Month: October 2024

Halloween 2024

I am still not recovering from the procedure of yesterday….the thing put my boney butt down….so I think I will lay low today and try my best to bounce back…..I am a walking zombie (no pun intended) so I will take it easy one more day.

Happy Halloween!

I guess I should post something spooky since it is All Hallow’s Eve…..

How about one of my now famous question?

You know I cannot resist a little whimsy or for that matter a little history.

One person will called it a ‘cemetery’ and another person will call it a ‘graveyard’….which is correct?

Eventually, we’re all going to end up in a graveyard. Or is that a cemetery? What’s the difference, anyway?

These days, the answer is “not much.” Both are places where we bury the dearly departed, and the words are often used interchangeably. But that hasn’t always been the case—in fact, the words’ meanings have sort of flip-flopped.

Cemetery is the older of the two words; it’s derived from the Latin coemētērium and first appeared in the mid-1400s. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), it “Originally applied to the Roman underground cemeteries or catacombs,” or galleries with tombs for bodies along the sides. The first known use from J. Capgrave’s Abbreuiacion of Cronicles, is just barely legible today: “Anicetus … was biried in the cymytery of Kalixt.”

Over time, the meaning of cemetery shifted from the underground catacombs to burial grounds closer to the surface, and by 1485, it had come to refer to the consecrated ground next to a church, a.k.a. a churchyard (a usage that, per the OED, is now obsolete). Since the 1600s, cemetery has referred to a more general burial ground, particularly “a large public park or ground laid out expressly for the interment of the dead, and not being the ‘yard’ of any church,” according to the OED. Think of places like Paris’s Pere Lachaise or Brooklyn’s Green-wood Cemetery, which were both planned with the express purpose of serving as burial grounds for large amounts of people, no matter their religious inclination.

Graveyard is a newer word, and was initially a much more religiously neutral one: When it first popped up in English in the mid-1700s, it simply meant “a burial ground.” The OED pinpoints 1767 as its first use, when it appeared in P. V. Fithian’s  Journal & Letters: “He meant it for a Satire upon the neglect of the people in suffering their Grave-Yard to lie common.”

While “burial ground” remains the OED’s sole meaning for graveyard, other sources—including some funeral providers, Dictionary.com, and the Huffington Post—say that these days, the word refers to smaller burial areas near churches. As Titan Casket puts it, “Graveyards are often associated with churches and are thus always located on church grounds. Owing to land limitations, graveyards tend to be smaller in size, and are, therefore, more challenging to secure. In most cases, graveyards only allow members of the same religion, and more specifically, the same church, to be buried on their premises.”

https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/graveyard-vs-cemetery

I know you guys were dying to ask that question….I did it for you…..and now you know.

Have a spooky good time.  And as always….Be well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Halloween And History

I have another Round of medical starting at 0900 and god only knows when it will cease so this will be my only post today and hopefully I will be back up and writing for Halloween.

Tomorrow is the day for black cats, ghosts, ghouls and witches but on this day of days did anything happen in the chronicles of history?

Of course there was all kinds of events on this day…..

According to ancient pagans, Halloween is when the “veil” between the living and spirit worlds is at its thinnest, meaning the day is ripe for supernatural occurrences, haunting encounters, and tragic events. Here are 10 Halloween happenings that show October 31 isn’t just a spooky holiday.

  1. Polls opened for the 11th U.S. presidential election // 1828
  2. Hundreds perish in the Monmouth steamship disaster // 1837
  3. Nevada becomes the 36th state // 1864
  4. The “last great cavalry charge” secures an Allied victory during World War I // 1917
  5. The deadliest month of the flu pandemic concludes // 1918
  6. Mussolini celebrates Fascist Party power in Rome // 1922
  7. Harry Houdini dies under mysterious circumstances // 1926
  8. A German U-boat sinks the Reuben James // 1941
  9. Sammy Baugh plays the best individual game of the best individual football season of all time // 1943
  10. “Monster Mash” remains at the top of the Billboard 100 // 1962

Interesting stuff, huh?

But let us continue with the Halloween history stuff.

