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I just started making my first NFT. An article and @DCComics pushed me over the edge. I had been hearing about it for awhile. DC Comics gave me my first. I then scanned an article in The Economist which motivated me to take the plunge to create my own. So far I am using OpenSea and Coinbase wallet. I hope to have my first one ready by the end of the weekend. Follow me on OpenSea and let’s see how things develop. https://opensea.io/Daniellegfny

Surely, I could look at the world around me and cruise down the road of pessimism. But, I can only envisage that it would lead to more darkness. So, I choose to be eternally optimistic because I don't see any joy in the alternative. I also have the opiate of music that allows me to tune out the noise. As I look back over my life, it's been a great ride so far. I have no aches or pains literally or figuratively therefore I really have no reason to complain. Now, if the Supreme Being decides to snatch my black azz off the planet within the next minute or two, that's cool too. 😁 in the meantime, that doesn't preclude me from having opinions about everything. I'll continue calling balls and strikes as I see them.😎

That's easy...these are 1st world issues/problems. I do not believe any of it is a matter of life or death for you personally. There are folks dealing with far worse in the form of debilitating illnesses, being dumb/stupid, despair and poverty, etc. So, in my eternal optimism, there is no reason for you to bid this world goodbye. Our time will be up soon enough. No need to expedite it. I also enjoy reading whatever is on your mind. Besides, you've watched the movie this long. You might as well stick around for the credits. 😁😎

I started think more about this subject over the last year or two as I started noticing that Google's ads have become increasingly irritating -- especially on these forums. The ads are embed in some posts; popup as you go from one page to the next (often without clear way to close them); and the ones I hate the most, the super large images that appear at the top of the page forcing visitors to scroll to see the pages content. These are the worse, because if you are new to the site, it makes it very confusing to know what to do next. Google AdSense allows webmasters to place advertisement on their websites. Advertisements are sold, placed, and administered by Google in exchange for to payments to the website. I've been using AdSense since it was invented. Payments have range ranged from roughly $20 to $3,000 a day. Google asserts that they like sites which serve quality content and that are uncluttered with advertising. However when I allow Google to serve ads on my site they tend to make my site's content look very cluttered. To combat the problem of cluttering a website, visitors are increasingly using ad blockers -- which blocks ALL ads -- including the ones I sell directly. This reduces revenue, which reduces resources to produce quality content, which reduces traffic, and a death spiral ensues. Of course, I could go with another ad network or sell my own advertising. Indeed I had to do that after Google's Panda update, in 2011, which reduced my website's traffic by 75% overnight. Google mortally wounded many websites with that sledgehammer approach to website ranking. Google's near monopoly power make it very hard to simply ignore their ad network. That would as foolhardy as failing to optimize one's site for Google's search engine. When one company controls both the discoverability of a website AND their ad sales, the result does not server anyone, other than Google. If Google simply talked to their webmasters maybe they could help improve the quality of the WWW rather than merely extracting wealth from it. I know Google owns YouTube and can bury this video and hide this post in search. I also know Google can bury my entire site in search, as they did this with their Panda update (which took 5 years to recover from). But I'm tired, and I don't believe everyone at Google wants to continue killing and hamstringing websites... but I could be naïve.

