The oldest known religion found so far was around 35,000 years ago (call it Paleolithic spirituality) located in Manot cave; some where around Israel . There was another recent find of a possible religious site dated to 51,200+ years ago.. I figure as long as people were smart enough to reason and be afraid of the unknown there was some kind of religion ...????

When I think of all the Gods that have been prayed to since mankind developed a semi inquiring superstitious mind it really is mind boggling to anyone who thinks about such things. I don't get faithfully excited about the latest Sky Fairy that insist on killing all non believers as this is but one more example of idiots being superstitious idiots IMO.. 

Mesopotamia prayed to 3600 gods as they believed a separate god was responsible for just about everything. No wonder it was finally decided one all powerful "TRUE" god was easier to remember after Mesopotamia's society was destroyed. I wonder what the god of a good bowel movement looked like ?

Most of the ancient gods existed until the society that spawned them was destroyed in war, famine, or pestilence.. Think of all the people on their knees praying to their god and protector to save them as the blade, stone axe, or bullet descended to take their life. Your Enemy is evil, as you are to your enemy, and both sides pray to their god (s) for victory.. One side will be disappointed. 

Animism, Shamanism, Divination, you name it as some people will believe in anything. I remember some soldiers rushing to get a certain Buddhist tattoo that would protect them from enemy bullets.... Those who survived swore it was due to their faith and the tattoo while those who died did not have enough faith or maybe the tattoo artist messed up.. People will believe in anything if afraid enough. 

About one billion people believe and are part of the Hindu faith...4000 years of their gods and still chugging along..
  
I remember during a mortar attack as stuff was being blown up around me through my own lips passed, " God please make them stop !" My Prayer was answered sometime later because the bad guys ran out of mortars or god was listening ?

So people can believe anything they want if it brings them peace and fulfillment as long as they do not force themselves upon others like, "you believe my way or burn in hell for all eternity," or,,, we cut very important pieces of your body off until you believe like us.. 

This story comes from the Amazon:  The Chief's/head man's  daughter got pregnant which meant her boyfriend would be found and killed; she would be banned from the tribe as she was not married to the boy (serious birth control IMO). This particular tribe believed the White river dolphin was a shape shifting spirit that could change form so..... the girl claimed the River dolphin came to her during the night and got her pregnant and promised her the child would be special. Case closed as who would argue with the Chief's daughter ?? 

All of us have or want some kind of spiritual connection and many will go to extreme links to establish a connection whether real or imagined. Religion has been just another way of coping with the unknown and giving solace to the afraid who believe if they tow the religious party line when they die it will be wonderful. 72 virgins comes to mind... Wonder what the Virgins think about all that ? Just another example of Overwhelming Propaganda Dominance by so called leaders who want control.. 

 Ask yourself why does ignorance and superstition seem to be a universal trait with humans? There was a time when some of the greatest minds of Europe were debating on just how many angels could dance upon the head of a pin.. Just another worth while endeavor for a bunch of devout superstitious individuals. I do think Science is the answer as few people can figure anything out by praying except for their own selfish desires/goals being laid bare. When I say Science I mean real science not the bought and paid for out come science rammed down our mental throats.

 I am of the opinion that Noah's Ark and other plagiarized fairy tales are just stories written by man to reinforce and put the fear of god in the uneducated/unknowing which the religious institutions use as societal control. Yep all the ancient written records have a flood myth but only one Noah in the christen bible. The whole inbreeding thingy must have been waved to repopulate the earth, no ?? 

 Religions in many cases are a destructive force which has been responsible for untold thousands of deaths and wars, all in the name of some silent unseen sky fairy who has mankind write what the god supposedly wants us to believe. Key words being "man writes what is to be believed" and then the man claims his hand was guided by some supreme god. Thousands of years of stifled growth and advancement due to some written words supposedly by a god who promises paradise after you are dead yet written by men who seek power "NOW " and live in a fantasy of their own creation..

 To many gods and great human deeds have been buried in the sands of history, all forgotten to never have been known in history what actually happened; much less the reasons for so many souls to give up their lives as their gods were forgotten long ago.

 Sad


Nothing earth shattering just some random thoughts

Former President , Prime Minister and now Deputy chair of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has once again threatened Russia's "Soviet Era" Nuclear deterrent on the World , only this time his comments were pointed to President Trump who in response has ordered the movement of 2 Nuclear Subs to "appropriate regions" following Mr Medvedev's 'highly provocative' comments.

Quote:It comes after Mr Medvedev, who is now deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, told the US president on Thursday to remember Moscow had Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort.

