"A Look to the Heavens"

“This shock wave plows through space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour. Moving toward to bottom of this beautifully detailed color composite, the thin, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge on. Cataloged as NGC 2736, its narrow appearance suggests its popular name, the Pencil Nebula. 

About 5 light-years long and a mere 800 light-years away, the Pencil Nebula is only a small part of the Vela supernova remnant. The Vela remnant itself is around 100 light-years in diameter and is the expanding debris cloud of a star that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago. Initially, the shock wave was moving at millions of kilometers per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up surrounding interstellar gas.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120924.html

Chet Raymo, “What Not to Believe”

“What Not to Believe”

by Chet Raymo

“In Stacy Schiff's biography of Cleopatra, I came across this epigraph from Euripides: "Man's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe." I have no idea which of Euripides' plays the quote is from, but it strikes me as a suitable source for reflection. Credulity is the default state of a human life. Children are born to believe, to accept as true what they are told by adults. An innate credulity has survival value in a dangerous world. If a grown-up says "There are crocodiles in the river," it is probably best to stay out of the water.

Skepticism, on the other hand, must be learned. I was late in realizing that I didn't have to believe the received "truth." My best teacher was a somewhat older Panamanian secular Jew I went to graduate school with at UCLA. We took our brown-bag lunches together in the university's botanical garden, and spent the hour talking about physics, religion, and the "meaning of life."

Moises was the first person I had encountered after sixteen years of Catholic education who mentioned the word "skepticism." "Why do you believe that?" he would ask, and often I had no answer except that it was what my family and teachers told me was true. The idea that I might actually examine the basis for my beliefs was a rather new concept. In matters of religion, like almost everyone else in the world, I had embraced uncritically the faith story into which I was born.

And thus began my search for "a judicious sense of what not to believe." When later, as a teacher, I wrote a little column for each issue of the college newspaper, I called it "Under a Skeptical Star," from a line of the Scots poet/scholar William MacNeile Dixon: "If there be a skeptical star I was born under it, yet I have lived all my days in complete astonishment." A liberating sense of what not to believe opened the door to a vastly more interesting world whose diverse and astonishing riches I continue to explore to this day."

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

Free Download: Nevil Shute, “On the Beach”

“On the Beach”

by Nevil Shute

“Nevil Shute’s 1959 novel “On the Beach” is set in what was then the near future (1963, approximately a year following World War III). The conflict has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout and killing all animal life. While the nuclear bombs were confined to the northern hemisphere, global air currents are slowly carrying the fallout to the southern hemisphere. The only part of the planet still habitable is the far south of the globe, specifically Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, and the southern parts of South America.

From Australia, survivors detect a mysterious and incomprehensible Morse code radio signal originating from the United States. With hope that some life has remained in the contaminated regions, one of the last American nuclear submarines, the USS Scorpion, placed by its captain under Australian naval command, is ordered to sail north from its port of refuge in Melbourne (Australia’s southernmost major mainland city) to try to contact whoever is sending the signal. In preparation for this long journey the submarine first makes a shorter trip to some port cities in northern Australia including Cairns, Queensland and Darwin, Northern Territory, finding no survivors.

The Australian government makes arrangements to provide its citizens with free suicide pills and injections, so that they will be able to avoid prolonged suffering from radiation sickness. One of the novel’s poignant dilemmas is that of Australian naval officer Peter Holmes, who has a baby daughter and a naive and childish wife, Mary, who is in denial about the impending disaster. Because he has been assigned to travel north with the Americans, Peter must try to explain to Mary how to euthanize their baby and kill herself with the pill should he be killed on the ocean voyage.

The characters make their best efforts to enjoy what time and pleasures remain to them before dying from radiation poisoning, speaking of small pleasures and continuing their customary activities, allowing their awareness of the coming end to impinge on their minds only long enough to plan ahead for their final hours. The Holmeses plant a garden that they will never see; Moira takes classes in typing and shorthand; scientist John Osborne and others organize a dangerous motor race that results in the violent deaths of several participants. In the end, Captain Towers chooses not to remain with Moira but rather to lead his crew on a final mission to scuttle their submarine beyond the twelve-mile (22 km) limit, so that she will not rattle about, unsecured, in a foreign port, refusing to allow his coming demise to turn him aside from his duty and acting as a pillar of strength to his crew.

Typically for a Shute novel, the characters avoid the expression of intense emotions and do not mope or indulge in self-pity. They do not, for the most part, flee southward as refugees but rather accept their fate once the lethal radiation levels reach the latitudes at which they live. Finally, most of the Australians do opt for the government-promoted alternative of suicide when the symptoms of radiation-sickness appear.”

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

○

Freely download “On the Beach”, by Nevil Shute, here:

- https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20131214

○

- https://www.fadedpage.com/index.php

○

"On The Beach", full movie:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HusewgIe_1k

Full screen recommended.

"We Are All Alone..."

