Month: July 2023

A Run For The Border

Let us take a break from one stupidity and move on to another….

I have waited a few days to see just how the blogs would handle this event…..few even noticed according to the chatter on-line.

The event I am writing about is the US soldier who ‘jumped’ the fence and escaped into North Korea…..

This is how the tale is trending…..

American officials have confirmed that a US soldier crossed into North Korea Tuesday “willfully and without authorization.” Officials did not release the soldier’s name at a briefing Tuesday afternoon, but outlets including CBS identified the man as Private 2nd Class Travis King. The AP, citing US officials, reports that King had just been released from a South Korean prison where he had been held on assault charges. The officials said King was due to face further disciplinary action in the US and had been taken to an airport by military personnel. But he managed to avoid getting on the plane and joined a tour group that went to the border village of Panmunjom in the Joint Security Area between North and South Korea.

The soldier passed through airport security before somehow leaving the airport and joining the tour group, officials said. A witness who was part of the same tour group tells CBS that the man gave out “a loud ‘ha ha ha'” before running between some buildings. “I thought it was a bad joke at first, but when he didn’t come back, I realized it wasn’t a joke, and then everybody reacted and things got crazy,” the witness says. The witness says there were no North Korean soldiers visible where the man ran. Members of the tour group were required to provide identification before they boarded their bus in Seoul, the witness says.

Col. Isaac Taylor, a public affairs officer for US Forces Korea, said authorities believe the soldier is in North Korean custody, the New York Times reports. Asked at Tuesday’s briefing whether the soldier had defected to North Korea, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, “All I will say … is that it’s clear that he willfully, of his own volition, crossed the border,” the BBC reports. Asked whether the soldier was being forcibly detained by North Korean authorities, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Pentagon is closely monitoring the situation and he is “absolutely foremost concerned about the welfare of our troop.”

As I was writing this more info has been released….

More details are slowly emerging about Private 2nd Class Travis King, the US soldier who crossed into North Korea on Tuesday—but his current whereabouts aren’t one of them. North Korean state media has yet to say anything about the 23-year-old, the first American known to be detained in North Korea in almost five years. The latest:

  • King, a cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division, had on July 10 finished a nearly two-month stint in a South Korean prison for assault, the AP reports. He was en route to Fort Bliss, Texas, to possibly face further military discipline and discharge when he somehow left the Incheon International Airport outside Seoul. King later joined a Panmunjom tour and dashed across the border.
  • The Korea Times sheds light on that “somehow.” It reports military police from Camp Humphreys escorted King to Incheon but were not permitted to go through security and to the gate with him. Once at the gate, King “approached an American Airlines official and reported that his passport was missing, and was able to return out of the departure gate under the escort of an airline employee,” an airport official said.
  • King had run-ins with the law in South Korea prior to serving time. Reuters reports he was accused of punching a man at a Seoul nightclub in September; the charge was dropped because the alleged victim didn’t want to pursue a case against King, reports the AP.
  • On Oct. 8, police responded to the report of an alleged assault. King reportedly refused to cooperate with police or answer their questions. He was put in a police car where, according to court documents, he yelled obscenities about Koreans and the Korean army and police and damaged the car’s door by kicking it. He was fined 5 million won (about $4,000) in February in that case.
  • The White House—which has no diplomatic relations with the North—on Tuesday said the US is “engaging” with South Korea and Sweden regarding King. The AP points out that while Sweden has acted as an intermediary in the past thanks in part to its embassy in Pyongyang, its diplomatic staff were forced out of the country at the start of the pandemic and reportedly haven’t returned.
  • As for the tour King joined, NBC News reports Panmunjom is located about 90 minutes from the airport and is the sole place along the roughly 155-mile Demilitarized Zone where the North and South “interact.”
  • New Zealander Sarah Leslie and her father were part of the tour group. She tells the AP that she initially believed she was watching a prank when she saw King sprinting toward North Korea “really fast. I assumed initially he had a mate filming him in some kind of really stupid prank or stunt, like a TikTok, the most stupid thing you could do. But then I heard one of the soldiers shout, ‘Get that guy.'”
  • As for King’s possible fate, Tae Yongho, a South Korean lawmaker and former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, tells the AP he has a hard time envisioning the North returning King to the US because he is a soldier and the two countries technically remain at war. That’s because “the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty,” the AP explains.