Halloween is slippery. There’s no clear reason to celebrate on October 31. It doesn’t mark the anniversary of anything. The date is next door to a religious holiday, but Halloween isn’t a religious holiday itself. Modern Halloween practices and tropes are knitted together like a cultural sweater, partly from disparate ancient traditions, religious rites, and folk practices (maybe), and partly from modern sources. There is no clear line from any past holiday to current Halloween, and everything we believe about where Halloween “came from” could be speculation and any thoughts about what it means are opinions. A true folk holiday, Halloween is a muddy, confusing collection of practices that owes as much to Peanuts comics as it does to Medieval Catholicism.

The most commonly repeated Halloween origin story says that the holiday began with the Samhain (pronounced sah-win or sow-in) celebrations of the Celts in Ireland, England, and Northern France. The date of November 1 or October 31 is about halfway between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice, and ninth century Irish literature describes gatherings and feasts marking Samhain, the day when ancient burial mounds were opened, and with them, portals to the Otherworld, the land of the Gods and the dead. Later, the theory goes, these practices were Christianized, renamed “All Hallow’s Day” and “All Hallow’s Eve” by the early Church, and that’s where we get Halloween.

Or maybe not. The idea that Halloween comes from pagan rituals usurped by Christians originated with Welsh scholar Sir John Rhŷs, and he didn’t back up his theory with a ton of evidence. Some modern historians maintain that ties between Celtic celebrations and early Christian practices are tenuous, and medieval Christian festivals provide the real blueprint for the holiday. We know that medieval Christians celebrated All Saints’ and All Souls days during the observance of Allhallowtide—the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead—by holding community feasts, emphasizing dead souls, decorating skeletons, and other Halloween-like activities. So what did they need Samhain for?

(There is so much more history about the day)

https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/real-history-of-halloween

I shall return and back to normal self (fingers crossed)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

We All Struggle!

Everyone knows that the average Joe is struggling….rent, food, gas, health prices are sky high and rising as we languish in a bit of self-pity….what about the wealthy? Do they have the same worries and problems as us humans?

If you’ve found it impossible to save money as living costs have surged over the last few years, you’re far from alone. According to a Bank of America Institute analysis, around a quarter of American households live “paycheck to paycheck,” which the institute defines as households “where necessity spending is more than 95% of their household income, leaving them relatively little left over for ‘nice to have’ discretionary spending or saving.”

  • Lower-income households were most likely to live paycheck to paycheck—35% of households with an income below $50,000 fell into the category, up from 32% in 2019. But pressures didn’t disappear with fatter paychecks. Some 20% of households with incomes higher than $150,000 also spend almost all their income on necessities like housing costs and groceries, according to the analysis, which used Bank of America customer data. “One reason is that higher-income households may have bought larger, more expensive, homes and consequently have bigger mortgages,” the institute said. “And often along with bigger homes come bigger insurance costs, property taxes, and utility bills.”
  • “Many of these spending pressures are likely unavoidable, as they relate to family and housing costs,” David Tinsley, a senior economist at the institute, tells CBS MoneyWatch. “The share of households that are living paycheck to paycheck has been rising slightly over the last few years, which is not terribly surprising, because prices have risen for a lot of essential goods—groceries are more expensive, the cost of car insurance is up, and child care is up, too,” Tinsley says.
  • Tinsley notes that living paycheck to paycheck is stressful and it’s a hard situation to get out of. “For most people, they can’t do much about where they live and how much they pay for their home, if they have kids at a school in a particular neighborhood,” he says. “A lot of these costs are sticky, and there isn’t much to do about it.”

Please forgive me if I do not feel too bad for them.

We have an election very soon now….and nothing will change as far as your expenses as a matter of fact the necessities will most likely keep rising.

I just do not see we have the same definition of wealthy.

So if you have Spam tonight know that Bezos is probably having Filet and all is right with the nation.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Pet Killing Brigade

As a person who has a canine companion I am appalled at the treatment pets get from some GOPers…I am sure that my friends that have feline companions feel as I do.

