"25 Life Lessons from the Anglo-Saxons"

Full screen recommended.

RedFrost Motivation, 

  "25 Life Lessons from the Anglo-Saxons"

Narrated by Nicky Rebelo

"The Exeter Book": This is the largest (and perhaps oldest) known collection of Old English poetry/literature still in existence. Freely download "The Exeter Book" here:

- https://ia800703.us.archive.org/

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“The Durham Proverbs”: “The proverbs are considered to have been used to document everyday business of the people of Anglo-Saxon England.”

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Durham_Proverbs

"A US Government Official Is Telling Us That Shortages & The Supply Chain Crisis Will Last For Years"

Full screen recommended.

"A US Government Official Is Telling Us That Shortages &

 The Supply Chain Crisis Will Last For Years"

by Epic Economist

"A shortage of everything is only intensifying all across the nation as the all-important holiday season approaches and thousands of cargo ships remain stuck outside key US ports while millions of containers are in rail yards waiting to get unloaded amid a lack of workers and truckers. A couple of months ago, President Biden assured Americans that supply chain bottlenecks and price spikes would reduce as our economy continues to "heal," and appointed a "port envoy" to work with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

But now, the truth is finally coming out, and the outlook doesn't look pretty. During a recent interview with Bloomberg, Buttigieg admitted that some of the supply chain problems that we are currently facing are likely to last for “years and years”. Last Thursday, he also told MSNBC that this is “an incredibly complicated situation,” and even though the government is holding virtual “roundtables” with port operators, labor unions, and private companies, the “challenges” will continue, not only “going into the next year or two, but going into the long term.”

It's truly shocking how the outlook for our economic future has changed so drastically in a matter of a few months. At the beginning of the year, government officials were promising that we would soon be entering a new golden era of prosperity. But instead, what we have today is chaos, inflation and shortages everywhere we look. And now even our leaders can't deny the fact that things are collapsing all around us. The mainstream media also seems alarmed about the severity of this crisis. In a recent article, the Daily Mail bluntly reported that "stores across America have empty shelves thanks to a series in supply chain problems that are prolonging inflation and could stretch into the new year, with some retailers like Costco and Walmart limiting the amount of toilet paper in some stores".

The article also highlighted that there are currently more than 60 cargo ships are waiting to dock in California, each of them is carrying hundreds of thousands of containers, and they may be stuck for months in this unprecedented port traffic jam. Meanwhile, in China, millions of dollars of American goods are still sitting in warehouses awaiting shipment. The situation is causing massive delivery delays and aggravating local shortages at U.S. retail and grocery stores.

At the Port of Savannah in Georgia, at least 80,000 containers are still stacked up on the docks, 50% more than normal, according to the New York Times. Some of the ships are having to wait up to ten days before getting a slot.In addition to the extensive container backlog that we are witnessing at our major ports, shipping costs continue to rise relentlessly for Pacific trade lines. The latest numbers reported by The Washington Post revealed that the median cost of shipping a standard container from China to the U.S. West Coast hit a record $20,586.

Needless to say, those price increases are completely absurd. To make things worse, now that the global energy crisis is pushing energy prices to skyrocket, it is going to be even more expensive to move goods around the planet. US oil prices have shot up by $120 since crashing to negative $40 a barrel in April 2020. Sadly, as demand continues to soar, global energy supplies are going to get even tighter and prices are going to hit sky-highs in the months ahead. As a result, big corporations will start passing on those higher costs to consumers. In several industries, this is already happening. In fact, the CEO of the international food giant Kraft Heinz, which makes the famous tomato sauce and baked beans, just revealed the company is raising the prices of several items. Miguel Patricio said that unlike in previous years, inflation was “across the board”.

With all things considered, the short-term scenario looks incredibly chaotic. We're currently heading to an era of inflation that is going to absolutely shock most Americans. Unfortunately, we're being warned that conditions are going to continue to deteriorate in the coming weeks and months. And as more turbulence emerges, our society will start to realize that our nation has become extremely dependent on broken supply chains that can't be easily fixed. That's to say, our problems may only worsen from now on. Although we would like to tell you that things will get better soon, that would be simply unrealistic. We should brace for more supply chain problems in the months ahead, and keep in mind that some of them are going to be exceptionally painful. It's time to get ready while you still can!"

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

"A 'High Class Problem'”

"A 'High Class Problem'”

by Brian Maher

"Let them munch cake…The White House chief of staff - a certain Ron Klain - recently blessed a statement by Harvard economics instructor Jason Furman. This statement declared inflation and supply chain delinkings "high class problems" Incidentally… 

this is the identical Ronald Klain who objected to Trump tax cuts this way: "Will [they] hold up a Campbell Soup can and argue that price increases for basic food items don’t really hurt the middle class? Because I think that is the Trump admin economic message of the day."

Inflation ran to 2.4% at the time. Today the official tabulation pegs it at 5.4%. It is likely higher. But the fellow endorses the claim that the business represents a “high class problem.” He believes you roll in green, green clover.

Do you glow about your heightened class as you endure your fleecing at the filling station? When your grocery shopping cleans you out? When you cannot locate the item you seek because shelves run bare? Perhaps you plan to purchase a Christmas toy for a child or grandchild. Owing to your overflowing bounty... you can expect to pay 400% higher for this toy this season. Meantime, some 70% of early shoppers claim an item they seek is no longer in stock.

The present supply chain discombobulations are the direst since World War II claims one expert - when “there were submarines sinking commercial traders.” Our spies inform us worldwide freighter torpedoings number zero. Yet the lacks endure. They may worsen yet.

Fortunately… and by God’s grace… only 4.8% of Americans wallow in unemployment. Yet is it true? Is 4.8% the correct rate? No, says Mr. John Williams and his ShadowStats. As he reminds us: "The long-term idle, dispirited beyond all hope, were read out of official existence in 1994. They are not actively chasing work."

If government statistics-manglers included these defeated and forlorn forgottens… what is the authentic unemployment rate? A dizzying 25.1%, argues Mr. Williams. That is correct - 25.1%. If this figure reflects a true reading - we are uncertain if it does - you are free to moan and bellyache about your “high class problem.” Recall, 10% unemployment is the line, the high fence dividing the classes.

