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Let's look back in time.
What was before online dating. Newspaper personal ads, friends/family arranged blind dates, social events, bars, libraries, literally everywhere where people were.
It was very slow. It was usually down to luck. It was very limited in choices. (Usually in a limited geographic location).
Why was it good? It was natural. People met because they were at the same place. They started to talk because probably had some similar interest.
When people chose or accepted the partner they went for the "good enough" option. It was enough if it was slightly better than others. The brain is happy to do a task like this.
These days the Internet gives the false impression of unlimited choice.
Do a search. Not enough results? No problem. Widen your options and voila now you can scroll 30 pages.
And makes you believe it is down to how you choose.
Barry Schwartz wrote a book called "The Paradox of Choice". He says too much choice will be detrimental.
There are couple of problems inside:
1. Because there are so many options you believe there must be a perfect one. This means the weight of your decision is much bigger.
2. When you choose one and it's not flawless you believe other choice would have been better. Which means you will never be satisfied with the choice.
3. Choosing from a big selection is exhausting. Our brain is not made for this.
4. Big number of players mean big competition. It's very easy to feel you are the only one left alone.
5. Anonymity changes the behaviours for lot of people. They would never say things or act the similar way face-to-face as they do online.
You can find many more points if you think.

Solution: I don't know. I believe it's still a very slow game. You have to accept it you either go for just a good enough or wait much much longer. Same as it was before. The difference is you have to cancel all the noise.
Also I don't believe the marriage is about how you choose at the beginning. It's about how much work the partners put in. The marriage is a workshop. (Yes, I know the classic: Men work, women shop...)
But no one can see in years ahead. what works at the beginning might not work in 5 years time. People also change.
The biggest issue is not how you choose but people didn't learn to work on problems. It's better to look out for new partner if there is a problem.... See, how many potential options out there? Just look around on dating sites.....

An International Artists' Village as a social enterprise in the form of a self-managing cooperative.
For a life of prosperity & community, "Living like God in France".

In times of social upheaval, community projects are becoming more and more necessary for each individual and for humanity as a whole, in order to better face and master the challenges of the New Era....

With internationally known and local artists, the ARTlantica artist colony is founded on an attractively located area in Southern Europe as a multi-generational project, which provides architecturally attractive and organic buildings in wood and clay construction in the form of a spiral-shaped eco-settlement and which acts as a nucleus for further settler foundations - for a life in prosperity, health and with nature.
The aim is to be associated with EuroArt, the European network of artists' villages with the ARTlantica artists' village. The first location may be in southern Portugal.

The cooperative ARTlantica- artist village will attract visitors from all over the world.
In the past, artists' villages or districts have maintained their position as attractive settlement approaches up to the present day and continue to act as magnets to initially attract people from all over the world who are interested in art, whose charisma has also attracted and continues to attract other residents.
In addition to the artistic success and the buildings, these villages and neighborhoods also soon enjoyed economic success, which then, however, often drove away the original initiators and residents. Well-known examples are Greenwich Village/New York, Worpswede near Bremen, Ahrenshoop on the Baltic Sea or Kroszian in Croatia.

Today we are destroying the nature, tomorrow nature will destroy us. Mother-Nature can go to any extent to maintain the balance. When a species becomes more developed and strong and creates havoc on other species, then sooner or later mother-nature will definitely make balance. Like the dinosaurs were destroyed.

Confucius said, it's not that he blogs too much. It's that the others blog too little.
As a matter of perspective. If one person blogs daily and others feel like they only want to blog weekly or monthly, is it the fault of the person who blogs daily that his/her blogs often appear on the main page?

If the website had more member participation there would be more blogs and no reason to complain about the bloggers who 'keep the place alive' and frequently appear on the main page.

Blog more people... Be an active part of the blogging community in a good way and not a bad way.

Maybe the solution is to blog about giving money to scammers or why it's so hard to find someone using online dating.

Those topics rarely get talked about!

who thinks this place is gone to hell

Why do us reasonable bloggers even bother anymore



And on that note I bid you a G'night

People often say that a person never changes, but I believe that's not 100% true. A person changes multiple times throughout their life (if they want to/if they have the necessary motivation). However, the problem arises when the "reason" for someone's change is another person. Let me explain why. There are three main reasons why if a person decides to make a change (hopefully for the better), they should do it for themselves and not for someone else.

The first reason is that no one knows you better than yourself. Only you truly know who you are on the inside, who you feel you should truly be. Therefore, you should give freedom to your true self to emerge. For inner peace, spiritual and mental tranquility, you should be free and allow yourself to be who you truly want to be, not who someone else wants you to be.

Now let's talk about the second reason. If you change for the sake of someone else, first and foremost, you won't feel comfortable in your own soul and mind being someone you feel you are not. Even if the "new person" you become is liked by that person, which might bring some satisfaction knowing that you're making someone dear to you happy with who you are or who you have become, deep down in your soul, you will never truly be happy or free. And if that person loves you or at least cares about you and your well-being, they will understand that they need to let you be yourself and won't ask you to be someone else, nor even hint that it would be nice if you were (if they do, then they don't deserve your effort, feelings, or admiration).

And the third reason (which somehow relates to reason 2) is that if the reason for your change is a loved one, when you lose that person (which is very likely and possible to happen sooner or later), you will also lose your "new self" because with the disappearance of that person from your life, the reason for your change/the motivation for your "new self" will also disappear. However, if the change you choose to make is for yourself, to become a better version of yourself, then that change will be permanent. Because you will always be in your own life, you cannot abandon or lose yourself. Therefore, the motivation or reason for your change will always be there.

