Health & Fitness : Poll: Do you meditate?

Do you meditate?

I'll admit a lot of the people who push meditation are people who can turn you off with their personality at times but it's amazing. Teachers used to tell us to take a deep breath and that's basically what meditation is except you take many breaths and after more experience you realize what gives you the most pleasure while reducing anxiety.

I must admit I hardly ever do it but when I do I feel amazing which is quite a conundrum.

I know a lot of people here talk about their mental issues such as anxiety and depression and I promise you if you just spent 10-15 minutes a day or even 5 minutes a day three times a day your life will improve because there's no downfall to relaxing.


Please share your own stories and techniques because it might be helping others who have tried their own technique or one they saw online that didn't work for them. I guarantee we'd have nicer conversations on here.



yes
0% 0 votes
No
0% 0 votes

Re: Do you meditate?

I like some of the Indian mantras and find they're relaxing and even a bit addictive. Here's one, the Gayatri mantra.

Re: Do you meditate?

Lettuce
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
For other uses, see Lettuce (disambiguation).
Lettuce
Iceberg lettuce in SB.jpg
An iceberg lettuce field in California
Scientific classificationedit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Cichorieae
Genus: Lactuca
Species: L. sativa
Binomial name
Lactuca sativa
L.
Synonyms[1][2]
Lactuca scariola var. sativa (Moris)
L. scariola var. integrata (Gren. and Godr.)
L. scariola var. integrifolia (G.Beck)
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is an annual plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps; it can also be grilled.[3] One variety, the celtuce (asparagus lettuce) (t: 萵苣; s: 莴苣; woju), is grown for its stems, which are eaten either raw or cooked. In addition to its main use as a leafy green, it has also gathered religious and medicinal significance over centuries of human consumption. Europe and North America originally dominated the market for lettuce, but by the late 20th century the consumption of lettuce had spread throughout the world. World production of lettuce and chicory for 2017 was 27 million tonnes, 56% of which came from China.[4]

Lettuce was originally farmed by the ancient Egyptians, who transformed it from a plant whose seeds were used to create oil into an important food crop raised for its succulent leaves and oil-rich seeds. Lettuce spread to the Greeks and Romans; the latter gave it the name lactuca, from which the English lettuce is derived. By 50 AD, many types were described, and lettuce appeared often in medieval writings, including several herbals. The 16th through 18th centuries saw the development of many varieties in Europe, and by the mid-18th century cultivars were described that can still be found in gardens.

Generally grown as a hardy annual, lettuce is easily cultivated, although it requires relatively low temperatures to prevent it from flowering quickly. It can be plagued by numerous nutrient deficiencies, as well as insect and mammal pests, and fungal and bacterial diseases. L. sativa crosses easily within the species and with some other species within the genus Lactuca. Although this trait can be a problem to home gardeners who attempt to save seeds, biologists have used it to broaden the gene pool of cultivated lettuce varieties.

Lettuce is a rich source of vitamin K and vitamin A, and a moderate source of folate and iron. Contaminated lettuce is often a source of bacterial, viral, and parasitic outbreaks in humans, including E. coli and Salmonella.

Beware the sound of one hand clapping.

Re: Do you meditate?

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is an annual plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae.

Awww pretty Daisy.

. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps; it can also be grilled.[

Who got desperate enough to grill leaves of iceberg lettuce?

Lettuce was originally farmed by the ancient Egyptians, who transformed it from a plant whose seeds were used to create oil into an important food crop raised for its succulent leaves and oil-rich seeds. Lettuce spread to the Greeks and Romans; the latter gave it the name lactuca, from which the English lettuce is derived. By 50 AD, many types were described, and lettuce appeared often in medieval writings, including several herbals. The 16th through 18th centuries saw the development of many varieties in Europe, and by the mid-18th century cultivars were described that can still be found in gardens.
That's cool. I used grape seed oil the other day. I want lettuce seed oil too.

Lettuce is a rich source of vitamin K and vitamin A, and a moderate source of folate and iron. Contaminated lettuce is often a source of bacterial, viral, and parasitic outbreaks in humans, including E. coli and Salmonella.

Vitamin K and vitamin A, and folate and iron are awesome. But I just don't like the parasites.

Re: Do you meditate?

Yes, sometimes. I find it helpful, I am not very good at it though. I get distracted.

Re: Do you meditate?