I bring this up because of an article I read about the Uber GOPer that leads the NRA and others

We expect October surprises in an election year, but this time out the GOP has also offered up some serious Halloween jump scares. In a season when Donald Trump and JD Vance continue to lie about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, a genuine Republican Pet Sematary has emerged to haunt Trumpworld. As with so many Trump accusations, this one doubles as an admission, involving several of MAGA’s guiding lights and tales of grotesque animal cruelty. Let’s start with the NRA’s new president, Douglas Hamlin.

Hamlin took the NRA post this summer, and against all odds managed to tarnish the legacy of the scandal-plagued, financially strapped gun lobby even further. In 1979, Hamlin and four other fraternity brothers decided to rid their University of Michigan at Ann Arbor’s Alpha Phi Delta fraternity of a house cat that did not care to use its litterbox. At the time, Hamlin served as president of the house; he and his frat brothers proceeded to burn and dismember the cat, then publicly displayed it by stringing it up. The grislier details can be found here.

…

If Hamlin’s was an isolated instance, maybe you could dismiss it as one man’s youthful mistake. Unfortunately, the story broke less than a month after Heritage Foundation President Kenneth Roberts’s own pet-slaying saga surfaced. Roberts also serves as the intellectual engine behind Project 2025, a blueprint for a second Trump administration that’s so politically toxic that Trump has denied knowing what’s in it or even ever meeting Roberts—despite sharing private flights with Roberts and employing well over half of Project 2025’s 307 authors in his first administration, past campaigns, and transition teams.

(There is more….Read On)

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/the-republican-pet-killing-brigade/

These acts and others precludes me from ever considering a Repub for anything in public office.

If they are this cruel to animals think how they feel about us mere peasants.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Political Donations

As we close in the vote it seems that the begging for bucks has gotten non-stop…..I do not blindly support any party especially with my cash…..but what about others?

All I can say is you need to beware of the robo-calls and such….

A CNN investigation has uncovered a troubling trend in political fundraising, one in which elderly Americans—particularly those with dementia—are unwittingly becoming major donors to campaigns. Both parties have benefited from the practice, which often begins with a small online donation to a candidate. But once the hooks are set, a barrage of texts and emails follow, often deploying deceptive practices that sign people up for recurring donations without them realizing it. Those donating commonly think they’re communicating directly with their favored candidate. The investigation reached out to more than 300 of the largest and most-frequent small-sum political contributors and found dozens of examples of “unwitting elderly donors.”

“The fundraising operations that have solicited money from vulnerable senior citizens use either WinRed or ActBlue, two juggernaut digital platforms that unite hundreds of political groups and campaigns under a single umbrella,” per the story. It’s a profitable enterprise: Each platform gets about 4% off each transaction. The FTC has logged more than 800 complaints about WinRed from 2022 through 2024, and 120 about ActBlue. The story includes multiple examples of families fighting to get back hefty sums, sometimes in the six figures. “He was old, lonely, and isolated,” says the son of an 81-year-old donor who wound up in debt after giving about $80,000 in small but constant increments. “‘Save America, help save America,’ that was the constant message,” adds the son. “He would get thanked for helping to save America.”

These creeps do not care about the person making the donations as long as they get a name and a number.

Please beware of these parasites.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

41 Years Ago

By now all the cheer leaders are drooling over the fact that Israel has finally attacked Iran after weeks and weeks of anticipation.

I would like to point out the there are 100 or so US troops stationed in Israel and now they may be painted with a target on their backs.

Why does this matter?

If you are a child of social media the date will mean nothing to you but it you are a bit older and can remember 1982 then you will understand….

Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, which was the beginning of an occupation that would not end completely until 2000. That Israeli invasion of Lebanon, like the current one, was directly related to the same Israeli policy of bashing and subjugating the Palestinians. Israel’s chief objective in 1982 was to destroy the capabilities, resident in Lebanon at the time, of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and to drive the PLO out of the Levant. Israel also sought to tip the balance of forces within Lebanon — which had already been engulfed in civil war — toward ones partial to Israel.

