Key to happiness

[The Hammer2021]

9 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

It is as much a state of mind as anything else

What else could it be? LOL. It is NOTHING other than a state of mind.

ALL emotions and feelings are are 'states of mind' or mental condition!

[The Hammer2021]

9 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

Agreed but this is Thailand not Burma or North Korea.

They are both  Asian  nations with shared commonality and this forum is inhabited  by people of many nations who bring their experiences to bare. Comparative analysis is standard way of gaining insight into situations. Its the concept  of 'context'. You are not a policeman or moderator on this forum.

[JimmyJ]

On 7/28/2022 at 6:49 AM, ezzra said:

Here's a good one attributed to Mark Twain “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason,” yeas i know nothing to do with happiness..

"Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Mark Twain who died in 1910 said or wrote this joke."

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/10/17/diaper/

[Sticky Rice Balls]

12 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Correct. Keep the poor poor.

Penny for the poor Guv'nah???

[Photoguy21]

16 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

And you think everyone follows laws 555

I dont believe everyone is as idiotic as you. Things can get bad because of morons and their way of thinking or lack thereof

[Photoguy21]

10 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

They are both  Asian  nations with shared commonality and this forum is inhabited  by people of many nations who bring their experiences to bare. Comparative analysis is standard way of gaining insight into situations. Its the concept  of 'context'. You are not a policeman or moderator on this forum.

With your logic, if that is what it can be called every country is part of the world so they should be very similar. I wonder why they are not?

[Photoguy21]

16 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Bad drivers

Drugs

Guns

Bad business dealings

 

 

Sounds like any country in the world. What about the USA? Mass shootings, drugs etc? Are they a country we shouold respect and aspire to be like?

[Photoguy21]

10 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

What else could it be? LOL. It is NOTHING other than a state of mind.

ALL emotions and feelings are are 'states of mind' or mental condition!

Exactly. Unfortunately there are a number of people many on this forum who believe happiness is getting smashed every night.

[starky]

On 7/28/2022 at 9:44 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

In reality, the only foolproof way for humans to achieve happiness, the only 'key' to happiness, necessarily must come to us through gene manipulation. 

 

We are now entering our Brave New World in which gene manipulation will soon become commonplace. 

 

This is why I mentioned CRISPR-Cas9 technology, in my earlier comment. 

 

It is entirely within the bounds of presently understood science that we will soon be able to manipulate genes in ways which alter our "set-point" of perceived happiness, either up or down. 

 

Gene manipulation for the purpose of augmenting feelings of happiness is entirely within the realm of what today's science tells us is possible. 

 

We all know that some people are just naturally happier than others. Very soon, we will be able to identify the cluster of genes responsible for optimism and happiness, and singing while working. 

 

Once identified, then these genes will easily become susceptible to manipulation. 

 

For example. 

 

Think of yourselves as ears of corn. No more, no less. 

 

We have long been using traditional techniques to select for various varieties of corn. 

 

Some corn is sweet, which we eat. And other varieties of corn are grown for cattle feed, or for industrial uses. 

 

Recently, two dudes got a Nobel, in record time, for their work on CRISPR-CAS9, and gene manipulation. One of these dudes was a girl, and fairly young. 

 

Now flash back to the film 'Children of the Corn'. And then put 2 and 2 together. 

 

We are just now entering a new age of what we had once considered to be science fiction. We can even manipulate genes in vitro. 

 

The drug envisioned by Huxley, Soma, is now so retro. We have already leapfrogged ahead of Huxley's greatest hopes for Mankind. 

 

In my view, I believe we can soon, within the next 15 years, expect to see a Happiness vaccine. To be more precise, we will have two vaccines. We will have one for happiness, and another vaccine for unhappiness. In other words, we will each have the ability to dial in any degree of happiness or unhappiness, according to our specific requirements. 

 

Some of us require unhappiness in order to function at our peak. We all love that tune about fruit hanging from poplar trees. A magnificent song such as this would never have been composed out of sheer happiness. 

