GammaGlobulin

Give me Casablanca for the rest of my life, please!!!

If only it had been Spock who was kissed by Kirk... What a shocking moment in life it might have been.

He was just reading a script from cue cards on SNL in 1986 or '88. He did not come up with the line, himself. So, check it out.

Actually, I had thought, at the time, that the TV series was being beamed everywhere using communications satellites. Telstar 1 was active in 1962, for example. By 1967, communications satellites were more advanced. By 1969, people around the globe could watch the Moon landing in real time. But yours is a very interesting question concerning the global broadcast coverage of the original TV series. Are you sure that TV shows were not recorded and then broadcast from overseas to local audiences? I know that they were. Concerning Telstar 1, this satellite is still somewhere up above us in a fairly stabe Earth orbit, after 60 years. Would you like to hazzard a guess when it will finally come down somewhere in Red China? Telstar 1 would have remained operational longer than it had if... . Unfortunately, Telstar 1 was destroyed by the Americans during a nuclear space-based sneak-attack, code-named Starfish Prime, in July of 1962. I still recall the day that Telstar 1 was successfully launched into space, in 1962, almost a full decade before the birth of Musk. Did you know that Musk is, like Chomsky, a Penn grad? Two very bright lights. Both full of cheese. Philly cheesesteak, It's in their blood.

This most likely depends upon what passport you hold. Of course, Myakojima is a part of Japan. Therefore, Japan's visa regulations rule. However, where there is a will to live in Japan, there is a way. I almost purchased a house on Myakojima in the late 1990s. Probably prices were higher then than they are now. There are several other small islands near Myakojima, but not as unspoiled. Myakojima is a jewel. Take your Girl Friday, and don't look back. Think Defoe. One is very unlikely to find Stilton cheese washed up on Myakojima.

Incredible! Such an informative video. Reminds me of the public service advertisements of yore: This is what your brain is like on acid.

Has anyone here, as a logical Plan B, ever considered spending your final retirement days on Myakojima, Okinawa, Japan? Myakojima is one of the last string of islands hanging down from the main island of Okinawa. The infrastructure is solid. You will never lose your internet connection, even during a super typhoon. I have visited the island several times. One major plus is that if you retire there, and eat what the locals eat, and live like the locals live, then you might extend your life by ten years, or more, and not die until you are one hundred and four. This island is extremely remote. The culture there is super, sort of the antithesis in comparison to the barbarians you find on the island of Guam, but the same natural beauty of sand and mangroves. If you go there to live, you will need to take your Thai GF with you, just because the native girls on the island of Myakojima are rather dumpy, short and squat. This island is an excellent place for dedicated cyclists and artists and novelists. So, if you want to add 10 years to your life, then go to Myakojima. On a clear day, you can see the highest mountains of easternmost Taiwan. Most people on Myakojima drink awamori juice. This is a slightly strong alcoholic beverage with hot chili peppers soaking, like the worm in tequila. There are very few farang on Myakojima, but it's easy to buy guava fruit, in season. Such a beautiful, unspoiled, fantastic paradise, is Myakojima. A true paradise if ever there were one in this imperfect world of ours. You might get lonely there, unless you are like me. Nothing but sugarcane, as far as the eye can see. Check it out. This island might be right for you.

Maybe most of us should have read the warning labels before we began using up Planet Earth?

Have you tried the new and improved Twitter? Musk has promised to limit tweets to five words or fewer.