The Israeli invasion and occupation substantially increased the suffering of Lebanese as well as Palestinian refugees there. One of the most horrifying low points was the massacre in September 1982 at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Phalange militiamen slaughtered an estimated 3,000 civilians while the Phalange’s ally, the Israel Defense Forces, fired illuminating flares so that the killing could continue through the night.

A couple of weeks earlier, the United States under the Reagan administration had agreed to deploy U.S. Marines, alongside small military contingents from France, Britain, and Italy, as part of a multinational force in Lebanon. At least on the face of it, this deployment had a noble peacekeeping mission of quelling the violence in Lebanon. But Lebanese and other observers had reason to perceive the U.S. action as a weighing in on the side of Israel and the internal political forces it favored.

Besides, as with other deployments of U.S. military personnel to already dangerous places, the lethal logic of force protection kicked in, and peacekeeping morphed into offensive action. President Reagan authorized “aggressive self-defense” against hostile forces that posed a threat to the Marines, with those same hostile forces also being adversaries of Israel and its Lebanese militia allies. The U.S. engagement on the ground was supported by naval gunfire, which would later include the battleship New Jerseyfiring 16-inch shells at targets in the mountains near Beirut.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/marine-barracks-bombing-in-beirut/

You see our adventurism has a good chance of turning around and biting us on the ass.

I hope there is not a repeat of Lebanon….but do not hold your breath.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

As Time Goes By

As we get older we realize that for some unknown reason time seems to speed up….one day it is early January and what seems like a flash it is approaching Thanksgiving….and we all ask the question (rhetorically) how can this be?

We all remember how in our youth we felt that time was standing still and then it wasn’t.

So why does this happen?

Maybe this will help.

So why does this happen? There are a few ideas out there that may explain the phenomenon. The first is related to how much new information we are absorbing during our time.

In a series of experiments in the 1960s outlined in his book On the Experience of Time, psychologist Robert Ornstein showed how perception of time can be shaped by how much new information our minds process. 

In one experiment, he showed volunteers diagrams of varying degrees of interest, before asking them to estimate how much time had elapsed. Though the diagrams were displayed to the subjects for the same amount of time, the subjects reported that diagrams with more interesting designs were displayed for longer than the less interesting designs. 

In a separate experiment, subjects were asked to listen to audio with varying amounts of information on them, in the form of clicking sounds and household noises, before they were again asked to estimate the amount of time they were listening to it. Where there was more information – for instance, if there were a lot more clicking noises – the subjects reported the task as having lasted longer.

So why does this lead to time seeming to slow down as we age?

“The theory goes that the older we get, the more familiar we become with our surroundings. We don’t notice the detailed environments of our homes and workplaces,” Dr Christian Yates, a senior lecturer in mathematical biology at the University of Bath, explained in a piece for The Conversation.

Everything is new to children, however. Think of how excited they are about getting on a train and seeing the sights around them, versus how little attention you pay on your commute.

“This means children must dedicate significantly more brain power re-configuring their mental ideas of the outside world,” Yates adds. “The theory suggests that this appears to make time run more slowly for children than for adults stuck in a routine.”

A similar idea, outlined in a 2019 paper, puts the blame on how quickly our minds process images as we age. 

“People are often amazed at how much they remember from days that seemed to last forever in their youth,” Adrian Bejan, the J.A. Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke, explained in a statement. “It’s not that their experiences were much deeper or more meaningful, it’s just that they were being processed in rapid fire.”

As nerves and neurons age and become more complex, it takes longer for signals to take their paths than it does when you are young.

“The human mind senses time changing when the perceived images change,” Bejan added. “The present is different from the past because the mental viewing has changed, not because somebody’s clock rings. Days seemed to last longer in your youth because the young mind receives more images during one day than the same mind in old age.”

Another idea is that a period of time (e.g. a month) seems shorter as we have experienced more time to compare it to.

“Proportional theory makes intuitive sense if we consider how a year in the lifespan of someone who is 75 years old may feel much quicker, for instance, in comparison to a year in the life of a ten-year-old,” neuroscience researchers Muireann Irish and Claire O’Callaghan explain in a piece for The Conversation. 

“Memory may hold the key to time perception, as the clarity of our memories is believed to mould our experience of time. We mentally reflect on our past and use historic events to achieve a sense of our self existing across time.”

