In the Ville it is Derby season. For the month leading up to the Kentucky Derby there are parties, parades, foot races, goat races, car races, festivals, fireworks, etc. For one month they actually clean up the downtown area (which has gone to shit since covid and the Breanna Taylor protests/riots/looting in May of 2020).

Part of cleaning up downtown involves bulldozing the homeless encampments and herding the homeless out of the sight of the tourists, celebrities and high rollers that come in every year for Derby. They double down on scattering the homeless in the final two weeks before the big race which is what prompted this thread.

Having just returned from a quick run to do errands I can tell you the herding of the homeless is in full swing. We always have homeless folks wandering around our section of town but they are few compared to the hordes downtown whose numbers multiplied many times when more and more were bussed in for the "protests" and promised all kinds of free goodies. After the protests were done and the free goodies ran out they were basically stuck here permanently, no better off than they were before- and now a good many of them are running around our area. 

We are in the south end, far from all downtown foolishness, and usually only see a few homeless when we go out and about (except on paydays when you will find "extras" panhandling at the bigger traffic intersections). Today I saw no less than 30 and that was only at the two stores that I went to that are within a few blocks of where we live. I know that doesn't sound like too many but normally I only see a handful and even then only because I traveled further and to more places. None of the homeless I saw today were people I recognized at all, just like anywhere else we have the "usual suspects" that we recognize from seeing regularly- these were refugees from the downtown bulldozer exodus. There will be many, many more before Derby.

Every year this happens. Lord forbid the city lose any tourist money because they are scared of homeless people. Most of them are decent people down on their luck or mentally ill. It just makes me so sad that the city does this to them because they don't want to scare off the tourists. Funny thing about it is that if they REALLY didn't want to scare the tourists they probably shouldn't let them know that Churchill Downs is in the middle of the hood! It just makes me sick to see people lose what little they have to bulldozers and then be herded like livestock all in the name of capitalism. Fuck the Kentucky Derby!!!

Guess I should have put this in rant. Oh well, my bad! 

Round & round we go, again.

NYT skirting a little too close to the forbidden truth here...



NY Times

I think the Times got the name spelling wrong...he is "Haftar".

And guess who just appeared in the world news service about the Sudan crisis... Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar is helping the the RSF paramilitary group fighting with the current government and military leadership which recently approved a Russian Red Sea Naval Base project.

Quote:

Who leads the RSF and how large is the group?

The RSF is led by Vice President Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known universally as Hemedti.

Analysts say the group probably has about 100,000 members. Over the past two years, Hemedti ran a rapid recruitment campaign that helped grow the RSF’s ranks. Its troops come largely from western Sudan, near Darfur, and areas long neglected by the government, including regions in the east near the Red Sea and along the border with South Sudan, experts say.

Before its rapid expansion, a 2019 Congressional Research Service report said that RSF had as many as 50,000 troops, allegedly including child soldiers.

The group’s leader, Hemedti, has humble origins as a camel herder from a minority tribe in Darfur and was once a rebel. He eventually switched sides and turned the RSF into a powerful mercenary group. As he gained influence and wealth in Sudan, Hemedti grew his regional reach as well, deploying troops in Yemen on behalf of Saudi Arabia and in Libya on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.

Hemedti has also gone into business with the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary outfit, in gold mining and security operations in Sudan’s gold mining areas, according to Hudson.

Hemedti’s principal goal is to survive, Hudson said, and to be given a constitutional role in the country. He’s hired public relations firms in Canada and the United Kingdom as he tries to better his image — and the image of the RSF — in Sudan and around the world.

Who are the Rapid Support Forces clashing with Sudan’s military?

Quote:

The Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar helped to prepare the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia now fighting for control of Sudan, for battle in the months before the devastating violence that broke out on 15 April, the Observer has been told by former officials, militia commanders and sources in Sudan and the UK.

The involvement of Haftar, who runs much of the eastern part of Libya, will raise fears of a long-drawn-out conflict in Sudan fuelled by outside interests. Analysts have described a “nightmare scenario” of multiple regional actors and powers fighting a proxy war in the country of more than 45 million people.

Hemedti and Haftar have also collaborated on a range of highly profitable smuggling operations, with middle-ranking commanders in both their militias forging close links as they manage the transit of valuable illicit cargos between the two countries, experts told the Observer.

