INTERESTING: A genius idea that should come to the USA

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

https://medium.com/@tomwhitwell/52-things-i-learned-in-2025-edeca7e3fdd8

{tip of the old tin foil hat to Tom Whitwell for the lead!}

52 things I learned in 2025
Tom Whitwell

*** begin quote ***

Every receipt for every purchase in Taiwan includes a lottery number worth up to £250k. It’s a tax compliance scheme with benefits. [Pablo Musumeci]

*** end quote ***

https://www.pablomusumeci.com/p/taiwans-receipt-lottery-the-genius

{tip of the old tin foil hat to Pablo Musumeci for the idea!}

Taiwan’s Receipt Lottery: The Genius Tax Trick on Desperation

  • Gambling is illegal in Taiwan. And yet, every receipt is a lottery ticket. Here’s what it taught me about luck, dreams, and the price we pay for hope.

Pablo Musumeci
Feb 03, 2025

*** begin quote ***

I buy a black tea at 7-Eleven, grab my receipt, and instinctively crumple it into a ball. To me, it’s trash. But in Taiwan, even trash can be worth a fortune.

The cashier stops me. “Wait,” she says, pointing at the numbers printed at the top. “Maybe lucky.”

Turns out, every receipt here is a ticket for the tǒngyī fāpiào, the bimonthly national lottery. But this isn’t just a game, it’s a tax system in disguise. Businesses must issue receipts to prevent under-the-table deals. To ensure customers actually demand them, the government adds an incentive: every receipt could be a winning ticket.

It’s genius. And strange. Gambling is illegal in Taiwan, yet the government runs its own lottery. Funded by the very taxes it’s designed to collect, it’s a perfect loop: sell hope to the poor, then use their losses to build the roads they’ll keep driving to dead-end jobs—with neatly folded receipts in their pockets.

*** end quote ***

As much as I think “taxes are theft” and that “tax evasion” is a problem, I can’t let a “good idea” be a complete enemy of my idea of the “perfect society”.  (That would an completely voluntary Anarcho-capitalist State.)

“What do you call it when someone steals someone else’s money secretly? Theft. What do you call it when someone takes someone else’s money openly by force? Robbery. What do you call it when a politician takes someone else’s money in taxes and gives it to someone who is more likely to vote for him? Social justice.” — Thomas Sowell

Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien. — attributed to Voltaire 1770

(Literal translation: The best is the enemy of the good. Better translation: The perfect is the enemy of the good. Variant translation: The better is the enemy of the good. Better known translation: The perfect is the enemy of the good.)

So until the USA becomes what I see as Utopia, this would be an excellent compromise along the way to being the “shining city on the hill”.

The various Gooferments run lotteries now.  Why not one like this that has minimal cost to society and might even be fun!

— 30 —


INTERESTING: The convergence of singular talent and profound disability confounds scientists

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

https://aeon.co/essays/historys-shaming-fascination-for-the-so-called-idiot-savant

The puzzle of the ‘idiot savant’

  • The convergence of singular talent and profound disability confounded scientists eager to place humans into neat categories
  • The chess prodigy Samuel Reshevsky in a simultaneous chess exhibition match, 6 April 1922. The 10-year-old won 1,491 of the 1,500 games he played against experts during his US tour. 

by Alamy Violeta Ruiz

*** begin quote ***

On 25 November 1915, the American newspaper The Review published the extraordinary case of an 11-year-old boy with prodigious mathematical abilities. Perched on a hill close to a set of railroad tracks, he could memorise all the numbers of the train carriages that sped by at 30 mph, add them up, and provide the correct total sum. What was remarkable about the case was not just his ability to calculate large numbers (and read them on a moving vehicle), but the fact that he could barely eat unassisted or recognise the faces of people he met. The juxtaposition between his supposed arrested development and his numerical facility made his mathematical feats even more impressive. ‘How can you account for it?’ asked the article’s author. The answer took the form of a medical label: the boy was what 19th-century medicine termed an ‘idiot savant’. He possessed an exceptional talent, despite a profound impairment of the mental faculties that affected both his motor and social skills.

*** end quote ***

This essay tees up another outstanding problem in human understanding.  Is it a genetic heritage or something else?  I have no idea.  Other than to marvel what Nature’s God has created.  Humanity, for all its dikw (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom) still has no understanding or explanation for simple concepts.  An “idiot savant” has talent but we can not understand it. It has the concept of “gravity” but we can’t do more than quantify it. For all our efforts to “shrink” Unknown area in Pane 4 (what is known neither to self nor others) of the JoHari window, we just seem to enlarge it further and further.

— 30 —


INTERESTING: How to memorize unfathomably long lists of information

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/p/memory-champion-explains-how-she?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febe8de59-170a-4391-9882-82e66a8b2f37_1200x675.webp&open=false

Memory champion explains how she memorizes 1,080 numbers in 30 minutes

  • Katie Kermode — a memory athlete with four world records — tells Big Think about her unique spin on an ancient technique to memorize unfathomably long lists of information.

Big Think and Stephen Johnson
Aug 05, 2025

*** begin quote ***

What image does the number 693 produce in your mind? For Katie Kermode, who holds four world records in memory championships, the answer is a theatrical showman. She has a mental image handy for all numbers between 1 and 999. The number 522, for instance, makes her visualize red lentils “spilling everywhere.” And 711 conjures a cat.

These images aren’t arbitrarily selected. If you’ve ever wondered how it’s humanly possible for someone to recite 70,030 digits of pi from memory, as Suresh Kumar Sharma did in 2015, the answer is that they’re almost certainly using a mnemonic technique — a strategy that helps you remember and retrieve long lists of information by simplifying it into more relatable or easily visualized concepts.

*** end quote ***

Quite amazing to me.  I can usually remember a phone number.  BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), a credit card number … …  nah.  I may try this system.

