There have been people who have brought up the fact that cars can be hacked. There have been cases where cars did weird things and people died if I remember correctly.. Anyway an EMP from the sun or nuclear device or some hackers taking over your E.V. or computer controlled car is why a 57 Chevy with a 327 is looking better all the time !! Stop all transportation and you have a society by the shot hairs IMO>

Quote:under it's unrestricted warfare paradigm, nothing is considered off limits. That's why you should be worried that China makes so many components that go into vehicles. China can easily hack those vehicles and take control of your car. And it's not just whoever owns the vehicle—Chinese hacking could present a threat to anyone who's nearby. Watch this episode of China Uncensored for more on how China just made driving a whole lot more dangerous.

News and Views from the Nefarium

Quote:August 16, 2023 / Joseph P. Farrell

Maui is burning, the Quislings in charge of "the West" are betraying their countries, doubling down on a sanctions war against Russia they cannot win, and willing to fight that war to the last drop of Ukrainian blood; the western economies are a trash heap of "financial instruments" and - surprise surprise! - the West has discovered that it cannot sustain a major industrial war against Russia because it shipped its manufacturing capacity overseas decades ago, so, too bad for the Ukraine which chose to believe all those empty promises about arms aid that it can't even provide enough ammunition for.


Amid this geopolitical chaos, Russia has chosen to return to the Moon with a soft lander probe called Luna 25, according to this article shared by T.S.:

Russia Launches First Moon Mission after Half-Century Hiatus

The purpose is to search for and hopefully find water ice near the lunar South Pole, which if found would greatly facilitate any permanent human presence there:

Quote:Russia has launched uncrewed spacecraft to the Moon’s south pole — its first lunar mission in 47 years. If successful, the mission would be the first to land in the region, and could mark the start of considerable activity there from multiple countries and private companies.

“It’s an area where we might expect to see increased concentrations of water ice,” says Simeon Barber, a planetary scientist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK. “As you go further towards the pole, it gets colder and the potential for water ice increases.”

Luna 25 launched at 11.11 p.m. UTC on a Soyuz rocket on 10 August from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in eastern Russia — marking a move away from Russia’s dependence on Kazakhstan, which hosts its main launch site, the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It will take around five days for the spacecraft to reach a 100-kilometre orbit around the Moon. The landing attempt is scheduled for 21 August at the 100-kilometre-wide Boguslawsky crater, about 500 kilometres from the Moon’s south pole.

Notably, everyone who is anyone appears to be in a race for the lunar South Pole:

Quote:This is the first of many missions planned for the south pole. India’s Chandrayaan-3 will attempt to land in the region on 23 August. China plans to send a rover there in 2026, and NASA’s Artemis programme, which will attempt to return humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, is also focusing on the south pole. As part of Artemis, several US companies are set to attempt landings there in the coming years.

The question is why did Russia choose now of all times, with the "home front" - planet Earth - being such a geopolitical mess, thanks to the Neocon regimes in charge of "the West"?  The article gives one answer, an answer that in my opinion is perfectly unbelievable:

Quote:Luna 25 is “an opportunity to steal the march on other people get some positive publicity,” says Roger Launius, NASA’s former chief historian.

A big publicity stunt? Sorry, I'm not buying. Russia doesn't go to the expense to engineer a lunar lander and then the expense to launch it just for a publicity stunt. This is not the 1950s and Luna 25 isn't Sputnik.

Then there's the "search for ice" explanation, with the usual bows to human habitation and rocket fuel:

Quote:Orbital data since the 1990s suggests the Moon’s poles contain sizeable quantities of water ice, which, if accessible, could be a valuable resource for future human missions. “You can generate hydrogen and oxygen from it which could be used to produce either drinking water, breathable air, or even to produce rocket fuel,” says Nico Dettman, Lunar Exploration Group Leader at the European Space Agency. That could make the Moon “a stepping stone for further destinations” in the Solar System.

But that explanation is a bit wanting too:

Quote:Luna 25’s main instrument is a robotic arm that will attempt to dig up to 50 centimetres into the floor of the Boguslawsky crater to look for signs of water ice. Barber had been part of a European team that would have collaborated with Russia on these activities and a planned follow-up mission, Luna 27, but the collaboration ended last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
...
But the Russian mission striking ice at Boguslawsky is “pretty unlikely”, because temperatures in the crater are too high, says Margaret Landis, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. More promising might be a smaller and more deeply shadowed crater within Boguslawsky, but it’s unclear if Russia could attempt a landing here. (Roscosmos declined Nature’s request for interview.)

So what is going on? What's Russia's real motivation?

I strongly suspect that it's a physics-related explanation, and indeed, the article implies as much:

Quote:Luna 25 will also image the surface, study the interaction between the solar wind and the Moon, and deploy a laser reflector to precisely measure the Earth–Moon distance. Providing the landing goes smoothly, the craft is expected to operate for one year.

