Some jokes:

Joke 1:

 A young man fell in love with a neighbor girl in the village. After a while he took the girl with him and presented her to his parents.

 After he showed his infatuation, his father asked to speak with him in private. When they were alone, the father told him that he absolutely must not marry this neighbor girl, as she was actually his half-sister. His father was also the father (out of wedlock) of this girl next door.

 The son did as he was told and broke up with the girl next door.

 It didn't take long until the son found a new neighbor girl with whom he fell in love. When he then presented his new crush to his parents, the same thing was repeated. The father asked to speak to the son in private and informed the son that the son's new crush was also a half-sibling.

 The son did not like the situation, so he decided to talk to his mother and inform her about the situation.

 When the mother heard what the son had to say, she answered him: Don't worry about what "your father" says about this. He is not your father.

 

Joke 2

 An elderly couple lived a few centuries ago in a small village, which they basically never left.

 One day the old man went into town to see if he could buy anything new. When he found a mirror in the merchant's stall, he was delighted when he stood in front of the mirror. He thought that the person he saw in the mirror resembled his father. So he bought the mirror. He thought it might be a good fit to have the live portrait of his father in the hall at home in the farmhouse.

 On the way home to the farm, he remembered that his wife was not very fond of his father, so he decided to hang the newly bought mirror in the barn.

 Said and done. Now the mirror hung in its place in the barn. Every morning, when he entered the barn, the first thing he did was to look at the mirror portrait of his father.

 It wasn't long before his wife began to wonder what her husband was up to in the mornings. After all, he visited the barn every morning and always entered through the same door. Even Sundays. So she decided to check what was inside the barn door her husband entered every morning.

 When she opened the door and stepped in, she saw the mirror on the wall and stood in front of it. When she saw the old woman in the mirror, she thought: Yes, if it's that old hag he visits every morning, so be it!

 

Joke 3:

 Three men knocked at the entrance to hell.

 There stood the devil interrogating them about how many women they had slept with in order to decide which status symbol in the form of a transport vehicle they would be assigned i hell.

 When the first was asked: How many women have you slept with? he answered: only 2. First my first wife and then my second wife, after my first wife had passed away.

 The devil: It wasn't much to bring, but you get a pair of roller skates to get around in hell.

 When the secod guy was asked the same question, he replied: In my youth I fucked around a bit, but when I married my wife I stuck to her. So my answer will be about 12 different ones.

 The devil: It wasn't much to bring, but you get a bike to get around hell with.

 When the third was asked the same question, he replied: Because I was sometimes unfaithful and the women often fell for me, I have slept with over 40 women.

 Devil: That was a little better. You get a scooter to get around hell with.

 The three men decided to meet again in a week and tune out their first time in hell. - When they met, it turned out that the third man (with the scooter) was sad and started to cry. Then the other two asked him: Why are you crying? You have received the best status symbol - a scooter - much better than any of us.

 He then replied: When I was driving around with my scooter in hell, I ran into my wife and she was driving around in a Rolls Royce. 

Anf a joke on the jukraine/Rusia war:

A Russian wife turned to her husband and asked, "What's this special military operation our glorious leader keeps talking about?" Her husband replied, "It's a war to stop America and NATO." "Oh, right” she says “How's it going?"

“Well” he replied “so far we have lost over 20 generals, 100,000 troops killed, countless injured, 3000 tanks, 300 aircraft, hundreds of helicopters, countless armoured vehicles, artillery and trucks, our flagship along with other naval ships, our army is being defeated in most areas and we have had to resort to conscripting 500,000 Russians including murders and rapists to replace our losses”.

“Wow” replied the wife “what about America and NATO”?

“They haven’t turned up yet”

Todd

 Also check: 

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2023/08/right-wing-singer-successful-on-spotify.html

and:

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2015/12/christianity-religion-holy-scriptures.html

 

Right-wing singer – successful on Spotify

problematic

Listen to the song with subtitles:

Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North of Richmond (Lyrics) - YouTube

Taking aim at politicians and their grantees, American factory worker and singer-songwriter Oliver Anthony, 31, has taken Spotify by storm with his song Rich Men North of Richmond. Now the successes are causing concern within the establishment, writes Rolling Stone.