But have you a right to moan and bellyache about present economic conditions? Washington Post columnist Micheline Maynard says no. The lady claims Americans are “spoiled”... that they must transition to “new, more realistic expectations.” What precisely these new, more realistic expectations constitute… we do not know.

Perhaps to reduce to a human ice block this winter for want of heat...To verge upon starvation for want of food...To be hollowed out by inflation... What else should Americans expect - realistically? Will they be forced to endure a deprived and depraved “new normal”? If so, it is not a normal to which they have consented. They have not signed their names upon Ms. Maynard’s dotted line. Nor will they.

Who - and what - brunts the blame for the present laments? Libertarian writer Jeffrey Tucker: “Every bit of this unfolding disaster traces to lockdowns and money printing. Every bit of it.” Mr. Tucker recounts a recent conversation with one business owner. This fellow claims he cannot obtain the labor he requires. Why? In his telling: "Lockdowns showed millions of people that they can get by without working. The government dumps money into their bank accounts. They can rent three bedroom apartments, stick 6 people in there, share the rent, and get by very cheaply and even become richer than they’ve ever been, even without a job. They stay drunk and stoned all day while watching big screen TVs."

“The modern world is insane,” said G.K. Chesterton once upon a time, “not so much because it admits the abnormal as because it cannot recover the normal.” Can this modern world… insaner even than Chesterton’s… recover the normal? Can it afford not to?

Below, Jeffrey Tucker shows you why food rationing is not out of the question if shortages worsen. Does he exaggerate? Read on to determine the answer for yourself."

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"Get Ready for Food Rationing"

By Jeffrey Tucker

"It must have been this flippant dismissal that caused me to go over the top. I wrote that hyperinflation could lead not only to implicit price controls, but also to rationing. Eventually, we could see the government issuing food tickets into bank accounts that allow us only a certain amount of food for the week. One chicken. One pound of hamburger meat. Five rolls of toilet paper.

I wrote that with a worry that I might be going too far here with speculation. This is America, after all, and we don’t do things this way. And yet in the old America we didn’t close churches for Easter, or skip Christmas for fear of a virus. And so on. Yet we know now that in fact we do these things, and easily.

Fear makes anything possible. And so right on cue - things are moving very fast these days - The Washington Post has published an article by one of its regular contributors (Micheline Maynard) with one message: GET USED TO IT!

She says that we have come to expect too much for the economy. Ever since 1911, she says, we’ve been obsessed with getting stuff and getting it fast. That’s dumb, she says. Deprivation is not only the new normal; it’s the way things should be. “Across the country, Americans’ expectations of speedy service and easy access to consumer products have been crushed like a Styrofoam container in a trash compactor,” she writes. “Time for some new, more realistic expectations.”

For example, she writes of the candy shortage. The milk shortage. The everything shortage. Then she concludes: “Rather than living constantly on the verge of throwing a fit, and risking taking it out on overwhelmed servers, struggling shop owners or late-arriving delivery people, we’d do ourselves a favor by consciously lowering expectations.”

How bad can it get? She saves the best for the very end: “American consumers might have been spoiled, but generations of them have also dealt with shortages of some kind - gasoline in the 1970s, food rationing in the 1940s, housing in the 1920s, when cities such as Detroit were booming. Now it’s our turn to make adjustments.”

You might read that again. She is defending gas lines. More astonishingly, she is going on about the glorious suffering of wartime, when food was rationed with rationing tickets! You cannot make this stuff up. What’s worse, that The Washington Post published it reveals something about what they imagine could be our future. And by future I don’t mean distant future. I mean next year.

No One Is Safe: You will notice the growing tribalization of everything and everyone in the last 20 months. People are retreating to what is safe and known, their own kind. Their neighborhood. Their closest friends. Their families. Even those are strained, but that is all we have. The old world of integration and heterogeneity is shattered, commercial culture is dead in large parts of the country and fear and depression are taking over as the dominant emotions.

I write that and my friends in Texas, Florida and South Dakota say: “I have no idea what you are talking about. Life around here is normal. Concerts are packed. Restaurants are busy. No one is wearing masks. We are so over this!” I’m happy for them. Truly. But there’s a problem. Many problems. We all share the same monetary unit. Supply chains are connected all over the country, and the world. Every state relies on goods from every other state. We are long past autarky. We can feel like we are safe, but we are not.

Hyperinflation will affect everyone without exception. If North Carolina can’t get milk and chicken, neither can Florida and New Mexico. The deprivation will be shared. A good example is the car shortage. Texas was not spared simply because the state has a relatively halfway decent governor who finally got wise, too late, but he finally got there. Still the car lots are empty.

It’s the same with many things. We all use the same dollar. Its destruction will hit South Dakota the same as it hits California. There will be no safe space. Many people moved to get away from despotism during this last year. They thought they were safe. They are not. Yes, life for now is better in Miami than Chicago but when the crisis hits, it will not spare red states with reasonable governors just because the people there have not been part of the insanity for a long time. They will still pay the price.

The Great Deprivation: In the past when things went wrong, at least our leaders admitted that things were not going so well. They tried to fix the problem. It’s not clear that our current leadership in Washington even believes it is a problem. The response toward existing inflation is telling. They think it's all fine. Gas lines? Fine: Just switch to electric. No heating oil or it is unaffordable? That’s all the better for solving climate change. No bags in the stores? Just bring your own. No meat? Eat veggie burgers. And so on.

These people are part of a cult. They do not oppose poverty. They think it’s about time we experienced it. Poverty is good for us. Deprivation is plenty. Inflation is prosperity. Empty shelves are a reset to the way things should be.

These are people for whom socialism was not a failure but a triumph in which people learned to become a new form of community through suffering. In fact, they are pro-suffering. It’s a new form of leftist ideology that has gained steam for decades. Now they are in charge. They get perverse pleasure out of the whole scene.

It doesn’t matter how bad it gets. Our leaders will never admit failure. They will look at the disaster they are creating and call it success. This is what is truly chilling about the unfolding crisis: They do not believe it is a crisis. They think this is a reset to the way things should work."