On Friday, Mr Trump wrote on social media: "Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.
"Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

https://news.sky.com/story/trump-orders-...s-13405255

If you been reading lately twitter , you must seen the Researcher Beatriz Villarroel findings, the balls or spheres, a network or surveillance grid or what ever is the right term.


I think being skeptical, critical is needed . This feels like too much to deliver an idea / concept to public .

I tryed to look litle their " facts " , but i am not so convinced....

Any thoughts about this ?  is it another scam ? 

I do believe there is something , other than us here in this planet. But the way Villarroel present it...nah ? 

Interestenly , Beatriz Villarroel is linked to people who i would think having history with CIA ....look up The Sol Foundation . Seems like it`s allmost allways either CIA or Pentagon who have great need to push narratives , and it feels like now 2025 even more ?  2025-2027 might be really super disinformation push season ?

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ETMN posted a link in Shoutbox to a subject called Dyson Spheres, and "Dyson Swarms" in particular.  There's some really good subject matter here to discuss, so I thought I'd create a thread about the same (hopefully this is okay with you, ETMN).

I'll first post the link which ETMN posted in Shoutbox, and also another related link.

The link which ETMN posted...
Lifespan of a Dyson Swarm

Here's another link giving some background on what a Dyson Sphere is...
Dyson Sphere

For those unfamiliar, and/or those who don't wish to go to a link, here's a brief summary of what a Dyson Sphere even is...
A 'Dyson Sphere' is a bizarre concept but one which is pretty easy to describe (actually creating one is a whole other matter!)
A Dyson Sphere is basically a 'shell' constructed around a star whose purpose it is to capture solar and radiant energy from said star to power a civilization (in a nutshell).  A Dyson Sphere would be constructed by an advanced civilization presumably living on a planet which orbits this same star.  In practice, the civilization would have to wait until the star goes through a couple phases in the evolution of a star.  The star is first just your usual star.  Then, as the star nears the end of its life, it metamorphoses into a 'Red Giant'.  When this phase is complete, the star then collapses into a 'White Dwarf'.  A White Dwarf is what you build your Dyson Sphere around.  It should be noted that a star can collapse into several things, and a White Dwarf is only one of these.  If it has enough mass, for example, it can also collapse into a Black Hole.  And, there are other variations beyond even these two.  The point here being, the civilization would need to know enough about their star ahead of time to know what it was going to collapse into.  AND, this is kind of important too; the planet which houses the civilization would also need to be at a radius far enough away to survive the Red Giant phase (which is not easy, BTW).  Life on that planet would be mighty cold existing that far away from it's own Sun.  It would be akin to our Pluto, but at a distance to 2x - 3x that of Pluto's.  But I digress.

Obviously, this whole subject is nothing more than an "out there" theory.  No such structure like a Dyson Sphere has ever been observed (not from lacking effort trying mind you), but there is emerging technology (funded by your tax dollars) to build just such a infra-red telescope.  And it would be a BIG puppy indeed!  Very big, to observe something this far away!  Anyway...

Much conjecture surrounds the whole Dyson Sphere concept, even to the point of physicists and astronomers developing theories around how to go about constructing one around our Sun (for example).  The technical challenges of building such a structure are mind bending to say the least.  One simple example of these challenges is, the gravitational forces created by the mass of a star would collapse any rigid structure which was built around it constructed of any materials known to mankind.  This is but one hurdle.  BUT, there is a point here, this challenge also gives way to another concept known as a "Dyson Swarm".

Instead of building a rigid structure, an alternative approach would be to create a constellation of satellites orbiting this star and performing the same function.  (We'll ignore the technical challenges of transporting the captured energy here for the moment).  However, there's a challenge with this approach as well, and that challenge is...how long will this swarm (or constellation) of satellites live/exist before these same satellites start colliding with each other in what is known as a Kessler Storm (also known as a "cascade" where one satellite collides with another, blasting both to bits.  The tiny bits collide with (10) (or 50) other satellites, destroying them too.  And this process continues, exponentially, until they ALL destroy each other.  (Bad ju-ju, right?)

Well, these same astronomers and physicists have already thought of this, and even done calculations about how long it will take for this event to occur (a "Dyson Swarm Lifespan").  Turns out this number is about 41,000 years.  Not very long when you consider it could easily take that long (possibly longer) to construct it in the first place!

This whole discussion begs the question of...How realistic is any of this???  At a very fundamental level, the answer to this question is contained in some basic philosophical discussions.  Things like...is this really the best way to solve our energy crisis, or are there other methods (like maybe nuclear power) which would possibly render this whole concept a non-starter??  In other words, at a far simpler level, should the civilization of the future depend exclusively on solving all their energy needs with solar power?