“We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and – in spite of True Romance magazines – we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely – at least, not all the time – but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don’t see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.”

- Hunter S. Thompson

“If your happiness depends on someone else, then you do have a problem.”

- Richard Bach

○

“Alone”

“Lying, thinking

Last night

How to find my soul a home,

Where water is not thirsty

And bread loaf is not stone.

I came up with one thing

And I don’t believe I’m wrong,

That nobody,

But nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone,

Nobody, but nobody

Can make it out here alone.

There are some millionaires

With money they can’t use,

Their wives run round like banshees,

Their children sing the blues

They’ve got expensive doctors

To cure their hearts of stone,

But nobody,

No, nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone,

Nobody, but nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Now if you listen closely

I’ll tell you what I know…

Storm clouds are gathering,

The wind is gonna blow.

The race of man is suffering,

And I can hear the moan,

‘Cause nobody,

But nobody,

Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone,

Nobody, but nobody,

Can make it out here alone.”

- Maya Angelou

Fred Reed, "The Universe as Pool Hall"

"The Universe as Pool Hall"

by Fred Reed

"We will start this magisterial explanation of everything with the time-honored approach of the philosopher, beginning with the things we know beyond doubt and then reasoning from them to suitably astonishing truths. As we know, Descartes began by saying, “Cogito ergo sum,” I think therefore I am.” (Ambrose Bierce, a more profound thinker, said, “Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum. Cogito.” But this way lies madness.) So with what certain knowledge can we begin our quest?

Our only certain knowledge is that we don’t have any. Acceptance of this condition will diminish the world’s output of philosophy, or so we may hope, but this column faces reality with a brave front. We may now list our certainties: We don’t know where we came from, where we are, why, what if anything we should do while we are here, and where if anywhere we go when we die.

On this bedrock we shall construct our philosophy of everything. However, before we begin thinking about these profound matters, we need to take into account one more certainty: Thinking is impossible. I will explain. But what it comes to is that while we know nothing about which to think, it doesn’t matter because we couldn’t think about it if we did know something.

Why? Consider the brain. It is an electrochemical mechanism, blindly obeying the laws of physics and chemistry (chemistry being the physics of the interactions of atoms). For example, consider a nerve impulse propagating along a neural fiber, depolarizing, sodium in, potassium out. Pure chemistry and physics. When the impulse comes to a synapse, a neurotransmitter diffuses across the gap, pure chemistry and physics. It can’t do anything else. Even chemicals with long, imposing names cannot make choices. The neurotransmitter then binds to receptor sites, because it has to. Textbooks of neurophysiology state it thus: “A brain has less free will than a wind-up clock.” Or at least if it were so stated, it would be. This is close enough for philosophy.

Putting it precisely, the state of a physical system is determined entirely by its previous state. This establishes beyond doubt that we have no free will, and that what we think are thoughts were determined at the time of the Big Bang, if any.

Now, no philosophical essay can be held in repute unless it contains words ending “ism.” The reigning creed today is materialism, the philosophy of the wantonly inattentive. Many who believe in materialism are of high intelligence, and so can only be sufficiently inattentive by great effort. Anyway, a materialist believes than nothing exists but space, time, matter, and energy, however hyphenated. That is, physics. As the physicist Joe Friday said, “The physics, ma’am, just the physics, and nothing but the physics.”

This means that the Big Bang, if any, was set up, or I suppose I should say, set itself up, like one of those billiard-table trick shots. You know the kind: The balls seem randomly placed on the table but bounce around a lot before miraculously running into the pockets like birds returning to their nests. In the Bang, if any, all those subatomic whatsamajigggers erupted forth at exactly the right angles and velocities so that, billions of years later, they formed Elvis, San Francisco, and Hillary. (This had to be by chance, since no one in his right mind would form Hillary on purpose. QED.)

Next, consider plane geometry as taught in high school. (You may wonder why we have to consider it. Well, we just do.) Plane geometry deals with planes, lines, points, angles, and nothing else. It is useful and interesting, but it cannot explain a cheeseburger, Formula One race, or political hysteria. Why? Because cheeseburgers exist in three dimensions, which plane geometry doesn’t have. Formula One races involve matter, energy, and motion, which plane geometry also doesn’t have. Hysteria is an emotional state associated with liberal co-eds in pricey northern colleges who, thank God, do not exist in mathematics.

What it comes to is that a logical system is defined by its premises, and all downstream results are mere elaboration. (Of course, as established in the beginning of this luminous essay, we have no premises except the lack of premises, but philosophy readily overlooks such minor hindrances.) Plane geometry is not wrong. It is just incomplete. To state it in mathematical terms, you cannot flatten a cheeseburger enough to fit into a plane.

Physics, the foundation of the current official story of everything, also depends on its premises. Physics is just mathematical materialism. From its equations one may derive all manner of fascinating and useful things, such as planetary motion, npn transistors, smartphones, nerve gas, and hydrogen bombs. (Some of these may be more useful than others.)