Taxonomy
The first species of Transandinomys (from Neo-Latin transandinus "transandine", i.e. "crossing or beyond the Andes" (adj.) and Greek mys "mouse, rat")[2] to be scientifically described was T. talamancae, named as Oryzomys talamancae by Joel A Allen in 1891.[3] Several other species were soon added to the genus Oryzomys, then more broadly defined than currently, that are now classified in Transandinomys,[4] including Oryzomys bolivaris (now Transandinomys bolivaris) by Allen in 1901.[5] In his 1918 review of North American Oryzomys, Edward Alphonso Goldman placed Oryzomys talamancae and Oryzomys bombycinus (=T. bolivaris) each in their own group, but thought them closely related.[6] In 1960, O. talamancae was synonymized with "Oryzomys capito" (=Hylaeamys megacephalus), but it has again been recognized as a separate species since 1983. The species was reviewed by Guy Musser and Marina Williams in 1985 and again by Musser and colleagues in 1998, who documented the diagnostic characters of the species, its synonyms, and its distribution.[7] The 1998 study by Musser and colleagues also documented Oryzomys bolivaris as the correct name for the species previously known as Oryzomys bombycinus and reviewed that species.[8]

In 2006, Marcelo Weksler published a broad phylogenetic analysis of Oryzomyini, the tribe to which Oryzomys and related genera belong, using morphological data and DNA sequences from the IRBP gene. O. talamancae appeared within "clade B", together with other species formerly associated with Oryzomys capito. Some analyses placed it closest to species now placed in Euryoryzomys or Nephelomys, but with low support. O. bolivaris was not included.[9] Species of Oryzomys included in Weksler's study did not cluster together in his results, but instead appeared dispersed across Oryzomyini, indicating that the genus was polyphyletic and should be split up.[10] Later in the same year, Weksler, Alexandre Percequillo, and Robert Voss introduced ten new genera of Oryzomyini formerly placed in Oryzomys, including Transandinomys for Oryzomys talamancae and O. bolivaris, with the former as the type species.[4] Transandinomys is now one of about thirty genera within Oryzomyini, a diverse group of well over a hundred species.[11] Oryzomyini is one of several tribes within the subfamily Sigmodontinae of the family Cricetidae, which includes hundreds of other species of mainly small rodents, distributed chiefly in Eurasia and the Americas.[12]

Description
Transandinomys species are medium-sized, soft-furred rice rats.[13] They closely resemble other medium-sized lowland forest rice-rats, such as Hylaeamys and Euryoryzomys from the Amazon rainforest and surrounding areas and Handleyomys alfaroi from Central America and northwestern South America.[14] In general, Transandinomys are distinguished from those animals by their very long superciliary vibrissae (whiskers above the eyes).[15] Euryoryzomys species are in general slightly larger[16] and Hylaeamys are as large as Transandinomys, so that the only feature of external morphology that distinguishes the two genera is the length of the vibrissae.[17] Handleyomys alfaroi is smaller than both species of Transandinomys, but juvenile Transandinomys may be confused with similarly colored adult H. alfaroi.[18]

The fur is brownish (T. bolivaris) or reddish (T. talamancae) above and lighter below, appearing whitish, but the hairs on the underparts have gray bases.[4] The snout is large.[13] The mystacial (above the mouth) and superciliary vibrissae both extend to at least the back margin of the ears when laid back against the head, but are much longer in T. bolivaris. The pinna (external ear) is large.[4] On the hindfeet, which are long and narrow,[13] ungual tufts of hairs surround the bases of the toes. In T. bolivaris, the sole usually entirely lacks squamae (small, scale-like structures), but T. talamancae does have squamae on part of its sole. The claw of the first toe extends about to the middle of the first phalange of the second and that of the fifth toe extends nearly to the base of the second phalange of the fourth. The tail is at least about as long as the head and body, sometimes slightly longer. The tail is darker above than below in T. talamancae,[4] but there may not be a difference in color in T. bolivaris.[Note 1] The tail appears naked, but is covered with fine hairs.[13]

Females have four pairs of mammae, as usual in oryzomyines.[20] Like most rice rats, Transandinomys species have twelve thoracic (chest) and seven lumbar vertebrae.[21] According to a study in Costa Rica, T. bolivaris has 58 chromosomes and the number of chromosomal arms (fundamental number) is 80 (2n = 58, FN = 80).[22] Studies in Ecuador and Venezuela have recorded several different karyotypes in T. talamancae, with the number of chromosomes ranging from 34 to 54 and the fundamental number from 60 to 67.[23]

Beware the sound of one hand clapping.

Re: Do you meditate?

I meditate in non traditional ways. Someone told me that it looked to them like I was catatonic. But I usually feel better after spacing out for long periods of time. I just let my conscious wander.

Re: Do you meditate?

