Jeremiah Babe, 2/3/24
"Alert! Bankrupt America Is On The Brink Of World War -
Will You Send Your Kids?"
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
Saturday, February 3, 2024
Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Along the High Ridges"
Full screen recommended.
Deuter, "Along the High Ridges"
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Galaxies don't normally look like this. NGC 6745 actually shows the results of two galaxies that have been colliding for only hundreds of millions of years. Just off the above digitally sharpened photograph to the lower right is the smaller galaxy, moving away. The larger galaxy, pictured above, used to be a spiral galaxy but now is damaged and appears peculiar. Gravity has distorted the shapes of the galaxies.
Although it is likely that no stars in the two galaxies directly collided, the gas, dust, and ambient magnetic fields do interact directly. In fact, a knot of gas pulled off the larger galaxy on the lower right has now begun to form stars. NGC 6745 spans about 80 thousand light-years across and is located about 200 million light-years away."
"Every Day..."
“Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans to gain or maintain power. What is more, those who choose not to empathize may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it through our own apathy. If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”
– J. K. Rowling, Harvard Commencement, June 5, 2008
“Mirror Neurons: Mirrors In Your Brain”
“Mirror Neurons: Mirrors In Your Brain”
by Casey Kazan
“A recent paradigm-shattering discovery in neuroscience shows how our minds share actions, emotions, and experience - what we commonly call "the monkey see, monkey do" experience. When we see someone laugh, cry, show disgust, or experience pain, in some sense, we share that emotion. When we see someone in distress, we share that distress. When we see a great actor, musician or sportsperson perform at the peak of their abilities, it can feel like we are experiencing just something of what they are experiencing.
Only recently, however, with the discover of mirror neurons, has it become clear just how this powerful sharing of experience is realized within the human brain. In the early 1990's Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues at the University of Parma discovered that some neurons had an amazing property: they responded not only when a subject performed a given action, but also when the subject observed someone else performing that same action. These results had a deep impact on cognitive neuroscience, leading the the world's leading experts to predict that 'mirror neurons would do for psychology what DNA did for biology'.
Vilayanur Ramachandran is a neurologist at the University of California-San Diego and co-author of "Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind" writes that "Giacomo Rizzolatti at the University of Parma has elegantly explored the properties of neurons- the so-called "mirror" neurons, or "monkey see, monkey do" neurons. His research indicates that any given cell in this region will fire when a test monkey performs a single, highly specific action with its hand: pulling, pushing, tugging, picking up, grasping, etc. In addition, it appears that different neurons fire in response to different actions."
The astonishing fact is that any given mirror neuron will also fire when the monkey in question observes another monkey (or even the experimenter) performing the same action. "With knowledge of these neurons, you have the basis for understanding a host of very enigmatic aspects of the human mind: imitation learning, intentionality, "mind reading," empathy- even the evolution of language." Ramachandran writes.
"Anytime you watch someone else doing something (or even starting to do something), the corresponding mirror neuron might fire in your brain, thereby allowing you to "read" and understand another's intentions, and thus to develop a sophisticated "theory of other minds."
Mirror neurons may also help explain the emergence of language, a problem that has puzzled scholars since the time of Charles Darwin, he adds. "Is language ability based on a specially purposed language organ that emerged suddenly 'out of the blue,' as suggested by Noam Chomsky and his disciples? Or did language evolve from an earlier, gesture-based protolanguage? No one knows for sure, but a key piece of the puzzle is Rizzolatti's observation that the ventral premotor area may be a homologue of "Broca's area"- a brain center associated with the expressive and syntactic aspects of language. Rizzolatti and Michael Arbib of the University of Southern California suggest that mirror neurons may also be involved in miming lip and tongue movements, an ability that may present the crucial missing link between vision and language."
To test his idea, Ramachandran tested four Broca's aphasia patients - individuals with lesions in their Broca's areas. He presented them with the sound of the syllable "da," spliced to a videotape of a person whose lips were actually producing the sound "ba." Normally, people hear the "da" as "ba" - the so-called "McGurk effect" - because vision dominates over hearing. To his surprise, he writes, "we found that the Broca's patients did not experience this illusion; they heard the syllable correctly as 'da.' Even though their lesions were located in the left frontal region of their brains, they had a visual problem- they ignored the lip movements. Our patients also had great difficulty with simple lip reading. This experiment provides a link between Rizzolatti's mirror neurons and the evolution of human language, and thus it calls into question the strictly modular view of language, which is currently popular."
Based on his research, Ramachandran predicted that mirror neurons will do for psychology what DNA did for biology: "they will provide a unifying framework and possibly even explain a host of mental abilities that have hitherto remained mysterious and inaccessible to experiments."
- http://www.dailygalaxy.com/
o
Related:
"The Mind's Mirror", Excerpts
"For years, such experiences have puzzled psychologists, neuroscientists and philosophers, who've wondered why we react at such a gut level to other people's actions. How do we understand, so immediately and instinctively, their thoughts, feelings and intentions?"
"The mirror neurons could help explain how and why we "read" other people's minds and feel empathy for them. If watching an action and performing that action can activate the same parts of the brain in monkeys - down to a single neuron - then it makes sense that watching an action and performing an action could also elicit the same feelings in people."
"This neural mechanism is involuntary and automatic," he says. "With it we don't have to think about what other people are doing or feeling, we simply know. It seems we're wired to see other people as similar to us, rather than different," Gallese says. "At the root, as humans we identify the person we're facing as someone like ourselves."
