Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 4/6/26
"This Is All a Distraction -
Here’s What They’re Hiding"
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
StatCounter
Monday, April 6, 2026
"April 6: Today Changes Everything! Iran Deadline, Oil Spike, Recession 49%"
Full screen recommended.
Prof. Jiang Xueqin 4/6/26
"April 6: Today Changes Everything! Iran Deadline,
Oil Spike, Recession 49%"
Comments here:
"Home Depot and Walmart Issue Stark Warning To U.S. Economy"
Full screen recommended.
Michael Bordenaro, 4/6/26
"Home Depot and Walmart Issue
Stark Warning To U.S. Economy"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 4/6/26
"Out Of Fuel -
Your Local Gas Station is Next"
Comments here:
"This Will Be Different... Massive Changes"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 4/6/26
"This Will Be Different... Massive Changes"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
The Unfolded States,4/6/26
"Grocery Crisis Is Coming
as Fuel Costs Hit Hard in America"
"Fuel prices are rising again across the United States, and the impact is starting to move beyond the pump. While grocery prices have not surged dramatically yet, the cost behind food is increasing across transport, farming, and supply chains. This video breaks down what is changing and why it matters now. From diesel-driven logistics to farm-level decisions, the pressure is building in stages. Data from agencies like USDA and BLS shows early signals, while global energy trends are adding more uncertainty. The key question is not whether fuel costs impact food prices, but how much of that impact has not reached store shelves yet. If current trends continue, grocery prices could adjust faster than expected. This is not a full grocery crisis yet, but the conditions are forming. Understanding these signals early can help you see where the market is heading before it becomes obvious."
Comments here:
Sunday, April 5, 2026
"Under The Weather"
Under the weather so posting will be sporadic. Back to normal
asap. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
- CP
“The Everything Meltdown”: Global Supply Chains Are Collapsing And Most People Cannot Even Imagine The Pain That Is Coming"
by Michael Snyder
"When global supply chains collapse, the pain is not felt immediately. Tankers that left their destinations before the war with Iran began are still arriving at their destinations, products that were manufactured prior to the war still fill our shelves, and we are still eating food that was produced last year. So even though global supply chains are collapsing all around us, most people don’t feel it yet. But if this war with Iran drags on for months, the pain that we will soon experience will be unbelievable.
Anyone that thinks that the global economy can continue to function at or near current levels without sufficient supplies of oil, natural gas, plastic and fertilizer is just being delusional. The only way that we can avoid “the everything meltdown” is if this war ends quickly. Even if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened tomorrow, we will not see a return to pre-war conditions any time soon because damage that has been done to energy infrastructure in the Middle East will take years to fully rebuild.
With each passing day, the damage is getting even worse. For example, the biggest natural gas processing facility in the United Arab Emirates was just shut down following an Iranian attack…"Abu Dhabi’s Habshan gas facility, the UAE’s largest natural gas processing site, was shut down after debris from an intercepted Iranian missile caused a fire. The plant processes and distributes gas from the emirate’s fields for domestic use, making it a critical component of the country’s energy infrastructure. The attack comes amid a series of Iranian strikes on Gulf energy assets, including oil refineries and desalination plants in Kuwait, underscoring the vulnerability of regional infrastructure."
And just hours ago, the Iranians caused substantial damage at the Shuwaikh Oil Sector Complex in Kuwait…"An Iranian drone attack caused a fire at the Shuwaikh Oil Sector Complex, Kuwaiti authorities confirmed on Sunday morning. The attack caused no casualties, the official Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported. The facility hosts both the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and the Oil Ministry’s headquarters, KUNA noted."
Over the past month, we have witnessed so much destruction to vital infrastructure, and it appears that the war is going to escalate to an entirely new level this week. If President Trump follows through on his threats to destroy Iran’s power grid, the Iranians have warned that they will unleash unprecedented attacks on energy infrastructure all over the region. One energy industry insider is warning that we are facing “sustained, compounding cost pressure across every industry”… “This is headed toward sustained, compounding cost pressure across every industry that touches fuel, which is effectively every industry,” said Herman Nieuwoudt, president of IFS Energy & Resources.
Nieuwoudt says what we’re seeing right now isn’t a single price shock. “It’s the consequence of the largest energy supply disruption in modern history layered on top of six years of structural volatility,” he said. “These disruptions cascade through manufacturing, packaging, agriculture, transportation, and retail in ways that take months to fully materialize,” he added.
He is right. Literally just about everything is going to cost more in the months ahead. Virtually our entire trucking industry runs on diesel, and at this point the average price of diesel fuel in the U.S. has reached a staggering $5.53 a gallon…"Diesel, widely used in farming, construction and trucking, among other industries, has risen even more sharply than gas, with the U.S. average this week hitting $5.53 a gallon, up from $3.64 a year ago, according to AAA."
