Monday, August 21, 2023

"Learning from Ants"

"Learning from Ants"
by Jeff Thomas

"If you catch 100 red fire ants as well as 100 large black ants, and put them in a jar, at first, nothing will happen. However, if you violently shake the jar and dump them back on the ground the ants will fight until they eventually kill each other. The thing is, the red ants think the black ants are the enemy and vice versa, when in reality, the real enemy is the person who shook the jar. This is exactly what’s happening in society today. Liberal vs. Conservative. Black vs. White. Pro Mask vs. Anti-Mask. Vax vs. Anti-vax. Rich vs. poor. Man vs. woman. Cop vs. citizen. [Etc.] The real question we need to be asking ourselves is who’s shaking the jar… and why?"

The above observation by Shera Starr cannot be improved upon. And yet, the answer to the question is fairly simple. But let’s first take a look at this anomaly. It’s natural to identify with some individuals more than others. That tendency occurred before Homo sapiens came into being. In addition, the tendency for animals to group into families or packs also predates humans.

We tend to want to be around those who behave the way we do and have the same perceptions as we do. That only makes sense. We wish to surround ourselves with those who are unlikely to surprise and possibly even endanger us by behaving in a fashion that we would not ourselves choose. This is the basis of trust – an essential in group or herd mentality. And being a part of a group or herd brings to us increased safety.

So, what then, of those who are not within our group or herd? How do we relate to them? Well, any nature program that covers animals gathered around a water hole can provide that answer. We see a small group of wild pigs drinking alongside a group of wildebeests. Neither species is predatory, so they learn to recognize that, even though one group is made up of savannah-living grazers and the other are forest-living foragers, they can easily co-exist, which will increase the ability of both species to use the water hole at the same time.

We might also see a group of hyenas using the water hole, but we notice that the prey animals all seek to keep a distance between themselves and the predatory hyenas. Everyone understands that they are all at the water hole for the same reason and it makes sense to share, even if, in another situation, they are natural enemies. In fact, in most of nature, we see that species adapt to a condition of mutual tolerance in order to be able to coexist.

No surprise, then, that Homo sapiens got on the mutual tolerance bandwagon in its formative stages and, for the most part, has remained that way. But it is also true that predators develop dual habits. They may exercise tolerance at the water hole, but at some point, they mean to make a meal of their water hole neighbors. And when doing so, many species create associations with others of their kind to hunt.

This, too, is true of humans. Most of humanity seeks to live in a spirit of cooperation with others. In the countryside, people erect walls and fences to establish boundaries, then find it expedient to respect such divisions in order to live in peace. Even in cities, people who live cheek by jowl in the same building respect each other’s privacy for the most part. Even if they do not become friends, they either remain polite or ignore each other.

Although there are always exceptions, for the most part, mankind behaves in a manner that is based upon "getting along." He might argue with others, but for the most part, he understands that cooperation generally should be the objective, as it’s in his best interests. But why, then, are we seeing in so many of the countries of the First World, a rapidly increasing polarity amongst people. Ms. Starr is exactly correct. Those who would be most inclined toward mutual tolerance have, in recent years, become so polarized that they cannot so much as get together with their own families for the holidays without getting into heated arguments.

Why are people of today so solidly in one of two camps? Can this be blamed on the rise of the internet? Well, no, the internet has become the source of a plethora of opinions and perceptions. And more than closing people off to polarized "A" and "B" choices, the internet has served to broaden public discourse.

Of course, most people express distrust for the media, particularly those networks that purportedly deal in "news." What passes for news today is far from objective information that the viewer can then assess at his leisure. On one network, we view unceasing diatribes against one political party. Then we turn the channel and view unceasing diatribes against the opposing party. In turning on the News, we arrive at Indoctrination Central. But if we really pay attention objectively, we discover that the same programs are dictating to us that it is either our humanitarian duty to vax, or that vaxxing will enslave us to globalists who will inject us with microchips. They are also our source for the opposing beliefs that warfare is essential to protect us against those who seek to destroy us, or that it will be the wars themselves that will destroy us.

In fact, all of Ms. Starr’s concerns find their source in the media. When we ask the question, "Who is shaking the jar… and why?" we find that those who control the media are at the source of the polarization of people, especially in the First World. As to the "Why?" the answer is so simple that it’s often overlooked. Like the ants, the more a people can be made to fight each other, the easier it is to subjugate them. And since the effort to polarize people has become so massive, we can only conclude that the ultimate objective will be to implement a far greater level of subjugation, in an abnormally short period of time.

