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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Stathis Papaioannou via extropy-chat<br><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, April 25, 2020 3:57 PM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br><b>Cc:</b> Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp@gmail.com><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] No gods, no meaning?<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Sun, 26 Apr 2020 at 02:32, spike jones via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt'><b>…</b>> <b>On Behalf Of </b>William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span class=m5970235424393969445gmaildefault><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>>…<span style='color:#222222'>So I ask: is religion playing a good role in their lives, or a bad one?</span></span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span class=m5970235424393969445gmaildefault>…</span><span class=m5970235424393969445gmaildefault><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#222222'> - necessary?</span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'> </span><span class=m5970235424393969445gmaildefault><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#222222'>bill w</span></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Whelp. Billw, I would hafta conclude that opiates really are necessary for some people. But hey I don’t know everything there is to know. Do you? Does anyone here know everything there is to know? Neither do I. But I am learning. I will let ya know when I know everything.<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal>>…I have an associate who, when she was a student, had a job in a shopping centre promoting a certain telephone company. One of the promotions involved standing with a basket full of $5 notes and handing out the notes to anyone who walked past (because the company’s phone deals were so good it was as if they were handing out money, get it?). The surprising thing was that a large number of people refused the cash, looking at her suspiciously, even avoiding getting too close to her as they walked past as if afraid she was going to hurt them in some way. There was no catch, just take the $5 from the charming young woman and walk off!<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div><p class=MsoNormal>-- <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Stathis Papaioannou<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It would be such a kick to do that. I will do it should I ever become a buttloadaire.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Suppose you did. Then you dump all this money into some gullible rube’s account, and now she does her taxes, the IRS sees all this interest (because she is afraid to actually spend any of it.) Or she declares the pile as gift. They aren’t going to believe it either, so they start threatening her with jail if she doesn’t confess everything, leads back to the actual literal generous Nigerian prince.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So now all these IRS agents start scrambling thru their own spam email folders looking to cash in themselves or to see how much money they refused, and they urge their children and parents to do likewise. Pretty soon the story leaks, and now… any time anyone gets one of those spams, they can never be sure if it is some American scammer or an actual Nigerian prince. Or a Nigerian scammer or an American prince, but in any case… it would sow utter chaos and delightful uncertainty.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Then of course I would benefit, even if indirectly. They trace the dough back to me, I wasted 2.47 million bucks on a gag, everybody thinks I am crazy as a loon, therefore they assume I am a mathematical genius.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Money well spent.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></body></html>