 

Tortured souls have so much to offer us. Without seeing the unhappiness of others, then how would we happy people know if we were happy or sad? 

 

Happiness is just another of those relative terms signifying nothing. 

 

When the Happiness vaccine becomes readily available, maybe from Pfizer, how many doses do you think you will need?  Six? 

 

If angst is an important factor contributing to the creative process, in some cases, will our culture survive the Happiness vaccine? Maybe just ask Huxley. Life would not be Life on Soma. 

 

As somebody, maybe Elias, said in the film, Platoon, "Take the pain." 

 

 

Such a happy tune....

Such a happy life.

Such a great singer.

Such a gift.

 

 

Are you not getting enough attention in your rubbish threads?

[starky]

6 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

Exactly. Unfortunately there are a number of people many on this forum who believe happiness is getting smashed every night.

For them it may be. Why does it bother you?

[Photoguy21]

1 minute ago, starky said:

For them it may be. Why does it bother you?

I couldnt care less but obviously you fall into that category.

[starky]

10 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

I couldnt care less but obviously you fall into that category.

Well no not at all. You seem quite upset. If you couldnt care less you wouldnt have commented in the first place. And then to get snarly at me as well. Perhaps you need a bex amd a good lie down. 

 You really shouldnt judge or make assumptions about people of whom you know nothing.

Edited July 30, 2022 by starky

[GammaGlobulin]

44 minutes ago, starky said:

Are you not getting enough attention in your rubbish threads?

Only when I press the ENTER key. 

[starky]

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Only when I press the ENTER key. 

See thats how you respond in a forum. Simple. Or in your case once ya hit 150 words think ive probably written enough ????

[GammaGlobulin]

2 hours ago, starky said:

See thats how you respond in a forum. Simple. Or in your case once ya hit 150 words think ive probably written enough ????

Valuable advice. 

Well taken. 

.... 

 

By the way, have you ever used a Telex machine? 

 

At the end of each message, there is this very distinctive sound of the machine typing the "end of message" character string. It's just a handshake with the machine on the opposite side. 

 

This is how you know that the message has finally been transmitted, and that the message has truly ended. 

 

I can clearly recall paying about USD800.00 per month, in 1982 dollars, to install a telex machine in my house. 

 

Most people of sound mind would send abbreviated messages by Telex, mostly due to the fact that each character needed to be punched into a yellow paper ribbon, and then fed into the tape reader. 

 

Also, in addition to paying for the telex machine, one needed to pay for bytes sent. Paying for this data transfer charge was an expensive proposition unless one was exceedingly parsimonious in the length of each message. 

 

Obviously, sending a 1500-word document would use up many meters of yellow paper ribbon. Also, the data transmission charges were horrendous compared to data transmission costs of today. 

 

The longest message I ever sent using the Telex machine in my house was a message about 50 meters in length,meaning 50 meters of yellow paper tape. 

 

Also, I am not completely sure if we called it paper tape or paper ribbon. I am 99-percent sure the yellow paper tape was referred as tape. The ribbon referred to the black ribbon, same as any normal typewriter you see today. 

 

Of course, if the paper tape became snagged on a chair or something, and broke, while feeding, then one would need to retype another paper tape of equal length, from the beginning, and resend another 30 meters of punched tape while feeding it even more carefully through the tape reader. 

 

Connection was done through a dedicated land-line to the house 

 

This system was also interactive, meaning that one could be in Asia typing while, simultaneously, the opposite party in NYC was reading your keystrokes in real time. A bit slower than LINE today, but basically the same fine experience. 

 

The only reason I mention this here is that you seem to wonder why my messages might be longer than the ones you are used to. 

 

All that I can say is that, back in the day, even when forced to contend with long ribbons of flimsy yellow paper tape, my average message length, from Formosa to Manhattan, was about 20 meters. 

 

One important consideration of Telexing during those years was baud rate and the limitations of the typing mechanism. As I recall, my telex could transmit approximately 180 characters per minute, maybe less. Please remind me to go online to check this. 