- dailyreckoning.com

Gerald Celente, "Trends in The News: PM 10/21/21":

Gerald Celente, "Trends in The News: PM 10/21/21":

“Inflation Spiking; More Lockdowns; The Worst Is Yet To Come”

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."

- https://trendsresearch.com/

Musical Interlude: The Moody Blues, "Question"

The Moody Blues, "Question"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Here is one of the largest objects that anyone will ever see on the sky. Each of these fuzzy blobs is a galaxy, together making up the Perseus Cluster, one of the closest clusters of galaxies. The cluster is seen through a foreground of faint stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy. 

Near the cluster center, roughly 250 million light-years away, is the cluster's dominant galaxy NGC 1275, seen above as a large galaxy on the image left. A prodigious source of x-rays and radio emission, NGC 1275 accretes matter as gas and galaxies fall into it. The Perseus Cluster of Galaxies, also cataloged as Abell 426, is part of the Pisces-Perseus supercluster spanning over 15 degrees and containing over 1,000 galaxies. At the distance of NGC 1275, this view covers about 15 million light-years.”

-http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110712.html

Chet Raymo, “Living In The Little World”

“Living In The Little World”

by Chet Raymo

"My wisdom is simple," begins Gustav Adolph Ekdahl, at the final celebratory family gathering of Ingmar Bergman's crowning epic “Fanny and Alexander.” I saw the movie in the early 1980s when it had its U.S. theater release. Now I have just watched the five-hour-long original version made for Swedish television. Whew!

But back to that speech by the gaily philandering Gustav, now the patriarch of the Ekdahl clan and uncle to Fanny and Alexander. The family has gathered for the double christening of Fanny and Alexander's new half-sister and Gustav's child by his mistress Maj. A dark chapter of family history has come to an end, involving a clash between two world views, one- the Ekdahl's- focussed on the pleasures of the here and now, and the other- that of Lutheran Bishop Edvard Vergerus, Fanny and Alexander's stepfather- a stern and joyless anticipation of the hereafter.

It is not the habit of Ekdahls to concern themselves with matters of grand consequence, Gustav tells the assembled guests. "We must live in the little world. We will be content with that and cultivate it and make the best of it."

The little world. I love that phrase. This world, here, now. This world of family and friends and newborn infants and trees and flowers and rainstorms and- oh yes, cognac and stolen kisses and tumbles in the hay. The Ekdahl's are a theatrical family; we will leave it to the actors and actresses to give us our supernatural shivers, says Gustav. "So it shall be," he says. "Let us be kind, and generous, affectionate and good. It is necessary and not at all shameful to take pleasure in the little world."

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"Consider The Following..."

"Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.

Nor is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic actions bring about happiness but they also lessen our experience of suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are motivated by the wish to bring others' happiness necessarily meets with less misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our internal peace- anxiety, doubt, disappointment- these things are definitely less. In our concern for others, we worry less about ourselves. When we worry less about ourselves an experience of our own suffering is less intense.

What does this tell us? Firstly, because our every action has a universal dimension, a potential impact on others' happiness, ethics are necessary as a means to ensure that we do not harm others. Secondly, it tells us that genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness and so on. For it is these which provide both for our happiness and others' happiness. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their human rights and dignities. That we humans can help each other is one of our unique human capacities"

- Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

"The Lives They Lead..."

 

Gregory Mannarino, "'The GHOUL' Of The Fed. Speaks! Consumer Prices Expected To Skyrocket; i AM reaLLY LoSing iT"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 10/21/21:

"'The GHOUL' Of The Fed. Speaks! Consumer Prices 

Expected To Skyrocket; i AM reaLLY LoSing iT"

- https://traderschoice.net/

The Poet: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade"

"The Charge of the Light Brigade"

Full screen recommended.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson,"The Charge of the Light Brigade"

Read by John Davies

"The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the siege of Sevastopol to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea. The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. Lord Raglan, overall commander of the British forces, had intended to send the Light Brigade to prevent the Russians from removing captured guns from overrun Turkish positions, a task well-suited to light cavalry.

However, there was miscommunication in the chain of command, and the Light Brigade was instead sent on a frontal assault against a different artillery battery, one well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire. They reached the battery under withering direct fire and scattered some of the gunners, but they were forced to retreat immediately. Thus, the assault ended with very high British casualties and no decisive gains.

The events are best remembered as the subject of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's narrative poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854), published just six weeks after the event. Its lines emphasize the valor of the cavalry in bravely carrying out their orders, regardless of the obvious outcome. Blame for the miscommunication has remained controversial, as the original order itself was vague, and the officer who delivered the written orders with some verbal interpretation died in the first minute of the assault."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/

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As glorified by Hollywood:

Full screen recommended for all parts.

Part 1: 

Part 2:

Part 3:

The Daily "Near You?"

Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada.Thanks for stopping by!

"This Is Always The Hope..."

“What happens to people living in a society where everyone in power is lying, stealing, cheating and killing, and in our hearts we all know this, but the consequences of facing all these lies are so monstrous, we keep on hoping that maybe the corporate government administration and media are on the level with us this time. Americans remind me of survivors of domestic abuse. This is always the hope that this is the very, very, very last time one’s ribs get re-broken again.”

- Inga Muscio

"Elites’ False Signals Will Bring the Economy to a Halt"

"Elites’ False Signals Will Bring the Economy to a Halt"

by Bill Bonner

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "God? Or man? Who should take the rap? God will defend Himself – tomorrow. Today, we continue with our case against man. It’s classic, isn’t it? A group is successful. It expands its wealth and power. The wealth softens it… the power corrupts it. And then, its elites begin running the whole system just to keep the jig up, so as to preserve their wealth and power. The elites control the “traffic signals.” Their role is not to tell others where to go, but simply to make it easy for them to get there.

Remember what it takes to create a prosperous, fair economy? Honest money (that no one can fiddle)… honest judges (protecting freedom and property rights)… and honest prices (set by buyers and sellers, not by the government). That is, the signals have to be neutral and true. Like traffic lights on the highway, they should not favor any special group… or any special cause… but rather, help everyone get home, safely.