But, just as you cannot get strawberry milkshakes from plane geometry, because they are not implicit in it, there are things you cannot derive from the equations of physics: Consciousness, free will, beauty, morality, or curiosity – the whiches there just ain’t in physics. This would not worry a rational thinker. He (or, assuredly, she) would simply state the obvious: Physics is not wrong, but incomplete. It does what it does, and doesn’t do what it can’t. Not too mysterious, that.

However, the true-believing physics-is-all Neo-Darwinian matter-monger cannot admit that anything – anything at all – exists outside of physics. Since some things obviously do, the only-physics enthusiasts have to resort to contorted logic. I think of kite string in a ceiling fan. Or simple denial.

For example, sometimes they say that consciousness is merely an “epiphenomenon.” Oh. And what does that mean? Nothing. (Actually it means, “I don’t know, but if I use a polysyllabic Greek word, maybe nobody will notice.”) Epiphenomenon of what?

Sometimes they will say, “Well, consciousness is just a by-product of complexity.” But if consciousness is a byproduct what is the primary product? A computer is somewhat complex, so is it somewhat conscious? Is a mouse less conscious than a human or just, in some cases, less intelligent? A materialist ignoring consciousness is exactly equivalent to a geometer ignoring cheeseburgers.

We will now examine the question, where did we come from? The answer is ready to hand: We don’t have a clue. We make up stories. The physics-only folk say, see, there was the Big Bang and all these electrons and protons and things flew out and just by chance formed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in the most motingator a-stonishing pool-table trick shot ever set up. Just by accident. Damn! Who would have thought it?

Of course any sane person, to include materialists when they are thinking of something else, would say that TSMC was designed by hordes of Chinese engineers. But of course designing anything requires mind and intelligence (or a computer designed to simulate these things), But Mind cannot be derived from the equations of physics. Therefore we are all mindless. In general human behavior supports this.

Of course other stories exist. Yahweh created the world, or maybe Shiva, or Allah, and I think some remote tribes believe that it just appeared on the back of a giant turtle. I have no information on the matter, though frankly I incline to the turtle story, but will let the reader know the instant I find out.

The weakness of creation myths from Bang to Turtle is the question of the five-year-old, “But Mommy, where did God come from?” or “Who made God?” Fifteen years later in dorm-room bull sessions he will phrase it differently, “Well, what came before the Big Bang?” Same question.

A sort of second-echelon creation myth now in vogue is Darwinian evolution, also a subset of physics and therefore completely determined. Mutations are chemical events following the laws of chemistry. Thus trilobites had no choice but to form, and so they did. Metabolism is physical from the level of ATP to animals eating each other.

There is of course no such thing as a sex drive, teenagers notwithstanding, since no sort of drive can be derived from physics. (This will no doubt devastate Pornhub.) From this the inevitable conclusion, proven by physics, A that we cannot reproduce. Therefore we either have always existed or do not exist at all.

To give oneself an aura of overwelling wisdom, one may say things like ontology, epistemology, entelechy, and teleology, but these do not detract from mankind’s underlying and perfect ignorance. It’s all a trick shot, I tell you."

- https://www.unz.com

○

Related, highest recommendation.

"In The Matrix? Cosmologist Explains How Humans Could 

Be Living In A Simulated Universe Beyond Perception"

The Daily "Near You?"

Palmer, Alaska, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Knowing..."

“Knowing can be a curse on a person’s life. I’d traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn’t know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can’t ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.”

- Sue Monk Kidd

Greg Hunter’s, "Inflation Will Win And Is Here To Stay"

"Inflation Will Win And Is Here To Stay"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

"Money manager and economist Peter Schiff says the markets think the Federal Reserve can win the fight on inflation by raising interest rates. Look at the falling stock market, and many people are getting increasingly nervous that something is going to break. Schiff explains, “The Fed is in the same predicament now, only worse, because it’s a much bigger bubble than the one we had in 2008 or 2018. We have a lot more debt now, and the economy is less able to tolerate 5% interest rates than in 2008 and 2018. Think about it. If the Fed Funds Rate got to 5%, I’ll bet the 30-year mortgage rate would be 9%. People can’t afford to pay 9%, especially when they are borrowing 95% of the value of the home. So, it’s a massive mortgage. This housing market was built for 3.5% mortgages, not 9% mortgages. 

 Look at the federal government. We have a $31 trillion national debt. If the Fed got up to 5% . how is the government going to have to spend $1.5 trillion a year on interest payments on the national debt? It’s impossible. What about all the debt corporations took on? It has to be rolled over. How are they going to go from 2% or 3% to 7% or 9%? What about all the junk bonds? How are they going to survive? What about all the municipalities and state governments that have borrowed money at low rates? How are they going to roll that debt over? What about commercial real estate? How are they going to survive? The Fed created an economy completely dependent on near 0% interest rates and inflation. There is going to be no way to finance these companies. So, there is going to be a massive implosion. If the federal government is going to stop monetizing debt and raise interest rates, we need massive cuts to government spending.”

