Month: November 2023

It Is Spreading Like A Virus

In recent years the far right hate has been spreading throughout the world….especially in Europe and the US….politicians like LePen of France, Orban of Hungary and of course our own beloved Donald the Orange and now the Netherlands….Geert Wilders has been around and mouthy for years and now he has a huge victory…..

After the huge election victory of far-right leader Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, the world is paying a lot more attention to Dutch politics and the country’s alphabet soup of political parties. Wilders’ Party for Freedom—PVV—won 37 of the 150 seats in the lower house of the country’s parliament, leaving the country in what the Economist calls an “awful quandary.” Other parties have had a “cordon sanitaire” around the PVV in recent years, refusing to include the anti-Islam, anti immigration party in coalition governments, but it’s unclear whether other parties will be able to assemble a majority of at least 76 this time.

The next three biggest parties after Wednesday’s election—a Labour-GreenLeft alliance, the VVD, the NSC, and an alliance of Labour and GreenLeft parties—only have a combined 69 seats and they are “not enthusiastic about co-operating with each other,” the Economist notes. There’s a chance they could still form a coalition with one or two smaller parties, though Wilders argues that it would be undemocratic to keep his party out of government. More:

  • How the “political earthquake” happened. Cas Mudde at the Guardian blames the “political earthquake” of Wilders’ surprising victory on Mark Rutte, the outgoing VVD prime minister. Rutte and his conservative party had hoped to dominate the election by shifting focus from a dispute involving farmers to the issue of asylum seekers, but they instead created fertile ground for Wilders, Mudde writes. “If you make the elections about the issues of the far right, notably the “problem” of immigration, the far right wins,” Mudde writes.
  • Victory is
  • boost for far-right across Europe. The AP reports that the strong showing for Wilders’ party has buoyed far-right populists across Europe, putting the movement back on track after a defeat in Poland last month. Those congratulating Wilders Thursday included Hungary’s Viktor Orban and France’s Marine Le Pen. Like Wilders, who wants to see a Dutch version of Brexit, Le Pen is strongly opposed to the European Union.
  • A “middle finger against the establishment.” Rene Cuperus at the Clingendael Institute think-tank tells Reuters that proposals including leaving the EU and banning the Koran are not what attracted voters to Wilders. “It’s not an anti-Islam vote. It’s not an anti-EU vote. No, it’s more a middle finger against the establishment,” Cuperus says. “It’s an anti-establishment signal … to really warn the established parties to fix the housing market crisis and to fix migration.”
  • The “Dutch Donald Trump.” The BBC looks at the background and policies of the man sometimes called the “Dutch Donald Trump,” who has been a prominent figure in the country’s politics for more than 25 years.

Other political parties were holding separate meetings to discuss the election’s outcome before what is likely to be an arduous process of forming a new governing coalition begins Friday. To become prime minister of a country known for compromise politics, Wilders must persuade other party leaders to work with him. The party that came next to Wilders’ in the election was an alliance of the center-left Labor Party and Green Left, which was forecast to win 25 seats, and its leader, Frans Timmermans, made clear that Wilders should not count on him as a partner. However, Pieter Omtzigt, a former centrist Christian Democrat who built his own New Social Contract party in three months to take 20 seats, said he would always be open to talks.

I hope that if any of this is wrong then my Dutch visitors will set the record straight.

These people are like disease infecting the world.

This situation will be fascinating to watch….the rise of these hate groupies is very disturbing and smacks of the 1920’s and 30’s.

Stay Tuned!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Another Reach For Glory

I hope everyone had a good and enjoyable and  Thanksgiving…..and now the fun begins trying to find the perfect gift for that special person.

If you are participating in Black Friday then I am sorry for your stress.

Now onto more cerebral stuff.

There is a general election on the political horizon and we will have the two corrupt parties and a couple of independents, RFK and West and now the Green Party has a challenger, Jill Stein (Again)….