Now my question is why would anyone choose a NK prison to a military stockade?

Best and brightest my ass.

I am sure that there will be more on this incident to come….but how will this be painted?

Your thoughts….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death”

I love these Right wing d/bags….they just cannot help themselves….

Pretty much every Americans knows that quote by Patrick Henry before he was hanged by the British….

It seems that Radical Right winger Josh Hawley, senator from Missouri is so enamored with Patrick Henry that he used another of his quotes in one of Hawley’s 4th of July stump stops.

The quote goes like this….

“Patrick Henry: ‘It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.’,”

How lovely….but it is total bullshit!

The catch: Founding Father Patrick Henry — a slave owner most famous for his declaration, “Give me liberty or give me death,” — never said the quote Hawley tweeted.

Nor did any of the other Founding Fathers.

The line was reportedly originally published in a white nationalist publication in 1956 — 157 years after the founding father’s death.

It is similar to all those quotes by Jefferson that the Right are always throwing about…..the problem there as well he made none of those quotes….like…”My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government”

Jefferson never said that!

There is a wealth of spurious quotes by Jefferson…..read some the others.

https://www.businessinsider.com/thomas-jefferson-quotes-that-were-actually-just-made-up-2013-9

Cherry picking quotes and even making up quotes from the Founding Fathers has fed the misinformation fire.

Politicians, pundits and angry uncles all enjoy sharing quotes from the Founders. But they often don’t particularly care if Jefferson, Madison or others actually wrote what they claim they did. Invoking the words of key figures from the Founding period is a rhetorical strategy that aims to mobilize the intellectual giants of American history to support modern-day political positions.

It is the very opposite of what history should be. Serious scholars begin with questions and then seek answers in historical sources. Politicians (both the professional and the amateur variety) do the opposite. They begin with answers — their preferred political positions on an issue of the present-day — and then seek out a short, pithy quote from the Internet to help bolster their argument.

The Internet, I think we’ve all learned over the past few years, is not the most reliable source. Cyberspace is awash with bogus quotations from the Founders and other key historical figures, like Abraham Lincoln. You can easily shop around to find Washington or Theodore Roosevelt espousing a 21st century political cause that would have been completely unimaginable to them in their own time; Alexander Hamilton did not go on the record about his views on cryptocurrency. The danger to our political discourse, though, is that many of these fraudulent quotes are all too easy to believe when you’re looking to confirm what you’ve already decided.

https://www.inlander.com/comment/cherry-picking-quotes-from-founding-fathers-has-become-another-insidious-form-of-misinformation-24099356

I do not mind the use of quotes just please get them right and do not make them up to suit your bias.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Post-Putin Russia

With the war raging in Ukraine and a few minor shots at his authority many Americans want to see Putin gone and soon forgotten.

I know most people just want Putin gone does not matter how but it does matter and things could be worse.

But what would be the pathways that Russia could take to get to a Post-Putin Russia?

From time to time I get some post doc papers and I enjoy other people’s take on international situations…..this one is about the post-Putin Russia possibilities.

What is clear is that Putin will not take up Prigozhin’s suggestion of blaming others for the disastrous war in Ukraine in order to end it on terms short of what now appears to be an unattainable Russian victory. It might not be until Putin is succeeded by another leader that Russia can do this. But the Wagner rebellion, even though unsuccessful, has raised the possibility that Putin is vulnerable, and that a successor to him could arise.

Putin, of course, may continue to exert his rule over Russia through the end of the 2020s, the 2030s, or possibly even longer. He succeeded, after all, in facing down the Wagner rebellion. But the Wagner rebellion raises the possibility that he may suddenly and unexpectedly fall from power some time soon. Nobody, including Putin himself, knows for sure when or how his rule over Russia will come to an end. But whether as a result of his death, incapacity, overthrow, or decision not to run for re-election in 2024 (this last being the least likely), Putin’s reign will definitely come to an end at some point.