Liberal vs. Conservative. Black vs. white. Man vs. woman. Divide and conquer. In such a socio-political climate, the challenge will be to keep your wits about you. As the jar is shaken on a daily basis, it will be vital to recognize that those who control the media are creating a war between the pigs and the wildebeests. This is something that is not desired by either species, but as Hermann Goering stated, "Why, of course the people don’t want war." They must be goaded into it if those who are pulling the stings are to achieve greater subjugation.

In the coming years, this trend can be expected to become far worse than at present. The challenge will be to escape the jar if you can. Find a location where the state of warfare is less pronounced, or if this is not possible, seek a location within the jar that’s away from the fray. Those who fall for the bait – who buy into rabidly supporting one political party or another, or who allow themselves to be angered at an entire race, or who are conned into hatred of an entire gender – will prove to be the greatest casualties of subjugation."

"All The Money You Make..."

“All the money you make will never buy back your soul. ”
- Bob Dylan
o
Full screen recommended.
Steve Cutts, "Happiness"

Bill Bonner, "When Slavery Doesn't Pay"

"When Slavery Doesn't Pay"
The deep currents of American megapolitics 
and where they're taking us next...
by Bill Bonner

"If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that…" ~ Abraham Lincoln

Poitou, France - "We were in Ireland for only a week. Youghal was festooned with flags…banners…and decorative flourishes. It was the Ironman triathlon. From all over the world, fit men and women had come to compete. The roads were blocked. Barriers set up. Bicycle racks were placed all over town. The contestants were to swim 2.4 miles across Youghal bay, ride their bicycles 112 miles around Ireland. And then run a 26-mile marathon. All in one day. “Are you running tomorrow?” The question came from a woman at the supermarket. We had stopped in for supplies. The stout, gray-haired woman at the checkout counter had a smile on her face. “Do they have an over-70 group?” we asked. But we couldn’t stay for the race. We returned to France the next day.

Phony Promises vs Real Liberty: In the US, the Biden Bunch drained America’s strategic petroleum reserve in order to keep gas prices low before an election. Argentina manipulates gas prices without an SPR. Here’s the latest from La Nacion in Buenos Aires: "The government has decreed to freeze gas prices at the pump until after the elections (actually this is more of an agreement with the Gas companies). Last increase takes place today at 12.5%."

Year after year, the rich men north of Richmond and south of the Rio de la Plata learn more tricks. But out on the pampas, the public is wising up…or at least, it is fed up with 70 years of chaos, and decline. In the primaries, more voters pulled the lever for the rebel, Javier Milei, than for the other two, more mainstream, ‘reform candidates’ put together.

Whether the Argentine voters will follow through in the general election is an open question. If so, it will be perhaps the first time in history that a democracy has actually saved itself…perhaps the first time in history that masses have rejected the phony promise of ‘more free stuff’ in favor of real liberty. It was only a primary election in Argentina. And as Joel told us this weekend, the press is doing all it can to portray Milei as a nut and a kook. Most likely, in the general election to follow, the voters will rediscover their inner terror of freedom and get back into their traces. But we’ll see…

American Megapolitics: In the meantime, the ‘rich men north of Richmond’ idea is clean and simple. It avoids all the political claptrap and distracting culture wars. Democrats vs. Republicans…LBGQT rights…racism…inequality…blah, blah, blah.

In the things that really matter – money and war – the elites of both parties are unified, as tight as a head gasket. Presidents change…but the laws, regulations, bureaucracy, the Deep State, the wars and deficits don’t. Why? Because they suit the rich men north of Richmond…

In the popular press, the story of America is essentially a tale of party politics, racism, inequality, slavery and the struggle for ‘rights’ by victims…including those who aim for victimhood by doing weird things. It is the story of Valley Forge, trust busters, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But these were just sideshows. They may be of great interest to a few people, but little significance to most. Even if Britain had won the Revolutionary War, it probably would have made little difference in our lives. Immigrants were still rushing in. There was a whole continent – sea to shining sea – to bring under control. One way or another, the rich men north of Richmond were soon to be richer and more powerful than those in London.