— 30 —


INTERESTING: I believe that ESP / PSI  —  parapsychology — exists

Monday, July 21, 2025

https://www.boredpanda.com/things-science-cant-explain/

Curiosities, Science & Technology
Jul 13, 2025
“Accurate Premonitions”: 35 Things That Still Stump Scientists Interview With Expert
Austeja Zokaite and Rugilė Žemaitytė

*** begin quote ***

Scientists have done a lot of good for our society that we should forever be grateful for, like generating enough knowledge to invent vaccines, electricity, the camera, and the Internet, among other things. They also help us answer important questions, such as who our ancestors were, why it rains, and how we can see colors. However, some things still baffle scientists, ranging from mundane ones like why we yawn to more complex ones like what’s inside a black hole. 

*** and ***

In the simplest way possible, quantum entanglement is a kind of relationship between two particles that makes them connected even when they are separated by billions of light-years. A change in one instantly influences the other, no matter how far apart they are. Talk about one seriously long-distance relationship.

*** and ***

This odd connection seemingly breaks a fundamental law of the universe. Albert Einstein even famously called this phenomenon “spooky action at a distance.”

Not so long ago, in 2022, the Nobel Prize in physics recognized three scientists who made groundbreaking contributions in understanding this most mysterious natural phenomenon, quantum entanglement.

*** end quote ***

I’ve heard “time” described as a river.  And, where it “bends” like a horseshoe, sometimes people can “see across the bend”.  

I believe that ESP / PSI  —  parapsychology  — exists.  (Faith = belief without evidence?)

Discipline concerned with investigating events that cannot be accounted for by natural law and knowledge that cannot have been obtained through the usual sensory abilities. Parapsychology studies the cognitive phenomena often called extrasensory perception, in which a person acquires knowledge of other people’s thoughts or of future events through channels apparently beyond the five senses. 

I believe this because my sainted wife Evlyn had some sort of gift / curse of clairvoyance, and precognition.  (1) When she was young, she was always very lucky at carnival games, especially if there was a ball or a wheel involved.  She played strange names or numbers with no rhyme, reason, or pattern. When she’d win against all reasonable expectations, she’d explain that “she just saw the winner”.  (2) When I was going to go o a business trip, she was very melancholy, which was very unlike her.  She was weeping, had no explanation why, and insisted that I go on this trip  — it was important to my career.  The next morning I was sent home because her father had passed away that night.  Sigh!  (3) She was incredibly intuitive with people and always drew them into “friendship” even when there was little in common,

As I read the list of “unexplained unexplanables” I felt there has to be a reason.


INTERESTING: Jèrriais continued to be used as a secret language for passing messages for the rest of the war

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

The secret British language that was used to outwit the Nazis

17 July 2023
Oliver Berry Features correspondent

*** begin quote ***

Instead of taking up arms, islanders found other, subtler ways to resist. They engaged in a campaign of passive resistance, and Jèrriais became central to their efforts. With its complex vocabulary and regional variations, the language was all but impossible for outsiders – even French-speaking Germans – to follow. As such, it made the perfect secret code, and islanders increasingly used it to exchange information, make clandestine plans against their occupiers and, occasionally, even mock their them right under their noses.

“Jèrriais articles at the beginning of the occupation managed to get through resistance messages,” explained Geraint Jennings, a linguist, scholar and Jèrriais expert who works at L’Office du Jèrriais to promote the language. “Articles openly printed that it’s best to speak Jèrriais so ‘certain people’ won’t be able to understand it – IE the Germans! Of course, they soon cottoned on to that and clamped down with censorship, but Jèrriais continued to be used as a secret language for passing messages for the rest of the war.”

Ironically, despite its wartime role, the use of Jèrriais declined at an alarming rate after liberation in 1945. Like many of Britain’s minority languages, such as Manx, Gaelic, Welsh and Cornish, Jèrriais was derided as a language spoken only by the uneducated, and it had been in gradual decline since the late 19th Century – a trend that accelerated rapidly after the end of WW2.

*** end quote ***

Fascinating stuff.  Like most of the lost languages, “We, The Sheeple” have no idea what has been lost.

Hopefully, AI and some dedicated individuals can capture and save it.

—30—


INTERESTING: Prairie dogs are the Paul Reveres of the Great Plains

Saturday, June 21, 2025

https://apnews.com/article/prairie-dogs-birds-eavesdropping-warning-0430300793f1f0e267e07e9942fad2e9?utm_campaign=website&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nautilus-newsletter

Science
A grassland bird eavesdrops on prairie dog calls to keep itself safe from predators
By CHRISTINA LARSON
Updated 10:04 AM EDT, June 12, 2025

*** begin quote ***

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prairie dogs are the Paul Reveres of the Great Plains: They bark to alert neighbors to the presence of predators, with separate calls for dangers coming by land or by air.

“Prairie dogs are on the menu for just about every predator you can think of”— golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, foxes, badgers, even large snakes — said Andy Boyce, a research ecologist in Montana at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

Those predators will also snack on grassland nesting birds like the long-billed curlew.

*** end quote ***

Isn’t “nature” amazing?

Who have thought that birds could evolve to listen and differentiate between “danger – ground” and “danger – air”?

I find this almost unbelievable.  I know from all the war movies that listening and smelling was ssential skills in most kinds of warfare and hunting. 

From my time in survival school, I know that animals had no worry about me “sneaking” up and eating them.  I wouldn’t have survived on what I could have caught.  Laugh!

In our modern world of “bread and circuses” is there equivalent skills in keep us safe.  Like “situational awareness” to avoid crime.  “Marksmanship” to end threats quickly.  “Listening” and “reading” to avoid frauds and misinformation.  “Distrust all experts, politicians, and bureaucrats” who seek to deceive us for their own reasons.

Maybe we can be like “the Paul Reveres of the Great Plains” and warn family, friends, acquaintances, others of our species, and other species to the dangers we see?