Just as it is uncertain when Putin’s hold on power will come to an end, it is also uncertain how much or even whether Russia will change after it does. This article will explore the likelihood of five possible post-Putin pathways for Russia: 1) Putinism without Putin; 2) democratization; 3) prudent authoritarianism; 4) Chinese overlordship; and 5) the breakup of Russia.

Just as important, this article will also explore the possibilities for six of Putin’s current domestic and foreign policy priorities to be continued or revised under each of these five potential pathways. These six Putin priorities are: 1) maintaining dictatorship over Russia; 2) maintaining or even enhancing Russia’s great power status; 3) continuing the ongoing war against Ukraine in order to at minimum retain control of Ukrainian territory currently occupied by Russian forces; 4) continuing to see America and the West as Russia’s principal security threats; 5) continuing Russia’s strategic partnership with China despite any misgivings Moscow may have over increasing Russian dependence on Beijing; and 6) maintaining Russia’s territorial integrity. First, though, something needs to be said about Putin’s own commitment to these priorities as well as his ability to pursue them.

Post-Putin Russia: Five Potential Pathways

Some interesting takes on the possibilities….my thought is that there will be a form of what this paper calls ‘prudent authoritarianism’….that will replace Putin for a time.

I know it is a long paper but do road it and let me know what direction you  think Russia would take after Putin.

Just something to think about….you can do it if you try.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

I Have Been Summoned

Recently I was invited to participate in a round table discussion by the Atlantic Council…..

For those that are not familiar the Atlantic Co8nciul is a worldwide think tank…..

This from their website…..

The Atlantic Council promotes constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the Atlantic Community’s central role in meeting global challenges. The Council provides an essential forum for navigating the dramatic economic and political changes defining the twenty-first century by informing and galvanizing its uniquely influential network of global leaders. The Atlantic Council—through the papers it publishes, the ideas it generates, the future leaders it develops, and the communities it builds—shapes policy choices and strategies to create a more free, secure, and prosperous world.

I am not a big fan of think tanks…..

This is the email I received from the ‘Council’

The Atlantic Council Syria Project is pleased to invite you to a panel discussion: ” How can the United States counter normalization with Assad in the Middle East“. This hybrid public event will take place on Wednesday, July 19, from 9:00 am to 11:00 am ET and will be streamed online.

On May 11, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced the ‘Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act’ which could bar the U.S. government from normalizing relations with any Syrian government led by Bashar Assad and enhance the U.S. government ability to impose sanctions on regional individuals and entities that provide support to his regime. The proposed legislation came days after the Arab League, led by Saudi Arabia, allowed Syria back into the League based on a shared understanding to counter Captagon trade and to create a roadmap for national reconciliation and refugee return into Syria.

The event will discuss the unique challenges facing U.S. law makers in a changing Middle East order that warmed-up to Assad, especially amidst Chinese and Russian efforts to edge out the United States in the region, and how this would impact Washington’s strategy in the region.

Speakers

Congressman Joe Wilson
Chairman
House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia

Mohammad Alaa Ghanem
Policy Chief
Syrian American Council

Moderator

Qutaiba Idlbi
Nonresident Senior Fellow & Head of the Syria Project
Atlantic Council 

I have decline because there is no one is representing Syria in this ‘discussion’….the actually Syrian people should have a voice in this as well….not some jumped up organization that is more worried about funding than the people of Syria.

Most are well aware of my thoughts on sanctions….more will not make Syria a better or safer place.

Plus there are too many conservatives on this panel which tells me there is no one there that would do fair representation of the nation of Syria….basically it will be nothing more than Assad bashing.

I appreciate the invite but it needs to be more encompassing than it is.

Peace ….Out.

