"The Life Cycle of Outrage"

"The Life Cycle of Outrage"

by Mark Manson

"Moment Zero: A Significant Event occurs. Eye witnesses and primary sources break the news. Statements are made. Videos are posted. Tweets are tweeted.

First Hour: Journalists scramble to disseminate news of the Significant Event far and wide. Most of this happens on Twitter, but placeholder web pages are thrown together on various news sites and cable news channels interrupt the latest car chase to give you "breaking news" about the Significant Event, even though nobody has any clue what’s going on. This is the initial viral wave - let’s call it the "Primary Viral Wave."

First 24 Hours: There is a gold rush within the first 24 hours to cash in on the Primary Viral Wave. Thousands of journalists, bloggers, influencers, celebrities, and politicians put out their "take" on the Significant Event. These early takes range from quality education to scummy attention whoring. Pretty much anybody who says anything even remotely noteworthy about the Significant Event immediately goes viral, sees their follower count explode, and gets their tweet featured on news media outlets, who still have no idea what’s actually going on.

24-48 Hours: Of the tens of thousands of "takes" that were posted in the previous 24 hours, a couple dozen come out as clear victors in terms of winning in the attention colosseum. These handful of narratives get repeated and reshared to such an extent that they quickly become the conventional wisdom and basic facts about the Significant Event. People who follow the news closely begin informing their friends and family over dinners and boozy happy hours of what they’ve heard about the Significant Event. This makes them feel informed and intelligent.

48-72 Hours: The Primary Viral Wave has reached its saturation point. There’s little new to say about the facts of the Significant Event which hasn’t already been said. As a result, intrepid journalists, bloggers, authors, and influencers begin to look closer at the data and information of the Primary Viral Wave. And sure enough, wouldn’t you know it, this video is fake! And that photo has been Photoshopped! And that data analysis was done incorrectly!

My God, it’s a scandal! Everything you know about the Significant Event is wrong! The authorities have been lying to you. The mainstream media has f**king duped you. Again, dammit! The fake content and disinformation that inevitably happens during any Significant Event begins to come to light. This sparks outrage and fury among millions, thus generating another viral wave across social media and news services. Let’s call this the "Reactionary Viral Wave."

The Reactionary Viral Wave is not a single narrative like the Primary Viral Wave, but a collection of anti-establishment narratives that are colored by various interest groups and cultural identities. Righties will zero in on how rights and liberties are being violated. Lefties will amplify any injustices or prejudices that are taking place. People who live to fight racism will find racism in the Primary Viral Wave’s narratives. People who live to promote free markets will find overbearing and corrupt governments in the Primary Viral Wave’s Narratives. Like a global Rorschach Test, the Significant Event doesn’t alter anyone’s personal views, but rather merely reflects their views back to them.

Because the Reactionary Viral Wave is composed of multiple combative takes on the Significant Event, people soon begin to spiral into conflicts and dog fights about who is to blame and who is at fault. Whereas the Primary Viral Wave generates a sense of unity and desire to understand in everybody, the Reactionary Viral Wave blows everyone apart and cements them back into their own little tribal camps.

1-2 Weeks: The various competing Reactionary Viral Waves have reached peak saturation within their respective audiences. In an effort to keep attention and interest, various news outlets and influencers have ramped up the rhetoric to 11. Words like "traitor," "criminal," and "racist" are thrown around so much that they lose most of their meaning. The obligatory Hitler and Stalin references are made. Conspiracy theories proliferate. Everyone is offended and upset by everybody.

If anything is true in the social media age, it’s that narratives will evolve in order to saturate as much attention as they can. This means that any take will eventually be taken to its extreme. News anchors who a week ago expressed mild concern about a war will turn downright apocalyptic. Expert researchers who once appeared on TV to give measured advice will be replaced with doomsayers and anarchists. Douchey influencers and television pundits will try on absurd positions for no other reason than it will get Twitter upset and talking about them again.

It’s among this chaos that a third brand of journalist or influencer steps up and essentially tells everyone to calm the f**k down. These influencers and thought leaders tend to be political moderates who publish their content independently so they aren’t beholden to the corrupt economics of the attention game.

These moderate, "let’s take a minute and calm down" voices then launch the third and final viral wave caused by the Significant Event, the Anti-Reactionary Viral Wave. And because the Anti-Reactionary Viral Wave is so measured and cautious to be accurate and fair, it accomplishes what no other viral wave could: it bores people. Sure, it educates them to the point where they finally calm down, but it’s f**king boring.

The truth is, hearing a historian discuss Russian history for three hours on a podcast is enough to show millions of people that they don’t actually care about the war as much as they thought they did. Because there’s very little to feel outraged about here. Thus, their attention moves on to whatever else is shiny and exciting - tonight’s basketball game, whether the stock market is going to crash next week, their kid’s piano recital…until the next Significant Event occurs and they are thrown down the proverbial stairs all over again.

And not only do they go through the viral waves again and again and again, but like a magic trick that continues to put audiences at the edge of their seats, show after show after show, they will continue to be shocked and surprised and scared each time, in the same amount and measure. And what’s most wondrous of all, is that with each Significant Event hip checking the previous one out of the attention spotlight, they will actually forget that most of these Significant Events happened in the first place.

Which is a shame, because if they remembered all of the Significant Events they had forgotten in recent years, they would perhaps realize that they were actually not that "significant" at all. And worse, when something truly significant does happen, it blends in seamlessly with the continuing sh*tstream that is information in the social media age. Until next month..."

- markmanson.net

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Related:

"Intense Democracy: 

How Two Academics Are Trying To Break The Outrage Cycle"

"Freedom Roulette"

"Freedom Roulette"

by Bill Bonner

Buenos Aires, Argentina -  "When an empire passes its prime, it still steps up to the plate like a star slugger… but history serves up sucker pitches. Thrice this century, the American deciders have swung so hard they ended up on the ground. Now, they take another swing.