—30—


INTERESTING: Sea Gulls are smart thieves

Monday, June 16, 2025

https://www.wsj.com/articles/scientists-cant-get-enough-of-watching-gulls-steal-your-food-58866ce7?st=QyXVUd&mod=1440&user_id=66c4b9c55d78644b3a882a4d

Scientists Can’t Get Enough of Watching Seagulls Steal Your Food

  • Birds’ ability to seamlessly swap marine food for a Big Mac—and outwit humans to get it—is a source of fascination

By Natasha Dangoor
June 5, 2025 11:00 pm ET

*** begin quote ***

St. Ives in Cornwall, which Rock dubs the “world capital of food snatching,” took a more human-targeted approach. The Business Improvement District launched a campaign to pack takeouts in paper printed with humorous and informative messages about gulls. This “Daily Gull” newspaper-style wrapping featured “Tips from the experts to help you protect your pasty” and quizzes on gull species.

One tip: Stare at the gulls. 

Researchers at the University of Exeter did an experiment which showed that gulls took 21 seconds longer to approach a bag of fries when a human was watching them, compared with when the human looked away.

“It’s like shoplifting,” said Boogert. “You wouldn’t look at a shopkeeper whilst stealing from them!” 

*** end quote ***

Capturing dictation

As a long time, SHORE resident, I am very familiar with just how intelligent seagulls are. The kids love to feed them french fries and bread. One time as a joke one of them threw a mushroom with the bread. Despite several gulls, eating the bread, the mushroom was left like an orphan. Finally, some squirrel came along and ate it.

Tourists on the Seaside Heights boardwalk are often mobbed by seagulls stealing their food. Nothing is safe even a baby bottle. Well some people regard them as pests, they are fun to watch.

If the scientists are right, and I think they are, birds are descended from flying dinosaurs. One doesn’t survive a grazilian years without being adaptable and smart.

—30—


INTERESTING: NOTEBOOK LLM review of RFL blog. for May 2025 — pretty accurate from my POV

Monday, June 9, 2025

NotebookLM Logo

Sources

Chat

Studio

😤

Reinke Faces Life: May 2025 Entries

1 source

 

The sources consist of blog posts from “Reinke Faces Life,” a blog where the author shares content they find interesting, amusing, or enraging. The topics covered are varied, including the shutdown of the Pocket app, thoughts on the elimination of the penny and its connection to inflation, a review of a World War II movie, a discussion on corrosion-resistant steel for infrastructure, and advice on security for Bitcoin holders. Other posts address potential issues with government agencies, the ethics of selling scanned public domain books, a survival story, a software bug, the controversy surrounding President Biden’s physician, and concerns about Google’s search algorithms. The author also reflects on Memorial Day, offers a resource for free e-books, and criticizes government involvement in energy and air travel.

 

What is the overarching sentiment towards government and authority across these sources?

Across the provided sources, the overarching sentiment towards government and authority is highly negative, critical, and deeply distrustful. The author frequently expresses frustration and anger regarding the actions and perceived failures of government entities and individuals involved in politics and bureaucracy.

Several sources explicitly criticize governmental bodies and their impact:

The US Treasury and Federal Reserve are blamed for inflation and the devaluation of the dollar, with the Federal Reserve described as a “private cartel of the elite banks run for their benefit and that of the entrenched politicians”

. The author views the decision to stop circulating one-cent coins as a sign that “We, The Sheeple” will be forced to recognize the inflation caused by the Federal Reserve printing “so many ‘dollars'”. The author advocates for ending the Federal Reserve entirely, citing reasons such as its inability to accomplish objectives, acting against the public interest, generating unfair tax, encouraging war, destabilizing the economy, and being an instrument of totalitarianism. The author contrasts the current fiat money system with a gold standard, which they believe led to lower prices and predictable life, arguing that fiat dollars enable the “Gooferment” in endless spending, “forever wars,” and welfare

.

Politicians and bureaucrats are generally portrayed as untrustworthy and lacking incentive to solve problems

. In the context of infrastructure, the author suggests that bridges are failing because the “Gooferment” is involved in their construction and that an entrepreneur would build bridges that last longer because politicians and bureaucrats “have no incentive to solve the problems of the world”

.

The author questions the role of government in areas like air travel security and air traffic control, suggesting the TSA and FAA should be ended and these functions turned over to airlines, arguing that government involvement adds unnecessary overhead that could be better managed privately

. The author sees government programs, like the temporary ones Jeff Thomas discusses, as becoming permanent and overbearing

.

In the context of Bitcoin, the author expresses concern about “Gooferment involvement,” specifically mentioning the IRS wanting to report capital gains and coercing crypto exchanges to cooperate via KYC rules

. They highlight the ability to transfer assets without “Gooferment involvement” as a valuable use case for Bitcoin

.

The author is highly critical of perceived government cover-ups and lack of accountability, such as questioning President Biden’s physician and staff, and suggesting they should face repercussions for statements about his competence

. This situation is labeled a “national disgrace”. The author calls for reforms like term limits, age limits, and citizenship requirements for politicians and bureaucrats

.

The New Jersey “Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee Gooferment” is criticized for a significant increase in electric rates and the lack of competition in energy

. The author states the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) “ain’t looking out for the consumer”

.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is described as “unscientific” and accused of unnecessarily culling birds

. The author questions the motivations of bureaucrats in such agencies, imagining them justifying their paychecks without adding value, and states a strong dislike for politicians and bureaucrats

.

The 1986 SHIELD ACT is heavily criticized for shielding vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits, which the author believes leads to a lack of safety testing and contributes to health issues

. The author calls for its repeal

.

The author frequently uses the derogatory term “Gooferment”

 and the exclamation “Argh!” to convey frustration related to government actions or perceived failures. The sentiment is further reinforced by headings like “GOVEROTRAGEOUS” and topics listed in the sidebar such as “Political,” “Ranting,” “TYLER DURDEN,” “tyranny,” and “VICTIM DISARMAMENT”. The focus on “Conspiracy Theories” and the mention of perceived “crimes committed by the Political Class” also contribute to this negative view

.