Simple Maths: Instead, America’s elites have falsified the signals to benefit themselves. As we reported yesterday, the top 10% of the population now owns almost all U.S. businesses – 89% of the stock market. So when stock prices rise… almost $9 out of every extra $10 goes into their pockets.

Let’s do some simplified math… If you buy a U.S. Treasury bond with a 10% yield, it’s roughly the same as buying a whole company with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 10. Either way, you’d expect to earn back your investment in 10 years. But if the feds push the bond yield down to 1%… it will take you 10 times as long to earn back your money, 100 years. Who wants to wait 100 years? And who knows what the dollar will be worth a century from now?

That’s why the smart money borrows at low interest rates… and rushes over to more promising assets – stocks, cryptos, and even NFTs. That’s why the P/E ratio on the S&P 500 is about twice its long term average. And that’s how the elite got so much richer than everyone else.

False Signals: So, how do you force up stock prices? You falsify the signals. The simplest way is to push down bond yields… which is what the Federal Reserve has been doing, vigorously, for the last 12 years.

Everybody knows that rigging the bond market is an idiotic thing to do. Price fixing is always a disaster, whether it is done by Emperor Diocletian in the third century, in his Edict on Maximum Prices… or by Richard Nixon in his “wage and price controls” of 1971. Typically, you need an “emergency” to cover your tracks. In 2008, the big emergency was the collapse of the mortgage finance bubble. 10-year T-bonds were trading with a yield around 4%. The Fed knocked that to the floor; the 10-year yield hasn’t topped 4% since then – even as inflation went to 5% this year.

Even with the emergency over, the stock market roaring back, and the “greatest economy ever,” according to Donald Trump… the Fed has continued to hold the yield down (it’s currently 1.65%).

Assets Gone Wild: But now, the deciders are acting out of greed and self-interest, not the public interest. Absurdly low bond yields – like traffic lights on the fritz – sent asset prices into nutty territory. The Dow is up 450% since its 2009 low.

And as we showed you yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gained $74 million. Senate Majority Leader Mitch O’Connell gained $31 million. Overall, the stock market added some $40 trillion in value from its 2009 low to today (based on the Wilshire 5000, which tracks all American stocks actively traded in the U.S.)… while the economy barely limped along. And since 9 out of 10 of these new dollars went to the elite top 10%, it gained a total of about $36 trillion from this stock market manipulation alone.

Meanwhile, cryptos went wild… NFTs went crazy… meme stocks went bananas…and serious speculators went broke, waiting for a correction.

Gridlock: But the phony traffic signal didn’t just make rich people richer. It also snarled traffic in all directions, caused gridlock in key sectors… and major pile-ups in others. The U.S. government owed $10 trillion in September 2008. Now, only 13 years later, the debt is $28 trillion. U.S. corporate debt, too, has surged way beyond its traditional levels… to $11 trillion. That’s nearly double what it was in 2008.

Businesses borrowed, not for new investments that would produce more goods and services, but to buy back their own stocks. And to pay their managers big bonuses. And even to speculate – like MicroStrategy – on bitcoin.

And as businesses shifted from the hard work of producing valuable goods and services to making money by gambling with cheap debt, real output declined. After 2008, manufacturing went into a slump and never recovered. Even in nominal terms, manufacturing output is lower today than it was 13 years ago.

No Return: And now… it’s “inflate or die.” The feds inflate by buying bonds. Buying bonds keeps interest rates low. With $85 trillion in total debt, every 1% increase in real interest rates costs the nation $850 billion in extra debt service. A 5% increase (back to more normal rates) would cost $4.2 trillion. If the feds stop printing money and allow Treasury yields and interest rates to return to normal, in a matter of seconds, the whole flimflam blows up.

And yet, “inflating” is eventually fatal, too. And as the debt grows larger, it takes more and more debt to have any effect. When total debt was around $25 trillion, as it was in 2000, another $1 trillion of money-printing could give the economy a big boost. Now, at $85 trillion of total debt, $1 trillion more is hardly noticed. That’s why the Biden Administration proposed $3.5 trillion in additional spending. It needs big numbers – and big deficits – to keep the party going. Congress balked. But come the next “emergency,” hold onto your hat."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"I Hope I End Up..."

“I don’t want to pass through life like a smooth plane ride. All you do is get to breathe and copulate and finally die. I don’t want to go with the smooth skin and the calm brow. I hope I end up a blithering idiot cursing the sun - hallucinating, screaming, giving obscene and inane lectures on street corners and public parks. People will walk by and say, “Look at that drooling idiot. What a basket case.” I will turn and say to them, “It is you who are the basket case! For every moment you hated your job, cursed your wife and sold yourself to a dream that you didn’t even conceive. For the times your soul screamed yes and you said no. For all of that. For your self-torture, I see the glowing eyes of the sun! The air talks to me! I am at all times!” And maybe, the passersby will drop a coin into my cup.”

- Henry Rollins

"Central Banks are Getting Worried About Inflation and the Economy"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 10/21/21:

"Central Banks are Getting Worried 

About Inflation and the Economy"

"Central Banks are getting worried about inflation and the economy. Event the richest people in the world are starting to voice their opinions on this. It will be catastrophic to all of us."

"Waiting..."

“Life passes like a flash of lightning, whose blaze barely lasts long enough to see. While the earth and sky stand still forever, how swiftly changing time flies across man’s face. O you who sit over your full cup and do not drink, tell me – for whom are you still waiting?”

- Hermann Hesse

 

"Let Us Count The Ways That America Is Committing Suicide"

"Let Us Count The Ways That 

America Is Committing Suicide"

by Jim Kunstler

"What America really wants to know is: after those months of “family leave,” did Pete Buttigieg get the hang of lactating? Hey, if sexuality is just a “social construct,” then the functions of sexuality must be teachable. So now Pete can move on to ovulation lessons and become the “birthing person” of his dreams. Pete’s dreams are America’s dreams, you see.

In the meantime, though, America has a little transportation problem that a Secretary of Transportation might look into if he wasn’t so busy performing a gender reeducation parable for the Woke family values crowd. Namely, that federal rules combined with California Air Resources Board regulations are destroying the trucking industry, a major link in the broken supply-chains for the gazillion products and parts that an advanced technological economy needs to keep on keeping on.