British nuclear tests at Maralinga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Maralinga Atomic Test Site in South Australia
Near Maralinga in Australia
AusNucTestSites.svg
Map showing nuclear test sites in Australia
Coordinates 30°10′S 131°37′E
Type Nuclear test range
Site information
Operator United Kingdom
Status Inactive
Site history
In use 1955–1963
Test information
Nuclear tests 7
Remediation Completed in 2000
Between 1956 and 1963, the United Kingdom conducted seven nuclear tests at the Maralinga site in South Australia, part of the Woomera Prohibited Area about 800 kilometres (500 mi) north west of Adelaide. Two major test series were conducted: Operation Buffalo in 1956 and Operation Antler the following year. Approximate weapon yields ranged from 1 to 27 kilotons of TNT (4 to 100 TJ). The Maralinga site was also used for minor trials, tests of nuclear weapons components not involving nuclear explosions. Kittens were trials of neutron initiators; Rats and Tims measured how the fissile core of a nuclear weapon was compressed by the high explosive shock wave; and Vixens investigated the effects of fire or non-nuclear explosions on atomic weapons. The minor trials, numbering around 550, ultimately generated far more contamination than the major tests.

Operation Buffalo consisted of four tests; One Tree (12.9 kilotons of TNT (54 TJ)) and Breakaway (10.8 kilotons of TNT (45 TJ)) were detonated on towers, Marcoo (1.4 kilotons of TNT (5.9 TJ)) at ground level, and the Kite (2.9 kilotons of TNT (12 TJ)) was released by a Royal Air Force (RAF) Vickers Valiant bomber from a height of 11,000 metres (35,000 ft). This was the first drop of a British nuclear weapon from an aircraft. Operation Antler in 1957 tested new, light-weight nuclear weapons. Three tests were conducted in this series: Tadje (0.93 kilotons of TNT (3.9 TJ), Biak 5.67 kilotons of TNT (23.7 TJ) and Taranak 26.6 kilotons of TNT (111 TJ). The first two were conducted from towers, while the last was suspended from balloons. Tadje used cobalt pellets as a tracer for determining yield, resulting in rumours that Britain was developing a cobalt bomb.

The site was left contaminated with radioactive waste, and an initial cleanup was attempted in 1967. The McClelland Royal Commission, an examination of the effects of the minor trials and major tests, delivered its report in 1985, and found that significant radiation hazards still existed at many of the Maralinga sites. It recommended another cleanup, which was completed in 2000 at a cost of AUD $108 million (equivalent to $171 million in 2018). Debate continued over the safety of the site and the long-term health effects on the traditional Aboriginal custodians of the land and former personnel. In 1994, the Australian Government paid compensation amounting to $13.5 million (equivalent to $23.7 million in 2018) to the traditional owners, the Maralinga Tjarutja people. The last part of the land remaining in the Woomera Prohibited Area was returned to free access in 2014.

By the late 1970s there was a marked change in how the Australian media covered the British nuclear tests. Some journalists investigated the subject and political scrutiny became more intense. Journalist Brian Toohey ran a series of stories in the Australian Financial Review in October 1978, based in part on a leaked Cabinet submission. In June 1993, New Scientist journalist Ian Anderson wrote an article titled "Britain's dirty deeds at Maralinga" and several related articles. In 2007, Maralinga: Australia's Nuclear Waste Cover-up by Alan Parkinson documented the unsuccessful clean-up at Maralinga. Popular songs about the Maralinga story have been written by Paul Kelly and Midnight Oil.

Beware the sound of one hand clapping.

Re: Do you meditate?

Exactly what's your point?

Re: Do you meditate?

Yes, twice a day, 1pm and 8pm.

Re: Do you meditate?

Background
A set of coloured bird prints, showing (clockwise top to bottom) a Hawfinch, a Northern Cardinal, a Bullfinch, a House Sparrow, a Crossbill and a Greenfinch.
Plate XLIII from Samuel Pepys's hand-coloured copy of Francis Willughby's 1678 Ornithology[1]
Early scientific works on birds, such as those of Conrad Gessner, Ulisse Aldrovandi and Pierre Belon, relied for much of their content on the authority of the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle and the teachings of the church,[2][3] and included much extraneous material relating to the species, such as proverbs, references in history and literature, or its use as an emblem.[4] The arrangement of the species was by alphabetical order in Gessner's Historia animalium, and by arbitrary criteria in most other early works.[2] In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Francis Bacon had advocated the advancement of knowledge through observation and experiment,[3] and the English Royal Society and its members such as John Ray, John Wilkins and Francis Willughby sought to put the empirical method into practice,[5] including travelling widely to collect specimens and information.[6]

The first modern ornithology, intended to describe all the then-known birds worldwide,[7] was produced by Ray and Willughby and published in Latin as Ornithologiae Libri Tres (Three Books of Ornithology) in 1676,[8] and in English, as The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton, in 1678.[9] Its innovative features were an effective classification system based on anatomical features, including the bird's beak, feet and overall size, and a dichotomous key, which helped readers to identify birds by guiding them to the page describing that group.[10] The authors also placed an asterisk against species of which they had no first-hand knowledge, and were therefore unable to verify.[11] The commercial success of the Ornithology is unknown, but it was historically significant,[12] influencing writers including René Réaumur, Mathurin Jacques Brisson, Georges Cuvier and Carl Linnaeus in compiling their own works.[13][14]

