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If I ever needed a definition of what it looks like to Love another - this is the best definition, "Caring for someone without expecting a return on the investment"

@Mel&Del I've been thinking about the idea of thinking being overrated. What else can you do with your mind? I'm thinking about it... Listening to music is a good alternative. Music really is magic. It requires you to do nothing but listen, and if you enjoy what you hear, that's icing on the cake! Lately, for some reason I've been thinking how 73 years ago in1951, as a Freshman at the University of Illinois, one of the favorite songs of the little black colony of students on this large campus was a song named "For All We Know." At the end of every social event, those gathered would form a circle, grasp hands, and sing this song followed by a chorus of "Auld Lang Syne". Listening to that old favorite by Nat Cole, the years fall away and I'm swept back to the innocent carefree days of my youth. I imagine. And listen. And no thoughts are necessary. For all we know...

I don't know whether to feel sorry for you or applaud your efforts! Probably both. Being a caregiver is one of the hardest jobs. Harder than raising children. .... because atleast with children you usually see progress as they age and it makes you feel proud of your work. I honestly don't know what to say besides thank you.

OMG I've missed you, the woman formerly known as Cynique @aka Contrarian A woman I used to be in a rap group with back in the early 90s now has a YouTube channel (Stephanie Danger). She asked her followers what name we would choose for our alter ego, and I decided on Contrarian. Today, I would choose "Neutral." During these last two years, I also questioned the meaning of life after my mother underwent major heart surgery and two of my three daughters had major surgeries, one after battling stage 3 cancer. I couldn't be with my daughter (thank goodness for dads) because my brother is severely disabled - and during my mom's treatment (I almost lost her twice), I had to care for him. Everyone pulled through, and by December 2023 - I concluded no one knows an effing thing. We make this bullshish up and look for followers to cosign our beliefs. The more believers we acquire, the more it becomes our collective reality. So, thank you, Contrarian, for remaining here in this dimension. I can confidently say that part of your mission is to remind us that the majority is nothing more than a bunch of weak-minded and lazy folks who chose to follow the beaten path instead of dazzling us with their Divine creativity.

Africans do not totally dislike AfroAmericans. Africans are afraid and wary of us because they have been fed a narrative that AfroAmericans are lazy, ignorant, violent, drug abusers, etc. Unfortunately, AfroAmericans have no control over the propaganda that goes out into the world about us. As I've mentioned several times here, there are quite a few Africans in my tribe. I'm a very proud AfroAmerican man in being able to show Africans our success on several levels. I tell them to f8ck what you have heard about us...watch me. I've toured my African brothers and sisters through the streets on which I grew up to where I live in the cradle of AfroAmerican affluence. Education is priceless. It is a key to shared understanding and eliminating ignorance.

haha I was about to put this in:)

Hello, Fellow Writers and Readers I have been away too long. I have missed you. I will return with the continuing saga of my promotion for The Culinary Art Portfolio of Josephine E. Jones. But right now, I want you to see my first published work under my pen name: Wendy Ebo Jones. Since there are at least 300 people named Wendy Jones in North America and one other writer who shares my name --after attending an Independent Book Publishers Association webinar on the subject of making sure your work stands out, (they used the term "branding," which brings up the smell of the burning flesh of enslaved people, so I don't use it)-- I decided to differentiate myself. Why Ebo? It's a family name. Here is a link to the essay, On the Bus (approx. 500 words): https://theravensperch.com/on-the-bus-by-wendy-ebo-jones/,

College tuition is going through the atmosphere. Student loan debt is ridiculous. Non-STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degrees will become less valuable especially as technology takes over jobs that do not require human hands. Folks are beginning to have the conversation that trade schools might be a better option than a 4 year degree from a college or university. STEM degrees will most likely always land a job somewhere. However, Liberal Arts and Business majors might be in trouble. Talk to young Black folks within your circle about considering a trade especially if they aren't STEM strong. Don't get it twisted....an electrician, plumber, welder, carpenter, mechanic, etc., can make just as much or more money than someone with a degree. Also, a tradesperson can still get a degree too. Especially if they plan to run a business.