Under the rules, for example, California wants to phase-out tractor trailer rigs more than three years old, and eliminate all trucks that run on fossil fuels by 2035. Now, it happens that most of the truckers who service the ports of southern California are independents. They have to buy their own rigs, on which many make the equivalent of a mortgage payment, because a semi-rig can cost as much as a house. Of course, the rig must be allowed to operate for the duration of the loan. The new government regulations cancel that financial formula, and with it, the trucking industry. So much for the good intentions of the eco-wonks.

Secretary Pete might have paid attention to the developing trouble at the shipping container ports in late summer and started an emergency review of these untenable rules and regs, but instead, while learning the ins-and-outs of “chest-feeding,” he allowed the system to break down. The reality spinners in the “Joe Biden” news media would like you to think that the breakdown only applies to Christmas schwag for the hoi-polloi: No inflatable Frosty-the-Snowmen for you this year, you deplorable insurrectionist gorks in your sad little towns out in the Flyover gloaming! Actually, it applies to most of the things even super-hip Wokesters need every day in the normal course of things, and especially the replacement parts for all the engines and machines that American normality depends on. Plus, the situation has already moved into food supplies. And now that it’s all broken, the shortages may persist as far ahead as anyone can see.

Let us count the ways that America is committing suicide by Democratic Party policy. There is, front and center, “Joe Biden’s” vaccination mandate — with no basis in law, by the way — that is destroying most of the critical services industries in the nation: the hospitals, school systems, police forces, firefighters, ambulance squads, airlines, railroads, restaurants, you-name-it. No vaxx, no job for you — and no resuscitation for the unfortunate persons writhing on their kitchen floors in myocardial infarction. I’d say that depriving folks of their livelihoods while ensuring harm and death upon the citizenry is a bad combo for public order. One can easily imagine the righteous wrath building to the point where lamp-posts in capital cities are decorated with the dangling government officials who caused this to happen.

Then there are the vaxxes themselves and the Covid cat that dragged them in. Do you feel all warm and fuzzy over a shot that will turn your body into a spike protein generator, considering how spike proteins behave in a human vascular system? Got any questions or doubts about the number of adverse events seen so far? Looks like more than ten thousand deaths in the USA directly attributable to the vaxxes under the VAERS registry, and millions of injuries around the world. Not to mention the murky origins of the disease, the participation of US public health officials in its design and development, and the colossal profits reaped by the pharma companies that sell the vaxxes. Have you noted the draconian desperation to vaxx up absolutely everybody, despite some excellent reasons for people to say “no thanks”? Does the Big Picture look a little nefarious to you? Like some parties are out to bump off a pretty large number of people — including parties who have stated out loud that steeply reducing the global population would be a swell idea?

In the course of an average day, do you ever think about all the people from around the world who are jumping the US/Mexican border? It’s thousands of them each day, and millions piling in over the year 2021 — under the averted eyes of “Joe Biden” & Co. Some of them are criminal opportunists who — how shall we say — aim to blow shit up in this country. That’s apart from the economic burdens that the nonviolent ones will impose on the nation. Can you blame genuine US citizens for regarding this as an affront to common sense and common decency, not to mention an insult to the law and the constitution behind the law? Well, it is, you know. Since it’s the federal government’s duty to control entry across the border, and since “Joe Biden” directed the border patrol to not perform its duties, will you be surprised if the citizens develop the notion that they will have to defend the border themselves?

Do you think economic collapse will make any of this better? As winter looms, you’ll have plenty of time to mull that over, all bundled-up in your kitchen with the propane tanks empty and the last can of cold Spaghetti-Os in your gloved fist. When the time comes for that, don’t expect “Joe Biden” to be reading Thanksgiving homilies off his teleprompter. He will be gone, and the Democratic Party horse he rode in on with him. And when that time comes, we will be ready to start stitching things back together again in this land, perhaps a bit differently than the way we’d gotten used to. Be patient and brave. Our time will soon be at hand."

- https://www.cracknewz.com/

"China’s Hypersonic Missile Test is Another Obvious Warning Sign"

"China’s Hypersonic Missile Test is 

Another Obvious Warning Sign"

by Simon Black

"By the late the fifth century BC, after decades of war with its chief rival Sparta, the ancient Greek city-state of Athens was desperate for peace. They wanted a decisive victory to end the war once and for all. So the citizens gathered together in their public assembly– essentially a democratic mob of 6,000 people– and voted to build a new, costly fleet of ships.

The strategy worked. And their new armada vanquished the Spartan navy in the Battle of the Arginusae Islands in 406 BC. Sparta was on the ropes, and the Assembly cheered when news of their fleet’s victory reached Athens. But then the Assembly found out that 25 of the 150 ships had been sunk by the Spartans, and that the Athenian crews of those 25 sunken ships had drowned in a storm.

The Assembly suddenly became furious, crying that the souls of those drowned sailors would wander purgatory for all of eternity because they didn’t have a proper burial. So then the Athenian mob voted to execute eight of their top military commanders; the very same generals and admirals who had just won the battle and been called heroes, were now being put to death. Socrates was one of the lone voices of dissent; yet the death sentences were still carried out despite his protest.

Then, only a few days later, the Athenian Assembly had a change of heart. The mob realized that they shouldn’t have executed their military commanders, so they then voted to execute the people within the Assembly who had proposed the executions to begin with. During this insane dumpster fire of ancient democracy, Spartan leaders approached Athens with a peace deal, offering to end the war once and for all. This was the entire reason that Athens had built a new fleet. They just wanted peace. But they were so distracted by infighting and arguing about who to execute next, and who to blame, that the Assembly rejected Sparta’s peace offering.

Yet Athens’ military was now led by inexperienced admirals and generals, since they had just executed their best commanders. And Sparta quickly seized the advantage. Within a few months the Spartan navy was ravaging Athenian territory, and soon laying siege to Athens itself. The war finally ended in 404 BC with Athens losing all sovereignty and falling under complete control of the Spartan Empire.