The family of Henrietta Lacks' has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Courthouse in Baltimore, MD B against ThermoFisher Scientific. The pharmaceutical company, listed as a defendant in the case, is allegedly responsible for profiting off Henrietta Lacks' cancerous cells to develop the HeLa cell line. According to AP News, the lawsuit asks the court to "disgorge the full amount of its net profits obtained by commercializing the HeLa cell line to the Estate of Henrietta Lacks." That amount could total over $250 Billion. You may recall published reports, indicate in 1951, John Hopkins Hospital admitted Henrietta Lacks to treat cervical cancer. Doctors took the cells of the tumor without her permission. Lacks family accuses Thermo Fisher Scientific of selling those cells. Lacks' cells helped medical breakthroughs such as the polio vaccine, gene mapping, invitro-fertilization, and even the research that led to the COVID-19 Vaccine. Ben Crump, and co-counsel Christopher Seeger says the lawsuit will name other defendants. Kim D Parker, Esq (also present in the video) is the counsel of record. Links: https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2020/vessels-for-collective-progress-the-use-of-hela-cells-in-covid-19-research/#:~:text=Scientists began studying COVID-19,ACE2%2C to enter the cells. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/henriettalacks/ https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2021/10/henrietta-lacks-family-sues-thermo-fisher https://apnews.com/article/business-thermo-fisher-scientific-inc-lawsuits-race-and-ethnicity-health-1b7942bb535b3656195d2347c9e676be https://dockets.justia.com/docket/maryland/mddce/1:2021cv02524/500650 https://www.kpcounsel.com/ https://bencrump.com/ https://apnews.com/article/business-thermo-fisher-scientific-inc-lawsuits-race-and-ethnicity-health-1b7942bb535b3656195d2347c9e676be

Update Jacob Blake August 23, 2020 It’s been just over a year. On the one hand, I am elated that this young man did not die! I am so happy to know that he is getting medical attention, can stand up and possibly walk again due to the physical therapy and other medical attention he has been given. But on the other hand, it hurts to know that he has had to go through this ordeal all because of charges that began with a domestic dispute and other related charges. I call this kind of American justice a continual need of ‘Policing the Reformed Slave Yard’, Policing the DOS-Slaves from Black-on-Black rage’. This seems to be our American fate. Jacob’s predicament becomes a product of domestic disputes that became justified and monitored under American law and law actions that continued to pile up against him in court procedures as he continued to interrelate with Black women, and one in particular, that had a child with him and obviously some issues came to be a contention. So due to this type of contention and a girlfriend who phoned the police about Jacob coming to the birthday party of one of his children, this opportunity became used to justify the decision of a police officer to shoot Jacob multiple times in the back. And after investigation, that police officer, Shesky, was not found guilty at all, and as of April 2021, he has returned to full active duty. Now, I ask myself, had this been a domestic conflict between a White couple, would a police officer open fire on a White man shooting him seven times in the back? Should that police officer be cleared completely? Should he be allowed to return to full active duty? “Yeah, I’m here, and yeah I’m about to be walking, but I really don’t feel like I have survived because it could happen to me again,” Blake says. “I have not survived until something has changed.” Today Blake is proud to even be able to stand, much less walk. Jacob Blake Speaks Out 1 Year Later: ‘I Have Not Survived Until Something Has Changed’ | Chicago News | WTTW Trump and Biden visit Kenosha _______________________________________________________________________________________________ But I wonder how other people feel about this. I wonder how Black people feel about this. I am bothered. I am so indifferent. On the one hand, I do believe that the slave yard needs to be policed by overseers, but on the other hand, I am in a state of depression. I wonder how Black women feel about this need to police Black Americans. I know how it feels to be absolutely vulnerable as the result of negative behaviors of Black men. However, I also think about our American justice system and, I find it so strange that I never hear Black women speaking of mistreatment from non-Black men. Slavery and slave rapes went on for hundreds of years… Can the effects of that be completely corrected? Do we view police officers as our deliverers, our heroes? I do not hear any significant Black woman rage against the mis-treatment from non-Black men or the historical mistreatment from our slave masters and from giving birth to our half-breed offspring. We will go after the Black man in a flash but on the other hand, I contemplate the obvious fate of the dark practices of slave yard rape and of modern day single Black mothers of children sired from non-Black men that end up in the welfare programs of America but yet, I hear nothing about them in a courtroom battle. Prosecutors have dropped a sexual assault charge against Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Black man who was shot seven times by a white police officer outside a child's birthday party in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August. … The dropped charge stemmed from a May incident in which a woman accused Blake of sexual assault. Prosecutors, however, acknowledged they were eager to make the plea deal with Blake, largely because his accuser wasn’t cooperating. Jacob Blake Secures Plea Deal, Sex Assault Charge Dropped | Crime News (oxygen.com)