That’s ‘megapolitics,’ with its deep, deep currents…taking us along with it. America, almost inevitably, was going to become a great empire.

With or Without Them: The Emancipation Act is widely regarded as the greatest act ever undertaken by a US president. But as the quote above makes clear, Lincoln didn’t care about the slaves. It was the power of the rich men north of Richmond that he cared about. Slavery was a ‘megapolitical’ institution. If it were sinful, it wasn’t mentioned in the Bible…and for most of history, neither was it a crime. It was how humans organized themselves. There were the poor, downtrodden masses – the slaves. And there were the people who owned them.

Slavery was a very durable arrangement – lasting for thousands of years – and a very popular one (with the slave owners). Governments encouraged it; they recognized slaves as property and protected ‘property rights.’ We’d still have it today if the rich men north of Richmond could make a buck from it. Morality, as Professor Buchanan put it, is what ‘used to pay.’ But after 1860, slavery didn’t pay. With the coming of the industrial revolution, machines replaced slaves. They were cheaper. More productive. More reliable. And less trouble.

The main storyline of America is a story of power relations…but it is not the story of black people rising out of chattel slavery. Nor is it the story of the Lord trampling down the vineyards where the grapes of wrath were stored. Nor of our brave boys protecting our freedom at Yorktown, Shiloh, the Somme, Iwo Jima or Baghdad. Instead, it is the story of the rise of the rich men north of Richmond and a more modern form of ‘slavery’… with gossamer chains. More to come…"

"How It Really Is"

 

"Moral compass?!" 
You fool, surely you jest... This is 'Murica!

"Doubt..."

“Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the handmaiden of truth. Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery. A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error, for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief. Doubt is the touchstone of truth; it is an acid which eats away the false. Let no one fear for the truth, that doubt may consume it; for doubt is a testing of belief. The truth stands boldly and unafraid; it is not shaken by the testing, for truth, if it be truth, arises from each testing stronger, more secure. He that would silence doubt is filled with fear; the house of his spirit is built on shifting sands. But he that fears no doubt, and knows its use, is founded on a rock. He shall walk in the light of growing knowledge; the work of his hands shall endure. Therefore let us not fear doubt, but let us rejoice in its help. It is to the wise as a staff to the blind; doubt is the handmaiden of truth.”
- Robert T. Weston

Dan, I Allegedly , "End of an Era - Storm Watch"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly 8/21/23
"End of an Era - Storm Watch"
"It’s the end of an era for the mortgage industry. We saw interest rates hover around 5% and then they dropped to 2%. Now the Fed is trying to fight inflation by raising interest rates. It’s the end of an era."
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o
o
The Atlantis Report 8/21/23
"They’re Getting Ready To Buy ALL The Homes, 
Is Something Big Coming?"
"The stage was set in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. As home prices plummeted, Wall Street saw an opportunity amidst the chaos. Flush with cheap capital and a treasure trove of distressed assets, they embarked on a high-stakes venture. The goal? Turn a crisis into a profit bonanza. From this tumultuous backdrop emerged a new breed – corporate landlords."
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"Ukraine/Russia War Update, 8/21/23"

Judge Napolitano, Judging Freedom, 8/21/23
"Ukraine & Faith in F-16s w/Ray McGovern fmr CIA"
Comments here:
500,000 dead soldiers...and you and I and all 
of us paid $150 BILLION for this horror...
o
Col. Douglas Macgregor, "Official: It's All Over Now!"
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Scott Ritter, 8/21/23
"Russia Counter-Offensive"
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"In 24 Hours EVERYTHING Changes For The United States, Putin And China Are Ready"

Full screen recommended.
Redacted, 8/21/23
"In 24 Hours EVERYTHING Changes For 
The United States, Putin And China Are Ready"
"Tomorrow the U.S. dollar is put on notice as the BRICS nations come together in South Africa for their first face to face meeting since the start of the pandemic. More than 40 countries are vying to join BRICS as they take aim at the U.S. dollar. Putin and China are officially upending the unipolar order."
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About Clayton and Natali Morris: Clayton Morris is a former Fox News anchor. In Redacted, Clayton and his wife Natali take an in-depth look at the legal, social, financial, and personal issues that matter to you. They want to set the record straight and bring you the stories nobody else tells. Along with the facts and the complete picture, Redacted offers real-world analysis without an agency driven by corporate overloads. With Clayton’s extensive journalism experience, he isn’t afraid to demand the truth from authorities. Redacted is an independent platform, unencumbered by external factors or restrictive policies, on which Clayton and Natali Morris bring you quality information, balanced reporting, constructive debate, and thoughtful narratives.