“lego ergo scribo”

Trump In 2024

I know that the clown show we call Ukraine is on everybody’s mind…..but…..

Contrary to popular belief it is not too early to start thinking about the possibility of a trump win in November .

I believe that Trump, Donald the Orange, is just a dictator waiting to happen and the voter could present him with that opportunity.

Just to be clear….he does not like oversight of his station….in fact he wants to expand his control over aspects of our government.

The New York Times is out with a story sure to simultaneously delight the supporters of former President Trump and strike fear into his critics. The lengthy piece, based on his campaign’s public proposals and interviews with insiders, lays out how Trump plans to dramatically increase the power of the presidency should he be elected to a second term. The goal is to “alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House,” write Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, and Charlie Savage. For example:

  • Independent agencies such as the FCC and the FTC would operate under the president’s control.
  • Presidents would be able to refuse to spend money authorized by Congress on programs they don’t like—the practice is called “impounding” funds, and lawmakers banned it under Richard Nixon.
  • Tens of thousands of civil servants would lose their job protection, making it easier for a president to fire them.

“What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them,” explains Trump ally Russell Vought, who ran the Office of Management and Budget under Trump. John Kelly, one of Trump’s former chief of staffs, predicts a term of chaos should Trump be re-elected. “It would be a nonstop gunfight with the Congress and the courts.” Read the full story, which digs into the thinking behind “unitary executive theory” and its opposition to traditional checks and balances

Then there is the possibility of a trump victory because of one action by an outside group….

Geoffrey Skelley, a senior elections analyst at FiveThirtyEight, described on Thursday, July 13, how the Democrats are fretting about the possibility of a third-party candidate eating into President Joe Biden’s support in the 2024 presidential race.

Skelley described how a plan by the “No Labels” organization to field a centrist presidential ticket to run against tickets that will no doubt reflect the extremes of both the Republican and the Democratic Party could hurt Biden more than it would Trump, and argued that Cornel West’s bid for the Green Party nomination could impact Biden and the Democrats further.

Skelley has the data to prove it, too.

Surveys conducted since late May – within the last handful of weeks – have repeatedly shown that President Joe Biden could win against former President Donald Trump in a head-to-head match in 2024. When a No Labels or Green Party ticket is thrown into the mix, however, the race becomes much more competitive, and Trump even leads against Biden in a number of those polls.

Donald Trump Could Win in 2024 If One Thing Happens

I will have more to say on this prediction a little later.

Just do not get me started on the whole ‘centrist’ or ‘independent’ thing just yet.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Fiscal Responsible Republicans

You know who they are….they are the ones shouting loudly for spending cuts in social programs, environment programs, just about all programs with the exception of the Pentagon which gets more than it asks for in the budget.

This past ‘debt crisis’ deal found the poor being whacked on the pee pee….and yet these same ‘spend thrifts’ have a plan….

They think they deserve a pay raise…..

After taking the global economy hostage to secure painful cuts to aid programs and other federal spending, House Republicans are proposing a pay raise for themselves and other members of Congress for the coming fiscal year.

Roll Callreported Thursday that under spending legislation approved by the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee last month, members of Congress “would stand to receive a 4.6%, or $8,000, pay increase” in 2024. Most members of Congress currently make an annual salary of $174,000, putting them in the top 10% of U.S. earners.

“Lawmakers last received a cost-of-living increase in 2009,” the outlet noted, “but House Republicans left out the traditional language blocking a cost-of-living increase for members from this year’s Legislative Branch bill.”

The Republican-led push for a congressional pay increase comes just weeks after GOP leaders negotiated a debt ceiling agreement with President Joe Biden that imposes new work requirements on older recipients of federal food aid, a change that experts say is likely to strip benefits from around 750,000 low-income people.

Congressional Republicans are also pushing for even steeper cuts to federal spending than were agreed upon in the debt ceiling deal, threatening a government shutdown.

Meanwhile, the House GOP is working to pass legislation that would hand the top 1% of U.S. earners $28 billion in tax cuts next year.

(commondreams.org)

Seriously?

I bunch of lay abouts that work 3 days a week and about 5 months a year think they deserve a pay increase….if anything since they can get nothing done legislatively they owe the taxpayers a refund.

Can you believe these douche bags?

They want to cut benefits across the board for poor and low income workers and think that deserves a pay raise.

These assholes have some nerve!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Your Clusters Are Ready

Nope this is not my attempt to share some family secret cookie recipe….this post is about those lovely cluster bombs that the US has sent to Ukraine.

A Ukrainian general told CNN on Thursday that Ukraine has received a shipment of US cluster bombs, controversial munitions that have a devastating impact on civilians.

“We just got them, we haven’t used them yet, but they can radically change the situation on the battlefield,” Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said.

The Biden administration announced last week that it was sending Ukraine cluster munitions in the form of 155mm artillery shells as part of an $800 million weapons package.

It’s not clear how many have arrived in Ukraine so far, but Pentagon officials have said they will provide “hundreds of thousands” of rounds.

The cluster munitions are being provided using the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows President Biden to ship Ukraine weapons directly from US military stockpiles.

Cluster bombs scatter small submunitions over large areas, making them especially hazardous for civilians. Submunitions that don’t explode immediately on impact can kill or maim civilians for decades to come, as they have in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, where the US dropped hundreds of millions of bomblets during the Vietnam War.

Graphic on cluster munitions, designed to disperse or release tiny explosives, used in the Ukraine-Russia war.

Shortly after the beginning of the Ukraine excursion and Russia was using cluster ammo the Biden people called their use as a war crime….now that the US is supplying them is it still a war crime?

Now to my thinking this is an escalation of this conflict and I am not alone….

When certain lines are crossed, the nature of other things becomes clearer. Providing cluster bombs to the Ukrainian military is such a rubicon. The pretense that the NATO sponsored forces have some kind of moral high ground in their conflict with Moscow is fading quickly. Even retired Vermont senator Patrick Leahy together with current senator Jeff Merkley acknowledged as much in a recent opinion piece in the newspaper of the warfare state, the Washington Post.(7/8/2023). Neither of these men oppose the US involvement in the conflict, but providing a weapon banned by most governments in the world is too much for these humanitarian warmongers. Historically, the first cluster bomb in the United States was developed in the 1950s by Ralph M. Parsons Company. Its identity number was E86 and was originally developed to disperse chemical and biological agents among enemy populations during war. After chemical and biological warfare fell out of favor with those servants of Mars who plan wars, the concept was modified so that the bombs would explode in the air. The explosion releases hundreds of bomblets which fall to the ground, creating a sort of minefield. The primary type being sent to Ukraine is the Mk 20 Rockeye II, which is considered an anti-tank weapon but was used by the US military during the first US attack on Iraq on numerous types of targets. According to Globalsecurity.org, US Marines used the weapon extensively against armor, artillery, and personnel targets. The remainder were dropped by Air Force and Navy aircraft. (accessed 7/8/2023)

Let’s Be Clear, Cluster Bombs are an Escalation

These weapons are devastating to children and civilians….why?  They are shiny small objects that look like toys….

They look more like toys than weapons of death and maiming. Bright yellow, red or black, some resemble whiffle balls, others miniature windmills, robots and Transformers. They’re too tempting for any girl or boy to ignore, let alone kids from isolated villages in the hinterlands of a country where nearly three-quarters of the population live in grinding poverty. That country is Laos. And the illusory playthings are cluster bombs.

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/11/1186949348/us-cluster-munitions-civilian-casualties-laos

These ‘cute’ little trinkets can keep killing and maiming long after the war is over.

If the use by Russia is a war crime then the use by Ukraine is a war crime and the US is responsible.

Then Putin reminds everyone involved….

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Ukraine that its military is not the only one with cluster munitions. And should Ukraine use them against his nation during their war, Putin said, Russia “reserves the right to take reciprocal action.” The message was delivered in a Rossiya TV interview put on Telegram on Sunday, USA Today reports. Ukraine has just received a US shipment of cluster munitions but says it hasn’t used any yet, per CNN.

But that is the American way hypocritical to the bitter end.

This will not end well is my feeling….how about you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In”

Another Sunday and another attempt at FYI….

It is 4 am and 92 just wish I had something to take my mind off of this heat….then I thought….hey….’shrooms.

A song by the First Edition back in the 60s…..but that is not what this post is about ….instead it is about the popularity of those magic ‘shrooms with the young.

Not in several decades have young adults in the United States done so much tripping on hallucinogens. That’s the upshot of a new study that found the use of such mind-altering drugs nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021. According to research published in the journal Addiction, based on stats from the “Monitoring the Future” study, 6.6% of subjects ages 19 to 30 used non-LSD hallucinogens of some sort (such as PCP and psilocybin mushrooms, aka “magic” mushrooms), up from 3.4% three years earlier. LSD use also saw a rise in that same period, albeit a more modest one, jumping from 3.7% to 4.2% among the same demographic.

Usage of non-LSD drugs was most prevalent among males, white subjects, and individuals whose parents have a higher educational status, per Medscape. The Hill reports that in 2021, about 8% of young adults used hallucinogens, the highest share since the 1980s. For context, in 1971, which was prime psychedelics time in America, a Gallup poll found that 18% of college students had dabbled in hallucinogens. In addition to the stigma of recreational drugs decreasing over the past few years, largely thanks to the legalization of cannabis around the nation, hallucinogens used therapeutically has also given shrooms and similar drugs a big boost. At least one state, Oregon, is even starting to train magic mushroom “facilitators” to help patients using psilocybin.

Still, scientists warn about the issues associated with the growing use of this type of drug. “While non-LSD hallucinogen use remains substantially less prevalent than use of substances such as alcohol and cannabis, a doubling of prevalence in just three years is a dramatic increase and raises possible public health concerns,” study co-author Megan Patrick of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research tells Medscape. Among those concerns about “bad trips,” per a 2016 study: fear, paranoia, hallucinations, increased heart rate, aggression, and even depression or risk of suicide. “This isn’t all just peace, love, and light,” Sion Harris, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, tells the Hill. “There’s the potential to have bad reactions.”

Do you suffer from color blindness?

If so there could be help on the horizon….

Psilocybin magic mushrooms has been proven to help treat many treatment-resistant conditions.

These include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and OCD to name a few. But did you know that psilocybin may also have the potential to treat color blindness?

Color blindness is commonly caused by genetic factors, which means that parents can pass them down to their children. However, in less common cases, color blindness may occur due to damage inflicted on the brain or the eyes. Any color blindness can also get worse with age, usually because of cataracts. Aside from these, diseases such as macular degeneration or glaucoma can also cause color blindness.

https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/23/06/33011181/magic-mushrooms-a-potential-cure-for-color-blindness-new-case-study-has-interesting-results

To keep with an FYI theme…..

When embarking on a psychedelic trip, responsible and informed decision-making is paramount. By adhering to these guidelines on what to avoid while tripping, you can maximize your safety, comfort, and the potential for positive and transformative experiences. Remember to choose a controlled environment, have a trusted companion, and avoid mixing substances. By prioritizing safety and mindfulness, the journey into the depths of the psychedelic realm can be a profound and enlightening adventure.

https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/23/06/32800473/psychedelic-trip-dos-and-donts-what-to-avoid-during-your-psychedelic-experience

Keep in mind that these drugs can rewire the brain….and rewire it for the better….

From ketamine drips to microdosing on LSD, psychedelics are shaking up the way we approach and treat mental health. A growing body of scientific evidence shows that these long-stigmatized substances could be potential antidepressants, alleviating symptoms by slipping into areas of the brain traditional SSRIs can’t reach, and encouraging new neural connections.

Despite these advances, psychedelics remain fairly mysterious. Researchers haven’t yet pinned down the various mechanisms through which they work inside our bodies. But now, they might be one step closer.

An international team of scientists led by the University of Helsinki in Finland believes they’ve struck biochemical gold. In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the researchers found that psychedelics psilocin (the primary chemical in magic mushrooms) and LSD exert an antidepressant effect by binding to a protein, receptor tyrosine kinase beta (TrkB), which then activates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that plays a crucial role in the growth, development, and maintenance of neurons; kind of like Miracle-Gro for the brain.

https://www.inverse.com/health/lsd-magic-mushrooms-rewire-the-brain-to-treat-depression

For you interested…..

Be Smart!

Be Safe!

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–15Jul23

That magical time again a Summer’s weekend….not that means much to retired old fart like me.

In the past week…Biden mumbled something….Trump lied about everything….some celebrity embraced the ‘free the nipple movement’ and some people were shot and there is a bit of a rain problem in the Northeast….in other words a typical week in America.

My mother died of liver cancer in 1979 so I have been interested in the strives made in liver disease prevention ever since and I read an article that shows promise but made me cringe.

The UK is to launch a clinical trial of a “poo transplant” that researchers believe could treat advanced liver disease and fight antimicrobial resistance.

The trial’s investigators also provide evidence for the first time that a fecal transplant can dramatically improve gut health.

The PROMISE trial, led by King’s College London, will recruit patients with cirrhosis from across the UK to test whether oral fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) capsules from freeze-dried stool from healthy volunteers reduces the likelihood of getting an .

End-stage , known as cirrhosis (irreversible scarring of the ), is the third biggest cause of mortality and loss of working life in the UK. The contains trillions of bacteria, but people with cirrhosis have an increased number of “bad” bacteria in the bowel which makes them highly susceptible to a host of infections. Over-prescribing antibiotics means they are becoming less effective to treat these infections, and the bowel can become infected with “super-bugs.” Infections in people with cirrhosis are often severe and can be fatal.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-fecal-transplant-trial-liver-disease.html

For years those Ancient Alien slugs have been going on about some giant angelic beings that roamed the earth and news has come out that will just fuel their bullshit.

Archaeologists have unearthed a “giant” handaxe in southern England that was crafted by early human relatives more than 300,000 years ago, reports a new study. Measuring nearly a foot long from tip to butt, the artifact is the third biggest prehistoric handaxe ever found in Britain and belongs to a special class of big tools with mysterious origins.

Humans are the last surviving members of the Homo family, which was once a diverse and far-ranging group of apes that included many tool-using species. England’s fossil record suggests that various early human relatives occupied the island over the past million years, some of whom left behind artifacts and tools.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5y5n7/archaeologists-keep-unearthing-mysterious-giant-prehistoric-hand-tools

Speaking of lunacy…..then there is the mermaid thing….

Shocking mermaid-like remains have left locals stumped after washing up on an Aussie beach.

Bobbi-Lee Oates thought she might have found a dead body – or even a new species – when she spotted the creature in Keppel Sands, Queensland.

She said: “We were driving along the beach looking for a campsite, and we couldn’t help but notice how much the skull looked to be in the shape of a human’s.

“So we instantly stopped from the confusion as to what the hell could this be, and why does this look like a human skull?”

Photos taken by Bobbi-Lee reveal a long body with its ribcage showing, but no discernible limbs, eyes, or ears.

The 34-year-old estimated it was over six feet long.

She said: “It had a human-shaped skull with an elongated jawline, and hair similar to the colour of a cow or kangaroo, but with hair missing in many places due to decomposition.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/people-convinced-mermaid-real-after-30455588

I Found another reason to avoid Florida like a plague….

Hunters in South Florida caught the largest Burmese python ever measured, and the lengthy beast is being examined at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples.

The 19-foot python was caught in the Big Cypress National Preserve in eastern Collier County early Monday morning by Naples hunter and Ohio State University student Jake Waleri, who said the catch was a dream come true.

“I knew we were capable of it but I didn’t know it would happen,” Waleri said. “Last year my cousin and I caught a snake that was almost 18 feet long, and we realized we could handle a snake of that size.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/12/record-burmese-python-south-florida/12243954002/

Like something from I, Robot….keeping with the fascination with all things AI….

An incredibly life-like humanoid robot had a bit of a dodgy answer when asked if it would rebel against its human creators.

At what is being billed as the world’s first human-robot press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Reuters reports, nine humanoid robots were asked a series of questions by human journalists.

And when asked if it were to ever rise up and rebel against its creator, Ameca, a humanoid robot by UK-based robotics company Engineered Arts that can make creepily realistic human expressions, struggled to find an answer.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/realistic-robot-dodges-question-rebel-against-humans

Could Star Trek come alive?

In a groundbreaking scientific development, British aerospace company Pulsar Fusion is working on a rocket engine prototype that could unlock the secret to Star Trek-style warp speed through space.

The technology being used in the 8-meter nuclear fusion rocket has the potential to propel humans into space at speeds of up to 500,000 miles per hour.

If successful, this innovation could significantly reduce travel time to Mars from months to just 30 days, and shorten the flight duration to Saturn from eight years to two. 

Pulsar claims that once the rocket is built and tested in 2027, it will temporarily become the hottest place in the solar system, reaching several hundred million degrees, per The Star. 

The trials for the rocket engine will take place in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, which is known for its historical significance during World War II as it was here that the famous Enigma code was deciphered, enabling the Allies to gain intelligence and turn the tide of the war.

The company’s CEO places a lot of store in fusion propulsion for space exploration. He says, “You’ve got to ask yourself, can humanity do fusion? If we can’t, then all of this is irrelevant. If we can – and we can – then fusion propulsion is totally inevitable. It’s irresistible to the human evolution of space.”

(knewz.com)

Boldly go where no man has gone before….or just wishful thinking?

I think this is enough mental food for now…..enjoy your Saturday and as always….be well and be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Who Stole My Surfboard?”

Let me begin my last post of the week with a celebratory theme…..Happy Bastille Day to my friends in France.

It is Friday and closing in on another weekend so I thought I would end my week of posting on a humorous note….a little something to tickle your funny bone.

I recently wrote about a pod of orcas that seem to have vendetta against sail boats (who can blame them?) and now a thief of Southern California surfboards.

Surfers off the coast of Santa Cruz, California, now have to worry about more than bad weather and riptides. That’s because an especially ornery southern sea otter is wreaking havoc there, approaching surfers and forcing them off their surfboards, then hopping on the boards herself—sometimes even gnawing on them. “This may seem cute but it’s not,” tweeted Mark Woodward, who the Guardian notes has been taking pictures of local sea otters harassing people for a few weeks. Accompanying his tweet were several photos of “Otter 841” perched atop someone’s surfboard. “This sea otter was very aggressive and the surfer actually abandoned his board and swam to shore.”

Woodward also recently tweeted a video of one surfer trying to fend off the 5-year-old otter, who wasn’t deterred even when the surfer shook and flipped the board. Per NBC News, Otter 841 has been “stalking” surfers for months, but the New York Times reports that she’s been involved in odd interactions for a couple of years, starting with a 2021 incident in which she climbed aboard a watercraft. Despite sea otters usually going out of their way to avoid humans, this otter “grew more bold” over time, the paper notes, adding that such interactions with female sea otters are sometimes spurred by hormonal surges, or because they’ve become acclimated to humans.

Not all of the incidents involving Otter 841, who was born and raised in captivity before being released into the wild, have been completely unpleasant. Noah Wormhoudt, 16, was surfing off of Santa Cruz last month when the creature commandeered his board. “It seemed friendly, so we got comfortable with it,” he tells the Times. “It was a pretty cool experience.” He added that the otter “was shredding, caught a couple of nice waves.” But Gena Bentall of the nonprofit Sea Otter Savvy says such close encounters are “extremely dangerous,” as sea otters “have sharp teeth and jaws strong enough to crush clams.”

Come on people!  That is just entertaining considering how obnoxious most surfers can be.

Enjoy your weekend.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”