The interaction between the solar wind and the Moon? To me, this implies that, for whatever reason, Russia is (suddenly?) interested in the interaction between the solar wind and the Kordilewski dust plasma cloud that hovers between the Earth and the Moon, and that perhaps the Luna probe will be taking all sorts of data not only on the Moon, but on the way to the Moon. Notably, the probe will be orbited for a few days before a landing is attempted, and that strongly suggests to me that the real purposes involve some physics of the Earth-Luna-Sun system, as much as it involves a search for water ice.

Indeed, part of that orbital mission appears to be a mapping mission.  And for a bit of off-the-end-of-the-twig high octane speculation, perhaps Luna 25 also has as a hidden goal to detect the remnants of the damage caused by NASA's infamous "L-CROSS" "lander".  Remember that one? NASA's big build-up to literally smash a "lander" into the very same south polar region of the Moon in order - we were told - to examine the debris kicked up by the collision to look for water and other interesting things.  Remember how they told us the collision might even be visible from Earth? "Look up everyone! It will be quite a show!"  And remember what a "fizzle" the results were? And of course, when one crosses four "L's" one gets a familiar you-know-what... favorite symbol of a political party that once invaded Russia, made deals with the Ukraine, and which recently proudly displayed such symbols in its war against Russia...


...so indeed, perhaps there are deeply hidden "stacked functions" behind Russia's return to the Moon now, to find out more about the solar wind and the Moon, the Earth-Moon-Sun system, dust plasmas, and mapping of the lunar surface.

But just to look for water ice?

Nope. That dog doesn't hunt...

See you on the flip side...

The power of DNA to align quantum rods that may help usher in a new era of enhanced television DNA. Oh boy!

Quote:DOE-Funded Quantum Rods Breakthrough Could Enable Ultra High-Def Virtual Reality by Christopher Plain August 14, 2023

A breakthrough at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), funded by the Department of Energy (DOE), is utilizing the power of DNA to align quantum rods that may help usher in a new era of enhanced televisions and ultra-realistic virtual reality (VR) devices.

Some modern high-end TVs already make use of the dynamic luminescent qualities of two-dimensional (2D) quantum dots, but finding a way to tap into the superior qualities of their two-dimensional cousins, quantum rods, has remained elusive. However, the researchers behind this latest effort claim that the situation has now changed.

The Secrets of Realistic VR and Star Trek Holodecks May Lie in the Quantum Realm

In science fiction, things like holograms and virtual reality are often commonplace. However, present-day engineers are still working to improve both technologies enough that they function anywhere close to a Star Wars distress hologram from Princess Leia, let alone a full-blown Star Trek-style holodeck that looks and feels like reality.

As a matter of fact, there are still ongoing efforts to improve TVs, monitors, or even the screens on mobile devices that don’t involve 3D holograms of virtual reality. In some cases, those engineers have begun to turn to the quantum realm for answers. That’s because, along with their extreme strength and durability, two-dimensional materials like graphene or quantum dots also offer a wide array of optical and electromagnet properties.

Unfortunately, none of those efforts have been able to tap into the exceptional optical properties of quantum rods, which include the ability to control both the polarization and color of light. Both are qualities needed in many virtual reality and holographic technology concepts.

The main issue has been that the quantum rods, which are essentially elongated quantum dots, all need to line up in the same direction to be of any use, or their properties often cancel each other out. Still, getting them to align has been nearly impossible.

Now, a team of MIT researchers who have received funding from the DOE, the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH) say they have developed a technique that is extremely effective at aligning quantum rods, is vastly less expensive than current nano-scale fabrication techniques, and can be performed in minutes.

Where the Magical Properties of DNA and 2D Quantum Rods Meet

Over the last 15 years, Mark Bathe, professor of biological engineering at MIT, has been working on using the seemingly magical programmability of DNA to build nano-scale scaffolds that have particular patterns that may be useful for all kinds of things, such as customized drug delivery devices, biosensors, and even light-harvesting devices. It’s a process sometimes referred to as DNA origami, and it is something Bathe and his fellow researchers hoped could offer a clever method of arranging quantum rods in a precise way to take advantage of their optical properties.

“One of the challenges with quantum rods is: How do you align them all at the nanoscale so they’re all pointing in the same direction?” Bathe explains. “When they’re all pointing in the same direction on a 2D surface, then they all have the same properties of how they interact with light and control its polarization.”

To see if it could be done, Bathe enlisted MIT postdocs Chi Chen and Xin Luo, who are also lead authors of the paper published in the journal Science Advances, Robert Macfarlane, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, Alexander Kaplan, Ph.D. ’23, and Moungi Bawendi, the Lester Wolfe Professor of Chemistry, and they got to work.