Full article is here:
The Poet: William Stafford, ”Today”
”Today”
“The ordinary miracles begin. Somewhere
a signal arrives: “Now,” and the rays
come down. A tomorrow has come. Open
your hands, lift them: morning rings
all the doorbells; porches are cells for prayer.
Religion has touched your throat. Not the same now,
you could close your eyes and go on full of light.
And it is already begun, the chord
that will shiver glass, the song full of time
bending above us. Outside, a sign:
a bird intervenes; the wings tell the air,
“Be warm.” No one is out there, but a giant
has passed through town, widening streets, touching
the ground, shouldering away the stars.”
- William Stafford
"Few Really Ask..."
“Very few beings really seek knowledge in this world – few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds – justifications, confirmations, forms of consolation without which they can’t go on. To really ask is to open the door to a whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner.”
- Anne Rice, “The Vampire Lestat”
"The Right Time Will Never Come"
"The Right Time Will Never Come"
by Paul Rosenberg
"Lots of good people are frustrated with the world, and I understand that only too well. They are, furthermore, eager for the world to improve, and I respect that a great deal. Their problem arises, however, right on the heels of these desires, when they ask the question, “What should I do?” And that’s where the wheels fall off.
All the Popular Answers Are Wrong: The world is full of people who are glad to tell you what to do. They have elaborate arguments as to why their plan is the right one and why everyone else’s is wrong. They’ll encourage you to commit to them, and they’ll try to surround you with people who have already chosen their plan. If you join, you’ll get lots of pats on the back and assurances that you’re a good person. But all those ways are wrong. They offer you fast, cheap self-esteem. They offer you a fast track to feeling useful, important, and wanted. And all you have to do is join their very pleasant crowd.
Let me make this very clear: There is no blueprint for freedom. There will be no great plan to follow. People who say they have such a thing, while they may be well-meaning, bright, and even respectable, are moving in the wrong direction. (And I truly don’t mean to criticize here; we’ve all made our mistakes.) Here’s the core of the issue: If we want a world that is safe for individuals, we’ll have to create it as individuals, not as groups. Groups beget after their own kind, and individuals beget after their own kind.
I’m not the first person to decide this, by the way; here’s what Albert Schweitzer had to say on the subject many years ago: "The unnatural way of spreading ideas must be opposed by the natural one, which goes from man to man and relies solely on the truth of the thoughts and the hearer’s receptiveness for new truth."
The Easiest Thing to Do: Following someone else’s plan is the easy way. It saves us from responsibility. It allows us to deflect the blame, at least a little, if later we’re found to be wrong. This easy way, however, is a wrong way. There’s a great line from Steven Stills’s song, “The Southern Cross,” that goes like this:
"And we never failed to fail;
it was the easiest thing to do."
It will always be the easiest thing to go downward into servitude. That is the current condition of the world, with its dominance-obsessed and status-worshiping inertia. You can go downward quickly by handing your will to the status quo, or you can go slowly by standing still. But until you act, solely upon your own judgment, you’re not going to go upward.
Are You Saying…? Yes, I’m saying that you have to make your own decision, all alone, and that you have to raise the courage to start acting upon it by yourself, with no leader telling you the best choice, with no famous author guiding you, and with no authority sanctifying the path for you. You’ll have to choose, all by yourself. And you’ll have to face all the fears that hold you back from stepping out… you’ll have to push past them… you’ll have to make your own legs start walking. That, my friends, is the price of progress… and we each have to pay it, or not pay it, alone.
We Should Act Without a Plan? Emphatically yes. The central issue here is not following a plan, but dragging ourselves out of stasis and taking some kind of initiative. Unless you’re making some kind of wild, destructive choice, almost any choice you make is a good one. Your central necessity is to unfreeze yourself and start moving. Once you’re in motion, it’s easy to correct your course. But if you never move, you’ll just keep sliding down the majority’s path, regardless of how much you complain.
In our time, most of the good people in the world remain motionless. We complain about our local fiefdom’s abuses, of course, but that’s about all. That’s the seduction of “democracy,” you see: It magically turns complaints into progress. Except that the magic of democracy never really shows up. Still, it’s the easiest thing to do. And so we complain and we wait, but we do not act.
But again: There’s never going to be a perfect plan and there’s never going to be a right time. If you wait for them, you’ll wait forever. So, pick a spot and start. You probably already have choices in mind: Bitcoin, homeschooling, intentional communities, agorism, becoming a perpetual traveler, or something else. Whatever it is, get moving: your central necessity is to face the fear and to act anyway. And if you’d like to know my favorite choice, here it is: Sit at bus stops or train stations and talk to people. You can do that at almost any time and any place.
Who Happens to Whom? In other words, “Who acts, and who is acted upon?” As an old coworker of mine used to say, “He who hesitates is lost.” If you wait, you’ll be acted upon. And then you’ll have to re-form your plan, and you’ll hesitate again. And then you’ll be acted upon again… over and over, until you’re too old to do much of anything.
The ‘right time’ never comes. Either we let the world happen to us, or we transcend our fears and we happen to the world. So, I propose a simple motto for people who have courage enough to break stasis: The world doesn’t happen to us. We happen to the world."
Canadian Prepper, "NATO Plan Leaked! Will Enter Ukraine In 2024; Anti-Radiation Shelters Built"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 2/3/24
"NATO Plan Leaked! Will Enter Ukraine In 2024;
Anti-Radiation Shelters Built"
Comments here:
"Douglas Macgregor: Ukraine Just Surrendered & Russia Has Just Won The War!"
