Its oh so quiet Shh Shh

[Stefan-A]

What's wrong with this picture? Can anyone spot it? (besides the obvious oversaturation/manipulated photo)

It's lifted off some website.

edit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vabbley/4659452478/

[ConcinusMan]

It's lifted off some website.

edit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vabbley/4659452478/

Read the text to the right of the picture.

True. Nothing will change until the currency-based economy fails entirely, and globally, thus forcing change. What I meant by oversimplified is well...

For example, if I sit at a train station here in WA for a little while, I can actually watch local timber being shipped out to distant places, probably bound for export. 5 minutes later I can watch imported timber going into the same area. Why? simply because the imported timber is cheaper. Nevermind the resources that are wasted moving the stuff around. So you see, sure, you say that we have all the power but we don't. It's only natural that people are going to buy the cheaper lumber if it's of comparable quality. The result is a huge waste of fossil fuels to move the stuff around. So, I ask you, we have the power? power to do what? buy more expensive stuff when we're barely getting by as it as it is? Even if we did that, do you think for one second a big corporation would do that? No, they're going to cut costs anywhere they can.

The entire system is broken and it's decimating our planet and wasting valuable resources.

[Stefan-A]

Read the text to the right of the picture.

Already did. There has to be something more to it than just the typical misinformation and internet randomness.

True. Nothing will change until the currency-based economy fails entirely, and globally, thus forcing change. What I meant by oversimplified is well...

For example, if I sit at a train station here in WA for a little while, I can actually watch local timber being shipped out to distant places, probably bound for export. 5 minutes later I can watch imported timber going into the same area. Why? simply because the imported timber is cheaper. Nevermind the resources that are wasted moving the stuff around. So you see, sure, you say that we have all the power but we don't. It's only natural that people are going to buy the cheaper lumber if it's of comparable quality. The result is a huge waste of fossil fuels to move the stuff around. So, I ask you, we have the power? power to do what? buy more expensive stuff when we're barely getting by as it as it is? Even if we did that, do you think for one second a big corporation would do that? No, they're going to cut costs anywhere they can.

The entire system is broken and it's decimating our planet and wasting valuable resources.

It's not going to fail, it's in place because it works better than the alternative. And the problem is still the consumer who's too stupid, lazy and cheap to make demands that would end the waste.

"Only natural"? Understandable doesn't mean acceptable and it doesn't absolve a person of responsibility or deprive him of agency. Again we have the consumer at the center of it and the corporations on the periphery trying to respond to the demand.

And how would people fare in what you referred to as a "resource-based economy"?

[Invisible Snake]

477033_501929086518404_1130762831_o.jpg

[ConcinusMan]

It's not going to fail

Denial of the inevitable doesn't help and nothing changes by denying it. A person may be dying. It might make you feel better in the moment to deny it, but die they will. The current system requires exponential growth in order to work. You and I both know that exponential growth forever and unending, is not possible. Unless you're hiding another planet just like earth, and full of resources behind the moon, and the ability to send a few billion people there it can't continue. Without exponential growth, the monetary system collapses. People 150 years from now or more are going to look back and wonder why we were so blind. why we ran head first into a brick wall when we saw it way before we hit it.

it's in place because it works better than the alternative.

Define "better". Seems to me that human beings got along just fine, in a sustainable manner for way more than 3/4 of our history, without currency. Useable, needed materials and natural resources was our currency. I got something you need, you got something I need. We trade or we combine our resources and knowledge for the betterment of us all. If we don't have what we need here, we move. Pretty simple. When did things go terribly wrong? Think about that for a minute.

And how would people fare in what you referred to as a "resource-based economy"?

For one thing, there would not be people living in the streets homeless, without shelter, while millions of home sit empty in the "richest" part of the world, or anywhere for that matter. We have global community now. So why is it that most of the world doesn't have adequate water, food, medical care, etc.? It's not because there isn't enough for everyone. It's because of the system. You know, it's about money. Nobody is doing what is right. They do what's profitable. Is that some flaw of human nature? I don't think so. It's a flaw in the system that uses currency. People do what's profitable, not what's right. Eliminating the current socioeconomic system is the only thing that makes any sense whatsoever. Money is not the "root of all evil" but eliminating the system that requires it would solve so many of the problems that plague us.