Only days before the conflict erupted, Haftar ordered the arrest of a deputy of Musa Hilal, a Sudanese militia commander who is a bitter enemy of Hemedti.

Hilal’s forces were responsible for inflicting heavy losses on Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group – another ally of Haftar – in the neighbouring Central African Republic in an ambush near the Sudanese border earlier this year.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Haftar had sent at least one shipment of arms to Hemedti, a claim denied by the LNA, while CNN described flights from LNA-run airbases organised by the Wagner group, which has a presence in both Libya and Sudan.

Russia has built close ties with both Haftar and Hemedti, but Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner group, denied the report.

The Guardian

Quote:Libya’s Haftar denies providing military support to Hemetti

April 20, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – Eastern Libyan military leader Khalifa Haftar has denied claims that his Libyan National Army (LNA) provided support to the Rapid Support Forces of Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, also known as “Hemetti,” in Sudan.

In a statement read by LNA spokesman Ahmed Al-Mismari and signed by General Haftar, the General Command refuted reports from some media outlets that the Libyan Arab Armed Forces were backing one party against another in Sudan.

“We were, are and will continue to support the stability and security of the State of Sudan and the safety of its authentic Arab-African people,” emphasized Al-Mismari.

The Wall Street Journal had reported on Wednesday that General Haftar sent military support to the paramilitary forces led by Hemetti.

According to the report, General Haftar dispatched at least one plane to fly military supplies to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, citing anonymous sources. The report also mentioned that Egypt sent warplanes and pilots to back the Sudanese military.

Previously, a Sudanese general who is a member of the Sovereign Council had stated that two neighbouring countries, one of which shares a border with western Sudan, provided support to the militia leader.

In response, Al-Mismari said that they are in touch with the belligerents, supporting efforts to reach a cessation of hostilities in Sudan.

“We are currently conducting urgent contacts with the concerned parties, and we are ready to play a mediating role between the brothers in Sudan to stop the fighting immediately and open the way for peaceful dialogue,” he said.

Haftar’s son visited Sudan, ten days ago, after his designation as honorary president of the Sudanese Mareekh Club and his donation of two million dollars to the club. During his visit, al-Sidiq Haftar met with Hemetti.

Sudan Tribune

Quote:

GENEVA, April 25 (Reuters) - There is a "high risk of biological hazard" in Sudan's capital Khartoum after one of the warring parties seized a laboratory holding measles and cholera pathogens and other hazardous materials, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link from Sudan, the WHO's representative in the country, Nima Saeed Abid, said technicians were unable to gain access to the National Public Health Laboratory to secure the materials.

"This is the main concern: no accessibility to the lab technicians to go to the lab and safely contain the biological material and substances available," he said, declining to specify which side had seized the facility.

Fighting erupted between the Sudanese armed forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries on April 15 and has killed at least 459 people and injured 4,072, according to the WHO's latest figures. Abid said this was an undercount, adding that he had seen two bodies in the street himself in recent days.

The clashes have paralysed hospitals and other essential services, and left many stranded in their homes with dwindling supplies of food and water. The WHO has reported 14 attacks on health facilities since the clashes began and is relocating its staff to safety.

Abid said he was transferred from Khartoum to Port Sudan on Monday as part of a large convoy that drove for 30 hours through the desert.

The United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) has been forced to cut back on some of its activities in parts of Sudan due to intense fighting.

At least five aid workers have been killed since fighting broke out and the two U.N. agencies who lost staff, the International Organization for Migration and the World Food Programme, have suspended their activities.

"In areas where intense fighting has hampered our humanitarian operations, we have been forced to reduce our footprint," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the OCHA. "But we are committed to continue to deliver for the people of Sudan."

Patrick Youssef, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Director for Africa, urged other countries to continue pressure on Sudan to find a "long-lasting solution", even after foreigners had been evacuated.

'High bio-hazard risk' in Sudan

It cost a fortune to field an aircraft for the races at Reno and I am not even talking about a war bird but a small formula 1 air racer. With the price of aviation fuel and insurance I am surprised they have managed to keep the races going as long as they have... Most of my friends have sold their aircraft and are glad they did as fuel, insurance, hanger fees and liability takes all the fun out of general aviation even if you are not poor !

As disturbing as this is how many other labs are certain government agencies funding.

Quote:Judicial Watch received 552 pages of records from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which include the initial grant application and annual reports to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from EcoHealth Alliance, describing the aim of its work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China to create mutant viruses “to better predict the capacity of our CoVs [coronaviruses] to infect people.”