"Always The Hope..."

All we ever get is this...

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

Jim Kunstler, "We Won’t Be Fooled Again"

"We Won’t Be Fooled Again"
by Jim Kunstler

“Good faith people are willing to be corrected (because the Truth is important); not so the liars of course (they know they are wrong) or the ideologues. So the ideologues therefore don’t act in good faith, though they think they do.” - Truman Verdun

"Of all the vicious lies spun around the Covid-19 operation, among the most damaging was the campaign to demonize ivermectin, a Nobel Prize-winning true wonder-drug, among the safest known pharmaceuticals ever, effective against disease-causing parasites and also a potent anti-viral agent - which was exactly why the CDC and FDA turned on it. It very effectively subdued Covid-19 infections.
That is, it worked. And because of that, these agencies had to pretend that it was worthless and harmful, to protect the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the fabulous mRNA vaccines that didn’t work and ended up harming, disabling, and killing many people. Any treatment that proved effective would have invalidated the EUA and negated the liability shield that came with the EUA, protecting the vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits.

A week ago, in a lawsuit brought by three doctors against the FDA for its Covid-19 restrictions, DOJ lawyer Ashley Honold told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Louisiana that “FDA explicitly recognizes that doctors do have the authority to prescribe ivermectin to treat Covid.” Really? After three years of bad-mouthing the drug in public service announcements - horse and cow de-wormer, not for humans! - and telling national boards of physicians not to use it, and telling the national organization of pharmacists not to fill prescriptions for it… which resulted in many states officially forbidding its use… which led to gross injustices such as the State of Maine Medical Board’s obtuse and insane persecution of bio-warfare expert and epidemiologist Dr. Meryl Nass (for which Dr. Nass is now suing them)… and to many other state boards revoking the licenses of doctors….

Days after that howler by DOJ lawyer Honold, the FDA honchos in DC walked back what she told the court, saying, “… it has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19, nor has the agency stated that it is safe or effective for that use.” The agency then invoked its battery of fake excuses for that ruling: studies are inconclusive, blah, blah, which is just more bullshit, you understand, because the bottom line is the same as ever: the FDA will not surrender the EUA and its various protections for the Covid vaccines. And it will employ any official lie to support that position.

It also happened that going back to the 2019 debut of Covid-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci, then-head of the NIAID and Francis Collins then-head of the NIH - two related agencies that funded and supported coronavirus gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology - received many millions of dollars in “royalties” for their part in developing mRNA vaccines against the Covid-19 pathogen that they had priorly developed (the total dollar figure rumored to be above $300-million). See how that worked?

If you are among that segment of the population that has not lost its mind, you might realize that the public health authorities have no authority. They lied outrageously about everything connected with Covid-19. And when they were caught lying, they just lied some more in the vain attempt to cover up their previous lies. And so, it would be foolish to regard anything they say from now on - without a complete house-cleaning of agency personnel, plus some earnest prosecutions - as worth listening to and following.

Authority, you see, is granted only to those who are trustworthy. Yes, it’s really that simple. If an authority lies about everything, and is caught doing it, then it is rendered invalid. Now, it happens that the US public health agencies, huge and costly as they are, make up only one part of the even larger and costlier US government, which has been busy surrendering the authority of all its other parts for years now, to the point that the whole enterprise is untrustworthy and in need of a severe housecleaning. Traditionally, elections are the mechanism for cleaning that house, but our elections have lost their authority, too? Really? How so? Because the untrustworthy officials in charge of them employ dubious systems for gathering the vote: mail-in balloting that invites fraud and hackable vote-counting machines that are connected to the Internet.

The defects of these things are so obvious they can hardly be ignored. And the remedy is obvious and simple, too: paper ballots hand-counted in small precincts of manageable size, all done on one day, which we call Election Day (and which should be a national holiday, so more working people can get to the polls). Somehow, though, we are unable to avail that remedy, probably because the untrustworthy people in charge would lose their jobs and the power they enjoy in a truly fair election. So, they conclude, let’s not have that.