The madness grew over the weekend. CNN reported that: "The Russian Tea Room in New York City suffers in invasion of Ukraine."

And here’s Business Insider: "A growing number of American veterans are preparing to join Ukrainians in their battle against Russian military forces, The New York Times reported."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has in recent days called for an "international legion" of volunteers, and many civilians from other countries, such as the United Kingdom, have heeded his call. James, a medic who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, told The Times that he couldn't "stand by" and watch Russia's assault on Ukraine. Apparently, James couldn’t just stand by and watch the assault on Iraq either - he joined the attack. But here at BPR, we always favor the underdog, the lost cause, and the diehard. So we wish him well. He may need it.

But when madness spreads, there is no use asking questions or making ironic comments. The worst are hot… full of indignation and righteousness. (James thinks he knows which side God is on.) The best keep their mouths shut. It might be a year… or maybe 10 years… before the question marks come out again. Then, we will ask: ‘what was that all about?’

But for the moment, an ill wind blows and the trash takes to the air. Business Insider again: "A restaurant in France seeks to clear its name after fielding confusion surrounding poutine, its signature dish - fries doused with cheese curds and gravy - and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the leader who announced an invasion into Ukraine just over a week ago. La Maison de la Poutine, or The House of Poutine, tweeted on Friday that it received "calls of insults and even threats" over its namesake dish."

Recall the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ scam of 2003. Americans girded their loins for battle. Contrary opinions – including ours – were unwelcome. France refused to join the war. So, Americans dumped Bordeaux wine down the drain and ordered ‘freedom fries’ with dinner… One of our readers even suggested that the US Air Force – already conducting long-distance bombing raids – might want to drop a bomb on Paris, too. (We were living in Paris at the time, but we didn’t take it personally.) It turned out, the French were right.

Another Sucker Pitch: We believe the US empire hit its peak around 1999. Since then, it’s been one strikeout after another. Eight trillion dollars were lost fighting ‘terrorists’… then, after the Mortgage Finance Crisis, another $10 trillion (measured by US debt increases) was spent making the rich richer than ever… followed by trillions more in stimmie checks, non-repayable ‘loans’ and other jackass programs in the wake of the Covid virus.

All together, US government debt went from barely $5 trillion in 1999 to $30 trillion today. And the Fed’s negative interest rates encouraged borrowing in the rest of the society too – bringing the grand total of debt, public and private, added since 1999, to $66 trillion.

But lo… now, a new panic. A new distraction. A new war. Another sucker pitch. The media stirs up the masses. The crowds in the cheap seats roar their approval. Diners switch back to French dressing from Russian dressing. And here at BPR we aim to do our part, too. We propose to change the name of the old familiar suicide sport to “Freedom Roulette.” Meanwhile, the Pentagon is sending fighter jets. The Biden Team is sending money. Yes, we’re ready to fight to the last drop of the Ukrainians’ blood!

The feds are also fighting with sanctions – aiming to hit the Russian public where it hurts, but most likely hitting our own feet. The sanctions did not aim specifically at Russian energy companies. But in the fog of war, supply lines come undone and missions creep. A headline this morning tells us that the feds also want to cut off Russian oil sales to the US. And India Punchline adds this: "On the whole, the situation in the energy market is becoming very complicated, as western oil companies which had invested in Russia are forced to quit due to the sanctions. These include big players such as BP which has a 20-percent stake in Russian giant Rosneft, Shell with 27.5 percent stake in the Sakhalin-II LNG facility and a 50 percent stake in the Salym Petroleum Development, ExxonMobil (Sakhalin-1) and so on."

Apart from the impairment these companies will suffer running into tens of billions of dollars, their exit will also strain Russia’s ability to maintain such high production levels and continue to meet its commitments under the OPEC+ agreement. Now, the already-tight global market for crude – which saw Brent crude top $115 per barrel in early Thursday trading – can ill-afford these downstream hits from the sanctions against Russia. Evidently, crude prices still have nowhere to go but up from here. Expert opinion is that if oil price touches $125 per barrel, the US economy slides into recession.

The most long-lasting damage to the US will probably come from the holes it shoots in its own money. The dollar is now the Facebook and Instagram of international commerce. It is what everyone uses. But people don’t like being de-platformed from their money any better than they like being canceled or censured by their favorite social media. They look for alternatives.

Most likely, the Russians will find workarounds. Then, the workarounds will compete with the US-dominated financial system and eventually maybe even replace it. And then, with even fewer people eager to finance America’s excess spending, interest rates will go higher… the Fed will print more money and prices will rise even further. Chaos will spread."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

"When I See..."

"When I see the blind and wretched state of men, when I survey the whole universe in its deadness, and man left to himself with no light, as though lost in this corner of the universe without knowing who put him there, what he has to do, or what will become of him when he dies, incapable of knowing anything, I am moved to terror, like a man transported in his sleep to some terrifying desert island, who wakes up quite lost, with no means of escape. Then I marvel that so wretched a state does not drive people to despair." 

-  Blaise Pascal

Ahh, but it does...

"Massive Price Increases At Aldi! What's Next? What's Coming?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 3/7/22:

"Massive Price Increases At Aldi! What's Next? What's Coming?"

"In today's vlog we are at Aldi and are noticing massive price increases! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"

"Streets of Philadelphia, What’s Going On Today, March 7, 2022"

Full screen recommended.

"Streets of Philadelphia, 

What’s Going On Today, March 7, 2022"

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Full screen recommended.

Bruce Springsteen, "Streets of Philadelphia"

"How It Really Is"

 

"Economic Market Snapshot 3/7/22"

Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

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"Economic Market Snapshot 3/7/22"

Updated as available.

