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This was the first year of my life that I’m feeling my age, and that is mainly because of my knees. People say that I look young for my age too. Funny thing is, they are starting to say that about my oldest daughter. With my three daughters.

The first photo is my high school graduation picture at which time I was 17. Second one was taken last year when I was 90. Yesterday, I observed my 91st birthday. Physically, I have declined. I don't have a lot of energy, suffer some hearing loss in my left ear, need cataract surgery on my right eye and don't have a lot of "pep to my step". Mentally, I'm probably in the early stages if dementia but, personality-wise, I'm still the same skeptic I was at age 20; just a little wiser. Still march to my own drumbeat. "This, above all, to thine own self be true", the words I live by. I would like to hang around long enough to see who wins the presidential election but if one of these mornings I don't wake up , I wouldn't care. "Life is a journey that is homeward bound." I'm curious about the hereafter. zzzzzzzz

Sometimes I feel old but that is moor a function of my moods. I think a bit more because I have less energy. I just got a haircut and a shave people have told me I look good

An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi.

Right. The enemy who owns the media would never spend too much time showing their folks taking Ls. The best way to keep Black in fear and afraid is to show them as weak, powerless and defenseless. That makes war a necessary evil. Gotta learn how to defend and protect ourselves at some point.

Actually, you make a good point. Trying something out implies that if it becomes uncomfortable or you don't like it....you may quit it. I stand corrected on that one

@umbrarchistWell, guessing that what you described happened was during the mid 1970s when you were in your early 20s. I KNOW you're not in my "league" but you could be in your early 70s, which nowadays is not necessarily old. Age is just a number. An abstract thinker like you should comply with that.

@nels What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to inform and educate? Are you trying to convert people here to the Republican party? What? You you've been here for years; you should know that most of the regular posters here are not just one thing. We may be conservative on some issues and liberal on others. We don't do any of the things that you've listed. However, you are guilty of a few. Most recently "Try to prevent people from learning facts that are based on truth." Your recent post saying that the democratic party of 150 years ago is same one today. Why did you do you expect that argument to work on us, or anyone with a high school education? We pointed out the obvious flaw in your argument. You reacted by doubling down saying that the parties have not changed?! Look, you are not dealing with ignorant children we recognize that both parties have flaws and the Black people have not been truly served by either any political party since the founding of this nation. Now given the choice of the Presidential candidates Harris and Trump, the best choice is clearly Harris -- regardless of your so-called race. Both are flawed but one is profoundly flawed -- a global embarrassment as our Nation's leader. Unfortunately, the Republication party under Trump's control has become a trainwreck. No one reasonable hates republicans -- just because they are republican. Some here may hate Trump, but he is just one man. I liked the way Mike Pence stood up to Trump when it mattered most. There are righteous Republican and Democratic politicians, in Congress, trying to do the right thing for the American people, but the divisions and the resulting dysfunction is making it difficult to accomplish anything productive. Your posts attempt to fuel this division. Perhaps increasing division is your goal, but to what end?

@TroyAwwwwww, how sweet! Instead of a granddaughter, you got a late-life baby. Hi, Delano! You guys both look young for your age!

Brotha @Delano, still looking good and not a day over [insert number here]. Diet, sleep and exercise boost energy. Grooming makes us look and feel less old too.

Did I miss something? I thought today is @aka Contrarian's Birthday! I run late sometimes... I am affected with the CPT plague, but I was hoping to get this right! I hope I got this right. If so, this is an incredible day! Happy Birthday @aka Contrarian and may you enjoy this special day and many more!!! This is a very special month for me because I have a lot of relatives who were born this month. My uncle lived to be 100 years old was born in the month of August. My Grandmother was born in this month, my Step-father was born in this month and he just had a birthday and is now 87 years old.

a legit journalist is not ġonna pay to interview anybody. But hell if I know what actually happens in the real world. We should sell our vote. Instead of spending money on ads they could just give us the money directly.

Controlling and leading are different. Control is trying to govern someone else's movement; thoughts, actions and deeds. Control example...clocking someone's whereabouts or how they spent money. Lead is proactively getting things done towards a positive outcome. Lead example....cooking or making dinner reservations or planning a vacation without having to be asked or told to do so. Being comtrolled doesn’t feel right to most people. It has a negative connotation. OTOH, people will respond favorably to leadership especially if it produces a positive and/or puts a smile on their face.