While the phenomenon is still being investigated by various teams, there is a suggestion that our perception of time is altered by the amount of new and interesting experiences we have as we grow older. Try to have as many as you can, before it’s too late.

(iflscience.com)

Did that help?

In is a glorious Sunday and I hope everyone has a beautiful day….and as always….Be well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–26Oct24

Yep that time again when I give you lots of stuff and hopefully none of it is of political persuasion…..

Locally–We had our Fall muster for those Civil War pretenders. although there was never a battle fought down here, and for two days I had to listen to cannon fire and shooting, you see the site is just about 2 miles from my house….it was not an enjoyable day.

The lead story today is from the Holy Crap! File……

The truth behind a myth has been found…..

The largest anaconda was reportedly 33 feet long, 3 feet across at its widest part, and weighed about 880 lbs. This snake was discovered at a construction site in Brazil.  

Unfortunately, it either died in the controlled explosion after which they found the snake or by construction workers after it emerged. Either way, humans killed the biggest anaconda ever found.

Discover the Largest Anaconda Ever (A 33 Foot Monster?)

Think about the size….that snake can eat full grown humans….scary and after I saw the movie.

The lost game has been found…..

Fans of literature most likely know Kurt Vonnegut for the novel Slaughterhouse-Five. The staunchly anti-war book first resonated with readers during the Vietnam War era, later becoming a staple in high school curricula the world over. When Vonnegut died in 2007 at the age of 84, he was widely recognized as one of the greatest American novelists of all time. But would you believe that he was also an accomplished game designer?

In 1956, following the lukewarm reception of his first novel, Player Piano, Vonnegut was one of the 16 million other World War II veterans struggling to put food on the table. His moneymaking solution at the time was a board game called GHQ, which leveraged his understanding of modern combined arms warfare and distilled it into a simple game played on an eight-by-eight grid. Vonnegut pitched the game relentlessly to publishers all year long according to game designer and NYU faculty member Geoff Engelstein, who recently found those letters sitting in the archives at Indiana University. But the real treasure was an original set of typewritten rules, complete with Vonnegut’s own notes in the margins.

https://www.polygon.com/board-games/467103/kurt-vonnegut-ghq-lost-board-game-publisher-interview

In my younger years I played Risk a lot so I will probably like this one as well.

Are you counting your carbs?

Maybe we should re-think our carb consumption?

Our love of carbs goes so far back that it predates the first humans, a new study suggests. What’s more, our ability to digest carbohydrates—as opposed to the protein in meat—may have played a more important role than thought in the development of bigger brains, reports CNN. The insights come from a study published in Science by researchers at the University of Buffalo. They examined ancient human DNA and zeroed in on the salivary gene AMY1, which produces an enzyme called amylese that begins breaking down starchy foods in the mouth.

As it turns out, human ancestors had multiple copies of the gene at least 800,000 years ago, which is hundreds of thousands of years earlier than thought, reports NBC News. “That is predating not only agriculture, but also people’s migrations out of Africa,” says co-author Omer Gokcumen. Going back 800,000 years means the genes first duplicated before humans split off from Neanderthals, who also had them, notes HealthDay. Another surge in copies of the gene appears to have occurred about 12,000 years ago, at the dawn of agriculture.

Coverage at Smithsonian notes that the discovery “raises new questions around our hunter-gatherer ancestors’ diet and lifestyle,” as well as the belief that a diet heavy on meat and protein fueled the increase in ancient brains. “Perhaps carbs, not meat, gave humans the energy needed for developing bigger brains,” writes Sarah Kuta

Who knew?

Surfing can be dangerous….you could get beat down by a wave or contact with a run away board or even a shark attack……but a swordfish?

Giulia Manfrini was among the many surfers from around the world drawn to the epic waves off Indonesia’s islands. Unfortunately for the 36-year-old Italian, there weren’t only humans exploring the waves off Masokut Island last week. “Unexpectedly, a swordfish jumped towards Manfrini and struck her squarely in the chest,” the acting head of the Mentawai Islands’ Disaster Management Agency said Friday, per NBC News. Local media reported Manfrini, a well-known surfer, was impaled by the swordfish or possible needlefish. The agency said Manfrini was able to signal to witnesses, who provided first aid. But she “died almost immediately,” according to the resort where she’d been staying, per CBS News.