George Edwards was a leading British naturalist and illustrator in the 17th century. He was the librarian to the Royal College of Physicians with access to their collection of 8,000 books, and he used these, together with stuffed and live animals, to produced illustrated publications. His four-volume A Natural History of Uncommon Birds (1743–1751) and its three supplements covered more than 600 natural history topics, and his publications enabled Linnaeus to name 350 bird species, including many type specimens.[15]

During the early 19th century, several ornithologies were written in English,[16] and Edward Lear's main contributions to the development of bird painting were to concentrate on a single bird group, in his case the parrots, paint mainly from live birds rather than stuffed specimens or skins, and use a large page size.[17][18] Lear was not the first to produce an illustrated parrot monograph. French artist Jacques Barraband created 145 images for François Levaillant's Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets (1801–1805).[19] Lear's book had an immediate effect, including its impact on John Gould's five-volume Birds of Europe, which was published between 1832 and 1837.[20]

Beware the sound of one hand clapping.

Re: Do you meditate?

Wonderful! Thanks.

Re: Do you meditate?

Oh wait, meditate? My bad.

Re: Do you meditate?

Lol wtf did you think?

Re: Do you meditate?

Meng Wanzhou (Chinese: 孟晚舟; born 13 February 1972), also known as Cathy Meng and Sabrina Meng,[4] also informally known in China as "the Princess of Huawei",[5] is a Chinese business executive who is the deputy chair of the board and chief financial officer (CFO) of telecom giant and China's largest privately held company,[6] Huawei, founded by her father Ren Zhengfei.

On 1 December 2018, Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport.[7] On 28 January 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice announced financial fraud charges against Meng, accusing her of employing a subsidiary to facilitate business activities in Iran in violation of U.S sanctions.[8] On 24 September 2021, the Department of Justice announced it had reached a deal with Meng to resolve the case through a deferred prosecution agreement. As part of the deal, Meng agreed to a statement of facts that said she had made untrue statements to HSBC to enable transactions in U.S., at least some of which supported Huawei's work in Iran which violated U.S. law, but did not have to enter a guilty plea.[9][10] The Department of Justice said it would move to dismiss all charges against Meng when the deferral period ends on 21 December 2022, on the condition that Meng is not charged with a crime before then.[2][11] Meng left Canada for China on 24 September 2021.[12]

Beware the sound of one hand clapping.

Re: Do you meditate?

Quite a few months back, I finished the Great Lost Rewatch. And phew, what a ride it was. A lot of thoughts and feelings that I initially had about the show were seriously dispelled in the time since I watched the finale and cast the island out of my heart and mind. Entire seasons which I wrote off as being crushed by the writer’s strike look very different four years out. So here are the thoughts and opinions of one man who decided to rewatch a show that he really knew all the answers to already.

A good place to start is the claim that the writers were making this up as they went along. This. Is. Not. True. Nor was it ever true. The pitfalls of Lost fall more into the areas of pacing inconsistencies and maybe an one or two too many plotlines hitting brick walls. Our Dear Head Writers, Lindeloff and Cuse, have repeatedly stated that they knew where they were going from basically the beginning. One could concede that maybe, maybe during the first order of episodes they introduced a few strange happenings without an endgame yet. But they had most of the Island’s major mysteries on paper by the end of the first season. Everything from Jacob/MiB to DHARMA and The Others were planned out. The challenge was balancing these mysteries with the trademark character building that made Lost so damn watchable during its first few seasons.


Clearly, Darlton (as they are affectionately known to their fans) didn’t want to send Lost the way of Twin Peaks and ruin the great central mysteries right away. If they’d have explained what the Island was at the end of the first season, people would’ve probably stopped watching. While we’re on that subject, that was a question that should not and thankfully (explicitly) wasn’t answered. The Island was always the Island. This is a show where mystical Island magic being the answer for things is a very valid explanation. But a lot of times, despite there being a precedent for the Island both being sentient and having the ability to do almost anything it wanted, people didn’t want these answers. There was (and to a certain extent still is) a subsect of Lost fans who (masochistically) refused to take the show as it was. These people ignored all the wonderful master-class character building and emotional involvement over six seasons, believing Lost to be a documentary about a supernatural island and not about a number of broken, dysfunctional people finding love, happiness and fulfillment in a place where anything is possible. Yes, these were the people who threw a fit towards the end of season six when (god forbid) the writers appeared to be erring towards giving the characters closure instead of closing every single goddamn loophole over six seasons. Who cares who was shooting our Losties in the other boat? Or what the deal was with the cabin? Just take it in stride, as a mystery, and move on.