As the old saying goes, history doesn’t necessarily repeat. But it certainly rhymes. And I was thinking about this particular episode recently when it was reported earlier this week that China has just successfully tested its first nuclear-capable hypersonic missile. In case you don’t geek out on military strategy like I do, suffice it to say that this is a huge deal, not just for the United States, but for the entire world.

For the past several decades, the United States has boasted the strongest, most technologically advanced military in the world. And it would be foolish to think that this military strength hasn’t substantially contributed to America’s geopolitical and economic power.

The United States Marine Corps is essentially the biggest derivatives contract in the world. It’s the US government’s ultimate hedge, enabling it wage trade wars, sanction foreign banks, and bully anyone it wants into following US regulations. The US military is even part of the reason why the dollar is still the world’s reserve currency, despite the US government being the largest debtor that has ever existed in the history of the world.

The US government, and the US economy, both derive substantial benefit from America’s military power.  And this is why China’s rapid military development is such a big deal. China could destroy the United States in cyberwarfare. That’s pretty much a foregone conclusion. I mean… there are still systems within the US Defense Department that use 5 ¼ inch floppy disks.

But even in conventional warfare, China is gaining rapidly. The Chinese Navy is already the world’s largest fleet. And this is important because one of the biggest roles of a modern navy is to project military firepower over great distances. China is investing heavily in this capability, feverishly building new ships and developing new technology.

It has massive stockpiles of cruise missiles, most of which have larger payloads and longer range than comparable US weaponry. This week’s hypersonic missile launch is merely the latest proof; it’s technology that the US cannot counteract either, given that hypersonic missiles are more likely to be able to evade missile defense systems. The Chinese wasted no time gloating their achievement, calling the launch “a new blow to the US’s mentality of strategic superiority...”

You’d think this would be a massive wake-up call to the US federal government. The balance of power is shifting right in front of their very eyes. Yet take a look at their priorities– spending trillions of dollars on ‘equity’ and ‘social justice’, which they claim will supposedly “cost nothing”.

They’re busy directing federal resources to target parents who are angry over the way their children are being educated. They’re pushing people out of government service, whether through mandates, or through ideological purges to weed out those with conservative beliefs.

As the Center for Military Readiness reports, US Special Operations Command “intends to elevate diversity, inclusion, and equity above mission effectiveness and overall readiness.” In fact a leaked Special Operations Command planning document states at least 12 times over twenty pages that “diversity and inclusion are operational imperatives” even though they provide no support to back up this assertion.

The Defense Department is exploring racial quotas in its promotion criteria. They’re planning to reduce physical fitness standards. And military recruiting advertisements (along with those of the Central Intelligence Agency) are now focused on LGBTQRSTUVWXYZ diversity goals. This behavior is so counterproductive that even the ancient Athenian assembly would stand in awe at its destructive stupidity."

 - https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

○

"Breaking Update: China Conducted TWO 

Hypersonic Weapons Tests Over the Summer"

Gregory Mannarino, "Alert Video! Raise Your Awareness Now!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 10/21/21:

"Alert Video! Raise Your Awareness Now!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

○

"US Govt’s Own Jobs Report Puts 

Joblessness Near 30% for September 2021"

"How It Really Is"

 

"America Is Now a Kleptocrapocracy"

"America Is Now a Kleptocrapocracy"

by Charles Hugh Smith


“In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime

 is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.”

- Hunter S. Thompson

"I've coined a new portmanteau word to describe America's descent: kleptocrapocracy, a union of kleptocracy (a nation ruled by kleptocrats) and crapocracy, a nation drowning in a moral sewer of rampant self-interest in which the focus is cloaking all the skims, scams, rackets and bezzles in some virtuous-sounding garb, a nation choking on low-quality junk ceaselessly hawked by robocalls, spam, phishing and Big Tech manipulation.

It's little wonder trust has collapsed in America: the only thing we can trust is whatever's being pitched is deceptively packaged to mask the self-interest and profiteering of the perps.

The stench from the decomposing carcasses of once-trusted institutions is everywhere. Insiders and the marketers they pay to cloak their grifting are banking bennies at the expense of hapless debt-serfs who fell for the scam. You need these three costly medications, and then when the side-effects kick in, you need six more to counteract the first three, and so on. But trust us; your "health" (heh) is our only concern. Uh, sure.

Why do state universities need to market themselves like a roto-rooter service? Maybe because they're both working the sewers: state universities are exploiting the student loan sewers, desperate to recruit another batch of debt-serfs who fell for the 3-card monte game in which a lifetime of debt is exchanged for a credential of dubious value.

The competition for the remaining pool of debt-serfs is heating up, so like everything else in America, the game is now all about marketing, virtue-signaling, exploiting Big Tech manipulation, and so on.

Doing something useful is now for chumps. The opportunities in America are all about getting rich by doing, well, nothing: skimming 20% "guaranteed" returns in DeFi, mining cryptos, trading stablecoins, selling volatility, etc.- getting rich and then living large on the sweat of the chumps who are still working (poor deluded fools!).

The obvious goal here is for everyone to get in on trading stablecoins, buying rentals with DeFi, churning meme stocks, etc. Why should anyone lower themselves to doing something useful anymore? Why bother?

Labor has been degraded for decades in speculative-frenzy America. Why work when the Fed has our backs and all those newly issued trillions are up for grabs? Doing something useful is for chumps.

Nobody seems to ask what happens when we're all minting fortunes off speculative churn and there's nobody filling potholes, stocking shelves or carrying bags of QuikCrete to customers' trucks.

And while we're on the subject of sewage: if America's security services and Big Tech oligarchies track everything and everyone, why are we drowning in robocalls, spam, SMS-spam (smishing), etc.? Couldn't the NSA/CIA track the spammers and robo-callers down and rendition them (warrantlessly, of course) to a hellhole camp in an unnamed country? Of course they could. But the ruination of everyday life is of no concern to the kleptocrats (fly with me to the stars!) or our dysfunctional government, which has become nothing more than an invitation-only auction of favors that elevates the relentless pursuit of self-interest and profiteering to new kleptocratic heights.