This is survivable, but what are we going to do when it reaches 10 dollars a gallon? Already, the average price of diesel fuel in San Francisco has surpassed 8 dollars a gallon…"For the first time on record, average diesel prices in San Francisco have surged past $8 per gallon, according to new data from GasBuddy - marking an unprecedented milestone for any U.S. city."
Maybe you don’t care about the price of diesel fuel. But you should, because the cost of diesel fuel is going to be passed along to you. Already, shipping companies are starting to impose very large fuel surcharges on their customers…"Citing higher energy costs, the United States Postal Service announced last month that it’s planning to impose an 8% surcharge on Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage and Parcel Select services.
E-commerce giant Amazon also said that, beginning April 17, it plans to add a 3.5% fuel surcharge on third-party sellers, while FedEx and UPS have also recently introduced fuel surcharges, according to the Associated Press."
Stuff doesn’t just show up on your doorstep or in the stores by magic. It takes fuel to move stuff around, and so all of the stuff that you buy on a regular basis is about to get more expensive. And that is really bad news, because even before the war we were already in the midst of a historic cost of living crisis.
In many areas of the U.S., the price of a pound of ground beef is now higher than the federal minimum wage…"The cost of a pound of ground beef has hit a major threshold. Depending on where you shop, the grocery staple likely costs more than the federal minimum wage. Money analyzed ground beef prices at seven of the most popular grocery chains across the U.S., finding that 1 pound of the typical 20% fat ground beef costs between $6.49 and $8.96. Organic, grass-fed and leaner varieties tend to cost much more."
On the other hand, the federal minimum wage sits at $7.25 per hour. In 1988, you could get a pound of ground beef for about $1.30. This is what happens when you destroy your economy. And now the war in the Middle East is going to make things much, much worse.
Just about everything that we buy either contains plastic or comes wrapped in plastic. Unfortunately, the war with Iran is severely disrupting global plastic supply chains…"Plastics are core to the modern economy, and a troubling new Bloomberg report indicates that several producers of monoethylene glycol (MEG) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) have declared force majeure, as tanker flows through the Strait of Hormuz remain heavily disrupted.
For context, MEG and PTA are the two primary feedstocks used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyester fibers. These petrochemicals are critical to the production of everyday consumer goods that make life in the developed world convenient, including plastic bottles, food packaging, clothing, home furnishings, and a wide range of consumer and industrial goods.
More specifically, MEG is used in the production of polyester yarn, polyester staple fiber, PET resin, and PET film. It also plays a critical role in antifreeze, coolants, adhesives, coatings, and enamels. In other words, MEG and PTA are foundational petrochemical building blocks for the modern economy. Any sustained disruption to these flows would be detrimental to the global economy." I really wish that this wasn’t true, but our economy simply cannot function without plastic.
So what are we going to do now? Every industry on the entire planet is going to be affected by the supply chain disruptions that are occurring. In India, the textile industry has been “completely paralyzed” by this war… "Apocalyptic economic fallout. NHK confirms Trump’s disastrous war has completely paralyzed India’s massive textile industry. With 90% of their LPG imports choked off at the Strait of Hormuz, HALF A MILLION workers just lost their jobs. The global supply chain is collapsing."
If this war keeps going for an extended period of time, things will only get worse from here. In other words, enjoy this moment, because this is the best that conditions are going to be for quite a while.
Personally, I am more concerned about global food supplies than anything else. According to the United Nations, the number of people around the world experiencing “acute hunger” was at the highest level ever recorded even before this war erupted. Now farmers all over the northern hemisphere can’t get the nitrogen fertilizer that they desperately need because it is locked up in the Middle East…"Fertilizer is the link between energy and food. Natural gas is not just a fuel; it is the primary feedstock for synthetic nitrogen fertilizers through a process developed over a century ago called the Haber–Bosch method. Natural gas goes in, ammonia comes out, ammonia becomes urea, urea gets spread on cornfields in Iowa and wheat fields in Kansas and rice paddies in Asia. About 80 percent of nitrogen fertilizer production costs are attributable to natural gas. When the Strait of Hormuz is practically shuttered, you do not just block oil tankers and LNG carriers. You block the ships carrying urea and ammonia that the world’s farmers were expecting to receive this spring.
The numbers are sobering. The Persian Gulf region accounts for roughly a third of globally traded urea exports and approximately 25 percent of ammonia trade. Qatar’s state fertilizer company - QAFCO, considered the world’s largest urea supplier - shut down its plant when gas was cut. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers have seen exports stall. China, the other major global fertilizer exporter, has restricted outbound shipments to protect its domestic supply. These two supply sources together represent a substantial share of the global market, and both are simultaneously constrained."