 Reports say the song is about a poor worker who has been "let down by society". But from the original English-language text, it appears that the song is rather a jab at federal politicians who party with prostituted teenage girls, tax ordinary people and shower benefits on their favorite groups.

 Politicians are more interested in "minors on islands" than how American miners are doing, Anthony notes in his song, in an apparent reference to the many powerful people who have had fun with underage prostitutes on billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's island of Little Saint James in the West Indies.

 "My God, there are vagrants who have nothing to eat / while contributions are poured over the fat ones," reads another line.

 "If you're 160 centimeters tall and weigh 136 kilograms / taxes shouldn't line your bags of fudge rounds," the song goes on, apparently referring to a type of American fudge that is very popular especially among severely overweight African-American women.

 Armed with a resonator guitar and a powerful voice, the 31-year-old singles out "rich men north of Richmond" – federal politicians – as the root of the country's problems.

 Oliver Anthony, on the other hand, does not want to take a party political position. And he doesn't call himself a conservative.

 - I'm pretty damn in the middle when it comes to politics, he says in his own video that he uploaded the day before he released his now viral song.

 - I remember when I was a child and the conservatives wanted war, and I never understood it. And I remember a lot of weirdness when the left won the election, and you know, it really feels like both sides are serving the same boss.

 The reception in music magazines such as Rolling Stone has been largely positive, starved as they are for "authentic" music today. But within the mainstream media, the song arouses all the more concern, and is presented as directly problematic.

 AC Club reviewer Emma Keates, for her part, writes that while the song is not as "overtly threatening" as some other right-wing music, it is nevertheless based on "a series of insensitive stereotypes that creep into mainstream music in a problematic way".

 NBC News calls the newcomer "obscure" and notes at the same time that the song has quickly become the "new national anthem" of both the conservative right and the extreme right in the United States.

 Also check: https://axiom1a.blogspot.com/2023/08/skamt-skamt-1-en-ung-man-foralskade-sig.html

Todd

Also check: 

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2023/08/some-jokes-joke-1-young-man-fell-in.html

 

Life is meaningless – or is it?

I listened to an interview with Yuval Harari (the author of the book Sapiens) – Interesting!

  The interview can be found at the link:

Yuval Noah Harari Thinks Life Is Meaningless and Amazing | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 84 - YouTube

  The interview is almost an hour long. I recommend anyone who doesn't have time to listen to the entire interview to start 20 minutes into the program. Then it is good until 25 minutes in and thereafter from 28 minutes. At 51 minutes it becomes uninteresting.

Todd

Please also check:

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2017/10/do-elites-have-responsibility-for.html

 

 

Very interesting and thought provoking speach on Freedom of Speach.

 Subjects: Power, Truth, freedom, Plato, Aristotele, Philosophy, Courage, Risktaking, Facts, Knowledge.

At: https://urplay.se/program/232487-tanke-och-sanning-under-press-vad-ar-meningen-med-yttrandefrihet?autostart=true

 English spoken with Swedish subtitles.

Todde 

Also check: https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2023/06/cannot-be-informed-away-understand-that.html

 

 Polarization cannot be informed away

 Please understand that Dogma, fixed ideas and preconceived ideas strenghten polarisation.

  As the polarization between right and left increases in society, so does the need to understand why it happens, and what can be done about it. Against this background, the OECD invited me and about ten other academically or politically knowledgeable people to think about the matter within the framework of a so-called expert group.

  Therefore, a few months ago I conducted a survey about polarization. About 900 Americans were asked, whether they perceive that polarization in society is increasing or decreasing (they said they see an increase) and whether they think political polarization is a social problem (they do). One-third of my sample consisted of Americans who describe themselves as "left," while one-third were "right." The remaining third was made up of "moderates" (i.e. people in the middle of the political scale).