Polls have shown voter support for someone other than Joe Biden or Donald Trump to be on the president ballot in 2024, and Jill Stein sees that as an opening. A physician who has run before, Stein announced her candidacy to be the Green Party’s presidential nominee on Thursday, saying she wants to “offer people a choice outside the failed two-party system,” the Hill reports. “Democrats have betrayed their promises for working people, youth, and the climate again and again, while Republicans don’t even make such promises in the first place,” Stein said in an announcement video posted on X. She’s not popular with Democrats anyway, per Axios; some say Stein hurt Hillary Clinton’s candidacy in the 2016 election, especially in battleground states, and helped Trump’s.

The candidacies of third-party candidates like Stein and independents like Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could complicate the Biden-Trump rematch, per the New York Times. Stein won 1.4 million votes in 2016. She proposed an “economic bill of rights” in her video that would include a guarantee of employment, health care, housing, food, and education. And she anticipated criticism from the major parties. “The political insiders always smear outsiders like us & try to shame voters who want better choices,” Stein posted on X.

She will not get my support…..I fell for her crap on two occasions and I learned my lesson…I rank her in the same league as 2020 candidate, Tulsi Gabbard, will say anything to get some minor support and will champion causes she has NO intention of caring through on.

I am still not in the Dem pot and will most likely vote for an independent….but it is too early to sign on to anyone one candidate.

I just know that Stein is not someone I would trust with my vote…and that is what is important to me….TRUST.

I will continue to evaluate the candidates and will make my announcement a little later.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Thanksgiving-2023

I wish to offer a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers.

I will be busy most of the day for I do most of the major cooking for the family….on the menu my super turkey, my great mac and cheese, green peas, green bean casserole, yams, both types of cranberry sauce, yeast rolls and apple pie….and anything else I decide is needed.

Hopefully my health issues do not get in the way of our day and meal.

As long as it is a holiday how about a little history while you take a break from your duties on this day?

We celebrate the bounty of the day….but where and when did it become official?

The Mother of Thanksgiving….

Sarah Josepha Hale was a whirlwind of energy from New Hampshire who wrote cookbooks, novels, poetry, edited the most popular women’s magazine of her era, Godey’s Lady’s Book, and still had time to promote various causes, from the abolition of slavery to women’s education, to preserving such historical sites as George Washington’s residence at Mount Vernon, according to History and the National Women’s History Museum.

Her most recognizable literary work today is the children’s poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” There’s some controversy as to who actually wrote the poem, but Hale was the first to publish it in her “Poems for Our Children” in 1830, per Modern Farmer. For years she used her magazine as a platform to promote the idea of a national Thanksgiving celebration. At the time, it was only a regional holiday mainly celebrated in the Northeast and on various dates, depending on the state. It took a war and a forward-thinking president to make her dream of a unified celebration a reality.

Her most recognizable literary work today is the children’s poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” There’s some controversy as to who actually wrote the poem, but Hale was the first to publish it in her “Poems for Our Children” in 1830, per Modern Farmer. For years she used her magazine as a platform to promote the idea of a national Thanksgiving celebration. At the time, it was only a regional holiday mainly celebrated in the Northeast and on various dates, depending on the state. It took a war and a forward-thinking president to make her dream of a unified celebration a reality.

Besides using her magazine to promote Thanksgiving, Sarah Josepha Hale had tirelessly written letters to every governor in the United States, asking them to help create a unified Thanksgiving celebration, according to “Lady Editor: Sarah Josepha Hale and the Making of the Modern American Woman.” These efforts made some inroads, with more than half the states and territories in the country having an official Thanksgiving Day by 1854, per History. She also wrote to Presidents Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan when they each held the nation’s highest office, per NPR. The answer was always the same, although Pierce’s answer was the most terse: “I perceive serious objections,” he wrote her.

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/1443019/how-woman-became-mother-of-thanksgiving-sarah-hale/

So if you want to thank the woman who worked diligently to help make this an official holiday so we all can gives thanks for our many blessings then Sarah Josepha Hale is your gal.

I do hope that everyone has a great day filled with food, fun and family….about possibly football.