Bro, I'll be lounging in this easy chair until the lights are turned out and/or I'm evicted. Despite the limited participation, there is good discussion here from all of the contributors. I find this forum to be a good mix of opinion, information, knowledge and humor too. Some music like Jazz is an acquired taste and therefore appeals to a smaller audience. McDonald's isn't the the most nutritious food but it sells because it's cheap. Same thing applies to most forms of social interaction and entertainment. Anything that requires a deeper level of thought, comprehension or expression is a heavier lift. OTOH, gossip and trash talk is usually where the goats can get it. Cheaper entertainment.

The body language of Umar and the other guy was off. They both were shaking their feet, like they were nervous or something made me a bit wary. when I was a lot younger, and you could still smoke anywhere, I would occasionally have a cigarette because it would give me a quick buzz. But now I don’t smoke at all seems like a dumb expensive habit. my mom still smokes. I brought her a pack of cigarettes the other day and they cost 15 bucks maybe more. Supposedly they text the heck out of them to discourage use. but it’s just very regressive tax. They need to ban these products as they so bad for your health. i’ve tried a variety of weed products over the years, especially after they became legal. They have had variety of effects on me from euphoria to lethargy, and no effect at all. If I could get to euphoric effect consistently, I probably would use weed more often, but I don’t so I don’t mess with the products nowadays. I drink barely regularly. I’ll have a glass of wine or two with dinner a few times a week. I’m hanging out depending on my mood I have a beer, wine or whiskey. My cocktail of choice is a Manhattan. I will occasionally have a cigar, but it is a social activity that I engage in when playing poker with the fellas and then I may only do that once a year is about the fellowship of ritual of sorts. @aka Contrarian it is always a pleasure when you post. I’m always anxious to hear what you have to say and have a special affinity for you. I’m sure if you just tag @Mel Hopkins and @Chevdove they will respond next time they are on the boards. I went away for a few days because my daughters were in town and we were hanging out. @Pioneer1 yeah I think social media was the biggest thing to impact this forum and forums in general. Like cigarettes those platforms are designed to be addictive and keep the users engaged there. People have a fixed amount of times in their lives, and social media comes at cost. Attention is a zero sum game. The more time we spend on social the less time we will spend playing outside, participating in discussion forums, reading the book, making love, etc. @frankster and @ProfD continue to make the forum interesting. If it were not for them and Pioneer, I don’t know where would be.

I'm puzzled. Why would the acronym DEI which stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion be offensive to "AfroAmericans"? Aren't those conditions that aĺl marginalized minorities have a right to expect? Similarly, when did civil rights become the exclusive domain of America's black population?? Aren't other ethnicities entitled to equality in a country that calls itself a democracy??? I venture to say that the generation of Millenials and GenZers would put these same questions to the old school brigade of black malcontents who have come to personify the "dislike-for-the-unlike" syndrome that MLK identified as being at the root of racism and bigotry. These are the ones who give credence to my claim that many Blacks, themselves, are prejudiced and are not the least concerned about "liberty and justice for all." What they really want is to make America over in their image while retaining a black form of racial supremacy. Lol And this is also why I support the idea that a certain element of "AfroAmericans" who squat in America need to get their own diversity-free. melanin-infused country where, wallowing in the sameness of their blackness and corrupted by power they can, for instance, ban and deport any evolved LBGTQ nuisances wnoho have mutated into individuals daring to be different and true to themselves. Imo, it is not necessary to embrace these misfits but, coming froma background of being oppressed and discriminated against themselves, these curmudgeons are remiss in refusing to acknowledge and honor the right of the unorthodox to peacefully exist. The world is in a state of turmoil as usual and when it comes to a polarized America, the one thing that remains constant is the tribalism that divides rather than unites, - a situation that jeopardizes the common good. Moreover, in a nation where a vast majority of Americans distrust their government, it's, ironic that these same citizens have no qualms about doing whatever they can get away with in their ruthless pursuit of the materialistic Amercan dream. As for the speculation about which U.S. presidents did what for Blacks, and when did they do it - President Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office in 1933 the same year I was born. I grew up during the Depression and from what I recall and what my parents said (and Dick Gregory later joked about,) the dire economic hardship caused by the stock market crash was nothing new to the black masses who had always struggled to survive. They were lucky to be eligible for the same benefits as whites via the New Deal but they continued to be denied equal opportunities because of America's entrenched racial prejudice.( this is what eventually precipitated the March on Washington in 1963.) FDR gave lip service to racial tolerance but coddled the South, never wanting to rock the boat when it came to Jim Crowism because he needed southern political support. His wife Eleanor was his charitable good will ambassador but had little effect on national policy aside from lending her approval to the black Tuskeegee airmen. President Harry Trumen deserves credit for desegregating the armed forces after WW2 and LBJ carried out what the assassinated JFK began by signing a massive civil rights bill Into law. Bill Clinton had good intentions but his heavy handed approach blemished his record. Reagan did nothingl to benefit Blacks. Joe Biden is a man of his times, a pragmatist who shed his past ways to become a pseudo Liberal, earning points by serving as VP under a black president and subsequently choosing a woman of color to be his running mate and placing other Blacks in key positions of authority on his staff and in his cabinet. America's 2 political parties are, what they are. The Democrats supposedly represent the common man with the "lifting others as we climb" mission statement that has perennially resonated with Blacks. Republicans are more representative of Capitalism and the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps motto. No bootstraps? Tough shit. "I got mine, now you get yours," is what right wing Conservatives sneer. And so it goes. Come November, America will show its true colors.