In the south, yesterday's Democrats are today's Republicans. Those good ol boys flying confederate flags and toting rifles still exist. Only the names have been changed because red neck white crackers are more compatible with racist conservative Republicans. The "Dixiecrats" morphed into "Retrumpicans" beginning in the 1960s Why is this so hard for Republicans to process and why do they keep desperately dwelling on it, attempting to create a smoke screen? Labels are superficial. It's not what a group is called. It's how it behaves. The past is the past. Today's KKK members certainly won't be voting for Democrats Kamala and Tim.

Actually, it was the media who MADE Donald Trump in the first place. A lot of people came along saying the same shit he was saying. Pat Buchanan was one of them; but the media barely acknowledge him or his bid for the presidency, except when someone wanted to do an article on right-wing extremist politics. But Trump came along saying the craziest and zaniest shit...and CNN was the first to report every word of it to the American people. CeeLo Green said, "them crackaz thank they slick". They PROMOTED this right wing racist clown to the American people and helped get him in office, all the while CLAIMING to criticize him and his ideology. CNN gave him the most free advertisement of any President. Damn near every rally he gave in 2015 and 2016 was covered live and uncut by CNN and Fox News. They air his speeches live, then turn around and tell you he's a liar, divisive, and you shouldn't listen to him. Reminds me of Dee from What's Happening!! "Hey mama..... Roger gave me $5 to NOT tell you he was going to that party tonight. So I won't tell you that he went to that party tonight."

Yes, we need to start being more PRO-ACTIVE than RE-ACTIVE.

A black boy was killed in GA maasacre. I’m glad they are charging the father. Since they won’t go after the manufactures or the law makers maybe putting more of the parents in jail will help.

Of course. Some preachers hoop and others are more restrained in their delivery. I thought by now you all have figured out how my comedy works around here. I have to do a better job apparently. Maybe more emoticons. Yep. That Joel Osteen with the million dollar smile and tear-jerking stories flying outta his mouf is raking in money hand over fist. Yet, when the city of Houston had flooding, the same Osteen was like, h8ll naw...you homeless folks can't stay in my joint.

They say how much they THINK THEY LOST not what they MADE compared to expenses. If they had a reliable method of forcing everyone to pay how many people would just not ride? That is why I think chasing repeat offenders is worthwhile. They probably have to ride and do it in predictable patterns.

I don't want anything. YOU asked for a suggestion. If YOU do not like My suggestion Tough SHIT! I will consider being so kind as to not make any more. But maybe I will since reading you blow a gasket is so funny.

The question becomes how MTA can afford to *lose* $300 million and keep running. The fares being collected must be enough to finance the whole operation and more. Raising the fare a bit will cover the *loss* without affecting the customers too much or ridership.

I’m not so sure the bus has the lowest fair evasion. I take the M60 from LaGuardia airport to my old neighborhood in Harlem several times a year and nobody pays to get on and I mean nobody. I know that’s just one bus line, but I also am aware that the drivers aren’t really enforcing payment of fairs. people get on the middle or the back of the bus and it’s all good. The problem is enforcement across-the-board. The MTA has set a standard that the penalty for evading payment of ones fare is nonexistent.

This is an example from science fiction. Compare Ursala K LeGuin and Isaac Asimov People have referred to Asimov's writing as "workman like". He writes what he has to, to tell the story. One man told me that Asimov couldn't write. LeGuin's book The Dispossessed has a physicist as a main character but there is No Physics in it. Asimov wrote The Gods Themselves where the physics was central to the story. As a result of a conversation with Robert Silverberg where he imagined an element that Asimov said could not exist, Asimov imagined a parallel universe where the element could exist. Asimov created a storyline with alien contact to transfer energy. LeGuin had better human characters but Asimov's story was far more mind blowing. What does the reader want out of the time spent reading? 542 vus .

@Troy, Delano & ProfD: My paranormal experiences aren't necessarily spontaneous or surprising. I believe they were/are the culmination of things I experimented with years ago. I've always been fascinated with meta-physics and the supernatural. When I was young and into new age stuff, I did a lot of rituals and things to try and draw good fortune into my life. I experimented with mirrors and chanting and imaging, and collecting talismans. Crystals actually do have special chemical properties; that's why they are used in electrical devices. Pyramids, as we know, date back centuries and not only embody mathematical principles but emit a certain kind of energy. Mirrors capture you and when facing each other can reflect images ad infinitum. Chanting turns sound waves into energy and when done while simultaneously picturing what you want to materialize, can facilitate results. (Prayer works on this same principle.) I expected quick results with all my rituals, not realizing that the things you send out into the Universe are on a different time wave. Now, it's like all of these rituals I was doing are gradually manifesting themselves, making my life outre, and I believe this includes my longevity; and is why I have chronologically reached my 90s but am mentally and, in some weirdly physical areas, frozen in middle age. I now realize more than ever that there is more to life than meets the eye. It's a lot about the different frequencies at which we are vibrating, and the different dimensions some are able to shift into... @Delano I never thought about the scrolls I keep seeing when I close my eyes, possibly being glimpses of the Emerald Tablets or akashik records. There is writing on them, but I never remember what I read Just some thoughts I felt compelled to share

@umbrachist: Why have you spent 23 years of your life seeking explanations about this 9/11 event? Are you a conspiracy theorist?