Here are the winners https://daniellegfny.com/index.php/2021/10/16/here-are-the-winners/ First Place Winner Second Place Winner #contestalert Congratulations 🎈🎉🎊 #BlackTechTwitter #BlackTwitter #BlackGirlMagic

Interesting Idea, I did not red the newsletter that was sent to me, but I'm sure Outlook is not that smart. That law seems unenforceable. What do they mean by "defamatory," I wonder. I also consider myself an optimist. However it is not a choice, but my nature. I believe people have characteristics that they are born with some people are tall, some have type B blood, most are heterosexuals, while other are optimists. It is just as hard to take a heterosexual make and make him gay as it is to turn a pessimist into an optimist. I believe a community need all types. A world full of optimists would probably not adequately prepare for tragedy or retirement...

************************************************************************************ @Cynique You should not want to bid this world good bye because we don't want you to. We love you and our world wouldn't be the same without you. Besides that, who's gonna take care of your cat? ************************************************************************************

Fair enough. Just providing a perspective. Keep your head on a swivel and do whatever it takes to stay safe. 😎

Perhaps because you didn't read it. You already have said goodbye. When you're partner tells you they want a divorce, they have already left the relationship. And you hadn't noticed, which is partially why they left. In Australia there is a new law. I if you have a site and there is a defamatory comment the site is liable. @Cyniquethere will be even more geopolitical changes and they will be more extreme. Economic, Social, Cultural and Religious fundamentalists are staking their claims to the world's mind, heart and more importantly spirit. You will most likely see very strange bedfellows. Which is why I am becoming an insomniac.

Shoplifting in the Big Apple and Beyond Apparently, with a pandemic on the loose and unemployment up, there's a shoplifting crisis in major cities across America: https://nypost.com/2021/10/14/eric-adams-talks-tough-against-nyc-shoplifting-crisis/ Former NYC police captain and mayoral candidate Eric Adams says he's going to handle it if/when elected. I just figured the store shelves were bare because the shipping containers were stuck in the water. Now, you've got folks walking into stores wearing a mask and walking out with a trash bag full of stuff. I guess every day is Halloween out in these streets. 😁😎

That’s great.

Yes, I understand! However, they are crossing the boarder and are not just in that area. Something strange is happening, imo. I remember reading a post of yours a few days ago about Black people in certain areas in those regions being victimized and, earlier today, I was shockingly remined of what you wrote because someone told me that a lot of the victims in the recent killing of 119 prisoners were actually Afro-Ecuadorans!!! So, I researched and it does seem like it! OMG! I always think about Trayvon Martin when I hear stories like this. It was in mid-morning when María Elena Villacís got a WhatsApp message from her brother Darwín, who was jailed in the Litoral penitentiary, a notorious prison in the coastal Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil. “They’re starting a war in [Wing] 5,” it read. “Call the law, tell them to get into [Wing] 5.” Knowing the prison’s violent reputation, María Elena replied: “I’m praying for you, for the four of you. Take care for God’s sake.” Then she called the police. Agony of Ecuador’s brutal prison massacre endures for bereaved relatives | Ecuador | The Guardian All four of them were killed.

I read the articles. I have an understanding of NFT. Just tied in my brush wirh crypto.😎

While it does involve crypto @Mzuriand I are talking about turning created works into a means to get paid every time it gets sold. I would recommend reading the short articles I posted above. @Pioneer1your credit card 💳 is an ancestor of Crypto. So are green stamps, food stamps, and gift cards.

It’s not as complicated as it seems. That may have been part of the hesitation and renewed interest. https://www.domusweb.it/en/news/2021/05/13/how-to-mint-your-own-nft-in-5-simple-steps.html

ProfD Right. The Civil War wasn't fought to free Black people. Our alleged Emancipation was an INDIRECT result of it.