Stop monetizing debt and stop printing money? Don’t bet on the Fed sticking with that plan. Schiff says, “The dollar is going up because people think the Fed can succeed at bringing inflation down to 2%. Every time we get inflation that is above consensus, the market thinks the Fed is going to have to fight harder to win. So, they bid up the dollar because the Fed is going to have to raise rates more. They don’t realize inflation getting worse is a sign that the Fed is losing, and eventually it will surrender. Inflation will win, and inflation is here to stay.”

Schiff contends, “You are going to get guaranteed higher inflation. The Fed is damned if it does and damned it is doesn’t. The day of reckoning is finally here. We have this massive inflation problem, and there is nothing that governments and the central banks can do to solve it because up until now, inflation has been their solution for every problem. Now that inflation has become the problem, they have no solution." There is much more in the 46-minute interview.

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with money manager and economic expert Peter Schiff, founder of Euro Pacific Capital and Schiff Gold:

- https://rumble.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Markets, A Look Ahead: World Bank Warns Of '5th Wave Of Debt Crisis'"

Gregory Mannarino, 10/9/22:

"Markets, A Look Ahead:

 World Bank Warns Of '5th Wave Of Debt Crisis'"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

○

Related:

"Markets Are Expecting The Fed To Save Them – 

It's Not Going To Happen"

"How It Really Is"

 

Oh yeah...

"Shopping At Dollar General! Crazy High Prices!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 10/9/22:

"Shopping At Dollar General! Crazy High Prices!"

"In today's vlog we are at Dollar General to check out another food option as prices across the country are getting super expensive! We are here to explain skyrocketing prices, and the empty shelves situation! It's getting rough out here as stores are struggling with getting in products!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

The United States Treasury Department at 

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

As the US National Debt crosses the $31 trillion mark.

by Joel Bowman

"Welcome to another Sunday Session, dear reader, that time of the week when we loosen the tie for a moment, take off our serious hats and imagine we can solve the world’s diabolical dilemmas, one sip of mate at a time...A question to kick things off today: What’s in a trillion?

This is not a trick question, mind you. It’s just that, as human beings, we are (most of us) poorly-equipped to deal with orders of magnitude. Anything up to a couple of zeros is simple enough. Change from a hundred? Speed limits? Fahrenheit? Ok, your antipodean editor begins to get fuzzy on that last one... but in general, the “hundreds” range is fairly comfortable.

Then come the thousands. This is where living in a country like Argentina, where the “official” inflation rate is north of 80% and the largest bill is a 1,000-peso note (worth about US$3) comes in handy. We can multiply and divide by 300 (the unofficial “blue market” exchange rate) without too much trouble. Our steak lunch today – wifey, daughter and yours truly – came to about 5,500 pesos, for example. (~US$18 and change.)

But what about when we get into the realm of millions... billions... (not to mention tens and hundreds thereof)... or even... trillions?

A Long, Long Time Ago: You might like to think of it in terms of time. A million seconds ago is already 11 and a half days behind us. A billion seconds? That takes us back 31 and a half years. Any guesses how far back you’d have to count to go back in time one trillion seconds? A couple of centuries? A millennium? More?

Try 31,688 years. That would take us back to the year 29,666 BC (or BCE, if you prefer). This lands us somewhere in the middle of the Upper Paleolithic era. Think hunter gatherers, stone tools and cave paintings, like this one from the Chauvet Cave in the south of France, (circa 29,000-30,000 BC).

For context, the first pottery use was still about 10,000 years away... the agricultural revolution would not come along for another ~20,000 years... and it would be ~30,000 years before the Nazarene set foot on water. As for 31 trillion seconds, that would take us back almost a million (982,328) years. It’s a big number, in other words. No wonder Mr. Smith was so excited. Read on below..."

○

"Neither a Borrower"

By Joel Bowman

“The rich rule over the poor, 

and the borrower is slave to the lender.”

~ Proverbs 22:7

“The ultimate result of shielding men from the 

effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.”

~ Herbert Spencer

"On an otherwise unimportant Monday, in October of 2022, an unremarkable man by the name of Mr. Smith (or Mr. Johnson... or perhaps it was Mr. Williams) hit “send” on his work spreadsheet, and in doing so filed the Daily Treasury Statement itemizing all Cash and Debt Operations of the United States Treasury. It was a doozy.

“All in a day’s work,” the chipper fellow remarked to himself, before he placed a call to the wife to let her know he’d pick up Chinese from her favorite takeout joint on the way home. The happy couple were looking forward to the season four finale of Stranger Things on Netflix. (Mr. Smith secretly hoped they might watch DAHMER - Monster next, but he couldn’t figure out how to broach the subject with Mrs. Smith. She was hoping to resume The Crown... “what with poor old Elizabeth dead and all the royal goings on and so forth.”)