Full screen recommended
Vehicle Tech, 2/3/24
"Douglas Macgregor: Ukraine Just Surrendered
& Russia Has Just Won The War!"
"In this video,we go deep into Douglas Macgregor's astounding revelation about Ukraine's defeat and Russia's victory in the current battle. Join us as we examine the implications of this unexpected turn of events, the geopolitical ramifications, and the roles of important international parties in this fast changing situation.
Our debate begins with a comprehensive overview of the Ukrainian war, tracing its roots back to Ukraine's desire for deeper connections with the European Union and Russia's subsequent annexation of Crimea in 2014. We'll look at how this battle has progressed over time, resulting in thousands of casualties and millions of displaced people, all leading up to Douglas Macgregor's bombshell discovery.
We will go deeply into the ramifications of Ukraine's surrender, focusing on crucial terms such as territorial changes, humanitarian crises, and geopolitical situation. Our experts will examine the probable reconfiguration of Ukraine's boundaries, the problems created by the humanitarian catastrophe, and the broader ramifications for international politics.
The argument over Ukraine's submission will also be a prominent feature of our conversation, with topics including diplomacy, sovereignty, and international relations. We'll look at the various perspectives on whether Ukraine's capitulation is a pragmatic decision or a violation of its sovereignty, as well as how diplomacy might play a critical role in moulding the outcome.
Our video will illustrate the importance of key international actors, such as the United States, the European Union, and Russia, in defining Ukraine's destiny. Keywords such as international recognition, economic reconstruction, and security issues will be thoroughly examined, offering light on the situation's intricacies and future challenges.
As we discuss Ukraine's future, we'll cover topics including domestic reconciliation, relations with Russia, and the role of Donbas in post-surrender negotiations. We will emphasize the importance of Ukraine's unity, the changing relationship with Russia, and the necessity for economic recovery and stability.
Join us in this fascinating and thought-provoking video as we examine the deep implications of Ukraine's surrender and Russia's success in the current conflict. We will give you with in-depth research, expert viewpoints, and a complete comprehension of the major terms that define this watershed moment in history. Don't pass up this opportunity to remain up to date on the most recent geopolitical happenings in Eastern Europe."
Comments here:
o
In the absolute tsunami of lies we're given this may or may not be true:
"CLAIM: Ukraine’s president has surrendered and his country has fallen to Russia’s prolonged invasion.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not surrender as social media posts claimed on Saturday, and the country remains at war with Russia. In a Sunday interview, Zelenskyy rejected the idea of peace negotiations and dismissed the notion that the two sides were locked in a stalemate."
The verified fact of 500,000 dead Ukrainians soldiers makes
surrender inevitable. There are no other "what" options, only when.
"Neocons Launch Wider Middle East War on Iran And the US Will Lose"
Full screen recommended
Pepe Escobar, 2/3/24
"Neocons Launch Wider Middle East War
on Iran And the US Will Lose"
"Journalist and geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar reacts to the latest launch to war by the neocons, this time in the Middle East where Biden's planned military operation runs up against fierce opposition from key forces in the region such as Yemen and Iran. This video breaks down where this is headed."
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "It's All Fairytales and Big Lies"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 2/3/24
"It's All Fairytales and Big Lies"
"We were just told that the job numbers were absolutely off the charts. They were double what they were supposed to be. Plus, your wages are up and you’re making more money than ever. Lie after lie."
Comments here:
"8 Signs That Demonstrate How Truly Bizarre Our Society Is Becoming"
"8 Signs That Demonstrate How
Truly Bizarre Our Society Is Becoming"
by Michael Snyder
"In “The Wizard of Oz”, at one point Dorothy tells her dog that she has “a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore”. She had been dropped in a strange new world that was crazier than anything she had ever imagined. Needless to say, many of us feel the exact same way. We’re not in the America that we grew up in anymore. Instead, we now live in a country that appears to be a cross between a really bad science fiction movie and a freak show. Sadly, the pace of change has now reached an exponential rate, and things will get even more insane during the years that are ahead of us. The following are 8 signs that demonstrate how truly bizarre our society is becoming…
#1 Facial recognition technology is now being implemented on a widespread basis. For example, the official TSA website is openly admitting that the TSA is starting to use facial scanning technology at airports nationwide…
TSA introduced facial recognition technology into the screening process at select airports. The facial recognition technology represents a significant security enhancement and improves traveler convenience. A traveler may voluntarily agree to use their face to verify their identity during the screening process by presenting their physical identification or passport. The facial recognition technology TSA uses helps ensure the person standing at the checkpoint is the same person pictured on the identification document (ID) credential. Photos are not stored or saved after a positive ID match has been made, except in a limited testing environment for evaluation of the effectiveness of the technology.
The agency is using second-generation Credential Authentication Technology (CAT-2) scanners as travelers enter the screening process. This technology assists Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) in verifying the authenticity of a traveler’s ID credential, as well as their flight status and vetting status. TSOs must direct all passengers to the proper lane, either TSA PreCheck® screening, standard screening, or enhanced screening. The CAT-2 units are currently deployed at nearly 30 airports nationwide, and will expand to the more than 400 federalized airports over the coming years.