For my first run-through of the show, I was basically one of those people. Granted, I had a deeper investment in the characters and would never call flashbacks/forwards/sideways boring and unnecessary. But I recall being a bit peeved at the end of the run. I felt like the finale owed me some closure as to the nature of the island and Walt and the time travel and… everything else. On First Watch, I binged the show for the first three seasons, catching up right around the time the wonderful Through The Looking Glass was airing (end of season 3). So I managed to catch the last three seasons live. But for whatever reason, I had come to resent seasons 4-6 as being inferior. I don’t know what my logic was, but it was off. Way, way off. At least about seasons 4 and 5.

Lost’s first and second halves were structured very differently. Seasons 1 through 3 take a slow, methodical approach to storytelling that focused (wisely) almost exclusively on the characters. Each episode had a narrative center with flashbacks featuring (usually) one character. This was the formula and it worked, to a point. On rewatch, these earlier seasons can move at a bit of a crawl at points. Let’s just look at season 1. That pilot, woah. Still holds up. First few episodes establish the motif that everything isn’t what it seems, both on the island and with the characters. Unfortunately for me, I already know the ins and outs of both those things. It’s nice to revisit the moments, though. Charlie and Claire’s infatuation, Jin and Sun’s gradual acceptance of the group and one another, Jack’s reluctant acceptance as leader, and so on. More than anything, I felt this season drag for me the most. This very much was a season about getting to know the characters. The stakes aren’t high yet, and a lot of episodes involve survival things like finding water, and food, and playing golf. Many of the mysteries are vague and preliminary, almost boring someone who already knows all the answers (I know who/what’s in the hatch, who the monster is, the deal with Rousseau, etc). Also, this was the longest season and probably the most stagnant finale. But it has merit, still. Great character building chief among it. Much of it plays like The Stand set on an island. That’s okay, though. Stephen King influences are always a plus in my book. Without the groundwork laid here (some of the strongest characters on TV) much of the rest of the show wouldn’t fly.

Season 2, in my opinion, is the strongest whole season of the first half of Lost. At least it was on my initial viewing. That suspense really didn’t return on the second time around, but I enjoyed it just the same. Watching the introduction of the Tail Section is a high point (especially Eko, a missed fixture in later seasons). Still, the filler starts to clog the show’s arteries here. That episode with the baptism? Oy vey. The corruption of Michael holds up, though. As well as Locke’s abandonment of faith. This season (to my observations, anyways) seemed very much about many of the characters coming to grips with their individual temptations. Locke’s over-willingness to give in to blind faith. Jack’s obsession with being leader. Charlie’s struggle with drug addiction/desire for revenge on Locke (affectionately titled by me the “dark Charlie timeline”). Sawyer’s desire to… con the shit out of everything that moves? And so on and so forth. The season is worth it for the stellar premiere episode alone. And The Other 48 days. And the finale… and the introduction of Desmond and Ben. Solid season, but like season 1, still a lot of reliance on mystery to propel the plot. I know what the hatch is, who Henry Gale is, and almost everything else. But watching Michael’s desperation as a father inevitably corrupt him remains as heartbreaking as ever. These are the moments that make Lost great. That shot in the finale where he turns to watch his friends be bound and gagged by The Others as he sails away is just… chilling.

Season 3 is one of the most contentious seasons of Lost. People aren’t kidding when they say the first half of the season takes place in cages. I think this was the sign that Lost needed an endgame. The writers have since admitted that they were running out of ideas, and their patented slow-burn character building started to become a burden. Hence the episode where… Jack gets a tattoo. The good news is that they picked up the slack in the second half of the season. There are some great episodes in season 3. I’d guess that Flashes Before Your Eyes (no surprise a Desmond episode) is the beginning of the stretch of awesome. Not counting Stranger in a Strange Land, of course. But Enter 77. The Man From Tallahassee. They just get better and better as they go along, culminating in the last three episodes plus the finale. The scene with Sawyer and Cooper in The Brig remains one of my favorite scenes in any show ever. The Man Behind the Curtain holds less prestige than it used to (since the forthcoming season 5 would focus on Dharma), but still offers insight into what made Ben the man he is. And the finale, one of the best (if not the overall best) in the series. And why? Is it the twist at the end? The flashforward was bold, but loses some appeal when you know it’s coming. No, the secret is that stuff was actually happening. The survivors embark on a quest to a new location (the radio tower). Charlie begins his final death march (with Desmond!). Sayid, Jin and (chuckle) Bernard stop the Others. Oh, and Hurley totally saves the day with the Dharma van. There’s more action in this episode than in the entire first season. The writers figured out that they’ve done what they can with painting their characters in intense detail. Through the Looking Glass was the episode that started the fire. The momentum here never ended until, well, season 6.