For now, we are still eating food that was produced in 2025. So everything still seems fine. But in the not too distant future, annual crops such as wheat, barley and corn are going to be much more expensive. Meanwhile, crops that do not have to be planted every year such as olives and grapes will not be seriously affected. Nitrogen fertilizer must be applied at the proper time or it won’t work. If the Strait of Hormuz opens up this summer, it won’t be possible to reverse the crop losses that we are facing. We need the Strait of Hormuz to be opened immediately, but that simply is not going to happen."
Jim Kunstler, "April 2026 Eyesore"
"April 2026 Eyesore"
by Jim Kunstler
"Behold: the proposed Donald J. Trump Presidential Library coming in for a landing on Biscayne Boulevard, Miami a few years hence. It is already catching a lot of TDS flak, and deservedly so, for its gilded grandiosity - including a gigantic golden statue of “47” himself inside somewhere, and the gold “Trump” brand logo plastered on the 47th floor. Mr. Trump has always been comedian, and this monument is, at least partly, a bit of trollery against his millions of hate-inflamed detractors, a 47-story middle finger (with a smile). All of that is too self-evident to belabor.
Don’t expect this library to house many books, either. Rather, the building is a combo temple/ museum, filled with artifacts and objects of worship, like the jumbo jet (of various Air Force Ones) to be installed in the ground floor entrance.
The more curious aspect of this project is its manifestation as a skyscraper. Such megastructures are just now going obsolete all over the world, and the world is stuck with them. Working from home, or the corner cafe, or just about anywhere, killed the need for organizing office work in this manner, and artificial intelligence is apt to sweep away countless middle-management, information handling jobs in any case. Another skyscraper is just not what the world needs these days.
So, you’d also have to ask: aside from exhibit halls, study rooms, and auditoriums, what the heck else is expected to occupy the many other floors of the building? Document storage makes more sense in low-slung structures (filing cabinets are heavy) or underground, with elaborate climate-control. Is the plan to offer some upper floor market rental space to companies who might want to locate at a “prestige address?” But, we’ve already established that the traditional office milieu is on its way out.
The answer probably is that building skyscrapers is just what DJT did in life, besides being president of the USA twice. It’s what he knows how to do, and this scheme reflects on the triumphs of his prior career in real estate development. Really, it’s just another Trump Tower, perhaps, ultimately, another Trump hotel for folks who want to bask in the glow of the Golden Golem of Greatness and his legendary doings. The final joke is that it’s being financed with the awards from the various lawsuits Mr. T has won against the old legacy media giants who defamed him over years. For all that, we say GO, MAGA!"
"The President's Prophet, and the Pentagon's High Priest Predict Armageddon!" (Excerpt)
"The President's Prophet, and the
Pentagon's High Priest Predict Armageddon!"
by David Haggith
Excerpt: "This may start off sounding like an Easter religious piece, but it’s not. It’s just that Trump’s presidentially appointed prophet evoked Easter this week to boost the president and his war, so I think even readers who normally have no interest in Easter will be interested in this revelation of the religious cult that originally empowered Donald Trump to the White House (both times) and that now nurtures and drives his zeal on a daily basis for the present war with Iran.
When I say “cult,” I’m not being derogatory, I am using the word according its actual definition: "A religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader."
No leader is more powerful in the world today or more authoritarian than Donald Trump, who does everything now by decree and who is also certainly charismatic with his huge love for large public rallies and for creating daily drama in the media whenever he can, and big shows that are always centered on himself.
While there is no doubt that Trump alone rules MAGA, he is bizarrely guided by his high priestess of the White House, Paula White‑Cain, who is a self-declared prophetess, regularly claiming she speaks for God. White-Cain merits attention because she holds an actual office in the White House, putting her in influence at the top seat of global government, and Trump seriously listens to her spiritual counsel and basks in her frequent flowing praise at a level of adoration and is empowered by the large audience she has captured.
During the present Holy Week, White-Cain presented a disturbing reason for all of us to take a serious look at her position in the White House and at her prophecies when she stirred up considerable backlash by speaking at an Easter lunch at the White House on Holy Wednesday, comparing the persecutions and “betrayals” endured by Donald Trump to those of Jesus Christ.
While she did not say (nor appear to believe) that Donald Trump is the second coming of Jesus Christ (a common denominator of a number of fringe cults over past decades), she has called the White House “holy ground” and also said that “to say no to President Trump would be saying no to God” - not because she is claiming Trump IS God but because she believes he is divinely directed by God as one appointed by God to carry out what she and other self-proclaimed prophets in this movement claim are God’s divine mandates.