  It takes two to tango is a saying. But do we actually believe that? No, at least not the majority in my study. Because when asked which of the sides of politics bears the main responsibility for the polarization, those who are themselves on the right believed that it is the left's fault, while those on the left believed that it is the right's fault (those in the middle saw both sides as roughly equally good or bad). Those who responded to the survey further expressed that a lack of information and knowledge about how society works is a reason why polarization occurs.

  It's probably no surprise that those on the left think the right is less informed than others, while those on the right end expressed the opposite opinion. From the research, we know that it is true that we humans harbor a lot of misconceptions about society and how it works. (However, there is nothing in the research to suggest that any political side generally has more incorrect information.)

  That led to an idea from the OECD: Maybe more information about how society works could lead to less polarization? Intuitively, it makes sense: with more accurate information, the basis for a substantive, compromise-oriented conversation should be stronger?

  The 900 Americans who participated in my study agreed. Regardless of political affiliation, meant that better dissemination of social information should be able to lead to reduce polarization. At least in theory. But when it comes to the details of how the information will actually lead to reduced polarization, it sways quite a bit. It found that while most people in the studies thought that the polarization is mainly the fault of the other political side, and that side is also the one with substandard information, they do not believe that people on either the right or the left are willing to actually change perception. In other words, they expressed a desire for everyone to be more well-informed, but they did not believe that they themselves or those at the other end of the political spectrum would actually absorb the information, if given it.

  Rather disappointing conclusions, in other words. And the silver lining of the cloud – that both the right and the left (and those in the middle) believe that the middle voters are actually capable of absorbing new information – feels insufficient. For very long, it will not be enough - not least because it is hardly the middle voters who are the main ones above in the polarization drama.

  We need o get back to the drawing board again! For OECD[1] officials, and for me and everyone else in the expert group. And for everyone else who is getting tired of the polarization.

Johanna Möllerström Professor of economics at George Mason University

 

 Also Check: https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2023/05/overpopulation-and-future-of-mankind.html

 

Friendship quotes

 

 Through thick and thin, even if there are better things to do, a true friend will love you and show it. In the end, it's actions that matter, not well-meaning words.

 Turkish Proverb: He who seeks a friend without defects will remain friendless. – This Turkish proverb invites us to reflect on what we demand from others in comparison to what we demand from ourselves. No one is perfect, because we are all human. Just like all people, we have flaws that our loved ones (hopefully) accept (and maybe even appreciate). Rejecting an individual because we don't like her/his defects says a lot about our own self-esteem. If your friends have many good qualities, the defects should not matter so much. Focus on their great qualities, not their defects.

  Sir Francis Bacon on Friendship: Friendship multiplies happiness and divides misery. – We have already learned that shared joy is double joy. Man is a social animal no matter how much he tries to isolate himself. Therefore, there is no better condition than to be understood and supported by friends through thick and thin. A good friend will always know when you need a listening ear or a good laugh.

  Quotes about friendship are often of anonymous origin, like this one. Many people measure their personal worth by the number of friends they have. However, this is a mistake. – Quantity is not the same as quality. Remember that true friends can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Those who brag about having friends all over the world are not really friends with anyone. With a true friend, you don't have to pretend to be someone you're not, because there's a special bond there.

 Elbert Hubbard: A friend is someone who knows everything about you, but still loves you.

 The Italian writer Carlo Dosis warns us about those who call themselves our friends, but in reality are not. – They are only with you when life is going well, when the world is smiling at you. They only care about you because of your influence over others, not because they want your friendship. Don't worry if you initially find it difficult to distinguish between true friends and fake ones. As you go through tough times, you will notice the absence of certain friends and their lack of concern for you. Value the friends that remain, not the ones that let you down. – A true friend will always be honest with you and never use you for his own gain. Friends are a family you choose yourself, so taking care of them is of the utmost importance.