“Unfortunately, even with the brave efforts of her partner, local resort staff and doctors, Giulia couldn’t be saved,” said Manfrini’s business partner James Colston. The pair founded London-based travel company AWAVE, which organizes trips to popular surfing destinations. He described the death as a “freak accident.” Fishery expert Su Nan-Jay tells NBC that swordfish attacks are rare, especially during the daytime. However, these fish are extremely dangerous and can cause injuries that are “very likely to be fatal” to humans. “Their snout is like a real sword” and “if it stabs, it goes very deep, and it could even slice through, leaving a large wound.” It also carries bacteria, which can trigger an infection.

Those of us that care about the environment try to limit our carbon footprint to help the planet….we recycle, plant trees and some even go total electric in autos….but is it helping?

It’s no secret that our planet is feeling the heat, quite literally. Rising temperatures, unpredictable weather patterns, and melting polar ice caps all point to one undeniable reality. We, the residents of Earth, must accept responsibility for the ongoing climate crisis.

Human activities, especially greenhouse gas emissions, are key contributors to this crisis. Even with the adoption of climate-friendly solutions like electric vehicles (EVs), our carbon footprint remains a major challenge we must address.

The automobile industry, notorious for being a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, is putting its best foot forward to reduce this footprint.

A noticeable shift is being made towards EVs, a cleaner alternative to their gas-guzzling counterparts. These high-tech vehicles, unlike traditional cars, release no tailpipe emissions while being operated.

But are electric vehicles the silver bullet solution to the crisis our planet is facing?

https://www.earth.com/news/why-electric-vehicle-owners-have-high-carbon-footprints/

Finally, my Pups and I spend a lot of time together and I talk with them lots….I argue, bounce ideas and ask for advice….but what if they could answer?

The Shazam Band is a new AI-powered collar containing speakers and sensors that lets your pet talk to you, just like the dogs in the Pixar movie UP can. Once your pet is wearing the band you can have a conversation with it, and the band emits a human voice in response to your questions.

You can also use the Shazam Band to track your pet if they wander off, and it will alert you via text message if they get into danger, say from other animals or traffic, or if they got left behind somewhere. You can find them using the Shazam app and the GPS inside the band.

Ever since the Pixar film UP came out in 2009 people have been trying to make a real-life version of a collar that lets your pet talk to you. Back in 2021 TechRadar even interviewed the makers of Petpuls, one of the first AI-powered dog collars that aimed to give your pet a voice.

https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/ive-seen-the-new-ai-collar-that-lets-your-dog-talk-and-its-as-wild-as-it-sounds

Okay now that is just cool.

That does it for this Saturday….go out and enjoy your weekend and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

War Hawks Get Their War

It has been a long time coming.

The day has come…..the day when war hawks and Israel have their way…..Iran’s capital has been hit and now the world waits for the response.

Israel launched air strikes on the Iranian capital Friday night. While the extent of the damage is unclear, the US is expecting Iran to retaliate.

Iranian media reported that some sites in the capital city of Tehran were targeted. A statement from the Israel Defense Forces confirmed the strikes. “In response to months of continuous attacks … The Israel Defense Forces is conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran,” it said.

According to Axios, the US expects Iran will retaliate. “US and Israeli officials believe Iran will respond militarily,” the outlet reported, adding, “but hope it will be limited and allow the two adversaries to break the tit-for-tat cycle.”

However, the White House is concerned that Iran’s response to Israel will lead to a regional war. An official speaking with the Wall Street Journal confirmed that Tel Avi did inform Washington it was preparing to strike Tehran but did not specify how far in advance Israel warned the US of its plans.

The US claimed Israel’s attack on Iran was an act of self-defense. “We understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defense and in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1st.” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett continued, “We would refer you to the Israeli government for more information on their operation.”

Last week, top-secret US intelligence documents provided some details of Israel’s preparations to strike Iran.

