That hat really ties the room together; does it not? I dig your style, Quantum Shhhhart dude. Mark it ten.

Quote from: BikerDude on May 12, 2022, 01:32:40 PM

Brother Dudes it is becoming increasingly clear that these are unstable times.
It can be difficult to see the big picture. You know to "Wrap her all up".
This is an interesting article that points to some tectonic forces that are likely to shape our futures.
And are likely to bring sharp contrast between the Dudes and the Nihilists (The bad ones).
There are some seriously destabilizing trends afoot that are likely to alter history.
Where that leads no one can say.
It could be the best thing to happen or in the resultant destabilization could open the door to the latest Rug Pisser on our world carpet.
But in a way the right and the wrong of things constitute the wrong lens to look at this all through.
It's like asking if it's right or wrong to poke a lion with a stick.
Right and wrong just doesn't apply and tit's more about something very powerful and unlikely to abide.
This is not new. It generally leads to "World Wars".

This article is pretty brilliant.
https://www.fairobserver.com/politics/is-france-ready-to-storm-a-new-bastille/

Quote

Not only has US prestige declined as a consequence of George Bush’s Middle Eastern wars and the financial collapse of 2008, but the perception that the official supremacy of the US dollar can now for the first time be effectively challenged has created a growing resolve in the rest of the world to overthrow what is perceived as the tyranny of the dollar over the global economy. That vague but increasingly well-defined perception of fragility is becoming as symbolically real as the French population’s perception of the significance of the Bastille prison in 1789.

Brazil will have a new presidential election later this year. Polling shows a profound dissatisfaction with its right-wing president Jair Bolsanaro, who won election five years ago thanks to highly suspect legal maneuvering. The likely winner of the new election is left-wing former president Lula da Silva. One of the promises da Silva has made this time around is to “create a currency in Latin America, because we can’t keep depending on the dollar.” Voices in the Beltway are likely to announce, “Them’s fightin’ words.” This was, after all, the ambition of the late Muammar Gaddafi for the entire African continent. That is, in a brief moment of history before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton intervened to make sure that she would subsequently have the opportunity to proclaim, “we came, we saw, he died.”

The establishment of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency in 1944, followed by President Richard Nixon’s decoupling of this currency from the gold standard in 1971, forced other countries to hold their credit in dollars (US Treasury securities), meaning that the wealth thus created abroad was transferred implicitly back to the US economy. Every fluctuation in value — devaluation and revaluation – could be used by Washington to its own political and economic advantage. As economist  Michael Hudson explains, “This monetary privilege–dollar seigniorage–has enabled U.S. diplomacy to impose neoliberal policies on the rest of the world.”

In other words, there are indications that a fracturing of the neoliberal economic and political world order initially established at Bretton Woods nearly 80 years ago and then transformed by Nixon in 1971, creating the first theoretical compromise in its integrity, is now taking place. The last three decades have seen two major evolutions. The first is the failure of Europe to achieve its collective hope of acquiring the kind of influence (the EURO) that might redress the balance of power in relation to the United States. The second is the rise of China to a level of economic and political clout that has forced a massive rethinking of global hegemony.

This is one sign of an impending shit storm.
Start hording toilet paper.
And food and weed and food and shit.
 

Well dude we just don't know. My personal plan is to abide and smoke my herb. "And, it's pronounced "Herb" because it has a fuckin' H in it." - Eddie Izzard

Right on Dude.
I'm with you.
Chill and hope nobody pisses on our rug.
And even with all this new shit that has come to light, nobody really has any leads.
But the Dude is nervous.
With all these biolabs turning up all over the globe.
Fist we see China and the Dude says "Fuck me!"
Now it turns out that we have one in Ukraine.
Fuck me!
How many others?
What are we doing having all these biolabs around the globe creating bugs?
Lotta strands in the old Duders head.
Why were they suppressing any other info about Covid treatment other than vaccination?
Always made me wonder.
Why was Ivermectin being treated like snake oil?
It's been around a long time and is a very common treatment (for humans and horses and dogs and cats and bunnies).
They seemed absolutely bent on the idea that everyone needs to get Vaccinated.
Now the Duder can't help but wonder what all are they vaccinating against?
Covid for sure but if it turns out that the Government is pure paraquat (nothing new there) and they were planning on weaponizing these new viruses as a gun pointed at the heads of any place that gets outta line.
I mean a lot of new shit is coming to light.
Well look at me. I'm ramblin again.

Brother Dudes it is becoming increasingly clear that these are unstable times.
It can be difficult to see the big picture. You know to "Wrap her all up".
This is an interesting article that points to some tectonic forces that are likely to shape our futures.
And are likely to bring sharp contrast between the Dudes and the Nihilists (The bad ones).
There are some seriously destabilizing trends afoot that are likely to alter history.
Where that leads no one can say.
It could be the best thing to happen or in the resultant destabilization could open the door to the latest Rug Pisser on our world carpet.
But in a way the right and the wrong of things constitute the wrong lens to look at this all through.
It's like asking if it's right or wrong to poke a lion with a stick.
Right and wrong just doesn't apply and tit's more about something very powerful and unlikely to abide.
This is not new. It generally leads to "World Wars".