#2 The elite want to make national borders meaningless, and that is quickly becoming the case. So many people from foreign countries have moved into the Twin Cities area in Minnesota that authorities are being forced to put up signs explaining that peeing, pooping and rape are not allowed while riding public transportation…"Peeing and pooping while riding on Metro Transit vehicles falls under the “illegal” category, according to the signs. “Transit property is not a public restroom,” the new rules read. They also explain to riders that sexual assault is illegal. “Sexual contact without consent is forbidden,” the rules state.
#3 Do you remember Michael Cassidy? He was the guy that beheaded the statue of Satan at the Iowa Capitol, and now he is being charged with a hate crime…"Michael Cassidy has been charged with a hate crime for beheading a statue of Satan at the Iowa Capitol. Cassidy drove up to Iowa after the Satanic display was erected in the state capitol and took it down. He will be arraigned on February 15. Polk County prosecutors charged Cassidy with felony third-degree criminal mischief, saying that he acted “in violation of individual rights” under Iowa’s hate crime statue, the Des Moines Register reports."
#4 In Montana, one family just had their 14-year-old daughter permanently taken away from them because they wouldn’t allow her to transition to a different gender…"A Montana mom and dad who lost custody of their daughter after they refused to transition her gender have told DailyMail.com the ordeal ‘has torn their family apart.’ Krista Kolstad revealed the family’s nightmare began when they received a call that their 14-year-old daughter Jennifer told friends at school that she wanted to commit suicide in August 2023.
Later that night, Child Protective Services (CPS) went to the Kolstad’s home in Glasgow to inspect the house and interview Jennifer, later determining that she needed to transition to get better. Republican Governor Greg Gianforte was confronted about this case, and he is actually defending the decision.
#5 Sticking with Montana, it is being reported that a “bioagent superlab” in the state is doing experiments with “Ebola, Lassa fever, Nipah, and even the plague”…"Distressing new images show animals being infected with deadly pathogens at a US lab with ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Photos and footage obtained by watchdog White Coat Waste show scientists at the Rocky Mountain Lab sedating monkeys and pigs – and carrying out experiments with deadly viruses. White Coat Waste has described the lab as a “bioagent superlab” that infects animals with highly contagious and deadly diseases – such as Ebola, Lassa fever, Nipah, and even the plague.
#6 During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Ted Cruz asked Mark Zuckerberg why Instagram users are given the option to “see results anyway” when attempting to pull up images of child sexual abuse… He then held a blown-up screenshot of an Instagram prompt that asks users if they want to ‘get resources’ or ‘see results anyway’ when browsing harmful images. The warning read ‘these results may contain images of child sexual abuse’, with an explanation underneath.
‘You gave users two choices: “Get resources or see results anyway”,’ Cruz said, speaking directly to the Meta founder. ‘Mr. Zuckerberg, what the hell were you thinking?’, barely pausing long enough for the Meta founder to respond.
#7 We have been warned for a long time that a cashless society is coming, but now we have reached a point where thousands of businesses all over the United States have already gone cashless…"Aaron Bateman pulled out a few $20 bills to pay for a taco lunch in the nation’s capital. To his surprise, his money was no good in the city where money is printed. Surfside, a popular 24-hour Mexican eatery, doesn’t take cash. No cash means no register for robbers to empty out, no bills for workers to slip into their pockets and no change counting holding up lines.
The global cashless movement has reached Washington, where a growing number of fast-casual and other establishments are saying no to greenbacks in favor of plastic and mobile payments. Sweetgreen, the national salad chain, went cashless in most of its locations last year. Other cashless spots include a frozen yogurt shop downtown, a posh wine bar and a beer store.
#8 Would you allow someone to put a computer chip in your head? Well, it is really starting to happen. This week, we learned that the very first “brain chip” has been implanted in a human subject…"Elon Musk announced that his company Neuralink implanted a brain chip in a human in a preliminary clinical study. If research studies continue to look promising, devices like these could one day be a “game changer” for people with limited motor function, experts told ABC News. Neuralink says its goal is to help people living with debilitating conditions, including paralysis, communicate and control external devices with their thoughts. The patient who received the implant is “recovering well,” Musk said in a post on X Tuesday."
What do all of these eight things have in common? Each one of them shows that the agenda of the elite is rapidly advancing. We are living in a society that they are designing for their twisted purposes and that represents their twisted values. The good news is that we live at a time when all of their plans and programs will soon come crashing down. The elite will not succeed in creating the world that they so desperately desire, and evil will not triumph in the end."
Friday, February 2, 2024
"Emergency Alert! The War Has Begun, There's No Turning Back! Iran Drops A Bombshell; WW3 Leak; Samson Option"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 2/2/24
"Emergency Alert! The War Has Begun, There's No Turning Back!
Iran Drops A Bombshell; WW3 Leak; Samson Option"
Comments here:
Jeremiah Babe, "Alert! Major War Brewing, We Never Learn"
Jeremiah Babe, 2/2/24
"Alert! Major War Brewing, We Never Learn"
Comments here:
"Housing Crash Is Coming! Mortgage Rate Is About To Pop The Housing Bubble"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist 2/2/24
"Housing Crash Is Coming!