@Troy no, one was about a 15 minute car ride away, and the other was a 5 hour plane ride away. One night I felt like I walked through three portals and then I had two people's mind. I read both twice, one was on purpose the other was accidental. The accidental one is the mother of my daughter. She also happens to be an unconscious witch.

Everyone would have to ignore it @Chevdove for it to benefit us all. until then we’ll need continue to fight .

I always wanted to be a Dictator. Trump is my Hero!

I am an agnostic. I voted against Trump twice. If Trump runs against a pile of dog shit then I am voting for the dog shit.

Wow....that's crazy. I know Caucasians had different tests around the world they used to classify different races and the different admixtures, but I didn't know about this one. I wonder where the "Coloured" population fit in with the "pencil test".

When it comes to parenting, as the mother of 5 children, I can state that there is no magical one size fits all method for raising kids because each child is different. Parenting is a learn by doing trial and error process. And nothing is more vexing than the unsolicited advice ftom those who don't have children. My husband lost his father at an early age, so he always appreciated my father's input on subjects and one of the things my dad passed on to him was to be a man of your word if you want to gain the trust of your wife and kids. We always lavished praise our kids when they did well and downplayed their failures, and were careful not to over inflate their self esteem. With me, it depended on how capable a man was when it came to controlling or taking the lead. I'm lazy and have never liked a lot of responsibility so if a man wanted to run the show he could. But if he fell short on a regular basis, I was gone. I was married for 50 years.

God is All....there is nothing but God Good is the Finite Verb for God. There is only Good....Evil is the absence of Good Evil the Absence of Good is Relative Good (and the word evil) is a term with religious connotations that means or stands for Kindness and Fairness which is Spiritual and hence Universal..... Good is Life Supporting and Promoting....All known Life Forms Recognize and Knows Goodness Innately.

Shame on you checking out another man's wife through your TV screen.

So, if President Trump wins on November 5, 2024, will Black America think that the sky is going to fall? = = = = = "5 Things Malcolm X Said That Are Relevant Today About Sellout Negro Politicians" = = = = = "9 THINGS DEMOCRATS HAVE DONE: To Destroy Everything America Should Be" https://clashdaily.com/2015/11/9-things-democrats-have-done-to-destroy-everything-america-should-be/ = = = = = Democrats Treat Black Americans Like Political Pawns. No Wonder We're Jumping Ship | Opinion https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-treat-black-americans-like-political-pawns-no-wonder-were-jumping-ship-opinion-1704995 = = = = = https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-granted-black-americans-sound-093022049.html https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/democrats-are-betraying-black-voters/619573/ https://www.npr.org/2024/08/14/g-s1-16261/young-black-voters-generation-democrats-conservative-trump-harris-gen-z-millennials https://news.gallup.com/poll/609776/democrats-lose-ground-black-hispanic-adults.aspx https://reason.com/2024/08/19/democrats-unburdened-by-what-they-have-done-to-chicago/ = = = = = And note, generally speaking, the above references aren't necessarily lovers of conservatives by any stretch of the imagination.

Yall DO know that that painter Bob Ross....had his hair permed to look kinky right? This is him years ago...with STRAIGHT hair in it's natural form.

@richardmurray Sorry for the late reply. Just seeing this. I didn't receive an email notification of your message. Not sure why that happens to me sometimes. I'm guessing the project already taken off. How's it going?

Nels' response to this question was nothing more than an attempt to justify his infatuation with the Republican Reich. On and on he rambled trying to make his subliminal case for the Republican party being the antidote for the poisonous disinformation he was spewing about the Democrats. Bottom line, what nels couldn't bring himself to admit is that, when it came to racial matters, the Democrat and Republican parties did reverse roles! He remains shackled to the Republican narrative that he obediently parrots. And, incidentally, in the person of my Cynique alter ego, I was around when nels put in his first appearance on this site And tho I have many memories about those days, the only thing I recall about him was his name. Fueled by his arrogance, I think he has embellished the impact he had on this forum back then, and still sporadically shows up here, desperately yearning to gain some measure of respect.