Luckily, Bathe’s lab had recently developed methods that allow researchers to enter the DNA scaffold shape they want to create into a computer, and the program quickly calculates the exact DNA sequences that will self-assemble into that shape.

After zeroing in on a pattern they thought would make a perfect scaffold for aligned quantum rods, the team needed a way to fuse the DNA to the nano-scale rods so they could grow the perfect scaffold with the rods already aligned and in place.



According to the press release, Dr. Chen developed a customized process that involves “emulsifying DNA into a mixture with the quantum rods, then rapidly dehydrating the mixture, which allows the DNA molecules to form a dense layer on the surface of the rods.” The researchers point out that this process only took a few minutes, which is significantly faster than any current method of attaching DNA to particles this small. It also may be the key to making this process commercially viable.

“The unique aspect of this method lies in its near-universal applicability to any water-loving ligand with affinity to the nanoparticle surface, allowing them to be instantly pushed onto the surface of the nanoscale particles,” Chen said. “By harnessing this method, we achieved a significant reduction in manufacturing time from several days to just a few minutes.”

Next, due to the power of DNA, the scaffold essentially self-assembles around the quantum rods. And since the researchers were able to program the DNA to build a scaffold to hold them in a specific pattern and at specific distances, the end result was a surface of nearly perfectly aligned quantum rods.

“The quantum rods sit on the origami in the same direction, so now you have patterned all these quantum rods through self-assembly on 2D surfaces, and you can do that over the micron scale needed for different applications like micro-LEDs,” Bathe explained. “You can orient them in specific directions that are controllable and keep them well-separated because the origamis are packed and naturally fit together, as puzzle pieces would.”

That last part is key, as quantum rods that are too close together tend to “quench” or suppress the light-emitting qualities of each other.

“The method that we describe in this paper is great because it provides good spatial and orientational control of how the quantum rods are positioned,” explained Macfarlane.

Sharper TV is Cool, but What About My Holodeck?

The researchers behind this breakthrough method for assembling scaffolds of quantum rods say it is only the first step toward all types of amazing applications, including ultra-realistic virtual reality displays.

“The next steps are going to be making arrays that are more hierarchical, with programmed structure at many different length scales,” Macfarlane said. “The ability to control the sizes, shapes, and placement of these quantum rod arrays is a gateway to all sorts of different electronics applications.”

Of course, the holodeck from Star Trek combined a number of different (fictional) technologies to make a nearly perfect virtual environment, many of which are still a long way away from being invented, if ever. But if this newest method does prove to be commercially viable, the idea of creating a virtual environment that looks significantly more realistic than anything currently available may suddenly be a whole lot closer.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com

Quote:The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) started this program in 2012, as set forth in its 10-year strategic vision to serve community science as a user facility pioneering functional genomics to solve the most relevant bioenergy and environmental problems.

Among major initiatives of the DNA Synthesis Science Program are:

1. Genome to Enzymes and Pathways, which focuses on large-scale discovery, identification, and characterization of enzymes and pathways that are relevant to the DOE missions. In collaboration with other science programs, we actively develop bioinformatics tools to mine unique enzymes and pathways involved in lignocellulose decomposition, carbon-carbon bond formation (e.g., CO2 fixation) and breaking reactions, redox reactions, and biosynthesis of plant secondary metabolites through the JGI’s proprietary genome portals. These enzymes and pathways are subsequently synthesized and biochemically characterized. If needed, combinatorial (mutant) libraries are generated for further characterization.
   
2. Rapid Metabolic Engineering. Metabolic engineering traditionally utilizes a stepwise approach for strain development, requiring cycles of construct design, building, and characterization. In partnership with the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), we are developing tools including ICE and DIVA to rapidly design combinatorial construct variations. These constructs are subsequently synthesized and tested for their ability to produce desired chemicals.

DOE Joint Genome Institite

Apparently, a significant portion of the MDMA (ecstasy/molly/mandy) coming into the USA and Europe in the 1990s and early 2000s came from a South African biowarfare program overseen by the apartheid government and a trafficking operation controlled by Israeli organized crime. Wut?! No, C'mon! Special treat at bottom!

The South African program mostly manufactured stuff like tear gas & poisons that could be used to assassinate leaders of the anti-Apartheid movement, but it produced so much MDMA that the amount the leader claimed he sold was a tiny fraction of it.


Project Coast


As for the Israeli connection, (just before 9/11) more info here...


Drugs trafficking arrest leads police to Israeli underworld

Remember folks, settler-colonies that plunder together sell narcotics to their own college students together.