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MarketWatch Market Summary, Live Updates

- https://www.marketwatch.com/tools/marketsummary

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CNN Market Data:

- http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/

CNN Fear And Greed Index:

- http://money.cnn.com/data/fear-and-greed/

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Latest Market Analysis, Updated 3/7/22

- https://www.asktraders.com/analysis/

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A comprehensive, essential daily read.

March 7th to 8th 2022

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

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Financial Stress Index: "The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."

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- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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- https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

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- https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

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Commentary, highly recommended:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

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"The more I see of the monied classes,

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

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Oh yeah...

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And now... The End Game...

"Nowhere Left to Hide"

"Nowhere Left to Hide"

by Jim Kunstler

"Time, they say, is nature’s way of making sure that everything doesn’t happen at once. If that’s so, then maybe time has stopped because all of a sudden everything seems to be happening at once. Three things, actually: 1) a Russian military operation in Ukraine that a lot of people in America want to turn into World War Three; 2) an epic crack-up of the world financial system; and 3) the breakdown of the fishy Covid-19 affair and especially the story behind its holy avatar: the mRNA vaccine.

In a sane society, that might be enough to trip the institutional reality-test apparatus, but we are not a sane society these days, so we plunge ever-deeper into a hurly-burly of wrongful endeavor vectoring toward self-destruction. The immediate problem is a nation (us) that is powerfully bamboozled, led by a figurehead nobody believes in, backed by a hidden coterie of actors who appear to hate our country enough to try to sink it.

Forgive me for re-stating the premise of the Ukraine situation but one must counter the propaganda emitted like poison gas by a perfidious news media: Russia objected to the expansion of NATO to its very border, based on long-standing prior agreements about it. “Joe Biden” had every chance to formally recognize that reality and stupidly demurred. The Ukrainian government, ditto. Our side (the USA) had already created enough mischief there in mounting the 2014 coup against a government friendly with Russia, and then arming its replacement to harass Ukraine’s own citizens in its easternmost provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk. Two weeks ago, Russia moved in to forcefully correct all that. After all, Ukraine had been a part of Russia since they wrested it from the Ottoman (Turkish) empire in the 1700s, and in any other sense Ukraine is within Russia’s sphere-of-influence, as such things are defined in geopolitical history.

The US-led response to the Russian op was an attempt to dismantle the complex interbank payment systems of the global economy in order to punish one region (Russia) of the global economy - that is, cutting off your leg to punish yourself for walking into harm’s way. The result of that now is mayhem in the financial markets and in currencies, with global commodities like grain, oil, and ores acting as hostages. This hostage-taking has far-reaching effects because the nations of the world can’t operate without food, energy, and stuff to make products out of. Interfere with the rational distribution of them and you’ll get chaos and death.

Financial markets are averse to threats of chaos and death. These conditions tend to interfere with formal promises between parties to service loans, which is the basis of finance. If finance destabilizes badly, standards of living plummet, and pretty soon people are stuck being hungry in the cold and dark - which is the opposite of being happy and civilized. So, maybe jamming an I-beam into the machinery of global finance isn’t the splendid idea it seemed to be a few days ago when the geniuses behind “Joe Biden” swung into action pretending to be super-heroes fighting an imagined nemesis. Standing by to see how all that works out….

Then there is the resolving picture of all the mysterious puzzle-pieces in the Covid-19 story. Sunday night, America’s premier propaganda vessel, CBS’s 60-Minutes, ran a puff-piece on the CDC starring the warm-and-fuzzy Mom figure, Rachel Walensky. It is hard to overstate just how dishonest the segment was, starting with its subtle effort to keep America in a state of alarm (“new variants” coming!), proceeding to a deceptive cartoon of how the mRNA “vaccines” work wonders (“white memory cells patrol the body,” no mention of spike proteins), and concluding with exhortations for Americans to continue vaxxing and boosting up - despite an avalanche of news coming from elsewhere than 60-Minutes about the CDC withholding critical information from the public it’s supposed to serve throughout the two-year-plus crisis, not to mention new data from alt-media on extensive injury and death rates among the vaccinated, including shocking info from the court-ordered recent release of Pfizer’s own records.

Was this 60-Minutes segment corporate media’s attempt to cover-up the emerging crimes of America’s public health agencies in concert with Pharma and media itself? That is, to get ahead of the story, as has lately been the strategy for all the cable channels and legacy newspapers with more and more citizens asking themselves if they have been played? Meanwhile, the Big Kahuna of Covid-19, one Dr. Anthony Fauci, has gone-to-ground, made himself scarce, skipped the scene, vamoosed amid all the new controversy. Word has apparently come down from on-high in the Party of Chaos that his ubiquitous puss on the nation’s flat-screens is no longer helping to sell the mass vaxx directive. Too many people, perhaps, suspect that he caused the whole thing to happen in the first place and then botched his attempt to play savior over it.

It would be a pity for the Party of Chaos (starts with a “D”) and its accomplices in the Covid frauds if the events playing out in Ukraine actually concluded with a reduction of danger and chaos in that corner of the world. It is surely the last thing they want. Yet the possibility exists that Russia will pacify the country, disarm it, neutralize its most corrupt and obdurately degenerate factions, and set it up as a properly governed backwater that will not threaten to upset the peace of the world again for some time ahead. Then, the spotlight will be back on the Covid crime against humanity and the folks who perpetrated it. And there will be nowhere for them to hide….especially with financial markets crashing down on their ears."

- https://kunstler.com/

"The Price of Oil Spikes and Gas is Headed to Ten Dollars a Gallon"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly AM 3/7/22:

"The Price of Oil Spikes and Gas is Headed to Ten Dollars a Gallon"

"We are watching oil spike in price. We are helpless with nothing being done. Gas is headed for $10 a gallon. Food inflation is over 20%, but we’re supposed to believe that inflation is only at 7 1/2%. The Fed needed to raise interest rates two months ago."