Mortgage Rate Is About To Pop The Housing Bubble"
"The housing market is in terrible shape. Not even the highest mortgage rates in nearly 23 years - can stop the continued climb of home prices. In case you haven't realized, affordability has never been worse. People can't afford to buy a home, and they can't afford to rent a home. However, throughout history, there has always been a boom and bust cycle throughout the real estate market, and at some point within this year, there might be another crash. BE PREPARED FOR STARVATION…"
Comments here:
"A Look to the Heavens"
"These are galaxies of the Hercules Cluster, an archipelago of island universes a mere 500 million light-years away. Also known as Abell 2151, this cluster is loaded with gas and dust rich, star-forming spiral galaxies but has relatively few elliptical galaxies, which lack gas and dust and the associated newborn stars. The colors in this remarkably deep composite image clearly show the star forming galaxies with a blue tint and galaxies with older stellar populations with a yellowish cast.
The sharp picture spans about 3/4 degree across the cluster center, corresponding to over 6 million light-years at the cluster's estimated distance. Diffraction spikes around brighter foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy are produced by the imaging telescope's mirror support vanes. In the cosmic vista many galaxies seem to be colliding or merging while others seem distorted - clear evidence that cluster galaxies commonly interact. In fact, the Hercules Cluster itself may be seen as the result of ongoing mergers of smaller galaxy clusters and is thought to be similar to young galaxy clusters in the much more distant, early Universe. "
Chet Raymo, “Very, Very, Very, Very, Very...”
“Very, Very, Very, Very, Very...”
by Chet Raymo
"In a short story that was published posthumously in the New Yorker, the inestimable Primo Levi meditated on the limits of language. The story was called “The Tranquil Star.” He writes "The star was very big and very hot, and its weight was enormous," and realizes immediately that the adjectives have failed him: “For a discussion of stars our language is inadequate and seems laughable, as if someone were trying to plow with a feather. It's a language that was born with us, suitable for describing objects more or less as large and long-lasting as we are; it has our dimensions, it's human. It doesn't go beyond what our senses tell us.
Until fairly recently in human history, there was nothing smaller than a scabies mite, writes Levi, and therefore no adjective to describe it. Nothing bigger than the sea or sky. Nothing hotter than fire. We can add modifiers: very big, very small, very hot. Or use adjectives of dubious superlativeness: enormous, colossal, extraordinary. But, really, these feeble stretchings of language don't take us very far in grasping the very, very, very extraordinarily diminutive or spectacularly colossal dimensions of atomic matter or cosmic space and time. We can overcome the limitations of language, Levi say, "only with a violent effort of the imagination."
I spent more than forty years trying to find ways to violently stretch the imaginations of my students (and myself) to accommodate the dimensions of the universe revealed by science. I would project onto a huge screen a photograph of a firestorm on the Sun, then superimpose a scale-sized Earth, which fit comfortably inside a loop of solar fire. I would take the class into the College Quad here near Boston, where I had set up a basketball to represent the Sun, then gathered 100 feet away with a pinhead Earth; we walked together with our pin in the great annual journey of the Earth, and looked through a telescope at the marble-sized Jupiter than I had previously installed at the other end of the long Quad (the next closest star system would have been a couple of basketballs in Hawaii). We walked geologic timelines that took us from one end of the campus to the other.
In one of my Globe essays I used this analogy: “Imagine the human DNA as a strand of sewing thread. On this scale, the DNA in the 23 pairs of chromosomes in a typical human cell would be about 150 miles long, with about 600 nucleotide pairs per inch. That is, the DNA in a single cell is equivalent to 1000 spools of sewing thread, representing two copies of the genetic code. Take all that thread - the 1000 spools worth - and crumple it into 46 wads (the chromosomes). Stuff the wads into a shoe box (the cell nucleus) along with - oh, say enough chicken soup to fill the box. Toss the shoe box into a steamer trunk (the cell), and fill the rest of the trunk with more soup. Take the steamer trunk with its contents and shrink it down to an invisibly small object, smaller than the point of a pin. Multiply that tiny object by a trillion and you have the trillion cells of the human body, each with its full complement of DNA.”
Or this description from 'Waking Zero': “The track of the Prime Meridian across England from Peace Haven in the south to the mouth of the River Humber in the north is nearly 200 miles. If that distance is taken to represent the 13.7 billion year history of the universe, as we understand it today, then all of recorded human history is less than a single step. The entire story I have told in this book, from the Alexandrian astronomers and geographers to the present-day astronomers who launch telescopes into space, would fit neatly into a single footprint. If the 200 miles of the meridian track is taken to represent the distance to the most distant objects we observe with our telescopes, then a couple of steps would take us across the Milky Way Galaxy. A mote of dust from my shoe is large enough to contain not only our own solar system but many neighboring stars.”
But as hard as one tries, the scale of these things escape us. If one could truly comprehend what we are seeing when we look, say, at the Hubble Ultra Deep Field Photo above, which I have done my best to convey to myself and others in a dozen ways, it would surely shake to the core some of our most cherished beliefs. Just as our language is contrived on a human scale, so too are our gods.” - http://blog.sciencemusings.com/
"Time To Move On..."
“How do the geese know when to fly to the sun? Who tells them the seasons? How do we, humans, know when it is time to move on? As with the migrant birds, so surely with us; there is a voice within, if only we would listen to it, that tells us so certainly when to go forth into the unknown.”
- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Bill Bonner, "Artificial Information"
"Artificial Information"
Fake brains, crazy numbers and wishful thinking...
by Bill Bonner
Youghal, Ireland - "Have you watched Taylor Swift en flagrante, naked as a jaybird, performing lewd sex acts? We haven’t either. But it’s all over the internet, in AI-enhanced, fake porn.