There are real threats. And there are imaginary threats. Most people prefer to divert their attention from real existential threats through ideation involving imaginary apocalyptic threats. We now have access to a very authoritative study which seems to show that there has been a dramatic rise in cancer rates since 1990. This study was recently reported in some Harvard journal rag. In addition, we now have at least five nations vying to exploit oil and gas deposits under the arctic ice, just as soon as the ice melts enough to allow shipping to transport these fuels. We are now at over 420 ppm of atmospheric CO2, but the rate of use of carbon-based energy continues to climb each year, with no plateau in sight. Thank God we are carbon-based life forms. Obviously, there is no need to resort to belief in whacko stories in the Sun if we can just be satisfied with reading facts in peer-reviewed journals that should scare us to death. Unfortunately, most people don't have enough education to read science journals with decent comprehension. They also are not qualified to judge the rapidity of the huge changes, and the momentum of these changes, which have been put in motion through human intervention during the past 80 years. Years ago, we young guys used to laugh at the occasional New Yorker cartoons showing men in robes carrying signs stating End of the World is Nigh. But, 55 years later, who's laughing now? It's not just the dire present-day circumstance in which we find ourselves which is so unsettling. Rather it is our total inability to make any positive changes which freaks us out. As of this moment, it's still peddle to the metal. No change. We are in a race to our own oblivion. Thankfully, however, Gaia does not care.

Unfortunately, true genius is limited to so few. Some have it, but most do not, as you have informed us in one of your unforgettable comments/topics this year of 2022. Am I right? Did you or did you not discuss your genius in a topic at sometime this year? So anyway, in your view, what is the difference between Deep Learning and Deep Thinking? Or, in other words, would you say that machine intelligence, someday soon, will be equivalent to human intelligence? Are neurons essentially equivalent to transistors? And, if this is the case, how many transistors are you operating on? Are you convinced that you are entirely conscious? Or, do you just think that you might be experiencing true consciousness? Is what you think you see really reality? And, if it were not, then how would you know? Are you able to design an experiment which proves that you are nothing more than an Avatar in the metaverse? Yes, I thought not.

I am a big fan of Chomsky. Have you had the time to watch Chomsky's presentation at Google, Talks at Google? During one of his presentations, he argues his hypothesis concerning the evolution of human speech. To paraphrase, he seems to argue that speech originated first as an internal dialogue with the self before becoming an external means of expression between individuals. Check it out! I am sure I am unable to give his hypothesis justice on my 8-year-old Samsung phone using just my index finger. I love Chomsky, but Chomsky does not give enough importance to facets of human behavior which are, indeed, immutable. Chomsky brings us a message of hope that ills in society, even eventual self-destruction of humanity, can be ameliorated and avoided through education and superficial changes in our environment. This is the old nature vs nurture argument. But, basically, Chomsky is just another Philly rabbi. Full of hope, he is, unfortunately, short on reality. You might even say that Chomsky is one of the greatest religious figures of our time, even though I have no doubt that he is an atheist.

I did not say that Chomsky is relevant, these days. What I said above was that many of the things Chomsky stated concerning political activism were valid in the past, and are still valid today... Many but not All. The world today is not the world of the mid-1960s at MIT, for sure. There are no contradictions in my comment above. Our world continues to evolve. But Chomsky Thought has remained the same for many years. By the way, Chomsky has a memory any elephant would give her right tusk for. Also, Chomsky comes from Philly and attended Penn as an undergrad. So, what's not to like? Chomsky is my brother from the city of brotherly love. He's not a God, but just a brother.

As I stated, I love Chomsky. My only complaint is that he too much underestimates the power of human behavior. For example, Chomsky's hypothesis concerning the evolutionary origin of human language is preposterous. Likewise, Chomsky seems to say that human behavior is mostly the result of environment, which is also quite nutty! In other words, Chomsky will go to his grave with the misunderstanding that we are some higher order of animal, rather than what we truly are, which is not much more than just another Nim Chimpsky with the gift of gab. Anyway, Chomsky's thinking about the evolution of human language, meaning its origins, is full of baloney. And, unless one understands this, then can one also have any good understanding of the potential for radically changing human behavior beyond what you might expect from any old Nim Chimpsky? I think not.