Close on the heels of the ads featuring gold garnished sneakers bearing the Re-elect Trump brand, is a TV commercial featuring Donald tRump hawking for the modest price of $59.00, a "patriotic" Bible guaranteed to inspire God to Bless America. Holding the leather bound holy book in his raised little pudgy hand, flanked by two gigantic American flags, a salivating Donnie gives his spiel, hardly able to keep a straight face as he anticipates a flood of orders from his faithful following. What a perfect embodiment of the dire warning political pundit, Sinclair Lewis, predicted years ago. to wit: "When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag, and carrying a bible." Elsewhere in the news, Robert Kennedy has selected a female Asian Progressive as his presidential running mate. Nobody seemed more stunned than she was in her deer-in-the-headlights TV sound byte. And NBC will have to pay out a ton of money to rescind its hiring of a 2016 election denier, January 6th defender, and former Republican National Committee head. They hired her to give more balance to their news reporting, but they got so much flack from their liberal Talking Heads who thought she'd be more at home on Fox News, that NBC execs backtracked and broke her contract. She gone. Since Fani fired her stud muffin, she's back on the case. Puffy's mansion ransacked and wrecked by a crew of Feds, looking for a weapons stash. Conspiracy rumors already circulating about the Baltimore bridge collapse being a terrorist attack. 10-4, your night owl news reporter signing off...zzzzzzzzz

Has anyone considered that Majors may actually be a predator who needs an incentive to stop? I have not followed the story other than what I've read here, but why is his actual behavior not a consideration? Maybe the Black judge was trying to protect Black women?

Niger has become the latest country in West Africa where the army has seized control, following Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Chad - all former French colonies. Since 1990, a striking 78% of the 27 coups in sub-Saharan Africa have occurred in Francophone states leading some commentators to ask whether France - or the legacy of French colonialism - is to blame? Many of the coup plotters would certainly like us to think so. Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, who was named prime minister by the military junta in Mali in September 2022, launched a scathing attack on France. Criticising "neocolonialist, condescending, paternalist and vengeful policies", Mr Maiga alleged that France had "disowned universal moral values" and stabbed Mali "in the back". Anti-French vitriol has also flourished in Burkina Faso, where the military government ended a long-standing accord that allowed French troops to operate in the country in February, giving France one month to remove its forces. In Niger, which neighbours both countries, allegations that President Mohamed Bazoum was a puppet for French interests were used to legitimise his removal from power, and five military deals with France have since been revoked by the junta led by Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani. Partly as a result, the coup was followed by popular protests and attacks on the French embassy. The historical record provides some support for these grievances. French colonial rule established political systems designed to extract valuable resources while using repressive strategies to retain control. So did British colonial rule, but what was distinctive about France's role in Africa was the extent to which it continued to engage - its critics would say meddle - in the politics and economics of its former territories after independence. Seven of the nine Francophone states in West Africa still use the CFA franc, which is pegged to the euro and guaranteed by France, as their currency, a legacy of French economic policy towards its colonies. France also forged defence agreements that saw it regularly intervene militarily on behalf of unpopular pro-French leaders to keep them in power. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66406137 Mali’s Armed Forces Just Discovered U.S Hidden Mercenaries

How exciting! Me too! I was going to post this pic but I see you already posted it! Morgan Price, a Fisk University gymnast, won the 2024 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships all-around title on April 12, 2024. West Chester University Athletics They do not have their own gym but hopefully they will soon!