Blackrock has placed their people in very powerful positions in the Biden Administration (own the news also) which is just one more sign of kleptocracy IMO.. Evidently somethings are not all peachy keen at the corporate offices at Blackrock..? With Something as big as Blackrock I doubt anything of consequence will happen however maybe ?

Looks like FOX news will go the way of CNN as Tucker no longer has a segment .
 I have thought more than once he would be outed for his stance on government corruption.
Looks like Chucky of the Senate put pressure on Fox to Terminate Tucker.

The Cyborg Study (archived PDF)

Wonder what the status is after 60 years.



Man Plus







One can trace all this back to the Nazi estorica.

haven't been posting much here latly been busy remolding the homestead, but stop by at least every other day or so and check the board. I also do so the same at TOS.

today this thread was posted by the new admin, who i'm thinking is the new owner named darko, although their profile says he's been there a while, it's funny they being a admin and as long as it says and i have been going to the site (since 2005) ive never seen a post of theirs and all the posts that can be viewed are from around the time of the update.

ATS Mud Pit may be put on hold.

what i'm thinking is the mud pit is going away or the very least isn't gonna be much different now than the rest of the forums, in that the mud pit was a bit more relaxed, posts weren't removed as often, and you could express yourself more freely without worrying about hurting someones feelz, getting double post warnings which one Mod/ Admin had started doing even before the updates so i don't think it was a glitch issue. more like a build up the warnings for a a eventual post ban.

i think the decision to end it or start more strict rules enforcement for it had already been made, and this thread was a feeler to see how it would go over, not that it would matter. it's gonna be done.

when you have to watch what you say and how you say it constantly thinking  about hurting feelz and offending someone or posts being removed, what fun is that, and acting all high brow and superior isn't all that great look either.

if a post is within reason leave it alone, don't complain, get over it, don't want your kids viewing the site lock em out as best you can, don't want to read stuff that offends you don't open it up, no one is twisting your arm holding your nose to it. many ways to avoid what you think is offensive without infringing on others right to speak their mind.

but then again it's their site, and they can make their own rules even if it drives people away.

changing the pit is a mistake, it has the third largest post count, many a member post in that forum and will be looking for a new place.

it may be time for some invites, and make sure to tell them you can even cuss over here. 
started to drop the f bomb, but TOS decorum instinct took hold

A nice long (91 min) thought provoking commentary with plenty of examples about how we've reached the high strangeness moment of technology becoming indistinguishable from reality...corrupting & manipulating the younger generation and AI sorcery will only get more sophisticated from right now.




AI is Evolving Faster Than You Think Pt. 2 (Art and Beyond) (23 min)
A continued look at what’s going on in AI. This time we take a look at everything from AutoGPT and a fake AI Drake to AI art and copyright law.






S1m0ne A producer's film is endangered when his star walks off, so he decides to digitally create an actress to substitute for the star, becoming an overnight sensation that everyone thinks is a real person.

As stated in the DVD commentary by writer-director Josef Rusnak, the final shot of "The Thirteenth Floor" (1999, 2 months after The Matrix) emulates an old fashioned television set being turned off i.e. where the picture collapses into a circle in the centre of the screen and then fades away. This is to leave open the question of whether there are 'even higher realities' above the one shown in the last scene i.e. being in the year 2024.
Hannon Fuller: [First lines] "Ignorance is bliss. For the first time in my life, I agree."




All digital media by the end of 2023:



Some heavy reading...
Synthetic Super Intelligence and the Transmutation of Humankind A Roadmap to the Singularity and Beyond. (2016, 464 pg PDF)

I had an epiphany today and I have found a little more freedom.

While I was getting ready for church, I was running late I will add, I realized my nails were a mess. I am not one of those nail fanatics, in fact, I have never had a manicure, but my nails were looking a bit raggedy. I did not have time to worry about it. Then I noticed a couple of gray hairs on my chinny chin chin. Again, I just did not have time to worry about it.

As I continued to get ready, I suddenly had this warm feeling, as I realize that no one was going to notice my little beauty flaws, but if they did, that I had already succeeded in doing something that I try to do everyday.

Without doing anything, I would make someone feel good about themselves. No matter what else was going on, at least they weren't old with raggedy nails and gray hairs on their chin.