The real question is not whether or not we should use cash or cashless methods of payment for what we want. Instead, the better question is why we need to pay anything, at all! We now have entered a brave new world of superexpontial growth. This means that almost everything, other than Bentley automobiles, should be free to everyone who is a member of the human race. Anyone who is human should be able to walk into any store and then walk out with whatever they need. Such a concept is not much different from what is already happening, today. Many among us use credit cards to charge what we want, even without any expectation that we will be held accountable for our credit card debt. All we need do is to set up a suitable well-functioning system of distribution. Just imagine what such a wonderful world it might be if everything in stores was free. In other words, just think of a world designed by the reincarnation of the late, great Buckminster Fuller!!! Some might argue that if everything was free then nobody would work. However, this fallacy is a myth perpetrated by the Republicans. We now live in a world of superabundance and superexponential growth. Why? The answer is... ENERGY. Very soon, energy will be almost free. 70 years ago, in San Francisco, Bucky had a great vision of what life could be like in our age. Everybody would just walk into stores without cash, fill their shopping carts to overflowing with almost anything, for free, and put an end to economic cycles of boom and bust. Bucky had this idea of what he called ephemeralization. But I just wonder how many on Thaivisa forum have been reading Buckminster Fuller, recently...?

Meta and Fckrberger are working on it as we speak.

Me thinks the OP is asking if any one of us might like to become just another suffragette. The answer is no. There is no point in activism these days. There is too much concentration of power, these days. It's pointless. Gone are the days when Nim Chimpsky thought that activism might make a difference. Noam Chomsky is old. Noam hasn't a clue about how the real world works, these days, I think. Just look at the guy...for example: Personally, I do love Chomsky. However, his views are, from the looks of him, far over the hill and through the woods to grandmother's house. He is still sharp as a tack, true. But, his political views are now outdated. He is living in a world of his own, back in 1968. It is not that Chomsky was not smart, and not that Chomsky is still not smart. It's just his perspective on the world that is no longer valid. And, he keeps spouting the same old things, which may still be valid. Maybe, perhaps, Chomsky is just a hopeless romantic. And, no, activism of the type that worked in the 1960s will not work, these days. In case you are wondering what Chomsky once was like..., and what debate once was like....

If not Thailand, then what about Nara, Japan? It's super quiet there. No pollution. Decent hospitals. Plenty of spruce trees. Tea ceremony once per year. Plan B, for me.

Although I am free to marry, I would never marry a notary witness at the US Embassy. Also, being of sound mind, and logical, I just would never marry. But, I guess, I'm no Elizabeth Taylor.

In 2023, I hope to begin doing something useful, once more, such as improving my passa Thai, the improvement of which has been stagnating for over two years due to the pandemic.

And, if the rich don't suppress the masses, then they shall surely oppress the masses, as usual.

And then....The Next Step... No Dancers in the Bar! In the future, B-girls, and B-boys, too, will be virtual. Soon, you will be able to enjoy a drink in your favorite Pattaya bar with a hologram. Maybe fewer bar fights will be the result.

You know what I think, this fine morning? Some guys need to make some hard choices between.... Following what you might consider.... Either the... Apollonian... versus the.. Dionysian.... Morning lifestyle. In other words: "The quarrel between Apollo and Dionysus is the quarrel between the higher cortex and the older limbic and reptilian brains". If you insist upon using your limbic reptilian brains, then you will be the first one at the bar, this morning, at 9:00 AM. OR: Use your higher cortex and go for a jog with your friend with bouncing boobies on the beach. That seems quite Dionysian, as well, of course. Better yet, just get up early and have a bowl of noodles while reading a good book, and while enjoying the fragrance of some very expensive DongDing Wulong tea from Taiwan. That, my friends, is definitely much more Apollonian. Take my advice, or perish on the bar stool, me thinks. Either way...Very best to You....

Idiot Pop Stars like Kris should stay in the bars. JS Bach never got his inspiration from lying around in flop houses or bars. This is why JS Bach is Magnificent. You can go UP. You can go Down with Kris. Your choice...

Really? Because, it seems to me that nobody likes me here.