I feel like the first part of the show hard-wired me to be looking for answers when I initially watched. Again, the first three seasons largely seemed to be guided by questions more than actions. What the hell is up with this island (season 1)? What’s the deal with this hatch thing (season 2)? Who are these Others (season 3)? This pattern persisted until season 4, when the aforementioned momentum managed to bring out the best in Lost’s writers. It was as if Darlton, after negotiating their end date of three more seasons, immediately hung up the phone and said (to their writer’s room) “Three seasons of character building is enough, guys! Let’s move the plot forward!” Right off the bat, season 4 hits like a pillow full of batteries. The survivors are caught in a schism, strange new characters are landing and everyone seems to be pointing a gun at one another. Blame it on the writer’s strike for shortening the season, maybe, but this fourth go-round is tight enough to have been Lost’s Serenity if it came down to that. Things just… happen. I have no earthly idea how my initial negative impressions were so flawed. Maybe I was peeved about the writer’s strike or having to wait a whole year for new episodes. But this is a rock-solid season of Lost, part one of a set of two fantastically exceptional seasons. No filler is found here.



I had an epiphany when I reached go to this point in my rewatch: the great episodes of Lost in preceding seasons were largely episodes were the plot was finally being furthered. This trend ends here, as things happen almost nonstop here; each episode furthering the Losties towards an inevitable confrontation with the freighter-folk. But there are still some great standout episodes, two sticking out the most in my mind. The Constant is regarded by most fans (as well as the producers) as being Lost’s strongest episode overall. Not hard to see why: Desmond-centric, check; great use of flashback, check; touching romance, check, check, check. Second great episode: Shape of Things to Come. Chilling episode, with Ben cementing his reputation as fascinatingly cruel. Probably my favorite flash-forward, too, exploring Ben’s mysterious off-island exploits. Seriously, though, season 4 is tight and breezy enough to have been a movie. The only real flaw is the shortening of the season caused the freighter’s science team to get the short end of the exposition stick. But that’s remedied in season 5

Dear god. Season 5 is the reason I decided to write this essay. Never before in my twenty-something years of watching TV have I been so wrong about anything. I had always previously considered season 5 of Lost to be fine. Not special or anything, just a little weird and hard for some people to follow. Man, I was wrong. So I’m going to formally apologize to the writers and producers of Lost. You, my friends, have crafted one of the most spectacularly involving and balanced seasons of TV ever. It is, without a doubt, the apex of all that is Lost. Sci-fi, romance, even some answers, this season has it all. The people who gave up watching here don’t know what they missed.

Part of the appeal has to do with the parallel stories happening, I think (at least for the first half of the season). As our stranded survivors (reduced in number and without rescue) jump through time on the island, the Oceanic 6 scramble to get back. It all intersects in the middle as the show gets down and dirty with the Dharma Initiative. The way this season sets up its plot dominoes is just plain beautiful. The magic compass! The Jughead bomb! It all comes weaving and twisting together as the survivors end up essentially causing the thing that caused their own plane crash (the Incident).

Part of the reason this season works so beautifully despite playing with some higher-concept themes (ie time travel) is how firmly it establishes its rules. The Island may be magic, but that magic has limits. Scientist-in-residence Daniel Faraday repeats time and time again throughout the season a wonderfully concise way of explaining time phenomena: whatever happens, happens. They can’t change the past, present or future. If they land in a time, they were always meant to land there, and any actions they take were always predetermined to happen. Granted, this opens up some shaky continuity ground with the earlier seasons in some areas. Why didn’t Rousseau or Ethan recognize Jin or Locke from their timecapades? Who the hell cares? PTSD maybe? They have been doing other things besides wondering about the strangers who popped into their lives for a few hours 10+ years ago. Fixating on these small fries will distract from an otherwise wonderful season.

5 is so solid, it’s hard to pick out the standout episodes. The Life and Death of Jeremy Benthem is always enjoyable and tragic, reminding us all of why the hell Locke ended up in that damn coffin. But it’s LaFluer that remains my personal favorite. That first glimpse into the inner workings of Dharma is just too magical to not enjoy. Lost had one episode to establish what the island-dwellers had been up to for the past three years… and totally killed it. I would watch a full show of the Losties living in Dharmaville. The shot where Sawyer greets Juliet in their doorway with the flower… I’m not a sentimental man, but christ. Josh Holloway killed it in that moment, just strutting in like he owns the place. Like he’s ready to take off his coat, and sit down after a long day. With Juliet, mind you. They had no more than 5-6 shots to establish the relationship between the two of them. But they did it. And we, the audience, bought it. Well, I did. And you should’ve, too. Sawyer’s arc is one of TV’s best, and it undoubtedly shows here.