Later that same evening, sometime between the Kung Pao Chicken and the Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia surprise (Mrs. Smith’s favorite), Mr. Smith recalled something of an exciting detail from work...

“Oh, I almost forgot to mention,” he began, a tad embarrassed at the seemingly trivial nature of his mundane, workaday minutiae, “remember that Table IIIC line item I was telling you about... from work? The one at the bottom?” Mrs. Smith searched her brain. She had always been so supportive of her husband’s career, but there were just so many darned numbers! “The Debt Held by the Public one, dear?”

Mr. Smith smiled. I sure am a lucky fella, he said to himself, watching his wife’s earnest face bathed in the television’s soft glow. “Almost,” he said, encouragingly. “But this one’s the Total Public Debt Subject to Limit.” “Ahh.” Mr and Mrs. Smith smiled and nodded together. “Well, it ticked over today,” he went on. “Thirty one trillion?” “You got it!” “Wow!” Mrs. Smith exclaimed. “That sure is a big number. What do you suppose it means?”

Mr. Smith smiled uneasily. These kinds of questions always made him feel slightly uncomfortable. After all, why did it have to mean anything? It was just a number, wasn’t it? And he was there to see it change, that once-in-a-trillion moment. Surely that was exciting enough? Did he have to understand what was behind it, the inner workings of his state, his government, the nation’s finances? It was all so... complicated. Couldn’t he just eat his takeout and watch his shows?

Mr. Smith looked again at his dear wife, at her calm and familiar expression. He thought of the years they’d been together, the times they’d shared. He remembered when the number had passed 10 trillion, back in ... hmm, what was it now?... 2008? 2009? Well, whatever the year, it didn’t matter. That was all in the past now. “I sure am a lucky fella,” he said to himself again. “You know,” Mr. Smith replied, patting Mrs. Smith’s knees in her flannel pajamas, “I’m not exactly sure what it means.” She smiled and nodded in the flickering glow.

“I was thinking,” Mrs. Smith said after a long pause. “Maybe we could watch The Crown after this? You know, if you want to...” Mr. Smith smiled. “I think that’s a splendid idea. What, with all the royal goings on, as you like to say. Yes, a splendid idea. Now, are you going to finish that ice-cream?”

What’s in a Trillion?: Meanwhile, back at Bonner Private Research’s Buenos Aires bureau, your weekend correspondent has, through a series of inside connections and confidential informants (read: google searches) obtained a copy of Mr. Smith’s worksheet from that very Monday (October 3, 2022). See here...

It’s no wonder Mr. Smith was in such an excitable state. As you can see, right there in the “Closing balance today” column, stands the grand sum of $31,064,646. (Counted and rounded to millions.)

Click image for larger size.

Now, your comparatively innumerate editor is certainly no Mr. Smith... but some back of the envelope math leads us to a few startling conclusions. At $31 trillion (and counting...), the United States of America’s National Debt comes to more than that of the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and China... combined!

Shared among the country’s Smiths, Johnsons and Williams... not to mention the Garcias, Patels, Lees, et al. – which is to say, divided by every man, woman, child and non-binary two-spirit soul in the Union – that comes to a hefty $93,500 per beating heart. Of course, the burden will not fall on every shoulder alike. Divided per taxpayer, the total debt load comes in at $247,000 per working Smith.

According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a non-partisan group whose mission it is to (please don’t laugh... or cry), “increase public awareness of the nature and urgency of the key fiscal challenges threatening America's future and to accelerate action on them,” $31 trillion would be enough to pay for a four year degree for every graduating high school student in the country... for the next three quarters of a century.

As for the (rapidly rising) cost of servicing that debt, the Foundation forecasts that, within the next decade, interest payments alone will account for more than has traditionally been spent on research and development, infrastructructure and education combined. Currently at $447 billion annually, interest on the debt (which, according to the Treasury Dept., includes, “US Treasury notes and bonds, Government Account Series (GAS), (SLGs) and other special purpose securities”) weighs in as the fourth largest budget line item, behind Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security and Defense/War, respectively.

Again, not being a trained government economist, it’s tough to wrap our mere, mammalian brains around such gargantuan numbers. And they are only set to rise from here. Up and to the right. According to data from the Federal Reserve, back in 1960, the federal debt to GDP ratio stood at roughly 52%. Twenty years later, in 1980, that ratio had fallen to 34%. But by the turn of the century, it was back up again, sitting around the 56% mark.

Today, the federal debt to GDP ratio stands at 125%. That is to say, the national debt is 25% larger than the “total market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold” from sea to shining sea in a given fiscal year. Every hamburger slung, every rivet popped, every ounce mined... every lawn mowed, hair trimmed, contract inked, lap danced, table bussed, arm jabbed, cow slaughtered, seed planted, room serviced, plane landed, hole dug, book bound, cord cut, horse shod, martini shaken, panel pressed, ticket punched, boil lanced, light fitted, suit tailored, coupon clipped and essay graded... every good and service that goes into making up the entirety of “economic life” in America. All that. Plus 25%.

