Picture of fire in our wood-burning stove, which can also be used to fry eggs and light matches.
Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/60, F5.6, 45mm, ISO1600, 2011-01-12T08:02:52-05, 20110112-130252rxt
Location: Thripp Residence, Ormond Beach, FL 32174-7227
Download the high-res JPEG or download the source image.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.
If you think about it, it’s very possible that Jesus was killed and then a clone took his place to show him having defeated death. If the human race was seeded here by space aliens, they may have decided that we needed something amazing to believe in because the human mind naturally escalates things so that it requires a bigger and bigger story to stay interested and motivated. In some people, inability to sleep or schizophrenia may even set in. However, with the advent of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, anti-histamines, and the Internet, it’s very possible for someone to not feel closed in but rather feel the amazing power of whatever God(s) they believe in.
The Great Pyramid at Giza is an amazing structure that cannot be recreated by humanity, even with 21st century technology. It’s built in the only place that would work to support its weight — without the large granite deposit below, it would sink into the sand. The large, inter-locking blocks fit together with tiny grooves that even modern machinery cannot duplicate.
Is it possible that the human race has started over again and again, like in The Matrix: Reloaded, each time destroying itself either by hydrogen bombs, sterilization, or mass cognitive dissonance? I would have said no in 2010, but in 2011 I’m not so sure. Human nature shows that people naturally want to believe in human potential, but at the same time want to sacrifice maidens to volcanoes and abort their unborn babies. But if there’s one thing humanity is good at, it’s rationalizing irrational or imaginary numbers, and this is necessary for most people to lead normal lives without resorting to prescription or illegal drugs, unless they never let their mind expand to that level.
Whether you want to believe it or not, the yin-yang dichotomy is present in every person and every facet of the universe and remains irreconcilable.
Facebook, because it is used by over 500 million people or approximately 7% of the global population, is a platform for large-scale modification of human behavior, whether we like it or not. While we may think the layout of Facebook is the logical conclusion of stream-lining and optimal programming, it is entirely possible the layout was developed as such because of limitations of Apache, Linux, PHP, MySQL, HTML, or even laziness. Oftentimes, the ideal solution to a problem is unideal because of the great difficulty required to implement it. Knowing the difference is the difference between having a successful social network or a ghost town.
Therefore, it may be advantageous to manipulate view counts, statistics, and even to run robots and automatons on a new social network, but only as long as 1.) no one finds out, or 2.) the people who find out choose by free will to not reveal the truth, either for a higher power or because they think deception is “cool,” i.e. Jack Bauer in the TV show Twenty-Four.
Taking this to its logical conclusion, a new social network’s main feature could be robots, and people would sign up in droves if they believed the robots would be more interesting to talk to than real friends. The truth of this thought will determine the future of social networking, i.e. will it continue to grow in power but plateau in numbers or will it grow in numbers while no one takes it seriously or is willing to commit secrets to it?
If you think about it, there really should be no shame in asking for money because if you are ashamed, you are implying that the people who would be willing to donate money to you will make better use of it than you are capable of.
I would never assume anyone can make better use of money than me. 
If you want, send me your PayPal donations to richardxthripp@thripp.com for donations > $11.90 and thripp@gmail.com for donations < $11.90. 