And the finale; whoa, daddy. Diving right into one of the questions that strung me along for the whole ride on its initial run: what/who the fuck is Jacob? Darlton had always said that it was a question for the endgame. Sure, the references are there: name drops here and there. Vague spots of the Others claiming to be executing His will. But the truth was bold. He was there the whole time! Not just on the Island, but in our character’s lives… Touched (literally) by Jacob. Interesting. Honestly, I think they could’ve done what they wanted with Jacob in this single episode. Just seeing him made me happy enough. But the mistake the writers made was diving in headfirst to explore his “powers.” It wasn’t really necessary, and Jacob as an extension/metaphor for fate/destiny works so much better than what we got in season 6.

If season 5 is the party, then 6 might be the hangover. Without a doubt, I think it’s the weakest season of the show, overall. But maybe that’s just perspective talking. Compared to season 5, who could live up to that? That was the varsity-football-playing, John-Cusack’s-Bit-Role-In-Stand By Me older brother. Season 6 is Wil Wheaton’s ignored younger brother walking along the train tracks, contemplating adolescence. Maybe a bit more of a ne’er do well. But still looking small by comparison.

Undoubtedly, the highlight of this season for me is Ab Aeterno. This is the gem, the shining light. A beautifully done episode about how a man got magic immortality powers from Mark Pellegrino. That is a ridiculous logline, but this episode pulls it off, due wholly to a beautiful performance by an overshadowed Nestor Carbonell. This episode covers all the things that make Lost great: Love, loss, life, and a bit of mysticism. Good stuff. Plus, we get to see more straight conflict between Jacob and the Man in Black.

Like I said before, the writer’s big mistake was trying to explain the unexplainable. The Island doesn’t need an explanation! I think they caved to pressure from the fans, and that’s why this season feels so half-baked. Torn between the two questions that made lost so compelling to begin with: science vs. faith. The Island turned out to be both? Neither? Ruled by a poor performance by Alison Janney?

The plot thread of the season that’s actually compelling is that flash-sideways. Lost had begun to use its flashes forwards and backwards to great effect in seasons 4-5. Using it to explore parallel plots, one group off the Island, another on it. Here, they return to a more traditional, but still interesting experiment. Spoilers (like you haven’t been spoiled already…): they’re dead and in purgatory in the flashsidways. Just the flashsideways. The Island isn’t purgatory. They weren’t dead the whole time. They died. One by one, over years and years and years. Their collective consciousness/souls erected a place where they could encounter one another and move on once they were all ready. That’s it. Anyone who tells you differently is wrong. Is this a bit hammy? Of course. But it’s also very satisfying. I think it’s the most satisfying part of the season.

Then we have the on-Island, real time action. This is where the show began to flounder. Our Losties are torn into two camps: Jack (now a man of faith), leads the light side against a corrupted Zombie Lock, being worn like a suit by the Man In Black. Who’s the smoke monster! And Jacob’s brother! Interesting concept. The execution… not so much. I can sum up this season in a few sentences. The Jughead didn’t work, and the survivors are shattered. Locke leads his group through the jungle to do some stuff at the Temple, killing everyone. Jack leads his group to the temple and does some stuff. Charles Whitmore arrives and does some stuff that doesn’t matter, getting killed off. Island uncorked. Jack is the “guardian.” Island recorked. Jack dies. Hurley’s the guardian. Happily ever after.

It doesn’t play well! After two seasons of action, the bulk of this one comes down to inconsequential filler. Not much is revealed or changed except the nature of the conflict between Jacob and the MiB. Something that could’ve been summed up in a few episodes. And then they started killing off the main characters, but it didn’t matter because they were in the flash-sideways. There was no emotional reaction to Sayid or Jin/Sun dying. Which sucks, because I love those characters. I wanted to care, but I felt like they died for nothing. It wasn’t a bold sacrifice for the greater good, it was a stupid timebomb. On a submarine.

The finale is… just OK. Not great, but satisfying for the right reasons. There was character closure, and that’s what matters. A show built around and for the characters has every right to prioritize them over the answers. I’m going to make a bold statement here: the last season should’ve diverged from the norm. I think that the flashsideways should’ve been the (mostly) only place that we saw our protagonists in the last season. Flash back and forth between their “alternate timeline” and let the Island take center stage in real time. Show the history! Flesh out what you were trying to do in the stillborn, child-acting cursed Across The Sea. Start from early early times. Show Allison Janney getting there. Show her growing up. Don’t focus on the powers or the magic, but rather it’s effects. On people! Show the civilizations that grew and changed on the Island, how she interacted with them (or didn’t). You can show Jacob and the MiB. Show their growing up, but develop it. Show Mother as a fucking person, instead of a vague plot device. Show the shit you tried to do in Across the Sea, but take your time with it. Develop the relationships a bit more. Fast forward a bit to some of the other groups the two bros brought to the Island. Show their effects. The Egyptians? The British Soldiers? Keep Ab Aeterno, cause it’s phenomenal, but shoot for more stories like that! Flashing back and forth between showcasing the Losties geting closure and still getting a sense of the history of the Island as a character! The finale could’ve caught up with them where the real premiere happened. Show the shit from the last season, but keep it short and sweet. It would’ve been better because now we know what’s at stake! And the twist that the flashsideways isn’t what it seems becomes huuuuge. Because it’s been built up, and developed.