Mzuri Well that answered my question..lol. Mzuri & ProfD That crypto-currency jive is nothing but a TRAP to reel people in and take their REAL money. And quite possibly get them imprisoned. A few years ago I heard people bragging about how it's untraceable and you don't know who's doing what with bit-coins. I said..... "Fool...if YOU know about it, why wouldn't the IRS and FBI?" They know who's got what...and what they're doing with it. They're just sitting back and waiting to make their move. Next thing you know you see strings of people in cuffs being hauled into Federal court in bit-coin scams. Yet they CLAIM it's the new currency and nobody can find out about it. These people come up with one scam after another. That's why Black people need to HURRY UP and buy our own land, grow our own food, and build our own cities so so many of our people won't end up caught in these traps they put out. Like we talked about in the other thread.....when you don't mind actually WORKING and PRODUCING something for the money you're getting, you're not a susceptible to be suckered into these schemes.

A few cats mentioned something to me about investing in a crypto-currency. So, I'm thinking I could break these chumps off with some change wtih an understanding of how much I could make at some point in time. Well, it wasn't quite that simple. It was more like entering the 36 Chambers of Wu-Tang. I didn't even bother to follow up. It could have been related to some NFT sh8t or something similar. Oh well, I'll never know. I've still got the fungi-colored money in my safe and underneath the mattress. 😁😎

Yessir. I remember many years ago, a dude was over in Singapore putting graffiti on the walls. The US tried to intervene. Nope. They whupped his azz. I bet that dude can't stand aerosol spray paint, magic markers, crayons, pencils, pens, etc. Thank goodness for computers and smartphones. He can type whatever he has to say.😁 Corporal punishment (flog, cane, waterboard, amputate, stone, etc.) would reduce crime immediately. But no, that would be bad for businesss here in the US. They need to warehouse black folks. The prison industrial complex is a cash cow that props up the economy in many ways. The more f8cked up enforceable laws we have on the books, the better chances they have of throwing folks into greater confinement. I just heard a news report the other day that black folks are locked up 5 times more than white folks for similar crimes. Latinx folks are locked up 1.3 times more than white folks for similar crimes. I'm not surprised. Do yourself a favor and hang out at the courthouse one day. You will see black folks going to prison for drug offenses. White folks going to time out, er, drug rehabilitation class for the same offenses. Don't get me started on the n8gglets who enforce the laws (judges and prosecutors). They lock up the black folks and set the white folks free. 😎

Troy, thanks for your effort in trying to provide me access to start a thread but so far it's still a non-starter. I'll try it again when I get to my laptop. Again, I appreciate this dialog space you've created. Thanks for allowing me to contribute. In the meantime, until I can start a thread, here's my latest musing: The Masked Driver As Cynique mentioned in another thread, laughter is the best medicine. I've always been a natural born clown. I can find humor in almost everything. That's probably why I'm not a drunk or drug addict.😁 So, regardless of where one sits on the fence regarding mask wearing, this sh8t right here cracks me up: Feel free to explain to me how and why it makes sense to wear a mask while driving alone with the windows rolled up.😁 If the Rona is in your ride, you're already f8cked.😁😎

What is an "NFT"...another internet scam? One of those crypto-currency TRAPS that have been set up to shift money around and make you think you're actually gaining something in the confusion? Ain't building a damn thing...just playing games and tricking people out of what little money they DO have.