Some examples of Special Forces, US intelligence, national security & banksters collaborating with/facilitating the drug trade. Most of these come from this excellent compilation of info on tHE r H i z z o n E (an on­line message board where shit-tier Maoist Third Worldists and other random nerds can meet and mingle")

Quote:An investigation by El Universal found that between the years 2000 and 2012, the U.S. government had an arrangement with Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel that allowed the organization to smuggle billions of dollars of drugs while Sinaloa provided information on rival cartels.

The DEA and other U.S. agencies declined to comment to El Universal.

[UPDATE 1/14] This post has caused many to interpret that the U.S. government is actively supporting Sinaloa. That has not been established, despite claims by Zambada- Niebla's lawyer and Stratfor's source . What El Universal's investigation and the newly published court documents reveal is that there was a strong correlation from 2005 and 2009 between the rise of the Sinaloa cartel and the DEA's relatively regular contact with a top Sinaloa lawyer.

CONFIRMED: The DEA Struck A Deal With Mexico's Most Notorious Drug Cartel (January 13, 2014)

Quote:...a “simulated war” in which the Mexican and US governments are willing to show favor to a dominant narco-trafficking organization in order to minimize the violence and business disruption in the major drug plazas, or markets."

US, Mexican Officials Brokering Deals with Drug “Cartels,” WikiLeaks Documents Show (August 20, 2012)

Quote:Kent’s memorandum contains some of the most serious allegations ever raised against U.S. antinarcotics officers: that DEA agents on the front lines of the drug war in Colombia are on drug traffickers’ payrolls, complicit in the murders of informants who knew too much, and, most startlingly, directly involved in helping Colombia’s infamous rightwing paramilitary death squads to launder drug money.

The memo further claims that, rather than being simply a few “bad apples” who need to be reported to their superiors, these allegedly dirty agents are being protected by an ongoing cover-up orchestrated by “watchdog” agencies within the Justice Department.
Leaked Memo: Corrupt DEA Agents in Colombia Help Narcos and Paramilitaries

Quote:HSBC Holdings' (HSBC) agreement to pay a $1.9 billion fine to regulators for serving as a middleman for Mexican drug cartels and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement points to a lack of adequate control processes in compliance and anti-money laundering.1 Given the bank's size, it appears that it and some of its peers are too big to jail because they are too big to fail.
HSBC's Money Laundering Scandal (July 19, 2023)

Quote:...a decorated U.S. Army Special Forces soldier was arrested and charged in relation to an attempt to smuggle 90 pounds of cocaine from Colombia to Florida, but he may just be one player in a multimillion-dollar operation.

Army Master Sgt. Daniel Gould was arrested in Florida on August 13 in connection with an attempt to bring 90 pounds of cocaine into the U.S. on a military aircraft, defense officials told NBC News earlier this month. That haul would be worth several million dollars on U..S streets.

Gould was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group based at Eglin Air Force Base in northwest Florida.

That Army Special Forces Soldier Busted For Drug Smuggling May Be Part Of A Larger Ring (Aug 30, 2018)

Quote:A former 7th Special Forces Group soldier and a West Virginia National Guard Special Forces soldier pleaded guilty Dec. 21 and Dec. 17, respectively, to two federal charges each of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, according to court documents and a release from the Justice Department.

Former Master Sgt. Daniel Gould, 36, and Sgt. 1st Class Henry Royer, 35, had planned to smuggle 90 pounds of cocaine ― about $1 million worth ― on a military transport plane from Colombia to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, according to federal court documents.
Army Times

Quote:A classified 2009 memo from the U.S. State Department published by WikiLeaks claimed that their own incomplete official records found that none of the known Zetas had ever participated in U.S.-funded training programs using their real names, but acknowledged that other intelligence sources indicated that one former Mexican military officer trained in the U.S. was forcibly recruited by the Zetas.

According to Lt. Col. Craig Deare (U.S. Army, retired), the former Academic Dean at the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, the intellectual center of gravity of U.S. defense policy in Latin America since 1997, it was likely that more than 500 GAFEs trained in the U.S. with the 7th Special Forces Group (SFG), nicknamed the “snake-eaters.”
Covert Action magazine

Quote:Secret Warfare - U.S. Special Forces Expand Training to Allies With Histories of Abuse (Sept 9, 2015)

The training program was part of a shadowy and growing global engagement strategy involving America’s most secretive and least scrutinized troops. Since 9/11, Special Ops forces have expanded in almost every conceivable way — from budget to personnel to overseas missions — with JCETs playing a significant role. Special Operations Command keeps the size and scope of the program a well-guarded secret, refusing to release even basic figures about the number of missions or the countries involved, but documents obtained by The Intercept demonstrate that from 2012 to 2014 some of America’s most elite troops — including Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets — carried out 500 Joint Combined Exchange Training missions around the world.