Gregory Mannarino, "Oil Shock! Expanding War; Crude Oil Is Skyrocketing!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 3/7/22:

"Oil Shock! Expanding War; Crude Oil Is Skyrocketing!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

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- https://www.marketwatch.com/market-data

"Panic Buying Frenzy Sparks A Rush To Hoard Food And Energy Supplies As Supply Chain Collapse Begins"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, PM 3/5/22:

"Panic Buying Frenzy Sparks A Rush To Hoard Food 

And Energy Supplies As Supply Chain Collapse Begins"

"A massive panic buying frenzy continues to spread all across the world. A rush to hoard food and energy supplies has begun as prices skyrocket and reach new historic highs. The ever-growing supply chain chaos is threatening to cause more shipping disruptions in the coming days. In the U.S., Americans are in panic at the pump, with gas prices facing the highest weekly jump in over a decade. Meanwhile, in Eastern nations, people are running to buy everything they can still find in stock amid the disastrous collapse of their currency. From furniture to jewelry to other luxury goods with high resale value, a wide range of products is simply disappearing from the stores.

Some so-called experts say that American shoppers are still hoarding food and energy supplies, such as gas, propane, and other types of fuels, despite the decline in health-crisis-induced disruptions. However, what those “experts” are failing to consider is that the damage done to our supply chains won’t simply fade away as the rate of infection cases goes down. In fact, in every link of the chain, conditions are still getting worse. The American people is finally understanding the importance of stockpiling, and they’ve been buying in bulk whenever they can. And while some may call it ‘hoarding,’ consumers say they’re only prepping for the tough times ahead of us.

With memories of widespread shortages still fresh on people’s minds, they don’t want to be left in such a vulnerable position again. A recent article written by the consumer behavior reporter Lisa Bannon described that more and more U.S. consumers are stockpiling large amounts of food and household goods in anticipation of supply chain disruptions and shortages. That became particularly true now that global conflicts have started to worsen and trigger shipping interruptions, as well as the closure of some shipping routes, and soaring transportation costs brought on by the stunning rise in oil prices.

With energy prices already high, shoppers are rushing to stockpile propane, fuels, and especially gasoline. As opposed to stockpiling food, which takes time and planning, consumers have been panic-buying gas before prices go even higher and supplies get even tighter. Cars are lining up for miles amid fears that prices will shoot up even higher during the coming week. Drivers are trying to stock up on gasoline before the average price of a gallon stabilizes above $4.00. And the crisis has not only sparked chaos in America, but also in the U.K., where authorities are begging drivers to stop panic-buying fuel as gas stations run dry. In fact, experts said that gas prices are on track to hit £2.00 or even more as oil keeps rising.

Meanwhile, a panic buying frenzy is still taking place in China, where food retailers began rationing food and imposing sweeping purchasing limits as shortages aggravate across the nation. Food staples such as rice, fresh produce, meat and pork are still out of stock, and when shoppers are lucky enough to find them, prices are 20 to 30 percent higher than usual. The supply of grains is also shrinking, and with compromised grain production in both Russia and Ukraine, the entire world, including the U.S., is silently moving towards a devastating food crisis. This week, many families in Kyiv have also started to panic buy food and other staples, but most grocery stores were extremely understocked, and terrified locals snatched up whatever was left on the shelves in a desperate attempt to ensure enough to eat during such uncertain times.

Meanwhile, as the ruble continues to decay and lose value, not only investors or rich buyers are turning to luxury goods to protect their wealth. The collapse of the ruble is threatening to wipe out the savings of ordinary Russians, that’s why many of them are trying to buy products whose value will remain untouched during the conflict. Similar to gold, the prices of designer jewels and watches can hold and even increase in some cases following economic turmoil caused by global conflicts.

In essence, all of those waves of panic buying signal that the world’s population is losing confidence and trust in global leaders and governments. They’re becoming aware that no one is coming to rescue them from the mess that those in power have created and pushed us into. Supply chains have been stretched to the limit and the value of our money – it doesn’t matter if you’re in America or on the other side of the globe – will continue to collapse as our resources become more scarce and inflation eats up a larger share of our incomes with each passing month. Those are exceedingly dark times, and we should look after ourselves while we still can."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

Must Watch! "You Have No Idea What's About To Happen; It's Too Late, The Economic Nightmare Is Reality"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 3/5/22:

"You Have No Idea What's About To Happen; 

It's Too Late, The Economic Nightmare Is Reality"

Musical Interlude: Ludovico Einaudi, "The Royal Albert Hall Concert" (2010 )

Full screen recommended.

Ludovico Einaudi, "The Royal Albert Hall Concert" (2010)

"A Look to the Heavens"

"To the eye, this cosmic composition nicely balances the Bubble Nebula at the right with open star cluster M52. The pair would be lopsided on other scales, though. Embedded in a complex of interstellar dust and gas and blown by the winds from a single, massive O-type star, the Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7635, is a mere 10 light-years wide. On the other hand, M52 is a rich open cluster of around a thousand stars. The cluster is about 25 light-years across. 

Seen toward the northern boundary of Cassiopeia, distance estimates for the Bubble Nebula and associated cloud complex are around 11,000 light-years, while star cluster M52 lies nearly 5,000 light-years away. The wide telescopic field of view spans about 1.5 degrees on the sky or three times the apparent size of a full Moon."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210925.html 

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“When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in an eternity before and after, the little space I fill engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces whereof I know nothing, and which know nothing of me, I am terrified. The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.”