The sources suggest a preference for private sector solutions over government involvement, as seen in the discussion of infrastructure

, airline security/air traffic control, and energy competition. There is also an emphasis on self-reliance and skepticism of authority, exemplified by the advice to “TRUST NO ONE, EVER” in the context of Bitcoin security and government involvement, the suggestion to save in gold and silver, and the inclusion of a quote about an armed society

.

In summary, the sources consistently portray government and authority as inefficient, untrustworthy, detrimental to individual liberty and economic well-being, and often acting against the public interest for the benefit of insiders

.

1 source

NotebookLM can be inaccurate; please double check its responses.

—30—


INTERESTING: “America’s Checkbook” is an interesting idea, but may not satisfy a “deep dive”

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

https://nypost.com/2025/02/11/opinion/make-doge-stick-let-taxpayers-monitor-americas-checkbook/

 Make the DOGE revolution stick: Let Musk and taxpayers reveal what’s really in America’s checkbook

By John Hart 

Published Feb. 11, 2025, 6:29 p.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

A federal judge’s decision to bar Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from reviewing the Treasury Department’s payment system is most likely a temporary setback — but it illustrates the urgent need to secure a permanent win for transparency.

Progressives are panicking because their 100-year, largely successful assault on American constitutional government is in danger of being reversed.

Thanks to Musk’s wise plan to follow the money, he has a historic opportunity to mount a coup — not on behalf of himself or President Trump, but for We the People.

*** and ***

Crowd-sourcing oversight will shift the balance of power away from the bureaucracy and back to individuals.   

“America’s Checkbook” will give citizens a megaphone and silence critics.

It will prove our leaders’ confidence in the wisdom of We the People, our system of checks and balances and the genius of America’s founders.

John Hart is the chief executive officer of Open the Books and the former communications director for US Sen. Tom Coburn.

*** end quote ***

Not sure how that could possibly work but I like the idea.

But I’m a like foggy on the usefulness of:

“Check #, Payee Joe Blow, Amount 1B$”

But it should give investigative journalists a lead.  (If there are any such left? Other than Sharyl Attkisson and James O’Keefe.

—30—


INTERESTING: Which comes first — seeing or believing?

Friday, February 14, 2025

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/02/ira-katz/believing-is-seeing/

Believing Is Seeing – LewRockwell
By Ira Katz

<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2025-02-06>>

*** begin quote ***

This short explanation cannot do justice to such a broad and important topic. But I hope you will see that while seeing is believing has a certain veracity, it is more important to understand that reality is conceived such that believing is seeing.

*** end quote ***

selective attention test

# – # – # – # – # 

I didn’t see it and now I understand the limitations of “perception”!

What to make of it?

Like the JoHari window, I realized then to always look for what I can’t “see”. 

Maybe if I had learned this much much younger, then my whole life could have been completely different!

“… checked the Eternal Possibilities Machine, which generates all the possibilities for use in creating the alternative worlds. In all those probability lines …” CHURCH 10●19●62 (Vol 1) 978-0-557-08387-9 page 45

Laugh!  I could really use that tool today.

—30—


INTERESTING: Thinking about my dreams — the sleeping ones that is

Thursday, February 6, 2025

https://www.popsci.com/science/why-dont-i-remember-my-dreams/?utm_placement=newsletter

Why don’t you remember all your dreams?

  • Whether you recall them or not, you likely dream nightly.

By Lauren Leffer
Posted 23 Hours Ago
<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2025-01-28>>

*** begin quote ***

Some mornings, waking up might feel like interrupting a vivid alternate universe. You open your eyes to reality, but the dream you were having still lingers clearly in your memory, complete with characters and plot points. Other days, waking up may be more akin to emerging from a black void with nothing to report. 

*** and ***

Sleeping after a learning task, and dreaming about that task is linked to improvement in subsequent task performance and memory, according to a 2010 study led by Wamsley and a 2012 follow-up. Further, participants remembered negative images from an emotional picture task better after a night of sleep, if they reported recalling a dream, according to a 2024 study led by Zhang. The same study also found that emotional state correlated with dream content (positive dreams from the night before were linked with more positive mood the next day), and those that remembered their dreams became less emotionally responsive to neutral stimuli during follow-up tasks. 

*** and ***

Though don’t let that trick you into over-interpreting the dreams your mind metes out. The Freudian idea that dreams align by any common code, which can be used to analyze your subconscious is “bullshit,” says Wamsley. “There’s no evidence that dreams harbor a secret meaning below the surface level, especially not one that you need a professional to tell you about,” she adds. “The person who is having the dream is the person best-positioned to say what it means. There’s no hidden manual.” 

*** end quote ***

Wow, this gives me some insights. 

It’s no secret in my family that my Mother and Father had terrible dreams.  I think it was part of what drove them to drink and madness.  In my 30’s, I developed what I labeled “night terrors”.  Horrible dreams that would wake me up in a cold sweat, literally drenching the sheets and pillows to where I had to change them.  I remember my Grandmother complaining that my maternal Grandfather’s bet was always wet when he arose.  Possibly he was having those “bad dreams” too.  He never talked much, so I don’t know.  Anyway, I learned to deal with the night terrors by recording them and thinking about them.  Some were down right comical when you parsed them out.  Naked, lost in rooms, seeing long dead relatives, conversations with people I know never met IRL, mixing eras, … … all sorts of strange stuff.  Eventually, I settled on the concept that it was my brain “taking out the trash”.  And since I didn’t want dementia or to descend into madness, I got in the habit of just ignoring them and getting about my day.   Soon the “night terrors” evolved into “interesting adventures” that were no longer scary.  And since they had no real meaning, they went into the garbage bin of “forgotten stuff”.  Some of my novel and many “index card” short stories sprung from the debris of those dreams.

I found this pop sci summary of the research interesting since it confirms: learned behaviors, meaninglessness of dreams, and unscientifically objectively measurable.

Guess I’ll never really “understand” but I’m not crazy either.  Or at least, able to function with my craziness.