Quote:How 34 commandos created Mexico's most brutal drug cartel

The leader of Mexico's most brutal drug cartel was arrested early Wednesday morning, but his capture will most likely have only a minor impact on what the US government has called "the most technologically advanced, sophisticated, and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico."

With a strong presence in about 17 Mexican states — or half the country — Los Zetas is the largest criminal syndicate operating in Mexico.

Apathy is a noun defined as a lack of interest, enthusiasm or concern.... and I feel it almost all of the time now. In talking to others apathy seems to describe the condition of the vast majority of people these days. 

For the past several years between the governments of the world and the mainstream media we as a population have been constantly bombarded with trauma and fear to the point where we just don't care anymore. The things that once brought joy don't do so as they once did, things that once excited us no longer do. 

Apathy can definitely be brought on by depression or schizophrenia but more often than not it is brought on by trauma. People can be treated supposedly by lifestyle changes or medications and therapy but honestly when those don't work because the trauma is ongoing and continuous what can people do?

Over the years mental health has become a much less taboo subject and people will readily discuss Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome but why is nobody discussing PRESENT Traumatic Stress Syndrome? Every single day we are bombarded over and over with fear mongering to the point where none of it has an impact any longer. Another possible pandemic? Massive fires all over the world? Government corruption? Chance of nuclear war? Human trafficking? Climate change? Gender lunacy? Aliens? Vaccine injury? The failing economy? The Apocalypse? It has gotten to the point where most people don't even care anymore! 

People feeling apathy toward all of these "emergencies" seems like it was the plan all along. Bombard the people with one "emergency" after another until NOTHING feels urgent anymore and nobody cares. It seems like a reasonable supposition that people who don't care about anything will just go along with whatever TPTB decide to mandate. A lot of those apathetic people will do exactly that, in fact the majority will.

What TPTB failed to take into consideration with this is that among the apathetic there is a subset of people who are also incredible assholes who while feeling apathy will still buck the system simply because "Fuck you, that's why!" While not caring about any of the so-called "emergencies" we still don't like being told what to do and will do the exact opposite just because we can. 

As long as there are still assholes there is hope- if anyone is left that can still feel it anymore. 


(Maybe I should have put this in the Rant forum?)

I belong to the Aliens subreddit, and was having a discussion with somebody that I thought I'd share here to get some input.

Tom Delonge is at it again with his cryptic tweet bullshit.  I have nothing against Tom, but his appearance on Joe Rogan was a joke, and he even did an Ask Me Anything at the other site, which was an even bigger joke.

The gist of both was, "I know things, and know people who know things, but I can't tell you."

So on this subreddit, we were talking about Tom, and I mentioned to somebody that Steven Greer called Tom, Elizondo, and all their TTSA-former-intel-spook A-Team ilk, a bunch of government plants.  Which to me was funny, because I sometimes look at Greer and wonder the same thing about him.

The other redditor said that Greer in the past said Tom is part of the Disclosure Project.  I said, then Greer is contradicting himself, because he just said that about not trusting TTSA.

So this got me wondering.  Apparently Greer and Delonge were friends in all of this, years ago, to the point that Delonge would hang out with Greer at Greer's house.  I'm thinking they had a falling out, possibly around the time Tom started meeting all these high-up, in the know, government agents and officials.

Greer has maintained that the aliens are benevolent, and want to guide us in the right direction.  Delonge seems to be going with the "threat" narrative that Elizondo/TTSA likes to push.

Then I started thinking, why Tom Delonge in the first place?  Is it because he's long been known as a UFO-enthusiast, and is super popular among the younger generation?  Is it because "they" know that more and more people don't trust the government, so the message/narrative might be better received from Tom's mouth over, say, some unknown government agent, or even the president?

I'm not saying Tom is malicious in this, I think he means well, and so does Greer.  I also agree with Greer that Tom is being used.  Hell, if I was suddenly invited to these secret meetings with people in the know, and they put on an act and told me terrible things about the alien threat, I might have gone along with it too.  Probably not though, I'm sure I mistrust the government more than Tom ever did.

The TTSA crowd keeps calling them a threat.  I think the only threat they pose is to the petrodollar, and that has all the elites riled up and terrified.  Say the aliens came here to break our chains of the rampant corruption throughout the world's governments, businesses, etc.  The elites would positively shit themselves.  Maybe THAT is the big threat to national security.

As for now, I side with Greer.

Since it is a little quiet on the boards this early Tuesday afternoon in the garden, BIAD suggested to me that
I should post the prequel to the short story 'The Devil Is In The Details'. So after waiting as he fished the
yarn out of his shed, I did just that.


Hag.