These imperial mandates are apocalyptic in nature, and the Dominion Theology they are based on is the theology that drove the crusades, the inquisitions, and other religious wars - the belief that Christians are to rule a global empire as Christ’s stand-ins until he returns. It has long been the most dangerous belief on earth because people have never handled that power well. Her comparison of Trump to Christ with words Trump clearly basked in as he stood behind her hit such a level of obscenity that her brief speech raised religious rebuffs all over the world.
What I want to call attention to is how her words this week reveal a seriously dangerous cultic core of MAGA. Not only has this group, which is the heart of MAGA, ensconced White-Cain, a televangelist and leader in the charismatic movement, in an office in the White House; but it has infused the Pentagon top brass with an actual outspoken drive to bring on Armageddon in order to facilitate the return of Jesus Christ! I mean “outspoken” in the sense that numerous military leaders have been reported during the Iran War as actually using Armageddon as a call to arms against Iran. We’re going to look at both White-Cain and the Pentagon’s new High Priest Hegseth’s apocalyptic crusade, and note that they are the ones deploying the terminology of apocalypse. White-Cain’s official title is Senior Advisor to the White House Faith Office. (You can read more about her in the following article beyond just the part I present below from her brief talk.)
That is why I say I am not using the word “cult” in the pejorative way it has often been used when we hear people talking about all of MAGA as being the “Trump cult.” This core group really is a cult with an office in the White House. Her words this week reveal how truly twisted around the person of Donald Trump as their charismatic leader—like ivy around a great tree—this religious core MAGA group is: (I use the word “core” because, while she leads a following that has been the heart of MAGA since its inception, empowering Trump with millions of Christian voters, I realize she does not speak for all of MAGA any more than for all Christians. Far from it.)
Here is what she said on Holy Wednesday in anticipation of Easter: "With the president standing behind her, and to whom she turned to address personally, White-Cain said: “Jesus taught so many lessons through his death, burial and resurrection. He showed us great leadership, great transformation, requires great sacrifice. And Mr President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price. It almost cost you your life. You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our lord and savior showed us,” she said."
"But it didn’t end there for him, and it didn’t end there for you,” she said. “God always had a plan: On the third day, he rose, he defeated evil, he conquered death, hell and the grave. And because he rose, we all know that we can rise. And sir, because of his resurrection, you rose up,” she added. "Because he was victorious, you are victorious. And I believe that the Lord said to tell you this: because of his victory, you will be victorious in all you put your hands to,” she said, finishing to applause." The president responded by smiling and said “thank you.”
This is the kind of crowning glory any narcissistic megalomaniac would crave to feed his tiny walnut of an ego that seeks to expand its withered center into a larger-than-life projection of what he wants to believe he is. Her words don’t quite deify Trump, but they come awfully close by saying that anything he does (most particularly right now in the war against Iran, which was her context) will be made victorious by God because Trump has suffered just like Jesus did. At other times, she has told the president and all those gathered at her meetings that Trump is God’s “anointed.”
Full, most disturbing article is here:
"Happy Resurrection Day"
Burnland, "Les Disciples"
"Happy Resurrection Day"
by Patti Johnson
"He is risen!" The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection. This iconic work captures the dramatic moment when Peter and John, having heard Mary Magdalene’s astonishing news that Jesus’ tomb was empty, race toward it in a surge of hope and disbelief. I chose this painting because I was deeply moved by Burnand’s portrayal of the Apostles’ intense expressions. Their eyes are wide with urgent, hopeful questioning: “Could it truly be? Our Savior lives?” The raw emotion in their faces, combined with the dynamic sense of motion, makes this one of the most powerful depictions of Easter morning."
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter!
o
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, "Amazing Grace"
o
A must-view video! Turn sound on.
Saturday, April 4, 2026
"Know Your Adversary… Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Not a Fortunate Son"
"Know Your Adversary…
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Not a Fortunate Son"
by Larry C. Johnson
"I say adversary instead of enemy. Mr. Khamenei and the Iranian people are not the enemies of the US. They did not attack us on February 28, we attacked them… And we did so while the Iranians were engaged in good faith negotiations, or so they thought. Iran’s new Ayatollah shares something in common with President John F. Kennedy and President George H. W. Bush… He’s a combat veteran.
Since 1960, the United States has only had two presidents who actually fought in a war… In the case of Kennedy and Bush that was World War II. I concede that Kennedy played a key role in fanning the flames of the Vietnam war but, before he was murdered, he reportedly was going to put an end to the US role. George H.W. Bush oversaw the first invasion of Iraq in 1991, but he at least made sure the US confined itself to ejecting Iraq from Kuwait. The rest of the lot, the ones who embroiled the US in subsequent needless wars, had zero combat experience. Donald “Bone Spurs” Trump avoided serving in Vietnam. He was too wealthy and entitled to be bothered with enlisting in the Army or the Marine Corps… Just another Fortunate Son:
I think it is important that the American people understand that Mojtaba Khameni was a 17 year old boy from a privileged family - sort of like Baron Trump - who ignored his father, enlisted, fought on the front lines in that war with Iraq and was wounded. He absolutely knows the cost of war.