This article is pretty brilliant.
https://www.fairobserver.com/politics/is-france-ready-to-storm-a-new-bastille/

Quote

Not only has US prestige declined as a consequence of George Bush’s Middle Eastern wars and the financial collapse of 2008, but the perception that the official supremacy of the US dollar can now for the first time be effectively challenged has created a growing resolve in the rest of the world to overthrow what is perceived as the tyranny of the dollar over the global economy. That vague but increasingly well-defined perception of fragility is becoming as symbolically real as the French population’s perception of the significance of the Bastille prison in 1789.

Brazil will have a new presidential election later this year. Polling shows a profound dissatisfaction with its right-wing president Jair Bolsanaro, who won election five years ago thanks to highly suspect legal maneuvering. The likely winner of the new election is left-wing former president Lula da Silva. One of the promises da Silva has made this time around is to “create a currency in Latin America, because we can’t keep depending on the dollar.” Voices in the Beltway are likely to announce, “Them’s fightin’ words.” This was, after all, the ambition of the late Muammar Gaddafi for the entire African continent. That is, in a brief moment of history before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton intervened to make sure that she would subsequently have the opportunity to proclaim, “we came, we saw, he died.”

The establishment of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency in 1944, followed by President Richard Nixon’s decoupling of this currency from the gold standard in 1971, forced other countries to hold their credit in dollars (US Treasury securities), meaning that the wealth thus created abroad was transferred implicitly back to the US economy. Every fluctuation in value — devaluation and revaluation – could be used by Washington to its own political and economic advantage. As economist  Michael Hudson explains, “This monetary privilege–dollar seigniorage–has enabled U.S. diplomacy to impose neoliberal policies on the rest of the world.”

In other words, there are indications that a fracturing of the neoliberal economic and political world order initially established at Bretton Woods nearly 80 years ago and then transformed by Nixon in 1971, creating the first theoretical compromise in its integrity, is now taking place. The last three decades have seen two major evolutions. The first is the failure of Europe to achieve its collective hope of acquiring the kind of influence (the EURO) that might redress the balance of power in relation to the United States. The second is the rise of China to a level of economic and political clout that has forced a massive rethinking of global hegemony.

This is one sign of an impending shit storm.
Start hording toilet paper.
And food and weed and food and shit.
 

Well dude we just don't know. My personal plan is to abide and smoke my herb. "And, it's pronounced "Herb" because it has a fuckin' H in it." - Eddie Izzard

I'd like to make clear that I don't think Dudeism is a religion.
Not meaning to fly in the face of the church leaders here.
It is after all based on a comedy Movie.
It's fun but IMO it is not a religion except in the service of "the Joke".
It stands as more of a lampooning of religion in the nature of the flying spaghetti monster albeit a lot more intellectual and a lot more clever and less juvenile.
I'd almost say that it is an "anti religion".
Not meaning that it's not anti religion exactly but that it is a belief system that doesn't believe in belief systems.
IMO that very reality is the most freeing and therapeutic thing that it provides.
The ability to say "fuck it" to the heavy duty crap that is drummed into us from birth (which eventually leads to a crisis when we lose the ability to deny that it's mostly bull shit)
The tricks of these "cults" (whether it be religion or nationalism or whateverthefuckism) instill guilt in us all at the very thought of "leaving the fold".
They drill into us that anyone who does that is "evil" or "a traitor" or whatever.
And as the shine goes off the apple over the years we end up spiritually (and sometimes literally) stranded.
The ability to say "fuck it all" is the cure.
Dudeism/Nihilism to the rescue.
In my experience a lot of people seem to come here looking for something to fit into the "slot" that something else occupied in their spirit.
I think the answer lies in closing the slot. Or as the Christians would say the "God shaped hole".
There is not a hole. It's a gapping wound.
Dudeism or Fuckitism or Letsgobowlingism or passmethejointism is the salve to heal it.

The only way out is in.
And the only way to get there is to face the seething darkness in your own heart.
Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and gesticulated like a madman?
Until you do you are nothing.
And until you embrace the eternal nothingness of your existence you will not be free.
Do you follow my lead.

Well yeah Virgil I think that I do ah...
I'm nothin till I'm nothin

Right on!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA_kMz-0TP8

I initially went through the ordination process in 2014 for fun. I've always been a Christian and even now I still believe in the holy trinity, but I've found over the years that organized religion is too corrupt. Not to mention hateful, despite the teachings of Christ.
Since my ordination, I've been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and PTSD (of course, I've always known about that but I have an official diagnosis). Now I look at Dudeism as a philosophy that helps me to keep calm. It's one of many tools at my disposal to help with my anxiety. Since really looking into Dudeism and the teachings of Taoism, Epicureanism, and Buddhism, I've started meditating more and working on staying calm in the face of stress. It's been working well. Since it's helped me, I've been more vocal about the value of Dudeism in my life in the hopes that it can help others.