“For in fact what is man in nature? A nothing in comparison with the infinite, an all in comparison with the nothing, a meeting between nothing and everything. Since he is infinitely removed from comprehending the extremes, the end of things and their beginning are hopelessly hidden from him in an impenetrable secret; he is equally incapable of seeing the nothing from which she was made, and of the infinite in which he is swallowed up."

- Blaise Pascal, "Pensees"

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"Blaise Pascal: The Infinite Spaces, Alienation, and The Wager"

"A Very Fit Consideration..."

“How vast those Orbs must be, and how inconsiderable this Earth, the Theatre upon which all our mighty Designs, all our Navigations, and all our Wars are transacted, is when compared to them. A very fit consideration, and matter of Reflection, for those Kings and Princes who sacrifice the Lives of so many People, only to flatter their Ambition in being Masters of some pitiful corner of this small Spot.”

- Christiaan Huygens, (1629-1695)

"What A Chimera..."

Freely download Pascal's "Pensées" here:

- https://www.pdfdrive.com/

"Immortality in Passing: Poet Lisel Mueller, Who Lived to 96 , On What Gives Meaning to Our Ephemeral Lives"

"Immortality in Passing: Poet Lisel Mueller, Who Lived to 96,

On What Gives Meaning to Our Ephemeral Lives"

by Maria Popova

“When you realize you are mortal you also realize the tremendousness of the future. You fall in love with a Time you will never perceive,” the poet, painter, and philosopher Etel Adnan observed as she beheld impermanence and transcendence at the foot of a mountain. “By the grace of random chance, funneled through nature’s laws,” the poetic physicist Brian Greene wrote in his beautiful meditation on our search for meaning in a cold cosmos, “we are here.”

And then we are not.

We die. All of us - atoms to atoms, stardust to stardust, the mountain to the sea - you and I. The dual awareness of our improbable life and our inevitable death is what allows us to animate the interlude with love and beauty, with poems and fairy tales and poems, with general relativity and Nina Simone. It is what puts into perspective just how fleeting and vacant and self-embittering all of our angers and blames and resentments are in the end - what beckons us, instead, to “leave something of sweetness and substance in the mouth of the world.”

That is what the late, great Lisel Mueller (February 8, 1924–February 21, 2020) - one of the most original, deepest-seeing poets of our time - explores with great subtlety and profundity disguised as levity in the poem “Immortality” from her final poetry collection, the Pulitzer-winning masterpiece "Alive Together" (public library).

"Immortality"

"In Sleeping Beauty’s castle

the clock strikes one hundred years

and the girl in the tower returns to the world.

So do the servants in the kitchen,

who don’t even rub their eyes.

The cook’s right hand, lifted

an exact century ago,

completes its downward arc

to the kitchen boy’s left ear;

the boy’s tensed vocal cords

finally let go

the trapped, enduring whimper,

and the fly, arrested mid-plunge

above the strawberry pie,

fulfills its abiding mission

and dives into the sweet, red glaze.

As a child I had a book

with a picture of that scene.

I was too young to notice

how fear persists, and how

the anger that causes fear persists,

that its trajectory can’t be changed

or broken, only interrupted.

My attention was on the fly;

that this slight body

with its transparent wings 

and lifespan of one human day

still craved its particular share

of sweetness, a century later.

- Lisel Mueller

“Immortality” by Lisel Mueller (read by Maria Popova) 

- https://soundcloud.com/brainpicker/lisel-mueller-immortality

(Two centuries earlier, William Blake explored the same eternal subject though the same creature in his short existentialist poem “The Fly.”)

In the front matter of this altogether miraculous book, where an epigraph would ordinarily appear, Mueller offers a short poem that becomes a kind of chorus line for the entire collection, but emerges as an especially harmonizing counterpart to “Immortality” in particular:

Complement these fragments of the wholly transcendent Alive Together with physicist Alan Lightman on our yearning for immortality in a universe governed by decay, Pico Iyer on finding beauty in impermanence, and Marcus Aurelius on mortality as the key to living fully, then revisit Barbara Ras’s bittersweet, buoyant, perspective-calibrating poem “You Can’t Have It All” and Marilyn Nelson’s magnificent ode to how we fill our impermanence with importance, “Faster Than Light.”

- https://www.themarginalian.org/

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"The Backdoor to Immortality: Marguerite Duras 

on What Makes Life Worth Living in the Face of Death"

“What exists, exists so that it can be lost and become precious,” Lisel Mueller wrote as she weighed what gives meaning to our mortal lives in a stunning poem - one of the hundreds that outlived her as she returned her borrowed stardust to the universe at ninety-six. And yet, by some felicitous deviation from logic - perhaps an adaptive imbecility essential for our mental and emotional survival, one of the touching incongruences that make us human - the moment something becomes precious to us, we quarantine the prospect of its loss in some chamber of the mind we choose not to enter. On some deep level beyond the reach of reason, we come to believe that the people we love are - must be, for the alternative is a fathomless terror - immortal.

And so, when a loved one dies, this deepest part of us grows wild with rage at the universe - a rage skinned of sensemaking, irrational and raw, unsalved by our knowledge that the entropic destiny of everything alive is to die and of everything that exists to eventually not, even the universe itself; unsalved by the the immense cosmic poetry hidden in this fact; unsalved by the luckiness of having lived at all against the staggering cosmic odds otherwise; unsalved by remembering that only because ancient archaebacteria were capable of dying, as was every organism that evolved in their wake, we and the people we love and the people we lose came to exist at all."

- Maria Popova

Full article here: https://mailchi.mp/

○

Related, highly recommended:

"From Death to Immortality"

"Death in the Afternoon"

"Death in the Afternoon"

by Joel Bowman

"To be immortal is commonplace; except for man, 

all creatures are immortal, for they are ignorant of death; 

what is divine, terrible, incomprehensible, is to know that one is mortal."