YMMV

—30—


INTERESTING: An after action report about tjhe “Day the Music Died”

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

https://nypost.com/2024/02/03/news/experts-reveal-what-caused-buddy-hollys-plane-to-crash-65-years-ago-today/

Experts reveal what caused Buddy Holly’s plane to crash 65 years ago today
By Social Links for Hillary Andrews, FOX Weather
Published Feb. 3, 2024, 6:23 p.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

So many sing about “the day that music died” on Feb. 3, 1959, when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were killed in a plane crash.

Don McLean coined the term in his 1971 hit “American Pie.”

The song about the decline of the 60s starts with the death of the three young musicians, “the end of the happy 50s,” he told Forbes Magazine. 

Investigators point to quickly-changing wintry weather conditions that were not communicated to the inexperienced pilot as the cause of the crash that left such a tragic mark on music history.

*** end quote ***

Just a sad remembrance of the “happy 50’s”.

Requiescat In Pacem

—30—


INTERESTING: Here’s a factoid that must have some rational explanation?

Thursday, January 23, 2025
https://www.newsmax.com/health/health-news/mortality-death-birthday/2024/04/12/id/1160815/
 
Why You Are More Likely to Die on Your Birthday
By Lynn C. Allison | Friday, 12 April 2024 05:12 PM EDT 
 
​*** begin quote ***
 
The most common theory behind the birthday and death association is that a little too much celebrating may be going on that involves alcohol, says The Guardian. There is also the possibility that terminally ill people view birthdays as survival milestones and tend to pass on the day on either side of it.
 
*** end quote ***
 
Laugh! 
 
Some things are just inexplicable.
 
# – # – # – # – # 
 
“What you do on your birthday you do all year long.”  — Anonymous old proverb
 
Never figured out what that meant.  Does it mean, literally, what ever you do on your birthday, you’ll repeat it over and over again like the movie “Groundhog’s Day”.  Or, maybe that your attitude on your birthday, will carry on through the year.  Or something else.
 
For me, that annual day of introspection leads me to think of the things I wanna change.  Life choices?
 
—30—

INTERESTING: What worked in the past, didn’t really work, and now is part of the problem

Thursday, January 2, 2025

https://www.oftwominds.com/blogdec24/past-solutions12-24.html

What If Solutions That Worked in the Past No Longer Fix What’s Broken?December 26, 2024
“Of Two Minds” blog
Charles Hugh Smith

*** begin quote ***

You see the irony here: the more successful the old solutions were, the greater our compulsion to cling to them even as they fail.

Humans use inductive reasoning to solve problems. If a solution fixed a problem in the past, we assume it will solve the problem again. This is a rational expectation based on prior experience.

But if conditions change, the solution won’t fix the problem. It might even make things worse.

*** and ***

Make America Great Again is an explicit call to return to the solutions that worked in the past, specifically The Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, which was characterized by these policies:

1. The federal government is the problem, not the solution. The solution is to reduce the influence and financial footprint of the federal government.

2. Deregulation of private industries, starting with finance. Loosen regulations to enable financial / market solutions, even if they’re disruptive.

3. Focus on growth. Grow the economy by loosening up credit, drill baby drill, reducing regulatory burdens and taxes, etc.

4. Pursue a muscular global policy of America First. No more wishy-washy playing nice: choose sides, but choose carefully because there will be consequences.

5. It’s morning in America. We can get back on track by unleashing America’s native optimism and vigor.

These solutions from the past are compelling because they delivered decades of growth. Of course reality is complicated, and it wasn’t just these policies by themselves that spawned decades of expansion. Demographics, the “peace dividend” and many other factors helped.

*** end quote ***

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” — attributed to Einstein, Ben Franklin, and Rita Mae Brown

The Federal Gooferment is “the problem” and it’s made possible by the FED  conspiracy and the “valueless unbacked” paper dollar.

I’m tired of always coming back to the same nagging over and over.  But the fundamental flaw in this problem is an unrestrained Federal Gooferment.  

Until that is put back under control and sharply limited, we have no hope of ever getting out from under the 37T$ debt.

Just silently defaulting by inflation which is what is being done to the detriment of “We, The Sheeple”.

Argh!

—30— 


INTERESTING: Found an old ship wrecked. It can tell us about our history

Saturday, December 21, 2024

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/shipwreck-near-kenya-may-be-from-vasco-da-gamas-final-voyage-and-would-be-archaeological-stardust/

Shipwreck Near Kenya May Be from Vasco da Gama’s Final Voyage and Would Be ‘Archaeological Stardust’

By

Andy Corbley –

Dec 12, 2024 

*** begin quote ***

While the true provenance of the vessel is unclear, the discovery would be of monumental importance to the study of maritime archaeology, and the history of European exploration.

It was originally identified near the city of Malindi in 2013 by Caesar Bita, an underwater archaeologist at the National Museums of Kenya who received a tip from a local fisherman.

*** and ***

Lying at shallow depths of just 20 feet, this ship is protected by the local population, who are part of a community archaeology project and who the team intends to train so that they can monitor the finds and participate in their recording and analysis.

Elephant ivory and copper ingots have been excavated from the wreck, where few timbers from the ship remain. The divers have uncovered pieces of the hull after digging some trenches on the seafloor, but other features remain covered in coral.

*** end quote ***

While it may NOT be the headline making ship, it still has some historical significance.

I’m amazed that in 20 feet of water, it’s still basically unexplored.

I’m also amazed at the Educational Institutions that have such niche fields of study.

What can we learn?  Not even a clue, but anything we do learn shinks that Fourth Qaudrant of the JoHari window (“what I can’t see and what you can’t see).  That has to be good.  Ignorance of human history is a fatal flaw.

—30— 


INTERESTING: Are the “strange changes” a sign that there is more In our bodies than we understand?

Thursday, December 19, 2024

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14182585/heart-transplant-transfer-memories-personality-changes.html

Groundbreaking research suggests organ transplant patients are inheriting donors’ MEMORIES and personalities
By EMILY JOSHU STERNE HEALTH REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Published: 21:00 EST, 11 December 2024 | Updated: 08:23 EST, 12 December 2024

*** begin quote ***

People receiving organ transplants have reported strange changes in their emotions, tastes, and memories.

This phenomenon is most common in heart recipients, but those who received kidneys, lungs, and even faces have also noticed changes to their food preferences, music choices, and even sexual orientation.

For some patients, their new hobbies and preferences mirror those of their donors, which has led experts to question if recipients are also receiving their donors’ memories.

*** end quote ***

There seems to be so much that we don’t understand.  Reference JoHari window quadreant four —  what neither of us can see. Will this spur research into all sorts of areas that are now dormant or ignored or misunderstood.  I’d heard of this phenomenon before but never thought too much about it.  Now I wonder what new “doors” could open?

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INTERESTING: The Japanese don’t give children tests until Fourth Grade.  Maybe they are on to something?

Thursday, November 14, 2024

FROM 1440

A Timeline for Teeth

Humans’ tendency toward long childhoods may have evolved earlier than previously thought, a new study found, potentially even predating our large brain sizes. The study challenges the prevailing hypothesis the two evolved simultaneously.

The study, published yesterday in Nature, centers on the 1.8-million-year-old fossil of a roughly 11-year-old child discovered in Dmanisi, Georgia. Researchers studied X-rays of the child’s molar teeth to identify stress lines and nutritional patterns, which they used to create a visual timeline of the child’s dental development (see video).

The study suggests the child experienced slow early dental growth, relying on milk teeth for the first five years of life. Because the child belonged to a Homo species with only slightly larger brains than modern chimpanzees, the authors say long childhoods—in which humans rely on parents, grandparents, and other adults for support—may have predated humans’ ability to grow larger brains. 

Learn about long childhoods and the human brain here (w/video).

# – # – # – # – # 

I found this an “interesting” factoid.  Not sure what to make of it or how we use it in child rearing.  Maybe children have to be allowed to be children a little longer.  I’ve read that the Japanese don’t give children tests until Fourth Grade.  Maybe they are on to something?

—30—

 

 


INTERESTING: Elephant demonstrates the use of a tool — not something seen in other than humans

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/11/this-elephant-figured-out-how-to-use-a-hose-to-shower/

An elephant never forgets

This elephant figured out how to use a hose to shower
Jennifer Ouellette – Nov 12, 2024 6:06 PM 

*** begin quote ***

An Asian elephant named Mary living at the Berlin Zoo surprised researchers by figuring out how to use a hose to take her morning showers, according to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology. “Elephants are amazing with hoses,” said co-author Michael Brecht of the Humboldt University of Berlin. “As it is often the case with elephants, hose tool use behaviors come out very differently from animal to animal; elephant Mary is the queen of showering.”

Tool use was once thought to be one of the defining features of humans, but examples of it were eventually observed in primates and other mammals. Dolphins have been observed using sea sponges to protect their beaks while foraging for food, and sea otters will break open shellfish like abalone with rocks. Several species of fish also use tools to hunt and crack open shellfish, as well as to clear a spot for nesting. And the coconut octopus collects coconut shells, stacking them and transporting them before reassembling them as shelter.

*** end quote ***

It’s pretty funny to watch.  I wish I had a trunk like that for my showers.  And, the way she tosses it like a trunk extension is amazing to me.

Maybe we need to redefine “intelligence” or “human like”?

Certainly we shouldn’t be shooting them for any reason other than to alleviate suffering.  

We could learn “humanity” from animals.

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INTERESTING: Do we have “guardian angels”?

Sunday, November 10, 2024

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-14042965/truth-guardian-angels.html

The truth about guardian angels. Countless people have reported a mysterious ‘Third Man’ who helps in times of need – and their stories offer a tantalising glimpse of what lies beyond

  •     READ PART ONE HERE: ‘If you could see what I do, you’d know I can’t stay.’ Astonishing visions of heaven revealed by dying patients and doctors in a startling book show there’s nothing to fear – and the surprises that wait on the other side
  •     READ PART TWO HERE: The dead do come back to us: As scientists reveal astonishing proof, the stories that will convince you, from a drowned son who returns for bedside chats to the astronaut who spoke to his father’s ghost

By Patricia Pearson

Published: 06:55 EST, 5 November 2024 | Updated: 06:59 EST, 5 November 2024

*** begin quote ***

A new book, Opening Heaven’s Door, will make you re-think everything you thought about death. Here, in the third part of our spine-tingling series, survivors of shipwrecks, air crashes and terrorist attacks tell how they were mysteriously guided to safety.

 As he lay sleeping in a muddy trench in France one night, William Bird woke to find someone shaking him. It was 1917. He’d just been through the Battle of Vimy Ridge, and he was exhausted. Irritably, he tried to pull away — but whoever it was continued to shake him with some urgency.

So Bird — a journalist in civilian life — wearily opened his eyes and, to his utter astonishment, recognised his brother, Steve, who’d been reported missing in action two years earlier.

‘Steve put his warm hand over my mouth as I started to shout my happiness,’ Bird recalled. ‘Then he pointed to the sleepers in the bivvy and to my rifle. “Get your gear,” he said.’

*** end quote ***

I am something of a agnositic atheist.  As a fat old white guy electrikal injineer, I can see electricity but I “know” something is there.  So too, I see trees sway in the wind, but I can see wind.  

And, my “sainted” wife was so lucky I suspect that she had precognition (i.e., see around the bends in the river of time to know what was coming).  I want her to go to Duke University and be tested; she never did.  As she aged that “ability” faded.

So, I know that there is a JoHari window for all of us.  I readily admit that I don’t know what I don’t know.

BUT, big butt, I suspect here is a whole lot we, as a species, don’t know.

Sigh!

Very hard to make decisions based on incomplete information!  For sure, there is a LOT of dikw (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom) that we are unable to comprehend.

Dona Nobis Pacem

—30—


INTERESTING: Pirate library hides in plain sight?

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/09/pirate-library-must-pay-publishers-30m-but-no-one-knows-who-runs-it/#p3

“This site can’t be reached” —
Pirate library must pay publishers $30M, but no one knows who runs it
Some Libgen links can’t be reached after broad takedown order.

Ashley Belanger – 9/26/2024, 1:25 PM

*** begin quote ***

Because Libgen’s admins remain anonymous and elusive—and previously avoided paying a different set of publishers $15 million in 2017—McMahon granted publishers’ request for an uncommonly broad injunction that may empower publishers to go further than ever to destroy the shadow library.

Under the injunction, not only is Libgen banned from sharing copyrighted content, but so are “all those in active concert or participation with” anyone connected to Libgen. The order forbids anyone from hosting Libgen, registering Libgen domains, or providing cloud storage, file-sharing, or advertising services, among other restrictions. Even using tools to display links or enabling browser extensions linking to Libgen is forbidden under the order.

But even under such a broad injunction, the question remains whether publishers can succeed in taking down Libgen—which openly informs users that using its platform violates copyright laws and encourages them to pirate books anyway.

*** end quote ***

This raises a bunch of questions.  How are they able to hide so effectively?

I wonder if a rogue nation like North Korea, Afghanistan, or such would host a website like this for “free” access to all the dikw (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom) that Users could upload.

Hmm!

—30—


INTERESTING: Be careful if you buy pineapple in the evening. you may get “bumped”

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

https://news.sky.com/story/spanish-supermarket-shoppers-using-pineapples-to-search-for-love-in-surprising-new-craze-13209178?utm_placement=newsletter

Spanish supermarket shoppers using pineapples to search for love in surprising new craze

  • As part of the TikTok craze, singletons have been drawn to branches of the chain Mercadona where it is claimed they can find romance if they visit between 7pm and 8pm and put a pineapple upside down in their trolley.

Tuesday 3 September 2024 19:44, UK

*** and ***

A social media craze in Spain where people are encouraged to seek out prospective partners in supermarkets with the help of pineapples has led to some chaotic scenes.

In the city of Bilbao, northern Spain, police were reportedly called by workers after a flash mob of hopeful singles packed a Mercadona store and “overwhelmed” it.

The crowd quickly dispersed when officers arrived, and no one was arrested in the incident.

Singletons have been drawn to branches of the supermarket chain, where it is claimed they can find romance if they visit between 7pm and 8pm and put a pineapple upside down in their trolley.

*** and ***

According to surinenglish.com, Lidl has sent a message to all its customers in Spain entitled: “La hora del amor” (the hour of love).

It went on to say, “In this mass mailing, the company invites their customers who are looking for love to come between 6pm and 7pm with a watermelon in your trolley” as a sign that they are looking for a partner.

*** end quote ***

I guess this is better that meeting strangers in a bar.  But not as safe as meeting someone in church.

In my day, all the grandmothers would arrange dates for their eligible grandchildren.  Often with a chaperone.  Not as bad as that scene from the Godfather,  Laugh!

Not a bad idea to sell pineapples and watermelons.

—30—


INTERESTING: New use for K9 — reverse tracking

Sunday, August 4, 2024

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/after-rescuing-non-verbal-child-k9-officer-follows-the-boys-scent-in-reserve-to-find-his-home/

K9 Officer Rescues Lost Non-Verbal Child by Following the Boy’s Scent in Reverse to Find His Home
By Andy Corbley –  Jul 25, 202

*** begin quote ***

In North Carolina, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office received a call that a child was wandering alone on the road on July 7th.

Dispatching an officer to the Waxhaw Indian Trail Road, the child was located and secured, but being autistic and non-verbal, the officer had no idea where the boy had wandered away from.

Being that the responder was a K-9 Unit, and was working alongside his trusty 1-year-old bloodhound Remi, Deputy B. Belk utilized the dog’s incredible sense of smell to “reverse” the normal scent tracking process to find the boy’s home.

“Normally, [scent dogs] track from where a person left to try to find where that person is currently. This time we were doing it reverse,” said Lieutenant Public Information Officer James Maye to CNN.

*** and ***

Lieutenet Maye explained the technique of reverse tracking would now be implemented in the training curriculum for K-9 officers.

*** end quote ***

Excellent work.

I can almost hear the dog’s thoughts now  — “Yeah, I smell the scent and the person is right over there now.  What exactly do you want me to find?  Him?  He’s over there.”

I don’t know how they communicated to the dog they wanted him to back track.

As a fellow with a six year old, I can COMPLETELY understand how a child can “disappear” in a heartbeat.  Just recently I had mine “disappear” into the basement.  Argh!  

I can recommend Angel Sense tracking device as a service to make sure you know where the child is.

https://www.angelsense.com/

—30—


INTERESTING: If I was an impala, I’d be called “Lunch” or maybe, if lucky, “Lurch”

Saturday, August 3, 2024

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240724-what-olympic-athletes-can-learn-about-running-from-cheetahs?ICID=ref_fark

What Olympic runners can learn from cheetahs
Sophie Hardach

*** begin quote ***

Cheetahs are famous for being the fastest land animals – but research suggests there’s much more to their athleticism than just speed.

Imagine you are an impala, racing across the African savannah to try and escape a cheetah – the world’s fastest land animal, which can reach a running speed of more than 100 km/h (62 mph). It may seem like a hopeless effort, but in real life, impalas do sometimes manage to get away. Which running strategy do you think would give you the best chance of beating the cheetah?

A. Fast and in a straight line

B. Fast and zig-zag

C. Slow and in a straight line

D. Slow and zig-zag

A growing body of research on wild cheetahs and their prey not only reveals the answer to this quiz – more on this below – but also offers wider insights into why exactly cheetahs are so fast, and what we might learn from them to help our own athletic pursuits.