Please don't make the mistake of expecting anything to work properly in America. The components are garbage, the parts are on back-order, the people who knew how to make the kludgy mess function just quit in disgust, and we'll have to get back to you about your request, as our service staff just left to launch an OnlyFans site.

I don't want to work, I'm minting money speculating, but gol-darn it, I want everyone else to wait on me and meet my needs for low, low quality goods and services at not-so-low prices, and if I'm not treated well enough by everyone earning chump-change, then I'll freak out, and if that doesn't pan out, I'll blame it all on my meds. Accountability is like work - only for chumps.

Trust me, everything's going great and we're all going to get wealthier and wealthier until we won't be able to take it any more, it will be so great. I hope everyone here is hungry because the banquet of consequences is being served."

- https://www.oftwominds.com/

"A Perfect Economic Storm Approaches, Writing Is On the Wall; Inflation To Get Worse; Restaurants Close"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 10/20/21:

"A Perfect Economic Storm Approaches, Writing Is On the Wall; 

Inflation To Get Worse; Restaurants Close"

"You’re Not as Smart as You Think"

"You’re Not as Smart as You Think"

by Brian Maher

"Man alone is the thinking animal of Earth, the skyscraping summit of all its fauna, its high king. This unlikely creature splits the atom in two. He sends disinformation ricocheting around the world in fractions of seconds. He catapults himself into space. Through his astounding astronomical binoculars he lays his eyes on the remotest precincts of this universe, billions of years distant.

Of these feats he is proud, justly proud. And yet this astonishing intellect flatters, seduces and deceives itself. Man rains excess credit upon himself. He believes he alone among the creatures of Earth thinks. Yet other creatures of Earth do “think” - in their way.

The cat upon the ledge fixes its odds of jumping the gap. The lion selects the herd member most vulnerable to its murderous raid. The whale transmits highly complex messages throughout the inky depths. Its mates decipher them. Do these examples not involve a type of thinking?

You may call it instinct. Then human thinking is likewise instinct. The animal is not tackling Einstein’s relativistic theory, it is true. It is not rocketing to Mars. Nor is it calculating the precise number of angels prancing on pinheads… or the number of rocks inhabiting the skulls of congressmen. But it is thinking, again, in its way. Human thinking is superior - but only by degree. Besides, so few humans exercise the thinking faculties.

Thinking is rough business - so we are informed. We have done so little of it. But we understand it is unpleasant work. It is arduous. It is often uncomfortable.

What then divides man from brute? The animal thinks, as described above. Like the human, the animal feels. It likewise endures emotion as the human endures emotion. But the animal does not believe. Only the human - alone among all earthly creatures - believes. It is belief that separates the human from the brutes of the field, from the brutes of the jungle, from the brutes of the sea.

The intellect is slave to belief. Beliefs are invisible censors that patrol the newsrooms of the human mind. They run all entering data, all entering information, through their scrubbers. Only the inflow that confirms their positions is passed on to the “conscious” mind. The remainder goes into the hellbox, shunned and discarded.

The censorship is ruthless. And all rival beliefs are mortal foes to be scotched at every possible hazard. Like the genes of the human they infest, beliefs are committed unequivocally to their own survival. They will defend themselves to the last ditch and to the final bullet. Yet they produce a product the intellect considers unimpeachable and unassailable. After all, only confirmatory data are cleared through to the final receiver in the cortical centers. The intellect then wonders how anyone can entertain opposite understandings.

“How can Joe vote Democrat?” Frank asks. “They are nothing else but rogues, rascals, knaves and nuts. Can’t he see it?” “How can Frank vote Republican?” Joe asks. “They are nothing else but rogues, rascals, knaves and nuts. Can’t he see it?” They may both be correct. They are both - in this instance - likely correct. Yet their polar beliefs blind them to the other’s position. They cannot see it.

Observe this simple sketch. See the young beauty glancing out toward the 10 o’clock position.

You can discern her lovely eyelashes… and the tip of her pert nose. Her hair flows back in beautiful cascades. A necklace encircles her neck. Do you see her?

Now have another look…See the wretched old hag in a scarf. Note the monster nose, note the beady pinprick of an eye. Note the gash of a mouth… and the witch’s chin jutting horribly beneath it. You do see her, correct?

Now attempt to see both hag and beauty at once. You cannot do it. You see the one or you see the other. You cannot see both. Once you make the psychological commitment to one, you are blind to the other’s existence. So it is with beliefs.

And here is an observation: When fact is weakest, belief is strongest. That is, a man harbors the strongest beliefs about that which he knows least. A man knows the rock in his hand will drop upon release. Newton and his apple are his infallible guide. He need not believe it.

For the same reason he disregards the editorial preachings of a Paul Krugman. Science has demonstrated they are false. He further knows the United States is the freest nation ever to exist on Earth. It is as obvious as gravity itself. He need not believe it.

But tell a Muslim that Allah is fictitious… tell a Christian that Jesus is not the Son of God… tell an atheist that he is the creation of God… tell a tinfoil hat that the Freemasons do not govern the world… tell a skeptic that alien craft in fact invade our skies… tell a believer that alien craft are imagined fictions… And now you have a vicious enemy on your hands. But where are his facts? Where are your facts?

Again: Belief is strongest when fact is weakest. And we believe - above all — that the stock market will boom forever and ever...

Below, we show you why we believe delusions are necessary for life. Reality can be overwhelming. Read on for details."

"You Are Badly Deluded"

By Brian Maher

“Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur” - the world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived. This wisdom of the ancient world is the wisdom of the modern world. And we suspect greatly it will be the wisdom of the future world. That is, the world wishes to be eternally and infinitely deceived.

Why else - sisters, brothers, countrymen - do people attend magic shows… solicit psychics… read Paul Krugman editorial columns? Why… indeed... do people elect presidents?

But let the world be deceived, we say. Life is “nasty, brutish and short,” in the words of Mr. Thomas Hobbes. He must grab something - anything - to soothe him and to ease his way across the perilous valley.