"Do yer' think 'ah could have yon milk now...?" she asked and stepping away from the hearth, Wicked Hetty adjusted
the remains of her dress and watched the wide-eyed young man brandishing the kitchen knife. In a dream, that youngster
would be of a braver stock and look towards vanquishing this wretched Witch that had invaded my home.
But this is reality and that panting boy is me.

"...Midnight always finds me thirsty" she cooed and beguilingly stroked my late-mother's crocheted quilt lying over the
back of the rocking chair.

The clock on the mantle-piece ticked on past the witching hour and in the golden light of the blazing fire, I could see the
terrible skinny frame of the intruder before me. Adjusting my grip on the wooden handle of the only weapon that can save
me from the thing that lived in the well, I waited for the woman to pounce.

"Yer' a good-lookin' lad, has anyone ever telled yer' that?" the creature whispered as she slowly moved around the
room. The smell of long-forgotten vegetables floated in the air between us and with every step of her filthy bare-feet,
my stomach churned with the stink.

The milk that Hetty had commented on, sat on the table with my late-night supper of a slice of buttered bread and a
chunk of homemade cheese. The drink and cheese were from the only cow we had left and since my Father was still in
Underhill, it could be said that the single livestock was mine.
I was the guard tonight.

My Mother had died during the snowstorm of last winter and since then, my Pa had let the farm go. I had tried to do
the repairs on the barn and even though his treks to the tavern in the village became more-and-more frequent, I could
see that I was failing to fix the real problem in the only home I had ever known, my Pater's heart.

"Did yer' know Judas liked te' eat cheese...?" the harridan said candidly. "It's true, the betrayer always had a weakness fur'
a nice slice of rat" Nearing the wooden table, the toothless mouth stretched into the nearest feature she could muster to a
smile. I wanted to ask who this Judas-fellow was, but the terror stayed my hand.

"Leave the meal alone" I warned, moving the blade with faux-menace and I could swear Hetty heard the weakness in my
growl. The wind stirred the flames in the fire again and the ghostly moan from up the chimney only underlined how lonely
the whole scene had become.

The witch placed her long taloned-hands behind her back and sighed as she eyed the fare-denied, it was what the young
Lord up on the moors would call a stalemate. The clock tapped it's foot as the quietness prowled the room.

"If yer' let me eat yer' supper, 'ah'll pay yer' with counsel..." the swamp-voice slid from under the lank strands of black hair.
"...There are things in the world that can be a boon te' a lad like yer'self" Hetty added and tossed in a giggle that sounded
like a heron swallowing a fat toad. "Egg in yer' beer -so to speak" and the wolf-grin came again.

I breathed in deeply through my nose and prayed that my Father would return tonight. The woman from Hell was
beginning to gain ground and even though I was of twelve years, a man I was not. I would cede, it was only a matter
of time.

"Aye, time... it's a bugger..." Wicked Hetty hissed and my all-at-sea stomach rolled again as I realised the charmer was
reading my thoughts. "...But fur' a nibble of yer' matzah, this lady will tell yer' trues that can make yer' a future that the
bonny lasses will water te" she announced and took a single step closer. "A veritable feast, nay?" she offered and because
I am just a weak child, I nodded.

The fire called to my dreams as I sat in the rocking chair that my Mother had favoured. The wind was still lurking around
outside as the night blundered towards the dawn and probably, as I gazed into the flames, my downfall. The hopes of
daylight seemed a hundred leagues away and the wish to hear the sparrows waking in the eaves was a longing that only
children hold to, when the bogeyman would leave the darkness of under the bed and the warm breath of your mother
would alight on your brow.

Hetty sucked on her bread and watched me from beneath her matted mane. "Yer' miss yer Ma?" she asked flatly and
waving a grimy-finger towards the earthen jug, I nodded to her in agreement of my woe and for her to refill her cup.
she drank and sighed her contentment.

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked into the fire and steeled myself for the terrible answer. The knife lay on the
stone hearth and near enough for me to snatch if called upon, but my heart had already told me that I was the lesser
in the room now. With a belch to underscore of her filling, the Witch from the watering hole leaned forward and placed
her broomstick arms on each side of the empty plate. My eyes ached to seek comfort of the knife at my feet and yet, I
watched for the interloper called Wicked Hetty.

"Yer'll be thinkin' that 'ah'll be wantin' te' chew on yer' soul or that little-thing between yer' legs, divn't yer?" Hetty
rasped and suddenly fell into a fit of choking laughter. I could have killed her then... I could have. The cemetery that
was her mouth proved that two gravestones of ivory still existed there as she shrieked at her filthy-thoughts and her
depraved musings. The knife was still there.

The mirth was short-lived as the coughing took her body and threw it onto the wooden floorboards with a verve that
whiffed of demon possession or the Saint Vitus' dance that I'd heard of from the priest in the village. As her wretched
gown rode up over her legs, I was forced to witness her dirt-smeared form buck and shudder in her prone torment.
My heart waved goodbye to my childhood.