And still, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that number, Mr. Smith’s big $31T, will hit $35.6 trillion by 2026. The Office of Management and Budget reckons $36.7 trillion. Meanwhile, the US Debt Clock, ticking over at current rates – neither speeding up or slowing down – projects total US national debt to hit $40.5 trillion in the next four years. That would be $116,000 per citizen... and just shy of $300,000 per taxpayer.

We can almost see it now... a $40 trillion print. And boy oh boy, won’t that be a big day in the Smith Household."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

"The Hunting Of Man..."

 

"'Declaration Of War Without Rules': Russian Officials Fume Over Crimea Bridge Blast As Ukraine Celebrates"

Full screen recommended.

"'Declaration Of War Without Rules': Russian Officials 

Fume Over Crimea Bridge Blast As Ukraine Celebrates"

by Tyler Durden

Excerpt: Update 10/9/22, (1435ET): "Russia's state Investigative Committee has put out a statement saying at least three civilians died as a result of the attack on the Crimean Bridge, which was likely a fertilizer-laden truck bombing. "According to preliminary data, three people died as a result of the incident. They were presumably passengers of a car, which was near the exploded track. As of now, the bodies of a man and a women have been recovered from the water, their identities are being established," the committee said. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at the same time blasted what she called the "criminal logic" of some NATO officials who are positively cheering the attack.

Ukrainian government sources have owned up to the attack, but this claim of responsibility stopped short of being made publicly or officially: "A Ukrainian government official told The Washington Post that the country’s special services were behind the attack, though Kyiv stopped short of saying it was responsible — even as top officials taunted Moscow." As for the taunting and trolling, the official Twitter account for the government of Ukraine also tweeted out:

sick burn

- Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) October 8, 2022

A fire which had raged for hours at the scene, particularly freight which had been on the rail part of the bridge that had burned out of control, now appears to be out - allowing Russian investigators to view the full extent of the damage. A large section of bridge which has been vital to Russian military supply lines has been totally collapsed, with entire sections of roadway having fallen into the water below.

Even closer images of the Crimean Bridge, fire seems to have burnt itself out. pic.twitter.com/AdO3yabZjh

- OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 8, 2022

Full article here:

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

○

"In the event of an attack on Crimea, Medvedev was quoted by TASS news agency as saying, "Judgment Day will come very fast and hard. It will be very difficult to hide." Medvedev did not elaborate but has previously warned the United States of the dangers of attempting to punish a nuclear power such as Russia over its actions in Ukraine, saying this could endanger humanity."

- https://www.reuters.com/

And now the gloves come off...

"Alert: Russia Just Sent "General Armaggedon", Major Escalation"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 10/8/22:

"Alert: Russia Just Sent "General Armaggedon", Major Escalation"

"Russia has threatened "judgement day" in response to 

bridge attack and is sending "General Armageddon" to the front."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"People Cannot Afford New Cars"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly, 10/8/22:

"People Cannot Afford New Cars"

"So many people are having a difficult time right now. The car manufactures tell us one day that there are 50,000 cars parked that cannot be completed and today we’re being told that inventory is overflowing. Regardless of whatever it is, people cannot afford new cars."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com

Musical Interlude: Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Footprints On The Sea"; "Ballerina"

Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Footprints On The Sea"

○

Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Ballerina"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so colorful? The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes. Fine dust illuminated from the front by starlight produces blue reflection nebulae. Gaseous clouds whose atoms are excited by ultraviolet starlight produce reddish emission nebulae. Backlit dust clouds block starlight and so appear dark.

Antares, a red supergiant and one of the brighter stars in the night sky, lights up the yellow-red clouds on the lower center. Rho Ophiuchi lies at the center of the blue nebula near the top. The distant globular cluster M4 is visible just to the right of Antares, and to the lower left of the red cloud engulfing Sigma Scorpii. These star clouds are even more colorful than humans can see, emitting light across the electromagnetic spectrum.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120828.html

"First Of All..."

"First of all, although men have a common destiny, each individual also has to work out his own personal salvation for himself in fear and trembling. We can help one another to find the meaning of life no doubt. But in the last analysis, the individual person is responsible for living his own life and for "finding himself." If he persists in shifting his responsibility to somebody else, he fails to find out the meaning of his own existence. You cannot tell me who I am and I cannot tell you who you are. If you do not know your own identity, who is going to identify you?"

- Thomas Merton

Chet Raymo, "On Saying 'I Don't Know'"

"On Saying 'I Don't Know'"

by Chet Raymo

“Johannes Kepler is best known for figuring out the laws of planetary motion. In 1610, he published a little book called “The Six-Cornered Snowflake” that asked an even more fundamental question: How do visible forms arise? He wrote: "There must be some definite reason why, whenever snow begins to fall, its initial formation is invariably in the shape of a six-pointed starlet. For if it happens by chance, why do they not fall just as well with five corners or with seven?"

