"A Look to the Heavens"

"Colorful NGC 1579 resembles the better known Trifid Nebula, but lies much farther north in planet Earth's sky, in the heroic constellation Perseus. About 2,100 light-years away and 3 light-years across, NGC 1579 is, like the Trifid, a study in contrasting blue and red colors, with dark dust lanes prominent in the nebula's central regions.

In both, dust reflects starlight to produce beautiful blue reflection nebulae. But unlike the Trifid, in NGC 1579 the reddish glow is not emission from clouds of glowing hydrogen gas excited by ultraviolet light from a nearby hot star. Instead, the dust in NGC 1579 drastically diminishes, reddens, and scatters the light from an embedded, extremely young, massive star, itself a strong emitter of the characteristic red hydrogen alpha light."

- http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090130.html

"We Are Mortals All..."

"We are mortals all, human and nonhuman, bound in one fellowship of love and travail. No one escapes the fate of death. But we can, with caring, make our good-byes less tormented. If we broaden the circle of our compassion, life can be less cruel."

- Gary Kowalski

Chet Raymo, “At Home In An Infinite Universe”

“At Home In An Infinite Universe”

by Chet Raymo

“They are questions that bedeviled thinkers for thousands of years: Is the universe infinite or finite, eternal or of a finite age? It is certainly hard to imagine a universe that extends without limit in every direction, or a universe without a beginning or end. It is equally difficult to imagine a finite universe; what is beyond the edge? Or a beginning or end in time; how can something come from nothing? How can what is cease to be?

The problems are so intractable philosophically that their resolution has generally been left to the theologians, which from a philosophical (or scientific) perspective offers no solution at all. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for proposing a philosophical resolution (an infinite universe) that offended theology.

An escape from befuddlement is provided by Einstein's theory of general relativity, which- for example- can describe a finite universe without a boundary, as the "two-dimensional" surface of a sphere is finite and without an edge. Unfortunately, multi-dimensional curved space-time is so counterintuitive that it is difficult to get one's head around it without mastery of the mathematics. Given a choice between the ancient myths of your local preacher and the obtuse mathematics of the physics professor, it's not hard to guess what most folks will opt for.

Meanwhile, I'm reading a meditation on infinity by physics professor Anthony Aguirre, in a collection of essays called "Future Science." He discusses contemporary cosmological theories based on general relativity, and in particular the rehabilitation of the idea of an infinite and eternal universe, or, more precisely, that our universe might be just one of an infinity of infinite universes. He writes in conclusion: “What seems clear, however, is that infinity can no longer be safely ignored; beautifully constructed, empirically supported, self-consistent theories have brought infinity from idle curiosity to central player in contemporary cosmology. And if correct, the worldview these theories represent constitutes a perspective shift unlike any other: in comparison to the universe, we would be not just small but strictly zero. Well, I can't imagine many folks racing to embrace that conclusion.

Oh, but wait. Aguirre adds one final sentence: "Yet here we are, contemplating - if not quite understanding - it all.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

The Poet: Arthur O’Shaughnessy, "Music and Moonlight"

"Music and Moonlight"

"We are the music makers,

And we are the dreamers of dreams,

Wandering by lone seabreakers,

And sitting by desolate streams;

World-losers and world-forsakers,

On whom the pale moon gleams:

Yet we are the movers and shakers

Of the world forever, it seems…

We, in the ages lying

In the buried past of the earth,

Built Ninevah with our sighing,

And Babel itself in our mirth;

And o’erthrew them with prophesying

To the old of the new world’s worth;

For each age is a dream that is dying,

Or one that is coming to birth."

- Arthur O’Shaughnessy

o

 Harry Bidgood and His Broadcasters, "Music and Moonlight" (1928)

Kahlil Gibran, “The Farewell”

“The Farewell”

“Farewell to you and the youth I have spent with you.

It was but yesterday we met in a dream.

You have sung to me in my aloneness,

and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky.

But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over,

and it is no longer dawn.

The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day,

and we must part.

If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more,

we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.

And if our hands should meet in another dream

we shall build another tower in the sky.”

- Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet”

○

Freely download "The Prophet", by Kahlil Gibran, here:

- http://www.brainybetty.com/

"Maya Angelou's Life Advice"

Full screen recommended.

"Maya Angelou's Life Advice"

"Maya Angelou born Marguerite Annie Johnson April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim."

The Daily "Near You?"

Fairmont, Minnesota, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"What If..."

"What if when you die they ask, "How was Heaven?"

~ Author Unknown

A truly terrifying thought..

"The Last Time Always Happens Now"

"The Last Time Always Happens Now"

by David Cain

"William Irvine, an author and philosophy professor I’m a big fan of, often tries to point people towards a little-discussed fact of human life: "You always know when you’re doing something for the first time, and you almost never know when you’re doing something for the last time."

There was, or will be, a last time for everything you do, from climbing a tree to changing a diaper, and living with a practiced awareness of that fact can make even the most routine day feel like it’s bursting with blessings. Of all the lasting takeaways from my periodic dives into Stoicism, this is the one that has enhanced my life the most. I’ve touched on it before in my Stoicism experiment log and in a Patreon post, and I intend to write about it many more times in the future (but who can say?)

To explain why someone might want to start thinking seriously about last times, Bill Irvine asks us to imagine a rare but relatable event: going to your favorite restaurant one last time, knowing it’s about to close up for good.

Predictably, dining on this last-ever night makes for a much richer experience than almost all the other times you’ve eaten at that restaurant, but it’s not because the food, decor, or service is any different than usual. It’s better because you know it’s the last time, so you’re apt to savor everything you can about it, right down to the worn menus and tacky napkin rings. You’re unlikely to let any mistakes or imperfections bother you, and in fact you might find them endearing.

It becomes clearer than ever, in other words, how great it was while it lasted, and how little the petty stuff mattered. On that last dinner, you can set aside minor issues with ease, and appreciate even the most mundane details. Anything else would seem foolish, because you’re here now, and this is it. It might even occur to you that there’s no reason you couldn’t have enjoyed it this much every time you dined here – except that all the other times, you knew there would be more times, so you didn’t have to be so intentional about appreciating it.

That’s an exceptionally rare situation though. Almost always, we do things for the last time without knowing it’s the last time. There was a last time – on an actual calendar date – when you drew a picture with crayons purely for your own pleasure. A last time you excitedly popped a Blockbuster rental into your VCR. A last time you played fetch with a certain dog. Whenever the last time happened, it was “now” at the time.

You’ve certainly heard the heart-wrenching insight that there’s always a last time a parent picks up their child. By a certain age the child is too big, which means there’s always an ordinary day when the parent picks up and puts down their child as they have a thousand times before, with no awareness that it was the last time they would do it.

Ultimately there will be as many last times as there were first times. There will be last time you do laundry. A last time you eat pie. A last time you visit a favorite neighborhood, city, or country. For every single friend you’ve ever had, there will be a last time you talk, or maybe there already has been.

For ninety-nine percent of these last times, you will have no idea that that’s what it is. It will seem like another of the many middle times, with a lot more to come. If you knew it was the last-ever time you spoke to a certain person or did a certain activity, you’d probably make a point of appreciating it, like a planned last visit to Salvatore’s Pizzeria. You wouldn’t spend it thinking about something else, or let minor annoyances spoil it.

Many last times are still a long way in the future, of course. The trouble is you don’t know which ones. The solution, Irvine suggests, is to frequently imagine that this is the last time, even when it’s probably not. A few times a day, whatever you’re doing, you assume you’re doing that thing for the last time. There will be a last time you sip coffee, like you’re doing now. What if this sip was it? There will be a last time you walk into the office and say hi to Sally. If this was it, you might be a little more genuine, a little more present.

The point isn’t to make life into a series of desperate goodbyes. You can go ahead and do the thing more or less normally. You might find, though, that when you frame it as a potential last time, you pay more attention to it, and you appreciate it for what it is in a way you normally don’t. It turns out that ordinary days are full of experiences you expect will keep happening forever, and of course none of them will.