Take a few moments to reflect on all the things you have in your life to be thankful for and enjoy the day.

Since I will be very busy this will be my only post for the day.

Please be well and be safe….

Until tomorrow and what is fondly called Black Friday….have a great one.

 

chuq

Yes! We Have A Deal

Since it is the day before T’giving I will only post once today….I have prep work to do since I do the heavy lift on the cooking and Sue has a house to get ready for the family to show up….which is good for the next three days will probably be slow here on IST with cooking eating and shopping by the blogosphere.

Now for the good news…..

After all the Middle East fighting and death and destruction hostages have been taken and the world has been demanding a ceasefire and a release of those hostages. After round upon round of talks and negotiations it appears that the final leg of this process would be the Israeli Knesset’s approval of any deal.

And it appears we have a deal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the approval of his Cabinet early Wednesday for a deal that would exchange prisoners in Israel for hostages in Gaza, the AP reports. In a televised address Tuesday night, Netanyahu had assured his nation that the war against Hamas will go on either way. “Tonight we stand before a difficult decision, but it is the right decision. All security organizations support it fully,” he said of the proposal. Israeli officials said the tentative deal calls for Hamas to release 50 women and children, while about 150 Palestinian women and teenagers being held in Israeli prisons would be freed, the New York Times reports. Hamas took about 240 hostages in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The Cabinet debated the exchange proposal into early Wednesday. The fighting would be stopped for several days under the terms; Netanyahu told his ministers that the break was only tactical and that the offensive against Hamas in Gaza would resume. “We are at war, and we will continue the war,” he said. “We will continue until we achieve all our goals.” The exchange probably wouldn’t take place before Thursday to allow for judicial review in Israel. Netanyahu’s government has faced pressure from the hostages’ families to reach a deal for their release.

According to Axios, the first phase of the deal will involve Hamas releasing about 50 Israeli women and children, while Israel is expected to release about 150 Palestinian women and children. The releases will take place during the four-day pause.

Israel will also allow 300 aid trucks per day to enter Gaza from Egypt during the pause and for some fuel to be delivered. In a potential second phase of the deal, Hamas could release dozens of more hostages in exchange for an extension of the ceasefire by several days.

An Israeli official said that over the next 24 hours, the names of the Palestinian prisoners who will be released will be made public. This will be done to give Israelis the opportunity to appeal their release, signaling their freedom is not guaranteed.

The deal with Hamas received support from most ministers within the Israeli government except three members of the extremist Jewish Power Party. Ahead of the cabinet vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed the war would continue after the short ceasefire.

(antiwar.com)

Keep in mind this is the Middle East if something can go wrong with this deal….It Will!

Hopefully this deal is a good sign for the region.

I am glad to hear that families on both sides of this conflict can be reunited with their loved ones….hopefully this is just the beginning.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and has many things to be thankful for in the lives.

Be Well….And Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Weakened Voters Rights Act (Again)?

As long as we are on the upcoming election there has been a court ruling that could be disastrous for the voters of this country.

A divided federal appeals court on Monday ruled that private individuals and groups such as the NAACP do not have the ability to sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act, a decision that voting rights advocates say could further erode protections under the landmark 1965 law. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis found that only the US attorney general can enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires political maps to include districts where minority populations’ preferred candidates can win elections, the AP reports. The majority said other federal laws, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, make it clear when private groups can sue but said similar wording is not found in the voting law.

“When those details are missing, it is not our place to fill in the gaps, except when ‘text and structure’ require it,” US Circuit Judge David Stras wrote for the majority in an opinion joined by Judge Raymond Gruender. Stras was nominated by former President Donald Trump and Gruender by former President George W. Bush. The decision affirmed a lower judge’s decision to dismiss a case brought by the Arkansas State Conference NAACP and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel after giving US Attorney General Merrick Garland five days to join the lawsuit. Chief Judge Lavenski Smith noted in a dissenting opinion that federal courts across the country and the US Supreme Court have considered numerous cases brought by private plaintiffs under Section 2.

Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, called the ruling a “travesty for democracy.” She had argued the appeal on behalf of the two Arkansas groups. “By failing to reverse the district court’s radical decision, the Eighth Circuit has put the Voting Rights Act in jeopardy, tossing aside critical protections that voters fought and died for,” Lakin said in a statement. It was not immediately clear whether the groups would appeal. Barry Jefferson, political action chair of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP, called the ruling “a devastating blow to the civil rights of every American, and the integrity of our nation’s electoral system.” Monday’s ruling applies only to federal courts covered by the 8th Circuit, per the AP.

Chip-chip-chipping away at the right of a person to vote.

This is coming to a polling station near you.

Be afraid….very afraid….

Pay attention or lose everything you hold dear (and that is NOT an exaggeration!)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

More Crappy News For Biden

The numbers are in and Biden is looking pathetic.

The news is he still sliding down in the polls….

An NBC News poll found that President Joe Biden is beginning to struggle with a key demographic. The President’s approval rating is continuing to sag, and young Americans are definitely opposed to his foreign policy, especially support for Israel. 

The poll conducted by NBC from November 10-14 found that Biden’s approval rating has sunk to the lowest level of his presidency, 40%. The sagging approval indicates Americans have grown tired of the current administration. The survey found that if the 2024 election were held today, former President Donald Trump would beat Biden. 

Driving Biden’s poor performance is dissatisfaction with his foreign policy. Only 33% of voters approve of Biden’s foreign policy. While 34% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of Israel’s onslaught in Gaza. 

Since taking office, Biden has been a staunch war hawk. He has led a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, and he continued Trump’s aggressive policies against China. Additionally, Biden has overseen a massive military surge in the Asia-Pacific that has driven animosities with China and North Korea. 

The President is struggling significantly among young Americans. His approval rating for that group fell to 31% from 46% in September. The decline is likely driven by Biden’s full-throated support for Israel’s war in Gaza. According to the NBC poll, 70% of Americans aged 18-34 disapprove of Biden’s handling of the war.

Overall, only 34% of Americans approve of how Biden has handled the conflict, while 56% disapprove. Washington is shipping weapons to Tel Aviv nearly every day. So far, at least 13,000 Palestinians, including 5,500 children, have been killed by Israel. 

I could not find anything the American people really approved of in Biden.

I know this is just an early snapshot but it does not bode well for the president.

Not looking good…..and then there is Trump….do American really see him doing anything better or making their lives better?

Is it possible that neither one of them will win the 2024 election?

We are now less than one year away from Election Day 2024.  

On the Republican side, three debates have already been held featuring a diverse group of presidential hopefuls. The one person who has been absent has been the favorite in the polls, Donald Trump, declining to participate. Not surprisingly, the number of candidates has continued to dwindle, from eight in the first debate, to seven in the second debate, and to five in the third debate. The number set for the fourth debate on Dec. 6 currently stands at three, with Chris Christie’s campaign on life support hoping to make the stage.  

On the Democrat side, incumbent President Joe Biden is assumed to be running for a second term. Pollsters are focusing on a Biden-Trump rematch, with early polls giving Trump a slight edge in several key battleground states.  

In spite of such political drama, the data suggests that neither Trump nor Biden will be elected president on Nov. 8, 2024. Here’s why.  

Why neither Biden nor Trump will be the next president  

Not my problem for I am supporting neither of them…..my dog can do a better job….and I will look elsewhere….not sure where but I am serious about finding someone that is at least in the same ballpark as my principles…..that may take awhile.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What’s Up With The Speaker?

After over a year of denial and avoidance the new Speaker of the House is said to be ready to release the security footage of the 06 January insurrection (you do remember that, right?)