Like gazing into the midday sun, the normal human being cannot long gaze directly into reality. He can only approach it at an angle. Consider his lot…

Cold, Hard Reality: Man is thrown unaskingly and unwillingly into this wicked and wrathful world. He is then dangled cruelly between two infinities - one behind, one ahead - knowing well his flickering earthly candle will blow out. While he lives, he careens pointlessly through space aboard an inconsequential chunk, going around an inconsequential star, itself occupying an inconsequential corner of an inconsequential galaxy. That itself is but one of an infinity of inconsequential galaxies.

Next he comes to this elemental fact: Come his demise, the odds are excellent that he will boil in pitch for all eternity. This we have on infallible authority - 1 Corinthians 6:9–10: "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters... nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

Ninety-nine percent of humanity thus stands condemned - and 100% of Washington. Hence man’s desperate, eternal plea for deception. Hence his embrace of quacks and pitchmen eager to gratify it. Hence, man’s permanent condition. And the grimmer the reality... the louder his shrieks to be conned, foxed and deceived.

Sit down momentarily with the realities listed - if you can summon the steel. If you do not run a razor across your wrists within three minutes, you, friend, are one lionheart - believe it!

Happy Delusions: Here are some additional fictions men cherish - cherished because they ease his passage through this sorrowful vale...

That stocks, like trees, grow to the sky...That “buy and hold” - over hill, over dale, through bush, through brier - is the everlasting way to wealth…That wise and learned experts from ivied institutions can repeal the iron laws of economics…That a body of 12 can determine the value of money for hundreds of millions of independent economic actors...That deficits do not matter... That prosperity springs from the printing press, that money and wealth are identical twins, to have money is to have wealth. The examples of Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Argentina, Weimar Germany, post-WWII Hungary - to name some - count nothing…

Relatedly, that the addition of water to wine yields more wine. That is, diluting the purchasing power of money yields more money…That sinking the nation into debt will raise it up into wealth...That raising the prices of life’s essentials raises the general economic level...That negative interest rates are positives...That democracy - the theory that the individual may be a dunce but a million dunces equal Einstein - is a superior form of government.

Moreover, that all the world’s nations long painfully for American democracy. Baghdad to Kabul, Mogadishu to Damascus, Beijing to Caracas, the name Thomas Jefferson is on all lips, at all times…And perhaps the most enchanting and permanent of all the world’s delusions…That this time is different.

Not All Lies and Delusions Are Bad: Do we denounce the world in its cowardly resort to delusion and lies? Not in the least. Who can denounce the former beauty, now wrecked with age, who wishes the mirror would show her a fabulous fiction? Why must the world peer defiantly into the fathomless pit, why must it take the cold bath stoically and bravely?

A full and honest trial of the facts would send the world forever under the bed, hopeless and resigned. No one would budge a jot in the course of his day. And let it go into the record: Your editor is not exempt from this immemorial human need for delusion. He cherishes certain beliefs particular to our station and circumstances. Go at them at honestly - he must concede - and they may fail rigorous scientific audit.

More Lies and Delusion: Among these are the beliefs…That he is vastly undersalaried and underappreciated for the exquisite labor he performs - and that he is used badly by his abominable employer…That he is wiser than 1,000 Solomons welded together…That he stands seven feet in height...that every fair one — from sea to glistening sea — rolls her eyes yearningly at the mention of his name….Most delusionally of all, and against all reason...He cherishes the gorgeous fiction that his New York Metropolitan Baseball Club will win another World Series before he sinks into the cauldron... to roast forevermore.

Thus your editor is in deepest sympathy with the world and its ceaseless quest to be deceived. The world would be unendurable without comforting fictions to stroke our hair and caress our gills.

A Stock Market Crash Isn’t So Bad: Might some of the world’s delusions invite disaster? Almost certainly. We have the stock market and the economy close in mind. But whatever miseries they inflict... they cannot parallel the miseries of constant warfare with reality. And so we speak our piece for delusion. “All are lunatics,” said the great scalawag Ambrose Bierce... “but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.” And who wants to be called a philosopher? Yours in hopeless and eternal delusion..."

- dailyreckoning.com

Musical Interlude: Neil H, "Spellbound"

Neil H, "Spellbound"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Is our Milky Way Galaxy this thin? Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours of the northern sky, in the faint but well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. This sharp, colorful image reveals the spiral galaxy's boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. 

An assortment of other background galaxies is included in the pretty field of view. Thought similar in shape to our own Milky Way Galaxy, NGC 4565 lies about 40 million light-years distant and spans some 100,000 light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes, sky enthusiasts consider NGC 4565 to be a prominent celestial masterpiece Messier missed."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210517.html

Chet Raymo, “Awww…”

“Awww…”

by Chet Raymo

“In one of his always delightful essays, Stephen Jay Gould traced the “evolution” of Mickey Mouse from the time of his creation by Disney, in 1928, to the mouse we know today. The early Mickey was a bit of a rascal – mischievous, occasionally cruel. And he looked more or less like a real adult mouse: small head in proportion to body, pointy nose compared to cranial vault, beady eyes, spindly legs. As time passed, Mickey’s personality softened and his appearance changed. Head and cranium became enlarged, eyes grew to half the size of the face, limbs got pudgier. Gould elucidated the evolutionary principle behind Mickey’s transformation: It is called neoteny, or progressive juvenilization.

Mickey became a national symbol, and Americans like their national symbols cute and cuddly. Mickey’s chronological age did not change, but he developed babyish features. To explain these perhaps unconscious developments on the part of Disney’s artists, Gould referred to the work of animal behaviorist Konrad Lorenz, who believed that juvenile facial and body features release “innate triggering mechanisms” for affection and nurturing in adult humans. The adaptive value of this response is obvious, since the nurturing of young is necessary for survival of the species. According to Lorenz, evolution has provided us with a caring response to juvenile features, a genetically-programmed reaction that apparently overflows onto other species. If Lorenz is right, teddy bears and Andy Pandas are beneficiaries of our innate nurturing response to big eyes, round craniums, and pudgy limbs. Mickey Mouse evolved juvenile features in response to our evolved preference for all things cute and cuddly.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

The Poet: J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Road”

“The Road”

“The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on

Out from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

Let others follow it who can!

Let them a journey new begin,

But I at last with weary feet

Will turn towards the lighted inn,

My evening-rest and sleep to meet.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien