2024: Too Many Things Going Wrong

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It will be an interesting year.

We know that the age of peak performance for humans varies, depending upon the activity. Peak performance for an athlete tends to come between ages 20 and 30, while peak performance for a person writing academic papers seems to come between ages 40 and 50 years. By the time people are 80 years old, they have a strong suspicion that health and other aspects of performance will deteriorate in the next 20 years.

Economies, in physics terms, are similar to human beings. Both are dissipative structures. They require energy of the appropriate kinds to keep their systems growing and operating normally. For humans, the main source of this energy is food. For an economy, it is a mixture of energy that the economy is specifically adapted to. Today’s economy requires a certain mixture of energy directly from the sun, plus energy from fossil fuels, burned biomass, and nuclear energy. Electricity is a carrier of energy from different sources. It needs to be available at the right time of day and the right time of year to allow today’s economy to continue.

Most people don’t realize that economies grow and eventually collapse. For example, we know that the Roman Empire started its growth in 625 BCE and reached its peak extent in 211 CE. It declined somewhat between 211 CE and 456 CE, when it finally collapsed after several invasions. The growth and collapse of economies is very much expected because of their nature as dissipative structures.

In 2024, the world economy is acting more and more like an 80-year-old man than like a young vigorous economy. Perhaps the economy can continue for quite a few more years, but it increasingly looks like it is in danger of falling apart, or of succumbing as a result of what might be regarded as minor problems.

Trying to predict precisely what will happen in the year 2024 is difficult, but in this post, I will examine some of the things that are going wrong in this increasingly creaky old economy.

[1] Too many parts of the world economy are changing from growth to shrinkage.

The blue circles can illustrate many different things:

  • The total goods and services produced by the economy;
  • The quantity of energy required to produce the total goods and service produced by the economy;
  • The total population that is supported by these goods and services (which will generally be rising or falling, too);
  • Goods and services per person (which tend to rise during periods of growth and fall in a shrinking economy);
  • And, strangely enough, the ability of the economy to maintain complexity. Without enough energy, structures such as governments tend to fail.

As the economy moves away from growth, toward shrinkage, major changes can be expected.

[2] In a growing economy, repaying debt with interest is very easy. In a shrinking economy, repaying debt with interest becomes close to impossible.

If an economy is growing, there will likely be an increasing number of jobs available over time, and they will pay relatively more. If a person loses his/her job, it is not very difficult to get a position that will pay as much or more. Paying back a loan on a house or an automobile tends to be easy.

A corresponding situation occurs for businesses. If the business can count on an increasing number of customers, overhead becomes easier and easier to cover with a growing consumer base.

The reverse is obviously true in a shrinking economy. Jobs may be available if a person loses his/her current job, but the jobs don’t pay very well. Businesses may face periods with suddenly lower demand, as in 2020. There is a sudden need to reduce overhead, such as payments for office space, if the space is no longer being utilized by employees.

Clearly, if interest rates rise, it becomes increasingly difficult for borrowers of all kinds to repay debt with interest. Raising interest rates is thus a way to intentionally slow the economy. If the economy is growing too quickly (like a 20-year-old sprinter), then such a change makes sense. But if the economy is behaving like an 80-year-old, hobbling along on a walking stick, it becomes likely the economy will figuratively fall and become severely injured. This is the danger of raising interest rates when the world economy is having difficulty growing at an adequate rate.

[3] The physics of the system dictates that as the system shifts in the direction of shrinkage, the wealth of the system is increasingly distributed toward the rich and very powerful, and away from those of modest means.

Physicist Francois Roddier writes about this issue in his book, The Thermodynamics of Evolution. He likens energy (and the goods and services produced using this energy) as being like energy applied to water. When energy levels are low, the less wealthy members of the economy tend to be squeezed out, just as (low energy) frozen water turns to ice. The reduced amount of energy available (and goods and services produced using this energy) increasingly bubbles up to the small number of economic participants at the top of the economic hierarchy. This issue tends to make the already rich even richer.

In some sense, the self-organizing economy seems to preserve as much of the economy as it can, when energy supplies are inadequate. The wealthy seem to be important for keeping the whole system operating, so the physics tends to favor them.

Inflation, in general, is a problem, especially for people with limited income. Higher interest rates also take a big “bite” out of spendable income. This problem is greatest for low income people. The benefit of higher interest rates, and of capital gains, tends to go to high income people. 

High food prices especially affect the poor because, even in good times, food tends to be a high share of their income. For example, in a poor country, if food costs amount to 50% of a person’s income when food prices are moderate, a 20% increase in food prices will lead to food prices costing 60% of income. Such a situation quickly becomes intolerable because there is not enough income left for other essential goods. 

Figure 2. Chart by the Federal Reserve of St. Louis showing the Share of the Total Net Worth Held by the Top 1% of US Citizens (99th to 100th percentile).

The figure above shows that between 1990 and 2022, the share of total wealth held by the top 1% of US citizens rose from 23% to 32%. This means that other citizens were increasingly squeezed out of the benefits of the growing economy.

[4] With their newfound power (arising from the growing concentration of wealth), the wealthy are tempted to exert increasing control over the economic system.

The fact that the world economy was likely to reach annual limits of fossil fuel extraction about now has been known for a very long time. I have referred to a 1957 speech by US Navy Admiral Hyman Rickover pointing out this bottleneck many times. Wealthy individuals have known about this bottleneck for a very long time. They have been asking themselves, “How can we increasingly benefit from this change?”

Clearly, reducing the population growth rate has been one of the goals of some of these wealthy individuals. With fewer people to share the resources available, everyone will benefit.

But the wealthy can also see that hiding the energy bottleneck would be of huge benefit in keeping the current system operating as usual. These individuals, through the World Economic Forum and other organizations, have pushed for zero global warming emissions. They have tried to reframe the problem of inadequate inexpensive-to-produce fossil fuels as a problem of too large a quantity of fossil fuels for the system to handle. In their view, we can decide to transition away from fossil fuels without significantly adverse impacts.

By hiding the energy bottleneck, companies selling vehicles can claim they will be useful for many years. Educational systems can claim that we are well on our way to finding substitutes for fossil fuels, and that there will be good jobs available in the new systems. With the bottleneck problem hidden, politicians do not have to present citizens with a very concerning and intractable issue. Since a happily-ever-after narrative is desired by all, it is easy for the wealthy (and politicians who want to be reelected) to influence the major news outlets to present only this view to readers. 

[5] Major cracks in the economy are likely to start showing soon. The energy bottleneck is already pulling the economy down, even if major news media are reluctant to discuss the problem.

The problem displays itself in several different ways:

(a) The economy has moved toward two widely differing views regarding today’s energy situation.

The narrative presented in the press is that we have an excessive amount of fossil fuels. In this view, any shortage of fossil fuels (or any other resource) would be quickly accompanied by rising prices. These rising prices would allow an increasing quantity of these materials to be extracted, quickly solving the problem. But the real story, for anyone who examines the details, is quite different. Affordability becomes very important, holding prices down. History shows that nearly every civilization has collapsed. Populations tend to grow but the resources supporting the economies don’t grow quickly enough. Rising prices don’t fix the problem!

People who work with fossil fuels know how essential they are for our current civilization. The story about intermittent wind and solar substituting for fossil fuels sounds very far-fetched if a person thinks about the need for heat in the winter and the difficulties associated with long-term storage of electricity. The two widely differing narratives surrounding our energy future sound like they could have come from the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

(b) Repaying debt with interest gets to be an increasing problem.

Strange as it may seem, added debt can temporarily act as a placeholder for additional energy. Debt is a promise for goods and services that will be made with future energy. This placeholder can allow capital goods, such as factories, to be made which allow more goods and services to be made in the future. This placeholder can also be used as the basis for money to pay workers, so that they can afford to purchase more goods.

At some point, the debt becomes too much for the system to sustain. We are seeing some of this in China, where there have been debt defaults in the real estate market. In the US, the commercial real estate market is experiencing high vacancy rates. There is increasing concern that, in many places, commercial real estate can only be sold at a huge loss. In this situation, the holders of debt are likely to sustain massive losses.

(c) Political parties start differing widely on whether to increase government debt. 

The more conservative parties do not want to keep adding more debt, but the more liberal parties insist that there is no other way out: If there isn’t enough energy of the right kind, the added debt can perhaps be used to fund projects in the renewable energy sector that will create the illusion of progress toward an adequate supply of energy of the right kind at the right price. The added debt can also be used to continue the many social programs promised to citizens and to provide support for activities such as the war in Ukraine.

So far, adding debt has worked for the US because the US dollar is the world’s reserve currency and because the US has tended to keep its target interest rates high, encouraging other countries to invest in US securities. If other countries try to add substantially more debt, their currencies will tend to fall, leading to inflation. 

The US may soon also run into an inflation problem because of added debt. This happens because it is possible to “print money,” but it is not possible to print goods and services made with inexpensive energy products. For example, the temptation is to bail out failing banks and pension plans with added debt. To the extent that this debt gets back into the money supply, but there aren’t added goods to match, the result is likely to be inflation in the prices of the goods and services that are available.

(d) Broken supply lines are another sign of an economy reaching limits.

When there aren’t quite enough goods and services to go around, some would-be buyers of goods have to be left out. 

In the last three years, all of us have experienced at least some problems with empty shelves in stores and the unavailability of needed parts for repairs. Many kinds of drugs are in short supply around the world. Heavy industry has been encountering problems, as well. In 2022, Upstream Online wrote, “Drill pipe shortages causing headaches for US producers [of oil and natural gas].” 

If we are reaching the limit of inexpensive fossil fuel available for extraction, an increasing number of these problems can be expected. These supply line problems tend to raise costs in a different way than “regular” inflation. Often, a more expensive product must be substituted, or a higher cost workaround is needed. For example, a person may need to use a rental vehicle while his current vehicle is being repaired because of unavailable replacement parts. 

(e) Conflicts arise when there are not enough goods and services to go around.

Part of the conflict comes from wage and wealth disparity. For example, an increasing number of people are finding reasonably-priced housing impossible to find. The combination of high interest rates and high housing prices tends to make home-buying a luxury, available only to the rich. An increasing share of young people are also finding automobiles too expensive to afford. One way “not-enough-goods-and-services-to-go-around” manifests itself is by many people not being able to afford the products in question. 

There is often a belief that a more equitable distribution of income would solve the problem. But, if the economy cannot build more cars or homes because of energy shortages, this doesn’t fix the problem. Providing more money to the poor would instead cause inflation in the price of the goods that are available.

Another way this conflict manifests itself is in conflicts among countries. Countries selling fossil fuels, such as Russia, would like higher fossil fuel prices, so that the standards of living of their own people can be higher. However, if fossil-fuel-importing countries, such as those in Europe, are forced to pay higher prices for the fossil fuel they use, it becomes difficult for companies in these countries to manufacture goods profitably. Also, the higher fossil fuel prices make the cost of growing food higher. Customers often cannot afford higher food prices.

In the case of the fight between Israel and Gaza, at least part of the conflict relates to the natural gas field that Israel is developing, but which arguably belongs to Gaza. If Israel can develop this resource, it may be able to keep its own economy expanding for a while longer. The people of Gaza will remain very poor.

(f) Manufacturing around the world seems to be reducing in quantity. It definitely is not rising to keep up with population growth.

The big shortfall today is in goods, rather than in services. This is what a person would expect if an energy problem is giving rise to the problems we are currently experiencing.

The organization S&P Global Market Intelligence puts out an index called the Purchasing Managers Index, for 15 countries, including a global average. The manufacturing portion of this index is in contraction on a worldwide basis, as of the latest data available. The extent of this manufacturing contraction is especially significant for the US, the European countries included, for Japan, and for Australia. The countries that are not in contraction are India, Russia, and China. 

If manufacturing is in contraction, we would expect more broken supply lines in the months and years ahead.

[6] How will all this turn out, in 2024 and long term?

I don’t think we know. Things are likely to get worse economically, but we don’t know how much worse. We know that an elderly person can easily succumb to some illness. In the same way, we know that if the economy has enough weak points, a major collapse might occur, even without a huge decline in energy availability.

At the same time, the economy seems to have a lot of resilience. Leaders of the US, and perhaps of other countries, as well, seem likely to take the route of adding increasing amounts of debt, to bail themselves out of whatever problems arise. If banks get into trouble, some new funding facility will be developed. If Social Security or private pensions need more funding, it will likely be provided by more government debt. This leads me to suspect that in the US, at least, there is likely to be a higher risk of hyperinflation (lots of money but very little to buy) rather than deflation (very little money, but also very little to buy).

The Universe came into being, apparently out of nothing. The Universe has grown and continues to grow. Eric Chaisson, in his 2001 book, Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature, shows that the trend in the Universe has been toward ever greater complexity. 

Figure 3. Image similar to ones shown in Eric Chaisson’s 2001 book, Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature.

Together, it appears that the Universe, itself, acts like a dissipative structure. Self-organization leads the Universe to grow and become more complex, as long as it has adequate energy. The question becomes, “Where is the expanding energy supply for the Universe as a whole coming from? Can the expanding energy supply continue indefinitely, or until whatever force started it, chooses to stop it?”

It seems to me that there is something from outside pushing the whole Universe along. Economists talk about “an invisible hand.” People from a religious background might say that there is a God who created the Universe, and is continuing to create it every day, through involvement in the things that take place on Earth, including the strange happenings in 2020. 

If I am correct that there is an outside force influencing the economy today, perhaps Earth’s problems are temporary. One possibility is that eventually a new type of energy solution will be found. There is also the possibility that, at some point, whatever force started the Universe may cause the operation of the Universe to cease. A replacement (which we can think of as heaven) might be provided instead. 

The popular narrative tends to see ourselves as having a great deal of power to manage problems with our current economy, but I don’t think that we have very much power to influence the system we find ourselves embedded in. The economic system behaves on its own, based on market forces, just a child grows up, matures, and eventually dies. The system within which we live is very much guided by what we call self-organization, which is outside our power to control.

About Gail Tverberg

My name is Gail Tverberg. I am an actuary interested in finite world issues - oil depletion, natural gas depletion, water shortages, and climate change. Oil limits look very different from what most expect, with high prices leading to recession, and low prices leading to financial problems for oil producers and for oil exporting countries. We are really dealing with a physics problem that affects many parts of the economy at once, including wages and the financial system. I try to look at the overall problem.
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2,922 Responses to 2024: Too Many Things Going Wrong

  1. Arthur's Poodle says:

    “Clearly, reducing the population growth rate has been one of the goals of some of these wealthy individuals. With fewer people to share the resources available, everyone will benefit.”

    I’m not so sure that is the case. Or let me put it a different way. The ruling class and the Davos Men do not want less people. They want less white people. They want a continual supply of thirld worlders to be their new slave class. Westerners, who are accustomed to goods, services, and things like liberty, are the opposite of what they want. As all the things the author talks about concerning world energy supply come to fruition, as things bottleneck, then these people will demand more and more technocratic authoritarianism. Think of this new ruling class acting in a way like a giant Wal-Mart: you submit your application to work and if you score too high on the IQ test, then you’ll be rejected employment. Well, they’re rejecting more than employment. They’re rejecting our participation in the future. White replacement is real.

    • Perhaps what the ruling class wants is more lower-paid workers, of whatever color. Adding more immigrants to the mix would work. Adding more handicapped to the mix might work. Moving workers from “employees” to “temporary contractors” would help reduce the pay for workers.

      They want more wage disparity. They still want to reap whatever rewards this at the top of the hierarchy get.

    • slave class??

      slaves must be fed and housed—or they die quickly

      slaves must produce—but slave labour can only be a primary producer of consumables—sugar cane, cotton, wheat etc

      imagine a factory producing tv sets staffed by slave labour—ludicrous

      producing anything more complex will not work, because there is no incentive to produce goods of necessary quality.

      slaves cannot deliver cars or computers—-who would buy them?–the market would not exist.

      so lets get rid of the ”rest of us as slaves” nonsense.

    • JMS says:

      Import cheap labor for manual jobs and replace white-collar workers with AI. It makes sense, since the spoiled western workers would never easily accept going back to working with hoes like their grandparents.
      Therefore, exterminate the middle class and distribute the menial jobs that machines anD AI cannot do to slaves imported from the third world. Machines don’t pay taxes, some argue. But when the welfare state is dismantled and all the money in circulation is CBDM, who will need taxes?

  2. Fast Eddy says:

    For those who reject UEP – yet understand that we are facing the imminent collapse of civilization and total rupture of supply chains that feed all 8B….

    What do ya’ll think will happen when the power goes off – permanently

    • Cromagnon says:

      I am getting sorta tired of waiting here Eddy…..

      I got some stuff needs doing when this shindig kicks off

      Anyway you could put in a word with the higher ups to pick up the pace a little?

      • Fast Eddy says:

        It’s kinda like watching a thick wood beam as workers pile more and more weight onto it… the process is uneventful boring even… but then they add another 10kg resulting in a ear-splitting crack… and the load comes crashing down

        Same as watching snow fall … very peaceful then a single flake triggers a massive avalanche … and you end up buried and suffocating

        It will come … we just have to be patient

        • ivanislav says:

          Binary Poison is just around the corner! Van der Bosche Mutation is just around the corner! ROF is just around the corner! Eeek, what’s that?! Oh, it’s just my shadow. Phew. Now, where was I? Oh, that’s right … Global Holodomor is just around the corner! Fuel ponds are just around the corner!

          • davidinamonthorayearoradecade says:

            UEP in 2022!

            or 2023 for sure!

          • Fast Eddy says:

            It happens when they are about to lose control and BAU is about to collapse.

            Fixed it for you

            • Kowalainen says:

              The saddest thing about these hecklers is that there will be no internet for delivering schad and vindication up their sanctimonious rear ends of hypocrisy.

              Let’s all chant together and bask in the glory of BAU.

              YOLO!
              M.O.A.R.
              Hypers gonna hyper!1!1!1
              Tryhards gonna tryhard!1!1!!1
              MOARons gonna moaron!!!!!1!!
              All retch and no vomit in perpetuity!
              The endless recurrence of the hyper!!!1!!
              Amen!
              🙏 ✝️☯️🕎✡️☪️🕉️☸️

              🛸💨💨🌎💥☄️☄️☄️🛸
              (Nuke it from orbit; it’s the only way to be sure!)

              https://youtu.be/tyyoaBa7DaE?si=27vJI6itibbJ9FRU

            • Fast Eddy says:

              Yes that is most unfortunate… I want to taunt and ridicule these fools when it goes to pieces…

              But we can pre-taunt them… hopefully they remember when they are crawling towards the clinic where the doctors and nurses are already dead…

              I am definitely going to try to get out of the house and spit on some of them … not as much fun as pumping the SS channels full of I told you sos… but better than nothing

              Pre Taunt YOLOS

        • Dennis L. says:

          FE,

          Metaphorically you understand. While you are waiting I am going to eat your lunch. You can be patient until the next meal arrives.

          Dennis L.

      • adonis says:

        may 2024 pandemic treaty comes into effect allowing governments mandatory powers for the next pandemic 2025 is what i think is the big one that gives us one good year before everyone is forcefully injected with the killer jab remember the bible states during the end times run for the hills in other words you must be off the grid out of the system to survive the 2025 cull remember what happened in Waco with Koresh and his followers thats what theyll do to the anti-vaxxers when they refuse the safe and effective jab that will come into effect in the next pandemic.

      • adonis says:

        There are currently no tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) left in the Red Sea as shipping firms avoid the region in fear of Houthi rebel attacks.

        According to an X post this morning by Oeystein Kalleklev, chief executive of LNG shipping firm Flex LNG, carriers are now being re-routed through Cape of Good Hope or deviated to other destinations.

        the Elders have now effected the new energy supply to last longer by slowing down supply chains the moon landings are all a distraction to keep us in the dark as they say baffle us with bullshit, the next stage of the plan is the 2025 cull when the population has been drastically reduced to the Elders magic number this is where i think we shall see interest rates start dropping significantly and the beginning of a UBI for the remaining survivors of Cull 2025 by then there will be plenty of stranded assests available such as houses for the survivors as the death rate will have been massive the great reset will then flourish due to a balanced carrying capacity for our planet.

    • JMS says:

      The power will not go off anytime soon, forget that. The controllers have everything figured out: exterminate most of the useless eaters over a long enough period (say 20 years) so as not to cause stampedes in the herd, then control the useful eaters through AI surveillance abnd shit, then bet all the energy chips on the nuclear power (that is much safer and cheaper than you think), which can provide them with electricity for a long and cushy future. At least, and as far as I can see, that is their plan.
      Whether that plan will be successful or not, no one can know, but at least it is well informed and wise. One thing is sure, the controllers will never allow a fast uncontrolled collapse. That’s a no no for them. They want to SURVIVE.
      So sorry to piss on your misanthropic rainbow. Sorry to piss on your misanthropic rainbow. Like you, I would also wish them to fail, since if their plan has nothing for someone like me, what do I care about the survival of those sociopaths? But I don’t take my desires for reality.

      • davidinamonthorayearoradecade says:

        yes UEP is so 2023.

        the Controllers will let The Periphery crumble because it’s all about maintaining The Core.

        at the end of this very year, the 2020s will be half in the history books.

        gee that sure came fast.

        bAU in The Core tonight, baby, and for many years to come, baby!

        • ivanislav says:

          I am having trouble picking my new handle … “bau2030”, “bau2035”, or “bau2040”. Perhaps I will go to the grocery store, where the shelves are still fully stocked with dopamine, and come back with a few beers while I ponder it.

      • Jan says:

        @JMS “the controllers have all figured out”

        The coffee mug has a handle or not dependent on the perspective.

        The perspective of OFW is a scenario as a result of finite resources. We are discussing a mechanism based on reason and mathmatical logic.

        This OFW-mechanism cannot exclude a second completely independent mechanism to interfere with the OFW-mechanism.

        And this second mechanism could be believe based.

        While you try to include what you see into the OFW-mechanism (they know what they do and what they do will help to slow down the OFW-mechanism) it is possible that “the controllers” dont think at all of the OFW-mechanism but of a second completely independent mechanism (how ever you want to characterize is; I think it might be fanatic “religious”).

        This differenciation is logically necessary if the estimated outcome is unlikely to produce the assumed effects: population reduction would not help to stabilize the effects of declining fossile availability (It would anticipate it, though). So either “the controllers” have done a miscalculation or OFW has done a miscalculation or “the controllers” are not at all motivated by the OFW-mechanism but by something else.

        One of the very serious theories about the outbreak of WW1 is, that one of the responsible wanted to impress his girlfriend (by a sharp reaction on the assassination in Serbia).

        So while we expect a certain decline to happen as a consequence of finite resources, this view cannot exclude the possibility, that someone presses “the red button” to impress his girlfriend. And we cannot exclude, that Mr Biden or Mr Putin or another influential “controller” is friend of an ideology that is not the main idea of OFW.

        What I assume is, that we see on the one hand the OFW-mechanism evolving, being interfered, though not stopped, by the actions of a religious group on the other hand, that is not life-focused (and perhaps they dont want their brats to survive) but death-centered as the result of a special gnostic interpretation (The world is bad and a reunification with a transcendent God is only possible in death; dark doings purify the soul and help reunification). This gnostic interpretation has a philologic history, that can be shown even though it is not discussed in the mainstream. The OFW-mechanism may be known or used as an excuse but that is a detail.

        The perspective of “the controllers” might differ from the OFW-perspective.

        • JMS says:

          No doubt the controllers’ perspective differs from that of the OFW, but not because it is based on religion rather than physics and logic. Don’t forget that they were the ones who commissioned the Limits to Growth report, and so they know better than anyone that finite growth on a finite planet is impossible.
          The dominant view in OFW over the last ten years has been that we will have a rapid and uncontrolled collapse in the next two years. “Not on my watch”, though the controllers.
          In March 2020, many people here thought that the lockdowns would deal the death blow to our dying economy and we wouldn’t make it to Christmas. I suggested that the covid operation was an attempt, certainly destined to fail (I am no longer so sure of this part) of controlled demolition of growth and its political and economic institutions (capitalism, liberalism, etc.)
          Certain is that four years later we’re still here. Which, together with the fact that the controllers have achieved the incredible feat of convincing billions to let themselves be injected with experimental pseudo-therapies because of a ghost called SarsCov-2, should make us conclude that they have a degree of control much higher than we imagined.
          We can also assume that they have trump cards up their sleeves that we don’t know about (known unknowns, say), one of which could well be nuclear energy.

          • Nuclear seems to have some who think it will be our next savior and others who think it will end civilization. I am doubtful that it can be maintained in a world of limited international trade.

            Regarding long-term ill effects, Places like Chernobyl have not fared too badly, over the long term, as far as I can see. Our bodies seem to tolerate some radiation, but I expect that mutation levels will be higher. Eating radioactive particles seems to be much worse than simply being in an environment with them.

            • JMS says:

              Galen Winsor used to swim in nuclear reactor pools and handle uranium without special precautions, and then lived to be 82.

              So, if Winsor is right, perhaps nuclear energy could in fact be “too cheap to meter,” as advertised in the 1950s. But the controllers, finding this fact inconvenient for their interests, decided to make it more expensive through useless safety regulations, and turn it into another bogeyman to terrorize the masses.

              But when the world population returns to sustainable values, controllers will happily reactivate the nuclear option, using the nuclear waste fuel as… fuel!

              “Using currently known uranium resources, “fast reactors operating in a closed fuel cycle would be able to provide energy for thousands of years as well as easing concerns about waste,” says Stefano Monti, Team Leader for the IAEA’s Fast Reactor Technology Development Section in the Department of Nuclear Energy. Fast reactors are a versatile and flexible technology that promises to create or “breed” more fuel by converting nuclear “waste” into “fissile” material.

              “The fast breeder technology has the potential to make the production of energy from uranium 100 times more efficient than with the existing thermal reactor, reducing the amount and toxicity of radioactive waste, as well as the heat emanating from the waste, and also shortening the waste’s hazardous lifetime span,” says Monti.

              https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/fast-reactors-provide-sustainable-nuclear-power-thousands-years

      • adonis says:

        E&P Companies Face Tough Year Despite Oil Patch ‘Bumper Crop’
        By David Messler – Jan 21, 2024, 6:00 PM CST
        Technological improvements in the U.S. oil industry have maintained production levels despite a decrease in drilling activity.
        Lower crude oil prices have negatively impacted the valuations of U.S. and Canadian exploration and production companies, leading to reduced earnings per share.
        For future expansion in drilling and exploration, oil and gas companies require higher commodity prices, as indicated by surveys from the Kansas City Federal Reserve.

        • adonis says:

          listen if the price cant go higher their aint gonna be 20 years for us these guys will begin exterminating us asap some of u guys are falling into delusinastini land no one wants to know the hangmans noose is near i get that .All we can do now is pray for 100 dollar a barrel oil that doesnt drop.

          • raviuppal4 says:

            ” Oil above $ 70 kills the consumer and oil below $ 70 kills the producer ” . I forget who said this .

      • You might be correct. A stampede does no one any good. The reduction in population must be barely noticeable. They want to control those who are left, however they can.

  3. Mirror on the wall says:

    The UK basically does not have a military. UK military forces are collapsing and its scant equipment is literally falling apart. It is incapable of raising a single brigade.

    Military officers across Europe have recently called it out as a pretend military. A USA Colonel publicly laughed at it as Lilliputian last week.

    This is The Times yesterday. https://archive.ph/BMAqW

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-military-is-too-small-to-fight-key-allies-warn-f6lv9gtxw

    > Army numbers to drop below 70,000 ‘in two years’

    A senior US general told Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, that Britain was barely a tier two military power

    American and European generals fear the UK is no longer a top-level fighting force as a Times analysis reveals the army will have fewer than 70,000 soldiers within two years.

    Figures show that if the army continues to lose troops at its present rate, the number of regular soldiers will fall to 67,741 by 2026 — a drop of 40 per cent since 2010.

    At that rate, the army will be 52,000 strong in a decade’s time, small enough to fit inside Manchester’s Etihad Stadium.

    Steep drop

    …. Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, has warned the UK should prepare for further wars involving China, Russia, Iran and North Korea in the next five years. However, defence experts are increasingly concerned that Britain is poorly prepared for future conflict.

    …. ‘Smoke and mirrors’

    The army’s woes are indicative of wider issues facing the military, which is feeling the impact of decades of cuts and a decline in its war-fighting capability as it grapples with a growing recruitment crisis.

    “The problems facing all the services are major, deep and growing: personnel, infrastructure, training — and that’s before you get to equipment,” Francis Tusa, who writes the Defence Analysis newsletter, said.

    A former senior defence figure said the idea that the UK could deploy a 25,000-strong armoured division overseas was “smoke and mirrors” because the army had not invested in the enablers such as supply trucks and electronic warfare to ensure it could fight.

    …. Kit ‘falling apart’

    Tusa said that over the past two years he had spoken to generals, admirals and air marshals across Europe and beyond who had expressed concerns about the UK’s mismatch between the capabilities it presented and what they saw on the ground.

    He said one European Nato general told him in September last year that the UK “can’t put a brigade in the field” and has “kit [that is] falling apart”.

    A senior US general told Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, in autumn 2022 that the UK was “barely tier two”.

    Although the army is suffering from a recruitment problem, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines are facing the biggest drop in recruits signing up, with intake dropping 22.1 per cent compared with the previous year.

    …. HMS Diamond, patrolling in the Red Sea, is the only Type 45 destroyer out at sea, as the other five of the billion-pound ships are in the UK undergoing maintenance. It is dependent on a US supply ship for food, fuel and ammunition because the Royal Navy has no store ship capable of replenishing it at sea.

    • The strategy seems to be to hope that the US is doing better; the US will be able to defend NATO and handle any problem around the world.

      • Sam says:

        At some point the U.S is going to only care about the homeland. The only reason that they are now stretching themselves is because of the dollar. They really don’t want to lose that reserve currency. If that happens you can say goodbye to pension plans and social security probably overnight. The Americans are one of the most glutinous countries for use of energy. The only country that is worse is Saudi Arabia. Be careful what you wish for.
        Also the military of the future does not need so many humans.

      • Dennis L. says:

        Agree with Sam below. It is time for the US to mend its own problems; we have done it before. It is time to send the WEF types to work, real work and go back to a tax system as in the fifties.

        War uses NRR, better to spend them on Starship, let the world squabble, let the “leaders” go somewhere and lead whatever or go into the trenches.

        The Amish have something working, they have children, it is a connection with the fabric of the universe and they have Sunday off.

        A guess: in a thousand years not one novel will be remembered, history books will be dust. The Torah, Bible, Quaran, etc. will still be there; they are link to the fabric of the universe. And in reality, a few thousand years is nothing in universal time scales.

        Dennis L.

    • Tim Groves says:

      “Britain’s always fought against the odds, havent we? The Armada, the Battle of Britain…”
      —Prime Minister James Hacker

      • Mirror on the wall says:

        Seriously? UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps reckoned this week that UK is going to soon fight Russia, China, Iran, N Korea in various theatres all at once.

        You reckon that UK might win? Russia had better look out for the UK that has a pretend military and could not raise a single battalion on the field, has 40 tanks, no air defence etc.?

        Putin, Xi and the rest of the world had better listen up to PM James Hacker because the UK is coming for them?

        https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-army-expansion-a2bf0b035aabab20c8b120a1c86c9e38

        > Putin orders the Russian military to add 170,000 troops for a total of 1.32 million

        MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered the country’s military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.32 million, as Moscow’s military action in Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.

        Putin’s decree was released by the Kremlin on Friday and took force immediately. It brings the overall number of Russian military personnel to about 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops.

        It is the second such expansion of the army since 2018. The previous boost by 137,000 troops, ordered by Putin in August 2022, put the military’s numbers at about 2 million personnel and about 1.15 million troops.

        The Defense Ministry said the order doesn’t imply any “significant expansion of conscription,” saying in a statement that the increase would happen gradually by recruiting more volunteers. The ministry cited what it called “the special military operation” in Ukraine and the expansion of NATO as the reasons for beefing up the army.

        NATO’s “joint armed forces are being built up near Russia’s borders and additional air defense systems and strike weapons are being deployed. The potential of NATO’s tactical nuclear forces is being increased,” the statement read.

        Boosting Russian troops is an appropriate response to “the aggressive activities of the NATO bloc,” the ministry said.

        Last December, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared that the country needed a force of 1.5 million “to guarantee the fulfillment of tasks to ensure Russia’s security.” He didn’t say when the military would reach that size.

        • Foolish Fitz says:

          More news on the ship playing bumper cars.

          “Two Royal Navy warships collided in Bahrain at the end of last week because one was incorrectly rewired, meaning that it unexpectedly went into reverse when it was set to go forward, military sources have said.

          The minehunter HMS Chiddingfold went backwards into HMS Bangor, which was lying at port, ripping a hole in a cabin above the waterline, in an embarrassing blunder that the defence secretary, Grant Shapps, insisted did not reflect incompetence.

          Nobody was hurt in the incident and the navy said late on Friday evening it was investigating. But naval sources said on Sunday they believed the cause of the accident was a simple rewiring error in a recently inspected vessel.”

          Imagine that there are people that will believe that. A child would work out in a couple of seconds that if pushing forwards takes you back, pushing backwards will probably take you forwards, but no one on the bridge had the intellect of the average 8 year old.

          Rule Britannia sinking beneath the waves, or is that the 2 US pilots that were shot down on the 11th. Highly trained Seals are not used for basic patrol and seizures and they can swim, so falling into the gulf of Aden(off the Yemen coast, not Somalia) isn’t an issue, but pilots falling out of the sky is.

        • Fast Eddy says:

          At what point does it get so absurd… that you might consider it’s all fake?

          • Kowalainen says:

            That’s the Moneky Business for you. It’s Moaronic by default.

            Ever wondered how it is to be a moneky?

            Switch off your brain, turn on the telly, click that asocial media icon and then have the usual small talk with a Hyper Rapacious Primate.

            Still not convinced of the Ukey “special tactics”?

            • Fast Eddy says:

              True. I have very little contact with the MOREONS — and their info sources.

              However watching NFL playoffs (one of my vices) with the commercials … exposes me to what they are bombarded with endlessly (since they watch TEEv 8+ hours per day – 14 hours on the weekend)…

              No wonder there is an epidemic of morbid obesity … half the commercials are for toxic food products — the other half involve Farma remedies… KFC and Pill Popping…

              SOOO WEEEEeeeeeeeee… f789ing Losers.

              I like to keep to myself … mostly.

              Hoolio was trying to lick the residuals … and this was the outcome

              https://i.postimg.cc/pLV0xwrQ/Bag-Head.jpg

            • Kowalainen says:

              I must admit I might sometimes watch small men with big nutsacks riding fast motorcycles while I’m churning away on salty snacks just like Hoolio.

              Cuz why not?

              https://youtu.be/LRHnFP1PVJY?si=nN-2VFGNeMIGy_CL

              A celebration of fossil burning mastery in snack production, racing engineering and wielding crotch rockets. 🥜🚀

              The real YOLO at 300kph+
              🍿😳👍

              BAU FTW!1!1!1!

    • Lastcall says:

      ‘American and European generals fear the UK is no longer a top-level fighting force as a Times analysis reveals the army will have fewer than 70,000 soldiers within two years.’

      What tier of fighting force are the Taliban again?

  4. Fast Eddy says:

    What happens if a pandemic involving a virus naturally causing acute self limiting infection fails to generate herd immunity? https://gvdb.substack.com/p/what-happens-if-a-pandemic-involving

  5. Fast Eddy says:

    Portland, Oregon officials and retail executives spent months debating how to reduce thefts. The city failed.

    https://mishtalk.com/economics/target-nike-rei-close-stores-in-portland-due-to-surge-in-crime/

    • I AM THE MOB says:

      In Chicago the city is taking over retail stores that have gone out of business. And turning them into farmers markets, thrifts stores, and art galleries.

      • Fast Eddy says:

        Why not turn them into bordellos? Offer high school and uni students cheap space so they can turn tricks to pay the bills? Kinda like Amsterdam

        • insisting on telling us about your personal obsessions and inadequacies and shortcomings again eddy

          • I can see a practical reason behind Eddy’s comment. We have a lot of homeless students attending college here. They need more income.

            • Tim Groves says:

              Pimps in Southeast Asia are fond of encouraging reluctant tourists in red-light districts to go with the girls by telling them, “you’re helping to pay for her education.”

            • Fast Eddy says:

              I am pleased that most of the western world will get a brief taste of the desperation of the 3rd world … before UEP completes.

              That should wipe the smug looks off the faces of those who believe in their superiority.

              norm – save your lunch money – this will be bring fabulous opportunities!

            • OnlyFans isn’t enough?
              😉

            • Fast Eddy says:

              Only Fans is the entry way drug…. the real money is not in performing on camera…

              Only Fans can be used for marketing … you like what you see? The girls can post their availability for proper sessions at their booths in the old Walmart premises in the Mall….

              Someone needs to build a booking app … 30 minute slots for $___ Cha-Ching!!!

              BTW – we are back into limbo on the Aussie move — the purchaser keeps on changing the agreed conditions…. this supports the Simulation Theory… what is not allowed — is not allowed. Perhaps the simulation prefers Fast Eddy to end his days at the Goat Ranch… HE has the shotgun with over 1000 rounds of buck shot… which cannot easily be imported to Aussie …

              Perhaps the simulation requires Fast Eddy to go Mad Max and ride around in the 4 ba 4 (M Fast driving) with Hoolio in the back seat cheering Fast on as HE blows the heads off of the dying Vaxxers as they crawl to the clinic dying.

              Sooooooo Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!

            • Fast Eddy says:

              The thing is … norm knows that he has only one option – and that is Out Back the Dumpster…

              Even the most desperate female would draw the line at a geriatric in diapers.

              hahahahaha

            • Jan says:

              The problem with students is not only too little adaequate jobs after graduation; university is also a way of “parking” because there are no jobs without university either.

    • One section says,

      Andrew Fitzpatrick, Portland’s director of economic development, said “It’s a little bit more complicated than just theft increases and a store closes.”

      Fact check, true!

      It’s also about rape, armed robbery, car jackings, and fear of the preceding. Factor in DEI and defunding the police.

      It also says:

      In the name of equity, Oregon will graduate everyone. Why not give them all Masters Degrees? Wouldn’t that be even more equitable?

      This is the direction schools seem to be heading in. Kids who didn’t go to classes in 2020 and 2021 are behind, but people in charge don’t want to hold so many of them back. So, they lower standards.

      • Fast Eddy says:

        They are all vaxxed so their already weak IQs are dropping by the week…. recall in Idiocracy someone with a 50 IQ was a genius

    • How did they use to reduce thefts? Have security stop thieves, have police arrest thieves, and have the court system punish thieves.

      I’m not sure why this needs to be “debated”. They know what to do. They just aren’t doing it for “reasons”.

      • Fast Eddy says:

        Yep – they allow it because they want chaos… they want the MOREONS to be D-moralized… so that they feel relief when they are put down

  6. Fast Eddy says:

    Massive Deficit Spending Keeping The Economy Out Of Recession (For Now)

    https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/massive-deficit-spending-keeping-economy-out-recession-now

    • One of many things this article says is

      The Economy Is Close To Recession

      While economic growth continues to defy expectations on the surface, if it weren’t for increases in deficit spending, economic growth would be flirting with recessionary levels at just 0.7% in Q3 rather than 6.21%.

  7. Fast Eddy says:

    IMF official warns central banks against fuelling market hopes for rapid interest rate cuts. Investor expectations of looser monetary policy could fuel another flare-up of inflation, says Gita Gopinath. “The job is not done,” Gopinath told the Financial Times during an interview in Davos, Switzerland. “[Central banks] must move cautiously. Once you cut rates, it solidifies expectations of further rate cuts and you could end up with much larger loosening — which can be counter-productive.”

    https://www.ft.com/content/356c25de-f691-4c47-ada5-0ee996ad7776

    • I would agree. Don’t expect rate cuts to be sufficient.

      • Sam says:

        Ugh…. they are not going to cut rates until there is the economic crash by then it will be too late and they will be panic cutting. No Jobs……. No inflation. The world is already in a recession. If there was not manipulations of the numbers you would see it already.

  8. Fast Eddy says:

    Electric cars suffer ‘unsustainable’ depreciation in secondhand market. Research from Auto Trader said there were “unsustainable levels of depreciation” in the electric car market, with used prices of battery-powered vehicles dropping by 23pc in the last year alone. It said that the price of used electric cars could come under further pressure this year as thousands of motorists return vehicles acquired on three-year leases and as manufacturers cut the price of new vehicles.
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/electric-cars-lose-half-value-060000890.html

    • drb753 says:

      I think van Den Bossche predicted this.

    • This shouldn’t be a surprise. A small number of people wanting to be ahead of others bought the cars with subsidies. But they really don’t work well, and the batteries are now depreciating. The market for used cars includes a lot of people living in apartment buildings, with no place to charge the EVs, further reducing the market.

      If anyone wants an EV, they want a new EV, with a subsidy, and perhaps any improvements built in.

    • I AM THE MOB says:

      I have a buddy who is a mechanic at my local Tesla dealer.

      He always says; “buy a 10k car and drive it till the wheels fall off”. You don’t need a fancy car to get you around.”

  9. Fast Eddy says:

    A Second Round of Inflation Is Coming. We just got the December Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which showed an overall increase of 3.4 percent unadjusted in the last year and 0.3 percent vs last month. This was above expectations of 3.2 percent for the year and above expectations of 0.2 percent for the month. The Core CPI which excludes food and energy was up 3.9 percent for the last year and up 0.3 percent from last month. The annual number was above expectations of 3.8 percent, and the monthly increase was in line with expectations. The difference is due to rounding. The annual number is still almost double the Fed’s 2.0 percent target.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/cai/second-round-of-inflation-is-coming-5565166

    • Conclusion:

      The Fed is succeeding in reducing the rate of increase in the CPI, but the big services inflation number remains elevated. We’ll see an increase in energy prices and shipping costs. Wages remain high. Long term, Congressional overspending and monetization of that new debt will lead to a second round of inflation and future Fed rate hikes. For now, expectations of a rate cut will be pushed back, but I do not expect the Fed to hike again in the coming months.

  10. Dennis L. says:

    I watch farming videos a great deal, try and learn from successful farmers what works.

    The large farms shown are family, they are not rock stars with rock star looks but people who can make dirt, machinery and biology work to feed a planet. Our media presents an extreme subset of the human population whose main attribute is gaining an audience and being an influencer for what is not reality. Many of these are the same people one sees on the cover of “People” going through rehab for the fourth time and dying a beautiful death at sixty. Could it be the drug, psychological issues the “stars” face is a collision of reality with fake lives? Cognitive dissonance, things are not as one believes but as they are.

    Our politicians are now presenters, giving a narrative which is at odds with reality. That does not end well.

    We need to return to real people not a narrative of how we wish the world to work. Religion is a narrative, if it lasts for a few thousand years, most of the dumb ideas are gone and perhaps those which appear dumb may have some merit.

    Dennis L.

    • There is a fair amount of overlap between the various religious narratives from around the world. Religions tell us what approaches tend to work. How to treat our neighbors, for example. There is a reason that they have been long-lasting.

      • I AM THE MOB says:

        This video explains the origins of morals and “good” behavior. (4 min mark)

        • All kinds of societies, including animals, need “morals” that allow the survival of animals that co-operate.

          All human use the same facial expressions to show emotions.

          Humans have no problem killing animals, but all societies have built-in rules to prevent the killing members of their own species.

          Does training people to fight in wars benefit mankind or not?

          [I would say maybe wars are beneficial, if population has outgrown its resource base.]

          • Mike Roberts says:

            Given that morals are a personal thing and an invention of humans, I don’t think societies have an absolute need for them. However, what we think of as morals might emerge from communities that are reasonably long lasting. Religions don’t have any monopoly on what we consider morals and each of them has had periods where it seems they abandoned them. But religions are not independent creatures, they were invented and run by humans.

            • Fast Eddy says:

              We allow anyone including children … to access the most vile p-orn…

              There are no morals. We are living in filth.

          • Halfvard says:

            It’s empirically untrue that all humans use the same facial expressions.

            One example of plenty if you research the subject:
            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3677560/

          • Jan says:

            Christian tradition in Europe encouraged people to get as many children as possible and slaughtered them in long lasting (religious) wars.

            I think we could do better!

            A good defense, on the other hand, could stop envy of possible aggressors.

          • Jan says:

            We have here an apartment house close with a lot of old people. The tiny birds have addressed each of them and told them how hard is bird life in the Alps with 2m snow and the sharp wind. Shivering chickadees knocking at the windows begging for food. The old people have all opened their heart and installed bird feeding houses. The chickadees can now choose from the finest selections.

            You are welcome to come here and teach the chickadees a lesson in morals!

    • Ed says:

      I watch jojosnow01 farming videos.

      • Dennis L. says:

        She has gone through a lot, we all deal with life in our own ways.

        Farming is a different world, can’t speak for others, some love the land, some love big machines and basically hit it and not in a favorable way.

        She does realize life is a team effort, too many think it is all an individual effort.

        Thanks for the reference.

        Dennis L.

  11. Dennis L. says:

    Came across this:

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/wokeness-was-the-final-nail-in-the-coffin-for-sports-illustrated-emily-austin/vi-BB1h0Idh?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=79a5f9dc6024429ab8c2315349f7e1ce&ei=24

    It is a clip, the one on Dimon, by Laura, go in to 3:51 and this is apparently a WEC presentation. We ae saved, they have gone off the rails and are seen getting a “blow job” on stage from someone wearing a weird outfit. Relax, there is absolutely no overt sexual connotation. This is pseudointellectualism at the max.

    My conclusion is we discover the universe, we do not invent it; humanism is too anthropomorphic. We need a bit of modesty.

    Dennis L.

  12. Dennis L. says:

    So the inflation/deflation problem and TM has a new post.

    Why in the US has the cost of an American as Apple pie Hamburger gone up by a factor of three since 2004 vs the cost of oil which is up by 1/3? Check my post, didn’t’ go back an revisit the numbers. We have a great source of cows and were we to employ them creatively the flatulence could be collected an launched into space – relax, a bit of levity.

    A guess is most of housing cost increase is public services and the sunk cost thereof. A waste water treatment plant is not added incrementally but is a sunk cost.

    Musk has demonstrated solar works, use it at the source, move information not stuff; it appears to be a billion, tax free cashflow source, ie. a cost avoided is a source of cash.

    What will happen when Pt is a base metal? It is dense, sinks on earth, hard to dig up, there seem to be large chunks of it in space. How about Ti?

    Art Bremen was so very wrong on the price of oil, he is an expert. Tough to predict.

    Dennis L.

    • MikeJones says:

      This is the 3rd video in the Strong Towns series, and is probably the most important core topic: the fact that American car-dependant cities and suburbs are financially insolvent, and function like a Ponzi scheme. This is the reason most American cities are bankrupt.
      Why American Cities Are Broke – The Growth Ponzi Scheme [ST03]
      3,650,686 views ·
      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7IsMeKl-Sv0&pp=ygUOc3VidXJicyBwb256aSA%3D
      @Patangy
      I always wondered how they could afford to build the roads to every house everywhere. It turns out they couldn’t afford it.
      Ochemypie
      The more I learn about the U.S, the more I wonder how this country has survived this long

      So, the ❓ question is…..

      • I have seen a video in this series before.

        The video notes that the initial financing of roads is done by the government. I would add that this initial financing is very likely with government debt. Financing infrastructure is a big source of government debt. It seems to work when the city/suburbs are going fast enough, but not otherwise.

        If oil prices for making asphalt are high, this raises costs, too.

        • Dennis L. says:

          Not quite, at least in the last fifty years.

          Roads, sewers, water, etc. are put in place by developers, the city than certifies them and takes ownership, etc. The maintenance becomes a city problem.

          Know the reality, was a sewer worker in college, replace much less than ideal systems such as waste pumps, burp.

          It is always the tail, the developer takes his cut out and leaves the mess behind, but it is growth.

          Dennis L.

  13. Any gains from starships and things like that will be monopolized by those who financed it, with nothing whatsoever for the populace. Nothing.

    Like the Spanish peasants who never saw a centimo of profits from all these riches of the New World (the land reform in Andalusia did not take place until 2001! that means until the 21st century peasants in Andalusia still lived like the days of Caliphs)

    none of the metals from space or whatever will fall into the hands of the peasants, who will be even more squeezed and crushed as civilization sails past them.

  14. MikeJones says:

    What Was a Peasant’s Life in Medieval England Like?
    Throughout the Middle Ages, peasant life in England underwent massive changes, from miserable conditions to happiness, fun, and games.
    https://www.thecollector.com/peasant-life-medieval-england/

    Jan 19, 2024 • By Greg Beyer, Assistant Editor; African History
    The truth is far more nuanced and surprising than many people would expect. Peasants led rich lives filled with periods of happiness and celebration. They were treated much better in general than modern media would have us believe and were also a lot cleaner than common portrayals!
    …Unlike slaves who were bonded to people, peasants were seen as being bonded to plots of land. Landlords owned the land, and the peasants happened to come with it. Also, unlike enslaved people, peasants had opportunities to make a decent living and actually become wealthy. While this may not seem like a great way to live, peasants did have certain rights. Their houses and the pieces of land they worked on were kept in the family and passed down. Even though they were required to pay rent, their bond to the land also meant that their lord could not simply evict them. The landlord was also forbidden from depriving peasants of their livelihood. As such, there was certain job security for everyone in the family.
    …. Contrary to popular belief, peasants did not spend all day engaged in back-breaking work. Holidays and vacation time were extremely common and often mandatory! During times of high wages and good harvests, peasants could expect to work no more than 150 days a year.
    Apart from having the obligatory Sundays off, religious holidays such as feast days were common. In individual areas, weddings, births, and funerals might also be on occasion for time off, and most landlords were generous. Days might even be given off when minstrels, mummers, faires, and plays were in town.
    The pace of work was leisurely, and peasants worked, on average, far fewer hours during the day than workers in the modern age. Fourteenth-century manorial records from England show that peasants in the 14th century worked an average of 27.7 hours a week. And unlike in the modern era, there was no stressful commute!

    Ahh, the good old days …

    • Dennis L. says:

      Sundays off seems like a good idea, Amish still do this.

      A good peasant was a treasure, people can have value or be an expense.

      Why were some slaves and some peasants?

      Could our modern society with its buy now and pay forever be a form of slavery? Why would some chose this route? Stuff becoming a religion?

      Interesting 27.7 hours, incredible time keeping in those days.

      Dennis L.

      • In Central and Eastern europe the land was hard to till so you needed a heavy plow which needed 16 oxen or horses.

        Obviously only some people could afford it and those who could not become serfs.

        The same world where your God brings the riches from the stars but only he and his immediate family will benefit from it and no one else.

        • Dennis L. says:

          So assume the serfs only get 1% of the gross. Do you want 1% of a $1B or 1% of $1M?

          The relative wealth problem is ancient, recall one of the ten commandments has to do with envy, or coveting thy neighbors goods. It gets really interesting when one covets thy neighbor’s wife’s as…. Probably nothing wrong with watching the swish.

          My God allows me to discover the stars as I am able, admittedly given my mental limitations at times I get a welcome nudge, call it inspiration. Laughing quietly, after getting an inspiration can hear, “No, No, No, that what I meant.” So back to the tea leaves.

          Dennis L.

        • Fast Eddy says:

          It’s different in NZ … they never had oxen…

          I was in the gym the other day and saw a magnificent plough hog… she had feet the size of a Clydesdale… big clop clop clop cloppers… and I kid you not her things were on par with my waist… blubber was oozing out of her spandex … mounds of cottage cheese jiggled beneath the skin…. and she was tall … easily 5ft 11…

          Yesterday after a hike my mate and I had a cold pint and we observed an even FATTER plough hog… a monstrous beast… not as tall but morbidly obese ++++ absolutely f789ing disgusting… I don’t think she was 30 … with a young child… waddling about .. the funny thing is her husband was a decent looking fellow and not overweight… my mate and I were wondering what sort of mental illness would lead him to breed that monster… we discussed a documentary called Enablers… this involves men who are obsessed with feeding their partners rubbish (one guy visits half a dozen fast food outlets and hauls bags of food home and stuffs his pig)…

          Some of them were in excess of 500lbs…

          We were speculating as to why they’d do this and concluded they have self esteem issues and they believe that if they bloat the partner to the point of bursting — leaving them unable to leave home due to their gigantic mass … that they will remain faithful… nobody will have them….

          But then I mentioned the one guy who was filming his huge beast in se.xy clothes and performing pay per view… so that contradicted the above theory … apparently some MOREONS will pay to watch beached whales perform…

          As we walked back to the car continuing to ponder this deep philosophical issue… I said… I wonder how that guy would react if we asked him why he stays with that massive plough hog…..

          And it hit me…. like a diamond bullet…

          He must be a farmer … and he uses her to pull the plough….

          • Kadmon says:

            Eddy Eddy, that’s not it, the ones you’re describing are the variety subconsciously trying to survive the Global Holodomor, they know it’s inevitable.

            They spend hours munching down highly processed unburnt carbs, by watching TVvv or the analoge online entertainments as well as perusing every other path of least resistance.

            They have a strategy, once Holodomor kicks off and food is scarce, they shed their loads slimming down, out- surviving the competition, thus inheriting every (dead) bodies STUFF.

            Slim to win
            The entire process is called the great plough hog race.

            You need to catch on with how they treat each other, you know; how they go round criticising other competitors GBWI.

            Fact is they’re secretly intimidated and jealous at the same time.

            But you’re obs are on track as far as NZ goes.
            Behind every PHog there’s a really dumb skinny idiot working themselves into the ground to enable it.
            So true, but to be fair there’s a lot of male NZ plough hogs about these days too.

    • By the time of Queen Elizabeth, the real one (not the fake Elisabeth von Batternberg), all of the gains were lost and the peasants were doing quite badly.

      Jane Grey would have made a much better Queen. In my opinion Queen Mary I should be deleted from the Kings list.

    • Fast Eddy says:

      According to this book… the majority of population of Europe (up to 60%)… were seriously malnourished and living in squalor

      https://www.audible.com/pd/Revolutionary-Spring-Audiobook/B0BMB1ZCZC

      • drb753 says:

        Of course. Forced veganism and lack of indoor plumbing create all that. I am actually only three generations removed from forced vegans or near vegans.

  15. MikeJones says:

    ECONOMY
    Bank credit is shrinking for the first time since the Great Recession – and that’s a red flag for the economy George Glover Jan 20, 2024, 1:33 PM Business Insider
    https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-outlook-bank-credit-contracts-federal-reserve-interest-rates-economy-2024-1?amp

    Bank credit is seeing a sustained contraction for the first time since the Great Recession, according to Fed data.
    That means businesses are borrowing less, as high interest rates chip away at confidence levels.
    The US economy avoided a recession last year, but some Wall Street analysts and investors are still pessimistic.
    Bank credit is contracting for only the 2nd time in 50 years,” Tilo Marotz, head of liquid assets at German insurer Continentale Versicherungsverbund, pointed out in a LinkedIn post this week.
    The credit contraction means that companies are borrowing less, with higher interest rates making it more expensive to take out loans. When it’s harder to raise debt, businesses are less likely to press ahead with spending projects, which can further drag on economic growth.
    Between March 2022 and July 2023, the Federal Reserve jacked up interest rates from near-zero to around 5.5% in a bid to clamp down on soaring consumer prices.

    Fifty years? Three times is the charm….

    • Fast Eddy says:

      My man who is head of legal for APAC for a big US bank tells me that there are next to no deals being done… I think he spends his days playing Twister on the floor of his office with the skeleton staff.

    • Shrinking bank credit should be a big concern. This is closely tied in with recession.

  16. MikeJones says:

    Laundry is a top source of microplastic pollution. Here’s how to wash your clothes more sustainably
    A single load of laundry can release several million microfibers. Here’s a few tips to keep your clothes from shedding this type of pollution.
    Laundry is a top source of microplastic pollution. Here’s how to wash your clothes more sustainably
    Microplastics are turning up everywhere, from remote mountain tops to deep ocean trenches. They also are in many animals, including humans.

    The most common microplastics in the environment are microfibers—plastic fragments shaped like tiny threads or filaments. Microfibers come from many sources, including cigarette butts, fishing nets, and ropes, but the biggest source is synthetic fabrics, which constantly shed them.

    So wash cloths less often, in cold water and buy natural fabrics…
    https://www.fastcompany.com/91009579/laundry-is-a-top-source-of-microplastic-pollution-heres-how-to-wash-your-clothes-more-sustainably

    • Fast Eddy says:

      The thing is … 8 billion others won’t follow this .. so it’s futile…

      As are all efforts to protect the environment … when you have 8B and more coming each day.

      Why do folks get upset when I suggest the only solution is to eliminate the problem…. they hurl insults and call me a MOREON when I explain how exterminating all humans… would fix everything.

      Oh right – humans don’t like the truth… that’s why the Elders are forced to play these ridiculous games… including faking a war to have a excuse for inflation etc…

      It’s why they elevate the HOOTIES to bogeyman so that they can pretend the canal is shut and explain the reduction in stuff.

      If humans weren’t such dummmb asses they could fire the entire PR Team and save loads of $$$$

  17. MikeJones says:

    Eddie, no need to thank me..
    If you want to stay happy as you navigate life’s ups and downs, say goodbye to these 12 behaviors
    https://hackspirit.com/if-you-want-to-stay-happy-as-you-navigate-lifes-ups-and-downs-say-goodbye-to-these-behaviors/

    Negative self-talk, Living in the past, Worrying about the future, Comparing yourself to others, Seeking approval from others, Holding grudges, Fear of failure, Ignoring your health, Avoiding change, Mindless social media scrolling, Not expressing gratitude,
    Ignoring your passions…

    Ah, rather be unhappy like everyone else is..

    • Fast Eddy says:

      I am extremely happy… I sleep very well… I eat only organic food… I keep fit…I take no meds… I have a positive outlook …

      Of course my version of a positive outlook may not mesh with the 8B… they are hoping for EVs and solar panels and the opportunity for their bas tard children to continue pillaging and destroying and torturing animals … whereas mine involves the elimination of all humans….

      Just thinking about it makes me feel deep joy…

      I like to think of the rich and powerful… the very serious people that Taleb mentions in his fine book Black Swans… suddenly realizing that the very foundations of their arrogance … are imploding …. and that they will be left lower than a homeless beggar… I imagine the panic that this will bring to these as.sholes….

      UEP will be a great levelling… tee hee..

      • Foolish Fitz says:

        ” I eat only organic food”

        You don’t.
        You believe that because the sales pitch said so, no other reason and it’s not true. You must be decades behind everyone else, as that fraud was revealed a long time ago, but the preening halfwits still buy into it.

        Organic:

        2.(of food or farming methods) produced or involving production without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial chemicals.

        Let’s see if that’s true for NZ “organic”

        Organic food production doesn’t use:

        most human-made fertilisers and pesticides
        some medicines (like antibiotics)
        growth hormones
        food additives
        most synthetic chemicals

        https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety-home/organic-food/

        Well that’s a big NO and what do they mean by “most” and “some”?

        I really need to stop being suprised at what people will believe, if they see it on a screen. Do you believe every sales brochure?

        • Fast Eddy says:

          I grow a great deal of the food myself… and this is not America… the owner of the small shop I buy from buys from trusted growers

          Not fool proof but then nothing is….

          Did I mention I consume zero processed food and no sugar?

          And I avoid Super Snatch

    • you missed fakephobia

  18. MikeJones says:

    Worldwide, the life-span gap between the sexes is shrinking
    News
    By Kristen Fischer published 2 days ago

    An analysis of mortality data from more than 190 countries suggests the male-female life-span gap is narrowing.
    People around the world are, on the whole, living longer. At the same time, the gap between how long men and women live is decreasing, new research shows.

    The study of more than 190 countries identified these trends around the world. Zooming in on the cluster of countries with the best outcomes — including North America, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand — females had an average life expectancy of 77.17 years old in 1990, while males had a life expectancy of 72.23. In 2010, those life expectancies rose to 83.10 in females and 78.37 in males. So the life-span gap slightly narrowed, by about 0.2 years.

    The life span gap between the sexes has narrowed because male life spans are now lengthening at a faster rate than female life spans are, said study first author David Atance, a professor of economics and business management at the University of Alcalá in Spain. “The pace of mortality declines — or, in other words, the pace of increase in longevity — among women has been slowed,” he told Live Science in an email.

    UEP has a big task ahead..

  19. Fast Eddy says:

    One runner died, and 34 runners were hospitalized after the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2024 took place this morning.

    At 12.12 pm, a 30-year-old man suddenly fainted on the platform of MTR Tin Hau Station, and the platform staff were alerted of the incident.

    The victim – surnamed Cheung – was later taken to Ruttonjee Hospital by ambulance for emergency treatment, but was eventually confirmed dead.

    https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/212641/Multiple-runners-hospitalized-during-Standard-Chartered-Hong-Kong-Marathon-2024

    • Rodster says:

      The easy fix for that is to shorten marathons to just half a mile. That way no one faints or dies running. 🤓

      • drb753 says:

        With espresso bars every 20 meters with outside seating in the Sun. I could run that one. No pain, no pain.

        • Rodster says:

          And at a 1/4 mile it needs to have a fish and chips stand so all the participants can have something to eat before they start pushing it to the limit for the last 1/4 mile. No more dropping dead or collapsing during these events. Those athletes should be ashamed of themselves trying to give Pfizer and the other drug makers a bad reputation.

      • Fast Eddy says:

        They should ban all sports — don’t want too many athletes dropping – it might frighten the Vaxxer…

        What’s that Fast?

        You say they are stoopid f789ing MOREONS – and even if 100 of the runners dies and 2000 ended up in hospital — the Vaxxers would never blame the Rat Juice?

        I think you have a point

    • oh no

      not another dead chinese person

      no wonder the population level is falling

    • Wow! Was the temperature terribly hot or something?

    • MikeJones says:

      Wow, another one down by UEP and only 8,000,000,000 to go Eddie…keep up the good work by keeping us all here informed on a case by case basis.
      That should help with your excess time….btw did you see all the astronauts on TV on the space station?
      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TojipeA0HQA&pp=ygUUVHVya2V5IHNwYWZlY3N0YXRpb24%3D

      A four-man crew, including Turkey’s first astronaut, arrived at the International Space Station for a two-week stay in the latest such mission arranged entirely at commercial expense by Texas-based startup company Axiom Space.

  20. raviuppal4 says:

    How reneweables will lead to an economic collapse . Art Berman .
    https://www.artberman.com/blog/a-renewable-energy-future-will-collapse-the-financial-system/

  21. raviuppal4 says:

    Unbelievable clip at the WEF . Elites told to fook themselves . Maybe they will delete it .

  22. Tim Groves says:

    An intelligent chat for your Sunday evening entertainment and edification.

    From the comments:

    “Four intelligent people discussing complex medical problems trying to understand the current situation and find logical solutions. This discussion should be seen by everyone affected by the Covid-19 debacle. Which is everyone.”

    “I have taken the vaccine and 3 boosters and I am fine, please stop this fear-mongering campaign of disinformation. Ok, got to go now the nurse is going to change my diapers before the cardiologist comes in my room.”

    Potential Clinical Implications of Geert’s Viral Shift Predictions

    In March 2021, Geert Vanden Bossche (Virologist and Vaccine Developer) warned of the dangers of mass vaccination during a pandemic to drive viral evolution.

    Recent further unusual patterns in viral evolution have indicated to him that the virus is now making more changes which will allow it to evade all vaccines.

    Three clinicians will reflect on his assumptions and analyse disease presentation in the general public.

    – Dr Shankara Chetty (South Africa)
    – Dr Robert Rennebohm (USA)
    – Dr Philip McMillan (UK)

    Spoiler alert: The general consensus among this lot is that they fear a tsunami of serious disease and death MAY—and I say MAY— be about wash over the world at any time due to the effects of the COVID shots.

    https://rumble.com/v470daf-potential-clinical-implications-of-geerts-viral-shift-predictions.html

    • disease is likely to cull our numbers

      why?

      because bugs mutate rapidly—they do that to survive and reproduce

      and we humans, in our cleverness have attempted to control and eliminate them—but they, unfortunately happen to be the dominant species –collectivelly—on the planet.

      so they mutate against our attempts at control—and they outnumber us by trillions to one—so are bound to win in the end and produce diseases we cannot eliminate.

      we have made our environment too sterile on human terms–which is new territory for bugs—they love it.—no competition.

      • You may very well be correct. We cannot control other species that mutate faster than we do.

      • Dennis L. says:

        Norm,

        Bugs are part of the universe, we are that same universe, it is as it is because it is what works.

        Looking at photos of the US circa 1900, it was a healthier population. Mostly don’t crap where you drink and things will be fine, or plumbing is a good idea.

        Dennis L.

      • Tim Groves says:

        They aren’t bugs, Norman. They’re features!

        As a matter of fact, we have a plague of stink bugs in my part of the world this year. It could be because of last year’s hot and dry summer. They like to hibernate on and in firewood, and when firewood is brought inside, they warm up and start flying around and causing mischief.

        The brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) is an insect in the family Pentatomidae, native to China, Japan, Korea, and other Asian regions. Mostly harmless, but a bloody pest all the same. If one of these bugs lands on your salad, your steak, or your okonomiyaki, you just have to bin it or leave it out for the crows. The crows will eat almost anything.

        • i was using bugs as a generic term

          i could have gone into chapter and verse on pathogens etc–but you might have found that a bit tiresome

          • Tim Groves says:

            Yeah, I know you were. And I was attempting a pun.

            Do bugs mutate rapidly? Some species of insects look like they haven’t evolved much in tens of millions of years. They’ve mutated themselves into an evolutionary cul de sac and can’t get out.

            On the hand, some viruses, as we’ve been taught to view them, mutate like the clappers–despite not being alive.

            Are viruses bugs?

    • Fast Eddy says:

      This is delightful!!!

      What if… there is no Pathogen X …and instead GVB is correct…

      Perhaps they do not need to control the detonation … perhaps they have a very big window because they have the tools to continue to delay the collapse of BAU for a number of more years….

      And they expect that before the window closes… that the deadly mutation will present.

      Of course there is a chance that they lose control before this happens.

      Nothing is easy – or certain – when you are seeking to exterminate 8B.

      All we can do is wait…

  23. I AM THE MOB says:

    How’s Lebron’s son post heart attack?

    BRONNY JAMES DROPS GOOSE EGG IN FIRST START FOR USC
    https://www.outkick.com/bronny-james-drops-goose-egg-in-first-start-for-usc/

    Bronny James hits head on sign as he exits warmups at Arizona State
    https://www.on3.com/college/usc-trojans/news/bronny-james-hits-head-on-sign-as-he-exits-warmups-at-arizona-state/

  24. moss says:

    India or perhaps more precisely Modi, showing he has the extra rib
    has swung away to the far horizon and has unceremoniously dumped the US-Israeli axis, which provided beacon light to Delhi’s West Asian policies in the past few years.
    indianpunchline.com/india-gets-a-rude-awakening-in-west-asia
    hard to know level of tongue in cheek with Bhandrakumar who’s well reputed
    It piques one’s curiosity too; what response may arise between the QUAD military partners (‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’ – IN, AUS, USA, JP; aka Hegemon Rules’ Enforcement.); a BRICS sheep in wolves clothing?
    The game reminds one of Erdogan

    InB4 Rupee crash
    xe.com/currencycharts/?from=TRY&to=USD&view=2Y

    • This article talks about the many places the US is now engaged in attempting war, and points out that there is no reason for India to be closely affiliated with the US. I can agree.

      At the end you talk about the Rupee crash, but the link you give is a link to the Turkish Lira crash.

      This chart shows the relatively smaller fall of the Indian Rupee relative to the US dollar.
      https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=INR&to=USD&view=5Y

      • moss says:

        sorry. The point was really about the exchange rate risk to deficit countries who may feel perceived risks to their rules. It remains an open question whether India will be able to withstand the amount of financial pressure that has been exterted on the Turks, pressure Modi will have to play nimbly to diminish.

      • raviuppal4 says:

        India is a disaster waiting to happen . 800 million surviving on 5Kg of wheat/rice + 2Kg Chickpeas provided free by the govt per person/ per month = 1500 cal/day . 40% youth unemployment . Israel is recruiting in India for workers to go and rebuild in the war zone . The workers say ” Better to die with a bullet than of hunger ” . Pathetic .
        https://twitter.com/aeberman12/status/1748922391735005490/photo/1

    • Ed says:

      India always tries to play both sides. Not sure what you are telling me did India side with the good guys?

      • moss says:

        Who are the good guys?
        The Hegemon always applies pressure. It’s its nature to thus extract resources.
        The QUAD is intended to rope in India, sort of like AUKUS or NATO (in Erdogan’s case)

  25. Ed says:

    When it comes to gender there are two schools. The old school gender is about a person having an innie or an outty. The woke school gender is whatever one feels in ones brain; be that innie, outty, cat, jet fighter all fine. Why do we have to have endless conversation where the two side talk over this difference in definition of gender without acknowledging the difference. Once people acknowledge what they mean then all the heat goes out of the conversation.

  26. Mirror on the wall says:

    New today from the Col. on Stephen Gardner’s YT channel.

    > Col. Macgregor Shares BOMBSHELL Intel on Ukraine and WW3

    Colonel Douglas Macgregor and Stephen Gardner discuss the Russia Ukraine war, Zelensky and Putin, the Houthis in Yemen and Iran. We also touch on US military, Pentagon Israel war and Southern Border Crisis. Macrgregor agrees with Scott Ritter that the Ukraine war is over and has become an humanitarian crisis carried forward by NATO. Germany believes World War 3 WW3 is coming and Putin will start it. Macgregor slaps this down as nonsense and then shares facts and reasoning.

    In this episode:
    1. General Ben Hodges’ stark warning about NATO’s readiness for a potential attack by Vladimir Putin.
    2. Zelensky’s diplomatic move: Choosing Switzerland to host Ukraine’s peace talks while excluding Russian representation.
    3. Leaked World War 3 document from the German Ministry of Defence, raising questions about potential conflict escalation.
    4. Sweden’s alarming prediction of future attacks, alongside concerns about Estonia and Latvia.
    5. The U.S. sending substantial financial aid to Ukraine and President Biden’s warning of potential Russian revenge attacks on NATO nations.
    6. RFK Jr.’s controversial claim about corporations profiting from the war and the subsequent rebuilding of Ukraine.
    7. A summary of the events unfolding near the Red Sea involving the Houthis.
    8. Biden’s decision to remove the terrorist label from the Houthis in 2021, subsequent regrouping, and the recent decision to reapply the label.
    9. Donald Trump’s significant win in Iowa and potential strategies to safeguard the U.S. Southern Border amid Chuck Schumer’s proposal to admit 5000 immigrants daily with immediate work visas.

    • Macrgregor says that the story in the US papers about the Russians being major aggressors and wanting to take over Europe is nonsense. Also, the story about the Ukraine doing well, and all they need is a little more military aid, is nonsense. The Ukrainians haven’t know how to use the equipment the US has sent them. It has made US military look very inept.

      The money we are giving to Ukraine really goes to US contractors. It looks like a “uniparty” running the the US. The purpose of the war in the Ukraine is to benefit US contractors.

      • Dennis L. says:

        I have no idea, but the way to find out what works is “games” with real results, ie crash and burn. Or, this is Ukraine, the Ukrainians have run the experiment and let’s say 500k of their men are dead or maimed. War injuries are horrible, even now, fifty years from my VA time, I can see the young men missing parts, their wives scared to death with a child at their side.

        As for equipment, one of the US cannons, 155mm has a very short barrel life, Russia may not be that accurate, but a thousand to one ratio of shells probably solves that problem.

        US equipment looks like a grift industry, the stuff is expensive and doesn’t work when it counts. That was the case in Viet Nam when the American rifles fouled and men lost their lives.

        The universe will deal with it, long time horizon.

        Dennis L.

    • Fred says:

      “subsequent rebuilding of Ukraine” is a laugh. ‘Ukraine’ as most people think of it doesn’t actually exist any longer. It’s just a money laundering vehicle and propaganda pump to keep the jabbed zombies distracted.

      It also has no economy, hardly any fighting age men or weapons left, is almost out of ammo and is kept on life support by free money from the US and its various poodles.

      The point being if you have an MIC to feed, any war will do. Anyway, everyone knows the US can’t and won’t pay it’s $33T debt back, so wars are needed to cover the tracks of who got us into this mess.

      As footnotes:
      WTF would Russia want to invade EU countries run by deluded globalists with poodle, clueless populations overrun by immigrants?

      ‘US Military Power’ is a chimera, as is obvious to any non-zombie. The US will do just as well vs the Houthis as it did in Afghanistan.

  27. Mirror on the wall says:

    Know thyself’ (inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo at ancient Delphi.)

    The UK Tory government reckons that they are going to soon fight Russia, China, Iran, N. Korea, basically everyone (UK Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps this week). https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/defending-britain-from-a-more-dangerous-world

    They fully intend to take us into WWIII with their ‘Lilliputian army, Lilliputian navy and Lilliputian air force’ (USA Col. Macgregor this week.)

    We all need to very careful of this lot. They have no self-awareness of their limitations and they just make up ‘stories’ about other people.

    > This is the embarrassing moment a Royal Navy minesweeper crashed into another after an apparent mechanical failure left officers unable to stop it reversing, the latest in a string of incidents that have left Navy chiefs red-faced in recent weeks.
    In a gaffe that could compromise UK operations in the Gulf at a crucial time, HMS Chiddingfold reversed into HMS Bangor, which was docked at a port in Bahrain.
    The accident ripped a huge hole in the hull, which is constructed of glass reinforced plastic. There was internal damage but no injuries.
    Navy sources suggested there was no timeline yet for when the vessel can return to frontline duties.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12986537/video-british-royal-navy-ships-collide-vessel-bahrain.html

    > Royal Navy warships collide off coast of Bahrain

    • The comedy of the British Navy doesn’t end. They aren’t going to beat anyone.

      • Foolish Fitz says:

        I doubt it was an accident Gail. The Washington warmongers are about to up the ante in Yemen, so the two captains probably had a chat and decided that they would like to live and keep all their crews alive, so came up with a plan to put both ships out of action for the duration, as they know it’s a fight they can’t win.

        It’s similar to the Iran/Pakistan missile attacks. Iran destroyed some western backed trouble makers just over the border in Pakistan. Pakistan wanted rid of these trouble makers, but didn’t want any sanctions, so were happy, although they couldn’t admit it. Strong words were spoken and an apology demanded.
        Iran then refused to apologise, leaving Pakistan with no option but to retaliate and so they destroyed the same group that also caused them trouble, but hid just over the border in Iran.
        24 hours after getting rid of the western backed trouble makers for each other they kissed and made up.

        • Interesting idea!

        • Student says:

          That could be an hypothesis, but it could mean that inside UK Navy (or army in general) something is moving against the dangerous decisiones that the West (or Nato in general) is taking.
          Because on that kind of action you say and that the video shows, not only two Captains are involved.

          • Foolish Fitz says:

            The video does appear to show either a deliberate action, or someone with no experience attempting the manoeuvre(apparently attempting to come along side), but I’d be amazed if anyone of rank in the British forces had enough spine to be that sensible. Still that’s about half the navy now out of action and AnsarAllah can be heard laughing from the moon.

            The Iran/Pakistan incident is far more revealing about the games being played. So much happening in West Asia at the moment(all to do with energy, resources and trade routes). The US Ain al-Assad Airbase in western Iraq took a beating yesterday, as their shit defense Wunderwaffe couldn’t stop the barrage and all centcom would admit is an undisclosed number of brain damaged people(read as dead).

            The illegal encampments economy is tanking and over 700,000 have run away, back to where they came from. Thousands of their weekend warriors are now dead and somewhere around 12,000 are disabled(payback for the deliberate policy of shooting children with dumb dumb bullets in the knee/hip so they would be a burden on their families?), as they slowly realise that men with guns and RPGs are harder to kill than little children and the government are at each others throats(ministers are now openly abusing and threatening the families of the hostages and their attack minister has threatened to take the army to nuttyyahoo(real name Mileikowsky which doesn’t sound very Semitic, but does sound Polish*). Multiple other countries have also joined South Africa in reporting them to the ICJ & ICC for a whole host of crimes.

            The propaganda filled idiots of the west can’t bring themselves to believe that there is nothing exceptional about themselves, so still refuse to accept that those lesser beings have played them like a fiddle.

            Expect lots of escalation as the impotent failures continue to not accept that their goose is well and truly cooked. A bully that can’t induce fear is just a loud mouth that people want nothing to do with and are not scared of pointing it out to the bully. This will now snowball, as the emperor’s bare haggard arse is on display and no one is worried about the bullys reaction when they point and laugh at the dysfunctional sagging mess.

            * https://x.com/YousefMunayyer/status/1147930958580109315?s=20

  28. I AM THE MOB says:

    NBC catches heat for cutting C.J. Stroud thanking Jesus in social media clip

    “NBC wasn’t having itself a religious experience.”

    Texans rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud thanked Jesus in a live postgame interview after Houston’s 45-14 wild-card round win Saturday over the Browns — but when the network’s “Sunday Night Football” on NBC account on X posted the clip shortly after, that part was edited out.”

    https://nypost.com/2024/01/18/sports/nbc-cut-c-j-stroud-thanking-jesus-in-social-media-clip/

  29. Dennis L. says:

    Deflation/inflation:

    As some of you may have noticed, I somewhat enjoy making a few selected bets against the crowd, Starship for example. So deflation.

    My guess is prices are coming down, dumb guess all the demand has been pulled forward with debt and there is no physical demand from those who have something to exchange for items demanded.

    If deflation, then liquidity will be an issue. SS will be interesting, retirees seeing increasing incomes and decreasing prices, demographics.

    Starship is deflationary, platinum becomes a common and extremely useful metal which leads to green energy, too cheap to meter. Steel will be so yesterday, Ti is the only way to go, damn cars will never rust and have as emissions water and be light and strong to boot. Next thing some wag will put four propellers on it call it a drone and Jetsen’s are reality. Better yet, print the car with carbon fiber, propellers and wheels. In place legacy auto manufacturing is sunk capital, deflationary. Musk goes from batteries to fuel cells.

    Musk is demonstrating cell phones communicating directly with satellites, anyone want to buy a used but functional cell tower? Satellites run off solar electricity, refine the raw materials in space with robotics, deflationary. Copilot suggests Space X satellites make 200 watts/unit, 5000 units, one megawatt or 24 Mwh. Assume $.1/kwh so energy income is $2.4M/ day with no transmission wires. That is $888m per year. Space X can reuse rockets, cost is for a few replacement parts and cow farts for fuel, so very green. A million here, a million there are we are talking real money. Now how do governments tax that energy? More policy papers at various meetings with plenty of escorts to get one through the day.

    Energy in space is limitless, man needs to balance earth energy to natural, solar inputs, move the energy pollution to space and black space becomes green. We save our precious, non replaceable spaceship earth and have peace on earth and good will to all men with a chicken in every pot. Should l run for office, my platform; may not be original will need to cite sources to avoid plagiarism.

    Summary: In one area Musk beat the solar intermittency and transmission problem, we go forward not backward.

    Dennis L.

    • Aubrey Enoch says:

      I still like the one where the old guy in the red suit is going to come down the chimney and leave me a present.
      I’ve tried to be a good boy…..

      • Cromagnon says:

        In reality it was a Mongolian shaman high as a kite on Mushrooms communicating with entities not visible to unaided humans.
        Reindeer, tent smokeholes, dancing shrooms…….

        I have definitely not been a “good boy”……the demiurge is irritated with me.

        • Dennis L. says:

          There is something to be said when the end is near and one has paid one’s dues and done what seemed to be the right thing at the time. Not easy, not fun, it is comforting.

          Dennis L.

          • Cromagnon says:

            That does sum it up Dennis……

            Entering the breach alone is difficult. Surviving is sort of a let down.

            I am impressed you grasp my meaning.

            Kudos

      • Dennis L. says:

        So noted, cost of a Falcon 9 launch to low earth orbit is $62m per Copilot, so the electrical “savings” alone per year can pay for 15 or so Falcon 9 launches by the owing company. There is no tax on the electrical energy, the cost of the launch is a business expense. How do I say win win? My competitors pay for electricity, it is an expense with no recovery. One assumes the $62m includes recovery of capital as well as all variable costs.

        Not Santa, but if you are in business, it is a nice imitation.

        No subsidies here.

        Dennis L.

      • Fast Eddy says:

        It’s kinda like the moon landings…

        • postkey says:

          F.E . believes that Laser reflectors magically appeared on the moon!
          Time, date and mission number!
          Otherwise B/S!

          • Fred says:

            I’ve got a foot in both camps. Indeed, how did the laser reflectors get there?

            On the other hand, there’s so much obvious fakery around moon missions.

            Then there’s the seismic tests that indicate the moon is hollow and other tests that say it doesn’t match geologically with how it’s meant to have originated.

            So what’s the reason for all this? Seems intended to convince us the Universe is one way whereas it may be another.

          • jazzguitarvt says:

            In 1970 the Soviet Union put a laser reflector on the moon, carried by a rover. A few months later, it disappeared. Some speculated that the rover had fallen into a crater or parked in such a way as to render the reflector inaccessible. Now, after 40 years on the lunar surface, the reflector has been found.” With no men on the moon.

    • We will have to wait and see on the deflation question. I know the US government would like to inflate its debt problems away. I suspect other countries would like to, as well.

      But whether countries can really engineer more inflation is very iffy. They somehow have to get “money” (coming from increasing debt) into the hands of people who can spend it. At the same time, their currency needs to stay “high”enough that they can buy what they need from other countries.

    • ivanislav says:

      Imagine waiting around and your dollar bills gain value. When has that happened? The entire premise is nonsense unless you want to focus in on the occasional 6-12 month period once every decade or so. Waiting for deflation is like staying up to catch the Tooth Fairy.

      • Dennis L. says:

        There was a guy, Joe Kennedy who in the late 1920’s took dollar bills(maybe $100) and placed them in safe deposit boxes. He did well, very well indeed, prescient and avoided gold which was a sure thing. That was the right side of the Au/$ trade.

        Dennis L.

        • ivanislav says:

          The fact that you have to look back literally 100 years for such an example shows you the worth of your premise. You’re wrong 99% of the time, by design.

          • Dennis L. says:

            Ivan,

            The trick in gambling, whatever is to cut your losses, you always lose most of the time. The magic number is to bet only 8% of your funds, it works, called fortune’s formula.

            The goal is not to win, it is not to lose.

            My posit is this is the universe, how many super novas does it take to get just the right sized hunk of iron for the earth’s core?

            Not a serious comment, but effectively a nice story. God blows a star and looks through the wreckage for an iron core, “nope”, blow another star, ” nope,” blow ten more and ten more “nopes” and then voila! a yup that is the one. It is a big universe, maybe someone else can find something of use in some of the explosions.

            Whatever is doing the novas has plenty of time and a hundred years would be considered bragging rights when the rest of the group sits down for coffee and describes their efforts.

            Joe was a hell of a man and he allowed one son to die in a plane crash over Europe and one to be killed because he wanted peace, not war. That is a lot for one man to give, we will skip Bobby.

            Dennis L.

        • Sam says:

          I think it comes down to what “they’ want to accomplish. With deflation and depression they are able to control the people. They get very scared and when you are expecting a check in the mail you will toe the line if what you say puts that in jepordy
          The U.S can’t handle the high interest on its debt….
          If the truth was being told we would see that the world is already in a recession. All you have to do is look around and you can see that is the case.

          • Dennis L. says:

            Agreed “The U.S can’t handle the high interest on its debt….”

            Something will need to be cut, they are looking at SS, that breaks the bond between the young and the old, if the kids don’t pay employment taxes, they don’t have to work as much, employment taxes are a non deductible expense to the employee, not employer.

            Defense would be nice but then how to the powers that be find their grift? Saw a photo of Austin’s DC home, has to be a hell of a monthly nut for a retired general.

            Per Copilot, last time Austin was seen in public was 12/19/23, over a month previous to this date.

            Dennis L.

            • Ed says:

              The generals are making plenty of money from selling the oil they steal from Syria. Not to mention heroin out of Afghanistan in its day.

    • Bam_Man says:

      There cannot be persistent deflation in a fiat currency economy. There can be intermittent bouts of deflation, but in the end all fiat currencies revert to their intrinsic value of zero. To date they have a perfect 100% failure rate and those around today are no different.

  30. Here’s a new cause of death: “medical complications”.

    “Shawn Barber, the Canadian pole vault record holder and 2015 world champion, has died from medical complications. He was 29.” (1/18/24)

    https://apnews.com/article/shawn-barber-canada-pole-vault-death-6235ffd6e062c05e9233ea2a2e769d5a

    • Rodster says:

      Remember, it’s all just a coincidence!

    • That does sound strange.

      I know that there are an awfully lot of adverse medical outcomes. Some share of those adverse medical outcomes are caused by negligence.

      An example of an adverse medical outcome, not caused by negligence, would be an unusual allergic reaction to a drug the patient had not taken before.

      • Fast Eddy says:

        29 yr old champion athletes… don’t die from complications … unless they are Rat Juiced

    • Rodster says:

      I think what probably happened is that he was pole vaulting, missed the upper bar, fell on his head and was rushed to hospital. They were to embarrassed to to say he was terrible at it. 😜

    • Dennis L. says:

      Anecdotal only: Fixx, a long distance runner died young, 52 while running. Fixx had smoked 2 packs/day.

      There was a Drumbeat editor, former nuclear submariner who passed while jogging in CO as I recall. Nice guy, well informed, heard him in DC. Can’t remember his name.

      Anyone know what happened to “The Jewish Farmer.” She was absolutely certain the world was going to end, her husband, Jewish, she was Catholic, passed on tenure as they thought the world would not last long enough. Think he was physics, she was literature or some such. Bad choice. They adopted a menagerie of children, often wondered how that turned out.

      Both she and the editor were true believers in Peak Oil. At one meeting a group even went to the DOE to inform them that soon there would be no oil, this was twenty or so years ago.

      There were two fellows, they had written a study for the DOE on peak oil, claimed we needed twenty years to prepare, etc. Chatted with them and inquired what the billionaires were thinking. They claimed not to know any billionaires, should have blown them off. Nice guys, well researched.

      Copilot to the rescue: Hirsch report.

      Key conclusions from the report include1:

      World oil peaking is going to happen, and will likely be abrupt.
      World production of conventional oil will reach a maximum and decline thereafter.
      Oil peaking will adversely affect global economies, particularly the U.S.
      Over the past century, the U.S. economy has been shaped by the availability of low-cost oil. The economic loss to the United States could be measured on a trillion-dollar scale.
      Aggressive fuel efficiency and substitute fuel production could provide substantial mitigation.
      Oil peaking presents a unique challenge. Without massive mitigation, the problem will be pervasive and long-term.

      Report was 2005.

      Results per EIA

      In 2005, the average price of crude oil was approximately $56.64 per barrel1234.

      As for 2024, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects the Brent crude oil price will average $82 per barrel56. As of January 18, 2024, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is $73.73 per barrel17

      So yeah, it went up $20/barrel, McDonald’s hamburger was $.89 those days, today $2.49. close to 3x increase and as someone once said, “Where is the beef?

      My conclusion, the prognosticators in oil have never gotten it right.

      Dennis L.

      • Dennis L. says:

        Some time ago, calculated SS compared to inflation in oil. From Copilot.

        in 2005 max SS paid was 5,580 on max earnings of 90,000 subject to tax, mult x2 to get employer/employee total.

        2024 max SS paid was 10453.2 on max earnings of 168,600.

        So over 19 years tax doubled. Oil did not double, but a Mc Donalds tripled.

        The oil doomers were wrong, wrong, wrong. They totally missed the hamburger cost increase. Well man does not live by bread alone.

        from 2005 EPA mpg was 19-21 for 2024 est was 28 mpg per EPA, basically an increase in fuel efficiency of say 33%.

        It is not the petro, it is the hamburgers which are driving inflation. That old gal was right, “Where is the beef?”

        Medicare tax rates have not changed, 1.45%, interesting. So health care costs are not inflating. But, Obama care really hurt the working, hidden cost shifting? And, there is no deducting half the premiums unless a C corporation. Very clever.

        Average price of a house 2005 was $232K, 2004 was $412K, not a double, still behind a Mc Donalds, we are missing the beef. Oil must be a small part of the cost of a house, again not consistent with the doomers.

        So inflation/deflation? Is it hamburgers or homes? Looks like the cows have it so it is time to moo on.

        Dennis L.

      • nikoB says:

        Jewish Farmer = Sharon Astyk perhaps Dennis?

        https://www.resilience.org/stories/2023-07-11/growing-food-is-work/

        • That is a very good article by Sharon. It talks about the huge amount of work after the food is grown to store and prepare the food. And, just as importantly, you have to change your diet so that you can get the majority of your calories from these crops.

          • Cromagnon says:

            Hell its not work. Just text/email me that you want a half a beef or bison carcass cut and wrapped and I will have it shipped to you direct……course you gotta pay me…….and not ask fool questions about “inspections” and if they knew when their time was up.

      • MikeJones says:

        So glad you brought up Jim Fixx, noted runner and author of the book that started the running craze back in the 1970/80s.
        Remember him well on TV promoting products and everyone’s shock on his death while running a trail in Vermont.
        Read about him and seems he was overweight, out of shape, had a high stress job and had a family history of cardio heart illness.
        Running and getting in shape probably extended his life by a decade.
        The sad thing was he could have avoid this own death by seeing a Doctor when he was having symptoms of having a heart event, which he did not do…. cognitive descendance..
        A decade ago I was out of shape, overweight by 40lbs and
        by chance bought Fixx’s book The Complete Book of Running while in a used book store along with a pair of Teva Running shoes next door..
        Thank you Jim, a decade later lost the weight and still trotting along and feel great…no heart attack yet..
        There is no such thing as too much movement as long as you are pain free…only in recent history have humans become immobile

  31. MikeJones says:

    Seems we are in the midst of the demise of the horseless carriage…the American Automobile….

    Soaring insurance rates are making it more expensive than ever to own a car, and the entire auto industry is feeling the pain

    After years of low growth, insurance saw double-digit rate increases for two years running. BY DYLAN SLOAN Forbes

    Global Market Intelligence found that all 10 of the largest private auto insurers increased their rates by double digits in 2023, following big hikes in 2022. The average American driver’s insurance payment has spiked almost 27% in the past two years.

    We last saw this level of rate increase back in the mid-1970s,” said Tim Zawacki, principal insurance analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “There really isn’t a lot of precedent.”

    Coupled with rising financing and maintenance costs, it’s more expensive than ever to buy and insure a car—which spells trouble for both consumers and beleaguered auto manufacturers relying on more demand to get them out of a market slump.

    To make matters worse for auto owners fighting high ownership costs, the resale value of their assets have dropped dramatically in the past year. New vehicles lost value at an average of over $4,500 a year in 2023, up 24% from the year prior, according to AAA research. EVs are powering this trend — an AutoTrader report released last month showed that on average, new electric vehicles lose half of their value in just three years.

    Rising auto ownership costs that lie outside automakers’ control – such as insurance rates – aren’t doing anything to help generate more consumer demand. Going forward, analysts expect insurance companies to continue raising rates in the coming years, spelling more trouble for the entire auto industry.

    The Plan: 80% of Americans Will Lose Their Car (w/100% PROOF!)
    ThisisJohnWilliams
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yGLqgdoxkkg&t=671s
    happyhealthyhuman
    6 days ago
    its pretty easy to put the puzzle pieces together and see they are planning for after we are all dead. they aren’t getting rid of cars… they’re getting rid of the people that drove those cars

    • D. Stevens says:

      Lot’s of repaving going on in my little town which includes improved and new sidewalks. I hear there’s also going to be bike lanes but I’m unsure if they’re separated or simply a stripe of paint. I’d like to walk and bike more but feel it’s too dangerous. This town existed long before the horseless carriages and I hope it’s still around after. It’s very walkable. I’m going to call my good friend Klaus and make sure it gets put on the 15 minute city list. I think that would be wonderful not needing to own a car. We’re all going to be very healthy and happy getting our 10,000 steps a day in. I’m very excited and optimistic about the future which is why I enjoy this blog.

      • MikeJones says:

        Especially when there are 80percent less bodies around clogging up the sidewalks and bikeways

    • The auto companies need to pay for the car rentals during the long wait until the parts needed for repairs to come into the shop.

      I am sure there are other issues, too. The cost of parts, in general, are increasing. The new EVs have horrible repair costs, partly because their batteries are easily damaged. Tesla’s self-driving feature seems to lead to an excessive number of accidents, too. And then there are the fires that they start.

    • Cromagnon says:

      I am starting a horse breeding program…..but I guess I will have to teach horsemanship as well…..not a lot of riders anymore.

    • Rodster says:

      To me, this is just wreaks “climate change crowd”. Price people out of their cars to save the planet. However, EV’s won’t solve the problem because a) the electric infrastructure is there, b) it relies on an aging electric grid, c) the average consumer can’t afford EV’s.

      This is nothing more than trying to put in place, 15 minute cities where you won’t need cars. 15 minute cities are nothing more than fancy concentration camps.

  32. Doug Casey of the International Man has an interesting article by David Stockman up. I don’t necessarily agree with all of it, but the article does make a number of interesting points.

    David Stockman on The Recent Attack on Yemen… And Whether The US is Starting Another War

    Except 1:

    But actually, despite the entire kerfuffle over the Houthi interdiction of Israel bound traffic, there has been no visible impact on global oil prices, even if you make use of a magnifying glass. So what in the hell, exactly, are they talking about?

    Excerpt 2:

    So even more than the failure of Israel’s vaunted intelligence operations in the run-up to the October 7th massacres, the real deep policy failure is the flaccid blue line in the chart below, slouching toward 5.0% of GDP defense spending after the Netanyahu coalition came to dominate policy in the 1990s. You simply can’t have a Garrison State policy—no negotiations with the Palestinians, no two-state solution, no continuation of the Oslo or other international negotiations process and the quarantine of 2.3 million largely destitute Palestinians in a congested dysfunctional strip of land cheek-by-jowl with the Mediterranean Sea—on a 5% of GDP war budget.

    https://internationalman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3-1.png

    In short, Israel’s $25 billion defense budget is a pittance compared to its booming, technologically advanced and robust $550 billion national economy. The latter, in turn, is 20X larger than what had been the $28 billion that passes for an economy in the shambles of Gaza—a whisp of GDP mainly funded by foreign philanthropists and so-called malign actors in the region. And even that will soon virtually cease to exist.

    Even if you count a few hundred million per year of aid from Iran and others that flows through Qatar to Hamas, there is simply no contest. Israel is an economic Goliath relative to the thin resources of the Hamas terrorist apparatus and does not need a US military shield in the region to ensure its survival. It just needs a government that will tell voters the truth about the real cost of the Netanyahu policy of perpetual war.

    • Fast Eddy says:

      It’s not overly difficult to identify the fake stuff and false flags… it is much more difficult to determine why they do it…

      How about Japan’s fake moon landing hot on the heels of the fake India landing…

      https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1gZSNw.img?w=1920&h=1080&q=60&m=2&f=jpg

      hahahahaah… I do like the solar panels… nice touch … maybe a windmill?

    • Rodster says:

      Without even reading the article it could be said unequivocally that the US is in fact starting another war, they need war. The US has showed to the world that it is the most violent and destructive Empire in human history. Decades ago I dismissed Iran’s characterization of the US by calling it The Great Satan, perhaps I should have paid more attention.

      The Washington Neocon’s with their lies and their NATO push towards the East have shown their penchant towards violence. If economic violence in the form of economic sanctions doesn’t work, then military violence along with toppling governments is their preferred option. Which typically results in societal upheavals followed by civil wars such as happened in Iraq, Yemen, Libya etc.

    • Student says:

      It seems an intelligent way to tell Americans and Israeli that Israel can go on without all the support it is receiving from US if it just spended a bit more of what it is spending now, as it can easily do it, being a rich Country.
      If Americans and Israeli need to have things explained in that way, fine.
      It is not so different from the story that it is circulating now in Europe, that is that European Countries need to spend more on their army than counting on US support, as they are doing it now.
      Fine again.

      But the crucial point is that Israel should try to find a way to have friendly relationship with it neighbours, because at the moment every nearby Country hates Israel, as also Europe should reverse its current attitude and have friendly relationship with its neighbour Russia.
      But if one tries to explain this point will not have any success, as it is against every current interest, which is ‘prepare for wars’.. better with your money, than mine…

    • The fact that the UK is a big importer of electricity is not well known.

      The amount of electricity available for export is likely falling because some of the nuclear plants are being shut down.

      The electricity supply that is available is likely available when other countries do not need it, which is pretty much the time when the UK does not need it. In other words, exports of electricity are likely to be most available in spring and fall, when the need for heat is lowest. They are increasingly likely not to be available at times of peak need in the UK, which would likely to be in winter.

    • Fred says:

      More offshore windmills UK. They’ll save you!

  33. MikeJones says:

    And the answer is…
    10 Largest Empires in History That Changed the World
    https://bestdiplomats.org/largest-empires-in-history/

    Mighty empires leave a lasting influence on civilizations as they rise and collapse throughout human history. These vast empires have a major impact on trade routes, cultural formation, and historical progression. Their influence reverberates throughout the social development of countries, permanently altering the global narrative. These empires are essential to comprehending the interdependence of civilizations and the dynamic forces that have created our globe, from the Mongol Empire’s union of East and West to the Ottomans’ widespread influence. These empires have quickly changed the path of human history and left a deep and enduring mark.

    List of the 10 Largest Empires in History
    British Empire
    Mongol Empire
    Russian Empire
    Ottoman Empire
    Spanish Empire
    Qing Dynasty
    Umayyad Caliphate
    Abbasid Caliphate
    Roman Empire
    Persian Achaemenid Empire

    These empires, each adding in a different manner to the world tale, reflect a varied fabric of human history. Even though the empires have come and gone, their legacies have continued to shape the modern world. Gaining an understanding of these empires’ effects can help one better comprehend the intricate interactions between politics, culture, and civilization that have molded our planet throughout the ages.

    While the Roman Empire contributed to Western civilization and law, the British Empire affected worldwide trade and government.
    God save the King

    • Replenish says:

      “These empires, each adding in a different manner to the world tale, reflect a varied fabric of human history. Even though the empires have come and gone, their legacies have continued to shape the modern world.”

      Appreciate your contributions to the OFW tapestry. Thanks!

      • MikeJones says:

        Thank me when you are watching the TV show Jeopardy! and are the only one with the correct response!

  34. MikeJones says:

    Melun Diptych is considered one of the most famous paintings from medieval France, with Jean Fouquet regarded as one of the most important French artists prior to the Renaissance given his ability to work with oil paint. The Virgin is believed to be based on Agnès Sorel, mistress of French king Charles VII. Today, the two halves of the diptych have been split up, with the left panel at the Staatliche Museen in Berlin and the right panel at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp.

    The article, “Acheulean Handaxes in Medieval France: An Earlier ‘Modern’ Social History for Palaeolithic Bifaces,” by Alastair Key, James Clark, Jeremy DeSilva and Steven Kangas, is published in Cambridge Archaeological Journal.

    Researchers believe that an object in a 15th-century painting is actually a handaxe that could be as much as 500,000 years old.

    Half a million years ago, our human ancestors began to use large, stone tools known as “Acheulean handaxes,” to cut meat and wood, and dig for tubers. Often made from flint, these prehistoric oval and pear-shaped tools are flaked on both sides and have a pointed end.

    Handaxes have long been a source of fascination in our social and cultural history. Prior to the Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries, people thought that they were of natural origin and referred to them as “thunderstones shot from the clouds,” according to texts, with the earliest records dating back to the mid-1500s.

    But researchers from Dartmouth College and the University of Cambridge have identified that “The Melun Diptych” (circa 1452), painted by Jean Fouquet, depicts what is likely the earliest artistic representation of an Acheulean handaxe, demonstrating that these objects had an even earlier place in the modern world.

    https://www.medievalists.net/2024/01/medieval-painting-reveals-prehistoric-artefact/

    Hmm, who would ever imagine a stone axe would be so complicated?

    • Some pre-humans started eating cooked food, over a million years ago. This indirectly allowed their brains to grow, and their need for large jaws and huge digestive apparatus shrunk. With the improved brain, more sophisticated tools could be put together.

  35. MikeJones says:

    Look out…more batteries are in the pipeline…
    Ralph Jennings and Mia Nulimaimaiti
    Published: 10:00pm, 18 Jan, 2024 Scmp.com
    A worker handles car batteries at a factory in China’s Jiangsu province, where large deposits of a critical battery component – lithium – have been found. Photo: AFP
    China unearths million-tonne lithium deposit, heating up global resource race as Thailand also boasts big find
    Discovery of silvery-white alkali metal deposit known as ‘white gold’ could make its way to China’s battery makers, in boon to already-outsized EV battery industry that is underpinning economic growth
    Despite having only about 7 per cent of world’s identified lithium resources, China refines around half of the world’s lithium and relies heavily on imports
    China says it has discovered a massive deposit of lithium, a key material in the country’s flourishing new-energy sector that has emerged as a pillar of economic growth…
    Like it or not the next big thing after oil is lithium…good luck with that one..

    • Dennis L. says:

      Always the optimist for clean, green energy; the next big thing is H, Li is so yesterday.

      Dennis L.

      • MikeJones says:

        The future is in the STARSHIP….I saw it on TV…
        The starship Enterprise receives a distress call from a lifeless planet. Upon arrival, a telepathic being named Sargon (voiced by James Doohan) addresses Kirk and Spock as his “children”, and invites them to beam down to the planet. Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Lt. Cmdr. Ann Mulhall beam to a subterranean vault where the voice of Sargon greets them from a luminous sphere on a pedestal.
        Sargon explains that he and two others are the last survivors of their race; their minds, stored in these spheres, have existed here since their planet was devastated by war. Sargon then transfers his mind into Kirk’s body and Kirk’s mind into the sphere. Sargon explains that he and his companions will need human bodies temporarily, in order to construct android hosts for themselves, and then returns to his orb. Kirk, returned to his own body, declares his confidence in Sargon.
        We came from the Stars ad we shall return to the Garden

  36. MikeJones says:

    Norman has written here more than once without the metal IRON, BAU is not possible.
    It was a very scarce item way back when…
    https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article284405325.html

    Man picks up rusty items from forest floor — and finds Roman-era artifacts in Poland
    BY ASPEN PFLUGHOEFT
    A man noticed some rusty items in a forest of Hrubieszów and found a set of 15 weapons from 1,500 years ago, photos show and archaeologists said. Photo from Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments
    Mateusz Filipowicz was at a state forest in Hrubieszów when he noticed a rusty item hidden in the leaves, The items were mixed with mud and hard to identify.
    The collection included nine iron spearheads, two iron battle axes, another ax and three mysterious objects that archaeologists tentatively identified as an iron shield holder and pair of iron points.
    Excavations of the forest area found no bones or other artifacts, indicating the site was not a grave. Instead, the weapons were likely packed into a bag and dumped into a swamp, archaeologists said.
    Archaeologists said the weapons were likely used by an ancient barbaric tribe, either the Przeworsk warrior culture or the Gothic culture. Remnants of both cultures have been found near Hrubieszów.
    Gail has pointed out that WAR or conflict engaging economic activity…
    Amazing the role it has played in our path of being civilized and modern globalist.
    Too bad we weren’t able to stay in the Garden of Eden.

  37. Ed says:

    https://hillmd.substack.com/p/infertility-surging-after-covid-shots

    An article claiming decreased fertility due to vax.

    • ivanislav says:

      Billions of people took it and the best they can do is come up with non-numerical observational anecdotes? Not worth paying attention to. There are mountains of data now.

    • The article links to lots and lots of studies showing directly or indirectly bad results, either in preventing pregnancy or in causing harm after the women get pregnant. Some may like breast feeding after covid vaccination to problems, as well.

  38. moss says:

    rolls back rock … darkness. Sniffs the still damp air; faint whiff of sulfur.
    greetings and gratitude

    Puzzling through bits of your article, Gail, and your Figure 3 from Chaisson strikes me as a little counter to my conception of the universe
    Looking at the elements in the circles magnified, the chart identifies the lowest (earliest) two points as proto and then normal stars and the highest (most recent) level on the curve as U.S. today. The title is “Trend is toward more complex, more energy-intense, forms over time”. From this I infer Chaisson is suggesting that U.S.today has a more complex, more energy-intense, form than our sun, a normal star, I assume.

    Hypothetically, what possibly could come next up the curve, beyond U.S. today, other than the End of history? Certainly looking very much like it these days. The U.S. today may well be of a much higher order of complexity, but its energy intensity I would have thought to be utterly insignificant in comparison. Maybe we’ll be shown … go U.S. today!

    And can we really take as proven such beliefs as the universe is expanding or that systems behave just as “a child grows up, matures, and eventually dies”? Outer space material can float around unexpanded for billions of years, since BigBang day it’s said, or maybe I’m wrong and they were flyspots on the painted scenery. We wouldn’t ourselves know any meaning whatsoever if we weren’t told and trained what to believe, let alone differentiate Truth from fake.

    It would seem to me that almost everyone participating (in good faith and otherwise) in politics or religion, telling the future and many even in business does so because they believe they have the power to influence the system in their own or others’ favour. It’s a long long list of believers. Above, meanwhile, surrounded by putti, the demi-diabolos appear to behave as though they not only have the power to control the system but believe they do do so; the disenfranchised, well, they’ll always be with us.

    incense burning buddha buddha
    No One Knows the Future

    • drb753 says:

      Energy density is a slippery concept. What is the volume? If you compare a human to the Sun of course the human has a higher energy density. A human does not have a higher energy density than homo erectus though and probably a slightly lower one. But if you compare the USA to the Sun, presumably up to some height to produce a volume, then the energy density is much smaller.

    • davidinamonthorayearoradecade says:

      “Hypothetically, what possibly could come next up the curve, beyond U.S. today, other than the End of history?”

      but no End of History tonight baby…

      just bAU in The Core as far as the eye can see, and then some.

      2024 wooooooo!

      😎

    • Withnail says:

      No One Knows the Future

      We know the future. Overshoot. Collapse. End of civilisation forever. Entropy tells us so.

      • Cromagnon says:

        I gave up trying to explain it over a decade ago. Its like trying to explain a coffee maker to a Cape Hunting Dog,…..or justice to a western lawyer….

        Its more rewarding to investigate the underlying structure and hidden inhabitants of the simulacrum.

        We are surrounded by organisms and machine like artifacts that our science does not even know exists….utterly surrounded by them all.

        • er——

          i dont want to ask a stupid question

          but

          how can we know we are surrounded by artifacts we do not know exist—if we do not know they exist cro?

          • moss says:

            dear old Norman, hast thou never looked through a microscope?
            the universe is repleat with layer upon layer of animal, vegetable and mineral “artifacts” our senses simply cannot perceive unless we design and build instruments through which to receive signals of their existance

            • Cromagnon says:

              It really is ironic is it not?

              We base all these “big ideas” on information delivered to us by our senses (and the tech artifacts that extend those senses)……but we also are almost entirely dogmatic in any given historical frame.
              Thomas Kuhn made it very clear in the structure of scientific revolutions…..

              Right now there is a world wide network of folks who track UAP/UFOs on a daily basis……thousands of them….all the time….completely ubiquitous……part of this reality.

              But they are all moving at speeds far beyond our senses ability to perceive.

              4000 mph-50,000 mph

              Take an iphone. Place the cut off eye filters from a pair of 3 D glasses in series over lens…..then over optical aperture of iphone.
              Set phone at highest frame rate.

              Place phone facing upward on a stable surface outside with unobstructed view of the heavens……..

              Get back to me about how certain you are about “reality”

      • Dennis L. says:

        Entropy is a poorly understood concept, recall, I studied thermo. Wolfram has a new book out on, drumroll, thermodynamics, add it to the pile.

        To be brilliant would be a great gift, ability to learn more in less time.

        Dennis L.

        • MikeJones says:

          Learned about the topic myself reading Jeremy Rifkins title of the same Entropy: A New World View..some 40 years ago

          Entropy is said to be a law of nature that constrains all we do. It is the tendency of everything to disorder and randomness. In this book, Jeremy Rifkin asserts our existing world view is crumbling and tells us what will replace it. After all, the other law of nature Rifkin addresses is that nature abhors a vacuum.

          In the book the authors analyze the world’s economic and social structures by using the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The first and second law of thermodynamics — the second of which is known as the law of entropy — both deal with energy. The authors argue that technological nations are wasting resources such as fossil fuels and minerals at an increasing rate, which if unchecked will lead to the destruction of civilization, which has happened before on a smaller scale to past societies. The authors also argue that the societies wasting resources are exploiting the “Third World”, now called “developing nations”. The wasting of resources is a parallel to wasting energy in the laws of thermodynamics.

          Wikipedia

          • Dennis L. says:

            Mike,

            Read Rifkin, his world never came and my guess it never will. For some reason, the universe keeps expanding and at an ever increasing rate. That should not be.

            The mathematics of entropy are not trivial.

            Dennis L.

            • MikeJones says:

              Of course you are correct, the Starship will arrive with our “Providers” and take care of their “children”, just like in Star Trek…
              From a planet bereft of life for half a million years, the Enterprise hears the voice of Sargon, who is able to control the ship and tells them to transport to specific coordinates which target them to a subterranean chamber. The party consisted of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and astro-biologist Ann Mulhall; the security guards they planned to take along were prevented from de-materializing. Sargon is one of only three survivors of the planet’s intelligent race – pure energy, matter without form. They tell the party that they once started life on Earth and many other places. Suddenly Sargon possesses Kirk’s body, saying he requires Spock and Ann Mulhall’s bodies, too, in order to give the only other survivors of his race new life. He promises the bodies will be returned after they build superior mechanical robots as their definitive bodies, then leaves Kirk’s and allows them to beam up and freely make up their minds. McCoy isn’t tempted by curiosity and potential benefits, but Kirk convinces him to re-think his veto. However the human bodies need a metabolic reduction injection; the alien in Spock’s body uses Vulcan mind control to make nurse Christine Chapel give Kirk, Sargon’s host, an injection that would kill Sargon (and also Kirk). Sargon’s wife implores Sargon to leave Kirk’s body before they both die – can Kirk be revived, as his mind is still in Sargon’s mind-receptacle from the planet. The aliens have more surprises in store.—KGF Vissers

              I know the future too by watching Star Trek

          • jazzguitarvt says:

            It is the only book worth reading by Rifkin.

      • moss says:

        withnall, please post pics of your yacht

    • At least some of what Chaisson says clearly makes sense. The little tiny molecules are gases. They are very energy un-dense. As molecules get larger (at least in terms of oil-related molecules), they go from gas, to liquid, to a very viscous energy-dense form.

      Trucks need very energy dense fuel; this is why they use diesel, from the long molecules. Natural gas is far less dense. It’s cost of shipping becomes disproportionately high.

      I don’t know how the energy density of cities is measured.

      • moss says:

        Surely energy density is measured by mass. Theoretically, E = mc² is the same for everything everywhere, isn’t it?
        All up and down the curve
        Even if what is intended to be shown were to be energy disspation density, nuclear phenomena like the sun would have higher density than U.S.today

      • Dennis L. says:

        Interesting, per Copilot:

        Energy eff. of fuel cell >= 60% diesel engine max 55-60%

        Diesels are pretty good. Not sure what eff is at the wheels, bet electricity has some advantage, fuel density is an issue, liquid H comes to mind, interesting handling issues.

        My thesis is do a Musk, move the process to space as in the post this thread on satellites and “free” electricity with local use and minimal transmission losses. Move information, not electrons.

        You have to start somewhere.

        Dennis L.

  39. Fast Eddy says:

    Sports Illustrated Lays Off Entire Staff, LA Times “Big Layoffs Coming”

    https://mishtalk.com/economics/sports-illustrated-lays-off-entire-staff-la-times-big-layoffs-coming/

    • Ed says:

      The new settlers are not buying SI nor LA times. They need a new focus. The New Settler Gazette, with articles on food, housing, work.

    • drb753 says:

      The swimsuit issue will be produced with AI.

      • LOL! That may be a use for AI.

        • Dennis L. says:

          I like it, will drive the hot babes nutz trying to keep up with the AI’s dreamt up by geeky men.

          Recall one of Feynman’s/Einstein’s wives saying something to the effect when asked if she understood here husband’s science, “No, but I understand my husband. ” A wise woman.

          Dennis L.

    • I saw that report elsewhere. It looks like the tip of layoff season starting.

      • Fast Eddy says:

        Maybe they shouldn’t have put a morbidly obese pig and a tranny freak on the cover of SI?

    • Fred says:

      Their demise started with a tranny ‘woman’ on the front cover. Downhill from there.

      Same as Victoria’s Secret going with fat women etc to sell sexy undies.

      Let’s give a shout out to the woke mind virus. Was it made in a lab like COVID?

  40. Ed says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uovfA1Dy6-g

    MacGregor talking about the need for action to fight for ones culture and nation.

    • Title is “Douglas MacGregor: Turkey will fight in Gaza in April, conflict will escalate into global war.”

      Doesn’t sound good!

      • Ed says:

        MacGregor has taken to saying we are walking on the edge of a volcano.

      • Ed says:

        I would expect that the possible death of the families of the voters would be the one and only topic of the campaign. But instead no comment.

      • Rodster says:

        Things are getting messy and as Martin Armstrong who has expertise in geopolitics and has advised Heads of State for over 40 years said, this is what the Neocons in Washington, want. They need a global war to cover for a collapsing monetary system they created by endless borrowing with NO intention of ever paying it back.

      • Replenish says:

        Attack by Japanese Zeroes on a “Senate City” was the main event in one of my archon downloads from the 2009-10 timeframe. (New Pearl Harbor: Istanbul or Rome). The dream was repeated with new information on the date 3/8 over several years. A minor 3.8 earthquake struck along the NY/Canadian border prior to the recent Turkey EQ. We are not separate from nature. The archetypes of the unconscious are communicated in recognizable numbers and patterns.

    • Rodster says:

      Col. MacGregor’s YT channel was removed as well as Scott Ritter.

      • Bam_Man says:

        For your own good, since it’s just “disinformation”.
        Maybe even “Russian disinformation”.

  41. Fast Eddy says:

    Cancer, cancer everywhere! “Our free press” IS reporting it—while blacking out the reason for it

    https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/cancer-cancer-everywhere-our-free-09f

    https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/cancer-cancer-everywhere-our-free

    Cancer is an excellent outcome from taking the Rat Juice. It involves a fair bit of suffering

  42. postkey says:

    “It is this kind of thinking which underpins the delusional proposition that we can replace the annual 137,236.67-Terawatt hours of energy we consume from oil, coal and gas, with wind and solar which currently accounts for just 6.5 percent (8,935.84 Terawatt hours) of that. To do so would require the construction of a Hornsea offshore wind farm (which cost nearly £3bn and took 10 years to build) every day between now and 2050… something which any serious examination of the material costs renders impossible:”?
    https://consciousnessofsheep.co.uk/2024/01/19/it-doesnt-really-work-like-that/?fbclid=IwAR3RGaXt6qrbitO_y9KZP0Qn-_t5wxDhRK-6wrQfdKp-HgdCmIPlLvtzPgw

  43. Hubbs says:

    This article posted on Zero Hedge is behind the paywall, but the title says it all.

    As EVs become exposed as a total bust, and subsidies for solar panels dry up, the green energy escape hatch that many thought would free us from oil dependency is being closed off.

    If you rely on oil then you don’t need battery storage. If you aren’t harvesting sunlight due to decline in solar panel production because of loss of subsidies that make it affordable, and not producing EVs, then you don’t need battery production either. You then have a negative feedback loop with solar panel production. If you can’t make batteries affordably, then you have no need for use solar panels. This would explain in part while solar panel prices have dropped over the past years as I have seen from my purchases of 100W Renogy and HQSC panels. Also holding off purchases of batteries for now.
    Will it be too late to reverse course and ramp up production of batteries, solar panels after production suddenly drops because of low prices producers are receiving, even if rising oil prices theoretically would make green energy industry revisit a renewed solar panel and production increase?
    Or will the real safety valve to imminent shutdown of batteries and solar panel production be an 180 degree reversal back to reliance on fossil fuels, only to succumb to decreased use of FFs as costs increase, with demand destruction reflecting a shrinking economy- the only escape hatch left for IC- and with it, eventual depopulation. The Globalists, as evil, manipulative, cowardly, and self interested as they are, at least are correct that objectively the planet can not support 8 billion people, unless drastic declines in standards of living for the masses. The problem is, that is not human nature. One group will take from the other to ensure it does not suffer any decline.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/goldman-sees-battery-price-deflation-through-2030

    • The article on Zerohedge seems to be very bullish, however. Battery costs will go down and down; EV vehicles will become affordable.

      • Replenish says:

        The batteries I bought with “Covid reset” stimulus money for $570 are now selling for $390. The cheaper competition added a “low temperature shut off” feature to the battery management system and that battery is now selling for $349. However, “my battery” has a hard metal case with a removable lid for replacing lithium cells.

        “And you know I guess that makes me the winner..” Tiger Man McCool

        Even though the spent fuel ponds are going to ‘splode and everyone in my family will get cancer and die, they will also each have a “Classic 400 Watt RV” style off-grid solar power system to run low-watt appliances.

        BAU forever.. Amen!

  44. Fast Eddy says:

    https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-china-international-travel-slow-return/?srnd=premium-asia

    In Europe, the trend is similar: More than a quarter of European cities that had nonstop flights to China now lack direct access, including Prague, Oslo and Nice. The number of Chinese cities with air links to Europe has fallen by a similar proportion.

    Sarah Sun, who operates a duty-free shop near the Palace of Versailles, said many such stores in Paris are still losing money after “blowout” spending expected from Chinese tourists failed to materialize.

    • Fred says:

      Linked to the evil Putin closing off Russian airspace to Western airlines in retaliation to the West doing the same thing to Russian airlines.

      Putin IS evil. The international rules based order says you’re not allowed to retaliate.

      • Fast Eddy says:

        Another reason for the fake UKEY war… it’s useful to have a villain to blame things like closed air space and inflation on 🙂

        Get it now?

    • We have less of the energy dense types of oil used to make jet fuel. The world has to cut back somewhere. It looks like the cutback is to a considerable extent in Asia and Europe. It is part of how the self-organizing economy works.

      • raviuppal4 says:

        From Bloomberg two days ago . Behind paywall so an excerpt . The Chinese are not flying overseas specially to Europe . They find they are not welcome anymore it seems .
        ” China’s Severed Air Links Drain $130 Billion From Global Tourism. A familiar visitor has retreated from the world’s skyways and tourist meccas. Chinese travelers, once the biggest spenders on overseas trips, have been staying close to home since the country reopened its borders 12 months ago from the Covid-19 pandemic. “

        • Fast Eddy says:

          Suddenly they aren’t welcome — cuz????

          Oh cuz they used to spend too much propping up the economy and the Europeans don’t like that

          Everything. Is Fake. A lie

  45. Fast Eddy says:

    Despite lengthy historical ties, a shared border and a growing aviation sector in both countries, there are no longer any direct passenger flights between the world’s two most-populous nations. India’s ascent as an economic power has posed a threat to China’s influence, and a border dispute has dragged on.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-china-international-travel-slow-return/?srnd=premium-asia

    This is obviously all about reducing the energy burn

  46. Fast Eddy says:

    China’s Severed Air Links Drain $130 Billion From Global Tourism

    https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-china-international-travel-slow-return/?srnd=premium-asia

  47. Mirror on the wall says:

    Russia has the best military industrial base in the world by far. NATO combined does not even come close and their ‘allies’ have not got much to contribute.

    Some of us warned on Day 1 that this would happen but if UKR wants to get hundreds of thousands killed and destroy its country then whatever they want to do.

    There is some talk about ‘realism’ these days and people get timid about living in a world without any real ‘rules’.

    But it is also about the capacity to make realistic calculations before entering a war. And the ‘west’ seems to have lost the capacity for that.

    Argubly the ‘west’ simply got lucky with an early industrialisation and it has lived off that geopolitical capital ever since – and it is not really up to any serious competition.

    NATO still fantasises that it is going to fight Russia and even China too. The UK Defence Minister was mouthing off about is this week: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/defending-britain-from-a-more-dangerous-world

    He talks about ‘realism’ but he would not recognise reality if it slapped him in the face.

    > ‘Even World’s Combined…’: Zelensky’s Stunning Statement On Chances Of Defeating Russia

    The Ukrainian President has made an unexpected admission amid the ongoing war with Russia. Volodymyr Zelensky said the combined output of the world’s military-industrial complex is not enough to maintain Ukraine’s fight against Russia. The Ukrainian leader added that fulfilling Kyiv’s military needs is “not simple”. Watch for more.

    • Fred says:

      The Ukies will be at the gates of Moscow by summer for sure.

      Weapons, ammo, trained soldiers, industrial base, rational leaders etc etc have nothing to do with winning. Only pregnant pilots, DEI initiatives, propaganda and narrative count.

      Slava Ukraine!

  48. Fast Eddy says:

    Bit odd that so many countries are landing on the moon in the past year…

    BREAKING: Japan Moon lander begins ‘power descent sequence’: space agency

    READ: https://insiderpaper.com/japan-moon-lander-begins-power-descent-sequence-space-agency/

    Why?

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