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/total-solar-eclipse-04-08-24-scn/index.html I believe today's solar eclipse came and went without too much fanfare beyond millions of people staring at the sky wearing paper glasses with cellophane lens. Folks who had the best seats along the path of totality had 4 minutes to witness the event. It will take 20 years for that particular solar eclipse to come back around. @aka Contrarian already mentioned that she'll check back Tuesday. Sooner is fine too. Paging @Chevdove to the deck. This is a post-eclipse roll call. Check in and let us know you were not abducted or affected in one way or another.

Oh Yes! I forgot about the flooding in Dubai too! It also occurred on April 17 [i.e. April 16 @ 6:00 PM]. It is said that this area usually gets only about 4 or 5 inches of rain in a year on average. But in one day a huge amount of rainfall occurred recently. Oh yes, it is also interesting to note as well that this is the day, April 17, of the Biblical deluge. It was recorded to have happened some 4000 years ago! So, even though this sort of science is not highlighted in the western world, it would be good to regard the ancient script in how the moving stars also are tied to this historic date. The Star of Bethlehem came into our solar system on this very day about 2000 years ago! Interestingly too, and for weeks now, the incredible planet Jupiter is in the sky and nearby the comet Pons-Brooks. I believe that we are living in an amazing era and are experiencing some incredible phenomena! ============================================================================= Storm dumps heaviest rain ever recorded in desert nation of UAE, flooding roads and Dubai’s airport The state-run WAM news agency called the rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.” That’s before the discovery of crude oil in this energy-rich nation then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States. A van passes through standing water in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 16. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) https://apnews.com/article/uae-oman-rains-flooding-fatalities-7bf3881efbea998dfa4c1ed8d538217c 'Apocalyptic' Dubai floods shake picture-perfect city https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68844405 https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/dubai-rain

Malcolm X understood that both the fox and the wolf were running around in the same forest. Liberals (Democrats) and conservatives (Republicans) are two sides of the same coin. Neither party is interested in doimg much of anything for AfroAmericans.

I noticed that too @Delano. On some level, that imperfection made her more human I know it’s too late to ask because you know the answer but if I didn’t say anything, would you have suspected for a split second at this was all generated by AI?

https://forums.projectliberty.io/t/dsnp-relationship-to-epub/386/2?u=rmprojectl Hi Richard, I’m definitely not an EPUB expert but it’s a really interesting question. One of the things DSNP is generally useful for is ensuring authenticity and immutability of content through specific file hashes. So one simple way that EPUB could intersect with DSNP is to allow an EPUB document to be an attachment to a DSNP post (broadcast or reply). In this case DSNP serves the role of ensuring the precise version of an EPUB can be reliably referenced (if you don’t care about precise versions, you can also use the link type in DSNP). Secondly, at Project Liberty one of the core principles that guide our work is that technology should enable people to participate in the economics of platforms and their content, while maintaining agency and control over their identity and creations. One way this could intersect with EPUB is in the area of digital rights management, that is, restricting access to content based on authorization. While most DRM schemes for EPUB operate in a centralized fashion today (Adobe ADEPT, am*zon, etc.), building a DRM scheme that incorporates DSNP identity for authorization could help create decentralized solutions where authors are not reliant on a third party gateway in order to control and benefit from distribution of their intellectual property. (In actuality, you probably need some combination of user identifier and device identifier, to maintain accountability in a scenario where one account is shared. I’m not proposing a specific scheme here, but there are definitely possibilities.) As far as accessing DSNP content through an EPUB, I’m not sure what this would look like. Since an EPUB is, in effect, a snapshot of a website, you could take any set of DNSP content and turn it into an EPUB (perhaps for a “daily digest” on a certain topic). There would need to be a service that did this data aggregation and transformation, but it would certainly be possible with DSNP much more easily than with “walled garden” social networks that restrict access to content and APIs. Hope this helps and perhaps gets some further ideas flowing. Best, Wes https://forums.projectliberty.io/t/dsnp-relationship-to-epub/386/3?u=rmprojectl Thank you Wes for the reply, For the first suggestion you made I saw the broadcast and Reply Broadcast - DSNP Specification for the broadcast, it seems you can have activity content types which has audio/video/image/link So i assume the link will be to an epub. then? It isn’t a physical attachment as much as a linked attachment. am I correct? For the second+third suggestion you made , you confirmed what I felt in the back of my head. That an entire service will need to be built to make this possible. You have helped me 100% I will try something and see.

The ZiG is Zimbabwe's attempt to shake of the Effects of Western Interventionist Policies consisting of Currency Manipulation and 20 yrs of Sanctions. Slave driver the table has turn....B. Marley Zimbabwe Introduces New Gold Backed Currency To Tackle Inflation

https://www.faithringgold.com/ her page on aalbc https://aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Faith+Ringgold

As I stated in a post above, love would solve 99% of the problems between human beings. Realistically, I also agreed with Cynique aka Contrarian. It's never gonna happen for several reasons.

Sad to hear about our brother passing away like that. He's probably at peace now. I still remember when that verdict came out back in '95. I was working in a mall and everyone in that mall were packed in Best Buys and Circuit Cities and Department stores....anywhere that had televisions. All standing around watching for the verdict. When it came down NOT GUILTY it seems like all of the Black folks in the mall started cheering and jumping up and down. I remember men picking up women and kissing them and slinging them around....lol. I remember one older sista who I didn't know grabbing me jumping up and down...titties bouncing all over me....lol A woman can do that now and it wouldn't be a problem.....but back then at that age I had to take a few minutes to go somewhere and "calm" myself down....before heading back out to work LMBAO!!!

@ProfDThat'll be the day when Blacks and whites decide to forgive and love each other. I have yet to encounter any black folks who don't harbor contempt and mistrust for white people. And most whites don't seem to care one way or another about nigras.

Catch a fire .....Today they say we are free only to be chained in poverty - B. Marley Constitutional Coup D’etat in Togo - Another West African Country Stands Up!

@aka Contrarian, your compass will correct. I'm claiming that you will awake tomorrow feeling like your normal self. Your time isn't up.

for a second there @aka Contrarian I thought you were dropping a clue and revealing your alter ego as @harry brown

I need an update on how that knee is coming along especially with the meds and fermented fruit juice cocktail.

Mel I took a puff when I was a teen - and never took another puff. Sounds about right. Just from our limited interactions I figured you weren't a weed smoker...lol. Honestly, except for a few people who have posted on this site in the past...nobody on here seems like typical weed smokers to me. You can't always tell on the internet, but offline I usually can EASILY tell those who smoke weed from those who don't. Not only that..... I can nail it down to whether they smoke weed that's home grown naturally or they like smoking the shit they get from the dispensaries....lol. Extremely accurate. I've always been able to naturally leave this dimension Can you Lucid Dream?

Probably somewhere smoking different types of weed trying to decide which one you want for the Solar Eclipse weekend.

@Pioneer1 I am trying to help grow AALBC. I try to communicate to black businesses in my local community to join on aalbc. And I have plans with my Black Games Elite group to hopefully bring greater user activity to this website. Why? as a nationalist, I like things born from black people and this site is something born from a black person. In the internet environment that is rare. So there you have it. As for offline I choose not to say. But I am very private about my offline life. Now to your question, you don't advertise it for me, you advertise it for the larger populace. Hoping to find a like mind, or maybe get help. Yes, critiques or judgements may come from other tribes in the village, but that doesn't matter. You can criticize/judge my desire to make AALBC a stronger website in any which way you want. I will discuss it but any negative judgement will not influence my goal.

@Pioneer1 I don't know, but two questions automatically arrive. If you were doing this, then why no mention of it? Even in failure it is more uplifitng to speak of the attempt than to not speak of it at all, especially in a forum of communication. And, if you are doing it? why no mention of it in this black forum, designed for communication. Don't tell me all the black people who think like you in the usa, you have reached. Don't do that. So in advertiisng your activities, hopefully successful, can only grow the number of likeminded blacks part of your group. yes? I don't know and your advertised success wouldn't make me join your tribe, BUT, your activities at the least can inspire all members of the village, regardless of tribe. Isn't that worth something ?

I've never smoked weed. It wasn't readily available when I was coming into my hey day. I did drink, finally settling on vodka as my drink of choice. I started smoking in college where every body smoked PallMalls - so we could bum our own brand, we joked. Everyome in my family smoked cigarettes or cigars so I was a pro and gave smoking lessons to my college dorm mates. Years later I would into run into people who complained that if it hadnt been for me, they'd never have taken up this bad habit! A very good friend of mine and a former student of my smoking classes moved to California. About 10 years later she came for a visit. After we sat down to chat and up date each other, we each pulled out our pack of cigarettes to light up and - wadda ya know, we both smoked MORE Menthols. Long thin brown 100s which had just come on the market. Her daughter told me that on her death bed a few years back, my friend asked for a cigarette and managed to just utter my name and chuckle... I was ordinarily just a half-pack-a-day smoker but chain smoked when I played cards or was out partying. When I retired from my job in 1992, I quit smoking and drinking.It wasn't something I wanted to just lay around the house and do. (Instead I elected to write and self publish several books.) My husband had also given up smoking and went from a pack-a-day to not wanting to even be around cigarette smoke. Reformed smokers are the worst. Well, as you can see, I have a lot of time on my hands and since I'm now able to access this site on my phone, its very easy to go on line and come here to bore people with what has become a compulsion to share my thoughts.zzzz I wish Mel would come back, and Chevdov would show up more often. I feel out-numbered. And where is Troy??? Oh well, I'm done

Thanks very much, Richard! I appreciate the support. Davida

I always look up things that I don't know the answer to or that I'm curious about. i don't waste time trying to remember what I never knew. I:'ve always been about expanding my mind! This is the case with most people - except for those with narrow minds who only want to reinforce what limited knowledge the have stored in their memory and are deluded enough to believe that they already know everything there is to know.

Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to Launch a New Single Super Currency stronger than the US$ and Euro!

Now I'm wondering if I should feel slighted that I've not been able to participate in the near death experience and jumping around in different realities games. Then again, the omniscient has good reason not to pick me.

oh thank you @Troy I wanted day 3 and 4 typed up by now, but I am racing against the clock for a contest. but by this end of week i hope ot have all four days in for reading leisure:) thanks for the link. I will add it to my early dos literature group. You look like you can be in the whispers back then:) cool I didn't realize lawrence fishburne was a member of the whispers:)

@Troy I made the one in the black excellence forum after your comment

Black folks have never needed white folks to teach them how to farm or do anything else. Europeans stole everything they ever learned from Black folks. As the originators, Black folks don't have to discover or invent ways of doing anything. We just need to eliminate the system of racism white supremacy. As evidenced by the title of this thread, if white folks left Blacks alone and stopped stealing their resources and colonizing them, Black folks would be totally self-sufficient. There's enough intelligence among Black folks to do anything we desire. Just a matter of removing foreigners from our lands and building strategic alliances among ourselves using our collective knowledge, skills and abilities. Black folks can totally thrive and survive without white folks.

@richardmurray maybe. Perhaps as it will be less of a campaign speech and opinion polls and more about running the country.

Black people who fall under the sway of Christianity do so for the same reason as white folks do. After all, as ProfD infers Christianity is just a whitewashed version of an Egyptian religion whose Jesus counterpart was Horus. You are all familiar with that claim. Same guy, different color. These "buddhas" like Christ and Horus are central to all religions, all charismatic figures offering salvation. Obviously, religion fills a need. It's the "opiate of the masses". When you tell down trodden people of all colors existing in the throes of oppression/depression, that they will be justly rewarded when they die by going to heaven, a paradise that washes away all their cares, and that all they have to do to get there is to pledge allegiance to a father figure and his son, then gullible desperate people believe it! That, along with endeavoring to resist the evil perpetrated by the satanic enemy of their savior, becomes a way of life that helps them cope and survive, as flawed a formula as this is, it offers HOPE. I don't know why pioneer poses this question. Does he ask himself why he reveres the Bible and believes that God exists. What he criticizes is an off shoot of his mind set, cloaked in faith. Nobody asked me, but from my own personal experiences, I imagine that there is a higher power which you can download into your spiritual computer and program the daily miracles that get you through life. Feel free to remind me how "I know that I know nothing". źzzzzzzzz

Reportedly, there was a woman in bed with Kevin Samuels when he died. So, he wasn't alone. Probably had a crooked smile on his face too.