Mojtaba Khamenei (full name: Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, born September 8, 1969, in Mashhad, Iran) is the second son of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He served as a teenager in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the final years of the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988). Just a reminder… The US played a critical role in helping Iraq attack Iran by providing the chemicals used to make chemical weapons and by providing intelligence to the Iraqi General Staff.
Mojtaba joined the IRGC around 1987 (some accounts say 1986) after completing secondary school, at approximately age 17. He was from a privileged family and, by virtue of his age, could have stayed home. But he chose to fight for his country against a foe that had launched a war of aggression against Iran at the behest of the Untied States. This was during the later stages of the war, when Iran was conducting offensives and facing Iraqi counterattacks. He was assigned to the Habib ibn Mazahir Battalion (also spelled Habib bin Muzahir or Habib Ibn Mazaher) within the 27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division of the IRGC Ground Forces. This unit consisted largely of ideologically committed volunteers and operated on the western front. The battalion’s name references a companion of Imam Hussein from the Battle of Karbala, reflecting the religious-martyrdom ethos common in IRGC units.
Mojtaba saw real combat. One account mentions he went “missing” at one point during the recapture of Mehran (a border town that changed hands multiple times). Details on specific combat roles, injuries, or awards remain limited. Public accounts indicate he participated in several IRGC operations, including:
Operation Mersad (1988), the final major battle of the war, which involved repelling an Iraqi-backed Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) incursion into Iran.
Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas 2, 3, and 4 (part of a series of offensives aimed at recapturing territory).
Operation Valfajr 10 (Dawn 10), a major Iranian offensive in 1988.
Mojtaba’s service in the Habib Battalion helped him build lasting personal and institutional ties within the IRGC. Many comrades from this period later rose to senior positions in Iran’s security, intelligence, and military apparatus (including figures like Hossein Taeb, who headed IRGC intelligence, and others associated with Qassem Soleimani’s circle). These wartime relationships are widely viewed as a foundational element of his influence in Iran’s hardline and security networks.
After the war ended in 1988 with Iran’s acceptance of a UN ceasefire, Mojtaba shifted focus to religious studies in Qom and later assumed behind-the-scenes roles. He has maintained strong connections to the IRGC and Basij (where he reportedly held a command role in later years), but his wartime service is often highlighted in Iranian narratives as evidence of his revolutionary credentials. Unlike Donald Trump, who only knows war through the movies he watches, Mojtaba Khamenei learned at a young age the horrors of war and the sacrifice it entails. Keep that in mind in the coming days."
"April 6 Predictions: The 48 Hours That Will Decide Everything!"
Prof. Jiang Xueqin, 4/4/26
"April 6 Predictions:
The 48 Hours That Will Decide Everything!"
"Trump's deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz expires. Three scenarios possible:
(1) Diplomatic breakthrough (15-20% probability) - oil crashes to $70-80, S&P 500 rallies 10-15%.
(2) Deadline extension (45-50% probability) - oil stays $100-120, recession probability crosses 50%, prolonged uncertainty.
(3) Military escalation (30-35% probability) - oil surges to $150-200, S&P 500 enters bear market, global recession, fertilizer crisis becomes catastrophic.
This analysis covers all three scenarios with probabilities, economic mathematics, the hidden fertilizer/food crisis threatening global food security, what April 6 really means politically, and what you should do now. The next 48 hours determine the economic trajectory for the rest of 2026."
Comments here:
"Your Friends Need Your Money And Food, The Party Is Over; All Hell Will Reign Down In 48 Hours"
Jeremiah Babe, 4/4/26
"Your Friends Need Your Money And Food,
The Party Is Over; All Hell Will Reign Down In 48 Hours"
Comments here:
"Americans Warned: A Dangerous Summer Is Coming"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 4/4/26
"Americans Warned:
A Dangerous Summer Is Coming"
Comments here:
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Colorful NGC 1579 resembles the better known Trifid Nebula, but lies much farther north in planet Earth's sky, in the heroic constellation Perseus. About 2,100 light-years away and 3 light-years across, NGC 1579 is, like the Trifid, a study in contrasting blue and red colors, with dark dust lanes prominent in the nebula's central regions.