Of course with everything that is ‘released’ to the public I am sure some sort of editing will occur, especially since these toads on the Right denied many of the claims of the participants.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he plans to publicly release thousands of hours of footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, making good on a promise he made to far-right members of his party when he was campaigning for the job. “This decision will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials,” Johnson said in a statement, per the AP. The newly elected speaker said the first tranche of security footage, around 90 hours, would be released on a public committee website on Friday, with the rest of the 44,000 hours expected to be posted over the next several months. In the meantime, a public viewing room will also be set up in the Capitol for viewing the footage.

For the last several months, the GOP-led House Administration Committee has made the video available by appointment only to members of the media, criminal defendants, and a limited number of other people. The video shows some of the fighting up close and gives a bird’s-eye view of the Capitol complex—one that visitors rarely see—as hundreds of former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the building, violently attacking police officers and breaking in through windows and doors. By expanding this access to the general public, Johnson is fulfilling one of the pledges he made last month to the most conservative members of his party, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who orchestrated the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Both Gaetz and Trump—who’s currently running for reelection as he faces federal charges for his role in the Jan. 6 attack—applauded Johnson’s decision. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump congratulated the speaker “for having the courage and fortitude” to release the footage. The move by Johnson will grant the general public a stunning level of access to sensitive and explicit Jan. 6 security footage, which many critics have warned could endanger the safety of staff and members in the Capitol complex if it gets into the wrong hands.

Now problem is why now?

And why are those the denied anything happened on that faithful day but a peaceful collection of MAGATs?

I believe it will be piecemeal releases.

This situation will need to be monitored, in my opinion, for I believe something is going on that could change many things.

Stay Tuned!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Zelensky Paradox

Oh yeah….Ukraine.

You remember that right?

The conflict story that ate up news reporting until the Gaza mash-up.

This is not a post about who is right or wrong in this conflict but rather the paradox that has invaded Zelensky’s time as the leader of Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky was willing to end the war. On multiple occasions in the early days of the war, long before the escalation and long before the horrifying loss of life, limb and land, the Ukrainian president was willing to preserve his people’s land and protect his people lives in exchange for abandoning the dream of membership in NATO, a dream that, even as late as three months after Russia invaded, was shared by only 59% of Ukrainians.

But the US and the UK restrained him. They insisted that Zelensky refrain from a policy of negotiating with Putin in favour of pursuing US policy by engaging in war. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Zelensky that Russian President Vladimir Putin “should be pressured, not negotiated with” and that, even if Ukraine was ready to sign some agreements with Russia, “the West was not.” Zelensky was persuaded to offer the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to continue the fight in the pursuit of US goals. Zelensky gave up peace for Ukraine for a promise – formal or informal – that the US and its NATO allies would provide it with all the weapons it needs for as long as it takes.

But when Zelensky calls in that promise and asks for what Ukraine needs for as long as it takes, he is accused of being ungrateful and is told that the time has come to negotiate.

And that is the first paradox. Zelensky was told not to negotiate and that he would get the weapons he needs to go on fighting; then he is told to no longer expect weapons because he should be negotiating.

The Zelensky Paradox

Now my question is…..is the monetary support from the West waning?

Is Israel putting a dent in the support for Ukraine?

How will this work itself out?

On a side note….the US will pay huge mark-up on some equipment to be sent to Ukraine….

Jordan is set to make a massive profit by selling Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft system to the US. The White House plans to send the weapons to arms to Ukraine. In 2013, Amman purchased the weapons 2013 for $22 million, and now the US will pay Jordan nearly $120 million to buy the anti-aircraft system for Ukraine. 

According to De Telegraaf,  the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper, “The Netherlands sold the sixty [Gepards] to the Jordanians in 2013 for about 350,000 euros each. At the time, it indeed involved a total amount of 21 million euros. While the Americans would now pay 1.8 million euros each for it.”

Han Bouwmeester, a Dutch brigadier general and military professor, said the increase in price was due to the steep demand for weapons caused by the multiple conflicts being fought around the globe. “The situation in the world then was fundamentally different than it is now. The geopolitical situation has now changed ,and that may affect the price of these [Gepard],” he explained. 

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/us-to-buy-anti-aircraft-weapon-for-ukraine-at-huge-markup/

War is good business and damn business is great!