 Good friends don't have to be perfect, and they don't always have to be ready to help. It is enough that they accept you, are interested in what is happening in your life and that they are willing to listen to you. Friendship is both a simple and profound gift.

How  to achieve Greatness

 True  friendship means that the true friends understand each other. If your true friend has flaws (from your viewpoint), you should make sure you understand why. Because when you understand why you can still be friends. To achieve greatness you need to be able to understand. That is the secret behind greatness.

Todde

Also check: 

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2015/03/friends-true-friend-is-someone-you-know.html

Overpopulation and the Future of mankind

 The basic problem of our civilisation is human overpopulation. And there is no real sign of mankind handling this problem. Only ecology (life) and our limited physical resourses have a chance of handling the situation for us.

 Watch the Green Energy lie and the truth of overpopulation (the overpopulation problem is discussed 45 minutes into the program).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE

 Michael Moore presents Planet of the Humans, a documentary that dares to say what no one else will — that we are losing the battle to stop climate change on planet earth because we are following leaders who have taken us down the wrong road — selling out the green movement to wealthy interests and corporate America.

 This film is the wake-up call to the reality we are afraid to face: that in the midst of a human-caused extinction event, the environmental movement’s answer is to push for techno-fixes and band-aids. It's too little, too late. Interview with Jeff, Michael, and Ozzie (1hr 40min)

 Removed from the debate is the only thing that MIGHT save us: getting a grip on our out-of-control human presence and consumption. Why is this not THE issue? Because that would be bad for profits, bad for business.

 Have we environmentalists fallen for illusions, “green” illusions, that are anything but green, because we’re scared that this is the end—and we’ve pinned all our hopes on biomass, wind turbines, and electric cars? No amount of batteries are going to save us, warns director Jeff Gibbs (lifelong environmentalist and co-producer of “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Bowling for Columbine").

 This urgent, must-see movie, a full-frontal assault on our sacred cows, is guaranteed to generate anger, debate, and, hopefully, a willingness to see our survival in a new way—before it’s too late. Featuring: Al Gore, Bill McKibben, Richard Branson, Robert F Kennedy Jr., Michael Bloomberg, Van Jones, Vinod Khosla, Koch Brothers, Vandana Shiva, General Motors, 350.org, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Nature Conservancy, Elon Musk, Tesla.

Todde 

The caretaker Ulf, a libertarian role model

 Humanity would be nothing without colorful characters. Anyone who for the first time conceived a new thought or set out a new path has had to deviate from the crowd - and not infrequently had to pay a social price for this.

Yet this is the source of all societal development. The liberal thinker John Stuart Mill (1806-73) succinctly formulates this thought in his classic work "On Liberty" from 1859. He who follows others may well happen to be led right, but that only requires the ability to follow. On the other hand, observation, reflection, judgement, firmness and self-control are required of the person who deviates. Even our own spiritual growth depends on how we develop the ability to use our own judgment and go our own way.

 These are important lessons in every age and in every society, perhaps above all for those who are young.

 That's why I'm happy when I read about Ulf Byström, janitor at a high school in Gothenburg, Sweden. Byström has worked in the school world for over 20 years, mostly as a teacher. There are no objections to his work performance. However, the municipality recently decided that service staff at all schools should in Gothenburg wear uniform black work clothes. This did not suit Byström, who likes to wear pink and Hawaiian shirts, clothes that cheer up the students and facilitate conversation. He experienced the clothing requirements as degrading because they are not needed for his work: "It's about the principle. I don't like people telling me what to do when there's no reason for it."

 When Byström carried out his work in his own clothes, he was called to "awareness talks" (a strikingly Orwellian term) where he was threatened with remarks about refusal to work and dismissal. Then he himself decided to get away form that  school and resigned. "I guess I'll have to become a teacher again. Then you get to choose which clothes you want."

 With his actions, Ulf Byström has pedagogically shown how as a citizen of a free country you can not only make your voice heard, but also choose to follow it. In an age where individuality is often confused with self-absorbed and anxious attempts to please others, he has shown courage to be himself.