When folks were under the illusion that they had rights and privilege, ignorance was bliss. This was their country to do as they d8mn well pleased. Now that they're being told what to do, wear a mask and get a jab, it feels like a violation of freedoms. They don't like it one bit. Tastes funny. Now, lines have been drawn in the sand between the left and right. The fighting will continue into the 2022 midterms and beyond. IMO, America will not shut down again. Except Jeff Bezos d8mn near doubling his fortune, too much money was lost during that exercise. They're going to do everything possible to return to normalcy.😎

************************************************************************************ I saw that video where he was stomping on that poor defenseless woman and I heard that he had killed his mother. People like him makes me scared to go outside, and I live in a secluded cul-de-sac. They are letting serial killers out of prison now; people that should have been executed a long time ago. And things just keep getting worse and worse. Trump said that some people coming across our borders are released prisoners that their countries don't want to deal with, and I tend to believe him. I reside near the Mexico border and am seriously contemplating relocating further inland where things might feel safer. ************************************************************************************

CRT is a big DISTRACTION Something they put up to get Black folks worked up over and get people to fighting over WHILE they're enacting laws and codes that are REALLY harmful. Black folks should be building our own schools and teaching our own children anyway. Not running around arguing with White folks and trying to force THEM to teach our children about racism....if that's the goal of CRT. And if the goal is to teach White folks about racism.....that's like teaching a criminal about crime. "You THINK you know how to jack somebody But let me tell ya....you don't know JACK!" What the HELL sense does it make for some Black man in dreadlocks and glasses to stand there call himself lecturing a group of White college kids on racism in America??? " Ok guys...this class is about racism. In case you didn't know how racism operates, I'm gonna teach you all about it" NICCA THEY KNOW MORE ABOUT IT THAN YOU!! MY idea of Critical Race Theory wouldn't be Black folks lecturing White racists about racism. MY idea of Critical Race Theory would be the other way around!!!!! It would consist of WHITE FOLKS who go around telling Black students how racism is practiced both overtly and covertly and exposing all the tricks and lies they use. Not some dried up nicca with veins running through his arms standing infront of a class full of racist White folks grinning at his silly ass as he tries to teach them how "hard" it is for Black people in the U.S.....as if the folks who MADE it that way don't already know.

I HOPE the fighting and division continues to escalate. I hope the nation ends up shutting down again. As far as it being a 1st Amendment issue..... Since WHEN was the 1sth Amendment respected??? The people never were free to say what they want or express themselves how they wished since the founding of this country. That's mere cheap talk. They are PRIVILEDGES...not rights. And anytime the government or law wants to take them away from most people, they just DO so. You don't have a "right" not to wear as mask any more than do you have a right NOT to wear clothes when you walk out the house.

Yes. Check it out. He stabbed his own mother to death and went to prison for it but got released. They are letting violent people with mental problems out ON PURPOSE to cause chaos and instability in the community. That man who killed Nipsey Hustle was let out of jail early....killed Nipsey...then they caught him down the street and put him back in. They are RELEASING these monsters into the community on purpose and using them as weapons.

I read the book written about Henrietta Lacks by a white female author who did pretty well from the royalties. I think she did set up some kind of foundation in Henrietta's name. Oprah, of course, made a TV movie based on this book. Wonder who was paid for the rights to it? The story of Henrietta and her family was a rather sad one. Her survivors seemed to be a very erratic family group. In regard to the hospital labs using her cells without the family's permission, this was a routine procedure. It was like using the afterbirth of miscarried and aborted fetuses, harvesting these cells to save the lives of living babies. I think the latter is still done today. it figures that Ben Crump would be the current face of the civil rights legal team, inasmuch as a petty criminal, counterfeit-bill passing, ex-drug addict named George Floyd has become the martyr of the BLM movement 👩🏾‍🦲 ...says the person who has divorced her race. 🧑🏼‍🦳 @Troyhow about knocking down that Go Daddy firewall so those of us being blocked by it will be able to start new posts?

CRT and mask mandates are only being conflated because they're trying to force white folks to deal with and/or do something they'd rather not. Their freedoms (speech, thoughts, actions, guns, racist, etc.) are paramount.😎

@ProfD From the top to the bottom, it seems as if nothing is encouraging about the direction America is heading. Tell me, O Eternal Optimist, why should i not want to bid this world good bye?