It doesn’t matter if the activity is something you particularly love doing. Walking into a 7-11 or weeding the garden is just as worthy of last-time practice as hugging a loved one. Even stapling the corner of some pages together can generate a sense of appreciation, if you saw it as your final act of stapling in a life that’s contained a surprising amount of stapling.

Irvine uses mowing the lawn as an example, a task he doesn’t love doing. If you imagine that this is the last time you’ll mow the lawn, rather than consider it a good riddance, you might realize that there will be a time when you’ve mown your last lawn, and that there were a lot of great things about living in your lawn-mowing, bungalow-maintaining heyday. A few seconds later, it dawns on you that you still are.

You can get very specific with the experiences you do this with. The last time you roll cookie dough between your palms. The last time you get rained on. The last time you sidestep down a crowded cinema aisle. The last time your jeans smell like campfire smoke. The last time your daughter says “swannich” instead of “sandwich.” Virtually everything is a worthy candidate for this reflection.

It always brings perspective to your life as it is now, and it never gets old. It’s an immensely rewarding exercise, but it not a laborious one. It takes only two or three seconds - allowing yourself “a flickering thought,” as Irvine put it - to notice what you’re doing right now, and consider the possibility that this is indeed the last escalator ride at Fairfield Mall, the last time you put on a Beatles record, the last time you encounter a squirrel, or the last time you parallel park in front of Aunt Rita’s building."

- https://www.raptitude.com/

o

 

Rolling Stones, "The Last Time"

"It May Be Necessary..."

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must 

not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to

 encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, 

what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it."

- Maya Angelou

"How It Really Is"

Dan, I Allegedly, "I Think We Are Under Attack"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, AM 8/1/24

"I Think We Are Under Attack"

"In this video, I break down recent cyber attacks on major entities like Microsoft, Health Equity, and Financial Business & Consumer Solutions. These hacks are a wake-up call – your personal data, financial info, and even your health records are at risk. It's time to prepare and protect yourself. What if this is a rogue nation coming after us?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Wars And Rumors Of War, The Middle East: "'A Perilous Moment'"

Full screen recommended.

Democracy Now! 8/1/24

"'Perilous Moment' Iran Vows Revenge 

as Israel Expands Assassination Operations"

“This is one of the most perilous moments in the [Middle East] region in years,” says Ali Vaez, director of the International Crisis Group Iran Project, after Israel’s assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday in Tehran. Iranian retaliation against Israel appears imminent. “All bets are off,” warns Vaez, adding that Israel’s latest maneuver will put Americans “in harm’s way,” as Iran will no longer hold back fellow Axis of Resistance members, especially Islamic militias in Iraq and Syria, from launching attacks on U.S. military bases in the region. “It is disastrous for a superpower who cannot control, basically, a client state that is destabilizing the region,” Vaez explains. We also hear from Palestinian human rights attorney Diana Buttu, who responds to Israel’s announcement that its July strike on al-Mawasi, an alleged safe zone in Gaza, killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif along with nearly a hundred civilians. Buttu argues it is Israel’s international impunity over the course of its campaign against Palestine that has led to this dangerous moment of escalation. “This is a monster that’s been unleashed,” she says. “This is going to spread, and this is exactly what Netanyahu wants.”

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Lawrence Wilkerson, 8/1/24

"Iran Announced To Close Airspace! 

Bloody Revenge Is Coming! Israel In Panic!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Douglas MacGregor, 8/1/24

"Iran Ready To Destroy Everything of Israel Army',

 Hezbollah Is Crushing IDF"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Scott Ritter, 8/1/24

"Iran 'Devastating Attack, Hezbollah Approach;

 Israeli Defenses Lay in Ruins"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Bill Bonner, "Delete 'A'"

"Delete 'A'"

US democracy is not what it is cracked up to be. Democrats are

 fake liberals. Republicans are fake conservatives. Both parties 

are dominated by insiders looking out, primarily, for themselves.

by Bill Bonner

Poitou, France - "We open fire with this barrage from the Wall Street Journal: "Five years ago, Washington sanctioned Huawei, cutting off the Chinese company’s access to advanced U.S. technologies because it feared the telecommunications giant would spy on Americans and their allies. Many in the industry thought it would ring the death knell for one of China’s most vital tech players.