 Hopefully Gothenburg's municipal gray school bureaucracy can agree. Our society hardly gives too much space to colorful characters.

 PS. We have something we call The Ultimate Test for a being. It goes something like this: Almost anyone can take over positions in well-ordered system and make it continue to function. But there are very few individuals who are able to bring order where there is chaos.

Todd

Please also check Socrates' Gossip Filter:

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2015/06/socrates-gossip-filter-gossip-slander.html

On a T-shirt I got from my daughter I found this humorous text: 

But I missed this:

Socratic Philosophy:     Sometimes you can do something about it.

Life Philosophy:           If Shit Happens, there's something to learn from it.

 

Todde

 

Feel free to check out George Carlin's humorous post about religion at:

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2015/12/christianity-religion-holy-scriptures.html

Take responsibility: Be optimistic!

 There is a saying, rumoured to have been coined long ago by some columnist in a business magazine: "The current year was a gap year: worse than the last, but better than the next." It's a fun and elegant wording. But also resignation. It goes relentlessly downward. For 2022, the first step is obvious. After all the deaths, social closures and hardships of the pandemic, 2022 would be a new spring for humanity. A new "Roaring twenties". That was not the case. A large part of humanity still lives in the iron grip of the pandemic. Not least politically. The Chinese social experiment with zero tolerance against covid has exposed the weakness of an authoritarian system built on central command and a growing cult of the infallibility of the leadership set.

 Power gropes brutally and blindly. The illegal and brutal Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has caused and continues to cause suffering for millions. People are freezing in their bomb-damaged homes and many celebrate the New Year with a father or mother, a significant other or a sibling at the front. Families are on the run. Still others have paid the ultimate price in defense of freedom.

 The government in Moscow has cynically systematically committed war crimes to force the Ukrainian people into submission. They have bombed civilian targets, hit infrastructure crucial to social life and threatened Ukraine and the world with nuclear weapons. According to Ukrainian sources, 13,000 children have been abducted and taken to Russia. The basic values of civilization are being trampled along with the international order we imagined applied to our part of the world. It is barbarism's twisted code of honour about the rights of the strong paired with perceptions of wars of conquest and the humiliation of others as the path to one's own glory and vindication.

 The Russian leadership has chosen to get Russia out of our civilization. Only the Russians themselves can decide if they want to become part of it again, or if they want to remain a gas station with nuclear weapons. On the horizon are a long line of worrying clouds - for the economy, energy supply, trade and European cohesion.

 We don't know what Putin will come up with next. A nightmare scenario for 2023 is that the Russian president is completely deranged and that he plunges the world into an escalating spiral of violence where the war expands both in geography and military methods. Another is that brutal warfare and threats are allowed to triumph. We are failing Ukraine if we do not persist in our military, economic and political support. The Ukrainians would pay a terrible price, but so would the whole free world. It is not at all unrealistic that 2022 will be a gap year. But development is never predetermined. The strength of our civilization lies in the realization that we as individuals and as societies own our own future. Therefore, it is also realistic to be optimistic. Optimism - especially in times like these - can easily be confused with naivety. But that is a misunderstanding. Real optimism does not believe in luck or that things will work themselves out.

 When Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the US Congress before Christmas, he declared that 2023 will be a turning point for the war. Not because he believes in the automaticity of development, but because he sees the morals of the Ukrainian people, the international support and Russia's military, economic and moral weakness. That is optimism. Not naivety.

 Perhaps Sweden's most famous optimist was the inventor and business leader Gustaf Dahlén. Dahlén was a man who experienced many setbacks in life. He repeatedly suffered severe business setbacks and in 1912 lost his sight after an accident in his laboratory. But he always came back.

 After the Kruger Crash in the early thirties, he was so committed to preaching optimism that he had special lapel pins stamped with the message "Be an optimist!". Pessimism was a threat in itself. Even the deepest economic crisis could be reversed and the world would become better.