It seemed like a minute -or a month later, when the convulsion eased and Hetty caught her breath and rose from the
floor. "Eeeh, yer a bugger" she tutted and I wasn't sure she was talking to me. The time, the precious time of my life
moved with the pace of the snails that slept in the lea of the thatched roof as Hetty gathered herself at the table.

"The swallows are gatherin' on the wire and me-bones aren't what they used te' be..." the thick tones eeled their way
to where I was sitting. "...And the bill is always te' be paid" Dragging a stale breath down her scrawny throat, Wicked
Hetty began.

"Hear this lad, fur' what 'ah'm tellin' thee are secrets that will fill yer' descendants pockets and empty
yer' young body of lust.

The heavens are filled with glue that has nay substance and doesn't twinkle with light.
Old Scratch will come and seduce the land with coins of whispered trivia.
Candlelight will burn on the moon and the sea will become hungry fur' land.
The doorways inte' other realms will be opened by breaking the small.
Ghosts will talk in boxes and their falsehoods will taste of sugar.

The skies will fill with shining birds and deadly arrows, Man will war in the name of yer' Gods and kill with eyes
that are nay his own. Honour will become somethin' vanished and the weak will be mocked on vines of deceit.
The cart will be ousted fur' a dragon that bellows it's venom inte' the clouds and noble currency of sweat will be
replaced by the doubloon of covetousness.
For Mankind, love will fall into the abyss of the deviant and the wolves of lechery will scramble and snack at each
other within the walls of the castle.

Heed my words, for they have the veracity of the saints and swim in the tears of rectitude"

Throughout the entire speech, the witch had her eyes closed and a green glow seemed to emanate from her
whip-thin body. The smell of decay had been replaced with the scent of something I would only appreciate in
my later life. The smell of an aroused woman.

It was only when the glimpse of a breakfast-foraging mouse skittering along the window-sill caught my eye, did I
return from the spell Hetty had created during her parlance. The words dripped with wonderment and unsettling.

"But old-Hetty knows that yer'll be needin' te' prime the pump..." she growled and sucking another gob of air over
her quivering lips, she forced herself to her feet. "...Me-final part of the payment will set yer' on yer' path"

The welcoming air of the dawn outside seeped into the room and began it's scrimmage with the fire's embers and
the bouquet of ruin from the woman in the rags that had allowed it in. The open door tickled my mind with hints of
escape and skedaddle, a waking land of dew-soaked undergrowth and yawning deer.

The sun danced on the tips of the corn sheaves that stood near the broken fence that I'd promised myself I would
repair before Autumn and the smells of the day talked to the wild-thing that awaits inside all boys. Fishing with a
pole and the feel of a girl's hair.

"Aye, yer' can run te' the woods and sit with the rabbits..." Hetty consoled "...but would yer' Ma be proud of yer'
hotfoot?" The sight of her skin-stretched hips hiding under the sunlight-allowing robe made me turn away from
her silhouette at the doorway and deftly plucking the knife from the hearth, I stepped towards the entrance and
stood beside the devil's daughter.

A Blackbird began it's boastful chorus in a nearby elderberry bush as we left the stale atmosphere of my home and
soaked in the vista of our dusty farmyard. The Witch and the boy... in formation. The earth turned and the cow would
need milking. More trues.

"When you see fourteen summers, yer'll travel past the meadows on the other side of Underhill and reach a place
called 'Auld Cloots 'O The Green'" Hetty said softly. The daylight seemed to take away any of the menace that I had
imagined during the night and now, I felt I was just standing in the morning with a foolish, smelly vagrant.
But a deal is a deal.

"Oh it is" the crone agreed and I would swear she wanted to pat my shoulder. But she didn't. "The hamlet is known
for it's making of ale and the twisted spire of it's church." the scruffy Witch supplemented and for a second, the flight
of the passing swallows seemed more interesting.

"Heed me, boy or 'ah'll take yer across me knee..." Hetty growled "...'Ah'm puttin' thee on yer' path te' great destiny"
and without a glance, wandered away to where the remaining three hens pecked among the dirt near the well.

"People are like the seeds these buggers search fur' and what 'ah'm tellin' yer will make yer' the cock of the rock, son...
yon revelations will come in handy to a man that ploughs a wake in history" she said off-handedly as she suddenly
reached for the brown chicken near the wooden horse trough. "She's a beauty, is she not?" Hetty asked as she stroked
the frightened bird under her arm and pondered the sunlight on the surface of the contained water.

I realised that the nightmare-that-was-now-a-daymare, was not going to go away until she had delivered her prattle and
so I nodded and walked to where she waited. "Smart boy" she whispered and dared to nudge me with her dirty elbow.