It’s even looking like the untrustworthy public health authorities are ramping up yet a new, fresh Covid-19 scare for the fall, in order to reenforce the special mail-in voting scheme that’s working so nicely (for them), and to disorder the minds of the public so they’ll be too frightened to notice that all the other parts of the government are failing in virtually all their duties to the people of this land. Bring on some new Covid variants and the lovely new booster vax that’ll work so well (not). Go ahead, we should say, I dare you. We won’t be fooled again."

Gregory Mannarino, "Prepare Yourselves! Food And Other Resource Shortages Are Coming, Count On It!"

Full screen recommended.
Gregory Mannarino, AM 8/21/23
"Prepare Yourselves! Food And Other
 Resource Shortages Are Coming, Count On It!"
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"Massive Shrinkflation At Dollar Tree! This Is Ridiculous! What's Next?"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 8/21/23
"Massive Shrinkflation At Dollar Tree! 
This Is Ridiculous! What's Next?"
"In today's vlog, we are Dollar Tree and are noticing massive food products that have shrunk in size! We are also noticing some empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores are either charging unaffordable prices or shrinking items to the point where it's just not worth it!"
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"Economic Market Snapshot 8/21/23"

"Economic Market Snapshot 8/21/23"
Market Data Center, Live Updates:
Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. 
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
A comprehensive, essential daily read.
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: creditequity valuationfunding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United Statesother advanced economies, and emerging markets."
Job cuts and much more.
Commentary, highly recommended:
"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...
And now... The End Game...
o

Sunday, August 20, 2023

"Massive Storm And Earthquake Slam SoCal, More Coming; Palm Springs Is Flooded; Surviving Realty"

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 8/20/23
"Massive Storm And Earthquake Slam SoCal, More Coming;
 Palm Springs Is Flooded; Surviving Realty"
Comments here:

Canadian Prepper, "Breaking News: 2 Nuclear Bombers Destroyed; F-16's Seen In Ukraine; Iran Prepares Attack; Fires Rage"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 8/20/23
"Breaking News: 2 Nuclear Bombers Destroyed;
 F-16's Seen In Ukraine; Iran Prepares Attack; Fires Rage"
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "People Can’t Access Their Money - Storm Watch"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly 8/20/23
"People Can’t Access Their Money - Storm Watch"
"People are using green dot and bank2go and cannot get access to their money right now. People are experiencing their banks down for 10 days.. What would you do? Plus, we’re on storm. Watch here in Southern California. I went to the Huntington Beach Pier to show you what it’s like live."
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Greg Hunter , "Lahaina Incineration is Deadly Weather Warfare – Dane Wigington"

"Lahaina Incineration is Deadly Weather Warfare 
– Dane Wigington"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Climate engineering researcher Dane Wigington says the total incineration of Lahaina in Hawaii was caused by man-made weather modification called geoengineering. Wigington says this is really an attack using “weather warfare.” According to Wigington, they used climate engineering to create a “wind tunnel effect right over Lahaina” with wind speeds up to 100 miles per hour to superheat the fire. Wigington explains, “This creates a bellows effect, and that escalates temperatures exponentially over what they would have otherwise been. They have been melting steel around the world by exactly that manner for thousands of years by feeding air in. That’s the bellows effect. This is the same as an acetylene torch. If you burn just the acetylene, you have 1,500 degrees. When you add oxygen, now you get 6,000 degrees. People are not considering this. They don’t need Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs). There is a 140-page U.S. military document that we found and posted at GeoEngineeringWatch.org. It is titled “Wildfires as a Military Weapon.”It describes surface preparation prior to their commencement of the surface firestorm incineration. That’s exactly what we saw in that region of Hawaii. We cannot prove the source of ignition in Lahaina, but what we can say is the template for this event to happen cannot be separated from climate engineering operations.”

Wigington says weird and deadly weather events are going to intensify. Wigington points out millions of acres are burning in Northern Canada, while California and the Western U.S. brace for a huge hurricane coming from the Pacific Ocean. It looks like somebody wanted Lahaina burned to the ground no matter how many people had to die. Wigington contends, “We have the disaster capitalists trying to profit off any cataclysm, but I would argue the stakes are much, much more grave. These people know that the planet’s life support system is failing. They should know because they are a party to bringing us to this dark place. There are much bigger powers in play. Climate engineering is a covert weapon because they can bring populations to their knees without the population ever realizing they are under assault. They mire populations in difficulty, and that makes them easier to control. Climate engineering is far to dignified a term. This is weather warfare. We at GeoEngineeringWatch.org are focused on the biggest hole in the bottom of the boat. Whatever people are worried about, political theater or whatever concern they have, none of it will matter if we continue on the current course. I mean, in the very near term, none of it will matter.”

Wigington says more and more people are waking up to the dire problems that weather engineering is causing. If there is a critical mass of awakening, many lives could be saved, and at least part of the planet’s life support system can be salvaged. Wigington says, “It’s far easier to kill a million people that to control them. The U.S. population especially is a rapidly increasing liability to those in power. Many U.S. citizens are armed, and they are not happy about what’s going on. Those in power don’t want to get to a point that these citizens take to the street with their proverbial pitchforks and torches looking for them. So, they are going to debilitate, control and reduce that population as fast as they can. Anyone who can’t see that at this point has their eyes wide shut. So, of course, they are using weather as a weapon. Why wouldn’t they?” There is much more in the 55-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with climate
 researcher Dane Wigington, founder of GeoEngineeringWatch.org.

Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Music of the Night: East of The Full Moon"

Full screen recommended.
Deuter, "Music of the Night: East of The Full Moon"

Absolutely beautiful...

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Large galaxies and faint nebulae highlight this deep image of the M81 Group of galaxies. First and foremost in the wide-angle 12-hour exposure is the grand design spiral galaxy M81, the largest galaxy visible in the image. M81 is gravitationally interacting with M82 just below it, a big galaxy with an unusual halo of filamentary red-glowing gas.
Around the image many other galaxies from the M81 Group of galaxies can be seen. Together with other galaxy congregates including our Local Group of galaxies and the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, the M81 Group is part of the expansive Virgo Supercluster of Galaxies. This whole galaxy menagerie is seen through the faint glow of an Integrated Flux Nebula, a little studied complex of diffuse gas and dust clouds in our Milky Way Galaxy."

Chet Raymo, “A Few Words Inspired By The Tomato Plant”

“A Few Words Inspired By The Tomato Plant”
by Chet Raymo

"Mostly we think of life in terms of individuals - this person, this tomato plant, this frog, this oak tree, this gnat. And we talk about birth and death as the beginning and ending of life. But there is another sense in which life is just one thing, whose beginning is lost in the depths of time and whose end is not in sight. Life in this sense embodies itself in matter, temporarily, as a tomato or a frog, puts on matter and puts off matter as we might don or doff clothes. By this account, I am an ephemeral conglomeration of atoms that life is using to perpetuate itself.

But what is this thing called life? It cannot exist except as embodied form, but it maintains a continuity independent of any particular embodiment. It is a strange enduring wave that stirs the material world into purposeful and directed avenues. With Johannes Kepler we might call it the facultas formatrix of nature, the formative faculty, but giving something a name doesn't explain it. Whatever life is - in the unitary, enduring sense - it would be surprising if it only existed here on Earth. If I were a betting man I would bet that life is as pervasive as matter itself, or energy. Matter, energy and complexification. We have lots left to learn.

But let's be cautious. There are lots of folks out there with half-baked biocentric theories of the universe. Someone once chided the philosopher W. V. O. Quine with a quote from Shakespeare: “There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” To which Quine is said to have responded: “Possibly, but my concern is that there not be more things in my philosophy than are in heaven and earth.”

"Ukraine/Russia War Update, 8/20/23"

Col. Douglas Macgregor, Straight Calls, 8/20/23
"Western Powers Struggling To Deal 
With Reality - Russia Has Won"
"Analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current
 geopolitical events in the United States of America and the world."
Comments here:
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Stephen Gardner, 8/20/23
"Retired Colonel: 
Ukraine Crushed By Putin's Latest Assault"
"Retired army colonel, Tony Shaffer says Putin's 
latest attack has devastated and crushed Ukraine." 
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"Costco Reporting Over 200% Food Price Surge As Stock Continues To Run Out"

Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, 8/20/23
"Costco Reporting Over 200% Food Price
 Surge As Stock Continues To Run Out"
"When Costco started raising the prices of seven staple foods last July, customers were upset, but did they know that this was just the start of a chain of events that would lead to major price offsets across shelves? I don't think so. Now a lot of them are buying in bulk to stock up for the future and save some cash, and they have been going to Costco to find these good deals. But in the past few weeks, it seems like a lot of things have sold out at Costco stores, and new price markups are shocking customers, who have reported increases of up to 250% on Costco goods, according to a recent study of customer complaints."
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The Daily "Near You?"

Lake Village, Indiana, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"The Cloak Of The Past..."

“The cloak of the past is cut from patches of feeling, and sewn with rebus threads. Most of the time, the best we can do is wrap it around ourselves for comfort or drag it behind us as we struggle to go on. But everything has its cause and its meaning. Every life, every love, every action and feeling and thought has its reason and significance: its beginning, and the part it plays in the end. Sometimes, we do see. Sometimes, we see the past so clearly, and read the legend of its parts with such acuity, that every stitch of time reveals its purpose, and a kind of message is enfolded in it. Nothing in any life, no matter how well or poorly lived, is wiser than failure or clearer than sorrow. And in the tiny, precious wisdom that they give to us, even those dread and hated enemies, suffering and failure, have their reason and their right to be.”
- Gregory David Roberts, “Shantaram”

"A Different Drummer..."

 

"Figuring Forward in an Uncertain Universe"

"Figuring Forward in an Uncertain Universe"
by Maria Popova

"We make things and seed them into the world, never fully knowing - often never knowing at all - whom they will reach and how they will blossom in other hearts, how their meaning will unfold in contexts we never imagined. (W.S. Merwin captured this poignantly in the final lines of his gorgeous poem “Berryman.”)

Today I offer something a little apart from the usual, or sidelong rather, amid these unusual times: A couple of days ago, I received a moving note from a woman who had read "Figuring" and found herself revisiting the final page - it was helping her, she said, live through the terror and confusion of these uncertain times. I figured I’d share that page - which comes after 544 others, tracing centuries of human loves and losses, trials and triumphs, that gave us some of the crowning achievements of our civilization - in case it helps anyone else.

Click image for larger size.

Meanwhile, someplace in the world, somebody is making love and another a poem. Elsewhere in the universe, a star manyfold the mass of our third-rate sun is living out its final moments in a wild spin before collapsing into a black hole, its exhale bending spacetime itself into a well of nothingness that can swallow every atom that ever touched us and every datum we ever produced, every poem and statue and symphony we’ve ever known - an entropic spectacle insentient to questions of blame and mercy, devoid of why.

In four billion years, our own star will follow its fate, collapsing into a white dwarf. We exist only by chance, after all. The Voyager will still be sailing into the interstellar shorelessness on the wings of the “heavenly breezes” Kepler had once imagined, carrying Beethoven on a golden disc crafted by a symphonic civilization that long ago made love and war and mathematics on a distant blue dot.

But until that day comes, nothing once created ever fully leaves us. Seeds are planted and come abloom generations, centuries, civilizations later, migrating across coteries and countries and continents. Meanwhile, people live and people die - in peace as war rages on, in poverty and disrepute as latent fame awaits, with much that never meets its more, in shipwrecked love.

I will die.

You will die.

The atoms that huddled for a cosmic blink around the shadow of a self will return to the seas that made us. What will survive of us are shoreless seeds and stardust."

"The Ship of Theseus: A Brilliant Ancient Thought Experiment Exploring What Makes You You"

"The Ship of Theseus: A Brilliant Ancient 
Thought Experiment Exploring What Makes You You"
by Maria Popova

"Throughout our lives, we come to inhabit the seven layers of identity, often interpolating between them and constantly changing within each. And yet somehow, despite this ever-shifting seedbed of personhood, we manage to think of ourselves as concrete selves - our selves. Hardly any perplexity of human existence is more fascinating than the continuity of personal identity - the question of what makes you and your childhood self the “same” person, despite a lifetime of change, from your cells to your values. Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert captured this paradox perfectly: “Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.”

Two millennia before modern psychologists came to tussle with this puzzlement, the great Greek historian and writer Plutarch examined it more lucidly than anyone before or since. In a brilliant thought experiment known as The Ship of Theseus, or Theseus’s paradox, outlined (though not for the first or last time) in his biographical masterwork "Plutarch’s Lives" (free ebook/|public library), Plutarch asks: If the ship on which Theseus sailed has been so heavily repaired and nearly every part replaced, is it still the same ship - and, if not, at what point did it stop being the same ship?

He writes: "The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."

In this wonderful animation, the visual educators at TED-Ed - who have previously explored how you know you exist by way of Descartes and the nature of reality by way of Plato -examine the famous thought experiment and how it illuminates the perennial question of who we are:
Which you is “who”? The person you are today? Five years ago? Who you’ll be in fifty years? And when is “am”? This week? Today? This hour? This second? And which aspect of you is “I”? Are you your physical body? Your thoughts and feelings? Your actions?

Free Download: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Little Prince"

Free Download:
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Little Prince"
by Kirstie Pursey

“‘The Little Prince’, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is a children’s story with some very profound meanings and some quotes that will really make you think. I have to admit that I never read the ‘Little Prince’ as a child. I think I wouldn’t have known what to make of it if I did. Even reading it as an adult I didn’t know what to make of it!

However, it is clear that “The Little Prince” touches on some very deep themes about the nature of life, love, friendship and more. The following Little Prince quotes show just how many philosophical themes are discussed in this small, but profound work.

The story tells of a pilot who crashes into the Sahara desert. He is attempting to fix his damaged plane when a little boy appears as if from nowhere and demands that he draws him a sheep. Thus begins a strange, enigmatic friendship that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. The Little Prince, it turns out, comes from a small asteroid where he is the only living being apart from a rather demanding rose bush. The Little Prince decides to leave his home and visit other planets to find knowledge. The story tells of these encounters with rulers of strange worlds and de Saint-Exupéry has opportunities to demonstrate some philosophical themes that will make readers think.

On earth, as well as meeting the pilot, The Little Price meets a Fox and Snake. The fox helps him to truly understand the rose and the snake offers him a way to return to his home planet. But his return journey comes at a high price. The book’s bittersweet ending is both thought-provoking and emotional. I would definitely recommend that you read “The Little Prince” if you haven’t already.

It is one of the most beautiful and profound children’s books there are. If you have older children, then you might like to read it with them as it can be a little overwhelming for them to read alone. In the meantime, here are some of the best and most thought-provoking Little Prince quotes:

• “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

• “A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”

• “All grown-ups were once children… but only a few of them remember it.”

• “Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”

• “Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.”

• “The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.”

• “It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.”

• “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”

• “I am who I am and I have the need to be.”

• “No one is ever satisfied where he is.”

• “One day, I watched the sun setting forty-four times……You know…when one is so terribly sad, one loves sunsets.”

• “People where you live, the little prince said, grow five thousand roses in one garden… Yet they don’t find what they’re looking for… And yet what they’re looking for could be found in a single rose.”

• “But the conceited man did not hear him. Conceited people never hear anything but praise.”

• “What matters most are the simple pleasures so abundant that we can all enjoy them…Happiness doesn’t lie in the objects we gather around us. To find it, all we need to do is open our eyes.”

• “Where are the people?” resumed the Little Prince at last. “It’s a little lonely in the desert…” “It is lonely when you’re among people, too,” said the snake.”

• “What makes the desert beautiful,’ said the Little Prince, ‘is that somewhere it hides a well…”

• “For me, you are only a little boy just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you have no need of me, either. For you, I’m only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we’ll need each other. You’ll be the only boy in the world for me and I’ll be the only fox in the world for you.”

• “To forget a friend is sad. Not everyone has had a friend.”

• “Only the children know what they are looking for.”

• “Sometimes, there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day.”

• “I should have judged her according to her actions, not her words.”

• “Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself.”

• “The one thing I love in life is to sleep.”

• “The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.”

• “And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me.”

Closing thoughts: I hope you have enjoyed these ‘Little Prince’ quotes. Admittedly, they are sometimes difficult to fathom at first. However, like many things in life, the more you think about them, the more they begin to make sense. This is not an easy book to read and the bittersweet ending may leave you feeling a little heartbroken. However, the book offers so many insights into the human condition that it is well worth the time spent thinking about the philosophical ideas contained between the covers.”
Freely download “The Little Prince”, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, here:
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"How It Really Is"


"Gregory Mannarino, 8/20/23"

Gregory Mannarino, 8/20/23
"Markets, A Look Ahead:
Two Perfect Storms Are Rapidly Converging"
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