*** end quote ***

If it was me, I’d have to fight.  No change for this fat old white guy injineer to run or doge.  Of course, YMMV and faiwwypfi (Free Advice Is Worth What You Pay For It! ?zero?) ! ! ! 

I found this very interesting and well written.  I needed a choice “E. None of the Above”.  Which we should also have in elections, imho.

—30—


INTERESTING: Can pets can sense when we’re in pain or dying? Seems possible

Monday, July 29, 2024

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13664877/pets-sense-pain-dying-hundreds-miles-away-ex-Cambridge-academic-dr-rupert-sheldrake.html

Our pets can sense when we’re in pain or dying – even from hundreds of miles away: I’m an ex-Cambridge academic and these startling, inexplicable stories convinced me..
By Dr Rupert Sheldrake
Published: 21:21 EDT, 23 July 2024 | Updated: 22:11 EDT, 23 July 2024 

*** begin quote ***

For more than 30 years I have been collecting case evidence of animals that appear to know by intuition or telepathy when the humans they love have suffered a serious, sometimes fatal, accident.

The existence of so many independent reports is persuasive, writes Dr Sheldrake, who has been collecting evidence of animal intuition or telepathy for more than 30 years 

The bond between owner and animal is indeed a real connection, linking them together invisibly, even over thousands of miles

This isn’t a subject that lends itself to experimental investigation. Evidence can only come from chance events, not laboratory tests, since it is obviously impossible to stage dangerous incidents. But in my files I now have more than 100 accounts of dogs appearing to respond to distant injuries or deaths of their human companions, and about half as many cases involving cats.

The existence of so many independent reports persuades me that this is a real phenomenon, even though it is not possible to do experiments. Further research is needed through the collection of more well- documented stories.

My theory is simple: the bond between person and animal is indeed a real connection, linking them together invisibly, even over thousands of miles. Death and danger disrupt this bond.

To take a simple analogy, if two people are connected by a stretched elastic band, and one of them shakes it or lets it go, the other feels a difference. Even if they do not know exactly what is happening to the other person involved, they know something is happening.

*** end quote ***

Based on anecdotal evidence, his theory seems to have some basis in fact.  I haven’t formed a “reasoned belief” to any degree of certainty, but it certainly seems possible.  I’ve read many stories about “loyal dogs”, graveside visits, and such.  We know that dogs can smell disease, so why can’t they have some type of ESP.  We have seen anecdotal evidence about the connection of human twins.  Why can’t there be more to the physical world than we know right now?

—30—


INTERESTING: Which Beer Tastes Better?

Saturday, July 20, 2024

https://www.insidehook.com/beer/can-bottle-draft-which-beer-tastes-better

Can, Bottle or Draft: Which Beer Tastes Better?

  • What you drink your beer out of has an impact on its flavor

By Mike Dunphy 
July 11, 2024 12:06 pm

*** begin quote ***

The same phenomenon happens in the beer world, when enthusiasts deliver passionate panegyrics and firm convictions on the superiority of beer in a can, bottle or keg. Subjectivity keeps the debate ongoing, but chemistry and fermentology — alongside a bevy of other packaging factors — do have something to say about it and may challenge your beliefs. Here’s what really makes the difference in the flavor of your beer when it comes to the can, bottle or draft debate.

Packaging vs. Freshness

Just as an artifact uncovered by an archaeologist immediately begins to degrade in the open air and sun, so too does beer the moment it leaves the mother tank and funnels into cans, bottles and kegs. By and large, these chemical changes are not welcome, and preserving the freshness and flavor of beer depends a lot on keeping out the culprits. 

The most dangerous element is oxygen, explains Chuck Skypeck, technical brewing projects director for the Brewers Association. “The way that beer arrives at its best state to the consumer is about the brewer’s ability to put their beer into that package with a minimum amount of exposure to oxygen,” Skypeck explains. Oxygen impacts the flavor by essentially turning compounds in the beer into other, less desirable compounds that dull flavor and make beer taste stale. Oxygen gets many access points, too, in the path from source tank to consumer. Not only do you have to move beer between tanks during production, potentially exposing it to air, you also have to open the container to put beer in it. Bottles and cans can be damaged on the production line, or a pump seal might leak, too — again putting the onus on the brewer’s skill, system and equipment.   

*** end quote ***

But the question is never answered.  So I assume that all three are equivalent all other factors being equal.  So you’re on your own and have to rely on your own taste buds.

FWIW YMMV faiwwypfi (Free Advice Is Worth What You Pay For It! ? zero?)

—30—


INTERESTING: THere’s more than one unique calendar in use in the world

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

https://www.cnn.com/travel/ethiopian-unique-calendar-year/index.html?utm_placement=newsletter

The country where it’s still 2016
By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN
Updated 9:18 AM EDT, Sun June 16, 2024

  • In Ethiopia, the birth year of Jesus Christ is recognized as seven or eight years later than the Gregorian, or “Western” calendar. New Year, or Enkutatash, is celebrated in September, when the Adey Abeba flower, indigenous to Ethiopia, blooms.

*** begin quote ***

On September 11, Ethiopians will celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another.

However, when the East African country rings in its New Year in a few months, it will technically be 2017, according to the Ethiopian calendar.

So why is Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, seven years and eight months “behind” much of the rest of the world? And how does that work for Ethiopians living on an increasingly interconnected planet that mostly operates in an entirely different era?

The answers lie in traditions that date back centuries – and a firm sense of national identity. 

*** end quote ***

I found this most interesting.  I’d never heard of “Ethiopian time”, but have heard of the Greek Orthodox and Muslim calendars.

I’ve blogged about suggested “new” calendars.

https://reinkefaceslife.com/2020/03/02/innovation-forget-leap-day-theres-a-serious-plan-to-replace-it-with-an-extra-week/

And even an “Indian time system”.

https://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to-2/how-did-native-americans-keep-time-without-a-watch-or-calendar/

Unfortunately, “inertia” and human stupidity will prevent any meaning fun change.

—30—