All around him Kepler saw beautiful shapes in nature: six-pointed snowflakes, the elliptical orbits of the planets, the hexagonal honeycombs of bees, the twelve-sided shape of pomegranate seeds. Why? he asks. Why does the stuff of the universe arrange itself into five-petaled flowers, spiral galaxies, double-helix DNA, rhomboid crystals, the rainbow's arc? Why the five-fingered, five-toed, bilaterally symmetric beauty of the newborn child? Why?

Kepler struggles with the problem, and along the way he stumbles onto sphere-packing. Why do pomegranate seeds have twelve flat sides? Because in the growing pomegranate fruit the seeds are squeezed into the smallest possible space. Start with spherical seeds, pack them as efficiently as possible with each sphere touching twelve neighbors. Then squeeze. Voila! And so he goes, convincing us, for example, that the bee's honeycomb has six sides because that's the way to make honey cells with the least amount of wax. His book is a tour-de-force of playful mathematics.

In the end, Kepler admits defeat in understanding the snowflake's six points, but he thinks he knows what's behind all of the beautiful forms of nature: A universal spirit pervading and shaping everything that exists. He calls it nature's "formative capacity." We would be inclined to say that Kepler was just giving a fancy name to something he couldn't explain. To the modern mind, "formative capacity" sounds like empty words. 

We can do somewhat better. For example, we explain the shape of snowflakes by the shape of water molecules, and we explain the shape of water molecules with the mathematical laws of quantum physics. Since Kepler's time, we have made impressive progress towards understanding the visible forms of snowflakes, crystals, rainbows, and newborn babes by probing ever deeper into the heart of matter. But we are probably no closer than Kepler to answering the ultimate questions: What is the reason for the curious connection between nature and mathematics? Why are the mathematical laws of nature one thing rather than another? Why does the universe exist at all? Like Kepler, we can give it a name, but the most forthright answer is simply: I don't know.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"There Are Times..."

"The image that comes to mind is a boxing ring. There are times when you just want that bell to ring, but you're the one who's losing. The one who's winning doesn't have that feeling. Do you have the energy and strength to face life? Life can ask more of you than you are willing to give. And then you say, 'Life is not something that should have been. I'm not going to play the game. I'm going to meditate. I'm going to call "out". There are three positions possible. One is the up-to-it, and facing the game and playing through. The second is saying, "Absolutely not. I don't want to stay in this dogfight." That's the absolute out. The third position is the one that says, "This is mixed of good and evil. I'm on the side of the good. I accept the world with corrections. And may the world be the way I like it. And it's good for me and my friends." There are the only three positions."

- Joseph Campbell

The Poet: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses"

"Ulysses"

"There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:

There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me -

That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed

Free hearts, free foreheads - you and I are old;

Old age hath yet his honor and his toil;

Death closes all: but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

○

Procol Harum, "A Salty Dog"

"Life Lessons From George S. Patton, Jr."

Full screen recommended.

"Patton Speech"

Patton speech in Los Angeles 1945 and death.

 Narrated by Ronald Reagan.

"Life Lessons From George S. Patton, Jr."

by John Wilder

"I have been a long-time fan of General George S. Patton, Jr. It started when I was a kid, and my history teacher even ordered a few extra Patton films for the World War II section of U.S. history because he knew I was a Patton fan. Probably the biggest accolade that he could have was from the Germans who he fought, one of whom said simply, “He is your best.”

For whatever reason, though, I had never read "The Patton Papers 1940-1945."  On a whim a week or so ago, I ordered a copy, and I cracked it open at lunch the day it arrived before I headed back to work. I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed a book more. I’m not sure The Mrs. feels the same way, since when I’m reading it, about every five minutes I’ll come up with a snippet to read to her. She keeps saying, “Thanks, but no tanks.”

The book itself is a compilation of diary entries, letters Patton wrote, and orders he gave in the period from 1940-1945. To have the ability to read through those are amazing, even when he just writes about the mundane aspects of his life or his son having trouble in math at school. I didn’t start at the beginning, I just picked it up and started reading at a more-or-less random spot, which coincided with his taking command of American troops in North Africa. And then I couldn’t put it down.

While many passages have resonated with me, I decided to write about one in particular today. It consists of his instructions that were provided to his officers prior to launching Operation Husky, where he and Montgomery launched a naval invasion of Sicily. Spoiler alert: he did pretty well. This is one passage I’ll make sure to share with Pugsley and The Boy because there is so much truth not only in a military sense, but in life to what Patton wrote on June 5, 1943. Stuff in italics is Patton’s (from page 261 and page 262). My comments are in plain text.

"Discipline is based on pride in the profession of arms, on meticulous attention to details, and on mutual respect and confidence. Discipline must be a habit so ingrained that it is stronger than the excitement of battle or the fear of death.