If the Biden administration had established the police accountability commission as mentioned when they were campaigning in 2020, that devil may not have been in a police uniform.

@Troy you're a Daddy congratulations. Looking Good. (In my Freddie Prinze voice)

A friend of mine inspired this project, this is version 1, more are coming Version1- Yellow means a draw, blue means computer won, brown means you the user won. R means Rock, P means Paper, S means Scissors. Click start to start the game. Stop to end it. You can click the R, P, or S button to set your value, the computer chooses its own away from your eyes:) but the results will be shown Version2 ?

Happy belated b'day to @aka Contrarian who celebrated yesterday. As I've mentioned several times already and as always remember her, Cynique makes hanging out here a total blast. We don't always agree but I enjoy and appreciate her contribution to the discussions. Thankful to the universe allowing her to see another b'day.

@nels do you believe the the nature of the Democratic and Republican parties have changed over the last 150 years or not?

Facts. Africans are beyond ridiculous when it comes to time. It's nothing for them to start or show up several hours late for some sh8t they planned. If Africans tell you it starts at 3 pm, the people aren't showing up until 6 pm. We need to hear from the b'day lady @aka Contrarian herself. I know it's near if it hasn't happened already.

LOL...guurrrl you need to stop! I have a running joke with some of the Africans at my job over this. I didn't know about it but many Africans joke among themselves about something called "Africa time". And they are SHAMELESS with it. They didn't know about our CP Time until we told them. I guess niccaz share similarities all over....LMBAO.

Team USA Black folks showing out and winning medals at the 2024 Olympics in Paris: Simone Biles--1 Gold (Women's Gymnastics Team Final), 1 Gold (Women's Gymnastics All Around Final) Sha'carri Richardson--1 Silver (Women's 100M Final Jordan Chiles--1 Gold--Women's Gymnastics Team Final Fred Richard--1 Bronze--Men's Gymnastics Team Final Lauren Scruggs--1 Gold (Women's Individual Foil Fencing, 1 Silver (Women's Team Foil Fencing) Simone Manuel--1 Silver (Women's Swimming 4X100M Freestyle Relay), 1 Silver (Women's Swimming 4X200M Freestyle Relay) Nyjah Huston--1 Bronze (Men's Street Skateboarding) Naya Tapper--1 Bronze (Women's Rugby Sevens) Kristen Thomas--1 Bronze (Women's Rugby Sevens) Ariana Ramsey--1 Bronze (Women's Rugby Sevens) Noah Lyles--1 Gold (Men's 100M Final) Will update the list as the medals continue to pile up.

@Chevdove I don't see my question, can you post it regularly?

I don't know. Black folks in the USA have consistently voted Democratic since 1933. Not sure that it matters much considering what we have gotten from that party over almost 100 years.

@Prof D. The above exchange between you and me could've taken place 10 years ago. 10 years hence, what we've both said will be an example of the "more-things-change- the-more-they-become-the-same" adage. In this contest between your rhetoric and my skepticism, another old saying comes to my weary mind. The one that claims that "the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions". To all my good-intentioned black kinsmen I say, lotsa luck in your 400 year struggle to acquire equality within the confines of a homeland where we've never been anything but foster children. Why do I say this? Because you malcontents boo-hoo about it every day presumably from your back seats in the buses driven by the dreaded blue-eyed devils! The Cynical Contrarian has spoken.

Whereas the subject is the donkey's head, you guys all seem to be looking up his ass, full of idealism, continuing to believe that political partys can solve social problems. The fact is that America is engaged in an ongoing class war. The elitist Capitalistic system is the real enemy and it has spawned a society made up of the "haves" and "have nots", rewarding the rugged individuals who have figured out a way to milk the system , accumulate wealth, and control the status quo. Communism and Socialism purport to be the answer to the scourge of Capitalism, but these 2 ideologies soon degenerate into the corruption that power generates. Maybe if Blacks framed their problem in a different way, stopped asking the wrong questions and expecting the right answers, the conclusions they reach would enlighten them. Whatever they've been doing, is not working, (thanks in part to the crabs-in-the-barrel toxicity which erodes the unity every one seems to think will ensure success). zzzzzzzz Perhaps the new strategy should be no strategy. Keeping in mind that Talk is cheap, Life is not fair and Fate is fickle, come to the realization that not all problems have solutions. Some eventually dissipate or mutate in order to make room for new ones. The Cynical Contraian has spoken. In a couple of weeks I will observe my 91st birthday. Unless of course I die first.

That's what existentialism posits with its "existence" being followed by "essence" debate. Your assertion is challenge by some. "I know that I know nothing" is starting to become my mantra.