Apparently the US has a bottomless pocketbook…..I do not believe that our support for Ukraine or for that matter any other conflict should be open-ended….there has to be a point of cessation of our involvement.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Entering The Sad Season

It is Sunday and I try to give my readers something to think about….this Sunday it is the problems that may occur during the holiday season.

Next week we will be entering the season, for some, is not a good thing…..sadness and depression can claim a few minds for various reasons…..mental problems like loneliness, sadness, a massive depression….but there is a way to ward off these feelings.

The referenced article is about the Covid isolation but I feel it could be used to battle the holiday blues as well.

Reading, writing and sharing poetry can help people cope with loneliness or isolation and reduce feelings of anxiety and depression, a new study shows.

Research by the University of Plymouth and Nottingham Trent University has found that many people who took to sharing, discussing and writing as a means to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic experienced “demonstrable positive impact on their well-being.”

The findings are based on a survey of 400 people which showed that poetry helped those experiencing common mental health symptoms as well as those suffering from grief. The research is published in the Journal of Poetry Therapy.

It was carried out with registered users of the website poetryandcovid.com (now archived as poetryandcovidarchive.com), who used the website to share their own poetry and/or read other people’s.

Just over half (51%) of respondents indicated that reading and/or writing poetry had helped them deal with feelings of loneliness or isolation, and for a further 50% it had helped with feelings of anxiety and depression.

Around a third (34%) felt that engaging with the website helped them feel “less anxious,” 24% felt that it helped them “feel better able to handle my problems,” 17% expressed that it enabled them to deal with issues relating to bereavement, while 16% said it assisted with ongoing mental health symptoms.

“These results demonstrate the substantial power of poetry,” said Principal Investigator Anthony Caleshu, Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing at the University of Plymouth. “Writing and reading poetry, as well as engaging with the website, had a considerable positive impact on the well-being of the participants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11-poetry-people-cope-loneliness-isolation.html

I know there are many writers here on WP and I thought they might like to see that their efforts could be useful to others.

During this seasonal ‘blues’ there are other ways to cope (for lack of a better word)….

As the start of a week, survey participants were asked how much they agree with the statement, “I have felt able to impact, influence, or play an active role in how happy I generally feel.” A week later, they were asked the same question, and the difference was remarkable. Participants’ level of agreement with the statement jumped 27%, according to researchers of the BIG JOY Project. At the same time, participants saw a 26% boost in emotional well-being. So what had changed? Over the course of a week, participants were asked to perform “micro-acts” of joy, whether that was setting aside time to meditate or offering to do a favor for a friend. It was clear that these small acts could make a big difference, just as the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have proclaimed.

Participants who committed to performing these tiny acts of joy each day for a week saw a 23% boost in positive emotions, including hope, optimism, wonder, and amusement, while 30% more participants felt content with their relationships. There was also a 34% increase in participants’ level of agreement with the statement, “I am in control, on top of things, like I have been coping well.” Even sleep improved. “We’re really excited,” project leader Emiliana Simon-Thomas, an expert on the neuroscience and psychology of compassion, kindness, and gratitude at the Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) at the University of California-Berkeley, tells NPR. “There are statistically significant, measurable changes [including] greater well-being, better coping, less stress, [and] more satisfaction with relationships.”

More than 70,000 people in over 200 countries have taken part, per NPR—and you can, too. Participants simply fill out a survey, then agree to perform daily activities shown to boost well-being. They might pay a stranger’s bill, congratulate a colleague on a promotion, choose to look on the bright side (positive reframing), or watch an awe-inspiring video. The preliminary results suggest that by acting intentionally, participants can feel they have greater control over their thoughts and emotions. Researchers plan to compare the results from willing participants with those from a control group assigned to take part. In the meantime, they say we can all learn to exert more control over our happiness, even amid suffering. As the GGSC notes, per the Deseret News: “Joy is an inside job.”

Hopeful these will help[ if you get the seasonal ‘blues’.