~ Jorge Luis Borges

"Everything is illuminated against its opposite; truth against fallacy; light against darkness; life against death. And who would have it any other way, even if they could? What would life on this mortal coil be, for instance, without the eternity of its terminally mysterious counterpoint?

If there exists a perfect setting for these and associated meditations, it must surely be the magnificent Recoleta Cemetery, located right here in Buenos Aires. On any given weekend, this sacred resting place for thousands of the city’s most famous – and infamous – people is found to be one of the liveliest places in town. Notable interments include a who’s-who list of Argentine writers, painters, poets, musicians, scientists and luminaries from other noble fields of interest. And, because nothing, including death, is beyond the law of equilibrium, a handful of politicians also rot underfoot.

Tourists pour in to adorn Maria Eva Duarte de Perón’s grave with flowers, for instance, bypassing the resting place of a Nobel Prize-winning chemist and a dozen honest writers to do so. Other, temporary attendees pose with Colgate smiles to have their picture taken beside weeping cement angels, frozen, as they are, in a state of perpetual sorrow. Young boys give the “peace” symbol next to the generals’ tombs whose armies laid to waste to tens of thousands of men, not much older than they, the bodies of whom are long forgotten, their makeshift graves unmarked.

Nowhere does irony live a fuller life than in a cemetery. Walking among the deceased, reading bookend dates on the bronze plaques, one is reminded of the finite nature of all things; organisms, currencies, political regimes, class structures. When the cemetery was constructed, back in 1822, it must have been a good ride from the exclusive barrios of San Telmo and Montserrat. The rich probably wouldn’t have been caught dead around the grounds of the Monks of the Order of the Recoletos, nor near the shabby, patchwork graveyard that was built there the same year the group disbanded.

Half a century later - and with Argentina still reeling from the War of the Triple Alliance and its own, subsequent civil war - a yellow fever epidemic tore through the capital city. Its wealthier, southern quarters were among the worst hit areas. Death toll estimates range from thirteen to twenty-five thousand. The clase alta packed up and moved north, largely into and around the Recoleta barrio. As such, the marbled vaults came to be populated with members of this same aristocracia, who, though they escaped the fever, came to rest here eventually just the same.

Today, you could buy an entire building in San Telmo for the same price as some of the finely appointed homes in Recoleta. An entire block in Montserrat might go for half that much.

And so it goes. People die…cities and empires crumble to the ground…and time, indifferent to the fleeting anguishes and triumphs of men, presses on.

At the turn of the 20th century, Argentina was ranked as the 8th most prosperous nation on earth. Only Belgium, Switzerland, Britain and a handful of former English colonies - including the United States – were more favorably positioned, economically. In 1913, Argentina’s bustling, cosmopolitan capital, Buenos Aires, had the thirteenth highest per capita telephone penetration rate in the world. Her per capita income was, around this time, 50% higher than in Italy, almost twice that of Japan and five times greater than its northern neighbor, Brazil. Argentina’s industry churned out quality textiles and leading edge, refrigerated shipping containers carried her prized beef, first introduced in 1536 by the Spanish Conquistadors, from the fertile plains of the pampas to the farthest reaches of the known world.

As the century wore on, protectionist policies at home and increased competition from the export-led, post-WWII economies – particularly from Japan and Italy – undermined Argentina’s international advantage. From 1900 through to the beginning of the new millennium, Argentina’s real GDP per person grew at a rate of 1.88% per year. Brazil outpaced her handily, clocking a 2.39% annualized growth rate. Japan, starting with a real GDP per person of just over $1,500 (2006 dollars) at the turn of the twentieth century, grew an average of 2.76% per year. By the middle of last decade, Japan’s real GDP per person had doubled that of Argentina. By 2020, it was more than quadruple.

The phenomenon is so conspicuous, the local Argentines even have a joke for it. “There are four types of countries in the world,” they lament. “First world. Third world. Japan, where nobody can figure out how they did so much with so little. And Argentina, where nobody can figure out how we did so little with so much.”

War, currency debasement, civil unrest, military rule and the catalyzing agent of political aspiration, harbored by the equally corrupt and inept, all conspired to stultify this once-proud nation’s potential. The great Argentine poet and essayist, Jorge Luis Borges, described one such retarding factor with characteristic flare and wit: “The Falklands thing was a fight between two bald men over a comb.”

On a comfortable Sunday afternoon in late February, an elderly group of well-dressed gentlemen met at their favorite restaurant, right by the gate to the Recoleta Cemetery, for lunch. They took a table outside, one in the shade and with a view of the passing foot traffic. The waiters, having brought the regulars the same thing, more or less, every Sunday for as long as they could remember, immediately set about filling their table. There was bife de lomo and chorizo sausages, mozzarella and buffalo tomatoes and papas fritas by the pile. Rich, Argentine Malbecs and Cabernets flowed freely and the merriment of the group soon became infectious. They flirted with the pretty waitresses and joked with patrons at the nearby tables.

After more than a few bottles, one of the gentlemen got chatting with an Australian editor of no particular importance. “I am a judge here,” he eventually told the younger man. “My friends and I have seen it all in this city…riots, economic crises, war, people’s entire life savings wiped out overnight.”

One of his friends lent over and placed a knowing hand on the judge’s shoulder. “Today, we enjoy the moment,” he said to his lifelong friend, before adding, one long finger pointed over the cemetery wall, “because tomorrow…ha ha…well, you know our next stop old man.” And the table erupted in laughter, as the sun set over the angel’s heads in the background.

Cheers,"

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

The Daily "Near You?"

Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada.

Thanks for stopping by!

"Eventually You Understand..."

"That's where it all begins. That's where we all get screwed big time as we grow up. They tell us to think, but they don't really mean it. They only want us to think within the boundaries they define. The moment you start thinking for yourself - really thinking - so many things stop making any sense. And if you keep thinking, the whole world just falls apart. Nothing makes sense anymore. All rules, traditions, expectations - they all start looking so fake, so made up. You want to just get rid of all this stuff and make things right. But the moment you say it, they tell you to shut up and be respectful. And eventually you understand that nobody wants you to really think for yourself.

- Ray N. Kuili, "Awakening"

The Poet: John O'Donohue, "In These Times "

"In These Times"

 "In these times when anger

Is turned into anxiety,

And someone has stolen

The horizons and mountains,

Our small emperors on parade

Never expect our indifference

To disturb their nakedness.

They keep their heads down,

And their eyes gleam with reflection.

From aluminum economic ground,

The media wraps everything

In a cellophane of sound,

And the ghost surface of the virtual

Overlays the breathing earth.

The industry of distraction

Makes us forget

That we live in a universe.

We have become converts

To the religion of stress

And its deity of progress;

That we may have courage

To turn aside from it all

And come to kneel down before the poor,

To discover what we must do,

How to turn anxiety

Back into anger,

How to find our way home."

~ John O'Donohue,

from "To Bless the Space Between Us"

Free Download: Albert Camus, "The Plague"

"Everyone knows that plagues have a way of recurring throughout history, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in the ones that crash down on us out of the sky. There have always been plagues and wars, yet they always take us by surprise. When war breaks out people say it's stupid and won't last long. Stupidity has a knack of getting in the way, which we would see if not wrapped up in ourselves. In this our townsfolk were like everybody else - they did not believe in plagues."

- Albert Camus, "The Plague"

○

"'The Plague' is a cultural classic fictional novel written by French author Albert Camus. The novel is originally written in French and named “La Peste”. The novel was initially published in 1947 and was later translated into English and published by Stuart Gilbert as "The Plague." The novel covers the unfortunate events and horrific scenes of a plague in Northern Africa in Oran a city in French Algeria. The inspiration behind this novel was some plagues that hit Oran before. The stories in the novel are from the choleric epidemic and bubonic plague. The author has shown these epidemics more extreme and deadlier. The book is considered existentialism.

The author describes the plague as a natural equalizer as it has no preferences and no targets. The plague comes and takes everyone with it whether someone is poor, rich, evil, innocent, religious, atheist or anyone else everyone is going with this nature’s marvel. The author emphasizes that despite so much horror, wreckage, and devastation this natural phenomenon teaches or at least makes people survive whether they try or not. The author also discusses the reaction of the people at this difficult time of life as not everyone reacts the same in such a harsh atmosphere.

Freely download "The Plague", by Albert Camus, here:

https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-plague-d196973890.html

Gregory Mannarino, "Markets, A Look Ahead: The Major Banks Are Loading Up On Commodities"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 3/5/22:

"Markets, A Look Ahead: 

The Major Banks Are Loading Up On Commodities"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"None Stayed To Fight - Chaotic Retreat of Ukrainian Troops"

Full screen recommended.

"None Stayed To Fight - Chaotic Retreat of Ukrainian Troops"

Greg Hunter, "Insane Globalists Collapsing World Economy"

"Insane Globalists Collapsing World Economy"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"In his USAWatchdog.com interview just two weeks ago, legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong said, The New World Order’s so-called ‘Great Reset’ plan for humanity is ‘falling apart,’ and pointed out, “They are basically desperate at this stage. I don’t think they anticipated the amount of resistance they are getting.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is enormous resistance to the New World Order plans. Armstrong, who has new data from his Socrates computer analysis, is out with a fresh critical update. Armstrong explains, “It’s just total insanity. They are, really at this stage, completely collapsing the world economy. You have Apple and all these companies; there are over 300 American companies in Russia. Their assets are going to be seized. They are all now in a panic mode to get out, and you are going to see the same situation with China. This is insane. It really is insane, and you just don’t do this. I can’t believe these governments have listened to this sort of advice. It’s really, really disastrous. What creates world peace is not nuclear weapons. It’s economic, basically. As long as everybody benefits, then you are not going to bite the hand that feeds you. When you start cutting off trade on both sides, you are wiping out the global economy. That is what has provided world peace since WWII. By 2023, I don’t see this backing off. Once you have undermined the global financial economy, you have removed the benefits and then it does turn to war.”

Armstrong sees a “serious problem with a war cycle in early 2023” but hopes it does not go full nuclear. The financial war has already gone nuclear.

Before the end of this year, Armstrong’s “Socrates” computer program sees a “panic cycle” for the 2022 mid-term elections, mainly for the Democrats. Armstrong explains more about this in the interview.

Armstrong says inflation is here to stay, and it’s going to be huge in some areas. Armstrong sees gasoline rising to $8 to $10 per gallon sometime in 2023. Armstrong says buy everything you think you will need because it will never be cheaper, and it may not even be there in the future at any price. Food is high on Armstrong’s list, and he says have good old fashion cash on hand because of cyber-attacks and power outages that he sees coming in some areas. Armstrong also sees an average of 25% inflation by 2024. This, again, is according to his “Socrates” computer program. Armstrong says “the commodity cycle will take off in 2024.” Armstrong sees everything going up in price, and that includes gold and silver. Interest rates will also be headed up, and the stock market is not going to do well in a trend that sees interest rates rising.

Armstrong says communism is what the New World Order really wants. Armstrong says, “The globalists want communism, but the problem with communism is it does not work - period.”

Armstrong blames the western world leaders for the mess the world is in today. Armstrong says, “It’s their fault. . . .This is the worst crop of world leaders I have ever seen, and I have been consulting governments for 40 years. . . . The level of stupidity on the world stage is stunning.”

Armstrong is also predicting the “civil unrest will not only continue", but “it will get much worse.”