[Instead]... Huawei has expanded into new businesses, boosted its profitability and found fresh ways to curb its dependence on U.S. suppliers. It has held on to its leading position in the global telecom-equipment market, despite American efforts to squeeze Huawei out of its allies’ networks. And it’s making a big comeback in high-end smartphones, using sophisticated new chips developed in-house to take buyers from Apple. Huawei struggled at first - but now it’s come roaring back. [It’s]... part of a broader campaign to eliminate U.S. technology in China, dubbed “Delete A,” for Delete America."

Yesterday, we looked at how the BRICS and the Eurasian Heartland were organizing to ‘Delete A’ from their financial and political lives. We might have thought that our political and economic systems were invulnerable... and our military was unbeatable. But we have seen that US democracy is not what it is cracked up to be. Democrats are fake liberals. Republicans are fake conservatives. Both parties are dominated by insiders looking out, primarily, for themselves.

And there is not so much difference between the way monarchies or oligarchies choose their leaders than the way Americans do. Kamala Harris got her start in politics (allegedly) by sleeping with California power broker Willie Brown. In the Democratic primary in 2016, she had almost no support from the public.

Now, after four years in the Vice President’s role, where she distinguished herself not one bit, there she is... with about a 50/50 chance of becoming our next president! Ultimately, in America as in every other country, power rests with elites - who control Washington, the press, universities, the military, and Wall Street.

Wasted Wealth: We’ve seen too that the key to real economic performance is not the president, policy goals, or PhDs. ‘The People’ - when they are free to produce and trade - create real wealth, not the suits…or the pantsuits. But there are a lot of different ways to divert energy and waste wealth. Mao had the Chinese building backyard steel mills. The Soviets’ detailed planning - controlling every job, every price, and every industry - was such an abject failure that their own elites abandoned it.

At one time or another, every nation seems determined to destroy its economy with crackpot policies. And now, the US is at it - with fake money, fake interest rates, inflation, sanctions, a War on Terror, the Inflation Recovery Act, Payroll Protection Plan... dozens of other initiatives…and $35 trillion of national debt.

The US economy is supposed to be a ‘free market’ system, but as many as half of all transactions are largely determined by the government. Monetary policies, military policies, fiscal policies... regulations as well as direct budget items... subsidies as well as penalties... carrots as well as sticks - all influence economic decisions.

Even the US military is not nearly as effective as people think. Corrupted by money, politics, and technology... its real goal is not to be lean, mean and ‘combat ready,’ but to rest unmolested in the plush seats of the empire. Responsible Statecraft drops this bomb: "Federal regulations limit profit margins for weapon system contracts, but weapon system costs are not limited. Hence, with the DoD focused on trying to limit profit margins, the one sure way to grow overall profits is to charge more for the weapon systems. Earning a 10% profit margin on a $10 billion weapons system contract will generate as much profit as earning a 20% margin on a $5 billion contract for the same weapon system."

And then, in today’s news, is this follow-up from The National Interest: "The F-35 Fighter Will Cost In Total Around $2 Trillion ." "The F-35 program’s complexity stems from its three variants (A, B, and C), each designed to meet the specific needs of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, replacing multiple older aircraft. The F-35 Lightning II is the most advanced jet in the skies today. However, its journey to the skies hasn’t been easy. Indeed, the F-35 program had to overcome several challenges and setbacks to be where it is today. To a certain extent, these challenges continue to this day.

Yes, the US may spend vastly more money on its military than any other country... but the high-tech weaponry ends up being twice as expensive and half as effective as it should be…making it easier for the challengers to hit the ‘Delete A’ key…More to come..."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Prepare For The Greatest Fall Of All Time As Bond Yields Crater!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 8/1/24

"Prepare For The Greatest Fall Of

 All Time As Bond Yields Crater!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Adventures With Danno, "Kroger Grocery Deals!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, AM 8/1/24

"Kroger Grocery Deals! 