Discipline can only be obtained when all officers are imbued with the sense of their lawful obligation to their men and to their country that they cannot tolerate negligence. Officers who fail to correct errors or praise excellence are valueless in peace and dangerous misfits in war."

Discipline starts with a single individual. In my case, it doesn’t come from without, it must come from within. Getting up on time. Paying the bills. Having a sense of purpose in life. It has been my observation that people will do what you want when you’re looking if they fear punishment. If they are being judged, they might do it when others are around. When it becomes a value, however, they do it every time, all the time, even when no one is looking, and even when no one will ever know.

"Officers must assert themselves by example and by voice."

People watch. And people listen. Letting things slide never creates excellence.

"There is no approved solution to any tactical situation."

There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is: “To so use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum of time.”

Obviously, war isn’t a game, but the lesson for life outside of attacking Sicily in 1943 still exists. And it’s not to use Claymores (FRONT TOWARD ENEMY) and a mortar barrage to open a business meeting. But I have been involved in business and life situations where time was of the essence, and being polite just had to go out the window.

"Never attack [enemy] strength, [but rather his weakness]..."

"You can never be too strong. Get every man and gun you can secure provided it does not delay your attack..."

"Casualties vary directly with the time you are exposed to effective fire... Rapidity of attack shortens the time of exposure..."

"If you cannot see the enemy, and you seldom can, shoot at the place he is most likely to be..."

"Our mortars and our artillery are superb weapons when they are firing. When silent, they are junk – see that they fire!"

One thread that runs through Patton’s writing and actions is his devotion to attacking. Defending wasn’t something that he was interested in. In life, I think that attitude is required. It’s easy to give up, it’s easy to fall into the trap that there’s nothing more to do, nothing more to gain. It’s similar to having all A’s on my eighth-grade report card and deciding to coast on that for the rest of my life.

Potential can only be realized if we push ourselves, and we can only push on the attack. So, attack life like a poodle going after a pork chop, up to the very last breath.

"Never take counsel of your fears. The enemy is more worried than you are. Numerical superiority, while useful, is not vital to successful offensive action. The fact that you are attacking induces the enemy to believe that you are stronger than he is..."

"A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution ten minutes later..."

"IN CASE OF DOUBT, ATTACK ..." "Again, attack. But the additional thought is added: don’t listen to your fears. Fear is something that will paralyze even a strong man. And from my experience, the best way to get over fears and avoid the paralysis that comes with them is to take action. What action? Any action that leads you toward your goal. Even the smallest action often sets off a cascade of following actions that lead to...success."

"Mine fields, while dangerous, are not impassable. They are far less of a hazard than artillery concentrations..."

"Speed and ruthless violence on the beaches is vital. There must be no hesitation in debarking. To linger on the beach is fatal."

We are going to run into problems. Some of them huge. Some of them of our own making. The idea is to push through. The Mrs. and I watched a kid on the local wrestling team that was just awful in terms of skills, experience, and well, brains. But, he’d get it in his head that he could win, and he would go out and win some very, very unlikely matches. Why? He didn’t hesitate. He jumped on the chances he made.

I’ll probably have a few more of these as I go through the book. And, as much fun as it is to read, I’m going to take my time to enjoy it. I’d best show a little bit of discipline... Patton might be watching."

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

○

Full screen recommended.

"Patton" (1970), 27:32 - 30:21, Reincarnation scene.

○

Freely download "The Patton Papers 1940-1945" here:

- https://archive.org/

The Daily "Near You?"

Keaau, Hawaii, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"We Must Ask Ourselves..."

''As Americans, we must ask ourselves: Are we really so different? Must we stereotype those who disagree with us? Do we truly believe that ALL red-state residents are ignorant racist fascist knuckle-dragging NASCAR-obsessed cousin-marrying roadkill-eating tobacco juice-dribbling gun-fondling religious fanatic rednecks; or that ALL blue-state residents are godless unpatriotic pierced-nose Volvo-driving France-loving left-wing communist latte-sucking tofu-chomping holistic-wacko neurotic vegan weenie perverts?''

- Dave Barry

"He Cannot Help Himself..."

"A person who has not been completely alienated, who has remained sensitive and able to feel, who has not lost the sense of dignity, who is not yet for sale, who can still suffer over the suffering of others, who has not acquired fully the having mode of existence briefly, a person who has remained a person and not become a thing, cannot help feeling lonely, powerless, isolated in present-day society. He cannot help doubting himself and his own convictions, if not his sanity."

- Erich Fromm

"I Can't Convince Myself..."

“I can’t convince myself that it does much good to try to challenge the everyday political delusions and dementias of Americans at large. Their contained and confined mentalities by far prefer the petty and parochial prisons of the kind of sense they have been trained and rewarded for making out of their lives (and are punished for deviating from them). What it costs them ultimately to be such slaves and infants and ideological zombies is a thought too monstrous and rending and spiky for them even to want to glance at.”

- Kenneth Smith

“If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.”

- Oscar Wilde