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with Martin Armstrong, author of “Manipulating the World Economy,” which has 70 fresh new pages in the 5th edition of this very popular book. (There is much more in the 1 hour and 12-minute in-depth interview.)

- https://rumble.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"Your Only Choice..."

“When swimming into a dark tunnel, there arrives a point of no return when you no longer have enough breath to double back. Your only choice is to swim forward into the unknown… and pray for an exit.”

- Dan Brown

Must Watch! "Is Klaus Schwab the Most Dangerous Man in the World?"

Full screen recommended.

AwakenWithJP, 

"Is Klaus Schwab the Most Dangerous Man in the World?"

"This video is one that I found worth watching all the way through."

- Robert W Malone MD, MS

- https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/

○

Who is RW Malone, MD? Why does my voice matter?

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…"

~ "A Tale of Two Cities"

"I am an internationally recognized scientist/physician and the original inventor of mRNA vaccination as a technology, DNA vaccination, and multiple non-viral DNA and RNA/mRNA platform delivery technologies. I hold numerous fundamental domestic and foreign patents in the fields of gene delivery, delivery formulations, and vaccines: including for fundamental DNA and RNA/mRNA vaccine technologies.

I have approximately 100 scientific publications with over 12,000 citations of my work (per Google Scholar with an “outstanding” impact factor rating). I have been an invited speaker at over 50 conferences, have chaired numerous conferences and I have sat on or served as chairperson on HHS and DoD committees. I currently sit as a non-voting member on the NIH ACTIV committee, which is tasked with managing clinical research for a variety of drug and antibody treatments for COVID-19.

I received my medical degree from the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. I completed the Harvard Medical School fellowship as a global clinical research scholar in 2016 and was scientifically trained at the University of California at Davis, the University of California at San Diego, and at the Salk Institute Molecular Biology and Virology laboratories. I have served as an assistant and associate professor of pathology and surgery at the University of California at Davis, the University of Maryland, and the Armed Forces University of the Health Sciences.

My partner in all of this is Jill Glasspool Malone, PhD. She likes to stay behind the scenes, but you can be assured that in almost all of my professional endeavors, she has been and will be involved. She also is well published and has an extensive CV. We have been together since high school (over 45 years) and have been married for 42 of those. We live on a horse farm in Virginia, which has become our own personal “Galt’s Gulch”. An idea that we embrace and build upon. Having an intentional community is one of the tenets of how we live.

So, what has brought me to the point of daily podcasts, interviews, op-eds, advocacy with legislators and building a twitter feed of almost a half million people? It started with my own experiences and concerns regarding the safety and bioethics of how the COVID-19 genetic vaccines were developed and forced upon the world, and then then expanded as I discovered the many short-cuts, database issues, obfuscation and frankly, lies told in the development of the Spike protein-based genetic vaccines for SARS-CoV-2. Personal experiences involving identifying, developing, and trying to publish peer-reviewed academic papers focused on drug repurposing and the rights of physicians to practice medicine as well as what I have seen close colleagues go through have further influenced me. Finally, as unethical mandates for administering experimental vaccines to adults and children began to be pushed by governments, my research into what I believe is authoritarian control by governments that are being manipulated by large corporations (big finance, big pharmaceutical, big media and big technology) influenced my changing world view.

Now, I have always been taught and believed that vaccines must be developed in conjunction with life saving treatments for an emerging infectious disease or a pandemic. I am a vaccinologist. I invented the core mRNA vaccine technology platform. I have spent much of my career working on vaccine development. I have also had extensive experience in drug repurposing for infectious disease outbreaks. I am not an antivaxxer in any way, shape or form. But I do believe that the short cuts that the USG have taken in bringing the mRNA and the adenovirus vaccines to market for this pandemic have been detrimental and contrary to globally accepted standards for developing and regulating safe and effective licensed products.

I have now done hundreds of podcasts and interviews. I am a regular guest on many shows and have written many editorials that have been published in mainstream newspapers. Along with many other physicians and scientists advocating early treatment, I have toured globally to help educate physicians and the public about early treatment options while also opposing the unethical mandates.

I used to believe that the FDA, NIH, and CDC were working for the people, not big pharma. I thought that if we could just re-purpose already known, safe drugs for emerging infectious diseases, we could quickly find ways to reduce the death rate. I thought that drug and vaccine development were regulated by the Federal government for the common good. What I have learned over the last two years is that regulatory capture of the federal government has warped and shaped the work of Congress and Federal agencies to such an extent that they no longer represent what is in the best interests of the nation, the world, and humanity.

The more I have expressed data-based concerns about what is happening with the vaccines, the US Federal and WHO responses, the more I have been censored, defamed, and subjected to various forms of character assassination by big tech and legacy media. I am not alone in being targeted. Mainstream media has attacked and censored me and other prominent physicians/scientists who do not recite the governmental narrative. This has been developed into a standard process and deployed worldwide as a technique for suppressing physician dissent – quite literally hunting physicians deemed guilty of thoughtcrimes (such as questioning vaccine safety and effectiveness) or of the “sin” of treating patients with lifesaving drugs in an outpatient setting. What is happening is not right, it is not proper and it is not fair. So, let get down to fixing it.

Substack as a publishing model: On Substack, I post timely articles, research analysis, podcasts and commentary relating to immunology, virology, vaccines, and all aspects of public health and policy- with a particular focus on the current SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. I explore issues that may be too controversial for the first generation social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn which are all controlled by Big Technology companies and their large investment firm owners. I also write more in-depth articles and post podcasts that are censored by other media platforms, such as YouTube. I often throw in tips for healthy living and surviving COVID as well as how to best tolerate governmental intrusion. On occasion, guest writers will join me here to present their work. I encourage comments and questions from my subscribers."

- https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/about

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Related, critically important:

"Unthinkable Thoughts"

Free download: "The Vaccine Death Report"