B.O.G.O. Items & Digital Coupon Savings!"

In today's vlog, I take you shopping with me to Kroger to show all of the great deals going on. From buy one, get one free items to some amazing digital coupons. We go over many different ways to save money on groceries. Get your notepad ready as you do not want to miss this.

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, "Red Alert! Pentagon - Full Scale War In 72 Hours; NATO F-16s Now Active In Ukraine"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 7/31/24

"Red Alert! Pentagon - Full Scale War In 72 Hours;

 NATO F-16s Now Active In Ukraine"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "U.S. Presidents: Criminal History Of Murderous Thugs"

Gerald Celente, 7/31/24

"U.S. Presidents: 

Criminal History Of Murderous Thugs"

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

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "I Got Bad News, An Economic Disaster Is Coming; This Is The Worst Economy In History"

Jeremiah Babe, 7/31/24

"I Got Bad News, An Economic Disaster Is Coming; 

This Is The Worst Economy In History"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Related:

Full screen recommended.

The Atlantis Report, 7/31/24

"U.S. Banks Report Unprecedented 23% Surge 

in Delinquencies As Losses Increase"

"The U.S. banking sector is currently facing challenges as it deals with a significant surge in delinquency rates, leading to mounting losses. Recent reports have revealed a shocking 23% increase in delinquencies, causing concern for both banks and borrowers nationwide. This sharp rise in borrowers falling behind on their payments has increased bank losses, impacting their profitability and stability."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Sissel, "Enforma Liguista"; "Titanic Overture"

Full screen recommended.

Sissel, "Enforma Liguista"

o

Full screen recommended.

Sissel, "Titanic Overture"

o

Sissel Kyrkjebo, the international singing sensation from Norway, is widely regarded as one of the finest and most talented sopranos in the world. Her crystal clear voice has made Sissel a national institution in Norway. Sissel has sung all over the world, selling over ten million solo albums. She contributed the haunting vocal tracks for the soundtrack to Titanic. She has been doing great duets with singers like Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel, Jose Carreras, Russell Watson, Mario Frangoulis, Josh Groban, Neil Sedaka and Charles Aznavour. A very remarkable voice you will only hear once in your lifetime.

"A Look to the Heavens"

“What makes this spiral galaxy so long? Measuring over 700,000 light years across from top to bottom, NGC 6872, also known as the Condor galaxy, is one of the most elongated barred spiral galaxies known.

The galaxy’s protracted shape likely results from its continuing collision with the smaller galaxy IC 4970, visible just above center. Of particular interest is NGC 6872′s spiral arm on the upper left, as pictured here, which exhibits an unusually high amount of blue star forming regions. The light we see today left these colliding giants before the days of the dinosaurs, about 300 million years ago. NGC 6872 is visible with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Peacock (Pavo).”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160426.html

"The Life You Have Left..."

“The life you have left is a gift. Cherish it.

Enjoy it now, to the fullest. Do what matters, now.”

~ Leo Babauta

○

“This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.

Every breath is a choice.

Every minute is a choice.

To be or not to be.

Every time you don't throw yourself down the stairs, that's a choice.

Every time you don't crash your car, you re-enlist.

If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume

and come back as a new character...Would you slow down? Or speed up?"

- Chuck Palahniuk

○

"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make,

who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?"

- Stephen Levine

The Poet: Charles Bukowski, "Darkness Falls"

"Darkness Falls"

"Darkness falls upon Humanity

and faces become terrible things

that wanted more than there was.

All our days are marked with

unexpected affronts - 

some disastrous, others less so,

but the process is

wearing and continuous.

Attrition rules.

Most give way,

leaving empty spaces

where people should be.

And now,

as we ready to self-destruct,

there is very little left to kill,

which makes the tragedy

less and more,

much, much more."

- Charles Bukowski

"Arrogance is Bliss"

A 23 kiloton tower shot called BADGER, fired on April 18, 1953, at the 

Nevada Test Site, as part of the Operation Upshot–Knothole nuclear test series.

"Arrogance is Bliss"

Extraordinary claims from those lacking extraordinary evidence...

by Joel Bowman

"Knowing that you do not know is the best.

Not knowing that you do not know is an illness."

~ From the "Tao Te Ching", by Lao-Tzu (poem 71)

Asheville, North Carolina - "Our subject matter for today is one we know all too well: ignorance. It is a condition that strikes indiscriminately. Whether male or female... abled or crippled... straight or gay... even two-spirited, one-armed eco-sexuals... we all, each and every unique snowflake among us, are susceptible to sudden and prolonged bouts of human-level nescience, which is to say, “unknowledge.” (Of course, some will experience stronger symptoms than others...)

Yes, gentle reader, the harsh prognosis applies to whites, blacks and Asians alike... to string beans and shrimps... to fatsos and chopsticks... to Democrats, Republicans and the mentally stable, too. We mention all this not (only) to poke fun... but to offer some measure of relief to anyone laboring under the notion that there walks among our floundering species a chosen omniscient cohort, possessed of a knowledge both infinite and immaculate.

Au contraire!

To Hades in a Handbag - While it is true that we live in the so-called Digital Age, with heretofore unimagined access to information of every kind, not all of it is of equal, enlightening value. This may be of grave concern, as in the hands of fatally stupid people, even a little information can be a dangerous thing.

We might harness nuclear energy to power the world, for example, or blow the whole thing to Hades. Truly it must be said, when it comes to raw imbecility, to feeble-mindedness, thick-headedness and outright nit-wittedness, few creatures in the animal kingdom so distinguish themselves quite like man.

Speaking of our fellow sapiens, let us begin at the bottom of the pile. It is general election season, after all, that time of the Olympiad when the political class cranks up the dial on the Hubris-O-Meter to eleven (out of five), seemingly to test the credulity of its long-suffering constituents. How often we hear extraordinary claims fall from the lips of these self-assured snollygosters... pretending to “know” all manner of unknowable matter… unfailingly backed up by an equally extraordinary lack of evidence.

MAGA...A: One candidate claims to know how to “Make America Great Again (Again)”... despite having done nothing of the sort during his first go around. Another promised he’d “Finish the Job” moments before dropping out. And now a third, replacement pantsuit announces, vaguely, “We are not Going Back,” leaving one to wonder where on earth she’s been…

But to begin our little segment here, it was President Donald Trump, with a jerrycan in one hand and a match in the other, who poured $8.4 trillion worth of kerosene onto America’s raging national debt inferno, something conservatives once pretended to care about. The self-described “King of Debt” spent like a drunken Democrat during his term in office, adding 60,000 jobs to the federal payroll over that time, all while claiming to be “draining the swamp.” He inked almost $4 trillion worth of “pandemic relief legislation,” including $3 trillion in what were essentially helicopter checks, a number that would make Mr. Bernanke himself blush.

It’s true that (in part due to the unrestrained spending spree), the labor force participation rate inched up slightly during Mr. Trump’s first few years, but the increase was negligible, from about 62.7% when he took office in Jan. 2016 to 63.3% when covid came to town... The ensuing pandemic panic sent that rate plummeting (to a low of 60.1% in April of 2020), before it recovered over time, in part while another dunderhead, President Biden, was fiddling in office (allowing him to erroneously claim that it was his own unalloyed genius which had driven a natural mean reversion and not, as was the case, pre-pandemic jobs being refilled as some – though by no means all – folk eventually went back to work). 

There has been little mention of this metric since, of course, as it has quietly resumed its downward trajectory. Having peaked around the time Pets.com was exciting faint hearts, it has been steadily falling for a quarter of a century.

Mr. Trump’s “greatest economy of all time” claim is dubious, too. After all his bluff and bluster, average annual GDP growth under The Donald was almost exactly in line with his bombastic predecessor (2.3% per year)... and, it looks like, his sleepy successor, too (~2.2% projected).

Like the labor force participation rate, American GDP growth has been in steady retreat – through administrations red and blue – since shortly after the end of WWII. While annual growth rates averaged about 4% during the ‘50s and ‘60s, they drifted lower in the ‘70s and 80s, to about 3%, before fizzling to around 2% by the end of the century, where they have languished for the past two decades. Presidents come. Presidents go. Only debt, deficits and decline remain...

Despite…not Because: Astonishingly to many, this seemingly inexorable march continues while the world’s mighty entrepreneurs and techno-whizzes are busily bestowing their beneficent bounty upon us... the dot com boom (and bust)... the fracking revolution vs. federal bans... social (and anti-social) media... cryptomaina vs. flailing fiat flimflamia... Artificial Intelligence and good ol’ fashioned human stupidity...

How, with such a cornucopia of goods and services at our trembling fingertips, from Netflix to Amazon... Uber to Alphabet (Google)... Tesla to Nvidia to NFTs and beyond... could our dear leaders fail to lead us to the promised land?

It will surprise few readers of these pages to learn that we thrive as a species not because of the genius intervention and omniscient central planning of our elite overlords... but despite them. It is not the state which grants us our liberties and the largesse that derives from the exercise thereof. Rather, it is a special knowledge which lies beyond the grasp of all would-be rulers...

Which brings us full circle to the inexhaustible subject at hand: all that which we do not (and cannot) know. It is not difficult to track the history of collective stupidity at the political level. Even the noblest of undertakings are fraught with danger.

You may begin an experiment confabulating with Franklins and Washingtons, Jeffersons and Hamiltons, Adams and Madison, for example, and within a devolutionary blink of the eye, wake to find yourself surrounded by Bushes and Obamas, Trumps and Bidens...and staring down the harrowing possibility of a Harris.

How did it come to this? And where to from here? More on all we don’t know in Friday’s installment. Stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World..."

- https://joelbowman.substack.com/

Freely download the "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu, here:

- https://terebess.hu/english/tao/LeGuin.pdf

"The Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson"

"The Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson"

by Paul Rosenberg

I’ve made no secret of my admiration of Thomas Jefferson, and today I’d like to show you at least part of why. And so I’ll give you a collection of my favorite Jefferson passages. There was considerably more to the man than just his writings, but this will give you enough to appreciate. And please remember that he came up with these thoughts between 200 and 250 years ago.

"State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often better than the latter, because he has not been led astray by artificial rules." (Letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787)

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it." (Letter to Archibald Stuart, December 23, 1791)

"There is no act, however virtuous, for which ingenuity may not find some bad motive." (Letter to Edward Dowse, April 19, 1803)

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add “within the limits of the law” because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." (Letter to Isaac H. Tiffany, 1819)

"I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious." (Letter to William Ludlow, September 6, 1824)

"How soon the labor of men would make a paradise of the whole earth, were it not for misgovernment and selfish interests." (1825)

"The unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion would soon convince all men that they were born not to be ruled – but to rule themselves in freedom." (Letter to Roger C. Weightman, June 24, 1826)

"It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million people, collected together, are not under the same moral laws that bind them separately." (1816)

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed." (Letter to Lafayette, April 2, 1790)

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty."

"I have the consolation to reflect that during the period of my administration not a drop of the blood of a single fellow citizen was shed by the sword of war or of the law." (Letter to papal nuncio Count Dugnani, February 14, 1818)

"I never consider a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend." ("The Life and Writings of Thomas Jefferson", 1900)

"I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." (Letter to Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800)

"Lay down true principles and adhere to them inflexibly. Do not be frightened into their surrender by the alarms of the timid." (Letter to Edward Dowse, April 19, 1803)

"Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him?" (Innaugural Address)

"All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs." (Letter to Roger C. Weightman, June 24, 1826)

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." (Bill to Establish Religious Freedom 1779)

"I sincerely believe… that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."

"Truth… seldom has received much aid from the power of great men to whom she is rarely known and seldom welcome." ("Notes on Religion", October 1776)

"I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give." (Letter to Alexander Donald, February 7, 1788)

"I repeat, you must lay aside all prejudice on both sides, and neither believe nor reject anything, because any other persons, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it. Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven, and you are answerable, not for the rightness, but uprightness of the decision." (Letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787)

"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling future generations on a large scale." (Letter to John Taylor, May 28, 1816)

"The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead." (Letter to John Wayles Eppes, 24 June 1813)

"Say nothing of my religion. It is known to my God and myself alone." (Letter to John Adams, January 11, 1817)

"A development of this reasoning will reveal the peculiar superiority of the system of Jesus over all others… The precepts of philosophy, & of the Hebrew code, laid hold of actions only. He pushed his examinations into the heart of man; erected his tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain head." (Letter to Benjamin Rush, April 12, 1803)

"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but it cannot separate them." ("Summary View of the Rights of British America," 1774)

- https://freemansperspective.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Golden Valley, Arizona, USA. Thanks or stopping by!

"The Minds Of Men..."

"The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished. The name of Poet was almost forgotten; that of Orator was usurped by the sophists. A cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators, darkened the face of learning, and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste. This diminutive stature of mankind was daily sinking below the old standard." 

- Edward Gibbon, 

"The Decline And Fall of The Roman Empire"

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"All of the available data show that the typical American citizen has about

as much interest in the life of the mind as does your average armadillo."

- Morris Berman

Apologies to armadillos for the comparison...

"The Fourth Turning: What Every Boomer Patriot & “Prophet” Needs To Understand - Post-Haste!"

"The Fourth Turning: What Every Boomer Patriot &

 “Prophet” Needs To Understand - Post-Haste!"

by State Of The Nation

Excerpt: "Editor’s Note: The following prescient essay on “The Fourth Turning” was published 14 years ago and much has transpired which has borne out that “the final turning of the screw” is now taking place. Therefore, it behooves everyone, young and old, rich and poor, smart and foolish to take heed of what is upon US. That “US” is these once United States of America.

There’s an old adage: “Whenever America catches a cold, the rest of the world comes down with pneumonia.” Which means that when The Fourth Turning hits the USA hard, as it will with the climax of the 2024 election cycle, the entire planetary civilization will also get busted upside the head with a four-by-four. And why shouldn’t it in light of the utter depravity to which Western civilization has sunk. See: Shocking French Depravity On Full Decadent Display During Degenerate Olympics

What’s the critical point?

If you don’t know about, and believe in, and understand “The Fourth Turning” by now, you had better, because otherwise you will soon feel like you have been hit like a ton of bricks before you have been run over by a freight train. And, for many folks, even that is a gross understatement. See: HUGE Changes Coming To Planet Earth."

Full, most highly recommended article is here:

- https://stateofthenation.co/

"The Fall Of An Empire - What Are They Desperately Trying To Hide From Us?"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 7/31/24

"The Fall Of An Empire - 

What Are They Desperately Trying To Hide From Us?"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"Something Like Reverence"; "It Is Our Fate..."

"Well, it is our fate to live in a time of crisis. To live in a time when all forms and values are being challenged. In other and more easy times, it was not, perhaps, necessary for the individual to confront himself with a clear question: What is it that you really believe? What is it that you really cherish? What is it for which you might, actually, in a showdown, be willing to die? I say, with all the reticence which such large, pathetic words evoke, that one cannot exist today as a person, one cannot exist in full consciousness, without having to have a showdown with ones self, without having to define what it is that one lives by, without being clear in ones mind what matters and what does not matter."

- Dorothy Thompson

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“When the pain of leaving behind what we know outweighs the pain of embracing it, or when the power we face is overwhelming and neither flight nor fight will save us, there may be salvation in sitting still. And if salvation is impossible, then at least before perishing we may gain a clearer vision of where we are. By sitting still I do not mean the paralysis of dread, like that of a rabbit frozen beneath the dive of a hawk. I mean something like reverence, a respectful waiting, a deep attentiveness to forces much greater than our own.”

- Scott Russell Sanders

Folks, I fear our time for such reverence has come.

And so, we bravely face it. God help us, God help us all...

o

Full screen recommended.

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, "Amazing Grace"