In both, dust reflects starlight to produce beautiful blue reflection nebulae. But unlike the Trifid, in NGC 1579 the reddish glow is not emission from clouds of glowing hydrogen gas excited by ultraviolet light from a nearby hot star. Instead, the dust in NGC 1579 drastically diminishes, reddens, and scatters the light from an embedded, extremely young, massive star, itself a strong emitter of the characteristic red hydrogen alpha light."
o
Full screen recommended.
Beyond The Stars, 8/31/24
"James Webb Telescope Just
Announced The True Scale of the Universe"
"In an exciting announcement that has left scientists and space enthusiasts in total awe, the James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled the true scale of the universe. This incredible feat has allowed humanity to peer into the deepest and most mysterious corners of the cosmos, providing a new perspective on our existence on the vast canvas of the universe.
One of the most surprising findings has been the discovery of distant galaxies that had never been observed before. Some of these galaxies are billions of light-years away, which means that the images captured by the telescope allow us to travel back in time and observe the universe in its earliest stages. In addition, the James Webb Telescope has provided detailed information about the formation of stars and planets in various regions of space. The images reveal the complexity and beauty of stellar birth processes, providing a deeper understanding of how stellar systems originate and evolve.
The data collected have also enabled astronomers to more accurately calculate the age of the universe and its expansion. This milestone represents a crucial step in understanding the evolution of the cosmos and how it might develop in the future.
The announcement of the James Webb Telescope marks a before and after in astronomy and astrophysics, leaving an indelible mark on human knowledge. The true scale of the universe, now revealed, invites us to reflect on our place in the cosmos and impels us to continue exploring and unveiling the secrets still hidden in the far reaches of infinite space. This new era of space exploration promises to reveal many more astonishing discoveries, and humanity is poised to take in and understand the vastness and complexity of the universe as never before."
Comments here:
o
"In this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of three billion Earth-type planets. And in all of the universe, 2 trillion galaxies like this. And in all of that... and perhaps more, only one of each of us."
- "Dr. Leonard McCoy"
Chet Raymo, “The Journey”
“The Journey”
by Chet Raymo
"Here's a deep-deep sky map of the universe from the March 9, 2006 issue of Nature. The horizontal scale is a 360 view right around the sky; the vertical gaps at 6 hours and 24 hours are the parts of the universe that are blocked to our view by the disk of our own Milky Way Galaxy. The vertical scale - distance from Earth - is logarithmic (10, 100, 1000, etc.) measured in megaparsecs (a parsec equals 3.26 light-years). Across the top is the Big Bang, and the oldest and most distant thing we can see, the cosmic microwave background, the radiation of the Big Bang itself. A few relatively nearby galaxies are designated at the bottom. All that stuff in the middle that looks like smoke or dusty cobwebs are quasars and galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
A smoke of galaxies! (2 trillion galaxies according to latest estimates.- CP) A universe cobwebbed with Milky Ways! Each galaxy itself a smoke of stars, hundreds of billions of stars, many or all of them with planets. My book, "Walking Zero," is about the human journey from the omphalos of our birth into the world of the galaxies, a journey many of us are disinclined to make. Here is how the Prologue to the book begins:
"Each of us is born at the center of the world. For nine months our physical selves are assembled molecule by molecule, cell by cell, in the dark covert of our mother's womb. A single fertilized egg cell splits into two. Then four. Eight. Sixteen. Thirty-two. Ultimately, 50 trillion cells or so. At first, our future self is a mere blob of protoplasm. But slowly, ever so slowly, the blob begins to differentiate under the direction of genes. A symmetry axis develops. A head, a tail, a spine. At this point, the embryo might be that of a human, or a chicken, or a marmoset. Limbs form. Digits, with tiny translucent nails. Eyes, with papery lids. Ears pressed like flowers against the head. Clearly now a human. A nose, nostrils. Downy hair. Genitals.
As the physical self develops, so too a mental self takes shape, not yet conscious, not yet self-aware, knitted together as webs of neurons in the brain, encapsulating in some respects the evolutionary experience of our species. Instincts impressed by the genes. The instinct to suck, for example. Already, in the womb, the fetus presses its tiny fist against its mouth in anticipation of the moment when the mouth will be offered the mother's breast. The child will not have to be taught to suck. Other inborn behaviors will express themselves later. Laughing. Crying. Striking out in anger. Loving.
What, if anything, goes on in the mind of the developing fetus we may never know. But this much seems certain: To the extent that the emerging self has any awareness of its surroundings, its world is coterminous with itself. We are not born with knowledge of the antipodes, the plains of Mars, or the far-flung realm of the galaxies. We are not born with knowledge of Precambrian seas, the supercontinent of Pangea, or the Age of Dinosaurs. We are born into a world scarcely older than ourselves and scarcely larger than ourselves. And we are at its center.