Over the past year, the Middle East has moved closer to an all-out regional war as Israel has attacked several neighboring countries, conducted assassinations throughout the region, and slaughtered Palestinians.

On October 1, Iran attacked military sites in Israel with nearly 200 missiles in response to Tel Aviv killing Hamas’s political leader in Tehran and assassinating Hezbollah’s leader in Beirut. Tel Aviv has been vowing retaliation for the Iranian attack throughout the month. Tehran has said it will respond to any Israeli attack.

Just before Israel attacked Iran on Friday, the US moved fighter jets from Europe to the Middle East.

In the leadup to the Israeli strike on Iran, Tel Aviv requested the deployment of an American THAAD air defense system. The White House granted the request, and now 100 American soldiers are manning the system in Israel, making them a potential target for any Iranian response.

(antiwar.com)

Precise airstrikes on military targets?   You mean like schools and hospitals?

The White House is concerned?  What total bullshit….they made this possible war inevitable.

And now Israel and the US War Hawks have their war with Iran….and the world awaits the response.

Not to worry the “Dump” will appear later today.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is He A Psychopath Or A Sociopath?

This is for all those armchair brainiacs out there.

There has been many titles batted around about Donald Trump….like fascist or dictator but the ones I read most often are psychopath and/or sociopath….all well and good but what is it?

I mean it is like when Repubs call Dems Marxists or socialist or communist….those titles are not exclusively similar. And neither is psychopath or sociapath.

So which is it?

Articles about badly behaved people and how to spot them are common. You don’t have to Google or scroll too much to find headlines such as 7 signs your boss is a psychopath or How to avoid the sociopath next door.

You’ll often see the terms psychopath and sociopath used somewhat interchangeably. That applies to perhaps the most famous badly behaved fictional character of all – Hannibal Lecter, the cannibal serial killer from The Silence of the Lambs.

In the book on which the movie is based, Lecter is described as a “pure sociopath”. But in the movie, he’s described as a “pure psychopath”. Psychiatrists have diagnosed him with something else entirely.

So what’s the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath? As we’ll see, these terms have been used at different times in history,
and relate to some overlapping concepts.

Psychopathy has been mentioned in the psychiatric literature since the 1800s. But the latest edition of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (known colloquially as the DSM) doesn’t list it as a recognised clinical disorder.

Since the 1950s, labels have changed and terms such as “sociopathic personality disturbance” have been replaced with antisocial personality disorder, which is what we have today.

Someone with antisocial personality disorder has a persistent disregard for the rights of others. This includes breaking the law, repeated lying, impulsive behaviour, getting into fights, disregarding safety, irresponsible behaviours, and indifference to the consequences of their actions.

To add to the confusion, the section in the DSM on antisocial personality disorder mentions psychopathy (and sociopathy) traits. In other words, according to the DSM the traits are part of antisocial personality disorder but are not mental disorders themselves.

READ ON

https://www.psypost.org/whats-the-difference-between-a-psychopath-and-a-sociopath-less-than-you-might-think/

Alrighty then…..which is it, Brainiacs?

Now the questions is why do so many seemingly not give a sh*t over Trump’s authoritarian tendencies?

Let’s look at some of the reasons why that is the case.

First, there is no doubt about what is top of mind for most voters. To quote James Carville, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

The Pew Research Center reports that “As concerns around the state of the economy and inflation continue, about eight-in-ten registered voters (81%) say the economy will be very important to their vote in the 2024 presidential election.”

“Among Trump supporters,” Pew notes, “the economy (93%), immigration (82%) and violent crime (76%) are the leading issues…. For Harris supporters, issues such as health care (76%) and Supreme Court appointments (73%) are of top importance. Large majorities also cite the economy (68%) and abortion (67%) as very important to their vote in the election.”

Note the absence of any reference to the need to preserve democracy. And when voters express concerns about democracy they are divided about who they trust to protect it.

Some even support Trump because they think he will “restore American freedom.”

https://thefulcrum.us/election-2024/donald-trump-authoritarian-2389065

My question is what freedoms have they lost?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”