"The village is also known for a strange rock that resides in the centre of it's well-kept green and protruding from the
stone is a sword... yer' sword" Hetty imparted during her poultry-petting. "On the day yer' take that falchion, yer will
place yer' feet on the terrace to kingship" she declared and released the hen back to it's feathery kin.
The half-assed fluttering dowsed the drama of her action and she knew it.

Wicked Hetty -the Woman of The Well, went home then, the soft shuffling of her bare feet in the yard's dust sounded
like the final breaths of a man who had awoke inside his own coffin. Without any fanfare, the skeleton-that-cackled slid
over the stone edge and was gone. Vowing I would never pull water from that cistern again, I began my chores and
attempted to shrug off the strangeness of the previous darkness.

"Psst..." the female staring over the smooth-stoned rampart of the well -hissed. "...What is your name, me-lad?"

I could have hurled the knife right then and purged my soul of the words she'd imparted to me last night, I could have
had her body hauled up out of that well and in the ground before my Father came home at noon. I could have.

"Arthur..." I said cautiously "...My name is Arthur" and that awful smile came again.

I've been reluctant to post this article since it appeared yesterday, it's August and the House of Commons are
on holiday, a time when Journalists bugger off to their second homes in Cornwall or southern France and Silly
Season would normally be in full bloom.

But the 'Big Cats In The UK' controversy is now put to bed, yes?
We'll see.

Quote:BEAST OF BRITAIN ‘Clearest ever’ photo of big cat prowling the British countryside discovered by film-makers

'Film-makers have found the “clearest ever” photo of a big cat prowling the British countryside.
Researchers discovered the snap of the powerful-looking panther-like creature in long grass at a former colliery site.
It was taken by a visitor to ­Whitfield Valley Nature Reserve in Stoke-on-Trent, who accompanied it with a note
specifying the location. The photographer did not sign or address the letter and dated it March 17, but gave no year.



The pic was found in a zoology centre’s archives by the assistant director who said: “It’s clearly a large cat of the
Panthera genus. “It’s so clear we can even see its whiskers. "If it’s genuine, then it’s probably the best photo of a
British big cat that exists.”

The image is featured as evidence in a documentary on the existence of big cats in the British countryside.
Panthera Britannia Declassified also brings to light DNA evidence of at least one wild big cat near a sheep-kill last
year in Gloucs [Gloucestershire].

Producer Tim Whittard said: “This astonishing lost photograph and amazing new scientific discovery form only
a fraction of the collective evidence on display in the film. "The research process was intensive and exhaustive.
"We used real science and real experts and tried to be as objective and analytical as possible.”



He said big cats are probably the offspring of those released after 1976 when it became illegal to own them
without a licence in the UK. He said: “These majestic big cats were fashionable status symbols. The story is a
sad one really.” The film is available on Amazon Prime...'

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I'm good for one sting every summer.  It's been a yellowjacket every. fucking. time.

Today at work, I had my arms up, setting up a machine, and one flew right into my sleeve.  I didn't even feel it until I put my arm down, and I thought, huh, maybe a metal splinter got stuck in my shirt, and then my arm was on fire.

I naturally slapped the shit out of my arm, and out tumbles fuckface onto the floor where it was enthusiastically stomped.

The weird thing is, each time the sting has felt different.  A few summers ago I was up a ladder, and one landed on my elbow, and of course stung me.  It felt electric, like somebody dropped a stun gun onto my arm for a split second.  It left a welt, but the pain was gone in a half hour.

Last summer, one tagged my leg, and it felt like somebody flicked a cigarette cherry onto my leg.  It burned for 20 minutes, and was gone.

Today, this one got me good.  This one felt like somebody tossed a staple remover into a fire for a minute, took it out, and pinched my arm.  This was now 8 hours ago and it's still throbbing slightly.  Maybe it's because of where it got me.  Inside of my arm, 2 inches above my armpit.  That's tender.

Anyway, fuck yellowjackets.

So, we have an Amazon Studio , a decent music device with Alexa. I renamed it computer so that is what it answers to when requesting playlists and weather alerts. 
When ever I am watching one of my Star Trek series or movies and they ask the computer to initiate self destruct sequence, my studio starts counting down and I have to stop it because I am afraid what is going to happen.
Not to mention it ignores my wife sometimes and I have to ask it like it's some jealous girlfriend or something. 
Just a minute ago it seem to get in an argument with my wife and she threaten to unplug it if it didn't shut up .

Then there is our roomba , the little round robotic vacuum that I renamed Terminator. He is an asshole . Sometimes he does a great job and sometimes he just does a small area and re-docks on the charger.  

This is how it all begins, trusting AI a little bit at a time until they have full control. 

I might just unplug them all !