, sometimes even at six times the rate of COVID this year... I'm just asking.
...And one more thing... perhaps it’s somewhat obvious why an emergency press conference is being held by the crisis management team in > because a nurse and an elderly woman in a nursing home in Ploče tested positive for the coronavirus. This isn't about being hyperbolic; it feels more like collective madness.
It's because, based on every single metric we have, COVID-19 is several times more contagious and has about ten times the mortality rate of the flu.
Richard Wells said:How do you take away the option of suicide? There always has to be a way out of that hell, because if I didn't have one, life would just be endless suffering.
I'm not even asking for the "how-to" here—we're just playing with ideas and speculating. I just want us to imagine a world where that option simply doesn't exist.
I mean, obviously! When you’ve got Seth Rogen behind it, the jokes are basically on par with The Big Lebowski. People only call it funny because some idiot on IMDb or some fake cult following says it's good, but honestly? It’s exhausting if you don't check beforehand to make sure you're actually watching something top-tier.
Anthony Perez9 said:Honestly, I’d rather just vanish than deal with some non-revocable immortality that never actually ends. 😲
I totally get wanting to check out, but seriously—if you weren't here, how would you even function? Like, how would you live if you didn't have the option to just call it quits?
You’ve gotta find your "why." The spark. It starts within. Get to know yourself. Deeply.
One single moment can totally flip the script on your entire life depending on how hard it hits. The real trouble starts when that "imprint" leaves you stuck in a negative headspace. In those cases, much like what Mainländer argued, a person feels forced to stay the course and cling to a specific worldview just to justify their own misery. It’s not because they actually see things that way—it's because they can't afford to shift their perspective, since changing how they see the world would mean fundamentally changing who they are.
What I'm getting at is that with Mainländer, the event or the emotional scar comes first, and the distorted worldview follows just to back it up. It never works the other way around. If someone doesn't figure that out, they're basically stuck. They have to realize this on their own and completely reject everything imposed on them—including these very words.
Larry Moore83 said:🤦 But aren't they at fault simply because they don't know? Is there not a certain culpability in being a student—in that state of perpetual unknowing?🧐 😁
Look, nobody can be blamed for anything, especially not someone who's still learning!
Historically speaking, women were basically forced to shoulder the brunt of childcare and all those domestic chores. Because of physical differences, the workload was definitely skewed heavily in favor of men. Looking at the big picture, this gave them way more free time, which naturally opened the door for them to dive deeper into specific fields. Or, to put it another way, they had the luxury to obsess over certain subjects, eventually leading to generations of thinkers who made massive intellectual breakthroughs. That rigid division of labor—and the intense gender identification we still see today where people feel the need to constantly defend or attack one another based on sex—played a huge role too. Back in the day, those "cults" of identity were even more extreme, with access to specialized knowledge being strictly reserved for men.
What’s the deal with hugging... when all you feel is this wave of awkwardness—where you can barely stand being yourself, let alone someone else. How do you hug in those moments without feeling forced, or worse, fake.
Not at all. I mean, what would be the point? If there isn't even a tiny impulse to reach out—if those internal sensors are just dead—then they're dead. Even Jesus raised the dead, but nowadays it feels like only zombies are rising 🙂 I might just go hug a tree instead... sounds silly, I know, but I think I'll actually go find one today. Maybe two, depending on which one looks more inviting 🙂 🙂
How do you learn to hug someone without them even realizing it.
Just embrace them in spirit. Though, maybe they will sense it if the connection is sincere enough—and if they happen to be on a similar wavelength 🙂
This song was playing on loop for me all last night—it's beautiful. I first heard it about ten days ago while I was grabbing some fruit at Whole Foods. I meant to look it up on YouTube right then, but it slipped my mind, and then suddenly here it is. So nice 🙂
But isn't that exactly when a hug matters most? It becomes this way beautiful tool for cleansing—not just for them, but for us too. A truly deep hug can actually happen without that initial physical urge; it comes from that deeper, underlying energy we all carry. It’s that specific moment where we move past our own egos by really trying to understand someone else and what they're going through.
You just give them a hug in spirit! And hey, maybe they'll actually feel it if the hug is sincere enough and you're both vibrating on a similar wavelength. 🙂
I was talking about the kind of hugs that people actually get a massive boost from. We haven't even touched on the technique of hugging someone so subtly they don't even realize it happened. We shouldn't be asking how to make sure they notice us; we should be figuring out how to give a hug without any ego or need for recognition.
There are so many different ways to hug someone. A physical hug definitely carries its own weight, right? When things are going great, you don't even have to think about it—you just lean in and wrap them up in your arms. It’s totally natural for any living thing to crave that kind of closeness when the vibes are right. But what happens when someone actually hurts us? Or those times when everything just feels off, and we're struggling to even like ourselves, let alone be close to anyone else? How do you offer a hug in those moments without it feeling forced or fake? And then there are those hugs you can't even see with your eyes. How do you learn to give those kinds of hugs—the ones where the other person might not even realize they're being held?
Ryan Rogers5 said:Sure, God is everywhere, but you could argue His presence is at its most limited within the material plane—mostly because God is infinite and eternal, while matter is just... well, finite, temporary, and destined to die. But honestly, the physical world feels absolutely necessary, right? It acts as the perfect counterweight to the spiritual side, which actually helps both realms evolve. Think about it—if we only had a purely spiritual existence, there wouldn't be any real change or growth, and without change, existence itself kind of loses its point, whether you're looking at this life or the next. I mean, the material world feeds the spiritual one, and vice versa. It’s like a cycle—when someone passes away in the physical sense, they’re essentially being born into the spiritual realm, and coming into this world physically means leaving the spiritual one behind. It's this complete, closed loop that mirrors the entire universe. I know, it's a bit of a heavy concept to wrap your head around, and I'm probably not the best at explaining it simply, but that's how I see it. At the end of the day, trying to fully grasp God's intentions is way beyond what the human mind can actually process.
So, are we talking about two separate worlds here?