And to give you an example, I can say that I speak from experience, not just things I've heard from someone. Many years ago, when I was still young, I decided to make a major and very important change in my life, but for the wrong reason. I decided because I loved someone deeply and wanted to be the best version of myself for that person. I decided to analyze everything that was wrong with me, everything I did wrong, and everything that made me somewhat of a bad person or a person with bad habits. I decided to analyze them all and eliminate them one by one until there was nothing wrong left in me. The plan was set, I had done the analysis, and I started to eliminate each negative or bad habit until only one thing remained to be changed for the better. As they say, I had reached the goal of self-improvement. However, just before I could take that step to eliminate the last negative thing from my life... I lost the person I loved, which hurt me deeply but also took away my motivation or reason to continue the change and remain the new "me." Sometimes I wonder if it was the devil's intervention, seeing that I wanted to become a better person, or if life simply wanted to teach me a lesson. Who knows, maybe it was a bit of both, as they say, 50/50. Anyway, I probably will never know, but that remains to be seen. What matters now is that I learned my lesson and decided to share it with all of you today. I hope this life lesson will be helpful to you, and before I conclude, if you decide to change (for the better, I hope), do it for yourself, not for someone else. Thank you for your attention.

The Taliban in Afghanistan expect countries to supply aid to the country, despite the imposition of their strict rules about, no schools for women, or universities. Restrictions on dress and movement.
Well, they need to be told, no aid unless all restrictions are lifted. See how they deal with that.

Continued from P 9...
It was 5am and still quite dark when we reached the side of the railway track. Open fields led to a road some distance ahead, but before that was an old run down building situated in a wooded area and adjacent to a small lake.
" If that place is unoccupied, we could make use of it later," I suggested.
" Sounds reasonable," said Alicia.
We crossed the field and approached the house. I pushed open the door. It was empty, but in not too bad condition.
" Let's find a place to eat and get cleaned up first. I'm starving," said Alicia impatiently.
They found the road and after a short walk saw a large red and blue flashing neon sign. 'Jenny's all night diner.'
They entered the diner and found a table.
Look after my guitar while I find the rest room. Scrambled eggs with toast and coffee for me.
The waitress took the order. I tried not to look round and draw attention to my self, but focused on the menu. When Alicia returned, I left for the men's room. The meals had just arrived when I rejoined Alicia. The juke box was playing a Tim McGraw & Faith Hill song called, ' It's your love.'
We ate in silence for a while and then I spoke about how the day had developed.
" Do you realise that those killings would have happened regardless of me? I just happened to be there without the knowledge of the driver. He would still have filled up at the gas station and been shot. But I saw the offender and I am the only one that can identify him. If I hadn't escaped from the prison, no one else would have seen him. And, if I hadn't drove off in the van and boarded the freight train, we would never have met."
"Yes, that's true. But are you saying that you are glad we met?" She stopped eating and her eyes were fixed on me.
I looked away and paused, and thought maybe I shouldn't be so quick to reveal my feelings. I looked at her. " You probably think I'm stupid, but I feel comfortable with you, and what is there not to like about you. Sometimes people connect quickly and they don't express their feelings. They regret doing so and drift away. I don't want that to happen."
She put her hand on mine. "Thank you for being honest and expressing how you feel. I don't think you're stupid. We have met in really difficult circumstances and I know the problems ahead. I want to help you, not just because I believe you are innocent, but because I also like you. And yes I feel a connection too. Let's see what happens. We'll get to Memphis and then Nashville and try to sort ourselves out. We'll find a clothing store and get you fixed up with different clothes. Maybe a western hat too. I'll get the same. Let's leave the diner now. I'll pay the waitress. I know you're without money."
" You're an angel Alicia. I'll make it up to you soon. I'll get a job in Nashville and help you find a singing venue."
The waitress was paid and they left the diner for the derelict building discovered earlier.
As they left, the juke box played another Tim McGraw song called, ' Just to see you smile.

To be continued........
'

It's reported that Donald J. Trump posted Obama's address on his TRUTH social media site and not long after Taylor Taranto shows up there. Was it Obama's real address? Doesn't matter as Taylor's visit was to do harm to Obama.

Taylor is semi-famous as he participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, kept two firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition inside a van he had driven cross-country and had been living in.

I'm sure someone will attempt to defend Trump's actions... play it down as a harmless prank when it really wasn't. The potential for serious injury could end up in a loss of life.

Deviant behavior like that shouldn't be allowed and a price to be paid for it never to happen again. Any 'John Doe citizen' doing something like that would be at risk of arrest. While it's my opinion. If it were Twitter, he'd be banned, but since it's his own social media outlet, he does what he wants, regardless of the outcome.

Zeus the number one God in Greek Mythology gave his daughter Pandora, a present. It was a vase, not a box as commonly described. It had a lid. He told his daughter to display the object wherever she wanted, but she must never remove the lid.
The temptation was too great for Pandora and she removed the top. As a result, all the troubles that would face the world were released, except for hope.
Does this sound similar to the story of Adam and Eve and the instruction not to eat the forbidden fruit?
The biblical story is not unique and there are many stories that exist around the world that are similar.