Have a wonderful Sunday and as always….be well and be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–18Nov23

I am hoping to return to my usual news dump feature.

Life update…after 6 months of no rain we have had a couple of days of steady drizzle but that will do little to help the drought situation….we are 30 inches below what is usual…

A visit to my doctor and she tells me I am doing better and change my breathing treatment and more drugs….the good thing is that I have lost 5 pounds and now down to 200.

Local weather–after 156 days of no rain we have had 8 days of no sun and 4 days of light rain and our rain shortfall of 30 inches is now down to 28….yippy skippy.  They say cooler weather is coming and not too soon.

Let’s move on from the mundane….

Cleanliness is next to godliness….heard that, right?

The team from the George Washington University Computational Biology Institute was investigating the skin microbiome – that is, the community of microorganisms living on people’s skin – of healthy individuals, with a particular focus on variations across skin areas, such as between the arms and those neglected areas of washing like the navel and behind the ears.

Keith Crandall, Director of the Computational Biology Institute and professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics at George Washington University said in a statement that his grandmother had always told him to “scrub behind the ears, between the toes and in the belly button”. He speculated that these areas may harbor different types of bacteria to other areas of the body, due to neglect during washing.

In the study, 129 graduate and undergraduate students collected samples from their calves and forearms, behind their ears, between their toes and in their navels. These same students were taught to sequence the DNA in these skin samples, comparing the oily, neglected areas to the samples taken from dry, cleaner areas.

Sure enough, Crandall’s grandma and Crandall were right; areas that were more regularly cleaned had a much more diverse microbiome, containing a potentially healthier collection of microbes than the neglected areas.

https://www.iflscience.com/it-turns-out-the-grandmother-rule-of-washing-your-body-is-correct-71379

Surely you have exposed to the popular belief that cow farts (burps) is a leading cause of methane pollution…well there is another culprit that seldom gets mentioned….food waste….

More than one-third of the food produced in the US is never eaten. Much of it ends up in landfills, where it generates tons of methane that hastens climate change. That’s why more than 50 local officials signed onto a letter Tuesday calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to help municipal governments cut food waste in their communities. The letter came on the heels of two recent reports from the EPA on the scope of America’s food waste problem and the damage that results from it, per the AP. The local officials pressed the agency to expand grant funding and technical help for landfill alternatives.

ey also urged the agency to update landfill standards to require better prevention, detection, and reduction of methane emissions, something scientists already have the technology to do but which can be challenging to implement since food waste breaks down and starts generating methane quickly. Tackling food waste is a daunting challenge that the US has taken on before. In 2015, the US Department of Agriculture and the EPA set a goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030, but the country has made little progress, said Claudia Fabiano, who works on food waste management for the EPA. “We’ve got a long way to go,” Fabiano said. Researchers say the EPA reports provide sorely needed information.

One report found that 58% of methane emissions from landfills come from food waste, a major issue because methane is responsible for about a quarter of global warming and has significantly more warming potential than carbon dioxide. With the extent of the problem clearly defined, some elected leaders and researchers alike hope to take action. But they say it will take not just investment of resources but also a major mindset shift from the public. Farmers may need to change some practices, manufacturers will need to rethink how they package and market goods, and individuals need to find ways to keep food from going to waste.

Did you see that stat?  One third , 33%, of the food produced is never eaten.

Better prevention?  Yeah like the GOP in Congress will allow that.

Stop blaming the cows!

The singularity is at hand….

Singularity?

There’s at least one expert who believes that “the singularity”—the moment when artificial intelligence surpasses the control of humans—could be just a few years away. That’s a lot shorter than current predictions regarding the timeline of AI dominance, especially considering that AI dominance is not exactly guaranteed in the first place.

Ben Goertzel, CEO of SingularityNET—who holds a Ph.D. from Temple University and has worked as a leader of Humanity+ and the Artificial General Intelligence Society—told Decrypt that he believes artificial general intelligence (AGI) is three to eight years away. AGI is the term for AI that can truly perform tasks just as well as humans, and it’s a prerequisite for the singularity soon following.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a45780855/when-will-the-singularity-happen/

Skynet is coming!