A human life is a journey into the grandeur of a universe that may contain more galaxies than there are cells in the human body, a universe in which the whole of a human lifetime is but a single tick of the cosmic clock. The journey can be disorienting; our first instincts are towards coziness, comfort, our mother's enclosing arms, her breast. The journey, therefore, requires courage - for each individual, and for our species.
Uniquely of all animals, humans have the capacity to let our minds expand into the space and time of the galaxies. No other creatures can number the cells in their bodies, as we can, or count the stars. No other creatures can imagine the explosive birth of the observable universe 14 billion years ago from an infinitely hot, infinitely small seed of energy. That we choose to make this journey - from the all-sustaining womb into the vertiginous spaces and abyss of time - is the glory of our species, and perhaps our most frightening challenge.”
- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/
e. e. cumming, "Humanity I Love You"
"Humanity i love you because when you’re hard
up you pawn your intelligence to buy a drink..."
"Humanity I Love You"
"Humanity i love you
because you would rather black the boots of
success than enquire whose soul dangles from his
watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both
parties and because you
unflinchingly applaud all
songs containing the words country home and
mother when sung at the old howard
Humanity i love you because
when you’re hard up you pawn your
intelligence to buy a drink and when
you’re flush pride keeps
you from the pawn shop and
because you are continually committing
nuisances but more
especially in your own house
Humanity i love you because you
are perpetually putting the secret of
life in your pants and forgetting
it’s there and sitting down on it
and because you are
forever making poems in the lap
of death
Humanity, i hate you"
- e. e. cumming
Free Download: Mark Twain, "Letters From The Earth"
"Mark Twain's 'Letters From the Earth'"
by Wikipedia
“Letters from the Earth” is one of Mark Twain's posthumously published works. The essays were written during a difficult time in Twain's life; he was deep in debt and had lost his wife and one of his daughters. Initially, his daughter, Clara Clemens, objected to its publication in March 1939, probably because of its controversial and iconoclastic views on religion, claiming it presented a "distorted" view of her father. Henry Nash Smith helped change her position in 1960. Clara explained her change of heart in 1962 saying that "Mark Twain belonged to the world" and that public opinion had become more tolerant. She was also influenced to release the papers due to her annoyance with Soviet propaganda charges that her father's ideas were being suppressed in the United States. The papers were edited in 1939 by Bernard DeVoto. The book consists of a series of short stories, many of which deal with God and Christianity. The title story consists of eleven letters written by the archangel Satan to archangels, Gabriel and Michael, about his observations on the curious proceedings of earthly life and the nature of man's religions. Other short stories in the book include a bedtime story about a family of cats Twain wrote for his daughters, and an essay explaining why an anaconda is morally superior to Man.
Textual references make clear that sections, at least, of “Letters from the Earth” were written shortly before his death in April 1910. (For instance, Letter VII, in discussing the ravages of hookworm, refers to the $1,000,000 gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr. to help eradicate the disease – a gift that was announced on October 28, 1909, less than six months before Twain's death.)"
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Excerpt: "Letters From the Earth"
by Mark Twain
Excerpt: "This is a strange place, an extraordinary place, and interesting. There is nothing resembling it at home. The people are all insane, the other animals are all insane, the earth is insane, Nature itself is insane. Man is a marvelous curiosity. When he is at his very very best he is a sort of low grade nickel-plated angel; at his worst he is unspeakable, unimaginable; and first and last and all the time he is a sarcasm. Yet he blandly and in all sincerity calls himself the "noblest work of God." This is the truth I am telling you. And this is not a new idea with him, he has talked it through all the ages, and believed it. Believed it, and found nobody among all his race to laugh at it.
Moreover - if I may put another strain upon you - he thinks he is the Creator's pet. He believes the Creator is proud of him; he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes, and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to Him, and thinks He listens. Isn't it a quaint idea? Fills his prayers with crude and bald and florid flatteries of Him, and thinks He sits and purrs over these extravagancies and enjoys them. He prays for help, and favor, and protection, every day; and does it with hopefulness and confidence, too, although no prayer of his has ever been answered. The daily affront, the daily defeat, do not discourage him, he goes on praying just the same. There is something almost fine about this perseverance. I must put one more strain upon you: he thinks he is going to Heaven!"
Freely download "Letters From the Earth", by Mark Twain, here:
The Poet: Anne Sexton, "Courage"
"Courage"
"It is in the small things we see it.
The child's first step,
as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike,
wallowing up the sidewalk.
The first spanking when your heart
went on a journey all alone.
When they called you crybaby
or poor or fatty or crazy
and made you into an alien,
you drank their acid
and concealed it.
Later,
if you faced the death of bombs and bullets
you did not do it with a banner,
you did it with only a hat to
cover your heart.
You did not fondle the weakness inside you
though it was there.
Your courage was a small coal
that you kept swallowing.