I would love nothing more than to go a few blocks from where I live, at which point I would surely run into several homeless people. I would feed them, house them, and do what I could to help them. Why don't I? Can't afford it. I'm doing well just to take care of myself and my own family. The root of the problem is money. Not really money, but the socioeconomic system that we are all slaves to. The one that requires currency as a medium of exchange. The system that allows a few people to have way more than they need, while the majority struggle to meet basic needs.

Surely you've wondered why this madness happens? Why not take a good hard look. You'll see why it happens. It's broken. It's a pyramid scheme, and all pyramid schemes eventually collapse.

[ConcinusMan]

Already did. There has to be something more to it than just the typical misinformation and internet randomness.

There is. If you do a google image search for a specific snake, and someone has posted on a forum like this:

[insert image here]
"CA Red Sided garter snake"

[insert image here]
"San Fransisco Garter Snake"

Guess what happens? The picture BELOW the words "CA Red Sided garter snake" is what comes up on a google image search for those terms. Obviously that's what happened when they did the research for the article.

[Stefan-A]

Denial of the inevitable doesn't help and nothing changes by denying it. A person may be dying. It might make you feel better in the moment to deny it, but die they will. The current system requires exponential growth in order to work. You and I both know that exponential growth forever and unending, is not possible. Unless you're hiding another planet just like earth, and full of resources behind the moon, and the ability to send a few billion people there it can't continue. Without exponential growth, the monetary system collapses. People 150 years from now or more are going to look back and wonder why we were so blind. why we ran head first into a brick wall when we saw it way before we hit it.

This isn't something inevitable and economic growth is a separate issue.

Define "better".

I'm pretty sure you know what better means. What do you think currency is supposed to do?

For one thing, there would not be people living in the streets homeless, without shelter, while millions of home sit empty in the "richest" part of the world, or anywhere for that matter.

No, I'm pretty sure they would be dead.

We have global community now.

We don't have a global community in any other sense than that distances don't prevent trade and communication and we have a couple of organizations that are supposed to at least bring nations to the same table.

So why is it that most of the world doesn't have adequate water, food, medical care, etc.? It's not because there isn't enough for everyone. It's because of the system. You know, it's about money.

Most of the world does have adequate access to those things. According to UN statistics, one in six (or about 17%) doesn't have access to adequate water and about 13% doesn't have food. As for adequate medical care, that's apparently hard enough to define, that nobody seems to have tried to. As for the reasons, the UN lists half a dozen major contributors: Natural disasters, war, the poverty trap, lacking agricultural infrastructure, and over-exploitation of the environment.

Nobody is doing what is right.

What's right is a matter of opinion and everyone is doing it. Everyone from the greatest saint to the worst monster.

Eliminating the current socioeconomic system is the only thing that makes any sense whatsoever. Money is not the "root of all evil" but eliminating the system that requires it would solve so many of the problems that plague us.

Such as the poor and the homeless? Or basically everyone who doesn't own land and has the muscle to keep it?

I would love nothing more than to go a few blocks from where I live, at which point I would surely run into several homeless people. I would feed them, house them, and do what I could to help them. Why don't I? Can't afford it. I'm doing well just to take care of myself and my own family. The root of the problem is money. Not really money, but the socioeconomic system that we are all slaves to. The one that requires currency as a medium of exchange. The system that allows a few people to have way more than they need, while the majority struggle to meet basic needs.

You know, I couldn't find a homeless person even if I tried. All it took was a law requiring municipalities to provide homes for anyone who doesn't have one. Sure, they have other problems as well, but we don't leave them to fend for themselves in those cases, either. We didn't have to start paying our doctors with chickens to do it. In fact, I see that some fiscal conservatives in the US consider our economic freedom to be comparable to that of the US and in some areas even greater.

Surely you've wondered why this madness happens? Why not take a good hard look. You'll see why it happens. It's broken. It's a pyramid scheme, and all pyramid schemes eventually collapse.

Which madness?

[ConcinusMan]

Nevermind. There is no madness. It's all an illusion. Like most people, you're looking right at it, but don't see it, or choose not to. And now for a tiny tidbit of good news...

Endangered butterfly making a comeback in Oregon | OregonLive.com

[ProXimuS]

That turtle is cute InvisibleSnake Is it yours?

What a pretty butterfly, glad it's making it's comeback.

[ConcinusMan]

Oh wow. The ground is still frozen from last night, it's only 34 F and it just started snowing like crazy. Winter is here! (Portland/Vancouver)