Investors are so excited – about the financial possibilities, of course – they believe Nvidia (makers of AI chips) is worth 33 times SALES. To put that in perspective, you have to stand way back…a quarter of a century back. There were 28 ‘dot.com’ businesses selling for more than 10 times sales back then. Today, there are 38.
Such prices show a level of faith in the future that is not only extraordinary, but insane. Death will have no dominion. No one will ever stub his toe. And beer will not go flat. At 33 times sales, in order to earn back the purchase price, you’d have to pay out 100% of SALES until 2057.
But it imagines that revenues come without cos…as if the company paid no wages, no overhead, no taxes, no parking fees, no travel, no business lunches or memberships, no advertising, heating, air conditioning, charitable contributions, legal fees, R&D, bonuses, consulting contracts or any other expense of any other kind. And not just one year…but for 33 years!
Crazy Numbers: It also assumes that there will be no competitors to steal Nvidia’s customers and arbitrage away its profits…nor will there be any tech advances that turn Nvidia’s promising new tech into yesterday’s discarded old tech. In short, it assumes a world unlike our own.
This point was made by Scott McNealy when his firm, Sun Microsystems, was trading over 10 times sales back in the Dot.com days: "Do you realize how ridiculous those basic assumptions are? You don’t need any transparency. You don’t need any footnotes. What were you thinking?That’s right, you don’t need a financial analyst, accountant, or a Wall Street psychic. The numbers speak for themselves. And they say: ‘this is crazy.’"
This week, we looked at why the Information Revolution has been such a flop. In summary, any information above and beyond what you really need when you really need it, is a liability, not an asset. It must be assayed, sorted and stored – at the expense of your time and money. The internet consumed an enormous amount of time and gave back little – other than distraction, entertainment, and misinformation – in return.
So, along comes AI. Its promise is that it will tell you what’s true or false, real or fake…naughty or nice. That’s why Nvidia stock is so expensive. People think AI will free us from the tyranny of the Information Age. Ask anything…and it shall be delivered unto you.
The Fake Brain: We asked AI-powered ChatGPT what it considered the great promise of AI. Readers may want to skip over this, but here’s the answer from AI’s fake brain:
• "AI is considered important for several reasons, and its potential impact on the human race is significant. Here are some key reasons why AI is considered crucial and how it can benefit humanity:
• Automation and Efficiency: AI has the ability to automate repetitive tasks, allowing humans to focus on more creative, strategic, and complex activities. This can lead to increased efficiency in various industries, reducing errors and improving overall productivity.
• Problem Solving: AI systems can analyze large datasets and complex patterns to identify solutions and make predictions. This can be valuable in fields such as healthcare, finance, and research, where AI can help discover insights that may be challenging for humans to uncover.
• Innovation: AI technologies have the potential to drive innovation across various sectors. From self-driving cars to personalized medicine, AI can contribute to the development of new technologies and solutions that enhance our daily lives.
• Assistance in Decision Making: AI can provide valuable insights and data analysis to support decision-making processes. This is particularly beneficial in areas like business, healthcare, and finance, where informed decisions are crucial.
• Accessibility and Inclusivity: AI has the potential to create more inclusive solutions by addressing challenges and providing assistance to people with disabilities. For example, AI-powered technologies can help individuals with visual impairments navigate their surroundings or access information.
• Scientific Advancements: AI can accelerate scientific research by processing vast amounts of data, simulating experiments, and identifying potential areas for exploration. This can lead to breakthroughs in fields such as medicine, climate science, and materials science.
• Addressing Global Challenges: AI can be applied to tackle some of the most pressing global challenges, including climate change, poverty, and healthcare. It can help optimize resource allocation, improve disaster response, and contribute to sustainable development.
• Personalization and User Experience: AI can enhance user experiences by personalizing content and services based on individual preferences and behaviors. This is evident in recommendation systems, virtual assistants, and personalized learning platforms.
However, it's essential to approach the development and deployment of AI responsibly, considering ethical implications, privacy concerns, and potential biases. Striking a balance between harnessing the benefits of AI and addressing associated challenges is crucial for ensuring its positive impact on the human race."
Sounds like blah, blah to us.
A.I. BS: AI is a tool. It will be useful to some. Some will use it to save time (thereby increasing productivity.) Some will use it to waste time and talent. On balance, it will probably do more harm than good, but who knows?
Here’s Laurie Segall on CNN, gushing about the risks: "We are in an era where it’s not just our data that’s up for grabs, it’s our most intimate qualities: Our voices, our faces, our bodies can all now be mimicked by AI. Put simply: Our humanity is a click away from being used against us."
And if it can happen to Swift, it can happen to you. We rate the odds that it can happen to us as pretty low. But we don’t want to find out otherwise. We might have some ‘splaining’ to do.
But don’t worry. Congress is on the case. And here – like supporting unnecessary wars and spending non-existent money – is where Republicans and Democrats come together. At this week’s hearing in Washington, Josh Hawley, Laphonza Butler, Marsha Blackburn, Amy Klobuchar and Lindsey Graham all got to grandstand…letting the voters know that their hearts and minds, if they had any, were in the right place. Yes, they may support wholesale massacres in other parts of the world, but here at home they don’t want anyone harmed by social media. It sounded like the kind of BS you’d get from AI.
But if any group of people could make social media, and AI, even less appealing than it already is – they’re the ones to do it. “You don’t care about people; you care about profits,” said Ms. Blackburn to Mark Zuckerberg, providing insight. “Does your user agreement still suck,” asked Mr. Kennedy, providing humor.