 Another great optimist was Ronald Reagan. When he was sworn in as President of the United States at the end of January 1981, the United States and the world found themselves in a series of contemporary crises. The wounds after Vietnam were deep, the oil crisis hit the economy and jobs brutally, inflation was still high, and 52 Americans were held hostage in their own embassy in Iran for 444 days.

 On the west side of the Capitol building, overlooking the memorials that surround the large open space between Congress and the Lincoln Memorial, Ronald Reagan delivered his inaugural address. He ended by literally looking up and letting the audience follow him to the monuments to Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. He took the audience across the Potomac River to Arlington Cemetery, where he stopped at Martin Treptow's grave.

 Treptow was a young man who in 1917 left his job at a barbershop to go to the front in France. Reagan cited the diary found on Treptow's fallen body. There burned a conviction of the necessity of an American victory and of the young soldier's own responsibility for it. Reagan noted that Americans of the time were not faced with making the sacrifices that Martin Treptow and others were forced to make. Quote: It does require, however, our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.

 Swedes are not Americans after all. Or Ukrainians. But like Gustaf Dahlén, we are Swedes and we can take to heart Zelensky's faith in the future and Reagan's words from that day over 40 years ago. It is our responsibility to believe in ourselves and our ability to solve the problems now before us. It is not an empty hope of luck, but real optimism. So let's make 2023 a gap year. Better than 2022. But worse than 2024.

Also check:

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2023/01/aboutexpectation-theword-expectation.html

 

About Expectation 

  The word expectation means to "look forward to" or "hope". Actually, it is an unfinished postulate (= observation, accompanied by decision, but not yet with a completed implementation). The philosophical fact that we are not isolated egos but live in communities with others makes expectation something much greater than waiting without cause. Expectation is active creation that hopefully will produce results!

  When experiments were carried out, where different teachers were told that a certain class was messy and difficult to learn/transfer knowledge to, the results of that class deteriorated noticeably, compared to when teachers were told, before they started teaching that same school class, that the class was exemplary and easy to learn .

  Since it was the same school classes, which teachers alternately received one or the other idea of what to expect, it proves that the teacher's expectations affected learning.

  There is something essential to learn from this. Any time someone expects bad or good results, it tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It may not mean that expecting miracles will bring about miracles, regardless of the karmic situation you are in. But it does mean that the results improve or worsen depending on your expectations.

  It's not only your expectation that affects the results. Even the recipient's expectation results in improvements or deteriorations. If someone has completely unrealistic expectations, it will not lead to as good results as realistic expectations. If the recipient has low expectations, the result is guaranteed to be worse.

  The principle of the golden middle way means that the best results are achieved if both sender and receiver expect reasonably optimistic results (= slightly better than what is possible, but not unrealistically much better). Unrealistic expectations create disappointment.

  Only by the sender setting a good example do the receiver’s expectations increase in the right direction. The more devotedly optimistic the sender is, the more the receiver's expectations improve.

  Expectation is not passive beingness. It is active future creation and spiritual expansion. Expectation often creates miracles.

Positive Karma – Intention – Postulate

 This is about spiritual rewards (karma). That is self-evident. Of course, positive karma can also take the form of material gains. As a being accepts more responsibility for what happens in the environment and creates the time and space in which he can land his expectations, better positive karma appears.

  Whoever says Now I have done enough to be rewarded with positive karma, is in fact saying that he has not yet done enough (= created enough good karma).

 The material gains of approaching truth and enlightenment only become apparent when the true self takes control of human nature. This is what Socrates called mastery of self. When that happens, human nature can voluntarily choose to submit to the higher self, because human nature actually benefits from it.

  In Buddha Maitreya's Handbook for Humanity (book in Swedish) - ISBN 9789163072758 - it is pointed out that every time the human nature dies (= the true self takes over) Nirvana is attained.

Also check:

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2020/05/truth-enlightenment-buddhism-jesus.html

and: 

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2023/01/takeresponsibility-be-optimistic.html