Ultimately, I guess that’s my real gripe with the show: they neglected closure for one main character: the Island. It’s not a big deal, though. The ride we got was amazing! This show… is affecting. Dynamic. Character-driven. It bites, ebbs, flows. Coaxes some fantastic performances out of its cast. It’s a marvel of television! One of the last great sci-fi shows out there, to be honest. Yes, Lost is sci-fi, get over it. The fact that you can ignore its genre classification says oodles about it! It’s a show that devoted itself to character, through and through. It’s a show that I feel any writer worth their salt needs to at least watch a little bit of. Learning about how characters function, their backstories, their forward momentum and arcs is vital. And we don’t see enough of it today. Character comes first, and Lost knew that. Damon Lindeloff knew that. Carlton Cuse knew that. I’m assuming JJ Abrams knew that, cause his name was always associated with the damn thing. And I know that, too. Lost rocks, and it deserves a better legacy than the one it got.

Re: Do you meditate?

Re: Do you meditate?

Well she played with fire and got burned. I have a feeling her deferral period will fail. She will never make it through that without getting herself caught up in more trouble.

Re: Do you meditate?

No, it's a waste of time.



😺 Schrodinger's Cat walks into a bar, and doesn't. 🤨 Let's go, Brandon! 🤨 Try that in a small town.

Re: Do you meditate?

Right you waste all your time on this site

Re: Do you meditate?

Yeah, pretty much, so no time to waste it on meditation.



😺 Schrodinger's Cat walks into a bar, and doesn't. 🤨 Let's go, Brandon! 🤨 Try that in a small town.

Re: Do you meditate?

Justin Pierre James Trudeau PC MP (/ˈtruːdoʊ, truːˈdoʊ/; French: [ʒystɛ̃ tʁydo] (About this soundlisten); born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician and retired educator who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada since November 2015 and the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013. Trudeau is the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history after Joe Clark; he is also the first to be the child or other relative of a previous holder of the post, as the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau.

Born in Ottawa, Trudeau attended Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, graduated from McGill University in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature, then in 1998 acquired a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of British Columbia. After graduating he taught French, humanities, math and drama at the secondary school level in Vancouver. Initially relocating back to Montreal in 2002 to further his studies; advocacy work related to youth and environmental issues would be his primary focus serving as chair for the youth charity Katimavik and as director of the not-for-profit Canadian Avalanche Association. In 2006, he was appointed as chair of the Liberal Party's Task Force on Youth Renewal.

After a successful campaign during the 2008 federal election, he was elected to represent the riding of Papineau in the House of Commons. He served as the Liberal Party's Official Opposition critic for youth and multiculturalism in 2009, and the following year he became critic for citizenship and immigration. In 2011, he was appointed as a critic for secondary education and sport. Trudeau won the leadership of the Liberal Party in April 2013 and led his party to victory in the 2015 federal election, moving the third-placed Liberals from 36 seats to 184 seats, the largest-ever numerical increase by a party in a Canadian federal election.

As Prime Minister, major government initiatives he undertook during his first term include legalizing recreational marijuana through the Cannabis Act; attempting Senate appointment reform by establishing the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments and establishing the federal carbon tax; while grappling with ethics investigations concerning the Aga Khan affair and later, the SNC-Lavalin affair. In foreign policy, Trudeau's government negotiated trade deals such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and signed the Paris Agreement on climate change.

In both the 2019 federal election and the 2021 federal election, Trudeau secured mandates and minority governments although in both he lost the popular vote; in 2021 he received the lowest percentage of the national popular vote of a governing party in Canadian history.[2] During his second term, he confronted the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, announced an assault weapons ban in response to the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks, and was cleared of wrongdoing during a third ethics investigation surrounding the WE Charity scandal.[3] In foreign policy, he led Canada's failed 2020 bid on temporary membership of the United Nations Security Council.

Beware the sound of one hand clapping.

Conman is a goon ass twink bastard

Fuck his Mother

Beware the sound of one hand clapping.

Re: Do you meditate?

I'm relaxed 24/7. Is that meditation?

Re: Do you meditate?

I know it is supposed to enrich you spiritually and give you and enlightenment, but it seems like too much trouble.

Re: Do you meditate?

It just relaxes you
Top