I won't answer that question with my opinion here (now).  First, I wanted to get the discussion started, and then depending on the responses, I can weigh in with my own opinions on the matter.  There are a lot of really 'bright' (pun intended) people here, so I figured this might be an interesting discussion to get some of the other technical minds here buzzing along.

I'll look forward to your replies.

Cappy remembers the night he was part of an airstrike when the US was pivoting from Iraq to Afghanistan. The poster categories of "policy" as seen from the field after passing down many layers.

Cappy: "This is a personal story of mine from my deployment to Iraq. I pulled from official army field reports, interviews with former teammates and actual gun cam footage to piece this together."




You start with a seemingly simple proposition. We're going to airlift supplies to Gaza while there's a war going on, just like Joe Biden tried with his ill-fated pier. Pretty soon the simple becomes complex.

Cappy: "The problem with AI is someone needs to be in the loop. Someone needs to make the call. Someone needs to be accountable."

With AI you hide the complexity. No one makes the call. No one is responsible.

Isn't it nice gesture to show us little bit some things that the galacic empire stormtrooper see everyday    . Who didn`t want a sightseeing in Death Star ...




 

Well with luck I may live to see some of this stuff ! The air traffic control system sucks in many ways and does need to be fixed IMO.

The no BS Colonel. Your views may vary.

“Washington is hurtling toward a sovereign debt crisis, escalating foreign wars, and potential domestic unrest without a clear path forward. While President Trump did not create these challenges alone, he now bears responsibility for addressing them”.





The article mentioned is: Versailles on the Potomac

Eureka! They found it! The world's biggest of all mother loads! GOLD!

But why is it in China? Why can't that be hereabouts, in my neck of the woods?

Quote:Confirmed – Scientists locate the largest gold deposit on the planet and surprise international markets

. . . Chinese geologists have identified roughly 1,000 metric tons of metal locked under Hunan.
That gold deposit translates to about 32 million ounces, a haul worth north of $80 billion at recent prices.
The grade splashed across social feeds —138 grams per ton— is eye‑popping. For comparison, many modern bulk mines make money at 1–4 g/t. But grades that high usually refer to selected veins within a system, not the average ore you can mine economically at scale.

Disclaimer: These are just my opinions. They are informed by nearly 60 years of firearms experience, being shot at and occasionally shooting back, and making a living at it for a good chunk of that time. With that said, they are still ONLY my opinions, neither infallible nor holy writ. Take them as you will. I bear no grudges against folks who think otherwise. Whenever you strap on a side arm, you are betting your life on that choice, so it is a highly personal choice, not subject to the vagaries of the whims of other folks - they are not betting THEIR lives on what YOU choose to carry, so they, and I, can just bugger right off if their opinion differs. You do you, and carry what you want.

Recently, and for the past few years, Sig has been getting flak for their P320 sidearms, because said side arms appear to have a habit of going off all on their own, with no user input. Folks have been injured in those incidents, folks have died in them. My question is: who in the hell thought it was a good idea to carry a gun with no external hammer, and no external manually operated safety? For my carry options, those two things are mandatory. I will not carry a weapon without them, because I consider all striker-fired pistols, including your beloved Glock, to be inherently unsafe... not to mention the horrendous ungainly "ergonomics" engineered into Glocks. They fit me like trying to shoot a 2x4 one-handed would fit me.

That can be a problem in this day and age, since more and more striker-fired pistols are flooding the market. It's getting to be where that is all one can find, and that presents a problem for folks like me, who prioritize safety in a firearm. I'll tell you true: I would carry a club for self defense before I would carry one of those unsafe monstrosities. That's not hyperbole - I have a couple of ASP extendable batons for just such occasions.

Luckily, I already have all the firearms I'm ever going to need or use already, even though some of them would be considered dinosaurs by "modern" standards. Like you, I will carry what I damned well please, because it's my life I'm betting on it, not yours.

To be fair, the military version of the P320, the M-17 and M-18, both are supposed to have external manual safeties... but they are still damnable striker-fires, so a no-go at this station. The most recent incident involves a USAF Security Airman being killed by a holstered P320, so to my way of thinking, that external safety may be just as poorly designed and engineered as the entire striker-fired concept in pistols.

Bottom line, there is no such thing as a "safe" pistol without 1) an external hammer, 2) a manual safety lever that blocks ignition train operation, and 3) an ability to be safely de-cocked. If the pistol you are looking to purchase does not have all 3 of those things, my considered recommendation is to just keep looking, and carry a club instead until you find a pistol that does have all 3.

Better safe than sorry. You don't usually get do-overs or respawns in real world shootings.

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