If your buddy saved you
and died himself in so doing,
then his courage was not courage,
it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.
Later,
if you have endured a great despair,
then you did it alone,
getting a transfusion from the fire,
picking the scabs off your heart,
then wringing it out like a sock.
Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,
you gave it a back rub
and then you covered it with a blanket
and after it had slept a while
it woke to the wings of the roses
and was transformed.
Later,
when you face old age and its natural conclusion
your courage will still be shown in the little ways,
each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,
those you love will live in a fever of love,
and you'll bargain with the calendar
and at the last moment
when death opens the back door
you'll put on your carpet slippers
and stride out."
~ Anne Sexton
"What Are The Facts?"
“What are the facts? Again and again and again – what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the un-guessable “verdict of history” – what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!” - Robert A. Heinlein
“It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful ideas from the worthless ones.”
- Carl Sagan
And always remember...
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains,
however improbable, must be the truth."
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "Sherlock Holmes"
Hey, who lied and told you any of this was easy?
"As Americans..."
''As Americans, we must ask ourselves: Are we really so different? Must we stereotype those who disagree with us? Do we truly believe that ALL red-state residents are ignorant racist fascist knuckle-dragging NASCAR-obsessed cousin-marrying roadkill-eating tobacco juice-dribbling gun-fondling religious fanatic rednecks; or that ALL blue-state residents are godless unpatriotic pierced-nose Volvo-driving France-loving left-wing communist latte-sucking tofu-chomping holistic-wacko neurotic vegan weenie perverts?''
- Dave Barry
"One Week To Armageddon?"
"One Week To Armageddon?"
by Died Suddenly
"The investigators at Died Suddenly have received a very concerning piece of intel that we wanted to share with our followers regarding the war in Iran. Over the course of the last 4 years, this same source has given us intel that we have shared that has never once been wrong. Please feel free to pray about this and use discernment in what we are about to share:
America has only one week of missiles left to defend allies in Middle East. Nukes, invasion, and war with Russia all on the table. Joe Kent resigned for one simple reason: He knows the Iran war is going poorly, was started purely by Israel lying and manipulating Trump, and he refuses to lie about those facts publicly. I have spoken to several national security sources and this is the summary of what they have told me.
1) America is one week from exhausting our supply of interceptor missiles, without which we have NO EFFECTIVE MEANS of stopping incoming missiles and drones to Israel, Jordan, Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Iran knows this and has intentionally kept back their biggest, most advanced, and deadly cruise missiles. Attempts by the U.S. to destroy those missile sites have failed and a good portion remain operational and ready to launch. If America cannot protect our allies in the region, they will sue for peace without us. And without protection, Israel will suffer massive casualties. The stockpile is dangerously low from the Trump administration using missiles to defend Israel since the Oct 7 attacks, and the war in Ukraine.
2) The current Supreme Leader of Iran, Mojtaba , survived the decapitation strike and follow on attempts, and has now successfully fled to Russia, where the U.S. is weighing committing another act of war, with Putin, by trying to kill him in Moscow. AI videos or not, Iran will never surrender if they find out they successfully killed or gravely injured Khamenei.
3) America has no good options to end this war, which needed to be finished quickly due to tyranny of variables stacked against the U.S. such as terrain, distance, lack of ground forces, and durability of the Iranian government. Options now being considered are nuclear, and futuristic weapons, like the ones which were deployed in Venezuela, that struck fear into the minds of all our adversaries, the same adversaries now watching in shock and laughter as America falters in this half cocked, expedition against one of the strongest nations in the Middle East.
4) China is weighing an invasion of Taiwan by July of this year, because of the very real distraction and depletion of U.S. military stock piles, troops, and resources, for the Iran conflict.
5) U.S. casualties have easily reached 500, with many injured and dead that have not yet been admitted by the Pentagon. America has lost 4 fixed wing aircraft, more than we’ve lost in 20 years of war combined. The aircraft were not shot down “accidentally” as previously thought. They were downed by sympathizers in the Kuwaiti Air Force. The pilot indeed went rogue, and other fractures in the shaky Middle East alliance are plausible as this war drags on.
Russia and China have been capturing data from the combat operations, and providing satellite and intelligence support to Iran, and as part of this, have cracked the signal communication for America’s B-2 bombers, meaning, one of our primary deployment means for nuclear weapons, previously stealth and untraceable in radar, can now be tracked in flight and shot down, a major blow to nuclear deterrence and MAD threat against other super powers. This war may have effectively “evened the playing field” for China. America’s only options are bad, and Kent knew this when he resigned. Best thing we can do is literally and figuratively “put down the shovel” and stop digging our hole deeper. Cease all combat operations before this escalates into a new world war, and more Americans and allies are killed."
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