 

But you can clearly see what I'm driving at. If we choose to send a 1000-word document from Taipei to Manhattan, at 180 characters per minute, given a minimum of 5 characters per word, including spaces, quotes and other punctuation, then, some of my shorter messages often required at least 45 minutes to send. 

 

But please check the baud rate of the telex machine I was using. Because I can recall sending slightly longer messages which required almost two hours to finally clear the paper-tape reader. 

 

And, you know, it was always with such a sigh of relief, ecerytime, after a two-hour telex transmission, when I heard the sound of that distinctive telex handshake between my machine in Asia and the machine in NYC. 

 

My point, maybe, is this. using a yellow paper tape to send a message of any decent length is nerve-wracking. The tape can break at the slightest provocation. 

 

Similarly, my index finger might get tired, or worse, hit the wrong key on this old phone, wiping out my pecking. 

 

Therefore, I will hit the send button now, please. 

 

I had wished to upload a photo of my telex machine, about 80 kilograms, or more. 

 

I just wished to respectfully communicate to you just how lucky you are to be reading my comments sent from my Note4.

 

Because, if I were using paper tape, the experience might be far more difficult for both of us. 

 

Therefore, always look on the bright side of life. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by GammaGlobulin

[The Hammer2021]

14 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

With your logic, if that is what it can be called every country is part of the world so they should be very similar. I wonder why they are not?

You used the word similar- not me. But indeed there is a shared human  experience which transcends nation. If you could explain  more clearly what your problem is perhaps I could help you. But you just seem to be attacking  me or my very balanced, pertinent relevant comments. You are not a moderator on this forum.

[Photoguy21]

12 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

You used the word similar- not me. But indeed there is a shared human  experience which transcends nation. If you could explain  more clearly what your problem is perhaps I could help you. But you just seem to be attacking  me or my very balanced, pertinent relevant comments. You are not a moderator on this forum.

Not attacking you at all. If you cant take other peoples point of view then maybe you shouldnt comment. You are entitled to hold whatever beliefs you want.

[BritManToo]

On 7/30/2022 at 9:48 AM, Photoguy21 said:

Exactly. Unfortunately there are a number of people many on this forum who believe happiness is getting smashed every night.

Happiness is booze, a joint and a hooker.

Nothing in excess though.

 

What's your definition of happiness?

Edited July 31, 2022 by BritManToo

[moogradod]

24 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Happiness is booze, a joint and a hooker.

Nothing in excess though.

 

What's your definition of happiness?

There is a saying that goes (approximately) like this: If you want that raw rice sticks to a wall, someone has to throw it against it, but the wall must as well be sticky, otherwise the rice will fall down again and its all for nothing, so not worth the effort then.

Edited July 31, 2022 by moogradod

[Walker88]

On 7/28/2022 at 12:09 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

Some time ago I read Albert Einstein's biography written by Walter Isaacson. It's a great book.

One of the fascinating facts is that Einstein lived the first 30 years or so of his life without electricity in his house. As far as I remember he had the first time electricity at home when he moved to Prague in 1911.

And he made most of his groundbreaking discoveries before that time. 

Fascinating! 

James Clerk Maxwell accurately predicted the make up of the rings of Saturn using a quill, a jar of ink, some parchment paper, and math.

 

Apollo 11 went to the moon and back with the computer power less than an IBM 386, and about ,001% of the computer power in the typical cellphone of today, and the white shirt boys in Houston used sliderules. for all of their calculations.

 

The hand held Bowmar Brain---which was the first calculator to do + - x and / came out around 1972, 3 years after Apollo 11

[Walker88]

Happiness is intermittent dopamine surges. If continuance, the brain becomes inured to it and the effect ceases.

 

For happiness---in the biochemical sense---there must be neutral periods. These neutral periods need noy be sad or negative, just times when dopamine is flowing.

 

Leaving the reality of science aside, I believe that the secret to happiness is being continually curious. If forever curious, one is never bored.

 

Then again, a threesome with a spinner and a thumper might make me pretty happy, shallow guy that I am.