My brotherly advice would be to start working on your goals immediately. Tomorrow isn't promised to anyone. It's better to live life to the fullest now. Get busy living today because dying is inevitable.

Thanks so much @Chevdove!

Oh yes! He dropped a lot of wisdom. Some of what he said though, well I guess I am still young in my mind[!] and so, I am little indifferent to certain things that he said or maybe it's genderism. As a woman, I still care about how I look even at this age. I'm not as picky now though about my hair but, I still would like to have it styled nice. I'm over weight and desperately need to fight for better health, but, I still get a lot of attention from men, and I like that! LOL! His comments on when he dies really hits home though. I am absolutely NOT ready to share much right now, but I have just had to deal with the death of an older family member and I am deeply grieving. This person has really abused me in a terrible way and well, years back she apologized and I absolutely forgave. Since that time too, she continued to want to hear from me and so, I would contact her regularly to ease her mind but it was stressful every time. EVERYONE desperately wanted me to make an appearance and well, WHEW! I did. When I got there, I was treated like a superstar for coming. Everyone depended on me! It's as if they needed me to feel OKAY about how they felt about her. Forgiveness is divine. My sister pressed me and said, 'We Need You!" My other sister demanded that funds were given to get me there because she was really distraught and wanted my support. And I'm flat broke due to the very abusive conflict! But 'they' got me there with some help. One of my sons refused to come and I am very protective of him because I know what he went through. And my other son came and to his surprise they put him on the program to speak! lol! i was told that both of my sons would fall behind in school 2 to 3 years due to the ordeal, but well, I got busy and tutored them and home schooled them. So that one son that showed up to the funeral was put on the program with his title. He has a Phd in Mechanical Engineering. But the money is not here yet. We are still struggling. I still believe that if young children are hurt and abused then that is not going to be a good outcome for anyone. People should be careful about hurting innocence. @aka Contrarian WOW! Maybe you are not impressed because you need another focus. 90 is awesome imo but maybe it's relativity and for others, it's just a number. Even though I believe reaching 90 and 100 is a great accomplishment, I want to live forever! I have no intentions of ending. I want to rest though, but only to get energized again. I want to do too many things and have not even started some of my goals! That is why I cannot afford to stop or die. Rest yes. It's good to sleep and RIP but never end. No. Your mind is too strong and sharp and I can understand why would fight boredom and depression. I hope that you rest and get out of that! Thank you @Troy Thank you!

@ProfD& Troy: I thought it would be great to live a long life and reach 90. But, suddenly, I'm not impressed over having achieved this goal. Others in this category thank the Lord and aspire to reach 100 and are eager to tell what they attribute their longevity to. Me, I'm fighting boredom and depression. I really feel as though I've over stayed my time here and am trapped in a state of limbo I've lost interest in a lot of things and what others find interesting and exciting I find mundane. I spent a lot of time pondering about life after death and whether there is one. I've been told this all might be hormonal. And, of course, I'm very pessimistic about the upcoming presidential election and the future of the USA. Hopefully you both will be able to handle old age better than me. I'm certainly not an inspiration. Oh well, you can't win 'em all. N c Hi Chevdove and Mel. Glad to see you're still "holding down the fort."

I don’t know anyone near 90 active on the Internet. So I always find “@aka Contrarian” (the poster formerly known as Cynique) to be remarkable. If I can make it to 90 AND still be running the site that would be a prodigious feat. I’m in my early 60s now and in my mind’s eye I cannot imagine myself an old man. I guess that is a relative perception, as someone in their early 20s may look at me and see if an old man. Well I thank you all for creating a special place. I know it does not have the cache of social media, but it is ours.