“I’m so tired of this,” said Ms. Klobuchar. “It’s been 28 years … since the start of the internet. We haven’t passed any of these bills [to ignore the First Amendment in order to regulate and control social media]…, because everyone’s ‘double talk, double talk.’ It’s time to actually pass them.”
So it went. And wait for it. AI-powered mischief makers will soon have a deepfake image of Senator Graham saying something truly, appallingly stupid. And how will we know the difference?"
Adventures With Danno, "Empty Shelves At Dollar Tree!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 2/2/24
"Empty Shelves At Dollar Tree!
This Is Not Good! What's Coming?"
"In today's vlog, we are at Dollar Tree and are noticing empty shelves everywhere! This is not good as we continue to see many items disappear at many Dollar Tree stores."
Comments here:
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Dan, I Allegedly, "Is The Next Black Swan Here?"
Dan, I Allegedly 2/2/24
"Is The Next Black Swan Here?"
"The man that called the 2008 global housing debacle has come out to tell us that the next black Swan is here. It is the massive debt that’s about to explode. This looks ominous."
Comments here:
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"The US Has A $6 Trillion Problem
Over The Next Twelve Months"
by James Hickman
Excerpt: "Yesterday the Treasury Department announced that they expected to increase the national debt by a whopping $760 billion this quarter alone… and another $202 billion next quarter. In short that means almost $1 trillion added to the national debt just in the first half of this year. And, again, these are the Treasury Department’s own estimates. Obviously, that’s a pretty horrible result; even a senior Treasury official acknowledged that they have “significantly increased” their bond sales and the national debt. Not that they’re doing anything to stop the trend.
But there’s an even greater risk that the Treasury Department faces this year that is hardly being discussed anywhere. Over the next twelve months, more than $6 trillion in existing US government debt is set to mature… and will need to be paid back somehow.
So, to give you an example, back in 2014, the federal government issued $264 billion in 10-year Treasury notes. Well, it’s now 2024, i.e. ten years later. Meaning that $264 billion worth of 10-year notes issued in 2014 will become due and payable this year.
In 2017, they issued $368.8 billion worth of 7-year notes. And those 7-year notes issued in 2017 are due and payable this year.
You get the idea. The point is that the total sum of Treasury Bonds, Notes, and Bills outstanding that will become due and payable this year exceeds $6 trillion. So, in ADDITION to the $1 trillion in NEW debt that they’re forecasting just in the first six months of 2024, the Treasury Department is also going to have to pay back $6 trillion of existing debt.
Naturally the Treasury Department doesn’t have $6 trillion lying around to pay back its bondholders. So instead of paying anyone back, they just borrow new money to repay the old money. Now, this doesn’t actually increase the national debt. If they borrow $6 trillion in new bonds, but then pay back $6 trillion in old bonds, the net change to the debt is ZERO. So, what’s the problem?"
Full article here:
Gregory Mannarino, "Be Ready - They Will Kill Millions!"
Gregory Mannarino, 2/2/24
"Be Ready - They Will Kill Millions!
On The Eve Of Another War"
Comments here:
Free Download: Erich Maria Remarque, “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Ask her if it was worth it...
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“You still think it's beautiful to die for your country. The first bombardment
taught us better. When it comes to dying for country, it's better not to die at all.”
“We have lost all feeling for one another. We can hardly control ourselves when our glance lights on the form of some other man. We are insensible, dead men, who through some trick, some dreadful magic, are still able to run and to kill.”
- "Paul Baumer", "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930)
Freely download “All Quiet on the Western Front”, by Erich Maria Remarque, here:
- http://explainallquietonthewesternfront.weebly.com/
- http://explainallquietonthewesternfront.weebly.com/
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Jim Kunstler, "War Delirium"
"War Delirium"
by Jim Kunstler
"Pity the poor president. “Joe Biden” must decide now whether to go to war with Iran or Texas. Which will it be? Or might it be both? That Governor Abbot turns out to be the Putin of the purple sage! How does he dare interfere with the orderly flow of new voters - fine people! - across that filthy little river of his? Does he not understand that we need at least a couple million more live bodies allocated around the swing states to ensure a free and fair election?
What does Hunter (“the smartest person I know”) make of Dad’s quandary, I wonder. With enough eau-de-coca on-board, Hunter must think in Biblical terms... great flowing Jacobean passages of elevated language: "In my father’s house are many mansions: Verily, verily, I say unto you, somewhere there is a room I left that little baggie in, but where? The works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Dad."
Well, forget Hunter. Everybody else has, thank goodness, at least for now. Let’s face it: having a rage-filled addict in the family is tiresome. Anyway, Merrick Garland has got him covered with “an on-going investigation.” (Questions? Sorry, can’t answer any.)
“Joe Biden,” in his on-going delirium-of-age wanders from room to room in the empty mansion that is his mind. "How did I get in this room?" he wonders. "And how do I get out of it? Can somebody please point the way?" Alas, his position is the loneliest in the world. There is no one to point the way out. There is only this ceaseless wandering from room to room in this vast emptiness. Where is the room with Texas in it? The room where Iran sleeps? The room where Ukraine lies a’gasp with a sucking chest wound? Watch out, he’ll start shouting soon. Calling Dr. Jill: Code Blue!