This is the article that had me interested in the singularity…

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2023/11/pentagon-initiative-shows-ai-helps-leaders-decide-data-driven-way-official-says/392020/

How about those ‘new’ space weapons?

And nations are becoming increasingly creative in devising new ways to knock out enemy constellations. As US Space Force chief master sergeant Ron Lerch told the New York Times, the military branch is concerned over the sheer number of different “kinetic kill vehicles” that could soon be roaming around in space, including Russian “nesting doll” satellites that could damage other spacecraft like a violent, orbital jack-in-a-box. Other spacecraft, he said, might be able to cast nets or grab onto targets with grappling hooks.

Then there are China’s uncrewed space planes that could soon learn to communicate with the ground using quantum tech, or AI-powered satellites.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/space-force-boss-weird-new-weapons-orbit

Speaking of electronics…..some believe that their smart house and their mobile phones are spying on them….well move over so may your auto….

If you’ve ever had the sneaky suspicion that your car knows what you’re saying, you could be right — sort of. The GPS you can’t live without or the EDR (event data recorder) that collects data like speeding can actually harvest data beyond your knowledge (via Popular Mechanics). Technology has advanced to the point where the gadgets sitting in your car could actually cause you to get questioned or even arrested for a crime. Don’t panic though, as this is only the worst-case scenario.

The way it works is that, in recent years, these gadgets have been updated to include technology that stores data like where your car is located or even voice recordings and biometrics taken by your car’s camera and microphone. While this information can be handy, like all data, it could also be used in a non-beneficial way depending on who has access to it. Speaking to Reader’s Digest, digital privacy expert Jean-Paul Schmetz stated, “You need to operate under the assumption that the data your car collects about you will be used in a variety of different ways you cannot control or remove consent from later on. This data is often sold to advertisers but could also be sold to insurers or other third-party businesses that may have interest in it.”

https://www.grunge.com/1442573/how-your-car-spying-on-you-what-it-means/

I saved the best story for my conclusion….bull semen.

Police in Northern Ireland are on the hunt for a “large quantity” of stolen bull semen. Two cryogenic storage tanks holding cattle sperm were stolen from a farm in the village of Clogher, part of County Tyrone, sometime between 3pm on Oct. 21 and 1pm on Oct. 23, Newsweek reports. The tanks themselves may be worth $2,400; local police didn’t put an exact price on the sperm within but said it had “significant value.” The individual tanks have five or six storage compartments which can hold up to 200 or 300 plastic “straws” of bull semen each, the BBC reports, noting the most sought-after bull semen can sell for $600 per straw.

Artificial innsemination “is safer in physical and biosecurity terms than bringing a bull into a herd. But it also allows farmers to develop the genetic quality of their herd … for productivity, temperament or other characteristics,” per the BBC. Farmers use storage tanks to “sustain rare and sometimes irreplaceable genetics,” per the Independent. Peter Gittins, a lecturer in farm management at the University of Leeds, suggests the thieves may have wanted the semen “for personal use on an unregistered herd,” per Newsweek. “Or they may be able to fabricate records” to aid a future sale. Either way, they’ll need to be careful.

The tanks use liquid nitrogen to freeze the semen samples at -320 degrees Fahrenheit in order to preserve them, and “spilling the contents could cause major injuries,” reports Newsweek. That’s why those who use liquid nitrogen for artificial insemination storage must be trained and registered, per the BBC. If the thieves are inexperienced with handling cattle sperm, they also risk depleting the value of the haul by touching the straws. Heat from the hand is enough to kill sperm cells, per Newsweek. Mid Ulster Police said the theft occurred after burglars gained access to an outbuilding. “Our enquiries are ongoing as we work to establish the circumstances surrounding this theft.”

Just a bull squirt of a story.

You are now caught up and can resume your normal life.

Have a great weekend and as always….be well and be safe.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”