The world may be a disaster these days, but the White House is a bigger disaster. Can you name the White House chief of staff? Betcha can’t. Know why? He never, ever comes out and speaks to that mob in the press room. He might have to answer some difficult questions, such as: if the president’s brain is switched off more than half the time, who decides what to do with that ‘nuclear football’ they carry around with him. Is it...you? By the way, the chief of staff’s name is Jeff Zients. Ever heard him? Of course not. He has a page on “X”. The most recent thing he posted was July, 25, 2023. Good thing not much has happened since then.
The question then: should “Joe Biden” just go ahead and nuke Texas? “JB” is thinking: What good is the place with that Putin wannabe running it? Buncha cattle and those ridiculous hats! The official head-gear of white supremacy! Probably millions of them down there, clutching their beloved guns! I’ve got news for you. Wanna play hardball? We’ve got F-16s. Try shooting one of those Vipers down with your 30-ought-6 when it’s coming in low over Plano on after-burners at eleven hundred miles an hour, bristling with Sidewinder missiles. Anyway, for a nice strip steak, go to Kansas City. Fuggedabowt Texas. Kaboom! Not a joke!
As for Iran...another $6-billion could keep them quiet for a while. Turns out that mullahs really like money. Do you know how many virgins you can buy for $6-billion here on Planet Earth? Why blow yourself up for them? Especially since you don’t know for a hundred percent sure that there is a place called heaven, or that it’s mainly a seraglio? By the way, why does our country (that’d be the USA) have all these little military outposts scattered around the desert wastelands of Jordan, Syria, and other lands of the Middle East? Did the one called Tower Two that got blown up a few days ago have a target painted on it? Might as well have. You think the “other side” doesn’t have satellite imagery of the terrain? Kind of looks like we’re asking for trouble. And, also by the way, how come two of the three US soldiers killed there were girls? Is that how we do war these days? With a girlie army? Who actually thinks that’s going to work?
Apparently, “Joe Biden.” Be advised: there is chatter coming out of this mysterious White House about bringing back the military draft. Remember what that is, Boomers? Remember Country Joe and the Fish singing: “Be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box.” That was back in the Vietnam days. Fifty-thousand-plus KIA. Only now we’ll be drafting girls (and probably some boys who want to be girls). I guess we’ll figure out now how gung-ho Gen Z really is.
You didn’t ask, but things are not going so well in our remote-control war in Ukraine against Russia (Putinland). Our Zelensky team (we own it) got completely rope-a-doped, punched itself out, its knees are buckling. Victoria Nuland, the renowned State Department girlie war-hawk, says she’s confident that Congress will pass the new $61 billion aid package for the Z-team, according to Radio Free Europe, the blob’s official propaganda outlet. The blob wants you to think that Putin wants to turn all of Europe into Putinland. I’m sure. Tori Nuland probably thinks we can save Ukraine with the fabulous girlie army and some snazzy new drones from McDonnell Douglas. Hey, it’s war, war, war. Bomb them all - Iran, Russia, Texas - and let God sort them out.
Speaking of blob propaganda outlets, here’s a doozy from blob tentacle The New York Times this Friday morning to boost your morale. Blob suck-up, Stephen Colbert, the late-night TV genius-level jester last seen dancing in a chorus line costumed as Covid-19 vaccination syringes, informs us that “Joe Biden” is catnip to the ladies because his aviator Ray-bans remind them of Robert Stack in "The High and the Mighty." Silly me, I thought they loved the president for his mind. You know, “Joe Biden” is running for re-election. No, really. Not a joke.
Stephen Colbert imitated President Biden talking with women: “They love that thing where I’m the last one standing between them and the Supreme Court putting a GoPro in their uterus.” Credit: CBS
Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up for 2/2/24"
"Weekly News Wrap-Up for 2/2/24"
Iran War, Border War, CV19 Vax War, Economic War
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"Iran proxies attacked a US military base in Jordan this past week, killing three and injuring 30. It was a drone attack, and war hawks want to strike back. Senator Tommy Tuberville says, “This war is getting ready to happen.” Iran says it will strike back, and there is no end in sight with the violence erupting all over the Middle East. Are we already in biblical end times?
The FBI has been warning about terror attacks coming to the US. No doubt it is the open Biden border policy letting in all sorts of unvetted people, and yes, some have had terror ties. Joe Kent is running for Congress in Washington’s 3rd congressional district. Kent is a retired officer of the United States Army Special Forces and says Iran has already “infiltrated our wide-open southern border.” What is the FBI doing to prepare for the coming attacks, and why are they not hunting down terror suspects now? Meanwhile in Texas, Governor Abbott is stopping some of the illegal aliens. Biden wants to open it all back up, but Governor Ron DeSantis and other states are sending Texas national guard troops to keep it closed. This Fight is far from over.
Another week and has passed with more who died suddenly with no cause of death reported. It’s the work of Professor Mark Crispin Miller and the numbers of the dead and sick are exploding. Professor Miller can hardly keep up, and with more than 700 million CV19 injections in the USA alone, the peak in deaths and injuries is not going to happen until 2026 according to Martin Armstrong.
Finally, the all-time high stock market is making people feel like the economy is doing great. A look under the hood of the record-breaking stock market and you seek a Federal Reserve worried about the banking system, out of control spending in Washington D.C. and a commercial real estate problem that is now imploding all around the world. A so-called “tsunami of office loan defaults” are coming and this could take out several big global banks. Could this start a daisy chain of financial implosion? Make no mistake, Fed Head Jay Powell is worried, and he is not cutting interest rates any time soon. There is much more in the 51-minute newscast."
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about these
stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 2/2/24: